Addition to my Genealogy Toolbox

I learned something today that will be an invaluable addition to my Genealogy Toolbox!  On the Family Search website, if you click "All Records Collection," an alpha list will appear. On the right hand side of the page you will see a column labeled, "Last Updated." Click on that and you will see the the most recent additions to their site. One of the items recently added is "New York County Marriages 1908-1935."  That index provides the parents name, including mother's maiden name, and spouse.  A quick try on that site gave me Blanche Tucker's maiden name, which is Rumsey. 

This index will also provide another check for your GPS. 

William L. Tucker's Diaries 1919-1929

Diaries of William Lanning Tucker

William’s 3” x 5” red diaries do not provide much space for entries.  Each day’s entry begins with a sky and weather report. It is either a “dark cloudy day” or “this has been a fine day.”  His name is written in pencil on the front page and his location, i.e. Trumansburg, N.Y. or Jacksonville, N.Y. and sometimes both are listed as he moved between the homes of two of his daughters. 

Sunday’s Obituary – Horace Addison Hugg

Horace Addison Hugg, 84, died about 1 o’clock yesterday afternoon at his home in Jacksonville. He leaves a sister, Mrs. Mary Hulburt of North Spencer, and several nieces and nephews.  The funeral will be held at 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon from the Methodist Episcopal church in Jacksonville. Rev. Schuyler C. Henry will officiate. Interment will be in Trumbull’s Cemetery. Fidelity Lodge, F. and A.M. of which Mr. Hugg had been a member for 63 years, will be in charge of the services at the church.

This obit was secured with a straight pin to the front of William Lanning Tucker’s Standard Diary for 1921. A bit of research found that Horace Hugg (1838-1922) was buried in Trumbull’s Corners Rural Cemetery, 761 Millard Hill Road, Newfield, NY, next to his wife Elizabeth (1849-1921).  In 1910, the Huggs lived in Ithaca; by 1920 they lived with and worked for Mary Ann Northrup in Enfield, NY. That is probably how William L. Tucker came to know the Huggs. 

Too Close for Comfort

The process I use when writing a monograph is to do the research, write as I go, and then input the data into Reunion software. I like to include a description of the geographic area in which the ancestor lived, as well as information on any unique or unusual jobs they held. In the Hardenbrook monograph recently completed I researched and wrote about the Craig Colony for Epileptics, a place I never knew existed.

Yesterday I was working on the line of Mary Jane (Tucker) Doolittle.  Mary Jane married John Doolittle. Their first son was Jay. Jay married Cora L. Bennett in 1889. Jay and Cora had two sons, Omer H. b: Oct 1891, and Walter b: July 1894.

Following Omer Doolittle, I found he married Maude Case b: 1894; they had one child, Ralph Doolittle.

Omer died in July 1951 at the age of 59 as a result of injuries suffered following a fall from a tractor at his job at the Seneca Ordnance Depot.  I decided to include in my monograph a short write-up on the Seneca Army Depot (Ordnance), officially closed in 2000.

Walter Gable, Seneca County (NY) Historian does a wonderful job of researching, writing and putting on the Internet a wealth of information on the history of Seneca County.  With the help of Mr. Gable’s research my monograph includes the information below:

As the Second World War threatened our shores, the Seneca Ordnance (Seneca Army Depot) was chosen for munitions storage. Five hundred concrete igloos were to be built as quickly as possible. Land was taken from farm families, and accommodations sought for the many workers and their families that descended on rural Seneca County to complete this task.  By November 1941, 7,000 people were employed at the Depot; at the end of the war, in 1946, only 595 civilian workers remained. By the early 1980s it was disclosed that the Seneca Army Depot housed the Army’s nuclear weapons, and that uranium for the Manhattan Project had been stored there as well. The FOIL documents lead to anti-nuclear demonstrations. By the year 2000, the base was permanently closed. This eliminated concerns of nuclear weapon storage as well as eliminating many jobs and economic vitality for the region.[1] 

In 1980 we were living fifty miles south of the Seneca Army Depot with two children, ages 4 and 8.  Mr. Gable’s article jogged my memory of how I felt when the FOIL report was released about nuclear weapons being stored so near to our home.  It was too close for comfort. 

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[1] Gable, Walter. Written History of Seneca County, digital image, www.seneca.ny.us

The Mystery of Frankie Tucker Solved

The mystery of Frankie Tucker is solved (I think), another family line emerges, and wrong assumptions corrected.

William Lanning Tucker had twin siblings born in July 1855. One was named Frankie, the other Freddie.  Through the census, William’s diary entries, and newspaper articles, I found a good amount of information on the family of Freddie Tucker.

I came up blank on Frankie Tucker due in part to the fact that I assumed Frankie was male.  Looking at the 1860 and 1870 census more closely, I realized that Frankie was female. And during that time period there were many females named Frankie. I suspected the reason Frankie did not show up in the 1880 census was because she married.

Yesterday from my genealogy toolbox I utilized a number of ways to find this elusive ancestor.  To no avail I tried the 1875 NYS Census on Family Search for “Frankie Tucker,” newspaper articles on FultonHistory.org, the Index to Trumansburg Newspapers, “Frankie Tucker” on Tompkins County GenWeb, searching “Frankie” on the advanced search feature of HeritageQuest. Then, just searching females (no first/last name) in New York in the 25 year age range on HeritageQuest, looking for possible variations of the name. 

I then went back to Tompkins County GenWeb and did a search just on “Frankie.”  Browsing down the results, I came to Enfield’s Rolfe-Applegate Cemetery where Frankie’s parents are buried.  Once on the cemetery site I did a Command-F to find the “Frankie.” The one result was Frankie Wheeler, born 1855; died 1878.

Going back to the 1875 NYS Census on FamilySearch.org, I found Thomas (male age 24), Frank (female, age 20), and Oscar Wheeler. Oscar was one month old.

In the 1880 Census, Thomas and Oscar are living with Thomas’s father, Sumner, and Thomas’s brother, Melvin in Jerusalem, Yates County, New York.   I now believe this is Frankie Tucker’s family. She married between 1870 and 1874, had a child in 1875, and died in 1878. 

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

The month of September flew by and I feel a bit guilty about not producing a blog post during that time – with the exception, of course, of helping to locate the family of the Finison Family Bible.

States she plans to obtain licensure:
Florida, New York, Vermont, and Virginia

So what have I been doing?  We drove to Gainesville, Florida to attend the graduation of our daughter from the Academy of Five Element Acupuncture. We are very proud of our Master of Acupuncture daughter.  She is now busy studying for her national boards.  I started volunteering two mornings a week at the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc., and am getting their office and research files in good order. We enjoyed a lot of company this month, as well as a couple of day trips, one to Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay, and another to the birthplaces of Robert E. Lee and George Washington.  And in my spare time, research on my latest project, Life on the Farm, The Tuckers of Tompkins County, New York could not be done without transcribing the diaries of William Lanning Tucker, and his daughter, Jessie May Tucker Agard.

William’s diaries span the years of 1919-1929. William died in 1929 at the age of 90.  Jessie’s diaries span twenty-four years, 1944-1968, with the years 1945 and 1946 missing.  Jessie died in 1973 at the age of 97.  I am not transcribing every word, but I am capturing dates and important events during each year. Needless to say, it is a time consuming project, but a very worthwhile one. I am now able to document more of the life of Jessie’s sister, Addie Tucker, as well as her death, and the date and cause of death of many family members. 

I learned that on 14 April 1944 Jessie took the oath of office as Ulysses Town Historian.  And on 16 January 1947 Jessie began writing the history of the Jacksonville Community Church. 

Jessie and Arthur Agard at her 90th Birthday Party
January 1, 1966 held at the home of Merritt and Maude Agard

When not cleaning her house from top to bottom each day, after baking several loaves of bread, a couple of pies, and a pot roast, Jessie was busy making afghans and quilts for each family member.  All females received a colorful afghan; each male a quilt.  I still have mine.

I am anxious to get back at my genealogy research...and will try to be better at sharing same.