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Research in Other Countries => United States of America => Topic started by: paslwigr on Monday 08 February 16 10:29 GMT (UK)
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??? Keren-Happuch Wootton lived in Tring Hertfordshire, England in 1841 aged 9 years. By October 1847 she was in Michigan marrying, aged 15 a Moses W Boyd aged 28, born in Canada. I have her father and two brothers still in England in 1851 etc. I believe her mother had died in 1842. But I can't find her two sisters either, Jane 12 and Margaret 14 in Tring 1841 again. I have checked Ancestry and Find My Past with no luck. Any help please, I would be so grateful. Thankyou.
paslwigr
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While you are looking for the Wooton's, as I was trying to find information about Keren, I found the following about the Boyd's. Perhaps you already have this information, but I wanted to pass it along in case there might be any leads obtained from it. :-\
1850 Lockport, Will, Illinois Census
M W Boyd, born c 1820, Labourer, Canada
Kerenhappuch, age 18, England
Jane, 1, Illinois
1850 Lockport, Will, Illinois (possibly Moses' family members?)
John W? Boyd, age 23, Labourer, Canada
Elizabeth ", age 16, New York (possibly John's wife?)
Anna Boyd, age 43, Canada (Could Anna be Moses' mother?)
Joseph ", age 14, Canada
Betsy ", age 11, Canada
Wm T ", age 8, Michigan
1860 Bath, Mason, Illinois
Moses, age 41, Wagon Maker, Canada
"Kerronabuck", age 27, England
Children: William, Margaret J, George, Mary, Charles
All children born in Illinois except for William who was born in Michigan
1860 Lockport, Will, Illinois
John Boyde, age 28, Labourer, Canada
John was living with Horace Morse and others. Horace's occupation: Hotel - perhaps John was living in a hotel.
1870 Bath, Mason, Illinois
M W Boyd, age 50, Works on Farm, Canada
Keren H, age 38, Keeping House, England
Children: George E., Mary A., Charles F, Harriet E, Martha F
Illinois Veterans Index
Moses W Boyd, born c1822, Canada, Mechanic
Service Entry Date: 15 Aug 1862
Residence Place: Bath, Mason Co., IL
Illinois Veterans Index
Morris W Boyd, born c1820, Canada, Blacksmith
Birthplace: Haut, Kent, Canada (Haut-Kent, New Brunswick?)
Service Entry Date: 12 Aug 1862
Residence Place: Bath, Mason Co., IL
Illinois Veterans Index
John N Boyd, born c1828, Carpenter
Birthplace: Howard, Canada (New Brunswick, possibly?)
Service Entry Date: 11 December 1861
Residence Place: Joliet, Will Co., IL
Illinois Veterans Index
William T Boyd, born c1841, Boatman
Birthplace: Howard, Canada (New Brunswick, possibly?)
Service Entry Date: 11 December 1861
Residence Place: Joliet, Will Co., IL
Perhaps Moses was born in New Brunswick?
It's just a guess, but I wonder if Keren sailed to Canada and arrived in America either with the Boyd's or with her sisters? I will continue to have a look around tonight. In the meantime, perhaps someone else may find something helpful.
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The 1900 Bath, Illinois census shows that she immigrated in 1840.
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MS4K-FYH
Note: I've run across incorrect information for immigration years, so it can be assumed she did immigrate during that year, but I wouldn't limit the search to just 1840.
Are there any "missing" aunts or uncles of the three girls who left England for either Canada or America and possibly took the girls with them?
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paslwigr - Please be more specific about the question you hope to answer.
Are you asking mode of transport and or potential migration route that took her from England to Michigan?
Or are you inquring about the circumstances surrounding her migration?
I've done a lot of research on my Scottish and Finnish ancestors who migrated to Michigan in the 19th century as well as work on my New York ancestors who moved to Michigan circa 1820. I can better help you if you ask very specific questions.
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Do you have middle names for Sarah and Margaret?
A Jane Wootton B 1819 England arrived New York 1846, ship name was James. The imaged passenger manifest is free. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVRQ-H3Z2
Try this multi-website search engine for immigration records in U.S. and Canada. Searching is free. Some of your hits will be pay sites. The search engine creator is a hobby genealogist but his profession is computer scientist. The search engine is really excellent. http://stephenmorse.org/
Here is free search for NY Castle Garden. http://castlegarden.org/searcher.php
Some migrants whose destination was Canada entered via Boston or New York. My Scottish and Finnish ancestors came through both NY and Boston. If Kerren entered via New York, she had to enter at Castle Garden because Ellis Island didn't open until about 1890.
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To Lisa in California,
I have all the US census entries for Moses W Boyd and Kerenhappuch and family, but I hadn't looked for other Boyds, probably relatives of Moses. But not the Veteran's Index. Thankyou for that.
Because Keren said she had arrived 1840, I assumed she had emigrated just after the Census of 6th June 1841 in Tring Hertfordshire, England, as so young, 9 or 10 years old she wouldn't have been sure of the date, fifty odd years later. I don't know of any Wootton relatives other than her sisters Jane born 1824 and Margaret born 1826 who she could have travelled with. I also wondered if she/they arrived in Canada first, but have found no evidence.
To Minnesotan
Keren's sisters were Jane & Margaret, they had no middle names as I have their baptisms in Sedgley Parish Church Staffordshire, England. I will check the imaged passenger manifest on Family Search, and the other sites you suggested.
My questions are (1)When did she leave England after 6th June 1841 and before she married Moses Boyd in 1847 in Michigan. (2) The potential migration route which took her from England to Michigan. The why I can only surmise, her mother died, her father left with another woman and had set up home with her In Bangor Caernarvonshire, Wales by 1847, so that's not a question. Thanks for all the help and advice.
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:-[Apologies to Lisa in California & Minnesotan
Re Kerenhappuch Wootton's journey to USA her sisters were. Jane born 1826 and Margaret born 1830. Not as I stated in my replies to the two kind people above.
paslwigr
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Kerenhappuch Wootton's journey to USA her sisters were. Jane born 1826 and Margaret born 1830.
This is really stretching it, but is there a chance that Jane (or Margaret) also married young? Perhaps Jane married some time after 1841, and her husband wanted to settle in Canada or America? Could she/would she have taken her sisters with her?
May I ask how you found out that Keren married in 1847, please? If you have a marriage certificate, were there any witnesses to the marriage (which may provide a clue)? :-\
PS Have you searched the 1850 Lockport census for a "married" Jane or a Margaret (born in England) with the same years of birth as your Jane and Margaret? Update: Or, if you know the Michigan town in which Keren was married, searched that town's 1850 census for Jane and/or Margaret?
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I believe this is your Keren's christening record.
Keren Happersh Wotton; 27 Dec 1835 christened Sedgely, Stafford, Parents, John and Mary Wotton
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N8R5-YRZ
You said her sisters Jane and Margaret were also christened at Sedgely, so this must be your Keren.
In light of Keren's revised birth year (1835 and not 1832), if she did come to the U.S. in 1840, she was just 5 years old which means she did not come over alone.
You said you think Keren's mother Mary died about 1842. If you don't have very specific death or burial for Mary, my hunch is that Keren's parents' marriage broke down and mother Mary took daughters Kerren, Jane and Margaret to the U.S.
Also, what information causes you to believe Keren was married to Moses and living in Illinois by 1847?
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To Minnesotan,
Not all children were baptised soon after birth in England, Keren was baptised on the same day as her baby brother, Samuel 27th December 1835, but he died in infancy. Another of my families, in Buckinghamshire had four of their children baptised on the same day of varying ages. And two others not until they were in their teens. Keren states that she was born February 1832 in the 1900 census for Illinois. This would fit with her age, 9 years, in the 1841 census for Tring Hertfordshire, England.
No, I have not got certain proof that her mother was the Mary Wootton who died in 1842 and registered In Aylesbury, as no age was stated. So you may be right, perhaps her father left the family home and Mary took her three daughters to America/Canada. I would be happy to be wrong about that. The two brothers William born in Shropshire, where the Wootton family hailed from and Joseph also born in Staffordshire, were easily found marrying and having children in Staffordshire and Yorkshire, one of whom named his daughter with the 'family' name of Kerenhappuch, which I'm sure you know is Hebrew.
I found Keren in Illinois in the American censuses, after I gave up trying to find her married/died in England after 1841. Simply by putting her unusual name into the search. I did not find the marriage however, through my own efforts, but by eventually looking at the Public Member Trees for other people researching the name. I found a family where they had discovered, presumably, that Moses W Boyd had married Keren 8th October 1847 in Port Huron, St Clair, Michigan. There was no copy of the actual certificate shown, so again, I personally have no proof that this was true.
To Lisa in California,
I did wonder if the other girls had married around the same time as young women, but their common names didn't help. I haven't checked all the census for Lockport, but its worth a try to see if any Jane or Margaret of similar ages turns up also the town in which she married, which was Port Huron, St Clair Michigan. It's interesting that Moses & Keren called their first daughter Margaret Jane. See above how I learnt of Keren's marriage.
Thankyou both for going to the trouble to try and get some answers about Keren and family for me.
paslwigr
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When researching, I tend to suggest things that otherwise might be ignored, but that is how I've found some information about my brickwall ancestors. ::) There most likely isn't a connection here, especially since you mentioned that the sisters didn't have middle names, but I didn't want to ignore this:
Online trees suggest that Catherine Margaret Wooton/Wooten married George William Bowman on 5 March 1849, Port Huron, Michigan. She apparently passed away on 26 October 1856, St. Clair, Michigan. She apparently was born on 16 May, 1830, England.
I've only briefly searched Port Huron records, but so far I've not found any other Wootton/Wooton names c1850. :-\
Given that Keren named her first daughter possibly after her sisters, I wonder if she was remembering her sisters (either they died, or were not living close to her) or if she was just passing down family names.
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OK, this new detail is a game changer for me. My revised research plan would be all about getting a look at an image or ordering a photocopy of Keren's Port Huron marriage record. That's because it may include how long she had been living in Port Huron at the time she married, her mother's maiden name and maybe even if mom was alive or not.
If it were me, I wouldn't do any more research until after I have an image or photocopy of the original handwritten marriage record or I have confirmed that the indexed info is the most complete marriage record.
Based on the marriage date and locale, here is the most direct migration path from the UK to Michigan.
Exit Port in the UK>>>New York Castle Garden>>>Port Huron
All of it by water thanks to the Erie Canal which was opened 1825.
Also potentially important is the fact that Port Huron at that time was basically the terminus for said migration path. Keren marrying very young around age 15, at the port closest to the groom's stomping grounds makes me wonder about arranged marriage.
Just as an fyi, at that time there was no over-land westward migration path to Michigan. There were trains to Buffalo, NY but that would have added a lot of expense. Water transport was significantly less expensive than over land. U.S. migration paths at that time. http://etc.usf.edu/maps/pages/3300/3328/3328.pdf
You will probably never find Keren listed on a Great Lakes ship manifest because very few survive and because they were not good about keeping ANY of who boarded. But this link on the maritime history of the Great Lakes is a goldmine if you want to come up with a short list of ships that could have dropped her off in Port Huron. http://maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/ Thanks to this man, I obtained the names of the only 2 ships that could have transported my ancestors to Superior WI in 1857.
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Yeah, I did not know Kerenhappuch was Hebrew. I figured Gaelic. That's my default assumption whenever I see a long name from the UK. But then I think everything tastes like chicken too. So there's that.
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:)To Lisa in California,
What you have discovered about the Catherine Margaret Wootton in Port Huron is very interesting. Although the baptism register at Sedgley Parish Church in Staffordshire England simply says 'Margaret', I know that her mother Mary's mother was called Catherine. Also her baptism date of 30th May 1830 is very close to the birthdate you have found. You might just have found a very important piece of this jigsaw. Thankyou, I am so appreciative.
To Minnesotan,
I can't tell you how much all this wonderful information means to me. I agree that I need to find the original marriage record somehow. I suppose I could contact the person who put the information on her public tree. But all the info. about migration to USA, I would never have found all that myself. Whether it was an arranged marriage, had crossed my mind, and you may well be right. A young girl, 15 years of age or younger when she arrived, with or without her sisters, she would need protection. On a lighter note, perhaps Moses Boyd was on the lookout for a healthy young bride when the boat came in! So many thanks for all your help, to both of you.
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Yeah, I did not know Kerenhappuch was Hebrew. I figured Gaelic. That's my default assumption whenever I see a long name from the UK. But then I think everything tastes like chicken too. So there's that.
It is an Old Testament name, and not just strictly "Hebrew".
These OT names were not that uncommon in England's industrial regions, due to the popularity within the working class communities of Nonconformist churches. The Wesleyan and Methodist non-con denominations for example. The Primitive Methodist church was popular in Staffordshire in particular
What were the occupations of Kerenhappuch's extended family, who were still back in England?
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No hard information, but two things which might be of interest:
I have an instance in my tree of a couple emigrating in 1851. The ship's manifest shows five children with them, but although they are all listed with the family name, Brickett, only two children are their own, and the others appear to belong to different couple who did not emigrate with them, and are not related so far as I can tell. (I think they were friends, as one of the parents of these girls was a witness at the Bricketts' wedding). They show up later in US censuses with their real surname.
So it might be worthwhile looking for Kerenhappuch and perhaps her sisters travelling with another family.
re Kerenhappuch's marriage. A cousin of my father emigrated to Vancouver in the early 20thC. She told us that because there were a great many more young men than women around at the time who had emigrated, she quite often got proposals of marriage from strangers who would strike up a conversation with her, and take only a matter of minutes to get to the point. (She never married!)
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Bowman to Wootton 158 indexed here but don't see Boyd/Wootton?
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01h1s/
On the original (
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01h1u/ image 106 bottom right) they are listed as George Bowman, aged 25, and Margaret W. Wottum, aged 19, married 4 Mar 1849. Witnesses were U.E. McNeil and Eliza Wigginson, and the wedding was performed by John McNeil, justice of the peace.
Given how close they were to Canada, I would also be looking in Ontario.
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:-\ To jorose,
Thank you for guiding me to a part of Family Search I didn't know was there. You were quite correct, there is no marriage entry for Moses W Boyd & Kerenhappuch Wootton on 8th October 1847 at Port Huron, St Clair. It was on one of the public trees that I acquired that information, but it must not be correct. That has thrown me, as another kind Rootschatter advised me to check out the marriage and with your help I find its not there! However I would have expected names of fathers to be entered on the certificates and they were obviously not required. Now I wonder where, if at all, they married.
To Galium,
Thank you for your information, it all adds to the picture of life back then.
To Sallyyorks,
You are right about the biblical names, even though the Wootton family is baptising, marrying, and burying in the Church of England, many of the names crop up in the area. Kezia, Elijah, Job, Samuel etc. The Wootton men, as far back as I have been researched in Shropshire, mid 18th century, all seem to be lead miners or have jobs connected to the lead mines. Kerenhappuch's father John Wootton left Shropshire after his eldest son was born in 1817, and went to Staffordshire where all the other children were born. After that he went to Hertfordshire, where in 1841 he and his two sons are all described as miners. Both sons were connected to mining for the rest of their lives.
To Minnesotan & Lisa in California,
What a can of worms, my questions have opened! why did the persons on Public Member Trees, give a false marriage date or a false place. The plot thickens.
Thanks to everybody who keeps helping me, you are all so kind.
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The Oct 1847 marriage date - I would not give up yet and assume it's bad info because you haven't yet been able to find it on an index.
I had exact same thing for one of my Montcalm County Michigan ancestors. I found wedding date plus POM town/county on a tree with no source info. I requested the original marriage record from Montcalm County Clerk and confirmed that the unsourced family tree was right.
I would contact the person who posted the marriage date on their tree. Plus I would also request the record from the St. Clair County Clerk because their website says they have marriage records starting with 1839. Here is the printable request form. http://www.stclaircounty.org/offices/clerk/forms/MarriageCertificate.pdf
You can't request marriage record online. You'll have to snail-mail the form and enclose a $15 money order as payment.
St. Clair County Clerk's web page
http://www.stclaircounty.org/offices/clerk/MarriageCertificate.aspx
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Sanitary conditions on the emigrant ships, as well as overcrowding, possibly sea sickness, tended to lead to casualties amongst the passengers. Is it possible that an adult accompanying the child died in transit?
Secondly, there was a health check on arrival in the USA. perhaps the adult had been refused admission and immediately returned to England.
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Have you looked for her on the Ellis Island registers?
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ScouseBoy - If Keren traveled to the U.S. alone then she must have pre-arranged meeting up with a relative OR fiancee after arrival. If not that, then I agree with you that she traveled with other(s).
Possible scenarios
1. Keren immigrated because her mother died in England or because mother and father split up.
2. The reason paslwigr hasn't yet found out what happened to sisters Jane and Margaret is because they immigrated with Keren and it takes a lot of time to find women with their married names. Or Jane and Margaret died around the same time mother did from a communicable disease such as typhoid/cholera etc.
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Have you looked for her on the Ellis Island registers?
At that time if New York was her port of entry she was processed at Castle Garden. I did a few searches of Castle Garden but didn't come up with anything.
She could have come through Boston, plus a few other eastern ports.
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ScouseBoy - If Keren traveled to the U.S. alone then she must have pre-arranged meeting up with a relative OR fiancee after arrival. If not that, then I agree with you that she traveled with other(s).
Possible scenarios
1. Keren immigrated because her mother died in England or because mother and father split up.
2. The reason paslwigr hasn't yet found out what happened to sisters Jane and Margaret is because they immigrated with Keren and it takes a lot of time to find women with their married names. Or Jane and Margaret died around the same time mother did from a communicable disease such as typhoid/cholera etc.
What I was suggesting is that her accompanying adult may have been taken ill on the ship crossing and died in transit.
Or, that her accompanying adult was refused entry to the US in the health checks on the dock side, and returned to England.
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:'( Minnesotan - I have contacted both of the members on Public Trees about the 8th October 1847 marriage, but not heard from them yet. But, Rootschatter jorose, guided me to a section of Family Search, that to my shame, I didn't know existed and there I was able to see the actual images of the marriages for Port Huron, St Clair. He had already told me he had found a marriage between a Margaret Wootton and a George Bowman, but no sign of one between a Boyd and a Wootton. To be sure I trawled all of them from early 1840's to 1850, but nothing turned up. One good thing is that the above Margaret could be mine. Another kind Rootschatter had already pointed me in the direction of this Margaret and I checked the Public Tree. She is the right age even to the month of birth in England May 1830, but sadly only lived until 1856. There were married March 1849 in Port Huron. On viewing the images, I saw that there was no requirement for the parents of the couple to be named, so I can only tentatively claim her as 'my' Margaret. Nevertheless I have gained loads of information from everyone, that I didn't know before and am so grateful to everyone who has taken time to give me the information.
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scouseboy - Yeah my post was not very clear, sorry. I should have included that I agree with your scenarios and that I was adding additional ones.
http://www.castlegarden.org/searcher.php
And paslwigr - Our disconnect may have finally hit me. The UK has had a centralized marriage registry for a long time. I just learned that fact last week. If an 1847 marriage cannot be found in the UK marriage registry, the marriage did not happen in the UK.
But there has never been a central marriage registry for U.S. When you search marriage records on genealogy websites it seems like you're searching a centralized registry but you are not. In the U.S. each state maintains its own marriage registry but very few states had them prior to about 1900. State registries do not include vital records events that occured prior to the date they enforced their state's vital records registry law.
Michigan's marriage registry starts with 1905 marriages. You found Margaret's marriage in a small local 'historical' registry but it was not Port Huron's registry. Keren's original marriage record very likely is at the St. Clair County Clerk's office but it has not been indexed yet. Their contact info is in a previous post. The reason I had encouraged you to request Keren's original record is because her 1847 record could have a lot more or less information on it than Margaret's even though they were both married in Huron just 5 years apart of so. Recording of details varied widely back then.
Once a state established their central registry, earlier records were deemed 'historical'. Those 'historical' records ended up in hundreds of repositories. That's why familysearch.org, every U.S. library as well as state, county and local historical groups all have their own genealogy finding aids. Here is familysearch.org's finding aid for Michigan. https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Michigan_Genealogy.
Familysearch wiki is a good place to go to first before you begin researching in a new region.
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To Sallyyorks,
You are right about the biblical names, even though the Wootton family is baptising, marrying, and burying in the Church of England, many of the names crop up in the area. Kezia, Elijah, Job, Samuel etc. The Wootton men, as far back as I have been researched in Shropshire, mid 18th century, all seem to be lead miners or have jobs connected to the lead mines. Kerenhappuch's father John Wootton left Shropshire after his eldest son was born in 1817, and went to Staffordshire where all the other children were born. After that he went to Hertfordshire, where in 1841 he and his two sons are all described as miners. Both sons were connected to mining for the rest of their lives.
Yes miners could move around quite a bit, but Hertfordshire is not really known for any coal or lead mining , though the family and their neighbours, are listed as miners in Tring on the 1841 census.
In about 1837-41 a new rail line was built there and a large cutting for the London to Birmingham rail route. I am thinking that this is why there are so many "miners" listed.
http://gerald-massey.org.uk/Railway_local/index.htm
Might it be possible that the work then dried up in Tring, after the railway/cutting was finished, and that the whole family then went to America for work. Some settling there, Keren and sisters?, but that the father and sons went back to England some time before 1851
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:D, sallyyorks - Thankyou for that information and brilliant website about Tring. Its now clear why the Woottons went there.
I only began tracing this family line a few weeks ago, so mining of any sort is new to me. They are on my husband's side actually, my family all seem to be weavers and farmers in Lancashire and only one twig stepped out of Lancashire and emigrated to Texas, but that's another story.
I found William Wootton, Keren's brother, back in Staffordshire working as a limestone miner in 1851, but he had been in Staffordshire since 1842 living with his future wife and son. So unlikely that he ever went to USA. Joseph could have I suppose, as he only married in 1854 in Yorkshire, but was living with his future wife in Bradford in 1851. Their daughter Kerenhappuch was born that year. When he married he said he was a brickmaker, but in 1871 he is an ironstone miner. It's all very intriguing. Their father was certainly in Bangor Caernarvonshire by 1848, with his partner and their baby son, but could have been in USA in between. Not found any prooff though so the mystery goes on. I can't believe the kindness of you and all the others who have given up their time to help, I am truly grateful.
minnesotan - Thank you for the website to get a certificate, hopefully, for Keren's marriage. My step-son lives in America and he will see to that for me. Many thanks to you and everyone who has given me so many pieces to place in this jigsaw.