WHELLANS family - Morebattle

[brina]

I did get back to Kalamazoo Public Library and they have now found Jane Wheelans cemetery listing which they are posting out to me.   I am trying not to get too excited about what information might be contained in it but as soon as I do receive it I shall post the information here.

Morag - it would be great if you manage to get more information from George's gt. gt. gt. grandson - thank you so much for contacting him.   

What an amazing puzzle this is.

Brina

[MonicaL]

Pity they can't send as attachment via email....but then I am so impatient  That's great news Brina, they have been incredibly helpful there 

Monica

[brina]

Yes Monica I was also hoping for an e-mail attachment but thought I should not chance my luck by requesting the information that way when they had offered to post it.   Here's hoping we at least get some info that can be of use.

Brina

[brina]

I received an envelope from Kalamazoo Public Library today and could hardly contain myself before opening it and then - what a disappointment!   All it contained was a burial record from Mountain Home Cemetery, City of Kalamazoo which lists a Jane Wallace Taylor who died Feb 12 1864.   That is all the information on it apart from the Block No. O.P and the Lot No 417.   

The local history staff also sent a note to say that their index cards have the same date but for a Jane Williams Taylor.

I was just about to think that this had all been a waste of time because the dates do not match the dates in the book until I noticed the name above Jane's and it is Jane Dodds Taylor and it is the same Lot No. 417.   The date on the Burial Record for Jane Dodds is Sept 18 1860.

I then started to look for others buried in Lot No 417 named Taylor and they are: -

Andrew Taylor Aug 1863  (19y 8 m)
George Taylor 31 Aug 1891 (88y 6m)
James A Taylor 15 Jan 1935
John P Taylor 26 Mar 1894 (39 yrs)

So I am now thinking that the person named Jane Wallace (Williams) Taylor is our Jane Whellens after all although I still do not have any more information about her.

Any more suggestions anyone?


Brina

[hdw]

Hard luck, Brina, it's horrible when your expectations are high, then you get let down. But at least you're getting mail. Are you in the US? There is a rolling programme of postal strikes in the UK, and here in Edinburgh the postal workers keep having wildcat strikes at the drop of a hat, so I'm waiting impatiently for several items of mail that should have come ages ago. Two of them are of a genealogical nature. Another is an information pack for a charity I expressed an interest in. They are now including me in email shots, but I still haven't received their information pack, let alone confirmed that I'm interested in volunteering!

Back to Whellans - you know how you look up a B., M. or D. certificate on Scotlandspeople and sometimes the other entries on the page are of more interest? Today I was looking up the death of someone called Brydon, and on the same page of the Wilton deaths-register for 1883 there was a death-certificate for Jean CLARK, 42, widow of John CLARK, grocer, daughter of Andrew WHELLANS, general labourer, and Isabella WALKER.

Maybe that will be of interest to somebody.

Harry

[brina]

Just found the following on a Kalamazoo Mountain Home Cemetery website: -

Taylor, George  Birth:1803 Death:1891 Interment:1/1/1891 Blk:I Sec:417 Lot:1
Taylor, Susan Carter Birth:1821 Death:1889 Interment:1/1/1889 Blk:I Sec:417 Lot:2
Taylor, Andrew Birth:1844 Death:1863 Interment:1/1/1863 Blk:I Sec:417 Lot:3
Taylor, Jane Willence Birth:No Date Death:No Date Interment:1/1/1864 Blk:I Sec:417 Lot:5 Sexton shows maiden name as Wallace
Taylor, John P. Birth:No Date Death:No Date Interment:3/26/1894 Blk:I Sec:417 Lot:6
Taylor, John D. Birth:1855 Death:1894 Interment:3/26/1894 Blk:I Sec:417 Lot:7 Sexton shows middle initial as P.
Taylor, James A. Birth:1849 Death:1935 Interment:1/15/1935 Blk:I Sec:417 Lot:12 Owner of Kalamazoo Nursery - Bedding Plants

Strangely enough Jane Dodds Taylor not mentioned on this one.

I see that our Jane Whellens is now recorded as Willence.

And so it goes on...............

[brina]

Hi Harry,

Thanks for your commiserations.   I am in the Scottish Borders, Peebles in fact.   Interesting about Andrew Whellans, I will keep that in mind in case I need to look at those details some time.

Brina

[morageckford]

Hello Brina

I've been following your search for Jane Whellans and as she didn't go to America until Dec 1862, she must be on the 1861 census here in the Borders, probably Roxburghshire.

She could have been working at Grahamslaw then but there's just a chance she might have been at home with her family. I know this is clutching at straws but you're running out of options!

I'm sure I read somewhere that she was 40 when she died in October 1863 so her birth or christening in 1823 must be recorded - I'd start in Morebattle if the Whellans family lived there. All the records will be in the Heritage Hub in Hawick, you'll get a leaflet at the local tourist office.

Have you asked the Borders Family History Society if any of theit members are researching Whellans or similar names?

Morag

[MonicaL]

Hi Morag

As you can see, the search for Jane's origins has continued. Jane does show in 1851 and 1861 censuses, working as a domestic servant/housekeeper, down as born in Jedburgh. From a previous post:

In 1862 Kelso native George Taylor came back to the old country from the States, and - being a widower by then - proposed to Jane Whillans, whom he obviously knew of old. He tells us she "had a good situation as housekeeper at Grahamslaw", and I checked this out in the 1861 census of Eckford parish. Jane was then 35, and claimed to be a native of Jedburgh. A "good situation" indeed - her employer Charles Cunningham, a farmer with 750 acres and 21 farm-workers - was only 18 years old!


Even with all the good material provided by the Kalamazoo Public Library and the further research undertaken by Brina, we are still struggling to connect her to her family 

Good ideas from you regarding possible further research avenues 

Monica