Today is the 119th anniversary of the birth of my Grand-Uncle, Clyde Leroy Brown. Born 12 Feb 1894, in Minnesota, he was the oldest of 13 children of Arthur Durwood and Mary Elizabeth Manning Brown. He grew up in Crow Wing County, Minnesota.
About 1902 he moved with his parents to Kidder County, North Dakota.
41st Infantry Division Insignia
In May of 1917, Clyde enlisted in the North Dakota National Guard. His regiment, the North Dakota 1st (aka 164th Infantry Regiment of the 41st Infantry Division). On 1 May 1918, his regiment headed to Europe as part of The American Expeditionary Forces. In France, the 41st Division received the disappointing news that they were designated a “replacement division” and would not go into combat as a unit. In October 1918, Clyde was assigned to the 116th Supply Train, which was the first of three support assignments. The War ended on 11/11/1918. He remained in Europe for another nine months being assigned to the Provisional Motor Transport Company Unit, then finally, Motor Transport Company No. 831. Before leaving France, he married Yvonne Caumont.
SS Imperator / USS Imperator
He and Yvonne arrived in New York aboard the USS Imperator on 10 Aug 1919. The Imperator was the largest ship of its day, being larger than the Titanic when it was built. Clyde was discharged on 11 Aug 1919 in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Clyde and Yvonne settled in Baxter, Crow Wing County, Minnesota. In the next ten years, they have moved to Rosing, Morrison County, Minnesota, USA and had seven children,
Marie Clarence Marcelle William Bernice Artie Baby (name not known)
Yvonne died in January 1932.
The intervening years are a mystery. I haven’t successfully found him in the 1940 census nor any other records until 5 Dec 1942, when he married Susan Harman in Crow Wing County, Minnesota.
He married Alice Marie Tyson about 1957.
He may have lived for a period in California, but by 1961 he returned to Minnesota, and he lived on Route 4, Brainerd.
He retired from the Northern Pacific Railway Company.
Clyde died on 4 Aug 1971 in Crow Wing County and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Block 10, Lot 87, Section: SEC.
If you have photos or additional information regarding Clyde Leroy Brown, please leave comments or email me directly.
Actions for the future:
Confirm the baby, name, and story. Find Clyde and his children in the 1940 Census. Investigate Susan Harman Investigate Alice Tyson See if he shows in any Northern Pacific Railway documents.
Sometimes the world opens up for you suddenly based upon a tiny bit of information.
Caption
I decided to focus on John Huber and Bertha Trumpi. They arrived in the States separately, both in 1903. They settled in the Swiss Colonies of Wisconsin, were married, and had a child, my wife’s grandmother, while there. They moved to Alabama before 1910, had another child, then moved to Michigan before 1920. I had neither of their parents’ names, although because of some photographs, I was pretty sure that John’s father was Jakob and possible names for his mother (Frieda & Kath). I knew absolutely nothing about Bertha’s parents.
I found them in the 1905 Wisconsin Census. They were married by then and living in Dane County, Wisconsin. From that, I knew that they married between 1903 and 1905. I searched and searched and just couldn’t find them. I noticed a Johana marrying during the time but discounted that.
I recently took a class (I think it was a Legacy webinar) where the old surname boards on various systems were mentioned. The webinar reminded me to be sure to use surname boards as a resource. So, feeling frustrated about my not being able to find John and Bertha’s marriage information, I posted a query to the (free) Ancestry Board – Dane County, Wisconsin. It was the first time I had posted to a board in over a decade. I posted:
I’m looking for information regarding the marriage of John Huber and Bertha Trumpi (Trumpy, Trumphi). Bertha arrived in the US about 1903. She and John were married before 1 June 1905 most likely in Green or Dane County. They lived in Primrose, Dane County in the 1905 Wisconsin Census.
I was astounded — In 8 hours and 10 minutes, I had a reply.
Wisconsin Marriage Records
Groom – Johann Huber born Windlack, Switzerland.
His father Jacob Huber, his mother Kath Stuckinger. They married 2 March 1905 in New Glarus, Green Co., Wisconsin.
Bertha Trumpe
Father Bernard Trumpe Mother Bertha Koch
This would more than likely have taken place in the Swiss Church in New Glarus…
Of course, I felt stupid having seen Johana before. Knowing the date I easily found the entries on Family Search. (I don’t know why my searches for Trumpi, Trumpy didn’t find her before. ) I thought about ordering a copy of the certificate from Wisconsin. They want $20.00 and will send you a copy of the certificate if they find it. (I’ve had bad experiences with doing that in other states and didn’t want to go down that path.) I saw Family Search has the microfilm available, so I decided to order that media. I’ve never ordered microfilm to look at a Family Heritage Center, so I thought I’d try that. The film is still in processing, but I did find three other marriage records on the same film that I’m interested in seeing as well. (All Trumpi’s in New Glarus, Wisconsin.) So, I’m looking forward to seeing the microfilm.
Jakob Huber
Kath Huber
In one fell swoop, I had solidified John/Johann’s parents’ names, which was really great because I had a family photo that contained them.
I wasn’t sure until I found this index if they were parents, uncles, and aunts or what; now I’m sure. The record also included Bertha’s parents’ names. It moves my Darling/Huber tree, Generation 4, from 50% to 100%. I still have to fill in many blanks, but I at least have names, places, and places to start.
I looked for Bertha Trumpe and found a family tree containing a “Bertha/Retha Trumpe” who came to the States in 1905 and eventually moved to California. Family oral history indicated that Bertha’s mother came to the states and went out to California. I looked a little closer at those entries and found that Retha came over from Glarus, Switzerland, to see a daughter, Bertha Trumpe, in New Glarus, Wisconsin. I looked carefully at the 1900 and the 1910 census records and didn’t find anyone else named Bertha Trumpe near New Glarus so I’m sure it is the right parent.
Retha came to the States very pregnant with three children. She was so pregnant that on the second day of the trip, she gave birth to a boy. Of course, that raises the question of why she would leave Switzerland when pregnant. What happened in Switzerland still needs answers. It was a descendant of the baby boy born on the cruise that had the tree, missing Bertha that tuned me into the family thing.
I also wonder greatly why a Swiss family would move from Wisconsin to Alabama. Certainly against most migration patterns. That will take some more investigation.
The tree I found indicated that Bertha/Retha Trumpi married Kaspar Hefti in 1914. Also, I see where other Hefti’s have married other Trumpi’s. So there are many family relationships to untangle. It will definitely keep me busy for a while. I’ll start what I call a deep dive for Trumpi’s in the New Glarus area from 1880 to 1920 and see what I find. It is always exciting to find new cousins.
A quick, well-focused question on the right location or surname board can make a huge difference.
[I recently asked Shirley how she and Pete met and about their wedding, who were the witnesses and why did they select that particular minister. The following is extracted from an eMail response from Shirley Howell dated 20 Jan 2013.]
Matchbook La Salle Du Bois
Pete and Shirley met while Shirley was a student at American University. She worked at Colortone Press, an offset printer, as a receptionist/paste-up artist. Her desk was a drawing board in the reception area. Pete came in as a customer to order stationary and then called back later to invite her to have lunch. She agreed. To her schoolgirl amazement, he took her to La Salle du Bois, then considered a most elegant restaurant in Washington. They piled caviar on her plate and she was very, very impressed. They had another date. Pete represented an adult world that Shirley was not used to, having previously only dated boys her age. Pete was twelve years older, married, and had a (recently failed) export-import business. Pete said his wife was in Reno getting a divorce. Pete took Shirley, in an almost formal way, to meet several of his friends and their wives. Through those meetings, Shirley confirmed what he was saying about his wife was true.
Bethesda Presbyterian Church
Bethesda, MD
After dating for a few months, they decided to marry. They looked for a minister who would do it. Things were more conservative then and many ministers would not marry divorcees. Pete’s father, a Baptist pastor, was willing to do it, but resistance from Shirley’s family was a barrier for him. Aunt Betty was horrified and upset and absolutely would not come to the wedding, she said, nor would any of the rest of my family. So Pete’s family stayed away too, sympathetic but intent on doing what they felt was the right thing under the circumstances.
They found a Presbyterian minister in Bethesda, which is near American University, who was willing to marry them. Several of Shirley’s college friends provided emotional and material support that Shirley needed. Two of them signed as witnesses at the wedding.
I’m taking a genealogy course with the Cobb County Genealogical Society, with whom I am a member. Although I’ve done many webinars, I’ve never taken an official class in genealogy. I have been asked on a couple of occasions to give classes. I suppose I’ve been reluctant because I’ve not seen classes of this type put on by regular folks, only videos of professionals. So, I thought I’d take the class mainly because I had never taken one before, and I thought I would pick up a few tidbits. I am also new to the CCGC, so I thought it’d be an excellent opportunity to meet some people there. This class would be my first activity with the CCGC folks.
The first of two classes yesterday was on Census Records. It was an excellent class. The instructor reminded me of the mortality schedules and the agriculture schedules. I never looked at them, and I was reminded that I really should. She did a short bit on Soundex codes and how they work. It was helpful and put it together more clearly for me. (See my frustration in a previous posting.) Beneficial was one of her Internet Resources Links that she suggested was the Soundex Calculator on the Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter site. I bookmarked the calculator and put the bookmark in my Genealogy Tools folder. I feel bookmarks are much more manageable than remembering where I put the paper instructions.
During the class, I was reminded of the Georgia Virtual Vault, and due to funding cuts, the Georgia Archives is only open two days a week, the least of any state archive facility. (Note: Contact your state legislators and ask they improve funding for the State Archives.
Death Certificate – Edward L McAllister.
None of my ancestors are from Georgia, nor are my wife’s, so I’ve never done much with the Georgia Virtual Vault. I was reminded of it, so I thought I’d refresh my memory of some of the site’s things. My wife’s great-granduncle, Edward “Ted” McAllister, died in Georgia. Family oral history said he had “bedded a married woman and was killed by a jealous husband.” I wondered if the story was true. A quick search and there was his death certificate. Cause of Death: Murder. Wow. Maybe the story is true. Another part of the story is that Harold, the husband of my wife’s Great-Grand Aunt, went down to take care of business and have his body returned to Pennsylvania for burial. The death certificate shows who the informant was, not Ted’s brother-in-law, as oral tradition would indicate, but Ted’s youngest brother. The death certificate also says he was widowed. Interestingly, I had no information on a wife or other family. It also indicated he was buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery in Savannah. I guess they didn’t ship the body back.
Logo of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.
He also worked as a car inspector for the “A. C. L. Ry.” Not being from Georgia, I didn’t know what that was. After a quick check at Wikipedia, I learned it’s the Atlantic Coast Line Railway (Railroad).
I searched for McAllister in Laurel Grove Cemetery on Find-A-Grave (FAG) (one of my favorite sites) and quickly located a memorial for him. The memorial spoke of his first wife, three children, and a second wife who died and was also buried in the cemetery.
Sadly, the memorial indicated that “A Find-a-Grave volunteer reports that he is buried in an unmarked grave in Strangers Ground…- this is where county-paid burials are located. “ His wife is likewise in Strangers Ground, so they must have been extremely poor.
The FAG memorial also mentioned his immigration in 1886 aboard the ship, “British King.” In genealogy, one bit of information found leads to another and another.
SS British King
I knew he came across with his mother and three siblings in 1886, but I didn’t know the date, port, or ship. I’d quickly look at Ancestry and see if they had the record. Sure enough, he was with his mother “Marg t” (instead of Margaret), and siblings. They arrived on 23 June 1886 aboard the steamship “British King” from Liverpool to Philadelphia. Surprisingly, Ancestry didn’t have a photo of the British King, but I found several elsewhere.
So hours pass as I thoroughly document all these findings. But, so much more to research. Can I confirm his two marriages? What happened to his first wife, divorce or death? Can I find the names of his three children? Did he have other children? Can I find a newspaper article that speaks of his murder? Did a jealous husband really murder him?
UPDATE
I did confirm his wife Violet died in 1910. They had three children, Edward L., Albert W., and Paul Y. McAllister. The Savannah Press, 13 January 1925, has a multipage article regarding his murder. The article uses four headlines to really grab your attention.
Headlines:
Edward L. McAllister is Found Murdered in Home
Railroad man had been dead since Saturday
Beaten in head with hatchet; body on kitchen floor
Lived Alone since wife died last year
Edward L. McAllister, employed at the Atlantic Coast Line Railway shops, was discovered murdered at this home on Thirty-ninth street near Ash by H. B. Brown…..
Now the question is, who did it? Was it a jealous husband, as oral history indicated? Oral history was wrong because he hadn’t been shot, but rather a hatchet to the head. Much more personal than a shooting. The article also mentions that his wife, who died the previous November, was under the care of a physician at the jail. Why??? Always more questions.
The Huber side of the family is one shrouded in mystery. Because my wife’s grandmother died when my wife’s mother was only four years old, and there were no siblings, very little was known about her. I decided to look into her death information. What is her exact date, place, and cause of death?
First, I contacted my mother-in-law. Did she have any additional information? A response from her indicated that she was sure it was 1934. Probably September. She thought her mother was buried somewhere in Brookline, Pittsburgh, PA. I went to the usual search places, ancestry.com, family search, etc., and wasn’t successful. I then looked at find-a-grave and several other grave sites and came up empty-handed. Archives.Com, which I am not a member of, indicated they had one hit for the right name and place, but they expanded the search period to a ten-year scope. I hate paying for information that only has a chance of being right. If they had left the search parameter to the one year I asked for, I would have gone for it, but I figured when they expanded my range to ten years, it was because they didn’t find anything in my one-year search, so it probably wasn’t the correct record.
Next to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The genealogical request form has many requirements that it wants that I didn’t have, primarily the date of death. I figured I was going to have to request a search. I have had bad luck with searches in other states, paying for a search that yields nothing. Then I found Act 110 – Public Records (Senate Bill 361).
The Act “provide[s] for public access to certain birth and death certificates after a fixed amount of time has passed. This legislation provides that such documents become public records 105 years after the date of birth or 50 years after the date of death.” Through the act, you can get a non-certified copy for only $3, which is suitable for my purposes, and they have indexes.
I went to the death indexes and pulled up 1934. I was so confused. The names were all jumbled up, and I couldn’t find anyone with the correct surname or the specific person I was looking for. Several years of indices are listed according to the Russell Soundex indexing method. I read about it and was still confused. Her surname had to be here someplace. I downloaded the index to my computer (a pdf file) and then ran my OCR software (PDF Pen) against it. It is a big file, which took a while, but I found my person immediately when it was done. The name and place were right; the date was October instead of September, which is understandable. I’m sure it is the right person. I downloaded the order form and will send it today.
McAllister
Anna (Hannah) McAllister Darling, circa 1910.
Being an opportunist, I wondered if the Pennsylvania DoH site would help with a couple of other problems I’ve been having. My wife’s great-grandmother died in 1913. I looked up her name and quickly found an Anna White, who died in 1913. The date was different, I had 15 July, and the record indicated 11 July. The name wasn’t quite right. Oral history said that Hannah used Annie at that time; however, she used Anna earlier when she was “A. Darling.”
Next, Annie’s mother, Margaret McAllister – shows up in the 1920 Census but not the 1930 Census. We know she died before my wife’s mother (1934). I then searched the indices for the years 1920 to 1930. Drats! The 1920-1924 indexes used the Russell Soundex system. I searched and searched and finally found a McAllister. I then realized that the Russell Soundex code used a 242 under the “M” to describe the sound. I quickly searched the other indices and found one Margaret McAllister, who died in Apollo, PA, in 1926. What would my Margaret be doing there? Apollo is only 32 miles away from Pittsburgh – It didn’t feel right. I searched and found Margaret McAllister, who died on 27 March 1927 in Pittsburgh. It has to be the right one.
Conclusion
So, I have three death certificates to order and a new site for my favorites. The Pennsylvania Death Indices 1906 to Current minus 50 years (1962) is an excellent resource. Thank you, Act 110. The Birth Indices only cover 1906 & 1907, but they will definitely help if you need to find someone in that period.
