Veterans Day 2015

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Don Taylor

Today I remember my ancestors that served in the military.

I know of 64 relatives who served in the military, ten of whom are my direct ancestors.  Six of those 10 served in the Revolutionary War and two served in the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR – Union).

My Grandfather – Clifford Durwood Brown (1903-1990) (aka Richard Durand, aka Richard “Dick” Brown) served in the Army. Little is known about his peacetime military service. In 1928, he was in the army stationed in Panama. He was a member of the base’s champion basketball team (See: Article.  In 1930, he met my Grandmother in Panama.  It appears that he was discharged in 1931.

2nd Great Grandfather – John William Manning (1846-1888)

Civil War – GAR

29 Aug 1863 – Enlisted at 17 years of age into the 45th Regiment of Kentucky. His father, Enoch Mannin, gave his consent for young John William to enlist.
Between May and June of 1864 he was captured by the South (Morgan).
He mustered out on 30 Dec 1864.

3rd Great Grandfather – Enoch Mannin (1823-1907)
Civil War – GAR

29 Aug 1863 – Enlisted in the 45th Regiment of Kentucky.
Between May and June of 1864 he was captured by the South (Morgan)
He was discharged on 29 Dec 1864 at Leattettsburg, KY.

5th Great Grandfather – Reuben Fowler (1753-1832)

Revolutionary War Veteran. Service time unknown (by me).

6th Great Grandfather – John Maben 1753-1813) Revolutionary War (DAR – Patriot # A072838) Private – 1st Claverack Batt, 9th Regt.

Private – Capt Hawley, Col Van Ness; Albany Co.Mil/New York

 

6th Great Grandfather John Parsons, Sr  (1737/1738-1821)

Revolutionary War (DAR – Patriot# A088240

Lieutenant – Second LT in Capt Samuel Wolcott, 10th Co, 1st Berkshire Cnty Regt of MA Militia.

 

Lieutenant – Also LtCap Elijah Daming, Col Ashley

 

6th Great Grandfather – Wicks Weeks Rowley (1760-1826)

 

Revolutionary War (DAR – Patriot # A09932

Private – New York Militia

6th Great Grandfather – Samuel Wolcott (1736-1802)

Revolutionary War (DAR Patriot # A127434

Captain – 10th Co, 1st Regt, Berkshire Co Militia; Col Hopkins Regt to Highlands.

7th Great Grandfather – Grover Buel  (1732-1818)

Revolutionary War (DAR – Patriot # A016639

He was a soldier of the Dutchess Co. New York Militia 6th Regiment.

He received Land Bounty Rights

First Flag of New England 1686-1707

8th Great Grandfather – Samuel Wolcott (1679-1734)

“He commanded a military company.”
According to “The Family of HENRY WOLCOTT” by Chandler Wolcott See: https://archive.org/details/wolcottgenealogy00wolc

He probably served in either King Williams War 1688-1697 or Queen Ann’s War (1702-1713). These wars were the first two of the four French and Indian Wars, which pitted New France against New England.

Finally, My Uncle Russell Kees fought in Korea.

My stepfather, Edgar Jerome Matson fought in World War II

My step great-grandfather Sammy Amsterdam served during World War I.

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Review: RootsTech – “What’s New at Family Search”

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Don Taylor


I try to watch at least one genealogical video every week just to keep up with what is going on. Of course, I get behind a lot, but it is a goal. I’ve been catching up with RootsTech 2015 videos.

They are always among the best genealogy videos out there. If you haven’t seen them, you should. This week I watched, Devin Ashby’s video regarding “What’s New at FamilySearch.” Family Search is my Number 1 free site — I use it regularly (at least weekly) and figured that Devin’s presentation could help me catch me up with new features at FamilySearch. Of course, I was right again – it was an excellent presentation and was able to learn some new things and able to solidify some other capabilities more clearly in my mind.

I felt that Devin started a little slow, but his content improved as the talk went on. Most of what he talked about I already knew or had seen before through other newsletters and blogs that I subscribe to. However, towards the end of the video he mentioned some software/online resources that I hadn’t seen before, most of which work with Family Search.

First was #MyToday which makes a journal of your Facebook top events, photos, and statuses. I set it up and tried it – Nothing. When I’d hit the start button, something that should “take about a minute” the icon just spin and spin as it was “Processing.” So, I guess the site is not working at this time. After several minutes, my browser (Chrome) goes to a blank screen.

Next was Puzzilla.com. It creates sort of a stick chart of your family tree. It has the ability to take you to other sites to see the information. I wasn’t impressed. Frankly, I felt the stick-chart tree was pretty lame. The chart has a number of features, but I think the fan chart and links within FamilySearch are better. Luckily, disabling the Puzzilla account is easy. Just log into Family Search, click on your name on the top right, then on settings. Click [Revoke Access] twice and you are done.

The next one was “Find a Record.” It looked cool in his presentation, so I was excited to take a closer look. Wow! I was impressed. You use your Family Search login and Find a Record suggests areas of research for you based upon what you have, or don’t have, on Family Search. It also provides immediate links to their partner sites: Ancestry.Com, Billion Graves, Family Search, Find-A-Grave, Find My Past, and My Heritage. Those links auto-fill your key data into the search parameters on those sites to keep you from having to reenter the same information on each site – Very useful. There is also a Chrome extension that is very handy. With the extension, when you view a person in Family Search, there is an icon in your browser address window that, when clicked, brings you to the Find a Record page for that person that provides suggestions for research.

In case you didn’t know, there is also an Ancestry Family Search Extension for Chrome that allows you to click once from an individual’s page on Ancestry and have your browser take you to Family Search with the parameters for the individual auto filled in. Anyway, I think Find a Record can be a really useful tool to facilitate researching an individual efficiently. If you have an Ancestry.Com subscription, find the individual on Ancestry, research the hints there, use the Family Search Chrome Extension to switch to Family Search, search there, then use the Find-a-Record extension to switch there and search Find my Past and My Heritage, etc. if you have accounts there. I like it because it focuses me on one individual and helps keep me from being distracted by BSOs (bright shiny objects).

Finally, Rootsmapper.com was mentioned in Devin’s talk. It is supposed to map out your ancestors and where they are from. I think it has possibilities, but I found the interface confusing and difficult to use. I’ll try it again when I have a better-defined family tree in Family Search.

That brings me to the last point.  In order to use any of these tools (except for #MyToday) you need a tree on Family Search. The better your tree is on Family Search, the better the results will be using these tools.  I currently keep my trees on Ancestry so I’ll need to improve my trees on Family Search in order to really see how useful Rootsmapper, and, possibly Puzzilla, are.

The bottom line:
10 – RootsTech: (In general)
 9 – Family Search (The best free site for research on the internet)

 8 – RootsTech: “What’s New at Family Search” (Slow start but great end.)

 8 – Find-a-Record (I’m planning to incorporate it into my workflow.)
 5 – Rootsmapper (I will revisit it when I have a more substantial tree on FamilySearch in a few weeks.)

 4 – Puzzilla (Family Search itself does a better job.)

 1 – #My Today (Site not working – Maybe I’ll revisit it in a few weeks.)

Future Actions

Revisit #MyToday
Revisit Rootsmapper

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Donna in “Chin Chin” at the Empress Theatre, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada – January 5-6, 1920

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Don Taylor
Thanks to an article in the Calgary Daily Herald, I had known that “Chin Chin” played in Medicine Hat, Alberta sometime shortly before January 8, 1920[i].

I finally found an article regarding “Chin Chin” playing in Medicine Hat[ii]. We now know that “Chin Chin” played in Medicine Hat on January 5th and 6th. Page 8 of the Medicine Hat Daily News dated January 6, 1920 has a nice article regarding the show.

I know that “Chin Chin” played in at the Avenue Theater in Vancouver on Dec 25-27[iii], but still don’t know where the show played during the eight days before Medicine Hat.

According to the article, “There were some particularly pleasing vocal selections, Donna Montran’s ‘Violet’ and ‘The Grey Dove,’ two catchy songs excellently rendered by this sweet-voiced young lady….”

After the show, the company headed back west the 100 miles to Lethbridge, Aberta for one night there before heading to Calgary.

Empress Theater – Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada

Photo Source: Esplanade Archives Page 22
Arts & Heritage Center

The Empress Theatre was built in 1913 at a cost of $25,000[iv]. It was located at 10 Sixth Ave, Medicine Hat and seated 625 people[v]. The theatre was said to be the best-equipped theatre between Vancouver and Winnipeg and hosted vaudeville and local theatre productions during the early years.[vi] In the 1930s, the theatre made the switch to movies with occasional live performances. The theatre was closed in the late 1940s and was demolished in 1953[vii].

Today the site is occupied by the Medicine Hat City Hall.

Endnotes

[i] See Donna & “Chin Chin” Play “The Grand Theatre,” Calgary, Jan 8-10, 1920.
[ii] Medicine Hat Daily News, January 6, 1920, Page 8, “CHIN CHIN” AN ATTRACTION DE | LUXE IN MUSICAL COMEDY LINE – Last Night’s Audience Was Delighted With This Breezy Footlight Attraction – A Show of Special Features (via Newspaper Archive).
[iii] See Donna in Vancouver, BC, Canada, at the Avenue Theater –December 25-27, 1919.
[iv] Archives Access – 2010 Edition – “In the Limelight” Issue – Esplanade Archives – Arts & Heritage Center. Page 22.
[v] Cinema Tour – Empress Theatre – https://www.cinematour.com/tour/ca/786.html
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Cinema Tour – Empress Theatre – https://www.cinematour.com/tour/ca/786.html

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She Kissed Politicians in 1915

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Don Taylor

The Massachusetts Republican leadership were all there. Several hundred had gathered at the Hotel Brenton near the shores of Bass Point. The year was 1915, and there were many issues to be discussed. Former Governor Foss was there, so was former Congressman Samuel McCall. Talking suddenly stopped as the lights turned down and a single spotlight showed a beautiful young woman who began to dance rhythmically to the sounds of the hidden orchestra. She paused to sing “A Little Bit of Heaven.” The politicians were entranced. The young woman danced up to Former Governor Foss, who had been Governor only a year before, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She was also going to kiss Congressman McCall, but he raised his hand to his cheek so she kissed his hand instead. She danced away and then sang in her crystal clear voice, “I Didn’t Think You’d Care.” Finally, she danced away. None of the Republicans attending had a clue who the cute young woman was — just a mystery girl.

Donna Montran


A Boston Sunday Post reporter hunted her down and found out the identity of the mystery woman. It was Donna Montran. According to the story in the Sunday Post, Donna had run away from home when she was 14 and set off to seek fame and fortune. After she left her home in Detroit, she played the juvenile lead in “The Girl and the Keiser” then took on Vaudeville and the Keith Circuit. Fame and fortune didn’t turn the blond beauty and she consciously decided to abstain from drink and avoid partying. She wrote music and made a small fortune with a vaudeville show titled, “Montran and Drew.” The article goes on to say that Donna will be on tour in the West in a few weeks with her own show, “Donna Montran Summer Girls.” Donna boasted having a home on “Riverside Drive” and two automobiles. She says knows how to fly and she hopes to be able to fly one of the machines in the future.

The ¾ page article highlights the “girl who kissed politicians” with five photographs, including the one above.

Endnotes:

[Adapted from an article in the Boston Sunday Post, September 15, 1915. “GIRL WHO KISSED POLITICIANS IS FOUND! — Donna Montran, Who Ran Away From Detroit, Creates Sensation at Peace Banquet of Republican Moguls Held on Bass Point Shores.”]

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Untangling Multiple Names – Frances (Frank) Dominick (Nick) Arvis

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Don Taylor


Untangling Multiple Names

Sometimes tracing an ancestor is just grueling work that requires capturing lots of data and then analyzing the information to determine if the data is in fact the ancestor you are researching. I was recently researching an ancestor for a friend that required lots of work. Her ancestor was Frances Dominick Arvis. Frances was born in Chicago and lived much of his life there. The problem in tracing his life is that some records call him Nick, some Frank, some Dominic or Dominick, and some Francis or Frances. And his surname is sometimes Arris, or Arvia. Then to compound the issue his father’s name is Dominick Frances Arvis, so untangling the spaghetti mess of these two people and isolating them from, a seemingly unrelated, Frank Arvis was a challenge. I’m not 100% done yet, but I think I have most if it sorted out.

The method I used was to create a new family unit for virtually every document I came across. He alone, he with one of his three wives (who also used several different names) and each Arvis child record I found with the parents identified. After I assembled dozens of facts, I began to look closely at the data and determine where and when I could merge two individuals. As I merged more and more of my many Nicks, Franks, Dominicks, and Frances, I found it easier and easier to determine when I had the right person, when I had his father, and when I had that unrelated person. So, I suggest when you have a confusing mix of names that need sorting out, consider each individual as separate and then consider carefully when an individual can be merged with another.

Frances Dominick Arvis (aka Nick, aka Frank) (1922-1994)

South Water Street, Chicago, IL c. 1920
Photo #521091from NARA via Wikimedia

Frances Dominick Arvis was born in Chicago on 2 June 1922, the second child of Dominick and Eleanor (Antos) Arvis. He had an older brother, Bernard, who was about 15 months older than he.

When Frank was two, his sister, Isabella, was born (on 30 October 1924).

His mother gave birth to twins, Anthony and Antonia, on 28 January 1927. Little Antonia died one month later on March 5, 1927.

In June of 1928 another sister was born.

The 1930 Census shows his father, mother, he, and two of his sisters living at 5301 South Halsted Street in Chicago. (It is a vacant lot today.) His older brother, Bernard, isn’t in the 1930 Census and doesn’t show up again and is presumed dead. Likewise, his other brother, Anthony, the twin of Antonia, was not enumerated in the 1930 census and is also presumed dead. His father is a barber and his mother is keeping house.

In 1931 his brother William was born.

On 5 February 1935 disaster stuck. His father died, meanwhile his mother was pregnant with what would be her 8th child (although three had passed).

By 1940, his mother had remarried and he and his four siblings were living with his mother and stepfather at 942 E. 76th St., Chicago. He was attending school.

Sometime between 1940 and 1942 Frances Dominick Arvis married Louise Margaret Eskman. He and Louise would have six children together (all still living).

Francis Dominick Arvis died on 27 Oct 1994 in Lake County Indiana, USA. (Lake County is just east of Chicago, where Gary, IN is.)


Sources available upon request.

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