“In the News” is my reporting of newspapers articles and obituaries regarding ancestors and other relatives I am researching. The information found in newspapers often raises more questions and more research areas but invariably provides fresh texture to understanding an ancestor’s life.
Today’s article reports an event in the life of my 4th Great-grandfather, Stephen Blackhurst.
Article
This week’s article from the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England) newspaper[i] dated 6 Mar 1847. It reports events at the Sheffield General Infirmary during the previous week.
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent newspaper dated 6 Mar 1847, via Newspapers.com
SHEFFIELD GENERAL INFIRMARY, March 5
In-Patients….
Out-Patients….
Casualties received into the House since last Friday…. …Stephen Blackhurst, Bridge; houses, shoemaker, fractured leg; George Milnes….
Discovered
I learned that Stephen Blackhurst lived at Bridge. (I need to know more about what that means.)
I also learned he fractured his leg between 27 February and 5 March and was admitted to the Sheffield Infirmary. That is significant as I know from other things that Stephen died on 8 March at the Sheffield Infirmary.[ii]
[ii] England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007, Family Search, Stephen Blackhurst – 1847. “England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2JMT-SSC : 31 December 2014), Stephen Blackhurst, 1847; from “England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006,” database, findmypast (https://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
This week, for Photo Friday, I identify the people in five more envelopes from the Ethel Wight Studio Collection[i]. The envelopes contain the names who paid for the photos, not necessarily of the individual portrayed in the image. As such, it is vital to analyze the pictures and information to identify the individual therein.[ii] Ultimately, my goal is to reunite the photos with family members who may have never seen the image.
Lorraine Kenney, circa 1934
This negative envelope says, “Miss Loraine Kenney, 219 High St #272.”
Why I believe this to be the individual.
Lorraine Kenney, circa 1934
The 1934 Portland City Directory lists Lorraine Kenney, a waitress at 572 Congress and living at 219 High St.
The 1935 Portland City Directory indicates that Lorraine Kenney, a waitress, moved to Boston.
Lorraine does not appear in the 1933 Portland City Directory. A Charles S Pennell lived at 219 High street in 1933.
A Lorraine Virginia Kenney was born on 29 Jan 1918 in Springfield, MA. She lived in Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, during 1930 with her parents Frank Henry and Pauline Lorraine (Remillard) Kenney. Lorraine Virginia married William Davis Young on 18 Jun 1939 and lived with William and his parents during the 1940 Census. She is the likely subject of this photo; however, there are alternative individuals it could be.
Claire Lorraine Kenney was born on 18 November 1918 in Massachusetts. She died in 2002.
There are several other women about the right age whose middle name was Lorraine. However, none of them appear to have had connections with New England.
I feel that the subject in this photo is likely Lorraine Virginia Kenney, who is found in 22 Ancestry public trees and whose FamilySearch ID is GQCL-P58. However, I cannot be sure. Hopefully, a relative can provide identification of this photo. In the meantime, I have added this photo to Dead Fred.
Rena Kingsbury, circa 1935
This negative envelope says, “Miss Rena Kingsbury, Children’s Hospital #312.”
Rena Kingsbury, circa 1935
Why I believe this to be the individual.
I have not found Rena Kingsbury at the Children’s Hospital in Portland; however, the 1933 and 1935 Barre, Vermont, city directory lists Rena Kingsbury, a nurse at Barre Hospital. She also appears in the 1936 and 1937 Barre directories as a nurse.
The 1930 US Census lists 15-year-old Rena Kingsbury living with her parents Albert & Ethel Kingsbury in Waitsfield, Washington County, Vermont. (Note: Barre is about 14 miles east of Waitsfield.)
Although I couldn’t associate Rena with the Children’s Hospital in Portland, she is the right age and profession to be Rena Kingsbury of Waitsfield, Vermont. So I believe the photo to be of her.
Ancestry has four public trees that refer to Rena Kingsbury of Waitsfield, Vermont. Family Search has a profile G933-WW9 for Rena Lorraine Kingsbury. So, I uploaded a photo of her to her Family Search Memories.
Ruth E King, circa 1936
This negative envelope says, “Miss Ruth King, 71 West St #517.”
Why I believe this to be the individual.
Ruth E King, circa 1936
The 1935 Portland City Directory lists Ruth E. King as a maid working and residing at 71 West St. It also indicates that Emery D Smith, Petros D Mills, and Walter M Lovejoy lived at 71 West.
The 1936 Portland City Directory lists both Ruth E King, the maid, and Ruth King, a student nurse.
The 1934 and 1937 Portland City Directories do not list Ruth E King.
The 1935 & 1936 directories prove the name on the envelope is correct. However, it failed to provide enough clues to the woman’s identity to identify her properly.
Alternative individuals?
There was a Ruth E King who lived in Bath, Sagadahoc County, Maine, during the 1930 and 1940 Censuses. She was born about 1921 and appears to be too young to be the woman in this photo.
I failed to find any Ancestry public trees that refer to Ruth E King, who lived in Portland in 1935 & 1936. Likewise, I unsuccessfully searched FamilySearch for a profile for Ruth E King.
The 1937 Portland City Directory lists Ruth King[iii], a student nurse at 231 Woodford (the address for St. Barnabas Hospital. The 1938 Portland City Directory available at Ancestry is missing pages 434 & 435, the pages that would include Ruth King[iv]. The 1939 Directory has no Ruth King listed.
The 1940 Census lists Ruth King, age 24, a registered nurse in a private home, apparently Carroll B & Josephine Allen.
The 1940 Census also lists Ruth King, a 23-year-old nurse in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Alternative Individuals
Ruth A King was born on 26 December 1917 in Monmouth, Maine. In 1940, she lived with her parents, Victor and Fannie (Berry) King.
Ruth Virginia King was born on 27 May 1915 in Bath, Maine, to Howard and Vara (Rackliffe) King. I have not found her in the 1940 Census.
Ruth King was born about 1914 to George & Helen (Mayo) King.
The 1940 US Census indicates there were at least 39 nurses named “Ruth King.”
This negative envelope says, “Mrs. Harmon King, 173 Brackett St #1014.”
Why I believe this to be the individual.
Charles Harmon King, circa 1937 (age 5)
The 1940 US Census indicates that Jens Hendrickson and his wife Minnie lived at 173 Brackett. Their daughter Edna M King and her husband, Harmon P. King, lived with them. Also, their eight-year-old grandson, Charles King, was living with them. This photo was taken about 1937 when Charles King was about five years old.
Charles Harmon King, son of Harmon Phillip and Edna May (Henricksen) King, was born 7 August 1931 in Portland, Maine.
Ancestry has 33 public trees that refer to Charles Harmon King. FamilySearch does not have a profile for Charles, but his mother, Edna J. M. Hendricksen, is ID LRBV-4NB. (It would be best if a family member added Charles to FamilySearch. I have added Charles’ photo to Dead Fred.
Conclusion
I fully identified three of the five Only one of them has a FamilySearch profile to which I could upload a photo.
Two of the identified individuals did not have a Family Search profile but did appear in Ancestry trees, so I posted their images to Dead Fred.
Of the two unidentified individuals, I could partially identify one of them whose photo I uploaded to Dead Fred. The other I couldn’t identify. To avoid confusion, I did not upload that photo anywhere except here and my Flickr Photostream.
If any of these photos are of your family member, I would love to hear your reaction. Especially if this photo is of a loved one for whom you hadn’t seen this photograph before.
Due to software limitations, the images uploaded to Family Search, Dead Fred, and Flickr are a higher image quality than the images here.
For all postings of the Ethel Wight Collection, please see here.
Endnotes
[i] The Wight Studio was in Portland, Maine. Many thanks to Ethel Wight’s family for access to and permission to use the collection of their great aunt.
[ii] These images were converted to positives using a lightbox, a Nikon camera and computer software.
[iii] I learned much about Ruth King the nurse while I was researching Ruth E King, the maid.
[iv] If you have access to a Portland City Directory which contains pages 434 & 435, I would like to learn what entries exist for Ruth King.
I find the presentations of the Virtual Genealogical Association excellent. I gain new ideas and learn new tricks in virtually every webinar I watch. “Reeling ‘Em in with Cousin Bait – 10 ways to connect with Family” by Cheri Hudson Passey (of Carolina Girl Genealogy) was no exception. Her easy-going style is a joy to watch; it contains interesting information and is generally fun.
I knew many of her topics (i.e., blogging, Find-a-Grave, and sharing DNA across several sites), but she provided many new ideas for me. One was a better way to honor my ancestors with a weekly birthday blog than the Facebook method I used and abandoned before. I will start the process again and incorporate some ideas from her talk, plus other ideas I’ve been thinking of to honor my ancestors. Her encouragement to use Instagram for genealogy sparked my desire to get an Instagram account.
The Virtual Genealogical Association is an inexpensive ($20/year) association with several online services that I find worthwhile, such as Webinars, Members-Only services, and discounts on genealogy software, publications, and products.
I renewed my membership recently and expect to use their services for years to come.
So, watch my blog for additional items, such as new weekly birthday postings and a new Instagram presence—processes I inspired by Cheri Hudson Passey and the Virtual Genealogical Association webinar series.
Darling Research
Darling-Swayze-Walter-Swann Line
By Don Taylor
[After looking at her husband, James Walter, her daughter, Catherine Ann Dent Walter, her son, Elkanah Walter, and a cursory look at several of her other children, I still don’t know much about the life of 5th great-grandmother Margaret Ann Swann.
Family Search has profile KZHN-T1Y for Margaret. Ancestry has a confusing number of trees for Margaret. Some indicate she was born in 1758 or 1760 in Charles County, Maryland. Other trees suggest she was born in 1771. Some have the correct parents, some different parents.]
* Individuals marked with an asterisk have not been researched by me and are tentative or speculative.
Margaret Ann Swann Walter (1760-1826)
Birth
Birth records for colonial women are sparse. A DAR application for her husband indicates she was born in Maryland, and an “Excerpt from a Book of Remembrance” indicates she was born in 1760. I tend to believe DAR accepted facts are accurate for Patriots, but I’m not sure I think their info for spouses of Patriots is to be trusted. Similarly, I’ve not found the source for A Book of Remembrance. I’ll ask the individual who added the info to Margaret’s FamilySearch Memories for further source information.
Various researchers have other dates for Margaret, daughter of Samuel and Catherine (Dent) Swann.
One suggests Margaret was born in 1758, but sources that fact to a record showing her parents to be Thomas & Ann Swann.
Others suggest Margaret was born in 1771 or 1772 without cited source records. If so, Nancy would have been born when she was 16. They also don’t provide for any marriage date. My records indicate Margaret and James married in 1783. Being married at 11 is very unlikely in colonial America, so I suspect the 1771 & 1772 birth dates are incorrect.
I’ve decided to accept 1760 in Maryland as Margaret’s birth information tentatively. Hopefully, further research into the Swann line, particularly her parents and siblings, will shed additional light on Margaret’s Birth Information
Siblings
FamilySearch indicates that Samuel and Catherine (Dent) Swann had 17 children, including Margaret. (Margaret is the 10th child.) Siblings include John Robert, Basil, Alexander, Zephaniah, Ann, Josiah, Henry, Leonard, Charles, Samuel Hatch, Edward Burch, Philip, Anna, Elizabeth, John, and Thomas Mercer Swann. However, my records indicate Samuel and Catherine had 11 children, and Margaret was the 3rd.
Marriage
Margaret and James Walter married “after the war.” (Which ended 19 April 1783.) Nancy Ann was born about 1788, so I suspect Margaret and James were married about 1787. However, the Official Roster of the Soldiers of the American Revolutions Buried in the State of Ohio indicates that James married Margaret Ann Levan, suggesting she was married earlier. Martin Walter, born in 1779, could be James’ or Margaret’s child from a previous marriage.
Much of the information known about Margaret comes from the will of Samuel Swann. In the will, dated 1807, he gave 1/8th of his property. The distribution of the will in December 1809 included 1/8 of the sundry property going to Margaret.
After the marriage, Margaret and James and Margaret lived in Frederick County, Virginia, before locating to Fairfield County, Ohio.
Death/Burial, etc.
Margaret died in 1826 at New Salem, Ohio at the age of 66.
Events by Location
Margaret relocated westward about 350 miles during her lifetime.
Maryland (prob. St. Mary’s County) Birth (1760)
Ohio, Fairfield County, New Salem Death (1826)
Ohio, Fairfield County, Lancaster Death of husband (1838)
Virginia, Frederick Birth of Catherine (1794)
Virginia, Frederick, Winchester Birth of Elizabeth (1796)
Virginia, Montgomery, Big Spring Marriage, Birth of Nancy, Elkanah (1787-1789)
Further Actions / Follow-up
Determine if Martin Walker is the child of James, Margaret, or them together.
Determine Nancy Ann’s husband and if the surname was Levan instead.
Determine BMD information on Margaret’s children.
Research Margaret’s parents & siblings.
Sources
Daughters of the American Revolution – DAR “Descendants” Database, Member: Helen J. Roy – National # 455124 – Ancestor # A120153 – Accessed; 30 December 2016. https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search/?Tab_ID=3.
Daughters of the American Revolution – Supporting Documentation, DAR, A120153 M455124 – Pages 6-9 – Deed of Trust. Daughters of the American Revolution All Rights Reserved. Copy Services A120153 M455124.
FamilySearch Memories, Family Search, Margaret Swan – Stories – Excerpt From Book of Remembrance. Contributed by Brian_Scheewe – 13 February 2022. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KZHN-T1Y.
FamilySearch Memories, Family Search, Margaret Swan – Stories – Great-great Grandfather – Written by Emily Swayzee McCarty. Contributed by Brian_Scheewe – 13 February 2022. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KZHN-T1Y.
Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999, Hall of Records, Annapolis, Samuel Swann – 20 November 1807. Wills – 1777-1820 vol 1-3 – Image 543 of 743Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999,” images, FamilySearch: Accessed 20 May 2014), St. Mary’s > Wills 1777-1820 vol 1-3 > image 543 of 743; Hall of Records, Annapolis. Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999,” images, FamilySearch: Accessed 20 May 2014), St. Mary’s > Wills 1777-1820 vol 1-3 > image 543 of 743; Hall of Records, Annapolis. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYMH-9WF4?i=542.
Official Roster of the Soldiers of the American Revolutions Buried in the State of Ohio, (1929), Walter, James. Revolutionary Soldiers 1775-1783 – Page 385. (Archive.org).
Endnotes
[i] Levan is suspiciously similar to the surname Leevir (or Sevir) that Nancy Ann married.
“In the News” is my reporting of newspapers articles and obituaries regarding ancestors and other relatives I am researching. The information found in newspapers often raises more questions and more research areas but invariably provides fresh texture to understanding an ancestor’s life. 
