Elam and Katherine Daniels

There are times since we have moved into our current house that I wonder if I have done a disservice to my daughters by them having to live in small bedrooms. One of the bedrooms is about 8x9 and the other one is 10x11 or 11x12 (probably the smaller). But when I look at what some of my ancestors lived in during their lifetimes, I am hushed to silence. A friend commented recently about how we live better today than most kings in history. What a true statement.

This first house that Elam and Katherine are standing by, is most likely in Springbrook Twp., Williams County, North Dakota. I believe I mentioned in a previous post that they may have lived in McHenry County, but the Census record for 1910 finds them in Springbrook. There is a Louella Anderson living with them, who, through other research, happens to not just be their adopted daughter as stated in the Census, but is actually Katherine's niece, daughter of her brother John. But that's a whole different research project....

I am truly impressed with the adventurous spirit these people had. They were not very young when they set out from Ohio to begin homesteading. Katherine was 53 yrs old in the 1910 Census and I believe she had to be close to that age in this picture.

This next picture states on the back "Grandma and Grandpa Daniels in Saskatchewan, Canada" but also has a caption below that says "Believe it is Springbrook, N. Dakota". So whether it is one or the other, both places are quite out in the prairie and continue to point to the determined spirit they had. I love how this lower one is a sod house. Over the years I've seen other photos of people who lived in such (including my beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder), but to see my own relatives standing in the picture is heart warming.



This last picture is of Elam and Katherine in Roseville, California. In Katherine's obituary dated May 11, 1923, it states that she "passed from this life at the family home on D street Sunday, May 6, 1923 at the age of 66 years, 7 months and 5 days after but a six weeks illness." Maybe at another date I will post the obituary along with a letter that May, her daughter, wrote my own Grandmother when May had left her own home to go tend to Katherine in her last days.


I will post here a portion of the obituary that points to a life that served others and loved the Lord:

"All her life was spent in the east until 5 years ago, when she accompanied her family to California and had since made her home in Roseville, where her kindness and helpfulness to those in distress and her sweet and cheerful disposition endeared her to all who came in contact with her. She was a devoted Christian and an earnest worker in the Baptist church, of which she was a member, and her many acts of kindness will ever be remembered."

Albert and May Frederick

The first picture listed here is of Susie May (who I will refer to as May from now on) and I'm not sure if this is her mother, Katherine Emily Anderson Wyatt or another woman. I have other pictures of Katherine that I will post soon, but the woman here looks tired and worn down by life and maybe a little sickly. She had married Edward Wyatt, gave birth to May, but they divorced not long after. I am still needing to research more information regarding their marriage situation, but find Edward in the 1880 Census already divorced. I am unable to locate Katherine and May anywhere, but that could very well be from a typo in transcription of the Census itself.

The picture below here is surely May and what a sweet looking girl she was.

This last picture is one of Albert and May, but I am not sure when it was taken. It is a tintype like the first picture in this post.
Albert lived all his early years in Donnellsville, Clark County, Ohio. Recently on a trip to the Allen County Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, I ran across a book that had obituaries and some death certificate copies for those found in the Donnellsville Cemetery. To my wonderful surprise, there was a copy of May's father's death certificate and obituary, giving me more helpful information in my research.

Albert's parents were both buried in North Dakota while Katherine is buried in Roseville, California. Katherine eventually remarried a man named Elam Daniels, and they joined the family in North Dakota and on to California. At a later date I will post a couple great photos of Elam and Katherine on two different homesteads in North Dakota and Southern Canada just across the North Dakota border.

Frederick Houses - North Dakota

Since I was a young girl, I have always been intrigued with the west. Reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books have always brought me much enjoyment. And then, how surprised I was to find out that my dad's grandparents had actually homesteaded in North Dakota around 1900!

In ordering pension records and land patent records, I was able to find many things in the genealogy of John and Sophia Frederick. The photo immediately below was taken McHenry County North Dakota and probably a little prior to 1906. No trees, no flowers... it looks so barren, but many of these family members stayed in the area for a large part of their lives.



My grandmother's parents, Albert and Susie May, on the other hand left sometime prior to 1908 as she was born in Texas in 1908. (Their picture is in my first blog post.) I am amazed to think of how they lived out here on the northern prairie, having left the safe area of Clark County, Ohio to try a new life. What an incredible blessing to have this heritage.

Always Dreaming

The number of times that I have picked up these old pictures and looked at them is beyond counting. Hours and hours have been spent in comparing pictures and trying to find out who this unnamed person is. Below is a sketch I found of my great-great-great grandfather John Alsop Stiles. He was born in Massachusetts and died in November 1850 in Mishawaka, Indiana.

Along with the sketch,I have a box of old daguerrotypes, and some have absolutely no name attached in their cases to tell me some clue of who they are. After looking online on ways to date the cases, I have been able to surmise that this specific case could very well have been from the late 1840's to early 1850's.

My dream is to identify the person, and of course I would hope it would be someone such as my John Stiles! Dreams.... Anyway, here is the sketch and the daguerrotype.

Byron and Fannie Stiles O'Connor

In the previous post, there was a link to the Boston School of Music and Endorsement to teach that Fannie Stiles received. Interesting to think that she entered this school sometime around the close of the Civil War. Previous to that she had attended school at Hillsdale in Michigan, some of which I will hopefully go into more detail in the future.

After Fannie finished school, she taught in Chicago. I have not been able to find out where she taught or who with. But sometime in that year, she became engaged to Byron R. O'Connor, a young doctor residing in Mishawaka. Below I am posting the newspaper article announcing their wedding. The incredible thing about this announcement, is that the Mishawaka Newspaper had a fire in 1872 and several years papers were lost in the fire, including the one for this date. This copy had stayed in my grandfather's family for years. I found it in his desk several years after he had passed away. What a thrill it was to hold this paper in my hand.

Boston Music School and Endorsement to Teach

Elizabeth Dille and Washington O'Connor

Washington and Elizabeth were married in the Euclid/East Cleveland area in 1837. Elizabeth's grandfather, David Dille, was one of the first settlers of Euclid, arriving in 1803, the year Ohio became a state.





Both Washington and Elizabeth were involved in the Disciples of Christ in the East Cleveland area and are mentioned in the book, The History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, written my A.S. Hayden. It was quite exciting to read about my family in this wonderful history of the Cleveland area.

This couple had but one son, Byron Roderick O'Connor, born Aug. 12, 1838.



In the 1850 Census the O'Connor's were living in Michigan, but sometime thereafter moved to Mishawaka, Indiana where Elder Washington O'Connor passed away in 1858.

Chester Lee and Frances Jane Stiles

Several years ago I was the recipient of a box of letters and pictures that had belonged to my grandfather (my mother's father). The content of that box has sent me on a wonderful journey of finding out the history of his side of the family and also on my own father's side.

The two people posted in the pictures were the surviving children of John Alsop Stiles and Maryann Keyes (daughter of Luman Keyes and Nancy Dailey). Both Chester Lee and Frances were born in Mishawaka, Indiana in the early 1840's and had several other siblings who never lived to adulthood. They were orphaned in 1850, when their mother died in July and their father in November.

In my search I was able to find a probate file in South Bend, Indiana that contained, what looked like hundreds of little receipts and court documents giving details of what transpired in the years that followed Maryann and John's deaths.

My hope is to continue posting many more photos of these families and their decendents and that it will help others in their search for family.

























Chester Lee Stiles
born in Mishawaka, Indiana
Early 1860's





















Frances Jane Stiles
Mishawaka, Indiana
Early 1860's

Family Heirlooms

Albert Daniel Frederick and his bride Susie May Wyatt.