Tag: Ogle County

Holiday Conversations

The holidays are a great time to catch up with family. You can share the research you’ve done and listen to the family stories that put the research in context.

Scan and share old photos.
You can show how family members and the holiday celebration has changed over the years. You can share photos of family members that everyone hasn’t seen in years.

This year I scanned slides my father had gotten from his father. Since my parents never had a slide projector, we never saw these images growing up. I used an adapter that we had for our older Epson scanner. Continue reading Holiday Conversations

More About Bessie

On 30 Mar 2017’s post “Where’s Bessie?“, I wrote,

“A Bessie Greenwell does appear in the 1905 Iowa State Census in Mason City, Cerro Gordo County. She is located at, “Convent E Drummond” with 8 Sisters and a “Veta Greenwell (1).”

I went searching for the original census cards and found the images at FamilySearch.

1905 Iowa Census: Bessie Greenwell, age 9 from Kentucky, is at the St. Francis Convert. Veta Greenwell is age 7 from Kentucky. (2)

My great grandmother would have been age 16 in 1905 and was born in Tennessee. This is an indication that the 1905 Census Bessie is not the same person.

I then looked for Bessie and Veta in the 1900 federal census, but didn’t find any perfect matches. The closest matches are in the West Greenwell and Martha Greenwell households.

1910 Census: West Greenwell (head, 33), Katie Greenwell (wife, 31), William R Greenwell (son, 6), Mary B Greenwell (daughter, 5), Mary Z Greenwell (daughter, 4), Joseph H Greenwell (son, 2), and Mary E Greenwell (daughter, 1). The family is white. (3)

1910 Census: Martha Greenwell (widowed, head, 32), Lillian J Greenwell (daughter, 4), Matilda L Greenwell (daughter, 3), and Bessie M Greenwell (daughter, 2). The family is black. (4)

Further connections between these households and St. Francis Convent appear in an article that mentioned St. Francis Academy in Mason City, Iowa. (5)

1887: School for Colored Children opens in Chicago, Kentucky.

1890: Sisters leave Kentucky on Nov. 30. Francis Academy opens in Mason City, Iowa.

This is enough for me to take the 1905 Census out of my great grandmother’s history, but not enough to connect the 1905 Iowa Census Bessie and Veta with a 1900 Census households.

So, I’m still trying to find where Bessie was in 1910 and what brought a girl from Tennessee together with the boy from Illinois for a wedding in Iowa.

SOURCES
(1) “Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Mar 2017) Entry for Bessie Greenwell, Cerro Gordo County, Mason City, 1905

(2) “Iowa State Census, 1905,” digital images, FamilySearch.com (http://www.familysearch.com : accessed 31 Mar 2017) Entries for Bessie Greenwell, Card #622, and Veta Greenwell, Card #623, St. Fancis Convent.

(3) 1900 U.S. census, Marion County, Kentucky, population schedule, Chicago, enumeration district (ED) 80, Sheet. 4-A (penned), line 38-44, dwelling #63, family #64, West Greenwell household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 Mar 2017); citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 542.

(4) 1900 U.S. census, Breckinridge County, Kentucky, population schedule, Union Star, enumeration district (ED) 7, Sheet. 10-B (penned), line 38-44, dwelling #182 (corrected), family #183 (corrected), Martha Greenwell household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 Mar 2017); citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 510.

(5) “The Sisters of St. Francis: Missions and Milestones,” 2 May 2016, Transcription, Clinton Herald, Clinton, Iowa (http://www.clintonherald.com : 31 Mar 2017).