My CARR-line mtDNA

[First, a comment: This is embarrassing…my first post in a year…how did that happen? Better late than never?]

One of the projects I've been most involved with over the last year has been genetic genealogy.  Altogether over the past few years, I have paid for or won  (Going to conferences does pay off!) a total of 9 DNA tests on my husband's or my lines.  For the past 18 months, I've made a point of studying more about it.  I've read books, blogs, articles, and gone to several seminars, including the DNA Day at Jamboree last year.   Unfortunately, the field is seemingly growing and changing faster than I can keep up! But I am finally feeling confident enough to post the first in what should be lots of upcoming DNA posts sprinkled among others.  I believe that writing about my results is part of my learning process, but my main goal is to share what I've learned about specific lines…and there's really been a good deal of progress on some of them lately!

A few years ago, a first cousin graciously agreed to give a sample so I'd have info on our CARR maternal line.  From Grandma CARR it goes back through Ann Matilda CAUSIER, Catherine HUGHES, and Lydia COOPER.  The paper trail to my 3rd great-grandmother, Lydia COOPER, is well documented.  According to census data, Lydia was born about 1803 in Brierly Hill, Worcestershire, England.  I hope this year to really search for her parents.

mtDNA Results

Grandma CARR's mtDNA comes back as haplogroup J and is consistent with her English heritage.  As of today, there are 304 HVR1, HVR2 matches.  With just a quick review and, as is the nature of mtDNA, there's no sign of a match in a genealogically relevant time frame.

This test was done over 4 years ago; so, to determine a specific subclade, I'd need to upgrade the test.  Doing so could be useful in eventually confirming or disproving any hypotheses I might come up with for Lydia's parentage.

TO DO

• Review Brierley Hill baptism records to see if I can find any possible parents for Lydia.
• Spend more time/care in reviewing the current mtDNA "matches," …who knows what may show up?  Also, I have my aunt's atDNA…I need to get it transferred to FTDNA and see if any of her mtDNA matches are also atDNA matches.
• Review the FTDNA projects available to me and consider joining them. 
• Consider upgrading this test.  Maybe there'll be special conference pricing at Jamboree!

Carr & Causier on FindAGrave

I've spent a lot of time on Find A Grave lately.  This post is the first of probably several about my finds. For some locations, especially Vermont, FindAGrave has become a necessary part of my search regimen.  

For my Carr / Causier lines, my grandmother and all 4 of her direct ancestors who immigrated to the USA are at FindAGrave with bio info and photos of the markers!  Each memorial page includes links to immediate family also at FindAGrave.

I can use the photo of the Carr niche here because I'm the volunteer who took the photo and submitted it to FindAGrave.  Photos from FindAGrave can only be used with the specific permission of the submitter/photographer.

Here are links to my Carr & Causier ancestors at FindAGrave:

My grandmother
Bertha Maud (Carr) Causier

Bertha's father, John Henry Carr
Bertha's mother, Ann Matilda (Causier) Carr 

Ann's father,  Charles Causier 
Ann's mother,  Catherine (Hughes) Causier

Many, many thanks to all the other volunteers at FindAGrave who make all this possible! 

Daddy as Big Brother

Don't you love it when photos are fully labeled?!  This photo shows the Hegwer's in the front yard of their home at the Utah Power and Light Company power plant at Lifton, St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho where my grandfather was the superintendent. The fence posts you can see on the right run along the road and the north shore of Bear Lake would be on the other side of the road.  The power plant is a ways behind the photographer.

If Daddy had not labeled this photo, I still would have recognized the location and probably Grandma, but I would never had been sure about all the children, especially my own dad.  All my memories of him are with jet black hair!  I never knew they ever had a dog.

Both the older cursive note and the more recent (1979) printed note are in my father's handwriting.  Daddy has dated the photo as being from the late summer of 1918.  However, the info I've found on the births of the children make me think it's much more likely 1919 or maybe even 1920. If I'm right, Daddy is 6 or 7, the baby about 1, Margaret 4 or 5, and Ray is 3 or 4. And, if it's 1920, Grandma is pregnant with Leila.

If my dad's estimate is correct, he would be almost 5, Margaret 3, and Ray less than 2.  Don't you think Daddy is older than 5? And, Ray older than 2?  And I think it's very possible that Grandma could be about 7 months pregnant....  What I really need is an official birthdate for baby Harry.  My father left me with full birthdates for everyone except Harry, which he wrote only as 1918.  Census ages are consistent with his being born late summer 1919, which fits well with Grandma possibly looking pregnant here.

Happy Birthday, Daddy

My father was born 98 years ago today in Logan Canyon, Utah.  I can't believe that it's been 29 years since he died.

 
This photo is my newest treasure from Aunt Lelia.  She just received the photo from someone but she doesn't remember who (probably a Bannard descendant).  I have no other group photos like this one.  I am so glad that Aunt Lelia thought to share it with me and that Cousin Gary helped her send me a copy.  Also, it was very thoughtful of her to label everyone; otherwise, I would have been doing a lot of guessing....

Standing, left to right:  Mickey, Lelia, Flora, my father, Anne, Fred (barely a shadow over Wyla's right shoulder), Wyla

Seated: Bertha, Anne Matilda (Causier) Carr, Jane

Front: Barbara, Jessie, Margaret

The family groups are:
Anne Matilda (Causier) and 3 of her 7 children: Jane, Bertha, Anne
Bertha and 5 of her 8 children: my dad, Mickey, Lelia, Wyla, Barbara
Jane & husband Fred with 3 of their 4 children: Jessie, Flora, Margaret

The location is most probably somewhere in Los Angeles County, possibly in the North Hollywood area.  We don't know who is holding the camera (perhaps Ray B?) and Lelia doesn't remember the event itself.  It has to be before my great-grandmother Carr's death in 1940.  Guessing from Barbara's apparent age, I think the photo is 1938-9.  Ray H. died in late 1937, but maybe the photo is earlier and he's the photographer.  However, that would make Barbara younger than 6. Does she look that young??

Great-Great-Grandparents: Heritage Pie

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun looked interesting.  I guess it's still ok to participate on Sunday afternoon....

It took only about 3 minutes to make the graph at Kid Zone's "Create a Graph" and represents the birthplaces of my great-great-grandparents.

My sixteen great-greats, with abbreviated info, are:
William CARR (1840-1916?) -- Yorkshire
Jane ETHELL (1841- after 1901) -- Yorkshire

Charles CAUSIER (1836-1912) -- born Worcestershire, died Wisconsin
Catherine HUGHES (1838-1911) -- born Staffordshire, died Wisconsin

Carl Benjamin HEGWER (1791-1860) -- born Silesia, died Kansas
Maria Rosina ILGNER (1801-1873) -- born Silesia, died Kansas

John D. RICHARDSON (1829-1908) -- Missouri
Isabella SHAW (1828-1877) -- born Ohio, died Missouri

parents of Patrick KEATING  -- unknown Ireland

parents of Cathrine DOOLEY -- unknown probably Ireland, possibly but unlikely
 Canada

Homer Thomas PORTER (1813-1903) -- Vermont
Dolly Ann BATES (1823-1892) -- born Vermont, died Montana

Titus DAVISON (1804-1900) -- Vermont
Hannah Field BASCOM (1808-1881) -- Vermont

If I use the location of their deaths, I get a different picture.  I've kept the same people in the same color or with a different value of the original color.

It's a little complicated not knowing four of the 16 at all.  This activity has certainly reminded me that that generation saw a lot of major changes in their lives.

A more specific problem this activity has reminded me of is that I've found info to make me think that the death date/location I have for William CARR could be wrong.  I've got to add that investigation to my TO-Do list!

Elopement of Ben Hegwer & Bertha Carr and Genealogical Kindness

[from the Ely Daily Mining Expositor, 11 September 1912, p. 1]

I treasure this newpaper clipping.  Luckily, the entire, original issue has been handed down.  Otherwise, I doubt if I would have ever looked for an article, let alone found this 4-page newspaper.  The paper is starting to crack, but it does give a legible image from a scan or photo.  Clicking on the image should give you a larger image so that you can easily read all the exciting details of the chase!  My research does verify Bertha's being of legal age.

The family legend was that great-grandfather John Henry CARR sent the sheriff's posse after Ben & Bertha.  I had always assumed it was just a legend, and was very pleasantly surprised to find the newspaper in the things my dad left.  I'm not sure Dad knew he even had this paper. 

John Henry and at least two of his other children were working at the mine in White Pine, near Ely.  Ben worked for the related power company.  [A previous post has a photo of this couple many years later.]  

Other news of the day

Other front page news that day included articles on the rebellion in Mexico, election campaigning, violations of banking law, rebuilding New Orleans, and hostilities in Turkey.  I guess some things never change...

Interestingly (at least to me), there were two more articles about local weddings, and here's where I get to the Genealogical Kindness.  First, the article immediately adjacent to Ben & Bertha's was about the lovely, planned wedding (with breakfast and guests!) of Katherine Graham and Elmer Porter.  Was it just a coincidence that they left on the same train for the same destination as my grandparents?  It could well have been: the train didn't come by daily and Salt Lake is where it went; there weren't that many options.  But they must have all known each other.  Maybe the wedding and departure of the Porter's helped prompt Ben & Bertha to plan the elopement and join the ride?!

I went to ancestry.com and found 5 family trees including the Graham/Porter couple.  None included a marriage date/location nor did they include Katherine's siblings.  So, using ancestry's connection option, I sent brief emails to all 5 tree owners, offering to send a copy of the article.  In just 4 days, I've received replies/requests from 3 of the 5.  I feel very good about sharing this info!

Second, there was a very brief social notice about Louis Cononelos of McGill leaving (on the same train as everyone else mentioned here!) for New York to meet his fiance, Nina Chakopoulou, who was arriving from Athens.  The couple would be married in New York and return to McGill.  I did not find any family trees for this couple, but I posted a comment on their 1920 census record and gave her birth name and the newspaper citation.  I hope that info will help someone someday.

Disclaimer

I subscribe to ancestry.com, but otherwise still have no connection to these companies and receive no special consideration from them.

Note

I have no reason to believe that Elmer Porter is any relation to my own Porter line.

Great Resource: National Probate Calendar for England & Wales

There have been lots of announcements lately about the debut of the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar database at ancestry.com.  I finally got a chance to play around in it and found some of my CARRs and CAUSIERs.

Grice Ethell Carr 

He is one of my great-grandfather John Carr's brothers.  I don't have problems in that generation or the previous one, so I haven't done too much work on Grice Ethell.  Given his unusual name, he is easier to spot when looking for CARRs in general, and I have written about him before.  

This find [1] gives me a specific address and a death date.  The surprise (or problem?) is his wife's name being 'Sarah,' when I was expecting Emily J.  Since I have no other record of him after 1901, Emily could have died and he could have remarried.  I should spend at least a little time and see if I can fill in the new gaps and see if I can resolve the wife issue.  I don't feel a real need to pursue the original records that go with this index entry, but at least I now know where and how to find them!

The address given, however, intrigued me.  I have a terrible time keeping track of the geography and levels of goverance in England.  This one, especially with no punctuation, completely threw me.  So, I posted a question in the Yorkshire section at RootsChat (also see previous post about this great resource).  Almost immediately, I received several responses, telling me that the street address is 12 Brandon Terrace.  'Slade Hill' is an area within the Moortown district of Leeds.  I also was told that it's a very nice area of town and that 'Slade Hill' has an alternate spelling of 'Slaid Hill.'  I love RootsChat!

William Cornelius Causier

Yes, this record [2] only says 'William Causier,' but with the info given, he is the one in my files as William Cornelius Causier, the son of my great-great-great-grandfather William Causier and his first wife, Letitia Willis.  My line is through William's second wife, Ann Tolley, so this is a very collateral record for me.

His occupation at that time is new to me.  I sent off another question to the Worcestershire section of RootsChat asking about 'Hill End' and the relationship to Droitwich and Dodderhill.  I've seen it many, many times in parish records for the Causiers.  Again, I received replies clarifying the lay of the land and including a new website to checkout:  the Dodderhill Parish Survey Project.  There's enough info there to keep me busy for ages!  Their growing site includes history, maps, and records.  Thanks, yet again, to the great folks at RootsChat!

The WRONG William Carr!

My William Carr is my great-great-grandfather and I only have death information from another family researcher.  Granted he's an absolutely expert researcher, but it would be nice to find more info anyway.  As you should assume, the search at the database turned out oodles and oodles of William Carr's who died in 1916.  But I was excited when one of those high in the list was a William Herbert Carr who died in 1916 from Scarborough, Yorkshire, which is very close to where I would expect to find William, and 'Herbert' is a family name.  But, look at what I got when I went to the image [3]:

Regretably, I have no known relationship to this brave soldier.  I am, however, certain that my 76-year-old great-great-grandfather was NOT off in France in WWI.  This non-find reminds me that no matter how an index entry may appear to match, don't get too excited! 

Conclusions

Yet again, I found myself playing around, finding absolutely interesting stuff on collateral lines and strangers.  Do I need to draw a harder line on how I spend my research time?!

The entry on William Carr was a good reminder that I must never assume that an index entry is the person I'm researching, not even when the dates seem to match.  And, it's real folly with common surnames.

Genealogy people, and especially those at RootsChat, are the nicest and most helpful people!  I should spend more time in RootsChat searching the info already there and I should see if there are any queries where I can be a help and not just a problem.

Sources

[1]  England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941.  [Database at ancestry.com]  Image from 1928, p. 526.

[2]  England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941.  [Database at ancestry.com]  Image from 1870, p. 333.

[3] England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941.  [Database at ancestry.com]  Image from 1917, p. 454

Disclaimers

I am a paid subscriber to ancestry.com but I receive no other special consideration from them in any way.  I am registered at RootsChat [that's free!] and receive nothing but good responses from them.

Uncle Benny Hegwer

This photo is one of the treasures I brought home with me from my visit last month with my Aunt Lelia in Utah.  Once again, she pulled out photos I have no memory of ever having seen before!  (More of them will probably appear here over the next few weeks!)  I believe this is the only photo I have of Uncle Benny where he is not a babe-in-arms.

Uncle Benny was the seventh child of my grandparents Bertha (Carr) and Ben Hegwer, whom you saw in a previous post.  In fact, I now know that both that photo and this one of Benny were taken by Bertha's sister, Ann Carr, on the same day, 12 October 1929.  Benny was born here in the family home at the plant for Utah Power & Light at Lifton in St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho, on 24 December 1926, so he is almost 3 years old in this photo.  His father, Ben, was the power plant superintendent.

It strikes me that sometimes a photo can be appreciated for its content and composition or, sometimes, a photo is valued because of who or what it records, regardless of artistic merit.  And, sometimes, it may be valued for the greater story it tells.  For me, this photo is in this last category and I hope I can express myself adequately...

Thankfully, Grand-Aunt Ann annotated the back of her photo: 

So, it seems all the more charming to me and personal to know the names of the cats.  Maybe it's because of the name "Fuzzy," but Benny and the cats all look so playful and are obviously planning their next adventure.

But, doesn't the impact and character of this snapshot change when I tell you that Benny died just 17 days after this moment in time?

Shortly after the 2 photos were taken, the whole family became very ill.  His sister Margaret died five days after Benny, the death certificates saying scarlet fever (but Aunt Lelia swears it was diphtheria).  Their father, Ben, never fully recovered and died 3 August 1933.  Brother Ray also never fully recovered but lived til 1937.

One small snapshot can be so much more than just the image on its front side.

Grandparents Bertha & Ben

Bertha Maud Carr was born 13 December 1893 in Racine, Racine, Wisconsin to John Henry and Ann Matilda (Causier) CARR.  Benjamin Theodore Hegwer was born 22 February 1885 in Goff, Nemaha, Kansas to Charles Herman and Margaret Lavina (Richardson) HEGWER.

They were married 11 September 1912 in Ely, White Pine, Nevada, where both Ben and John Henry were working.  This photo shows them in the mid to late 1920s in Salt Lake City, Utah.  By then, the family was living in St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho. 

The building with the water tank is the Salt Lake Hardware on N. 400 West just north of North Temple.  The railing was in front of the Union Pacific Railway Depot.  Where they are standing is now the front of a new Hyatt.  So, the railing is gone, the street looks different, and there is now an overpass in the way between where they were standing and the building, but the building is still there!

More Treasures from the To-File Pile: CARR Family

John Henry CARR
Here is a photo of Great-Grandfather John Henry CARR. I don't have the original, so I can't see the bottom identification of the photographer very well. But, it does look like a British motif. Consequently, I'd guess this was taken between 1895 and 1907.

He was born 20 July 1862 in Castleford, Yorkshire and died 13 January 1933 in Los Angeles, California. His occupations included postman, slater, belt maker, engine driver, electrical 'engineer' at a smelter, janitor, and 'engineer' for the Los Angeles Auditorium Building.

Bertha Maud (Carr) HEGWER
This photo of the 6th of his 7 children was the adjacent item in the to-file pile today. I received these photos electronically from my cousin some time ago and I am very grateful for her sharing them.
My guess is that this is circa 1913 in Logan Canyon, Utah or perhaps shortly earlier and somewhere in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Grandma Bertha was born 13 Dec 1893 in Racine, Wisconsin. The family went back to England when she was a baby, but they returned to the USA in 1907. She died 21 September 1972 in Susanville, California. I knew her best of my grandparents and treasure this photo since all the others I have are about 1960 or later.

Postscript
With all the unusual rain we've had, I'm making unexpectedly good progress on the to-file piles. There are still three piles, but they are much smaller! Are you jealous?

A Carr/Causier Voyage & More

The first time I remember hearing the expression "Every journey has two ends" was in a podcast from the National Archives of the United Kingdom. [Please see Note 5 for more info.] Now, I have my own examples!

Fairly recently, findmypast.co.uk (a commercial subscription site) posted oodles of records of passenger lists of people leaving from the UK on long voyages during the years 1890 to 1960. Last week, I finally got around to playing in those records, accessing FindMyPast for free at my local Family History Center. It was great fun!

The Family
Great-Grandparents John Henry CARR and Ann Matilda CAUSIER made at least two trips between the USA and England. The first trip was between May, 1887 and February, 1889, settling in Wisconsin with 3 young children (Matilda, Grice Ethell, & Charles William). There, Jane Catherine, Ernest Grice, and Bertha Maud were born. Sadly, both Matilda and Grice Ethell died in Racine, Wisconsin in July 1889. About 1894, the family returned to England, where their last child, Anne Martha was born in 1904.

The Voyage with Two Ends
Some time ago I had found the arrival manifest for their 15 September 1907 return through Philadelphia. Here are crops of both pages of the arriving manifest.

Page 1 [Source 1]
John Henry CARR is line 18; Ann and four children are lines 19-23:

Before I talk about the Carr’s in this image, let’s look at the ‘scribbles’ on the page. The line through Mr. Marshall on line 26 means he did NOT take the voyage after all. The date and code numbers on line 23 for Aunt Annie most likely mean that she applied for naturalization in 1931. [Note 6]

Page 2 [Source 2]:

I especially value seeing that great-grandfather John Henry was only 5’7” and had blue eyes, while great-grandmother Ann was 5’3” with brown eyes. Re-examing all this info for the writing of this blog, I see that maybe I can’t find a birth record for Ann is because I have been looking in Tipton, Staffordshire per her death certificate, rather than in Castleford, Yorkshire. Given that the passenger list was made 40 years closer to her birth, it could be the accurate one! It’s funny how re-reading documents can reveal details missed before.

Also, note that on Page 2 where it says John Henry was going to his father’s at 188 Wiliams, it really is his father-in-law Charles Causier’s address. There is no indication that William Carr ever left Yorkshire.

Last week, at FindMyPast.co.uk, I found the passenger list for the 4 September 1907 departure from Liverpool [Source 3]. So, now I have both the beginning and end of the Carr’s second voyage! This passenger list doesn’t give me any earth-shattering new info, but it does contain the surprise that Grandma Bertha was called, at least once, “Bessy.” If I had not already had the arrival manifest, finding the departing passenger list would have given me a date, a ship, and a port, which would surely make finding the arrival easier.

The Ship

They traveled on the SS Merion. It was easy to find info on this ship at Wikipedia.com. The wiki entry says that the ship was first launched in 1902, so it was still fairly new when this family sailed. The entry continues that the ship held 150 second class passengers and 1700 in third class. Its career includes running aground and a few at-sea collisions, but fortunately none in 1907! Perhaps most interestingly, it was sunk, without casualties, by a German submarine in WWI while on duty in the Mediterranean as a decoy. [Source 4]

Conclusion
Finding documents and matching photos like all these really strike me. I just stare at this ship thinking over and over that I may have never met them, but my great-grandparents were on this ship! Wow!

Maybe this FindMyPast database will be expanded one day soon and I'll be able to use it to find the date and full info about the first Carr/Causier trip to the USA. For now, I'll just try to get used to the idea that Grandma Bertha may have been a 'Bessie.'

Disclaimer
I neither work for nor receive any consideration from any of the entities listed here.

Sources & Notes
[1] cropped from ancestry.com database “Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945,” 1907 / September / Merion / image 27

[2] cropped from ancestry.com database “Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945,” 1907 / September / Merion / image 28

[3] cropped from findmypast.co.uk migration database "Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960"; SS Merion, Liverpool to Philadelphia, 4 Sep 1907

[4] Merion picture & info from Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Merion -- Wikipedia says this image is in the public domain in the USA.

[5] More info about the National Archives podcasts: The best way to access their wonderful podcasts is at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/

Here's the podcast specific to passenger lists and every voyage having two ends: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/every-journey.htm

Just for fun, here are links to 3 of my other most favorite National Archives podcasts:
How the sinking of the Titanic affected the families of the crew
a case study on genealogical research featuring the family of Charles Darwin
workhouses of the 1800s
The National Archives have an incredible amount of resources and I could never do them justice in this blog. For genealogy research help, I love the book Tracing Your Ancestors in the National Archives by Amanda Bevan. My copy is the 7th Edition, published in 2006. !

[6] There is a wonderful document “A Guide to Interpreting Passenger List Annotations” online through JewishGen. It has lots of examples and all sorts of info about all the details on passenger lists. Be sure to look at all of the sections: my printout of the guide runs to 28 pages.

Great Resources: England

The London Gazette is an official newspaper in the British Isles and has been continuously published since the 17th century. My first reaction when I read that it now had a fully searchable online archive was 'Why bother? My people weren't in London.' But, I still visited the site and searched for the fairly uncommon surname CAUSIER and for some of my CARRs, all of whom were in Yorkshire and neighboring areas. ... Now I know that the London Gazette is much, much more than a London paper!

I found Great Uncle Grice Ethell CARR in bankruptcy listings:
11 May 1888 -- p. 2733
18 May 1888 -- p. 2874
16 May 1888 -- p. 6264

His address is listed as "Bridge-street, Sandal-road, Wakefield, Yorkshire" and is a "Grocer and Tea Dealer." The prodeedings are being handled in the Wakefield Court. This data adds to what we know about where he lived and his occupations. The second child of William CARR and Jane ETHELL, his name is actually three of the family surnames! By the 1891 England census, he was back in Whitwood Mere and working in the glass foundry.

I didn't know what the listings were referring to; 'bankruptcy' wasn't mentioned on any of those 3 pages and working backwards to the beginning of each listing had not made it any clearer. So, I went to RootsChat and posted a query there. Within in 2 days I had 3 great responses and that's how I learned great uncle Grice Ethell CARR had filed for bankruptcy. I don't see much in the the genealogy press about RootsChat, but I think it's a great resource for anyone doing research in England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, etc. Everyone is very nice and very helpful.

I made these website thumbnails using Thumbizy which I learned about a few weeks ago from the Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. But, I'm not totally satisfied with them here and will try something else next time.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I neither work for nor receive any consideration from any of these groups. Actually, I don't work for anyone.

Grandma Bertha and her first child

My father was born ninety-six years ago today, 14 Nov 1913, in Logan Canyon, Utah, at the Utah Power and Light station where his dad was the head. There are some nice vintage photos of the power station in the Utah State University library collection. Note how the rock retaining wall in this photo is shown in the Utah State collection, too.

Herb was the first of eight children of Benjamin Theodore Hegwer and Bertha Maud Carr. They had eloped and married 10 September 1912 in Ely, Nevada. When Herb was born, Bertha was not quite 20 and Ben was 28.

My dad annotated the back of his baby photo. Since I never saw this photo before he died, I assume he received it shortly before he died in 1982. I don't think I ever would have recognized Grandma Bertha from this picture and certainly wouldn't have known it was my dad.

Great-Grandparents John Carr & Annie Matilda Causier

This is one of my photos of All Saints' Church in Whitwood, Yorkshire. My great grandfather John CARR and great grandmother Ann Matilda CAUSIER were married here 129 years ago today. There is also a photo of it at the GENUKI site. (When I first found the church at this site, the page was labeled 'Whitwood' and the photo 'All Saints' Church, Whitwood. I don't know why they have changed the titles.)

This copy of their marriage certificate was among the things my dad left. I don't know where he got it, but I suspect it was from cousin Judy. As you can see, the 10 October 1880 wedding was performed by Jno. Jas. (JJ) Needham, Rector of All Saints'.


The 1881 English census was just a few months after John and Annie's wedding. It show them living in Castleford, West Yorkshire, which is about one mile from Whitwood.


The family of John's parents, William and Jane (ETHELL) CARR are nearby in Whitwood, interestingly just 4 entries away from Rector Needham. Also, the way I've cropped the census image, you can see William and Jane's son, Grice Ethell Carr who was one of the witnesses for his brother's wedding.


In September 2006, my husband and I were able to travel briefly to England and see part of Yorkshire. My research had led me to fourth cousin Val, who still lives in the area. She and her husband were wonderful tour guides and showed us places we could never have found by ourselves. While Whitwood, in general, is understandably much changed, the church is still there! What is left of the church cemetery is nearby, but very few headstones remain.
After approaching one of the Whitwood headstones, I was surprised to read that it was that of Rector Needham.


An inscription for his mother is on the left side of the large marker. He is not an ancestor of mine, but it is somehow touching that I could photograph a headstone for a stranger whose name I had seen in old records. I have not found any record that Rector Needham ever left descendants and I wonder if anyone else will ever search for him or his mother.

Great-grandparents John and Annie CARR appear to have left for America between 1887 and 1889, joining Annie's parents and siblings in the greater Milwaukee area of Wisconsin. In contrast to that of the man who married them, their burial niche in Glendale, California, is marked by a small plaque. Their youngest daughter, also named Annie, is with them.


SOURCES
Photos and marriage certificate copy: MHD collection

1881 England Census excerpt #1: England, Yorkshire, Castleford, District 17, p. 31 from ancestry.com

1881 England Census excerpt #2: England, Yorkshire, Whitwood, District 4, p. 6 from ancestry.com

Carr interment location: Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California;
Great Mausoleum, Dahlia Terrace, Columbarium of the Graces, #11686

Great Books: Yorkshire

Perhaps I should admit now that even with all my college degrees, I got through school with only one real history course. With the help of PBS, my interest in history did increase over the years but that's not saying much. But as my interest in genealogy increased and my research progressed, I saw how lacking my knowledge was and how interesting specific topics in history could be.

For instance, I soon found that all of my CAUSIER and CARR lines have a connection to Yorkshire but my research was hampered by my complete lack of knowledge of Yorkshire's geography or history. These great books are helping me catch up:

A History of Yorkshire: 'County of the Broad Acres' by David Hey (Lancaster, England: Carnegie Publishing, 2005). It's 472 pages with at least one illustration on almost every page. It is so lovely just to look at that sometimes I just sit and go through reading the picture captions. In 10 chapters, content goes from "prehistory" to present day. Careful attention is made to show how the sub-regions are each unique across that time span.

My Ancestors were Methodists by William Leary (London: Society of Genealogists, 1999). This is a small, 115 page pamphlet. Most of it is a listing of existing Methodist records across England, but the first 20 pages are an excellent overview of all the different types of Methodists. This topic became very important to me when I realized that I was having trouble finding records on the children of John Henry CARR and Ann Matilda CAUSIER because I was looking in Church of England records while the family was Primitive Methodist! Clearly, I need to learn more about Methodist records and history, but this is a start.

Have a great time at your library or bookstore!