William and Martha were Far Guys maternal Great Grandparents. His Grandfather Curt’s parents. They are buried at Linnell Cemetery just a mile down the road from us.
William Born in Canada in 1848 – died in Minnesota in 1904. I know how he died. He was taking two boys hunting, his son Curt and a friend Walter. The boys were 16 and 13. Whist climbing over a fence, the 13 year olds gun discharged and wounded William. William said “It was an accident…no one is to blame.” He died a day or two later. He would have been about fifty-five years old.
Martha Born in Canada in 1852 – died in Minnesota in 1936. Her grandson Willard told me this. “Grandma lived with us. She spoiled me rotten. She was the family stabilizer, she kept things working. She was my protector, when I misbehaved I hid behind Grandma. Grandma was afraid of thunderstorms, she would take us into the stone milk house because she knew it wouldn’t blow down…she had her ways.”
Recently Edie a neighbor gave us the newspaper clipping about Martha’s death.**
We have one photo of Martha.
Martha is on the left, the other woman is an unknown. We have no idea where the photo was taken….someplace in Minnesota.
William and Martha owned a farm in Ontario Canada, Eramosa Township in Wellington County before they came to Becker County Minnesota.
I have no photos of William. I have asked cousin David to share what research he has completed. I am still waiting for him to get home from an extended vacation…retired people!
*** What do you believe, the newspaper obituary or the headstone? There are two dates that don’t match up. Newspaper: Martha’s birth in 1851 Headstone 1852. William’s death Newspaper 1905 Headstone 1904.
Just goes to show you that newspaper obituaries should only be used as a guide.
William Abbott:
Death: August 27, 1904
County of Death: Becker County, Minnesota, United States
Mother's Maiden Name: COPELAND, Date of Birth: 1849, Place of Birth: CANADA
In this case the headstone and death certificate match.
Someday when someone, possibly one of the grands is doing family research they may find this blog post helpful.
As I was reading your post, I thought how fortunate your grands will be having this info available. It was nice to see the newspaper clipping and the old photo.
ReplyDeleteI never knew my great grandparents, but it sure is nice to have photos. The best way to keep memories alive. It is too bad that the digital age might take that all away. I love the barn that is in the background in the photo.
ReplyDeleteI only knew my great-grandmothers. Both died in the early 1950's and neither one spoke a word of English. I know where they are buried but don't think I could find their graves if I tried. You are fortunate to have pictures.
ReplyDeleteThe wording in the newspaper is so different than what you might see today. And yes, that's a mystery about how those dates got changed. And I too think how fortunate your descendants will be to have all this information available to them. That is, if the internet is still going like it is now. :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting, and important for research, that there are several discrepancies. The obit states that she was Martha Cripps, not Copeland...is that another error? I only took note of that because the surname Cripps is in our family. I am your age, a Wisconsinite, and find that I have many things in common with you so I love reading your blog. Always dreaming of blogging myself someday...just not sure I'm interesting enough, hey.
ReplyDeleteYes she was Martha Cripps before marriage. Williams Mother was a Copeland before she married. Thanks for reading:)
DeleteInteresting. My hubby has boxes of old photo albums from his mom, but we don't know a lot of the people in the pictures.
ReplyDeleteMy mother always believed she was born in 1914, but when I was doing research and obtained a birth certificate, she was surprised to learn she was actually born in 1913.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I like to read old obits because of how they were written. I agree that the obit should be a guide. I think the onit information is often shared by a family member under the stress of losing a loved of written by someone who knows the approximate age of the deceased and works the math for the birth year. And for births prior to 1900, there are manynplaces where certificates were not issued/required, so folks had to go on recollection. How sad for the 13-rear-old to beqr such a sad memory of his accident.
ReplyDeleteThe only photos in Ancestry.com are of the grave headstones. Curtis' gravestone photo is in there too.
ReplyDeleteI don't think records in those day were always accurate. Grandpas went to town to register the new baby and weren't always known to be accurate.
ReplyDeleteI've run into some of the same issues with headstones and obituaries and death certificates in my research as well. I absolutely LOVE finding the old obituaries though as they used to write enough to get a better picture of the person as well as other tidbits to allow more research. So sad about the gun accident though.
ReplyDeleteWeird to have the dates wrong. I can only imagine that the newspaper got the wrong information from their source, i.e. a member of the family who wasn’t sure him/herself.
ReplyDeleteI have photos of people, supposedly family members, whom I cannot place anywhere in any context. I wish people would put names on the back.
How weird that the dates are wrong. I love your histories!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy hearing about your family history and to have pictures is wonderful! So interesting even if I didn't know them.
ReplyDeleteI do alot of genealogy work too. I hope you put your info on findagrave also, which is another great spot for genealogists and adding memorials for those we love!
ReplyDeleteYes I have Find A Grave updates to do with obits and photos. It is on my list of things to do! :)
DeleteI like to find old cemeteries and walk around reading names and dates on headstones. Especially poignant are those that mark the graves of babies and small children.
ReplyDeleteDates and names wrong. No wonder it is so difficult to trace your family history.
ReplyDeleteI never met any great-grandparents. My sister was into the family tree for several years and found some in Sweden, I believe. I know my paternal grandfather worked his way over from Sweden on a ship to Canada and was a lumberjack for a while up there before he wandered down into Minnesota. We know very little of our family tree. It is so wonderful that you know so much!! I love seeing the old pictures. :)