Battle of the Bulge

Something amazing happens to those of us who do genealogy – we become novice historians as well. 

To understand our ancestors, often times, we find ourselves reading up on – well, history.  History of clothing, occupations, calamities, diseases, cities, areas and yes, war.

In this instance, I read up on the Battle of the Bulge – yes, yes, I knew it occurred during WWII but I didn’t know the details, specifics, like the name was coined after a battlefield feature – that is, troops moving into enemy territory are surrounded on multiple sides making them vulnerable (picture a platoon of men moving in a line, a group - the bulge)

This is what happened at the Battle of Bulge in the Ardennes – a heavily forested area near Belgium & Luxembourg – providing cover for both sides. The Germans cut into the middle of the Allied bulge, thereby splitting the force which resulted in the highest number of causalities of any operation of the war – the American forces the hardest hit.

1933 Worcester Voc-Tech High School [Ancestry]

One loss was 1Lt Donald Arthur Trotter.

Donald was the son of Arthur R Trotter & Gertrude R Hoglund and he was born in Worcester, MA.  He married into our line by marrying Olive May LaFontaine – the daughter of Louis Arthur LaFontaine & Ella Jane Simpson – Ella the daughter of our William Wallace Simpson & Catherine L ‘Cassie’ Vincent.

Donald died in May of1944 – his son was born in Aug.

Donald's son, Donald Wayne Trotter, also served during Vietnam in the Navy

Olive remarried to a fella named Ernest Bouchard and had one son with him - she died in 1998.

Picture Series - John Mason & Charlotte Arbuckle

We don’t have a lot of pictures in my immediate family so I latch on to pictures like a fat kid on a smartie and I am forever grateful to those who share!

Case in point, this stunning picture of John Mason & Charlotte Arbuckle shared by Dan Forbes on Ancestry (3x great grandson)…..absolutely amazing!  John was the son of William Mason & Catherine Hutt and reported to have died in 1907; she was the daughter of William Arbuckle & Mary Vincent who died in 1918.

courtesy of Dan Forbes - Ancestry

There are no words ~~ Thank You Dan!

MacKinnon

Catherine is a funny name in the name game of genealogy - the nickname tends to be Cat or Kate but there are few Catherines who went by Cassie - Catherine B Hudson, wife of John Sidney Osbourne Vincent; Catherine L Vincent who married William Simpson; and the maternal grandmother of this MacKinnon boy - Catherine Ann MacLean who married William Arbuckle.

William & Cassie had 8 children, and of the 8, Georgina Willena Arbuckle married Charles L Maclean after having been married to Daniel J MacKinnon - a boy out of Cape Breton, NS.  

I haven't been able to figure out what happened to Daniel or who his parents were but if the information on Ancestry can be proven, Daniel & Georgie were divorced after having 2 children together, John & William; and Daniel relocated to the States - but I couldn't prove it so if anyone has more information on him, I would love to hear from you!

John died before his brother William and he too is a dead end so far - could it be he and his father are both Daniel John aka DJ found in Illinois? Again, I can't prove it just yet.

William married twice - first to Marguerite Leona Huggins/Higgins - she was born in Merigomish to Thomas Leonard Higgins/Huggins & Mary Adelaide MacDonald and together they had a son Arrol.  William's second wife, Ruth Malcolm was married 3 times which made matching up children a wee bit of challenge!

courtesy of Jody MacKeil - Find A Grave

William Milrose MacKinnon , 74 of the Senior Citizen Apartments, Riverton and formerly of Merigomish died Saturday in Aberdeen Hospital. Born in Lower Barney's River he was a son of Daniel and Georgie (Arbuckle) MacKinnon. He was a retired carpenter and an adherent of St. Paul,s Presbyterian Church and was a member of Branch 29 of the Royal Canadian Legion. He is survived by his wife, the former Ruth Malcolm, a son, Arrol N. of Merigomish, a stepson, Charles Malcolm , New Glasgow and two half brothers; Donald MacLean , Little Harbour and Albert MacLean , Westville. A brother, John, predeceased him. The body is in R.H. Porter Funeral Home, New Glasgow where funeral will be 2 p.m. today with Rev. Pat Rose officiating with burial in Murray's Point Cemetery

Picture Series - Polly McGee

A while ago I wrote about the clan of Capt Charles Arbuckle – the son of the first Charles Arbuckle and a Polly McGee/MaGee

Polly was the first white child born in the area and Barney's River was named after her father 



Shelly Arbuckle shared this picture on Ancestry of Polly McGee in her 90s.........I love this ...the cape & cap, the frills, the ties...it screams history, the old-days.......amazing!!! 
 

Mary Jane Vincent

Well look at me go……..I found another long lost family member!

There are so many Mary Jane Vincents in the family it all gets confusing but today I talk about the one in my direct line.  Joshua Vincent & Hannah Treen – my 5x grandparents - had 12 children that we know of – two of them named Mary Jane. 

courtesy of Murray Sands

The first little one was born in 1849 and unfortunately, died 1854 - she was buried at Wentworth Cemetery in Nova Scotia

Then in June of 1854, they had another baby girl and they re-used the name …..this Mary Jane was annoying in soooo many ways…

In 2011 I found her on the 1871 & 1881 censuses and I found her marriage to a Mariner named Christopher McLean.  They had 3 children but only one lived.  Lillas died in 1873 and Susan died in 1876 and then there was Henrietta.  Mary, Christopher & Henrietta were dead ends after the 1881 census. 

Then in 2012 I found Henrietta living as Ada - she was Henry Ada on the 1881 census and most trees have her simply as Ada.  She had married Anton Nymoen and they were living in Tacoma, yet I still couldn't find Mary & Christopher.  Another year later and I found that Ada & Anton had one daughter, Nelda and that she had married Alonzo Nigh and had 2 children of their own.

And now in August 2017, as I revisit my tree from the beginning ~~ and after a week a scouring, toying with variations, and mulling over bits and pieces ~ ~ I struck gold!

It all started with a tree on ancestry which stated that Christopher had retired to British Columbia - this makes sense because I had been wondering how Ada would have ended up in Washington by herself - it wasn't a common thing for children, girls especially, to venture off alone.  

I am not sure if British Columbia is true or not because I could not find any records there so I decided to just search for them in Tacoma where their only living daughter was living with her husband & child.

Lo & behold......I found Mary, widowed, living in Tacoma in 1899 - so I now know Christoper died before 1899 - if I were a betting person, I would say he died in Washington rather than BC but only a record would confirm that.  

Regardless, the discovery was Amaze-Balls because it led to me finding her final resting spot!  It turns out Mary Jane remarried 2 ~ count em ~ 2 more times!! 

She first remarried to a Charles Borcher in 1908 at Tacoma, then in 1915 she married a third time to Simeon Rumbaugh and she died in 1919 in Orting, WA!!!  

courtesy of Mike Webb - Find A Grave

 Yippee to me again - tenacity pays off!!!