How Dissatisfying!

The further back we go, the more difficult it becomes - - to find records, to find proof, to put together a clear story, to get a clear picture of the person or family. It can be maddening especially the further away you are, as the researcher, from the physical records because you can't go digging!

Point in case is that of Mary Jane Peck. She was the daughter of Jeremiah Peck and Sally Houghtalin. Born in Halfmoon, she married her husband where the family had relocated - Adrian, Michigan.  Her husband was Leander Almerion Spring, born in Massachusetts, he was the son of Cyril Spring & Rosetta Dibble.

While the book of 1868 by Ira Ballou Peck,  "A Genealogical History of the Descendants of Joseph Peck," was a great initial source, it doesn't add anything other than...names!

Color me happy when I discovered this picture recently posted to the Find A Grave memorial for Mary and Leander! 

How absolutely beautiful and a huge thank you to Gene Eric Salecker!

But now what?  

Color me happy when I took a second look at the Michigan Obits posted on Family Search, to discover that Mary and Leander's obits were included in the database ~~ holy insight potential ~~

 Sigh, color me dissatisfied to discover it was an abridged obit.  Thank you to the volunteer who did that much back in the day...but....

But look at that line in Leander's...that...last....line!!  

Letcher Brickwalls

Back in the tree I have that our Lydia E Peck, the daughter of Jeremiah Peck & Sally Houghtalin, married William 'Amos' Letcher.  

Amos was the son of William Letcher & Polly Garfied - she was the aunt of President James A Garfield.

courtesy of Anna Labadie - Ancestry

Lydia & Amos had one son, James 'Herbert' Letcher.

Herbert was a printer/publisher and first married Mary Florence Hamilton, the daughter of William D Hamilton & Mary E Rainey. Mary went by her middle name, Florence or Flora.  

For many years, that was all I had on this pairing.

While I knew that Herbert & Flora divorced, today I discovered it was contentious. According to the blog by Pamela Lash, he sued her in 1889 for divorce & custody of their son accusing her of being willfully absent. It didn't go in his favor and his ex-wife & child relocated to New York. 

She remarried in 1900 to a Robert McBride but whether he died or they divorced as well I couldn't say, but she went back to using Letcher by 1910.  But was her absence in the first place the result of a cult!?!

Brooklyn Eagle, Tues, 14 Feb 1939

Mrs F H Letcher

Funeral services were to be held today in the Fairchild Chapel, 85 Lefferts Place for Mrs Florence H Letcher, for many years a resident of Brooklyn, who died Saturday at the home of her son, Harold Letcher, 20 Ardsley Place, Rockville Centre. Burial was to be private. Mrs Letcher was 77 and a native of Syracuse,. Her husband, Herbert Letcher, who died a number of years ago was a publisher. Surviving, in addition to her son, is a sister, Mrs Harriet Bent of Winchester, Mass. 

Herbert & Flora's son, Harold Hamilton Letcher, went on to be very successful in his own right as a Life Insurance Agent and married Margaret Berryman Burns, the daughter of Rev Frank L Burns & Martha J Berryman. They had one daughter, Martha Florence Letcher.

New York Times, 10 Sep 1964
LETCHER—Harold Hamilton, on Sept. 8, 1964, in Indianapolis, beloved husband of Margaret, father of Florence Kreter; a loving grandfather of four grandchildren. Interment in Indianapolis.

Herbert's second wife was widow Ella Yerk, the daughter of George Hospelhorn & Maria L Bamber and they had a daughter, Nina Louise Letcher.

James Herbert Letcher died in 1930

The Lima News, Fri, 29 Aug 1930
Former Editor Dies At Ottawa Thursday
OTTAWA, Aug. 29 - James Herbert Letcher, 80, father of Mrs. Lawrence Labadie, died Thursday night at the Labadie home, following an illness due to the infirmities of age. He was for many years owner and editor of the Ottawa Gazette, the Republican weekly newspaper of Putnam-co. Previous to that time and since Mr. Letcher has been identified with various weekly and semi-weekly publications in Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky. His wife died some years ago. Services will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Labadie residence on W. Main-St. Burial will be in Harmon cemetery, near Gilboa, beside the grave of his wife.

Train Tragedy

Ruben Jerome Gage was born in 1882 at Halfmoon, NY to George W Gage & Lydia Palmer, and via his mother's side, he traces back Hezekiah Rogers Jr & Hannah Vincent.

In 1909, he married Henrietta 'Etta' Alberts, the daughter of Orlando Alberts & Sarah Barnhart who died in 1943. They had 2 children - RubyEtta who died with her father & Albert who died in 1963.

courtesy of Thomas Dunne - Find A Grave

Ballston Spa Daily Journal, Mon, 11 Oct 1920
Father And Child Killed - Reuben Gage and Daughter Hit by D&H Train at Round Lake
Round Lake, Oct 11 - Reuben Gage, aged thirty years, and his daughter, Ruby Gage, eight years old, were instantly killed on Saturday afternoon, when their motor truck was struck by a Mechanicville bound Delaware and Hudson passenger train on the Round Lake station crossing. Mr Gage was driving toward Round Lake to get a load of sand. A string of freight cars standing at the crossing hid the view of the approaching train from the view of the driver until the truck was almost on the tracks in front of the train. Mr Gage was employed in Schenectady where he had lived until two years ago when the family moved to Round Lake. He leaves a wife; one son Albert; his parents Mr and Mrs George W Gage; and two sisters, Mrs Charles Selig and Mrs Raymond Fuller of Round Lake. The funeral of Mr Gage and his daughter will take place tomorrow afternoon at one o'clock. Burial will be in Vale Cemetery, Schenectady.

Times Union, Mon, 30 Sep 1963
GAGE - Sept 27, 1963, Albert G Gage of 469 Hamilton St. Husband of Margaret Kennedy, father of Jacqueline Gage, stepfather of Marie Katherine Robles. funeral services, private from the Magin & Keegan Funeral Home, 891 Madison Ave. Relatives and friends are invited to call at the funeral home Monday evening from 7 to 9 o'clock.

A Couple of Oil Guys

Unbeknownst to the son & brother-in-law, the two men worked for the same company.

The bridge notes are that the Vacuum Oil Company was founded in 1866 after an accidental discovery of a residue from distilling kerosene - it became a lubricant that was used in steam engines & internal-combustion engines. Standard Oil purchased the company in 1879 which originated the Mobil trademark but it was broken up again in 1911 because of the Sherman Antitrust Act - basically an Act that attempted to curtail monopolies.

In 1931, the Vacuum Oil & Standard Oil Company of New York (aka Socony) merged again, this time it became known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company. In 1963, the company became known as Mobil and it had a new logo - in 1998 Mobil became ExxonMobil

Madison Barker Wilbur was the son of Franklin Fellows Wilbur & Flora Catherine Smith.  He married Mahala Belle Haviland, the daughter of George Haviland & Allena Stewart; they had a daughter named Clara Belle Wilbur.

Times Record, 14 May 1941

courtesy of By Source, Fair Use - Wiki

Madison B Wilbur
Funeral services for Madison B Wilbur, 32, were conducted at 3 pm yesterday from the home of his parents, Mr and Mrs Frank F Wilbur, Quaker Springs. Rev Donald MacDonald, pastor of the Baptist Church, Bellerose, L I, officiated, assisted by Rev Harvey Hoffman, pastor of the Reformed Church of Schuylerville. Interment was in Friends Cemetery, Quaker Springs. Mr Wilbur died in Albany Hospital Saturday. He had been residing in Queens Village, L I, where he was employed as laboratory technician by the Socony Oil Co. Other survivors include his wife; one daughter; two sisters, Mrs Paul Henninger, East Greenbush and Mrs R Carl Robison of New York.


~~~
Madison's sister, Gladys, married Reuben Carl Robinson, the son of Ralph Robinson & Lucy Morehouse and they too had 1 daughter - Carleen.

courtesy of Wiki

Schenectady Gazette, 4 Aug 1973
Robinson Rite Monday in Saratoga
Saratoga Springs - Funeral services for R Carl Robinson, 66, of Tempe, Ariz, a former area resident who died yesterday morning in Saratoga Hospital, will be conducted at 11 am Monday at the Bussing & Cuniff funeral Home by the Rev Herbert C Johnson. Burial will be in Friends Cemetery, Quaker Springs. He was born in Greenfield Center Sep 29, 1906, and before his retirement was an executive administrative assistant with the Mobil Oil Corp in New York for 40 years. While in New York City, he was a member of Calvary Baptist Church and in Tempe, he was a member of Faith Evangelical Free church and a member of the Gideons International. Survivors include his wife, Gladys Wilbur Robinson; one daughter, Mrs Ormiston T Ellis, Tempe; his mother, Mrs Lucy M Robinson, Greenfield Center; two brothers, Donald M Robinson, Guilderland and Earl H Robinson, Pittman, NY. Friends may call at the funeral home tomorrow from 7 to 9 pm. Friends are asked to make contributions to Faith Evangelical Free Church, East Southern Avenue, Tempe, Ariz.