Genealogical Breakthrough

I recently exchanged e-mail with a descendant of one of Papa’s dead-end ancestors. That person is a descendant of a sibling of Henry H. Fellows, I’ll call him JB.

I had found little on JB previously. He was named in him mother’s pension claim file after his father died at during the Civil War. He is found in the census’s of 1870 and 1880 in Newaygo county, Michigan. And that was All I HAD.

Yesterday, I sat down to prepare some information to e-mail the JB’s descendant. Of course, first I needed to look through my files and be sure that everything was entered in the data base. Ha. It never is.

Then I went on one of my famous side-trips. Familysearch.org is working diligently on a various projects related to posting genealogical records on the Internet. Several new tools are being tested, with some pilot projects available on the site. I have indexed some records in this project, and will continue to do so as I have time.

Oh, yes, the side trip. I did a quick search and found out that some early Michigan, births, deaths and marriages are now posted in one of the new tools. I quickly downloaded images and entered citations to some records of the family of Henry H. Fellows, b. 1858; and his wife Belle Laumnion. I previously wrote about Belle and her amazing box of correspondence and momentos.

For some reason, I then substituted “Wexford” for “Newaygo” in the place box of the search form. Holy Cow! I was missing information on Bertha, one of the 6 children of Henry and Belle who survived to adulthood. Well, I don’t really have anything for her, other than a picture of her with the family, holding a small child on her lap. There she was, at least there her marriage was.

I spent the rest of the day trying to find out more, with limited results. I know her husband remarried in 1908, and that he and his family appear on the 1910 census with a 5 year old daughter who may be the child in the photo. I also found him on the 1920 census, with a third wife and a 10 year old child. So, all you Gilberts out there, What’s the deal? I want to know more. I want to invite that child’s descendants, if any, to our reunion.

And the descendant of our ancestor, JB? He’s still waiting. Maybe today….

2 comments

    • Richard A. Fellows on June 7, 2008 at 11:58 am

    I’m guessing the ancester is me. Please do publish my name and those of my ancestors, I’m not bashful, and I do want to connect with as many of my relatives as possible.

    Best Regards,
    Rick Fellows

  1. OK. Introducing Rick Fellows, a great-grandson of Joel B. Fellows, 1860- . He is Papa’s 3rd cousin. Joel b. Fellows and Henry H. Fellows were brothers.

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