Ruth Elouise Robertson

 

 

Ruth Elouise Robertson was my grandmother.  She was born on May 19, 1923 in Penfield, NY.  She was the second child of Thomas King Robertson and Ruth Fredia Oestreich. She had four siblings;  June, Beth, Thomas, and Wilma.  She spent her childhood living in St. Catherines in Canada and also Webster, NY.  When she was 20, she married Vincent (Budd) Arthur Haskins, son of Frederick Edward Haskins and Katherine VanLare.  They were married on September 4, 1943.  Budd and Ruth lived on Union Street in Marion, NY.  They had four children, Mark, Debi, Scott and Wendy.  She died on September 8, 2011 from cancer.  She is buried in the Marion Cemetery.

Today would have been her 90th birthday.  Happy Birthday Grandma - I miss you!  I wish we could be sitting on your porch watching the people walk by at least for just a couple of whiles.

Wordless Wednesday: Sisters

Four of Annagusta West Drake's Daughters

Tombstone Tuesday: Annagusta West Drake

In keeping with the theme of my posts this week I thought I would add Annagusta's Tombstone.  She is buried in the Marion Cemetery in Marion, NY on the Drake family plot.  She is buried along side her husband Charles W. Drake.  Her daughters Sarah Drake Haskins, Clara Drake White, Janet Drake and Lillian Drake Carroll as well as Lillian's husband William Carroll are also buried in the family plot.  The plot is well maintained and cared for by the Haskins family.

 

 

Sunday's Obituary - Annagusta West Drake

From The Marion Enterprise January 12, 1922

Over the past week I was off and I spent a great amount of my time working on my family research with a special focus on Annagusta West Drake.  She is my third great grandmother.  I have many of my ancestors death certificates and obituaries but I realized that I did not have Anna's so I set out on a mission to find it.  Luckily, she died in the town that I live in and my father happens to know the town historian quite well.  He contacted her and told her that I was looking for a way to access the old Marion, NY newspaper entitled The Marion Enterprise.  I was hoping she'd know where I could get access to the papers on or around January 9th 1922.  She mentioned that in Jennie's House, our local museum, there are boxes of the old papers from the 1880's through the 1930's.  Great, I might be in luck.  She gave my dad the key and off we went to explore.  After moving a bunch of dusty old boxes and bed frames I found the box with the right date and inside were all of the  papers from 1921-1924.  They were yellowed, brittle, full of information and all in order.  I located the right date and with great care scanned the 90 year old paper for her obituary and I found it!   I took a picture with my iPad and was ecstatic with my treasure.  

Here is a transcription of Annagusta's death notice:

Mrs. Annagusta Drake

Mrs. Annagusta Drake, widow of Charles W. Drake, passed away at 6 o'clock, Tuesday moring, January 9, 1922, at her home on Palmyra Street, after a long illness, being 79 years of age.

Mrs. Drake had survived her husband only two months.

Her maiden name was Annagusta West.  She was born in New York City.

She had been a resident of Marion the last twenty years, coming from Sodus with her husband.  She was a  member of the local W.C.T.U.  She leaves one sone and six daughters:  Joseph Drake, of Newark, N.Y.; Mrs. William Carroll, of Williamson; Mrs. Sarah Haskins, of Marion; Mrs. Charles Boyle, of Oswego, Illinois; Miss Janet Drake and Mrs. Clara White, of Buffalo; Mrs. Agnes Hasselwander, of Rochester; eight grandchildren and four great grandchildre; also one brother, Edward West, of Newark, N.Y.

The funeral was held Thursday afternoon, at half past one o'clock, from the house, Rev. L.W, Bumpus, pastor of the Baptist church, officiating.  Burial was in the family lot in Marion cemetery.

Sibling Saturday: Annagusta and Edward West

It has been quite a while since I have written a post but I have been doing a great deal of research and writing over the past few months, especially during the month of February.  I have been researching my third great grandmother Annagusta West.  I am writing her story; learning about the many aspects of her life.  The research that I have been doing lends itself to posting a small portion of that story related to the the topic of siblings.

Annagusta was one of five children born to an English immigrant and his wife in the lower east side of Manhattan during the 1840's.  Their family was likely poor and lived in the tenements during the time that NYC was growing rapidly with immigrants coming from Ireland and Germany.   One of Anna's brothers was Edward.  They were born two years apart; Anna in 1843 and Edward in 1845.  During the years between 1845 and 1855 the family lived in at least six different places.  During that time tenement apartments commonly had poor conditions that would have been filthy, cramped and crowded as were the streets.  Their father was a butcher working in the Fulton Market.

According to the 1850 Federal Census all of the family members were living together in the 17th ward and the NYC Directory had them living near 35 Stanton Street.  The census also states that Anna was attending school, Edward wasn't old enough yet to be going. 

In the New York State Census of 1855 the family is still all in NYC but the NYC Directory has now them living at 105 First Avenue.  This is the last record that has the whole family together.  By 1860, Edward is no longer found living with the family in NYC.  He is found in the census living with the B.W Barrows family in Pea Ridge, Brown, Illinois.  He is working on the farm and attending school.  He is 14 years old.  His sister was still living with the family in NYC working as a meat trimmer.   My question is why and how did a 14 year boy end up in Illinois so far from his family?  Why did he leave?  How did he get there?

Could Edward West have been part of the Children's Aid Society's Orphan Trains?  Could this be a plausible theory?  It is one that I am currently beginning to explore. Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated.  The family was poor.  Edward was of the right age to find himself getting into trouble on the streets of NYC.  The Orphan Train could have provided an opportunity for him to get out of the city and try to make a better life for himself.

Edward stayed in Illinois.  He got married to Julia Ann Parker.  They had a farm and lived in Clayton, Adams, Illinois until at least 1920 where the 1920 Federal Census states that he was 74 years old and widowed.

Anna left the city too.  She got married to Charles W. Drake in 1861, the year her mother died, and moved to the rolling hills of Dutchess County, New York.  She lived there through the end of the 19th century and then moved to Wayne County, New York, first in Sodus and then finally moving to Marion, NY.  

At sometime between 1920-1925 Edward found his way to Wayne County, New York too.  Family stories and pictures state that Ed moved close to his family and the 1925 New York State Census confirms this.  In 1925 Edward is living in Arcadia, NY with his sister-in law Estella.  She was Anna and Edward's brother George West's widow.  Below is a picture of Anna and Edward that was taken at the Drake home in Marion, NY. It was probably taken sometime between 1920 and 1923 when Anna died from Chronic Nephritis.  It makes me wonder, did they keep in contact throughout their whole lives?  Did they see each other at all between 1855 and 1920?  I wonder the story behind the picture?  I have a few pictures that were taken on this day.  It seemed to be a big deal as there were many family photographs taken capturing the occasion.  What seperated them and what brought them back together?

Annagusta West Drake and Edward West

My Genealogy 2012: A Year in Review

As 2012 winds down with a day's worth hours left I am reflecting on the past 12 months and contemplating my expectations and goals for 2013.

My goals for 2012 were:

Research Goal: Explore and source the DRAKE line of my family tree.

This was my most successful goal.  I learned quite a bit about the DRAKE line of my family tree, especially about my 2nd great grandmother Sarah Drake's maternal line.  I am currently working on writing a report on my research with a specific focus on the life of my 3rd great grandmother Anna Augusta West.

Education Goal: Investigate and possibly begin the NGS Home Study Course.

I didn't make much progress on this goal - however I did purchase a Discover Your Roots Kit from Family Tree Books that came with an Online Genealogy Course, which I have yet to take advantage of.  Time was a factor. 

Writing Goal: Write research reports on the HASKINS family line and finish reading You Can Write Your Family History by Sharon DeBarolo Carmack and actually begin writing my family history.

The research reports didn't get written on the Haskins family line.  It is something that I need to do but just wasn't something that I ended up wanting to do.  I know a great deal about this line of my family tree so I found it less enjoyable to spend time here.  I am also struggling with how I want to write about the Haskins family.  I finished reading the book by Sharon DeBarolo Carmack but am having a hard time finding my voice when it comes to my own writing.  I attempted to complete The Family History Writing Challenge in February but life got in the way.

Blogging Goal:

• Double my number of posts, so that means I need to post at least 42 times.
• Increase my number of followers by 25% ( I have 24, so that means I need to have 30 by the end of 2012)
• Read and apply some of the tips from The Big Genealogy Blog Book by Amy Coffin.

In terms of my blogging goals -- I didn't meet them either.  My total posts for 2012 (both blogs combined) was 21 which is 50% of what I wanted to accomplish which is exactly how many posts I had last year.  However, I had 21 posts without blogging from March until August.  As of today I have 29 followers -- I missed my goal of 30 by one person, however my blog traffic did increase.  My most visited blog post was "My Ancestor Blogging Jar."  This hasn't increased my personal blog posts a great deal but it has focused some of my research and I have a lot of draft posts that I am working on.

I didn't accomplish all I set out to do but am happy with the progress I did make. I made a lot of head way on things that weren't goals for 2012 but were branches and leaves that felt needed to be explored.  I broke down a major brick wall in relation to my Dutch roots.   I haven't decided if I'm going to make goals for 2013.  I might just see where the year takes me.  I know I will do genealogy, I know I will write and I know I will post.  And from the words from Ernest Hemingway “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”    I'm excited to see where my 2013 journey takes me.

Military Monday: Happy Veteran's Day

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.
Elmer Davis

In commemoration of Veteran's Day I wanted to write a short post honoring my direct line ancestors that served in the military and are/were American War Veterans.

Mark Vincent Haskins - my father.  He fought in the Vietnam War from July '68-July '69.  He was a Sergeant in the US Army.

Vincent A. Haskins - my grandfather.  He fought in World War II as a Seaman, 1st Class in the US Navy.

Seymour Haskins - my 4th great grandfather.  He fought in the War of 1812 in the 2 Reg't Artillery US Vols.