Cinderella Amelia (Lyons) Newcomb (1820 - 1910)

 

Cinderella Amelia Lyons is a half sister to my 3rd great grandmother, Isabella Lyons Bill (1806 - 1872).  Her name intrigued me, so I decided to investigate her life.  Down the rabbit hole!

I had seen the name Cinderella before on a real person.  See this blog post HERE.  This is the only time I have found a Cinderella in my own family tree. The two examples of the name Cinderella I had seen were from the early 1800s.  So I checked the 1850 Federal Census to see how many women and girls had this fairy tale name!  According to Ancestry.com there were there are over 330,000 examples of this name in the 1850 census.  Wow!  And that wouldn't even include Cinderella Lyons, who was born and married in New Brunswick, Canada. 

My 4th great grandfather, Thomas Ratchford Lyons, the son of David Lyons and Elizabeth Ratchford, was born on 3 March 1780 in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.  He married Ann Skinner, the daughter of Charles Skinner and Sarah Osborn, on 30 September 1802 in Cornwallis.  Ann was born 9 May 1786 in Cornwallis, and died 19 October 1815 in Cornwallis.  Later, Thomas remarried to Anne Griffin, the daughter of James Chipman Griffin and Sarah Harris, on 21 May 1818 in Sackville, Nova Scotia.  

Thomas had five children with each wife, Ann and Anne, six daughters and four sons.  Of course, the name Cinderella jumped out at me as being very interesting!  I was able to trace her life under her married name.

Cinderella Amelia Lyons was born on 19 November 1820 in Sackville, and married William Freeman Newcomb on 11 December 1845.  William was born on 18 March 1813 in Cornwallis, but the marriage document listed his residence as Roxbury (now part of Boston, Massachusetts), so he must have immigrated to the United States before the wedding.  Cinderella and William also had five children, and their birth records list their birthplaces as Roxbury, Massachusetts; Cornwallis, Nova Scotia; Lewiston, New York; New York; and Massachusetts. 

William died 9 June 1857 on Rainsford Island, Boston Harbor, and was listed as being buried there, too.  This bit of information sent me down another rabbit hole, since I was not familiar with Rainsford Island.  The vital records listed him as dying of apoplexy [probably a stroke], a carpenter, born in Nova Scotia, with no parents listed.  After some research I learned that there was a small pox and quarantine hospital on Rainsford Island, which was also known as Hospital Island, Pest House Island, and Quarantine Island.  He was only 44 years old, so perhaps William had been struck down by a contagious disease? There was no further information on the death record. There are no gravestones on Rainsford Island today, nor any standing buildings.  It is a protected part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park, being off limits from April to September due to bird nesting, and no transportation to the island. According to Find A Grave, it is estimated that there are thousands of burials on this island, with only about 1, 599 names identified between 1854 to 1896.  About 350 bodies were removed in 1947 and reburied on Long Island.  

Cinderella lived a long life after her husband died.  She didn't pass away until 15 January 1910 in Boston. I found one obituary for her in far away New Mexico, in the Santa Fe New Mexican, 21 January 1910 ""Death of Mrs. C. A. Newcomb - Mrs. Cinderella Amelia Newcomb, mother of Judge William H. Newcomb, and Mrs. H. H. Betts of Silver City, died last week at Boston, Massachusetts, in her ninetieth year."  Despite being a widow with five children, and her husband being only a carpenter, her children did well in life.  Two lived in Massachusetts, one married the judge and removed to Silver City, New Mexico, and two unmarried daughters removed to Los Angeles and were buried at the prestigious Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. 

Cinderella is buried at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Boston.  I hope to find and photograph her tombstone when the weather improves. 

For the truly curious:

Tombstone Tuesday - Alice and Cinderella, 2012:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/10/tombstone-tuesday-alice-and-cinderella.html  

Surname Saturday - Lyons, 2013:

     https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/08/surname-saturday-lyons-loyalists-from.html  

A book about Rainsford Island, free and readable on Internet Archive "Rainsford Island: A Boston Harbor Case Study in Public Neglect and Private Activism" by William A. McEvoy and Robin Hazard Ray, 2019:    https://archive.org/details/rainsfordislandb00mcev_0 

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Cinderella Amelia (Lyons) Newcomb (1820 - 1910)", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 2, 2023, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/05/cinderella-amelia-lyons-newcomb-1820.html: accessed [access date]). 

Researching Ancestors Who Were Religious Leaders

Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill
My 3rd great grandfather

I've found quite a few ministers in my family tree.  Are there clergy, rabbis, or any other religious leaders in your family?

When tracing the protestant ministers in my family, I came to the conclusion that in early colonial New England the ministers' children married mostly the children of other ministers.  This pattern was quite common in the 1600s and 1700s, but I can see it also in the 1800s.  Perhaps it was a social class distinction.  Ministers were well educated, but often very poor, so their children tended to marry teachers and other ministers instead of lawyers and other businessmen?  Perhaps it was due to the fact that they led a strict upbringing?  This is just my theory. What do you think?

Most religious leaders had some sort of formal education, but not all.  Take advantage of this education to find where they attended schools, colleges and universities.  Some of the Puritan ministers who came over with John Winthrop's fleet in the 1630s went to Cambridge and Oxford Universities in England, and that is a great place to look for personal family information.  Harvard was founded as a place to instruct these ministers in the New World.  You can contact the colleges, universities, and religious institutions in the areas where your family lived to find out if they attended, and what records might be available.  Even if the school is no longer in existence, the records were often moved to another school's archives or library.

Sometimes someone in your family tree will just "see the light" or have a calling to the ministry.  This is what happened to my ancestor Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, who was the son of Asahel Bill, a Connecticut farmer who relocated to Nova Scotia during the planter movement in the 1760s.  Ingraham Ebenezer Bill was the youngest of eleven children, born in 1805 in "Billtown", Nova Scotia.  During his youth he experienced a religious conversion to the Baptist faith.  He was uneducated beyond grade school, yet went on to be one of the founders of the Baptist school Acadia College in 1831, and was later granted an honorary Doctorate of Theology.

Once I found Rev. Bill's connection to Acadia College (now Acadia University), I contacted their archive and received a large envelope with copies and newsclippings of his activities, photographs, sermons, and travels through Canada, all the eastern USA, and England.  The college also had a copy of his personal journal, and a biography written by one of his sons!  You can be sure that I wrote a nice donation to the Acadia library in lieu of regular copy charges.  You can read about the Bill family at this link:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/03/surname-satruday-bill-of-boston.html 

Finding a religious figure in your family tree can open up lots of information.  Just Google all the variations of your ancestor's name and see all the results.  Try "Rev. John * Smith"  or "Reverend *Smith" or "Rev. Smith DD", etc.   Each denomination and religion has it's own variations. Google can bring up sermons, weddings, funerals, newspaper articles, and obituaries this way.

Make a time line to see where your religious leader may have lived.  Some led one congregation for their entire life, and others moved from town to town, state to state, or even from country to country.  Timelines can be invaluable for genealogy research.

If your family was Roman Catholic, often there were siblings (great aunts and uncles) who entered religious service as nuns, priests, and or monks.  These family members didn't leave descendants (unless they were widows or widowers, and even rarer, divorced), and often changed their names, making them difficult to trace  (census records will use their religious name, not their birth name).  However, there are patterns in some families about which religious orders they preferred, which can help you to find the convent or monastery, and often the catholic schools other family members attended.  Once you find the religious order this relative entered, you can write to the order, or visit your own parish priest for help.  Once you find the religious order, you will find they kept very good records on their members, including birth place, parents names, burials, and more.

For the truly curious:

Is a Rabbi Hiding in Your Family Tree?  Lessons from Genetic Genealogy for Traditional Genealogists   https://www.academia.edu/18659950/Is_a_Rabbi_Hiding_in_Your_Family_Tree_Lessons_from_Genetic_Genealogy_for_Traditional_Genealogists 

Rabbinical Genealogy: Sources at the Center for Jewish History
https://www.cjh.org/pdfs/Rabbis.pdf 

Finding Family in Religous Service, by Juliana Smith
http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=3243 

Researching Irish Catholic Priests, Nuns and Religious Brothers, by Kyle J. Betit
https://www.irishrootsmedia.com/img/products/Sample%20issue%20108_1.pdf 

Colonial American Ministers Project at geni.com
https://www.geni.com/projects/Colonial-American-Ministers/13900 

The Colonial Clergy and the Colonial Churches of New England, by Frederick Lewis Weiss, reprinted by the Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore, Maryland, 1936  (there are similar books by Weiss for Maryland, Delaware, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina).  Some of these are available online - check Google books.

Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy
http://colonialclergyorg.blogspot.com/  

The Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy has sponsored a book Pedigrees of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy, by Robert Glenn Thurtle, 1976 available online at the Hathi Trust website:  https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005802358

A handy list of the New England Puritan ministers and their approximate time of arrival from England (1630 - 1641):  http://sites.rootsweb.com/~genepool/preacher.htm 


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Researching Ancestors Who Were Religious Leaders", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 9, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/01/researching-ancestors-who-were.html: accessed [access date]).

The Obituary of Sarah (Osborne) Skinner, 1848, Nova Scotia

From the Christian Messenger, Friday 14 April 1848, pages 116a and 117.  This was a Baptist newsletter in Nova Scotia, Canada. 

“OBITUARY NOTICE

Mrs. Sarah Skinner was the daughter of the late Mr. Samuel Osborne.  Both Mr. And Mrs. S. were born in Martha’s Vineyard, U. S. where they were married.  They removed, thence to Casco bay Maine, from thence to N. B. and finally to N. S.

                Sarah, their daughter, and the subject of this notice, was born on the 22^nd July 1760 and was sprinkled in her infancy, as were the rest of the children.  Their mother instructed them in the belief and practice of the Pedobaptists, - and exercised over their morals watchful care – taught them to repeat prayers and read their Bibles, &c.  Sarah’s mind was seriously exercised from childhood about her soul’s interests and at twelve years of age her concern became more pungent, and notwithstanding, her having been early instructed, that having been dedicated to God, and be properly termed, truly religious instructions, calculated to impress her mind with the necessity of a divine change, and lead her to the right source and practice, irrespective of the Spirit of God and His Word, were very limited.  When about nineteen years of age, she heard a sermon preached by Henry Allen, who was a Pedobaptist Congregational Minister, and all the churches formed thro’ his instrumentality were of that order, consequently she did not make a public profession of religion until she was bout forty six years of age.  About this time there was a Close Communion Calvinistic Baptist Church organized in Cornwallis by Elder Case, from Maine, consisting of only seven members who separated from what was then called the Open Communion Church, consisting of Baptists and Pedobaptists, over which Elder Edward Manning was Pastor, but who was subsequently immersed by the late Rev. T. H. Chipman, and re-ordained by Elder Case, as the Pastor of the newly organized church.  This being the first Baptist church ever formed in Cornwallis, which Mrs. Skinner untied with, and remained a consistent member until her demise.  It may be truly said that but few persons in life were more rooted and grounded in the truths of the Bible, more circumspect in her deportment, and possessed stronger faith during the whole course of her religious life – and notwithstanding the various conflicts she was called to pass thro’, it bing her lot in the Providence of God, to be what the world is wont to call poor, yet she was rich in faith, and an heir of the Kingdom of God, and in much patience possessed her soul, -- was always cheerful and resigned, and possessed abiding reliance in the strong arm of Jehovah – and a confident assurance of a blessed immortality, knowing that her hope rested alone on the merits of Christ’s death.  She was familiar with her Bible, enjoyed much communion with her Saviour, and always delighting in the Gospel. She loved the house of God, and the communion and fellowship of the saints.  Her life was one continued example of piety – she had, it is true, her inbred corruptions to content with and lament, yet her faith in Christ’s blood triumphed over them.  For a number of years after her husband’s death, she resided with her brother in law, the late W. A. Chipman, Esq.  They highly appreciated her company, but she preferred living with her children during the latter part of her life.  She retained the use of her faculties remarkably in old age, her memory was good – the choice sayings contained in the book of God were always her support, and with much emphasis would she relate them, her mind being richly stored with them.  For a number of years before her demise she was unable to go to the house of God, but when sermons were preached in the house where she resided, she would greatly rejoice in the truth.  She would often repeat appropriate hymns to her state of mind and with pious emotions; and looking forward with joyful expectation of entering into the full enjoyment of that rest that remains for the saints of God.

                One circumstance among many that might be named as interesting might be adverted to.  At one time she was tempted to believe that there was no Heaven.  The thought exceedingly distressed her, and she immediately retired and threw herself prostrate on the ground, and begged of God to relieve her mind.  She returned to the house in agony, and fled to her Bible, and when she opened it the following words from Isaiah met her view “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, &c”  instantly all her doubts were removed, and she then resolved in future when any similar suggestion came to her mind that would reject it and this proved a source of great comfort and safeguard to her through her life.  About two years before her demise she took a severe cold which settled in her limbs and rendered her incapable of walking – yet she could sit up through the day – but for the last year she was principally confined to her bed, but always patient and cheerful, -- and her whole theme was the subject of religion.  She gradually declined, and finally when the closing scene drew near, she was like one looking for and hastening unto the day of God.  Death was no terror to her, she could triumph over it.  She knew that her Redeemer liveth, and that his promises would never fail.  How oft would she repeat the saying of our blessed Lord, “In my Father’s house are many mansions &c.”, she had no doubt that there was one for her and that she should soon enter there.  She retained her senses until the last.  Tuesday, before she expired the writer of this sketch saw her, found her dying, but still capable of speaking so as to understood.  In answer to questions proposed to her, she relied that she knew she was dying—that her hope of heaven was strong—She had no fears – all was well.  Being asked if she wished him to pray with her, she replied “Yes!  Prayer is sweet.”  After prayer she said “Amen,” in token of her approbation.  She finally fell asleep in Jesus on the 15^th January 1848, in the 88^th year of her age.  Her death was improved by a sermon preached by the Rev. A. Stronach.

                She was married at the age of sixteen to Mr. Charles Skinner, in N. B. who was a native of Connecticut.  She had by him eight sons and seven daughters, all of whom have been married except on daughter and one son who died when in his eighth year. Most of her children have publicly professed religion, and for the others she was not without hope.  She had one hundred and thirteen grandchildren, forty-seven of whom have professed religion, and all except two are Baptists.  Upwards of sixty great grand children, a number of whom have also professed religion.  There are four Baptist Ministers connected with her family.  One her own sons, Pastor of a Baptist Church in N. B., Elders Ed. Manning, Cornwallis, and Geo. Dimock, Newport, N. S., who married her daughter, and Rev. I. E. Bill, of Nictaux, who married her grand daughter.  – Communicated by Rev. W. Chipman.

                Pleasant Valley, March 29^th, ‘48

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Sarah Osborne Skinner was my 5th great grandmother.  She was the daughter of  Samuel Osborn and Sarah Wass, residents of the island of Martha's Vineyard who removed to New Brunswick, Canada.   She was born 22 July 1760 in Fredricton, New Brunswick, and died 15 January 1848 in Pleasant Valley, Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.

At age sixteen Sarah married Charles Skinner on 24 November 1774 in Passamoquoddy, New Brunswick.   They had fifteen children, including my 4th great grandmother, Ann Skinner (1786 - 1815) who married Thomas Ratchford Lyons.  Ann's daughter, Isabella Lyons (1806 - 1872), married the Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, who is mentioned in the obituary above.  Ann's sister, Rebecca Skinner (1781 - 1857) married Reverend Edward Manning, who baptized my 2nd great grandfather, Rev. I. E. Bill. 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Obituary of Sarah (Osborne) Skinner, 1848, Nova Scotia", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 21, 2017, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-obituary-of-sarah-osborne-skinner.html: accessed [access date]). 

Asahel Bill, Death Notice 1847

This death notice appeared in the Baptist newsletter Christian Messenger, from Nova Scotia, Canada on 30 July1847, page 243.  It is for my 2nd great grand uncle, Asahel Bill, who died young at the age of 21.

CHRISTIAN MESSENGER.

We have just received the following notice from our

esteemed friend, W. H. Troop, Esq. dated

                                                     Nictaux, July 22nd 1847

"Died, at Nictaux, on Tuesday, the 20th instant, after a pro-

tracted illness, which he bore with pious resignation to his

Heavenly Father's will, Asahel Bill, eldest son of the Rev.

Ingram E. Bill. Truly it may be said of him, he was lovely and

pleasant in his life and happy in his death"

                                                     Yours faithfully.

-----------------------------                               

We deeply regret the melancholy duty of recording the

decease of this promising young man, whose completion

of his course of studies as a graduate of Acadia College

we announced about a year since.  It is one of those

events directed by inscrutable wisdom which our weak

and limited minds are wholly unable to scan.  We had an

opportunity of a brief but pleasing interview with the

deceased on our return from the Association - his health

was then rapidly declining.  He had made profession of

religion some time since, and appeared well prepared for

the momentous change.  His hopes were resting on the

sufficiency of the the Great Atonement, and he anticipated a

speedy and joyful release from the trials and sorrows of

earth to enter on a heavenly inheritance.  We truly

sympathise with his bereaved parents under their heavy

loss. They have, however, a consolation above all other---

they do not sorrow as those without hope.

===================

Asahel Bill, son of the Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill (1805 - 1891) and Isabella Lyons, was born 14 May 1847 in Billtown (Nictaux), Nova Scotia and died 20 July 1848.  He was the eldest of five children, and brother to my 2nd great grandfather Caleb Rand Bill (1833 - 1902).   His death record states that he died of "lung disease", which was probably tuberculosis.  

Asahel had just graduated from Acadia College, and was studying to be a Baptist minister, like his father.  His youngest brother, Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, Jr. (1836 - 1907) went on to become a Baptist preacher.  He graduated Horton Academy and the Baptist Seminary in Fredericton, and went to England for theological training in the Baptist faith.  He served as a missionary in New Zealand, and as a minister in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, Ohio, and Ontario.

Thanks to Ric Noble of the "Nova Scotia Roots" Facebook group for the copy of this death notice from the Christian Messenger newspaper from Nova Scotia. 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Asahel Bill, Death Notice 1847", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 14, 2017, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/08/asahel-bill-death-notice-1847.html: accessed [access date]). 

Happy Birthday, Grampy! Donald Munroe Wilkinson (1895 - 1977)

Donald Munroe Wilkinson - unknown year or location

He was born 23 October 1895 in Salem, Massachusetts

Donald and Bertha Wilkinson - 1924

at 7 Dearborn Avenue, Beverly, Massachusetts

My grandfather and I almost share the same birthday.  We were born 66 years and only a few hours apart.  Donald Munroe Wilkinson was born on 23 October 1895 in Salem, Massachusetts, the son of Albert Munroe Wilkinson and Isabella Lyons Bill.  He had one sister who was three years younger.  Their father died young in 1908, when Don was only 12 and Janet was only 9 years old.  Their widowed mother ran a boarding house at 4 Loring Avenue in Salem, and among her boarders were her own mother, Annie M. (Bollman) Bill, her sister Jennie Bollman Bill, and her neice and nephew (Inez and Fitz Perkins).

As a young man Donald worked at banks, such as the Salem Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and the Salem Savings Bank.  By the time he registered for the World War I draft he was working at the United Shoe Machinery Company in Beverly, Massachusetts - where he worked until the 1960s.  He was a machinist and held other positions, and later in life he was a shipping inspector for the USMC.

He met my grandmother at church in Salem.  They married on Thanksgiving Day in 1926  at home 7 Dearborn Avenue, which was the home of his wife, Bertha Louise Roberts.  Her parents had bought the home soon after they immigrated from England in 1915.  Don's father-in-law also worked at USMC, and 7 Dearborn Avenue is just a few blocks away.   This was the home where they lived and raised three sons (Robert, Richard and my Dad, John) and where I lived, too, until 1969.  Great Aunt Jennie Bill (who never married and always lived with relatives) lived there until her death in 1946.

My grandfather retired from the USMC and my grandparents removed to Long Beach, California, where their son, my Uncle Richard Wilkinson was living.  They had a nice condo near the beach there, and enjoyed their retirement.  Later in life they joined the LDS church, just like my uncle.  Donald M. Wilkinson died on 24 July 1977 in Long Beach and is buried at the Westminster Memorial Park.  My grandparents from Long Beach are the only ancestors I have who ever lived or were buried west of New England.

Bertha and Donald's 50th Wedding Anniversary

26 November 1976.

Donald Munroe Wilkinson died 24 July 1977

in Long Beach California.

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Happy Birthday, Grampy!  Donald Munroe Wilkinson (1895 - 1977)", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 23, 2016,  (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/10/happy-birthday-grampy-donald-munroe.html: accessed [access date]).

Genealogical Collaboration from Down Under

When you hang out online with social media you can learn about new genealogy resources every day. I’ve been doing genealogy research since the 1970s, but from my friends online I learn every day about new books, places to visit, websites and more.   I belong to many genealogy groups on Facebook that cover New England and the entire globe.

One morning I read that Australian genealogy blogger, Caitlin Gow, was successful at newspaper research on an Australian website called Trove. Being from the US I was not familiar with Trove. But, I was intrigued because I have one member of my family tree who lived for a long time in Australia in the 1800s.  Was he mentioned in a newspaper in Australia? Caitlin gave me the link and I tried it out.  And I was successful, too!  I found several newspaper mentions of my great great Uncle Edward Manning Bill, who was a school teacher in Diamond Creek, Victoria. 

 One of the first newspaper notices I found was Uncle Edward’s marriage to a woman named Charlotte Grace on 6 June 1857 in the Wesleyan Methodist Parsonage in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.  Caitlin found a copy of the wedding certificate online at the Victorian Births Deaths and Marriages Index at this link:  https://online.justice.vic.gov.au/bdm/indexsearch.doj  

[transcription]

Butcher, age 25, Ballarat, Ingram Bill, clergyman

                                                 Isabella Lyons

"             age 25, Ballarat,  Joseph Grace, Butcher

                                                Mary Jeffrey

Edward Manning Bill          In the presence of              Charles Lane

Charlotte Grace                                                              Fanny Bickford

                                        James Bickford (officiating Minister)

I shared with Caitlin a photo of Edward and Grace standing in front of the schoolhouse in Diamond Creek in about 1870.  We wondered if the school house was still standing, and Caitlin said “Now I wish I lived in Victoria and could go look!”.  I used Google and found that there was still a Diamond Creek Primary School, and their website said “Diamond Creek Primary School is situated in the heart of Diamond Creek. The school has occupied the site since 1870 and boasts a rich history of education within the area. The school’s original building has been refurbished as a Library and Music Centre, making it a metaphoric embodiment of the school’s motto, ‘where tradition meets the future’."

That's Uncle Edward Bill holding the parrot, and probably his wife next to him.

I decided to email the school and I sent a copy of the photo. Overnight I received a prompt message from the school that surprised me. 

I have attached a piece that mentions E M Bill and some details about the first years of our school.  This information was in a book produced for our 125th year in 1995.  We are approaching 150 years soon!!

The building you talk about is still in use today, has been renovated, restumped and reroofed over time.  Last year we installed new carpet and it has a bright coat of paint internally.   The exterior needs painting as it is some 20 years since the last one but unfortunately money doesn't grow on trees!  It has only been our persistence that sees the building still standing as it was in quite a bad state a few years ago and the Education department would quite happily have knocked it down.

Currently the building houses our grade 1 and 2 students and is a beautiful space for them to work in.

We have 213 children here and it is a fabulous place to work.  I have worked here for 20 years and my own children attended here, with my two eldest having started their school time in this very building.

Hope this is helpful,

Jennie Mitchell

Business Manager

The attachment was from a history book of the school, and on pages 2 it mentions “In 1869, the head teacher Mr. Bill reported that there were 73 [pupils] on the roll of who 28 were Primitive Methodist and the total fees for the six months were £22.10.6 of which the Primitive Methodists paid £14.16.0…”   Further on page 2 it also mentions “On the 1^st July 1870 the Nullumbik School No. 1003 was opened as a Common School with Mr. Edward M. Bill (previously at No. 752) as head teacher.  His wife was appointed Work Mistress in February 1871… Mr. Bill received a salary of £37.10.0 plus a bonus of £50.11.2 for his results making his total wage for the six months £88.1.2.   Mrs. Bill received £15 for the same period.” 

It was wonderful that Caitlin was so very helpful to me.  After receiving the wonderful email from the school and sharing it with Caitlin, I realized that this was second time someone from Australia had assisted me in researching Great great Uncle Edward M. Bill.  The first time was when a woman in Australia had contacted me about him, because she was a relative of their adopted child.  This Australian assisted me with much information about Uncle Edward’s wife and child, and it was she who had sent me the photo of the school. 

Those Australian genealogists are wonderful!  Every single one I have met in person or online has been helpful, gracious and generous helping me to research Uncle Edward.  He went from being a mystery to a person with a very interesting life story.  As I told, Caitlin, I wish I had more Australian relatives!

Thank you Caitlin, and thank you Helen Swaine, who contacted me back in 2008 with the photo of the Diamond Creek School.

More about “Great great Uncle Edward”:

Edward Manning Bill, the son of the Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill and his wife, Isabella Lyons, was born 27 March 1831 in Nictaux, Nova Scotia, Canada, and died 18 December 1904.  He married Charlotte Grace, the daughter of Joseph Grace and Mary Jeffrey, on 6 June 1857 at the Wesleyan Methodist parsonage in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.  They had no children, but “adopted” Harriet Young Cox, the daughter of Matthew Dillon Thomas Cox and Mary Katharine Bathhurst. 

Harriet, known as “Etta”, was born 27 October 1878 in Australia, and died 23 September 1947 in Santa Cruz, California.  Etta was a successful singer in Australia, England and the United States.  She married Charles Anson, a real estate agent, and had one son, Carl Ansell Anson on 28 October 1909 in Seattle, Washington.  Carl married Margaret Lillian Spink of England.

  

My previous blog post about Great Great Uncle Edward Manning Bill in Australia, with the photo of the Diamond Creek School:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/02/missionary-to-new-zealand.html

Trove – http://trove.nla.gov.au/

Diamond Creek Primary School website –  http://www.diamondcreekps.vic.edu.au/ 

Caitlin Gow’s blog “Genealogically Speaking” from Brisbane, Australia

 http://genealogically-speaking.blogspot.com/

--------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Genealogical Collaboration from Down Under", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 13, 2016, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/06/genealogical-collaboration-from-down.html: accessed [access date]). 

Albert Munroe Wilkinson's Last Will and Testament, 1908

I, Albert M. Wilkinson of Salem, in the County

of Essex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts declare this

to be my last will, hereby revoking all wills heretofore

made by me.

                After the payment of my just debts and funeral

charges, I bequeath and devise all my estate, both

real and personal and wherever situated to my wife

Isabella L. Wilkinson, and I nominate her to be the

executrix of this will, and I request that she may be

exempt from giving a surety or sureties on her bond

as such executrix.  I desire to leave all my estate

to any wife and no part to my two children.

                In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand

and in the presence of three witnesses declare this to

be my last will, this fourth day of May A. D. 1908

                                                Albert M. Wilkinson

On this fourth day of May 1908, Albert M.

Wilkinson of Salem, Massachusetts signed the fore-

going instrument in our presence declaring it to be

his last will, and as witness thereof we three do now

at his request in his presence, and in the presence of

each other hereto subscribe our names.

James C. Batchelder                       Jennie B. Bill

                           Annie M. Bill

Source for this image:  Essex County, Massachusetts, Probate Records and Indexes 1638-1916; Author: Massachusetts. Probate Court (Essex County); Probate Place: Essex, Massachusetts,  at Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA  accessed on 20 March 2016. 

Source for this image:  Original data: Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts, via Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013, accessed online 20 March 2016.

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Apparently, my great grandfather, Albert Munroe Wilkinson, made his last will about a week before gall bladder surgery in 1908.  Thinking back to those days before antibiotics and reliable anesthesia, this might have been a common practice.  I can't imagine facing surgery even today, but it might have been a hair raising event in 1908.

It doesn't mention if Albert was ill in this document.  Sometimes there is line that reads something like "... being of sound mind but ill of body...".  His gall bladder surgery must have been preceded by some illness or infection, and since he made his will it would be a great coincidence if he had to have an emergency surgery.  This is also evident from the fact that he traveled all the way to Brookline, a suburb of Boston, for his surgery at the Corey Hill Hospital, instead of having his surgery in Salem, Massachusetts.

My grandfather, Donald Munroe Wilkinson (1895 - 1977) , was left orphaned when his father Albert died.  Donald was only 12 years old, and his sister, Janet (1898 - 1981), was 9 years old.  His mother, Isabella Lyons (Bill) (1863 - 1935) remained a widow and ran a boarding house in Salem on Loring Avenue.  She lived, during her widowed years, with her sisters, Jennie and Mary Ann, who also signed this will.  The Bill sisters ran a day school in Danvers called "The Speedwell School" named after the sister ship to the Mayflower.

Corey Hill Hospital, Brookline, Massachusetts 1918 postcard
Where Albert Munroe Wilkinson had his gallbladder surgery in 1908

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Published under a Creative Commons License

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Albert Munroe Wilkinson's Last Will and Testament, 1908",  Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 28, 2016, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/03/albert-munroe-wilkinsons-last-will-and.html:  accessed [access date] ). 

Surname Saturday ~ LENNOX of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

The Lennox Inn, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

The Lunenburg, Nova Scotia death records list John Lennox as “of Stirling, Scotland, innkeeper, died on 1 October 1817 at 54y.”  In researching my 4^th great grandfather, John Lennox, I was surprised to learn that his inn at 69 Fox Street in Lunenburg was still standing, and still operating as a bed and breakfast.  It is the oldest operating inn in Canada.  In 2007 we planned a genealogical family vacation to Nova Scotia, and the first place we wanted to book was a few nights at the Lennox Inn.

John Lennox married Ann Margaretha Schupp, the daughter of German immigrants to Lunenburg, in the St. John Anglican church, just a few houses away from his inn.  He had six children.  They lived in a smaller house on Fox Street across the street from the inn.

St. John's Anglican Church
where John Lennox married Ann Margaretha Schupp

The house where the Lennox family lived
across the street from the inn

In his 1817 will, John Lennox, innkeeper, named his wife, son William and daughters Anna Barbara  Chamberlain, Isabella Lennox, Sarah Lennox and Lucy Lennox.   This will and the inventory of his estate were valuable resources for the restoration of this colonial building. During the restoration the owner found John Lennox’s signature on a beam, and an order from Halifax for a list of rums and wines.  The modern day “innkeeper”, Bob Cram, showed me these things on our tour of the Inn.  It was a wonderful experience to sleep in my ancestor’s tavern!

His daughter, Sarah, married Bremner Frederick Bollman, the son of the town doctor,  and they named their daughter, my great great grandmother, Ann Margaret “Annie”, after her mother. Annie and her husband, the music professor Caleb Rand Bill, removed to Salem, Massachusetts.

My Lennox genealogy:

Generation 1: John Lennox, born about 1765 in Stirling, Scotland, died 1 October 1817 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia; married on 19 March 1797 in Saint John’s Anglican Church in Lunenburg to Ann Margaretha Schupp.  She was the daughter of Johan Justinas Schupe and Anna Margareta Finck, born 18 September 1773 in Lunenburg. They had six children.

Generation 2: Sarah Elizabeth Lennox, born 16 February 1805 in Lunenburg; married first to Martin Ernst and had one child; married second to Bremner Frederick Bollman, son of Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman and Jane Bremner.  They had three children.

Generation 3:  Ann Margaret Bollman m. Caleb Rand Bill

Generation 4: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 5: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

For more information:

The Lennox House (built by John Lennox, innkeeper and across the street from his inn, on the corner near the St. John Anglican Church in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia) http://www.edmundbrownless2.de/lennoxhouse.html

The Lennox Inn, 69 Fox Street, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia   http://www.lennoxinn.com/

My blog post about the Lennox Inn:

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/09/john-lennox-innkeeper-at-lunenburg-nova.html

A 2013 blog post by Jean Knowles, about the Lennox Inn:

http://easternedgephotog.blogspot.ca/2013/01/an-eighteenth-century-inn.html?spref=fb

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The URL for this post is:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/02/surname-saturday-lennox-of-lunenburg.html 

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ BOLLMAN, my Hessian Ancestor

BOLLMAN

Johann Daniel Bollman was born about 1751 in Hammersleben, Magdeburg, Saxony, Germany.  I do not know his parentage, and I have not found his exact date of birth.  In 1776 he arrived in North America with Baron de Riesdesel’s Brunswick Regiment of Hessian soldiers to fight in the Revolutionary War.  They left Germany in February and arrived in Portsmouth, England on 18 March 1776.  It took six weeks to cross the Atlantic and landed in Quebec. 

This regiment was brought to Canada to save it from the Revolutionary War by cutting off New England from southern colonies and driving them to surrender.  They were at the Battle of Bennington in August of 1777 where 200 Hessians were killed and 700 were captured.  In September they lost the Battle of Saratoga, and my ancestor, Johann Daniel Bollman, was captured.  Luckily, he was a valuable hostage, since he was an officer and the surgeon of his regiment.  He was exchanged quickly, and the rest of the prisoners of war were marched to Massachusetts.

The prisoners who were exchanged were sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia.  I have found Dr. Bollman’s petition asking for compensation for providing medical services to the prisoners between 25 November 1779 and 10 March 1780.   He eventually settled in Lunenburg, a mostly German settlement not far from Halifax, where he lived for 54 years.  He married Jane Bremner, widow of settler Philip Knaut.

Dr. Bollman was active in politics and represented Lunenburg in the House of Assembly from 1783 to 1809.  He was appointed a health officer on 14 May 1799.  Besides his civic duty records, I also found many mentions of him in The Diary of Adolphus Gaetz.  Apparently he had a lawsuit against another German doctor in town, Joseph Falt and it was recorded in this diary.  Adolphus Gaetz was a Lunenburg businessman who wrote a diary form 1855 – 1873, and this manuscript is in the Lunenburg County documents of the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management (www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm) 

There was another incident in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia involving Lewis Morris Wilkins.  Dr. Bollman ran against Wilkins in the provincial elections of 1793 and won.  Wilkins and for other residents vandalized his house and apothecary shop breaking 150 window panes, furniture, doors and over 100 medicine bottles.  Bollman’s lawyer wrote “His said dwelling house was rendered uninhabitable, his family and himself being obliged to fly from the same and his business and trade as a Druggist and Apothecary was totally prevented, stopped and put to an end so that the said John Bolman beign obliged to shut up his said shop the windows thereof and the Drugs and Medicines as aforesaid and divers other wrongs and outrages then and there committed against the peace of our Lord. “ [Surgeons, Smallpox, and the Poor: A History of Medicine and Social Conditions in Nova Scotia, 1749-1799,  By Allan Everett Marble, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, pages 160- 161.]

Another excerpt from Johnny Bluenose at the Polls, by Brian Cuthbertson, Formac Publishing, Halifax, 1994, page 166:

"Among the few Loyalists who came to Lunenburg was the former surgeon in General de Riesdesal's Hessian Regiment.  A native of Mageburg in Germany, John Bolman married the widow of Phillip Knaut shortly after arriving in the township where he soon rose to social prominence.  Another Loyalist was Lewis Morris Wilkins, the son of Isaac and the Shelburne Loyalist elected to the Assembly in 1785. Before the American War Lewis had gone to King's College (later Columbia University) in New York.  He had likely studied law with his uncle in Shelburne before deciding to practise his profession in Lunenburg. It was a wise decision because there was not to be another lawyer in Lunenburg for many years; he was able to develop an extensive practice not only there, but also increasingly in Halifax and Pictou.  Wollenhaupt declined to reoffer. Both Wilkins and Bolman seized the opportunity to run for the single township seat. Bolman was nearly twice the age of the youthful Wilkins and this was likely in his favour, though Bolman did not win by a large margin, the vote being 164 to 123."

Dr. Bollman had eleven children.  I descend from his second youngest son, Bremner Frederick Bollman, born in 1802.  I found records for these families in the Anglican and Presbyterian church records in Lunenburg.  One of Dr. Bollman’s sons was named “Henry”, and there was another Hessian soldier named Henrich Bollman who settled in Trois Rivieres, Quebec but I do not know if they were kin.  Another son, John, b. 1785, was killed in the Battle of Albuera in Spain in 1811. 

For researching this family, the Lunenburg town records and the books mentioned above were invaluable.  For more information on the Hessian soldiers and Baron de Risedesel's Brunswick regiment was found in the journals of the Johannes Schwalb Society.  http://www.jsha.org/ 

My BOLLMAN genealogy:

Generation 1: Johann Daniel Bollman, born about 1751 in Hammersleben, Magdeburg, Saxony, Germany and died 17 September 1833 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada;  married on 14 February 1782 in Lunenburg to Jane Bremner, the daughter of Robert Bremner and Margaret Stewart, Scots immigrants to Nova Scotia.  Eleven children.

Generation 2:  Bremner Frederick Bollman born 25 February 1802 in Lunenburg, died 15 December 1838 in Lunenburg; married Sarah Elizabeth Lennox, daughter of John Lennox and Ann Margaretha Schupp.  She was born 16 February 1805 in Lunenburg.  Three children.

Generation 3:  Ann Margaret Bollman, born 11 September 1835 in Lunenburg, died 1923 in Salem, Massachusetts; married on 7 June 1858 in Lunenburg to Caleb Rand Bill, son of Ingraham Ebenezer Bill and Isabella Lyons.  He was born 30 May 1833 in Nictaux, Nova Scotia and died 30 December 1902 in Salem, Massachusetts.  Nine children.

Generation 4: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 5: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/surname-saturday-bollman-my-hessian.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Ratchford of Massachusetts and Nova Scotia

RATCHFORD

This lineage begins with James Radsford, who was born about 1719 and married Margaret Ball on 26 December 1738 in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts.  This couple is a true brick wall to my genealogy research, since I do not know the origins or parents of either one.  The name Radsford is often spelled as Ratchford in the Bridgewater records, and it is the spelling adopted by the descendants.  They had five sons, no daughters, in the vital records. 

I descend from Thomas Ratchford, the second son.   He married Desire Gore on 1 December 1760 in Groton, Connecticut.  She was the daughter of Moses Gore and Desire Burris/Burrows/Burroughs.   About 1763 he settled in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.  He was part of the New England Planter movement, who came to Nova Scotia for the free land given away after the Acadian expulsion.  Records of his family can be found in the Township Book of Cornwallis.

Their daughter, Elizabeth Ratchford, is my 5^th Great Grandmother.  She married David Lyons on 25 May 1779 in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.  He was a recent settler from Connecticut to Nova Scotia.  They had twelve children in Cornwallis, and left many, many descendants.  My branch came back to New England.  I found much information about this lineage of Ratchfords in my ancestor, Reverend I. E. Bill’s, journals.  The Rev. Bill married Isabella Lyons Bill, the granddaughter of Elizabeth Ratchford and David Lyons.

I haven’t found any further Radsford or Ratchford records in Plymouth County, Massachusetts to trace this lineage back further than James Radsford, my 7^th Great Grandfather.

My Ratchford genealogy:

Generation 1:  James Radsford, born about 1719; married on 26 December 1738 to Margaret Ball.  They had five sons in the Bridgewater, Massachusetts Vital Records.

Generation 2: Thomas Ratchford, born 19 June 1741 in Bridgewater, died 27 December 1813 in Horton, Kings County, Nova Scotia; married on 1 December 1760 in Groton, Connecticut to Desire Gore, daughter of Moses Gore and Desire Burris.  She was born 20 September 1740 in Groton, and died 11 April 1813 in Horton.  Three children.

Generation 3: Elizabeth Ratchford, born about 1764 and died 18 March 1845 in Nova Scotia; married on 25 May 1779 in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia to David Lyons.  Twelve children.

Generation 4:  Thomas Ratchford Lyons m. Ann Skinner

Generation 5: Isabella Lyons m. Ebenezer Ingraham Bill

Generation 6: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 7: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 8: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Lyons, Loyalists from Connecticut to Nova Scotia?

Isabella Lyons (1806 - 1872)
wife of Rev. I. E. Bill

LYONS

This is another brickwall line, and I was reluctant to post it as a Surname Saturday name until I realized that someone out there in cyber space may have the answer to my lineage problems.  So here is the story…

My line begins with David Lyons.   He appears in Nova Scotia records for the first time when he purchased land from Thomas M. Beckwith near the Pereau River on 6 April 1803.   He appears in the 1790 Federal Census of Stratford, Connecticut.   According to an article in Connecticut Ancestry “Connecticut Loyalists Who Went to Canada” 1974, Volume 17, No. 2, a “Daniel Lyon” was granted land in Canning, Nova Scotia.  Is this the same man?

On 25 May 1779 in Cornwallis, Kings County, Nova Scotia David Lyons married Elizabeth Ratchford, the daughter of Thomas Ratchford and Desire Gore, other new Nova Scotia planters from New England.  I know little else about Thomas and Elizabeth. David Lyons and his family are listed in the Cornwallis Township book, which gives the names and some dates for the twelve children’s births.

My line continues through their son, Thomas Ratchford Lyons, who married twice. His first wife, and my 4^th great grandmother, was Ann Skinner.  She gave him seven children.  I only know a little about this generation from vital records in the Cornwallis Township Book and from a journal written by a son-in-law.  Their daughter, Isabella Lyons, married the Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, who wrote extensively about his life, his family and his conversion to the Baptist faith.  There is also some information about the Lyons family in the family sketches chapters of The History of King’s County, Nova Scotia by Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, 1910 (available to read online at archive.org at this link http://archive.org/details/historykingscou00eatogoog ).

Other LYONS researchers have uncovered information about a Patrick Lyons in Nova Scotia.  This Patrick Lyons lived previously in Connecticut, where he witnessed a will.  Patrick Lyons left a will mentioning his father’s burial in County Monaghan, Ireland, and a brother Edmund in Castleblaney.  Could he be the father, brother or kinsman of David Lyons? Was the family of Irish descent?  Were they Loyalists?

My LYONS lineage:

Generation 1:  Patrick Lyons?

Generation 2: David Lyons, born about 1759 in Connecticut? Died May 1812 in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia; married on 25 May 1779 in Cornwallis to Elizabeth Ratchford, daughter of Thomas Ratchford and Desire Gore.  She was born about 1764 and died on 18 March 1845 in Nova Scotia.

Generation 3: Thomas Ratchford Lyons, born 3 March 1780 in Cornwallis, died 1859 in Sackville, Nova Scotia; married first on 30 September 1802 in Cornwallis to Ann Skinner, daughter of Charles Skinner and Sarah Osborn.  She was born 9 March 1786 in Cornwallis and died 19 October 1815 in Cornwallis.  He married second to Anne Griffin.

Generation 3: Isabella Lyons, born 28 January 1806 in Cornwallis, died April 1872 in Carleton, New Brunswick; she married on 20 April 1826 in Cornwallis to Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, son of Asahel Bill and Mary Rand.  He was born on 19 February 1805 in Billtown, Cornwallis and died 4 August 1891 in St. Martin’s, New Brunswick.

Generation 4: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 5: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 6: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Eleanor Arens Brewster, April 20, 2013

from the Salem News, Salem, Massachusetts, 23 April 2013

Eleanor Arens Brewster, 89

Salem — Mrs. Eleanor Arens Brewster, 89, of Salem, beloved wife of David T. Brewster, died Saturday, April 20, 2013, following a brief illness at Salem Hospital surrounded by her family.

Born in Salem, she was the daughter of the late Orill and Ella (Farrell) Arens. She was raised, educated and remained a lifelong resident of the Willows section of Salem where she attended the former Juniper Point School, Phillips Grammar School and Salem High School.

She was know by many friends as Sue, especially during the time she was working for Mass Electric Company before she was married. Later, she was a long-time member of the Salem Garden Club and also a member of the Salem Lancers Square Dance Club. She enjoyed spending her time knitting and crocheting, and of course, tending her garden. She had a fondness for butterflies, cats, and for natural beauty in general. Besides time at the Willows, Eleanor enjoyed time with her family on Cobbett's Pond in New Hampshire because for Eleanor, family and friends were paramount in her life. She was a dedicated wife, mother, grandmother and friend who will be deeply missed.

In addition to her loving husband of 56 years, Eleanor is survived by her sons, David T. Brewster and his wife, Jeanne, of Beverly and Robert A. Brewster of Salem; her grandchildren, Alyssa and Justin Brewster; and several nieces and nephews. Eleanor was predeceased by her brother, Orill (Nibbs) Arens.

ARRANGEMENTS: Her funeral service will be held in The O'Donnell Funeral Home, 46 Washington Sq. (at Salem Common), Salem, Friday, April 26, at 1 p.m. Relatives and friends invited. Burial in Greenlawn Cemetery, Salem. Visiting hours Thursday, April 25, from 4 to 7 p.m. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made in Eleanor's memory to ALS TDI, 300 Technology Sq., Ste 400, Cambridge, MA 02139 or The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Grand Central Station, P.O. Box 4777, NY, NY 10163-4777. To share a memory or offer a condolence, please visit www.odonnellfuneralservice.com.

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Eleanor was the wife of my Dad's second cousin, David Brewster.  We shared a common ancestor, my great great grandfather Caleb Rand Bill (1833 - 1902),  a music professor in Salem and Beverly, Massachusetts.  Professor Bill had six daughters and three sons.  I descend from a daughter named Isabella Lyons Bill (1863 - 1935), and David descended from her sister Mary Ann (1861 - 1910).  All the sisters were musical, too.  David and his brother, Stuart, and I have been exchanging genealogical information on the Bill family for many years.

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo