Virginia McMillan

Scholefield Family Tree

Well, it turns out that my caution was warranted. A while back, I was searching for Mary Virginia Scholefield who reportedly married a McMillan. That was all I had, so I did some census searching and found a woman who appeared to be the woman I was looking for.1 It turns out that she was not the right one. My gut was wrong.

Based on more recent findings, I now know that Virginia’s husband was named Arthur C. McMillan.2 Even though the record located was not specific about the source of the information, there are other sources that confirm their marriage.

A census search for a Virginia Mc Millan (notice the space) with a husband named Arthur living in New York City in 1900 turns up this family:3

McMillan, Arthur E, Head, W, M, Aug 1862, married 8 years, New York, New York, Massachusetts, Clergyman, can read, write and speak English, rents a house
——, Virginia S, Wife, W, F, Apr 1862, 8 years, 3 children, 3 living, New York, Massachusetts, New York, Housekeeper, can read, write and speak English
——, John B, Son, W, M, Sep 1893, 6, Single, Colorado, New York, New York, attended school 5 months, can read, write and speak English
——, George S, Son, W, M, July 1895, 4, Single, Colorado, New York, New York, school 5 months
——, Helen DeG, Daughter, W, F, Oct 1898, 1, Single, Colorado, New York, New York
Bagley, Maggie, Cook, B, F, Nov 1883, 16, Single, Virginia, Virginia, Virginia, Servant, school 4 months, can read, write and speak English

Since the daughter is named Helen DeG (likely short for DeGraff) and one son is named George S (likely short for Scholefield), one may assume that the children were named for family members. Helen was named after her grandmother and George after his uncle.

A Google search for — arthur mcmillan “virginia scholefield” — returns a GoogleBooks hit for the Hamilton Literary Magazine. Arthur was a Hamilton College alumn, graduating in 1886, and the college’s paper carried an announcement of his marriage.4

This corroborates both the odd finding on FamilySearch as well as the caculated year of marriage from the 1900 Census.

blockquoteMcMILLAN—SCHOLEFIELD—In New York city, 65 West 70th Street, Tuesday evening. June 21, 1892, Rev. Arthur Chase McMillan. ’86, of Granite, Montana, and Miss Virginia Scholefield, daughter of Mrs. Helen M. Scholefield.

To more clearly discover the birth dates of the children (remember, that is as far as this project will extend), there are several options. Unfortunately, Colorado did not begin to record birth records at the state level until 1907. Back at Ancestry.com, the WWI draft registration cards report that John Baylies McMillan was born on 2 Sep 1893 in Canon City, Colorado.5 His brother George S. was born 26 Jul 1895 in the same city.6 Now that we have a place where the three children were likely born, we discover that there are birth records for Canon City back to 1885 held by the county clerk, but they aren’t online.

Helen is the one that a researcher would anticipate problems for when attempting to locate a more specific date of birth. Anytime a genealogist deals with women, they have to locate a key piece of data: her name change. However, Helen turned out to be only partially a pain — I attacked the problem by looking at her relatives. A Google search for her brother John’s full name in quotes returns a result for his obituary which was carried in The Altamont Enterprise (yes, I still don’t want this information, but there is a method to my madness). Helen’s name is reported as “Mrs. E.H. Hendrickson.” Back on Ancestry I locate a result in the SSDI for a Helen Hendrickson whose last residence was in Westchester County, New York. She might be correct, but her birthdate is 23 Jul 1898 instead of October 1898. So I know her name, but narrowing down her actual birthdate is problematic.

1. See post dated 24 Oct 2008.
2. See post dated 8 Dec 2008.
3. 1900 U.S. census, New York County, New York population schedule, New York City, Borough of Manhattan, enumeration district (ED) 478, sheet 18B, p. 140 (reverse, stamped), dwelling 83, family 424, Arthur E McMillan household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Dec 2008); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll 1103.
4. “Married,” Hamilton Literary Magazine, Jun 1892, 36; digital images, Google Book Search (http://books.google.com : accessed 23 Dec 2008).
5. “World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” database and images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Dec 2008), John Baylies McMillan, no. 147, Draft Board 4, Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York; citing World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918.
6. Ibid., George S. McMillan, no. 24, Draft Board 2, Yonkers, Westchester County, New York.

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