Research Bits

Bits — as we find them

Recording Clara's Siblings

by

Scholefield Family Tree

When writing a family history, one must decide how much research they wish to complete regarding the various sidelines of a family. Do you trace the main descendant line back and also trace down all of the siblings lines? If you do that, how many generations do you want to research? For my personal trees, I research as far as I can go. My reason for this is that by finding cousins, I have received some great finds. I’ve gotten photocopies of the German family pages from a descendant of the writer Zane Grey about our shared Wilhelm ancestors, a copy of pen and ink drawing of my 4th (or 5th) great-grandfather, and loads of information that helped point me in a direction for further research!

Other researchers only focus on their direct lines, sometimes discovering that they need to research siblings in order to discover information about parentage. And only doing research into the sidelines (or neighbors) as needed.

For the Scholefield history for this site, my goal is to trace the direct line as well as locating the vitals of the sibling’s spouses and the birth information for each of their children.

To reach that goal, this post will focus on checking on any possible birth and death records for Clara Moore Scholefield’s siblings and their spouses and children. I will be running quick name searches on the usual sites (FamilySearch, Ancestry, and AZ Genealogy).

Clara was the daughter of James Armour Moore and Matilda Jane Burnett.

Matilda Jane Burnett had married first John V. Crampton. Their children, and therefore Clara’s Half siblings, were: Mary E., Sarah J., and John F.

Based on the census, Mary E. was born about 1857 in California.1 She married Henry Fitzgerald in 1874. An article about her brother-in-law Charles Kenyon mentions that she was a widow who lived in San Francisco.2 She looks to have died before 1940 which is the date that Ancestry’s California Death Index begins. The indexes at VitalSearch don’t contain enough information to identify which of the many Mary Fitzgeralds might be the one we are looking for. I also checked several likely indexes. Nothing further about this family can be located through these sources at this time — census records are next.

Sarah Jane was born on 6 Dec 1857 in California and died 14 Dec 1957 in San Diego County, California.3 She married Charles Kenyon in 1872.2 He was born in 1840 in New York and died in Dec 1906.
Their children:
Maud B. was born in New York.
Arthur Moore Kenyon was born 20 Aug 1878 in Rome, New York.4
Myrtle M.

John Franklin Crampton was born on 1 Dec 1860 in San Bernardino, California, and died 21 Apr 1947 in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona.5 He married Rovilla Snelling in 1882. She was born 12 May 1861 in Indiana and died 6 Feb 1940 in Globe, Arizona.6
Their children:
John William born 23 May 18837
Rovilla J. born 1885 in Globe, Arizona8 (this is likely the Rovilla who married John C. Crowley in 1906)
Evelyn May born 27 May 1892 in Globe, Gila, Arizona9

Clara’s full siblings were Susan A. and J. Arthur.

Read more

The Family Comes Through

by

Govanstown Cemetery Project The Whittle Plot Well gang we had some real success this week!! I received a response from the family that had posted the thread on Ancestry in the Community Section. Ya gotta love those message boards!!! Family member Ruth posted a message that explained her relationship to Samuel N. Whittle. Her husband’s … Read more

GOOGLING For Dead People!

by

Govanstown Cemetery Project The Whittle Plot When you feel like you want to scream after a day of asking Ancestry to “Bring Out Your Dead!”– it’s time to go Google for Dead People! As I had already searched the newspaper subsciptions for further mention of Samuel’s fall, I thought it would be a good idea … Read more

Odds and Ends

by

Govanstown Cemetery Project The Whittle Plot I have a few loose ends out there that I should tell you about. The hard part of writing this blog is keeping up with telling you about where my search goes. I may write about a census search on a certain day and the Footnote search on another … Read more

Western States Marriage Index

by

Scholefield Family Tree Continuing up through the generations in a vital records check, the data for George and Clara Moore Scholefield themselves is mostly complete. The only missing data is the exact date when the couple was married; therefore, a check of the Western States Marriage Record Index is next. This index holds records for … Read more

Dangling From A Tree Limb

by

Govanstown Cemetery Project The Whittle Plot As I said earlier, Samuel Whittle has been an exercise in patience. The census records are usually our best bet for tracking someone through their life span, but Sam has been a tough nut to crack. To recap, we found Sam on the 1880 Federal Census by the “leaf” … Read more

A Footnote to History

by

Govanstown Cemetery Project The Whittle Plot For those of you that have not used Footnote it is the online outlet for the National Archives. You can search for free, and there is quite a bit of free content, but most of it is premium content that requires a subscription. A subscription goes for about $75 … Read more

The Lowest Branch of the Family Tree

by

Govanstown Cemetery Project The Whittle Plot Now that I’m comfortably sure I have the right man, I’m off to Ancestry for the basic grunt work – this is actually my favorite part! Put in a name and see what magic happens. Sometimes you get absolutely nothing and sometimes you get the whole family line. It’s … Read more

Additional Vitals Generation #1

by

Scholefield Family Tree

Now that additional family members have been located, there are vital records that need to be located and/or confirmed. In addition to the Arizona birth and death certificates that are already online, some indexes might also be available on FamilySearch. For recent deaths, any one of a number of the available Social Security Death Indexes should be checked, and any other available death indexes should be explored.

Checking Hugh Wallis’s list of IGI Batch numbers, it will be found that there are no indexes created for Arizona, but there are plenty for New York and California. (I will save IGI hits on family group sheets — if any — for later!)

Beginning with the most recent family groups, which are for the children of George and Clara Scholefield, I find additional data from several sources that report Helen’s husband’s information and more specific data regarding their son. A search for Max Brodie on Ancestry turns up his World War I draft card and an entry for him in the California Death Index. A search for Armour Major Brodie on Ancestry turns up his Social Security information, and a check of Arizona’s online records turns up his birth certificate. He was not named at birth and his mother filed his full name at a later date. Vitals summary:

Max Mordacai Brodie was born 28 Jul 1877 in Germany and died 23 Mar 1962 in Los Angeles County, California.1 He was married on 10 Oct 1907 in Tucson, Pima, Arizona,2 to Helen Scholefield who was born 5 Mar 1886 in Tucson, Pima, Arizona, and died 17 Jul 1957 in Tucson, Pima, Arizona.3
Their son:
bulletA. Major Brodie b. 9 Jun 1909, Rodger’s Hospital, Tucson, Pima, Arizona and d. 12 Nov 1970, Tucson, Pima, Arizona, never married.4

One of Carl’s daughter’s obituaries was located which names all her siblings,5 and a few searches turn up information about them. Arizona records had been located earlier in the search, but I did not post the data because I was not sure if they were possibly living. Social Security information was located for those siblings who died after deaths began to be recorded. Only one child was born before the SSDI and he was located on Ancestry in a Montana Death Index. Information for Carl as well as the children who were born or died in California was also indexed. George B. is presenting a difficulty because I cannot locate his birth record in Arizona even after searching only with the first names of him and his parents during a range of appropriate years. Vitals summary for Carl’s family:

Carl Burnett Scholefield was born 18 Apr 1888 in either Tucson or Globe, Arizona, and died Nov 1966 in Santa Clara County, California.6 He married Alice Hester Bradford who was born on 1 Mar 1891 and died in Dec 1979.7
Their children:
bulletBlissie H. Scholefield b. 16 May 1912 in Alameda County, California, and d. Sep 1995 m. ______ Lee. 8
bulletCatherine Hester Scholefield b. 26 Oct 1913 in Pima County, Arizona, and d. 26 Dec 2005 in Reno, Nevada, m. Hans Schnitter.9
bulletAda Virginia Scholefield b. 8 Apr 1915 in Rosemont, Arizona, and d. 3 Jun 2005 in Placerville, California, m. Charles E. Matson on 17 Nov 1945 in Reno, Nevada.10
bulletGeorge B. Scholefield b. abt 1917 in Arizona and d. 16 Aug 1957 in Granite County, Montana, m. ______.11
bulletCarroll Mae Scholefield b. 24 Sep 1919 in Vail, Arizona, and d. 14 Apr 1965 in Santa Clara County, California, m. ______ Tuttle.12

A search of the records at FamilySearch did not turn up any records which were not submitted by patrons (other than SSDI). Most of the information matches the birth and death information which was located.

1. “World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” database and images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 Sep 2008), Max Mordacai Brodie, serial no. 3849, order no. A2550, Draft Board 0, Tucson, Pima, Arizona; citing World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M1509, roll 1522647; “California Death Index, 1940-1997,” database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 Sep 2008), entry for Max Brodie (23 Mar 1962); citing State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.
2. “Brodie-Scholefeld Wedding,” Tucson Daily Citizen, 10 Oct 1907, p. 5, col. 3; digital images, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 29 Sep 2008).

Read more