Scholefield Family Tree
Alright, now that we are moving back, lets catch up on what we know about George Scholefield’s parents.
Census research led to the possible name of Charles M. Scholefield’s mother: Abigal.1 The IGI agrees on that point, reporting that his parents were Arnold Scholefield and Abegail Burnham. Also that he married Helen Marr DeGraff on 24 Aug 1859 and died in November of 1870.2 His headstone reports that his life spanned from 1819 to 1869.3 The couple had four children:
- George Parsons Scholefield, the beginning point of our search.
- Mary Virginia “Ginny” Scholefield who married Arthur E. McMillan.
- Florence Scholefield who married Norman Archibald Shaw.
- Mae Stuart Scholefield who married Guy J. Edwords.
Additionally, he was a politician and a short biography about him is available, but it is very vague about his parents:4
Mr. Scholefield was born in Goshen, Conn., and is thirty-six years of age. He is the son of a Methodist clergyman, and is one of the same stock to which Sir Henry Scholefield belongs. His paternal grandfather was a Major in the English army for some years, and distinguished himself as a brave and skillful officer.
Alternately, a biography of his son reported that Charles was born in Cooperstown, New York, instead of Connecticut and died at age 52.5 The confusion about Charles’s vitals can be explained through the fact that the sources were created at different times by different people. The more time that has passed between the original event and the record of an event, the more likely there is to be an error.
The information about Helen Marr DeGraff seems even more confused. She lived, according to her headstone, between 1842 and 1920.2 She married a much older man when she was young and survived him about 40 years. Her son’s biography stated that she was born in Amsterdam, New York, to the Holland native Emanuel DeGraff,5 But the IGI disagrees with a report that her parents were instead Harmonus DeGraff and Susannah Thomas.2
1. See post dated 1 Sep 2008.
2. See post dated 8 Dec 2008.
3. See post dated 11 Sep 2008.
4. Wm. D. Murphy, Biographical Sketches of the State Officers and Members of the Legislature of the State of New York, in 1859 (Albany: C. Van Benthuysen, 1859), 217-218; electronic text, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 16 Sep 2008); see post dated 16 Sep 2008 for entire text.
5. See post dated 13 Nov 2008.