A Cyber Attack and a Genealogical Mystery

Too much to read and write for the Historical Commission, Historical Society, and Stonehill so I took some time off to fool around with my genealogy. What a slacker! Found some stuff that just adds to a family mystery I'd like to share with you. As I started to write, however, Google informed me of an attempt to access my account from Taiwan. Watch out folks! Crime on the Internet is everywhere. I got as far as Raynham and Braintree yesterday, but I didn't access my Google account from Taiwan.

So here's the mystery: Seth Catlin, born sometime between 1856 and 1859 is not my biological great-grandfather. That much we know. My grandmother Carrie Catlin was adopted, a fact I learned from my Uncle George since my mother neglected to mention that when I got started doing the family tree back in the 1970s. I should have known something was up because Mom mentioned visiting with relatives in New York as a kid who I could never fit into the tree.

Ancestry.com is a wonderful thing and when I switched my research there a few years ago. I added Carrie, the grandmother who died the year I was born, and Seth even though he was a step-parent. Never looked at Seth until yesterday, however,  when the puzzle may have been solved, or not. Catlin's come from Deerfield, Massachusetts, except Seth who was born in Chicago, Illinois. Clicking buttons at Ancestry lead to the discovery of an 1880 census record for Seth, age 24, who was living in New York (but born in Illinois) with his wife Maggie, age 22, and first child Maude who was 6 months old. He was living on 124th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue and working at a grain elevator. This was definitely "my" Seth who later became a grain inspector for the custom's service, but wait a minute I knew his wife's name as Carrie. A closer look showed that Maggie was born in the USA to German immigrant parents.

Great, the 1890 census might tell me what was up. Unfortunately, that census of all the censuses in American history was lost in a fire so it was on to 1900. Things had changed. Seth was now living in New Jersey, and his birth was now listed as June, 1859 instead of 1856. His wife was listed as Carrie who was a decade rather than two years younger than he was. Moreover, her parents came from New York not Germany.  The children in the family were Maude, 20 years old and thankfully tying this Seth to my tree, Seth, Jr., actually the third, who was born in 1883 and died in 1932 and is listed on my parents gravestone, and George, born in 1886. Two other people were listed in the house. One was Carrie Thomson aged 9, and the other was George Thomson listed as "Father", aged 65. I already knew all this because this was the Seth and Carrie entry I had checked when setting up my tree. I never looked at 1880 since Seth wasn't my real great-grandfather.

Now a hypothesis began to form. Seth had married Maggie and had three children. She died or they divorced, and Seth then married Carrie who already had a daughter named Carrie Thomson. The census caused several problems. First, it said that Seth and Carrie had been married for twenty years and that Carrie had four children all still living. Clearly not true since Carrie would have had to marry Seth when she was ten and to have had Maude at that same age. The other problem was George Thomson-which Carrie, if any, was he the father of? If he was wife Carrie's father why wasn't he listed as father-in-law, his correct relationship to Seth, the head of the household. At least Thomson was one of the names mentioned my mother as New york relatives so there must be some connection.

On to 1910 when Seth and Carrie were living at 17 Hollis Avenue in Braintree. The kids had grown up and left and George Thomson wasn't there either, but at least one puzzle was solved. Seth and Carrie were again credited with twenty years of marriage which almost fit the hypothesis and may be one of those "close enough for government work" things you find in the census. Still a marriage in 1890 would mean that daughter Carrie born in 1891 wouldn't have been adopted. The bombshell came a couple of lines to the right where Carrie was credited with zero children. Two zeroes actually, did not give birth, no child living.

Off to Braintree with Maggie (the dog, not the first wife) where all these rascals were buried. Seth had died in 1923 and Carrie in 1943. Daughter Carrie had followed in 1948 with Seth and Carrie listed on her death certificate as parents. Ironically, daughter Carrie was working for the Braintree Town Clerk when wife Carrie died which would hopefully lead to an accurate death certificate. The folks in Braintree were very helpful and I quickly learned that Seth was actually Seth, Jr., his father was also Seth from Deerfield, MA, no mother listed. Carrie had both parents listed-George Thomson and Catherine Ostrander. The Ostranders were the other family my mother mentioned visiting in New York.

So at the end of a day's research we were down to four possibilities:

1. Carrie and an unnamed man no longer present in 1900 had a child in 1891 which was later adopted by new husband Seth. This also leaves open the possibility that the Carrie Thomson of 1900 was illegitimate as the use of her mother's maiden name seems to suggest. But why did, presumably Carrie, say in 1910 that she never had any children? Was it a census takers mistake? "Any children?," he might have asked, and Carrie thinking it meant any children at home answered "no". After all, someone had screwed up the answer to the same question a decade earlier.

2. Perhaps it was the Chinatown scenario-"my sister, my daughter," but why would Seth accept George into his household 9 years later and why did his family remain on friendly terms with the Thomson and Ostrander families into the next generation?

3. Perhaps Carrie had a sister who died in childbirth or for some other reason could not raise the child. That would explain the name-siblings often named children for each other, but no evidence of a sister or other family member has turned up yet.

4. Finally, George Thomson may have been the father of both Carries. The wife Carrie with his wife Catherine Ostrander, and the child Carrie with an unnamed second woman. In fact, the child Carrie might have still been the child of Catherine who subsequently died leaving an old man with a young daughter. The girl might then have been renamed Carrie when her older sister agreed to adopt the child on her father's death.

Scenarios one and four seem the most plausible with four leading with the best evidence so far, but further research has been stymied. I always grumble about our Secretary of State's sloth in making old records available electronically, but our state has been positively speedy compared to New York and New Jersey. Add the fact that family legend says the birth records for daughter Carrie were lost in a fire at city hall in New York and this mystery may never be solved. At least I've narrowed it down to a few logical scenarios, and all because I looked at records of the man I am not related to.

Wow, Two Weeks Without a Blog

For everyone who was worried about my lack of blogging, I just wanted to make a short post to let them know I'll soon be back regularly. The Historical Commission sponsored a historic house survey of about 150 properties, and your dedicated blogger got the job of reviewing all of them. The survey included properties in Furnace Village and a swath of North Easton south along Center Street and Sheridan Street.

Furnace Village is already well known for its historic properties associated with the foundries that were once in the area, but we all thought our researchers might have trouble getting information on the area outside the old North Easton Historic District. Not so. The researchers have discovered the boyhood home of George Shepard, the first Easton man killed in World War I and the namesake for our American Legion Post. Of course, the researchers didn't know this so someone, me, had to write that down for them. Interestingly, however, the researchers did know that his mother was an English immigrant which may have been a motivation for his service.

The research team also discovered the home of Harry Pratt. Pratt was a science teacher at Oliver Ames, and a coach who led the boys basketball team to its first state championship. He is a member of the OA Athletic Hall of Fame. In a rare editorial comment, the researchers note that the house's "association with a newcomer and a school teacher is reflected in its unconventional, modern design." Yup, that's school teachers–unconventional and modern. The story of the house is rather mysterious. The researchers have the home being built sometime between 1911 and 1925. Their research shows that Pratt bought the lot in 1911 and that an insurance map from that year shows no building on the site. By 1928 Pratt shows up in Andover where he was working as a realtor. In that year he sold the house to Tony Pires. The house remained in the Pires family until 2006. Something about this didn't ring true since I had done a lot of the research for Mr. Pratt's induction into the Hall of Fame. A little further research closed the gap on the house. Pratt last taught in Easton during the 1916 school year. Anna C. Ames died in 1917 and the OA sports program died with her since she seems to have been its principal financial backer (with equal team opportunities for boys and girls, God bless her suffragette heart). The Ames Gymnasium program was also shut down. Thus, it seems likely that Pratt left Easton for a chance to coach elsewhere while holding onto the property as a rental as so many people did in this neighborhood. In fact, since Mr. Pires had emigrated from Portugal way back in 1909, he and his family may have lived in the house as renters before finally buying it. The Pires family was associated with the house for so long no one seems to remember a time when they weren't there.

Finally two other bits from my proofreading which is still only two thirds completed! First, Josiah Goward and Lemuel K. Wilbur created an 80 unit subdivision between Columbus Avenue and Wilbur Street in 1890. This is the first large subdivision designed for Easton. Goward lived in the neighborhood and ran the slaughterhouse whose foundation can still (barely) be seen on the grounds of Frothingham Park. Wilbur, from South Easton, had gotten rich selling lumber, feed and grain. He was a real promoter and towards the end of the decade supported the building of a street car line connecting Easton and Mansfield. Not surprisingly, the line ran right by the slowly growing subdivision. In between these two Easton events Wilbur had served on the jury that decided that Lizzie Borden really hadn't given her father forty whacks.

While tracking down Harry Pratt's teaching record, I came across an entry in the 1920 town report that stated Rev. Chaffin was at work doing a pamphlet for the school department on long serving teachers, principals, and school committee people. As a teaser, the report included a biographical sketch of Chaffin, a long time school committee member, and George Withington, who just happened to live in our survey area. Chaffin's biography of Withington reminds us that he was a very progressive educator and the very first high school teacher in Easton. A picture is included of Withington as a old man-still looking at least a tad unconventional.

Back to the research. See you all soon.