Gust Doyle, Dealer for "New Castle" Brand Agricultural Limestone

I loved finding this advertisement from the March 12, 1930, edition of The Record-Argus in which my grandfather, Gust Doyle, was listed as a dealer for agricultural limestone.  Gust lived in Stoneboro and the newspaper was published in Greenville, both in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

Farm Articles for Sale    17

"NEW CASLTE" [sic] Brand Agri'l lime-
stone scientifically heat treated
and pulverized exceedingly fine, will
assure you prompt and profitable re-
sults.  Always the greatest value for
your dollar.  See our dealers for 1930
spring prices.
[Next to last supplier near bottom]
Gust Doyle, Stoneboro, Pa.

Of the ten dealers listed, Gust was one of five individuals selling lime.   The rest were companies.  The individuals were located throughout Mercer County, probably providing easy access to farmers in any area of the county.

Not being a farmer or a gardener, I wondered what lime was used for on a farm or in a garden.  This is what I learned (in brief).  (Read more here and here.)

• Lime or limestone is a soil conditioner that neutralizes the acidity/pH level of soil making it possible to grow some plants that might not otherwise grow in more acidic soil.
• Lime replenishes calcium and magnesium that are taken up by other crops.
• Lime provides excellent nourishment to plants to help them live longer.

And I have the vaguest memory of a bin of lime sitting inside the door of my grandparents' outhouse.  I believe my grandmother sprinkled it inside the hole.  Perhaps it also neutralizes odor?

Do you have any knowledge or experience with lime in an agricultural or household setting?

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2025 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Robert Nelson and Family in the 1870 U.S. Census

Robert Nelson is a common name but not so common that I find multiple men of the same name living in Jefferson County, Ohio.  It has been helpful that other researchers have documented the life of Robert and Jane Nelson and their family, but because of the commonness of their names through the years and in various locations, there seems to be some confusion with multiple people of the same name in online family trees (particularly FamilySearch's Family Tree and particularly in English records).  Therefore, I'm searching for and reviewing records for accuracy in the hope of clarifying.

I began my search of census records with the 1870 Census because a previous researcher shared a death announcement published on October 1, 1875, in the Steubenville Weekly Gazette stating that Robert Nelson, Sr., age 75 years, formerly of Steubenville, had died in Montgomery County, Illinois.  She thought, and I agree, that this is our ancestor, Robert Nelson.

Below is the page from the 1870 U.S. Census with Robert Nelson with wife, Jane, and daughter, Annie.

1870 U.S. Census.   (Available here at Ancestry with an account.)
Steubenville Township, Jefferson County, Ohio.  14 Jul 1870, written page 25, image 25 of 53; Steubenville post office.  Dwelling 191, Family #191, Lines 22-24

• Nelson, Robert, 70, male, white, coal miner, $1500 real estate, born England, parents foreign-born 
• Nelson, Jane, 64, female, white, keeping house, born England, parents foreign-born
• Nelson, Annie, 19, female, white, born Ohio, parents foreign-born

Information I garner from this record
> They lived in Steubenville Township, Jefferson County, Ohio.
> Robert was born in England in about 1800.
> He was a coal miner.  (Was he still working at the age of 70?)
> He owned property.
> Jane was born in England in about 1806.
> Robert and Jane were immigrants.  Might there be a passenger list?
> Might there be naturalization papers?
> Annie, their daughter, was born in Ohio in about 1851.
> If Annie died in Ohio after 1908 I may find an Ohio death certificate for her.

Clues for next searches
> Look for Jefferson County property records for Robert Nelson, both purchase and sale
> Check for information about coal mines in and around Jefferson County, Ohio.
> Might there be a county birth record for Annie Nelson?
> Find previous census records for this family.
> Look for Ohio death certificate for Annie Nelson with parents Robert and Jane.

This is my line from my mother to Robert and Jane:  Audrey Meinzen --> Emma Bickerstaff --> Edward Jesse Bickerstaff --> Ellis H. Bickerstaff (and Emma Nelson) --> Robert and Jane Nelson

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2025 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner.  

Occupations of My Second Great-Grandfathers - SNGF

Randy Seaver's suggested Saturday Night Genealogy Fun for March 29 was this:

1)  Our ancestors had to work to support themselves and their families.  Do you know what occupations your 2nd great-grandfathers had?  Tell us about them.  If one intrigues or mystifies you, ask a free Artificial Intelligence tool to tell you more about the occupation in that place and time.

2) Tell us about the occupations of your 2nd great-grandfathers (and any AI created description of those occupations) on in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

On my paternal side.

• Andrew Doyle (1836-1908) was a coal miner in Northumberland, England, and in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, and then became a grocer.
• John Froman (~1841-1871) was a coal miner.
• Christian Gerner (~1820-1899) was a farmer.
• Dixon Bartley (1805-1900) was a farmer.

On my maternal side:

• Carl Meinzen is still an unknown individual.
• Abel Armitage (~1821-after 1881) was a coal miner in Yorkshire and Durham, England, and in Jefferson County, Ohio.
• Ellis H. Bickerstaff (1840-1907) was a carpenter in Jefferson County, Ohio
• John Thomas Thompson (~1850-1923) was a laborer and junk dealer in Jefferson County, Ohio.

I come from a long line of manual laborers.  Good, honest work.

Thanks for the fun suggestion, Randy.

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2025 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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The ABC Rules of a Good Detective

In Karen White's novel, The House on Prytania Street, her character, Uncle Bernie, says he's

sticking to the ABC rules of a good detective....  Assume nothing; believe nothing; challenge and check everything.

I believe those are good rules for genealogists and family historians, too, don't you?  I think both groups have a lot in common when it comes to finding answers.  We don't assume that every statement in a census is accurate, that the story in the newspaper is exactly true, and we search for more evidence, additional documents, other sources to help us find the truth, or something as close to the truth as is possible, decades and centuries after the events.

I've begun researching Robert Nelson and his wife Jane (whose maiden name may be/is probably Watson).  They are my third great-grandparents on my mother's side of the family.  (Audrey Meinzen —> Emma Bickerstaff —> Edward Jesse Bickerstaff —> Emma Nelson —> Robert & Jane (Watson?) Nelson

Another researcher of this line shared the results of her research with me years ago.  Now I want to confirm her research and see the documents myself.  As I begin scouting around I see conflicts between her results and attached documents on FamilySearch Family Tree, as well as conflicts among the dozen or more attached documents in FamilyTree.  I have lots of questions.  For example,

• Is Robert Nelson's wife's name Jane Watson, as the earlier researcher suggests, or is it Jane Smith Thompson, as shown on FamilySearch FamilyTree?
• Was Robert born in Essex County, Durham County, or Northumberland County, England?   
• And where did someone find Robert's middle initial of W (as included in FamilyTree)?  I see no attached documents or evidence to suggest that's accurate, though the death certificate of one of his sons included the W.  Only "Nelson" as a last name was listed for the informant.
• In religion, was Robert Nelson a Non-Conformist or did he belong to the Church of England?  There are documents from both churches attached in FamilyTree.  (I'm sure they're not for the same person.)
  
• Where were Robert Nelson and his family in 1860?  They appear in the 1840, 1850, and 1870 census records in Jefferson County, Ohio, but are nowhere to be found (yet) in the 1860 census.  
• Robert Nelson was a coal miner (or "coal digger" as reported on the 1870 U.S. census).  Why did he and his wife and youngest daughter move over 500 miles, from Jefferson County, Ohio, to Montgomery County, Illinois, sometime after the 1870 census when he was already 70 years old?

There are so many contradictions and uncertainties.  I believe sorting this out is a challenge worthy of a highly experienced family historian, which I am not.  But I'm going to take it on and see what I can come up with.  You can be sure I'll be using the ABC Rules of a Good Detective!

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2025 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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What Might You Find in an Abstract of Title?

In 1984 we bought a house (Lot 104 of Charles R. Cornell's Subdivision, situated at 245 E. Maynard Avenue, Columbus, Ohio) which we sold in 1999 when we bought another house.  All the paperwork for both houses went into a box then into a closet.  It's been there until recently when I began sorting through trying to decide what's necessary to keep and what we can send on it's way (sell, recycle, landfill, thrift store, etc.).

Among the papers for the purchase and sale of the first house was an Abstract of Title.  I'd looked at it earlier to see if I could learn when the house was built but when I couldn't I lost interest.  (I wasn't yet involved in family history.)

An Abstract of Title defines the property in question, details the transfer of ownership of the property, and names the owners/buyers from its first ownership to the date when the abstract was created.  Almost like the genealogy of property.  I think someone who's trying to do a house history would be interested in this.  But an abstract like this may have information other than property owners.  

This packet contains several abstracts, the first beginning in 1800 when the property was purchased from the U.S. Government and others through 1972.  I did not count the number of owners but I did notice that several of them were women.

So what did I find in the papers in this Abstract of Title?  Probably what you'd usually expect.  These, but not all for every sale/purchase.

• Name(s) of owner and buyer
• Size of property (acres, rods, poles, etc.)
• Location of property (metes and bounds in the earliest records) 
• Type of purchase (patent, warranty, quit-claim, mortgage, etc.) 
• Cost of property
  
• Amount of mortgage (if mortgaged)
• Who provided the mortgage
  
• Date of sale/purchase
• Date recorded in county recorder's office, and where
• Who abstracted the information
  

But there were some surprises.

A marriage record Finding an 1885 marriage record is fairly easy these days, but there could be years when marriages weren't recorded or weren't available for one reason or another (fire at a courthouse, etc.).  It would be great to find it in a document like this.

A court case (or several, in this document)

Though the abstract doesn't tell details of the court case, it gives enough information to find the docket at the courthouse.  Also notice the perpendicular handwriting, an early way to save space on paper.

A divorce record

This note narrows the date of a divorce and also gives information about the death of the purchaser's former husband. 

Relationships This entry states a mother/son relationship.  It also narrows the death date of a husband.  Throughout the pages of this document, it often states "husband" or "wife" when a couple bought or sold property.

Maybe you who have spent time viewing property abstracts are already aware of the additional information a record like this can provide, but abstracts are new to me, so I wasn't expecting these surprises.

This Abstract of Title points out to me that documents may include more and various records that go beyond the purpose of the document's original creation.  I would love to find an Abstract of Title for any of my ancestors!

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2024 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
 

Naturalization Documents and Name Changes or, When Was Your Ancestor's Name Changed and By Whom?

There are some who believe that their ancestors' names were change at Ellis Island.  There are others who discount this claim.  My ancestors immigrated before Ellis Island became one of the major immigration centers, so I don't have experiences either way.

My interest in this topic came about from reading others' claims and, most recently, from transcribing documents at FamilySearch for immigrants who lived in New York City and Chicago, Illinois.  I thought what I found in the documents might shed light on this discussion.  The documents I've transcribed are usually declarations of intention and petitions for naturalization. 

From year to year and location to location, the wording of naturalization documents changed, as did the information requested.  The papers in 1940 papers may not request the same information in 1915 or 1928 or 1935, etc.
 
The samples below are undated because the same forms were used for a number of years.  I present them as examples of the variety of wording.  You'll notice that the Declaration of Intention asks for the petitioner's name upon his arrival.  The Petition for Naturalization asks for the petitioner's name upon arrival and also offers him the opportunity to request that his name be changed and to what.

Declaration of Intention (Northern District, Illinois)

I emigrated to the United States of America from _______________
my lawful entry for permanent residence was at _______________
under the name of _______________.

Petition for Naturalization (Northern District, Illinois)

My lawful entry for permanent residence in the United States was at  _______________,
under the name of _______________ . . . .
I, your petitioner for naturalization, pray that I may be admitted a citizen of the United States of America, and that my name be changed to _______________,

Petition for Naturalization (Eastern District of Brooklyn, New York)

My lawful entry for permanent residence in the United States of America from _____________________ was at _____________________,
under the name of ______________________ . . . .
Wherefore, I, your petitioner, pray that I may be admitted a citizen of the United States of America, and that my name be changed to ________________.

While indexing I often see requests for name changes.  Here are a few I've seen.

Women's Given Names

• Malka to Mollie
• Chaie to Anna
• Hannah to Anna
• Hannah to Hanna
• Elke to Elsie
• Therese to Thea
• Fruma to Fannie
• Gittel to Grace
• Maria to Josephine
• Maria to Mary
• Shandle to Jennie
• Sura to Sarah
• Gudrun to Gertrude
• Bertina to Bertha
• Kataline to Catherine
• Chaje-Sura to Ida
• Rozalia to Rose
• Faura to Tania
• Golde to Pauline
• Bridget to Beatrice
• Chaszka to Jean
  

Men's Given Names

• Lykia to Luka
• Rafalio to Ralph Albert
• Markus to Max
• Alfred to Fred
• Isidore to Isedor
• Vazul to William
• Luigi to Louis
• Schaie to Sam
• Hersh to Harry
• Jurko to George
• Ivanovich to John
• Moisejos to Morris
• Ziegmont to Sigmund
• Mosk/Mosxk to Max
• Szaja to Sam (Polish)
• Wojciech to Albert
• Boldizsar to Baltazar
• Gregor to George
• Berek to Bennie
• Eutranik to Jack

Surnames

• Buterkuchen to Butter
• Gedacht to Goldfarb
• Hirschhorn to Harris
• Marku to Marcus
• Zelenaia to Zellner
• Szuster to Shuster
• Frieder to Friedes
• Raczkowski to Cohen to Rogers
• Pisani to Pinto
• Haraj to Haray
• Ozderas to Osder
  
• Paidock to Pudok
• Feilgut to Filgut
• Matusenko to Matusen
• Karlsson to Carlson
• Ismul to Charles
• Marcopoulos to Marks
• Vavrova to Vavrys
• Orlinsky to Forer
• Tchiluigurian to Chulengarian
• Rosenberger to Ross

Some changes seem to be English variants of names from other languages, such as Rozalia to Rose and Rafalio to Ralph.  Others seem to have no connection to former names:  Orlinsky to Forer and Gedacht to Goldfarb.  I'm not fluent in other languages so perhaps there is a connection between the original names and the new names.

Based on the documents I've indexed, it seems more likely to me that individuals requested name changes themselves rather than employees at Ellis Island or elsewhere making the changes without the consent of the immigrants.

You can read more at these two links

• Was Your Surname Really Changed at Ellis Island?
• Debunking an Immigration Myth

Do you have experience with name changes among your ancestors?  Can you tell when the name change happened and who initiated it?

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2024 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Ancestors Who Suffered the Loss of a Parent at a Young Age - SNGF

Randy's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun this week asked

1)  Do you have ancestors who suffered the loss of one or both parents early in their life?  Did the surviving parent remarry soon after one parent died?  Was a guardian appointed for your ancestor to protect their physical or legal interests?    

2)  Tell us about one or two of your "orphaned" ancestors and how this affected their life.

In five generations I have five ancestors who were young, from 8 years to 1 month, when either a father or mother died.  I don't know whether I feel sorrier for the children left without a parent, or parents left with young children and no spouse.  Either circumstance would be heart-breaking.

These are my five ancestors who became half-orphans.

1. Lee Doyle, my father, and his twin sister, Leila, were born in February, 1913.  Leila died soon after birth.  Lee was about a month old when his mother, Beulah Mae (Gerner) Doyle, died in early April.  She was 24.  She left behind her husband, Gust, and little Lee, about a month old.
   
   I believe my father's life was difficult without his mother.  His father remarried a woman who was, perhaps jealous of my father or of his mother.  From what I've heard, she was somewhat abusive and Gust did his best to keep Lee away from her.  My father once said he knew about the stepmother in Cinderella.
   
   He spent time with his grandparents, William and Tressa (Froman) Doyle.  But a grandmother, no matter how loving, cannot replace a mother.
   
   Additionally, my father's father, Gust, died when my father was 21 and Gust was 44.
   
   
2. Elizabeth (Armitage) Meinzen, my great-grandmother, was born in 1852.  She was 4 years old when her mother, Eliza (Hartley) Armitage, died of consumption in 1856 at the age of 44.  Eliza left behind her husband, Abel, and two daughters, ages 6 and 4.
   
   
3. Edward Jesse Bickerstaff, my great-grandfather, was born in 1871.  He was 7 when his mother, Emma (Nelson) Bickerstaff, died in 1878.  Emma was 33 years old at the time of her death.  She left her husband, Ellis, and three children, ages 15 to 7.
   
   
4. Tressa Rose (Froman) Doyle, my great-grandmother, was born in 1867.  She was 4 years old when her father, John Froman, died in 1871.  He was about 30 years old at the time of his death.  John left behind his pregnant wife, Catherine (Saylor) Froman, and six children, ages 10 to 1. A baby born 2 months after his death.
   In this case, John left the family in debt and the children were provided a guardian, S. W. Mannheimer, whose identity or relationship I've been unable to determine.  Catherine's father, Jacob D. Seylor/Sailer/Seyler, was the administrator.
   
   
5. Andrew Doyle, my great-great-grandfather, was born in 1836.  He was 2 years old when his father, William Doyle, died in an accident in 1838 when he was about 36.  William left behind his pregnant wife, Martha, and five children ages 12 to 2.  The baby was born six months later.
   
   

It is surprising to me that two of these fathers, John Froman and William Doyle, were both coal miners.  William died after being run over by a cart wheel.  Were both accidental mining deaths?  Also surprising is that both of their wives were pregnant at the time of their deaths.

Thanks for the genealogy fun, Randy.

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2024 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Results of Grandparents' Surname Searches at FamilySearch Full Text Search for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

For Saturday Night Genealogy Fun this week, Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings suggested this:

How many "Wills" for your grandparents' or great-grandparents' surnames are on the FamilySearch Full Text Search feature (see https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text)?

I finished my list then realized that lists may contain results for much more than wills.  FamilySearch has expanded this collection so the results may include the following:  Legal Records, Censuses, Religious Records, Genealogies, Funeral Home Records, Miscellaneous Records, Military Records, Periodicals, School Records, Vital Records, Business Records, Government Records, Reference Materials, Voting Records, Migration Records, and Medical Records. 

I didn't go back to narrow the results to only wills so my results include all of the records FamilySearch found for each surname.

These are the results for my grandparents' and great-grandparents' surnames.

• Doyle:  350,391 results
• Gerner:  4,314 results
• Meinzen:  63 results
• Bickerstaff:  4356 results
• Froman:  13,413
• Bartley:  79,132
• Armitage:  30,570
• Thompson:  3,374,976

And these are the results for my second and third great-grandparents' surnames.

• Laws:  3,374,976
• Saylor:  8,497,986
• Stahl:  47,367
• Smith:  11,710,373
• Hartley:  158,093
• Nelson:  2,200,328
• Bell:  2,835,995

I admit I was surprised at the high number of results for some of these surnames.  Talk about common names!  Thank goodness I can narrow the results by adding a first name; by country, state, and county; or by kind of record.

Thanks for the fun, Randy.
—Nancy.

Copyright © 2024 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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