52 Ancestors #13: Robert Brick Hudson

     Robert Brick Hudson was born on 28 Feb 1785 in Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts. At least that is what it says in the book, The New Harlem Register.  The data is said to have come from the family. I have not been able to find a record of his birth. It is likely he was born in Northborough, Mass, as this is where the family was living in 1790 and his younger sister, Susannah, is recorded as born there. He was the son of Elisha Hudson and Susannah Brigham. the family moved around quite a bit in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. The proof I found of his parentage was a "removal" notice which listed all the children including Robert Brick. A town would issue a removal when they felt that the family was unable to support itself and might end up being supported by the town. So, they weren't wealthy. Robert got his unusual middle name from his mother's great grandfather, Robert Breck(often spelled Brick) who was a famous minister in the town of Marlborough, Mass.

     Sometime after 1800 the family moved to Newport, Quebec, Canada.  This is south of the St. Lawrence near the town of Eaton. I did find an Elisha Hudson in Saco, York, Maine in the 1810 Census but I don't know if that is his father or not. It's seems more likely they would go to Canada from Vermont as it was just to the west of where they were. Robert lived in Canada until 1865. In about 1808 he married Achsah Cross, the birth of their daughter, Achsah Hudson, is recorded in the records of the Presbyterian Church of Eaton. He is called "Lieutenant Robert Hudson". His wife, Achsah, died around 1815 and he married Anna Mariah Delamater on 4 Feb 1816 in the same Presbyterian Church.

     Around this period of time the War of 1812 took place. Robert fought for Canada, i.e. for Great Britain. I find this amazing as his father, his grandfather, and all of his uncles fought on the American side in the Revolutionary War. But, I understand, he fought for his family and his home. Robert was in the Frontier Light Infantry. This was two companies of the Canadian Voltigeurs, a volunteer unit made up mostly of French speaking Quebecois. The two companies known as the Frontier Light Infantry were run separately and were made up of English speaking men from Eastern Quebec townships like Robert. Robert was an Ensign, although he was called Lieutenant in the birth record of Achsah. One battle they fought in was the Battle of Colle, a Canadian victory.  Part of this was fought at Odeltown where Robert's wife's father and family lived so he must have felt very personally involved. The photo below is of the blockhouse at Colle.

       The story told of him in the family is that he was in command of one small battle over a bridge.  He saw that they couldn't hold the bridge and they were outnumbered. If they tried to hold it they would have a great loss of life so he ordered a retreat. He thought he might be courtmartialed for this but instead he was promoted. This was at the Battle of Plattsburg, N.Y. The following is on Ancestry, "13 April, 1814. In consequence of the representation made to the commander of the Forces of the distinguished conduct of Sergeant Hudson of the Frontier Light Infantry, His Excellency is pleased o appoint Sergeant Hudson to be an Ensign, vice Steele, promoted, the above appointment to take place from 20th March, 1814." This story is told by his nephew, Lorenzo Dow Hudson on the back of a picture of his son, Benjamin Lester Hudson. To me this illustrates how the family stayed in touch as Lorenzo was born in New York and died in Massachusetts. Yet he had the photo and knew the story.

      According to the Canadian Immigrant Records Pt. I at the Canadian National Archives, Robert was one of the militia men of 1812-1815 who applied for and received "the gratuity voted by the Parliament in 1875".  He died in January 1875 so either he applied early in January or one of his sons applied for him. he is the only family member that I have found who fought in the War of 1812, and he fought for the British!

     He married Anna Mariah after the War.  They lived in several towns in Eastern Quebec all close together and near Newport. I have found records of him at Drummondville, Iberville, Hinchinbrooke and Huntingdon. He is in the 1825 Canada Census at "Huntingdon Hinchinbrooke", next door to his brother. Samuel Hudson. His brother, Reuben Hudson, stood in for him as proxy at the baptism of his son, Henry, at Drummondville in 1818. Robert and Anna Mariah had 9 children. Sometime after 1843 they moved to Bristol in Pontiac County. This town is on the Ottawa River north of Ottawa. The 1851 Census of Lower Canada lists him as a farmer and says he is living in a log house. I believe that he was involved in logging as this was a big part of the life of the area, sending the logs down the Ottawa River to market.  In July 1865, his wife, Anna Mariah, died. Not long after this he and most of his children moved to Saginaw, Michigan. At that time Michigan was the up and coming lumbering area so I assume that they moved for that reason.

      His daughter, Achsah, and her husband were already living in Michigan per the 1850 Census. His sons George, Henry and William and his daughter Susannah stayed in Canada but his other children moved to Michigan with him, along with their wives and children. We find them all in the 1870 Census. Robert was 85 by then and he died only 5 years later, on 28 Jan 1875. His death certificate gives his cause of death as "old age". If the birth date I have is correct he was 89 but the death certificate says 92.

     Studying his life, Robert Brick Hudson comes across as an impressive man. His nephew wrote his story on the back of a photo. 6 of his nine children named a son after him and many of their children named sons "Robert Brick ". There is a park in Bristol named Hudson Park, could be for Henry but I suspect it is for him!

52 Ancestors # 12: Catherine Constance Collins

     Catherine Constance Collins was my husband's grandmother, his father's mother. My mother-in-law told me that she was born in "Dublin County Cork" on 8 Nov 1891. When I started to research Dennis' family I started with his Father and the Negley family. There is quite a bit published about them and I was able to find quite a bit. But Catherine was different.

     First of all there was the matter of where she was born. Eloise said "Dublin County Cork" and I realized that the city of Dublin is not in County Cork. But on a detailed map of Ireland I found two places in County Cork called Dublin.  So that was possible. Then, Eloise had James and Catherine's marriage certificate. On that she says she was born in New York, it says "New York City" but the "city" is crossed out.  It says her father, J.C. Collins, was born in Ireland but her mother (no name) was born in New York. The 1920, 1930, and 1940 Censuses all say she was born in New York. So does her death certificate. then I found a biography of her husband in the "Cyclopedia of National Biography" that said her father was Patrick Collins, an insurance broker of New York. So I studied New York Censuses for 1900 and 1910 looking for a J.C. or Patrick Collins with a daughter Catherine of the right age.  With him born in Ireland and his wife  (whose first name I had found out was Mary) born in New York. There are many J or Patrick Collinses born in Ireland with wives named Mary and daughters named Catherine in New York in 1900 and 1910! But none where all the data matched. Then when I got her death certificate IT said that her father's name was Michael, so I re-looked at New York Censuses but still no match. Then I reviewed everything I had on her and found a postcard that Dennis' mother had sent us from Ireland.  She was visiting with her sister-in-law, Barbara, Catherine's daughter. The postcard was from Williamstown, Galway, Ireland and it said "This is where your grandmother was born." So now I had four places where she was born: New York State, New York City, Dublin, County Cork, Ireland or Williamstown, Galway, Ireland.

     This lead me to feel that perhaps Barbara knew the family history and data on her mother's family. I asked her if she'd write me about it but she said that Dennis' sister, Kasey, had it all.  Kasey died and when I went through her photos and family things I found nothing about the Irish family. Meanwhile, Barbara had also died. Her son, Mark, got in touch with Dennis via Facebook. Turned out that he had all the family photos and things from his Mom.  He was puzzled on who some of the people were. So I went to visit him and we spent an afternoon going through all the photos and papers that his Mom had left. We didn't find much about Catherine's family but we did find some photos and an address. This was for "Aunt Mary" Collins. There was a photo of her son, John Collins, so I figured that Mary wasn't Catherine's sister but her sister-in-law. I tried finding an address in Ireland for one of the cousins that was in the photos and writing to them.  But I never heard back.  I put the photos on my tree and left it for a bit.

     One day I decided to try looking for Catherine once again. So I once more read through everything I had on her or related to her. In doing that I noticed that the address for Aunt Mary Collins was "Leatra, Williamstown, Ireland". Where or what was Leatra? I had thought it was a street when I first saw the address but it didn't look like a street. So I did what any 21st Century family detective would do and I googled "Leatra".  There weren't too many hits and these weren't very revealing (most were about a dog shelter) but then I saw "Collins of Leatra". What!?! I clicked on it and it led me to "The Gathering" which was an Irish site.  It seems that Ireland was having a year long event of all sorts of family reunions, village festivals, etc. to gather back in the many who had left Ireland or their descendants.  The Collins family of Leatra was having their own family reunion in April 2013 (I was reading this in January 2013). I couldn't tell if this Collins family was related to Catherine or not. There wasn't any way to contact the man (Ray Collins) putting it on although there was a place for comments.  So I left one asking if they were related.  I didn't hear and was impatient so I went to the Home page of the site and found a person to contact.  I e-mailed him and explained that I was looking for my husband's family and could he put me in touch with Ray Collins. He answered and he got Ray to e-mail me. I explained to him who I was and what I was looking for.  I sent him a picture of Aunt Mary and her son John from Eloise and Barbara's trip.  He e-mailed me back, "Mary is my grandmother and Johnny is my Uncle". I was so excited! He put me in touch with another Cousin in New Jersey, her mother had known Catherine and knew of Dennis' father. But I got a little frustrated trying to get any real genealogical data. So I asked Ray to put me in touch with whoever in the family was interested in the family history.  He put me in touch with another John Collins, his cousin, who had some family data and was interested in knowing more. We have been sharing things ever since.

     So now I knew where she was from. Now I found her in the 1901 Census of Ireland (free online at the Irish National Archives). She is listed as Kate Collins. She and her whole family spoke Irish as well as English, her parents couldn't read or write. I found the family in the 1911 Census but Kate wasn't there. Using the rootsireland site, I found the civil record of her birth, but it was for 1 Nov 1888 (not 8 Nov 1891 which had always been her birth date in any American records). I discovered that the Mormon Family History Library had a microfilm of the parish records for Templetogher Parish, which is the one Leatra is in. In it I found her birth record and that of her brothers and sisters. Here she is recorded as born on 20 October 1888, close to the 1 Nov one but three years and 19 days earlier than the one she went by throughout her adult life. Unfortunately the parish record don't go back very far because of the suppression of the Catholic Church in Ireland by the English. John Collins sent me a history of the Leatra National School where she went to school and of Williamstown and her parish which were very helpful. Now that I had her age right I found her on a Passenger list coming to America.

     Catherine Collins (as her name is in both the parish and civil birth records) was born on 20 Oct 1888 to Michael Collins and Mary Connelly Collins.  She was the sixth child and fourth daughter, four more children, two boys and two girls, followed her. She attended the Leatra National School which opened in 1888 on land which had belonged to her father, so I don't think she had far to go to walk to school.  By the 1901 Census she could read and write and also spoke Irish. The 1940 Census says she finished High School but that seems doubtful, probably 8th Grade.  I believe I found her on the Parisian sailing from Galway and arriving in Boston on 2 Jul 1906. She was almost 18. In the 1910 Census she is a servant living with the Sachi family in Winchester, Middlesex, Massachusetts.

     On 15 September 1914 she married James Casper Negley, M.D. in Los Angeles. Here is where things change. This is the first time the middle name of Constance appears as well as the birthdate of 8 Nov 1891. Neither appear in any record or mention of her before this. She spells her first name with a "K" in this record.  Before this it was always with a "C". She says she was born in New York and that her father is J.C. Collins and that her mother was born in New York. Before this any record shows her as born in Ireland.  She is listed as a Registered Nurse.  Where did she train to be a Registered Nurse while being a servant in Massachusetts? I suppose she had time in 4 years to do so. However, what I think is this:  She came to America to better her lot. Being a housemaid in Massachusetts didn't really do that. She answered an ad for a nurse in California and in the transition from the East Coast to the West Coast she changed her name, her birthplace, her father's name, her life. She reinvented herself. She was beautiful, James married her and then she was automatically naturalized and the little inconsistencies didn't matter. When you see her in photos she was an elegant, dignified woman.  The life of an Irish farmwife with 10 children was not her style, nor an Irish house maid. She knew what she wanted and she did achieve it. That is my take on it. I may be wrong but I must say that I admire her for all this.

     She and James had two children, James Casper Negley, Jr. and Barbara Jean.  They lived in a big house on a large lot in La Crescenta, California. He died in 1951 and she died on 11 April 1959. They are buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.

52 Ancestors # 11: Benjamin Melvin Hudson, From Lumberjack to Railroad Man

     Benjamin Melvin Hudson was born on 11 Mar 1865 in Bristol, Pontiac County, Quebec, Canada. His father, Benjamin Lester Hudson, was born in Canada while his mother, Mary Yuill, was born in Campsie, Stirlingshire, Scotland.  The family moved to Saginaw, Michigan in 1868. Ben's father and grandfather were lumbermen and the Saginaw Bay was the new up and coming area for lumber.  So the whole family moved there. Unfortunately, Mary Hudson died in December 1874, leaving 6 young children. His father farmed the children out to family as he could.  His three middle sons he sent to work in a lumber camp. In the 1880 Census we find Alfred, Robert and our Benjamin working in such a camp.  They are listed as "raftsmen". A lumber raftsman is one who takes the cut logs down the river tied together like a big raft. Ben was 15 at this time. As you can imagine this left little time for school-in the 1940 Census under "highest grade completed" Ben said "0". While in Saginaw, Ben met Agnes Cookson, whose father was also a lumberjack. When she moved to Arkansas with her family he followed.  They were married in Fayetteville, Arkansas on 20 October 1888.

     Ben got a job working for the Rock Island Railroad (made famous by the song, "The Rock Island Line").  He started out as a carpenter but soon was promoted to Master Carpenter. In Arkansas they lived in a house built by Agnes' father, right next to his own. Here their first two daughters were born, Edna and Mabel. Then Alma and Elizabeth ("Bessie") were born in Texarkana. They moved to Union, Missouri as Ben became the superintendant of Bridges. However, they lost their house by signing for someone else's  loan that he defaulted. They then moved to Fort Worth, Texas. Ben was appointed Superintendant of Bridges and Construction for the Texas and Brazos area.

     His daughters did well in school with both Edna and Mabel going to College and becoming teachers. Alma attended college and worked for awhile as a Stenographer-Secretary.  Bessie attended College and met her husband there. Ben, along with his family, was active in the Hemphill Presbyterian Church. Edna never married and lived at home, Mabel was on and off at home.  Alma came back home when her husband died at a young age. Bessie and Walter lived nearby early in their marriage and continued to visit often. So Ben had his girls close by through out his life. His wife, Agnes, died 27 Dec 1936 of pernicious anemia. In 1940 Ben and his daughter, Edna, took a trip to the West and visited Bessie and Walter in Seattle and went to Edna's Alma Mater, the University of California Berkeley, for a visit. Edna died 3 Apr 1953 and Ben, himself, died on 16 Apr 1955 at the age of 90.

     I have a letter he wrote my father on Jan 28, 1942. Here is some of it: "Its changed up so much you could hardly understand its all built up to the T&P Ry yards and so many Gov institutions the Bomber plant is not far north of us and the Tarant field where so many are in training and the Hicks field north of Saginaw the planes are going over us all the time night and day most of them are 3 motor bombers...the airplanes make this place noisy too but it will be much better when the war is over...well about the old place I had to reputty all windows and I painted the house to as the paint was all coming of so that with moving and me bussy and none to well either and had to put in a new piece in front porch 8 ft wide and take up the roof in the bathroom and renew the floor  and put new linoleum on the kitchen floor so it cost nearly $100 to do that and my time painting too I had a time with the painting a count of the shurbry and had borrow a ladder and I sliped and slid of the roof and spilled about 3 qts paint I had the ladder siting up to the front so I caught the ladder and saved a bad fall I will be 78 in a month so am getting to feal the age quite a bit...I and Edna were both so pleased to hear of your wedding Your mother wrote us about it and Edna likes your choice very much so am sure you will get along fine...so hope and wish you both the best of luck and hope to hear from you often so with much love and best wishes will say by for now. Grandpa Hudson". And we say good by for now as well!

52 Ancestors #10: Edith Rosetta Stefani, A Twentieth Century Woman

     Friday was my grandmother, Edith Rosetta Stefani Kells,'s birthday so I thought the next post should be for her. Edith was born on 7 March 1895 in Issaquah, Washington.  Her father, Frank Stefani, had come from Sporminore in the Italian Alps and her mother, Angelina Tinetti was from Torre Canavese in the Piedmont area of Northern Italy. Frank wouldn't speak Italian or let her mother speak it, though, because he felt they were Americans now.  So she grew up in an American speaking household. Edith was the third child and oldest daughter in a family of seven children. Two of her brothers died very young which must have been upsetting to her. 

     Her parents were hard working, struggling Italian immigrants. To supplement the food supply her father often went hunting for small animals and frogs. The children had doubts about the frog legs because they jumped about in the skillet. They sometimes had only "black soup", a scorched flour and water mixture which they greatly disliked but ate because they were hungry. Later they ate plenty of fruit from their own trees plus milk and eggs from their own cow and chickens. They also raised a pig for meat.

     As a little girl Edith knew there really was a Santa Claus because once she peeked and saw a hand hanging a Jumping Jack from the tree.  Later she found out it was the hired man! On Christmas Eve the children put out their shoes beside the door for Father Christmas to fill with nuts. If they had been bad they were supposed to find coal instead, but no one ever did.

     Frank Stefani owned a saloon and eventually a laundry. All the children worked in the laundry with Edith and her sisters doing the washing and ironing there. About the time Edith was in High School, Frank was able to buy a small Chicken Farm.  This became the site for family gatherings for years.

    When Edith was due to graduate from Eighth Grade she was the only one who passed the State Boards. She went to one year of High School but then left due to the need to earn money to help out at home.  She went to Secretarial College in Seattle. This was unusual at the time but Edith wanted skills for a career. She found jobs as a Secretary in business offices in Seattle.  She would take the ferry to Seattle on Sunday evening and return to Issaquah Friday evening. On the ferry she met Lucas Kells, a young man who also went to Seattle all week and came back to Issaquah on the weekend. Luke wooed her and on 15 Aug 1916 they were married. On 19 May 1917, their first son, Lyman Francis, was born.  He was named Lyman for Luke's brother and uncle, both Lyman. Francis was for her father, Francesco, and both the brothers who died who also had Francis in their names. On May 7, 1920 twins were born. She didn't know she was having twins until she had the first and discovered there was another one! They weren't prepared for this and it caused some stress. She later felt that she had ignored Lyman because of all the attention the twins had required. The twins were Margaret Edith and Milton Carlisle. Margaret for Luke's oldest sister, Edith for Edith herself, Milton for the poet and Carlisle for Luke(it was his middle name). On 27 Sep 1922, Doris Muriel Kells arrived. I don't think she was named for anyone, they just liked the names!

     Edith raised the children, took care of the house and all the things a woman was supposed to do. She helped the kids in their schooling and other activities such as scouting, Campfire Girls and music. All four children loved music especially singing, Margaret played the piano as well. In the summer they would go to their cabin on the Olympic Peninsula at Brownsville. Luke would come on the weekends. Some summers they would go with Luke to visit his sister and other family in Minnesota. Almost every Sunday the family would drive to Issaquah to visit Edith's family on the farm. During the Depression money was tight. Luke would sometimes take goods for his services instead of money because his clients couldn't pay cash.  Edith didn't like that! Edith tried to make sure her children had what she had lacked and longed for in her childhood.

     The kids all went to the University of Washington and lived at home but by WW II things changed.  Lyman and Milton went to New York and participated in the Manhattan Project as Physicists. Margaret married Jack Peterson and went to Boston while he went to Harvard Business School as part of being in the Army Quartermaster Corps. Meanwhile, Luke had Parkinson's Disease and it became progressively worse. Edith tried to take care of his herself at home but it got to a point she couldn't manage. He would not know her anymore and get violent. So he went to Washington State Hospital at Fort Steilacom and died there on  6 Oct 1946.

     Edith was a widow at 51 years. So she dusted off her secretarial skills and took a job as an Elementary School Secretary at the nearby school of Madrona. Here her kids had gone to grade school. She held that job for 18 years before retiring. She moved to the North End in Seattle and devoted her time to taking care of the yard and garden, making Christmas cookies, and visiting her grandchildren and her and Luke's family around the country. She and her sisters, Mary and Dell, and their sister in law, Peechie, were very close.  They visited on the phone almost daily and got together often. I lived with her, my mother and my sister from 1960 to 1966. From 11 years to 17 years in my case, not my best years. We often rubbed each other wrong. But she also taught me to play Solitaire (I still play by what I call "my grandmother's rules" and other people call "cheating"!) and Gin Rummy and Pinochile.

     Edith aged gradually but eventually needed a wheel chair.  She was still able to knit, embroider and play cards though. During the last year she was able to see all her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren as well as close members of her own Stefani family. This is what mattered most to her because family love and activity had been her life-long concentration and happiness. Edith died on 21 Nov 1982. She was cremated and her ashes lie beside her husband at Evergreen Cemetery in Seattle. She told her children that she had lived a good life of 87 years and was ready to leave. Here is the poem I wrote for her shortly after she died.

          My Grandmother's Eyes

          My Grandmother's eyes
          in the old school photos
          so solemn,
          from hard work and sorrow.

          My Grandmother's eyes
          in a moment of love,
          so soft,
          unaccustomed to softness.

          My Grandmother's eyes
          in her last years of life,
          so weary,
          in pain closed forever.

          My Grandmother's eyes
          in my own daughter's face,
          so eager,
          my Grandmother's eyes
          live forever.

52 Ancestors #9: Hulda Josefina Almquist, From Sweden to Minnesota

     Hulda Josefina Almquist was my grandfather Peterson's mother. She was born on 20 Aug 1857 in Brunn, Alvsborg, Sweden. Nils Johan Almquist was her father and Anna Charlotta Johansdotter was her mother. Nils was a farmer and her mother was a midwife (family data said she was a Doctor, I found she was a midwife). She was born on a farm called Hallen and later they moved to one named Remma.

     In 1864 when Hulda was 7, her father decided he wanted to go to America. But Anna Charlotta did not agree. Nils bought the tickets, took the children (Hulda, her two older brothers and her younger sister) and went to Goteborg to board the ship.  Anna Charlotta sent the police after him to prevent him from taking the children. The police found him before the ship left and told him that he could go but the children had to stay. So Hulda must've found herself about to board a ship to America with her father and then returned to her mother by the police. As soon as they were old enough her two older brothers left for America to join their father. In 1881, when she was 24, Hulda also left for America. I found her Swedish Emigration Record on Ancestry, "Hulda Josefin Almqvist, female, born about 1854, from Ulricehamm (big city next to Brunn), destination New York, record date: 8 Sep 1881, port of departure: Malmo". I haven't found her on a US Passenger Arrival list yet,though. She probably took a train from New York to Dassel, Minnesota where her father lived.  There she met a neighbor, Adolph Peterson, and married him on 22 Jan 1885. She was 27 years old. They had a farm in Dassel and here their children were born, two girls and three sons, among them, Alvin Walter Leonard Peterson, my grandfather.

    Between 1900 and 1905 they moved to Dunn County, Wisconsin, living in Tiffany and Dunning. They had a dairy farm and Adolph was also the post master. As their children married and moved away this became too much.  Their oldest daughter, Amelia and her husband, Oscar Olson, took over the farm and Hulda and Adolph moved to Minneapolis. Hulda died there on 29 April 1928.

     The break up of her parents' marriage must've been a shock to her but her own marriage was a happy one.  All of her children married and raised families so she must've been a good example to them.

52 Ancestors #8 Hannah Elizabeth Buck, My Grandmother's English Grandmother

     My grandmother, Bessie Hudson, would often talk about her "English Grandmother".  She and her three sisters would often have tea with her after school. In fact, Bessie grew up drinking tea, not coffee, due to her grandmother's influence. One family heirloom I inherited was Bible pages from her family's Bible and HER grandmother's family's Bible.

     Hannah Elizabeth Buck (or Elizabeth Hannah Buck as it is recorded in the Manchester Cathedral parish records, but just Elizabeth in the family Bible) was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, on 10 May 1844. She was the daughter of John Buck and Sarah Lane. John was the son of William Buck, a fustian manufacturer (huh? fustian was a denim-like cloth, very big business in Manchester in the 19th Century). Sarah's father was William Lane, an Iron Monger (huh? he sold metal objects). John Buck was a sailor, although in the 1841 Census he is listed as an Iron Monger and is living with him Father-in-law. Elizabeth always referred to him as a sailor with pride. Unfortunately John died 16 Dec 1846 when Lizzie (as she was called by the family) was only 2 1/2 years old.

     Perhaps for this and other reasons, the whole family moved to America in about 1849. Sarah's brother, William Frederick Lane, his wife, Jane and children came first, the rest followed.  They settled first in Buffalo, Erie, New York. William Lane, his wife, Hannah, his son, William and daughter, Sarah Buck, are listed in the 1850 Census but Jane and her children and Sarah's children are not listed. In Buffalo Sarah met and married Thomas Kay, also from Manchester. They were married June 14, 1851 at Trinity Church. Their first three daughters, Sarah Buck, Mary and Anne, were born in Buffalo. Their son, Willie, was born in 1859 in Ontario, Canada.  So they moved to Canada between 1856 and 1859.

 
     Again, the entire family, William and Hannah Lane, William Frederick and Jane Lane and children, Thomas and Sarah Kay and their children and her children, Edward and Elizabeth Buck, moved to Vienna, Elgin, Ontario, Canada.  Sarah had a  business as a seamstress and Elizabeth would've learned to sew from her mother.  Here she met John Marshall Cookson, recently come from serving in the Union Cavalry in the Civil War.  Lizzie and John were married on April 13, 1867 in Vienna. In approximately 1870 she and John moved to East Saginaw, Michigan. Thomas Kay and Sarah also moved with them, they stayed in Saginaw while Lizzie and John moved to nearby Au Gres, Michigan. Here John was a lumberjack.  Lizzie owned one of the few sewing machines around.  They made and sold sheets.  He ran the machine and she sold them! they had four children, two of whom died as young boys.

     Elizabeth was a small woman. From his pension records we know that John was 5'6" tall.  In the photo of them together she looks very small next to him, even seated.  So my guess is that she was 5' tall or less.

     About 1888 they moved again to Washington, Arkansas. John built a farmhouse in Springfield and his son and daughter both lived nearby with their families. Here my grandmother spent her early childhood with her three sisters, her cousins and her English grandmother. Lizzie died on Jan 20, 1916 of cancer of the bowel. According to family data she passed on to her children her interest in education and music. And she was remembered with great love by her granddaughters.