My Great Grandfather, Oscar

A livery stable on Green Street in Worcester, Massachusetts--maybe it's the one where Oscar worked as a stable keeper.
Worcester Historical Museum image
http://worcesterhistory.pastperfectonline.com/media/72ABFD71-30B7-4447-88CE-582890716490

My great grandfather, Oscar Ellis, was born in 1852 in Smithfield, Somerset County, Maine to Eleanor Ruth Rankins and Robert Winslow Ellis. Oscar was the fifth of ten children. Two of his siblings, Isaac and Anna, died young. 

When his parents, Eleanor and Robert, moved to Iowa along with other relatives and neighbors, five of Oscar's brothers and sisters--Helen, Henry, Cora Bell, Clarence, and Robert-- went with them. Thomas stayed behind in Maine.

By 1875, both Oscar and his older brother, Edward, had married women from Maine and had moved to Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Oscar married Julia Tupper in 1875. She died in 1883. I can't find a record for the cause of Julia's death at age 28, but although she was living in Woonsocket as late as 1880, she was buried back in the Woodside Cemetery in Belgrade, Maine along with her parents and siblings. I find no record of any children born to this marriage.

Massachusetts Marriage Record, 26 Oct 1887

In 1887, Oscar married Ellen Maria Healy of Worcester, Massachusetts. Ellen, widow of Thomas Lynch, had been born in England, the daughter of Elizabeth Reardon and Daniel Healy. Oscar and Ellen lived in Worcester after their marriage.

According to Massachusetts vital records, Oscar and Ellen appear to have had one child before this marriage. Oscar James Ellis was born 11 Mar 1886 and died at age 4 months and 12 days of "cholera infantum."

Oscar and Ellen lost another unnamed son, in December of 1887. This little boy lived only 13 days and died of "heart disease."

In 1888, a healthy girl was born to Oscar, then age 36, and Ellen, age 27: Eva Josephine, my paternal grandmother. She was followed by Edward Francis in 1891, Oscar Joshua in 1893, and Ellen Mabel "Nellie" in 1898.

Although Oscar came from a family of farmers, he chose other career paths. In 1874 in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, he lists himself as a carpenter in the Rhode Island state census. In the 1880 federal census, he is a teamster; on his 1887 marriage record he is listed as a horse car driver; by the 1900 federal census he "works in a livery stable;" and his occupation at the time of his death in 1907 is stable keeper.

Oscar died of endocarditis and nephritis in November of 1907, just a couple of months after the birth of his grandson, Eva's boy, Danny, who was my father. I am sure that they met each other during those few months. My dad had a lot in common with his grandfather--he was first a carpenter and later drove tow trucks (a more modern version of driving a horse car, I suppose), and he also suffered from heart disease.

Oscar is buried in the Union Cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island, along with his brother Edward, Edward's wife Profenda Nickerson, and their daughter, Addie.

Ellen, with three children still at home--Edward, age 16; Oscar, age 14; and Nellie, age 10--soon remarried in 1909 to a much younger bachelor. Ellen was 48 and George Farrington was only 24, but he provided a home for Ellen and her children.

Ellen died in 1935, when she was 74 and George was 50. George lived until he was 66, dying in 1951. He is buried next to Ellen in the Pine Grove Cemetery, Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire--the same cemetery where Oscar's sisters, Eva and Nellie and their husbands, Albert Harris and John Hayes, are all buried.

*****

Relationship between Oscar J Ellis & Clair Marie Harris.

Oscar J Ellis (1852 - 1907)
great-grandfather

Eva Josephine Ellis (1888 - 1943)
daughter of Oscar J Ellis

Daniel Lawrence Harris (1907 - 1972)
son of Eva Josephine Ellis

Clair Marie Harris
You are the daughter of Daniel Lawrence Harris

Addie and the Traveling Salesman

When you engage in family history research, people come and go quickly. You "meet" a relative in some official document, perhaps a census form. From there, you discover their parents and siblings, then go on to find them a spouse (yes, you start to feel somehow in charge of their life), discover the births of their children and grandchildren, and then, sadly, find their death date and burial information.

You find yourself rooting for them in the good times and encouraging them through the bad times. Very occasionally, you discover that you want to shout out a warning like "nooooo, don't marry him, he's trouble!" And that's what happened to me with Addie, my first cousin twice removed.

Here is the very bare outline of Addie's life, as summarized by Ancestry.com, given all my data inputs:

When Ada M "Addie" Ellis was born in 1864 in Maine, her father, Edward, was 23, and her mother, Profenda, was 21. She married William De Garmo on June 18, 1884, in Aurelia, Iowa. They had two children during their marriage. She died on March 12, 1903, in Worcester, Massachusetts, at the age of 39, and was buried in North Smithfield, Rhode Island.

Addie and her parents joined many of their relatives around Cherokee, Iowa sometime between 1880, when they were in Rhode Island, and 1884, when Addie married William De Garmo (whose occupation was listed in the Iowa State Census as "commercial traveler") in Iowa.

From Iowa Marriage Records, 1880-1937

By 1900, Edward and Fenda Ellis, together with daughter Addie Ellis (not De Garmo) and her two boys were all back east again, this time living in Worcester, Massachusetts, where many of the Ellis family had settled.

Tragically, in 1903, at age 39, Addie died what had to have been an excruciatingly painful death due to "inanition gastritis with probable stricturing of oesophagus."

Massachusetts death records list Addie as the "divorced wife of William De Garmo," although the 1900 Federal Census had listed her as a widow. Which was true?

Oddly enough, her sons were called Franklin Winslow Ellis, age 18; and Bertie Ellis, age 15--they did not go by their father's name, De Garmo.

Whatever happened to her husband, William De Garmo? Why did they all use Addie's maiden name instead of De Garmo? Stay tuned...

*****

Sources

1. U.S. Federal Census: 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910

2. Iowa Marriage Records 1880-1937

3. Massachusetts Death Records, 1841-1915

4. Ancestry.com

How Addie and I are connected: 

Ada M "Addie" Ellis (1864 - 1903)
1st cousin 2x removed
Edward J. Ellis (1841 - 1916)
father of Ada M "Addie" Ellis
Robert Winslow Ellis (1821 - 1876)
father of Edward J. Ellis
Oscar J. Ellis (1852 - 1907)
son of Robert Winslow Ellis
Eva Josephine Ellis (1888 - 1943)
daughter of Oscar J. Ellis
Daniel Lawrence Harris (1907 - 1972)
son of Eva Josephine Ellis
Clair Marie Harris
You are the daughter of Daniel Lawrence Harris

What WAS Her Name?

Edward J. Ellis, 1841-1916, was my great grand-uncle through my paternal grandmother's side of the family. In 1862, he married the love of his life, a woman to whom he remained married for 54 years until they were parted by his death. What do you suppose was her name?

In the 1850 U.S. Census, she was listed as 8 year old Serfenda Nickerson, living in Mercer, Maine with her parents and siblings. I have never heard of that name, have you? I just checked one of those name calculators, and there are fewer than 1,589 Serfendas in the U.S. right now.

From the 1850 U.S. Census

The census information at that time was handwritten, of course, which always gives lots of room for error. I think that a case could be made for that name actually being "Perfenda"--you'll see why in a moment.

According to the census transcription, her parents, the plainly-named Jonathan and Hannah, also had children named Alien, Orin, Manncea, Alvine, and Tilestio. You might agree with me, however, that a case could be made for a different interpretation--they might just as well have been called Ablein, Orion, Minnesota, Merino, and Filester!

Tracing our mystery woman through the years, we see that:

In the 1860 U.S. Census, she was called Prophenda Nickerson.

In the 1870 U.S. Census, now married to my Great Grand-Uncle Edward, she was called Fenda Ellis.

In the 1875 Rhode Island State Census, she was called Brofenda Ellis.

In the 1880 U.S. Census, she was called Profenda Ellis.

In the 1900 U.S. Census, her name was variously transcribed as Rorofenia/Profenda/Rofenia Ellis.

In the 1910 U.S. Census, she was called Profante/Profenda/Profant Ellis.

From the 1910 U.S. Census

When she died in 1918, she was buried next to Edward in a grave in Rhode Island that was unmarked,* but the cemetery records called her Profinder Ellis. Now, that's a version that makes me smile. If you think about it, this is exactly the way a New Englander would pronounce "Profenda." (As you know, they tend to carelessly drop the letter "r" where you would expect to hear it, then they pop it into places where it was never intended to go).

So, for the moment, I think that I will call her Great Grand-Aunt Profenda-pronounced-Profinder, although I'm pretty sure she would prefer to be called plain old Auntie Fenda (probably pronounced "Fender").

What do you think?

~~~~~

*I wondered why the Ellises were buried near the Huntoons, but research showed that one of Profenda's younger sisters, not born in time for the 1850 Census listing above, was named Callista Nickerson, and was married to a Huntoon.