James Mitchell - The Dakota Man

Even though I have Bartley next in line after Mary and Kate, I am saving his post for last (as he is the direct ancestor to my family), and moving on to the next child of Bernard and Jane - James.
Of all the Mitchell children of this family, James and Bartley are the only ones who moved on from the Ireland to Illinois to Iowa migration. While Bartley moved on to California, James took his family and settled in South Dakota (hence, the title of this post).
It is recorded in at least 2 Federal Census records that James arrived in the U.S. in or around 1866.  He married Mary Carroll ( daughter of John Carroll and Nellie Finan) 10 Mar 1867 in St. Louis, Missouri.  They resided in Whiteside County in Illinois for at least 13 years before moving on to Crawford County in Iowa.
James and Mary had 11 known children. They were: John, Bernard (known as Beck), Ellen, William, Anna, Michael, James (who died at about 1 year old), Mary, Alice,  James Vincent, and Lucille. 
I'm not sure how long James and Mary stayed in Crawford County, but it wasn't as long as they had resided in Whiteside County. The 1880 Census still has them in Whiteside, while the 1885 Iowa State Census has them in Crawford County, as well as the 1900 U.S. Federal Census. But by 1910, the were in Bryan, Charles Mix County in South Dakota. They later moved to Wagner in the same county where they lived until their deaths in 1923 and 1925, respectively.
I don't have much on the eldest child (and eldest son) of James and Mary. John was born in Illinois and died at about 18 years of age in Crawford County.
Their second child, a boy they named Bernard whose nickname was Beck,  married Mary Ellen O'Connell and they had 7 children. The family removed to Charles Mix County (probably at the same time as James and Mary).
The third child, a daughter by the name of Ellen, married Peter O'Connell. Peter and Ellen had 6 children and removed to South Dakota also, but eventually ended up in Michigan.
William, the fourth child and third son, married Marie (or Mary) McCarthy.  They had 6 children and settled in Crawford County.
James and Mary's next child was Anna. She married Hugh Costello. They moved to South Dakota and raised 7 children.
Michael was their six child and 4th son. I still have much to research on Mickey (as he was known). I do know that he married a woman named Evelyn. They had 4 daughters and resided in South Dakota.
Their next child, James, was born in Crawford County and, also, died there at the age of 1 year and 4 months.
Mary (8th child, 3rd daughter) appears to have remained single and died in Maryland. This fact I may change with a bit more research into her timeline. The last record I have for her is 1910 Federal Census in the home of her parents at the age of 25 years.
Their next daughter, Alice, married Francis Gorman. The couple eventually ended up in Minnesota (after Iowa and South Dakota), raising 5 children.
James Vincent was the youngest son. He moved to South Dakota with his parents and married a woman named Pauline, having two children together.
The youngest daughter was Lucille. Lucille married Charles Harrington in 1919. The couple had at least one son.

The James Mitchell Family

Front, sitting, from the left -Ellen, James, Lucille, Mary and Alice

Back, Standing, from the left - James Vincent, Anna, William, Beck, Michael, and Mary

Cousins - from left to right: Tommy Giblin, Johnnie Carroll, brothers Will and Beck Mitchell

Going In Circles with the Mitchell Research

When I began this blog, I had decided that before posting anything, I would go back and double-check what I have, where I got it, and research for any new information. Little did I know that the Mitchell branch would benefit from this practice.
So, I have to backtrack a bit and re-vamp the Mitchell's just a bit. I'll start at the top - again.
The heads of the Mitchell's in the U.S. (for the Mitchell branch in question) is Bernard Mitchell and Jane Muleenen. This information was taken from a couple of sources. Their daughter, Katherine/Catherine reported her parents as Bernard and Jane Mitchell upon her marriage to Michael Mannion in New Hampshire. Their daughter, Margaret, has Bernard Mitchell and Jane Muleenen recorded as her parents in the Iowa Death and Burial database on Ancestry.com.
This is not to say that Muleenen is the maiden surname of  Jane. Most of these databases are transcribed from handwritten records and we are dependent on the transcriber as to whether the name was correctly transcribed. So, with Margaret's information, the original record was not available (her married name was also transcribed as Giblem whereas the correct spelling is Giblin). Even though the original marriage record for their daughter, Katherine/Catherine, is available, there is no maiden name recorded for mother, Jane. So, until a record turns up with the surname corrected as Mulranel, I will continue to use Muleenen as Jane's surname, just as I will use the given name Jane instead of Jennie or Bridget. 
This also brings up another issue, so here is a quick side note. When viewing other individual's trees online, I always view them as a work in progress. The information could be incorrect (and often is), but they are continually working on their tree (just as I am) and as databases and records become available online, they (like me) are continually adding, changing, deleting information. I find it so sad when I read comments from various people chastising another for incorrect information. Believe me when I say, this is not the way most researchers act. We know that genealogy is always an ongoing "work in progress". That is the reason we have been at it for years. I have errors in my own tree. I often add a person to a tree who is "suspect" of belonging to a family to take advantage of Ancestry.com's hint service (these are the little green leaves that appear in the the online pedigree chart). Ancestry.com is constantly scanning their databases to match records to the name and information you provide in your tree. So, as I am searching the site for records on someone, so is Ancestry.com!
So, I have Bernard Mitchell and Jane Muleenen. Of the original children I had for them, I can only connect six of these children to them or to each other. They are - Mary, Katherine/Catherine, Bartley, James, Margaret and Bernard. 
I have removed Patrick from the tree on Ancestry. I discovered in the Illinois Death Records that the Patrick I had connected to Bernard and Jane, in fact, had different parents. I could find no other Patrick in the U.S. that could have been their son, so I have taken him off the tree along with any of his descendants.  That is not to say that Bernard and Jane didn't have a son named Patrick, it's just that I cannot find anything to prove it. 
This leaves Michael and Bridget. For now, I have left both on the tree, even though I can find no link to Bernard and Jane for them, nor can I find any link to the other children of them. I have done some research for Micheal (married to Catherine Maloney), but can find no link yet. I still have not found a death record for Michael. The family lived in Genesee, Whiteside, Illinois, but I have found other Mitchells in Whiteside County who are not related to this Mitchell Branch. I have left Michael on the tree in hopes that something comes up to prove or disprove he belongs there.
It is basically the same for Bridget (whom I have married to William Hawthorne).  I just haven't done a current search yet for her. I will post when I do if I find any proof that she does or does not fit in the family. For now, though, she, too, will remain on the tree.

Newly Found Miley Docs

I was doing some research on familysearch.org.
Familysearch is a website by the Church of Latter Day Saints (ie, Mormons) who are very involved in Genealogy for religious reasons. Their website and Family Research Centers are fantastic free sources for tracing your family tree.
Anyway, I was going through their databases for the State of Illinois, and in the database for "Illinois Probate Records 1819-1970" I found a few interesting documents.
Before I get started on them, just a side note here. The databases on familysearch is an ongoing thing. In other words, they are being transcribed and added to on a regular basis through the effort of their volunteers. They may have a database, such as the one I cited, but it may not contain all the records described in the Title. 
Anyway, it appears that Mary Mitchell Miley had a wee bit of a problem with her husband, John. 
With the assistance of her brothers, James and Bartley, Mary filed for full custody of her then 16 year old son, John, Jr., citing her husband as being abusive and violent toward her son (actually, it was John, Jr. who filed the petition for guardianship, but all fees and bonds were paid for by Mary and her brothers, so I'm assuming that Mary had actually wanted to get her son away from his father).
A few things that still puzzle me: This guardianship was done in 1874, yet the 1880 Federal Census has Mary living apart from her husband with some of their children, and John Miley, Sr. is living with two of their daughters at another resident.  If he was that abusive, why were there still children in his home?

Court Record of the Final Judgement in the Matter of John Miley, Jr.

A Record of the Court Fees paid by Mary and her brothers, James and Bartely, concerning the guardianship of John Miley, Jr.

The Petition filed on behalf of John Miley, Jr. to grant full guardianship to his mother, Mary (Mitchell) Miley.

The Miley's: A Lesson in Patience....and Frustration

In all my years of genealogy research, patience and frustration are not uncommon. Usually, though, it goes hand-in-hand.....with a little frustration of hitting dead-ends, than a little patience until that one record appears to break down the wall. And, it usually happens with an individual. The Miley's are different - it's the whole fam damily.
I have experienced more frustration (and have tried a little patience, too) with this family. I keep hitting these brick walls - with all of them!
So, the most I can do with the post on the Mileys is to just blog what I have so far.
Mary Mitchell, the daughter of Bernard and Bridget Jennie Mulranel (or Jane), married John Miley. Together, they had at least seven children - John, Jane, Annie, Mary, Catherine (Kate), Winnie, and Alice.
The 1860 Federal Census shows John and Mary in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire along with their first child (and only son), John. 
I have been unable to find a marriage record for them, but I think it's safe to assume they were married in New Hampshire. 
By 1870, they are now residing in Whiteside County, Illinois, with their additional children of Jane, Ann, Mary, and Kate (of course, son John is there also). This Census reports Jane as having been born in New Hampshire and Ann in Illinois, so another safe assumption is that they moved to Illinois between 1861 and 1865. 
Now, the 1880 Federal Census is a bit of a "head-scratching" puzzle. By this time, their oldest son, John, had married Etta Fuller in Iowa and was off on his own; but, John (the father) is listed in his own household with daughters, Annie, and 9 year old Winnie. He is recorded as married, but Mary and the other children are not there.
Mary appears in her own household (in Whiteside County, also, like her husband, John), as widowed,  along with her daughters, Mary, Katy, and 6 year old Alice. Also, in the household is Mary's brother, Bartley.
So, what's up with this?
One possibility is that John died in 1880, leaving Mary widowed. I'm just not sure why they were in two separate households with the children split up the way they were in the Census. 
The next record found with the widow Mary is the Iowa State Census of 1885 where she is living in Crawford County with her children, Katey and Alice. So, what happened to Jane, Annie, Mary, and Winnie (we already know that her only son, John, is married and off on his own)?
Well, let's see now....I can't find anything on Jane after the 1870 Census. There are some marriage possibilities, but nothing definitive. There is also the possibility that she passed away, but no record of it.
Annie is another mystery - with no record after the 1880 Census. It is also the same with daughter, Mary,  and daughter, Winnie. There is nothing on her beyond the 1880 Census.
Daughter Katey married Tim Kenney in 1893. Daughter Alice married August Abts in 1906. 
Mary Mitchell Miley remained in Crawford County until her death in 1908, and is buried in Saint Ann's cemetery along with many others from the Mitchell family.
I have done a pretty intense search through newspaper.com and Chronicling America, but could find no references on the Miley family. I will add them to the blog if I do come across anything at a later time.

More Articles from the Mannion Family

This is Mary Killen Mannion, wife of William H. Mannion. William was the son of Patrick Mannion and Catherine Ratican. From the Dixon Evening Telegraph 26 Dec 1946.

This is Mary Mannion Kenney, wife of Patrick Kenny. She was the daughter of Michael Mannion and Catherine Mitchell.  From the Sterling Standard 19 Jun 1900.

An article of Remembrance for Michael E Miannion, son of Michael Mannion and Catherine Mitchell. From the Sterling Standard 30 Sep 1897

Bernard Mannion, son of Michael Mannion and Catherine Mitchell. From the Sterling Standard 13 Nov 1906.

Minnie was the daughter of John Mannion and Margaret Igo. Her father was the brother of Patrick and Michael Mannion. From the Sterling Standard 18 Oct 1904.

Mitchells: From The Top and The Confusion of the Two Catherine Mannions

Continuing on with the Mitchell family, I guess I better start at the beginning - with the immigration to the U.S.
Now, normally, one would have an "immigrant ancestor" - this being a direct ancestor (grandfather/grandmother). And, maybe, a brother or sister , spouse and children, or some other relation would immigrate with the direct ancestor. In the case of the Mitchell family, the parents remained in Ireland, and the children (from what I can tell - all of them) moved to the United States, each coming at various times starting about the mid-1800s. 
The research into the Mitchell family began with a basic descendant chart passed on to me by my brother from one of his Mitchell cousin researchers. If I recall correctly, it was very basic - with few dates/places, and no source citations. So began the research for facts and provenance. 
It began with the Mitchell Patriarch and Matriarch - Bernard ( sometimes I found researchers who labeled him with the nickname of "Beck") Mitchell and Bridget/Jennie Mullranel. Now, I have a probelm with Bridget/Jennie as I have not been able to find anything on that name, but more about that later. 
Bernard and Bridget/Jennie had nine known children - all who immigrated to the United States although daughter, Bridget, is somewhat sketchy still. The children were: Catherine, Mary, Michael, Bartholomew, Bridget, James, Patrick, Margaret and Bernard.
I will start with Catherine (sometimes Katherine in the records), and this is where the confusion of the two Catherine's come in. 
Catherine Mitchell, daughter of Bernard and Bridget/Jennie, married a man named Mannion and settled in Whiteside County in Illinois. Okay, so many of the Mitchell children of Bernard and Bridget/Jennie settled in Whiteside, but, for now, I'm just talking about Catherine. 
A general search into the Federal Census records for Whiteside County would first reveal a Patrick Mannion with wife, Catherine, and their children. Most people would look at Catherine, her approximate birth year and place being correct, and say "I've found her". However, a little more research, particularly into the Illinois Death Records, reveal that this Catherine, married to Patrick Mannion, had the maiden name of Ratican....and records her father as Thomas Ratican. 
So, where is Catherine/Katherine Mitchell Mannion? And to whom was she married to?  
A little research into the Mannion family is in order here. And, on a side note, it is often beneficial in researching to delve into marriage-related branches. You'd be surprised at how often siblings from one family married siblings from another family. But what happened with the Mannion family is that two brothers - Patrick and Michael - immigrated to the U.S. and both brothers married women named Catherine. Patrick married Catherine Ratican and Michael married Catherine Mitchell. Be aware that there are still many online trees that have Catherine Mitchell married to Patrick and not Michael, and just a few that have the correction applied to them. I figure, eventually, everyone will be sorted out. 
So, we now have Catherine Mitchell married to Michael Mannion. and Catherine Ratican married to Michael's brother, Patrick. I'm now going to throw a wrench in the pile and add another Catherine - the mother of Patrick and Michael.  
The parents of Patrick and Michael were Edward Mannion and Catherine Mulrans (some have Mullranel or Mulrennen. Catherine's findagrave listing has it as Mulrans). Other siblings of Patrick and Michael are Margaret, Bridget and John. It has been said by other researchers that Patrick and Michael sent for their mother and siblings after arriving in the States. Either way, eventually, the whole family ended up in Illinois.
Catherine Mitchell Mannion died in 1897. She and Michael had 4 children - Mary, Margaret, Bernard and Michael. 
Whereas, CatherineRatican Mannion died in 1924. She and Patrick had 9 children - Catherine, John, Edward, Mary Ann, Michael, William, Ella, Winifred, and Bridget. 
Now, even more confusing, is the fact that Catherine Mulrans Mannion (mother of Patrick, Michael, Margaret, Bridget, and John, died in 1897. So, a mental note must be made not to confuse the deaths of Catherine Mitchell Mannion and her mother-in-law, Catherine Mulrans Mannion.
So, began my research into the Mitchell clan, which, by the way, with every generation, had confusing family connections such as with the Mannions!
Also, I did find the marriage record for Michael and Catherine in Nashua, New Hampshire. Catherine records her parents names as Bernard and Jane Mitchell.

The only photo that I have found for the Mannion family is Bridget Mannion, sister of Patrick and Michael, daughter of Edward Mannion and Catherine Mulrans. Photo courtesty of the Kealaiki Family Tree on Ancestry.com.

These two articles on the death of Catherine/Katherine Mannion is Catherine Mulran Mannion, widow of Edward Mannion and mother to Patrick (married to Catherine Ratican), Michael (married to Catherine Mitchell), Margaret (married to James Gaffey), Bridget (married to Cornelius aka Con Regan), and John Mannion (married to Margaret aka Madge Igo). 

The marriage record of Michael Mannion and Catherine Mitchell in Nashua, New Hampshire. Notice the names of Catherine's parents.

We Interrupt The Mitchells for a Word from the Norgren Branch

I will get back to the Mitchell branch soon (I am doing a little research before continuing), but I just wanted to file a report on an update for the Norgren Branch (Specifically - Maria Eriksdotter Norgren):
"This is Carol reporting from the Nav Station on s/v Moonlight Sue. 
Yesterday afternoon - at approximately 4:10 pm (or so) - I decided to check out the new databases on Ancestry.com that were shared by familysearch.com in a new agreement between the two websites. Within these new databases was one for Norway Burials. Oooooo....I love this. 
See, the two websites have two totally different criteria for searching when entering ancestor information. So, I entered various surnames for my Norwegian branch - really not expecting anything new as I "thought" I had covered the database extensively on familysearch. 
When I previewed the hits for Norgren, to my surprise, there was the name - Maria Norgren. 
Here is the transcribed record that I found:

Name: Maria Norgren

Gender: Female

Marital status: Widowed
Death Place: Oslo, Norway
Burial Date: 20 jun 1896
Burial Place: Sagene/Uranienborg/etc./, Oslo, Norway
FHL Film Number: 1283270
Reference ID: bk 5 p 147 n 36

Could this actually be our Maria? The Maria we 

(myself, my cousin in Norway and my cousin in Utah)

spent so many months searching for a death record? 

The Maria who sent a letter to her daughter in Utah so

many years ago, than no one heard from her again?

I contacted my cousin in Norway via FB and sent the 

above info to get her opinion on it. Unfortunately, I 

disturbed her dinner, but she was so excited that my 

imagination ran wild and I could picture her eating her

dinner at record pace so that she could rush to her 

computer and begin her search for the actual records.

I did a little searching, but the time came for my late 

afternoon sundowners on deck and dinner 

preparations right afterwards, so I had to wait for 

later in the evening to catch up with the search.

By the time I got back, she had found the death 

record - and it was our Maria!

I believe we may have caused the Earth's axis to go 

awry as we bounced up and down in glee over the 

discovery, because she not only found her death

record, but she also found her in the 1875 and 1885

Norway Census records.

A snip from the record. Maria passed away 16 Jun 1896 in Fredrikstad. This record has her maiden name and her birth year - two facts that confirm she is our Maria!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled Mitchell blog post - which will arrive as soon as I get the info ready.

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