McCabes of Ontario, Canada - The Curious Case of Emma McCabe

I am doing a little case study of a friend's family tonight. His 2nd Great Grandmother Emma McCabe is going to be our subject.

Emma McCabe, unfortunately, has no confirmed surname at the moment, and it's a shame. We only have her married name of "McCabe," however, with persistence, we could eventually nail her surname down. Let's try doing that tonight!

For some time, I was convinced her surname was Morley, but after some research, I have found that I was on the wrong trail. 

The Emma McCabe I am looking for is the mother of Mary Josephine McCabe, who eventually married Henry Marris, and gave birth to my friend's grandfather, Morley Marris, in Hamilton, Ontario.

According to Canadian Census records, over the course of 30 years, Emma McCabe lived in an area in London, Ontario called Strathroy-Caradoc, which is fairly close to Detroit, Michigan. Please see the map below:

Looking over several Canadian Census' over thirty years, you see some slight changes - Let's compare these and see if we can catch anything that can give us some more clues!

1861 Canadian Census - James McCabe is shown as being born in Upper Canada (U C) and his age is 34 years old and he's an Inn Keeper. Emma is 29 years old and at this time, they have only two young daughters.

1871 Canadian Census - There have been a few changes. Emma has had two more children. She is now 40 and James is 42. Their ages don't seem to quite match what the 1861 Census shows. James line of work is now showing as a Laborer. 

1881 Canadian Census - James is now showing as 60 and Emma as 50. There is an obvious discrepancy with their birth years, unless they were providing inaccurate information when they reported to the record keeper. This record is barely legible, so it's hard to say that whoever transcribed it got it right or wrong. Hopefully a better copy will show up soon. James' job has changed once more - he is now showing as an engineer. His children are showing as factory hands. It's hard to say just exactly what kind of work they were doing.

So, remember when I was giving up on the Emma Morley McCabe whom I was speaking of earlier in my post due to her maiden name being McCabe, when I was hoping it was actually Morley? Well, I have not lost total hope on this lead. Let's look at things from a different direction this time -

One of Emma's and James daughters, Laura, married a Charles Hand, who was from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada and according to the 1891 Canadian Census, his occupation was stated as Hotel Keeper [at St. Clair House]. There just happens to be a hotel in Sarnia named Vendome Hotel - see below - with further research, I found that Charles Hand died just three years after the Vendome Hotel was built and his wife actually owned it afterwards, having her son, Charles Hand Jr, take over as Inn Keeper when he came of age. The hotel was in the family until as late as the 1930s. Unfortunately, the hotel was razed in the 1970's for a parking lot:

Remember when James McCabe was an Inn Keeper in his younger years? So, this is starting to all to come together. Remember later on James McCabe became an engineer. He may have been an Engineer at this particular hotel, and his daughters could have been workers ("factory hands") here, too.

What ties this all together? Look at my lead for the Emma Morley McCabe Death Certificate below: 

  

Notice anything of interest? Yes, Emma McCabe happened to die at the Hotel Vendome in 1909. This may very well be our very same Emma McCabe. The only really confusing part of this Death Certificate is that it's naming James McCabe as her father. Was this just a typo? Addendum: After sharing this post with a family member of my friend's, they suggested that whoever told the person the family info may have confused their own father (James McCabe) with Emma McCabe's own father, and therefore the reason why James McCabe is named as her father, when in reality he was her husband and her children's father. 

Nevertheless, all the evidence points to this being the actual Emma McCabe that we were hoping for , but weren't sure until now!

So, below is what we can now say about Emma McCabe and her life -

- She was from Norwich, England, born July 26th 1830.
- She lived in Strathroy-Caradoc, a suburb of London, Ontario, Canada and married James McCabe of Ireland there, starting their family of 4 children.
- She died on August 9th, 1909, at the age of 79, at the Vendome Hotel, the hotel her daughter Laura [McCabe] Hand owned at the time, from septicemia.

Sources:

Billy Ryder and the Vendome Hotel

New Year, New Changes!

So, a new year is upon us - 2016 will hopefully bring much promise for more fun discoveries on the ancestor front!

Also, I plan to give my blog a bit of a make-over. I feel I need to create a more fun, light and airy look to my blog. I think the current theme has served its purpose, but it's time to give it something a little more youthful. Please keep a look out for some new design changes! Again, I design all of my backgrounds and banners with Photoshop, so this will take some time!

Some new and exciting things for the upcoming new year in my life:

Europe - Did I just say Europe??!! - Yes, I am embarking on a nearly 20 day trip to Europe next May 2016. I have my passport, 100 Euros in my pocket, train tickets booked, flight booked. Sadly, it will not be primarily for ancestry searching, but I will nevertheless be stomping similar grounds that my ancestors walked many years ago, especially in London, which will be our first stop.

Joining Online Societies aimed at Younger Genealogists - I view myself not quite the cookie cutter genealogist. I like to tell a story on my blog rather than give the very minute (and mundane) details that some genealogy bloggers tend to get lost in. I want to find like-minded "younger" genealogists who can tell a great story about their ancestry findings and blog about it without making me yawn through the first paragraph.

Do Some Clean Up & Download Important Documents - I hope to spend this year to do some continued clean up work on my family tree that got a little out of hand over the last few years. I also intend to download some important documents from Ancestry.com so I can keep copies of them offline as well as online. I have read it is very important since many important documents can easily be removed by whoever uploaded them. However, most documents that are uploaded directly by Ancestry.com will likely never be removed, but those are still important to download, as well.

A Travel Blog!! - I have designed a new blog, one for travel. I am looking forward to keeping this blog up and seeing where it takes me. It will mostly focus on California travel and, of course, any travels that lead me out of California. I will post the link on here once I get the blog on its way!

What are your New Year Resolutions regarding your genealogy?

Ancestry.com - DNA Testing - The Importance of Testing your Oldest Relatives

Grandma Annette's baby bootie hand-stitched by her mother, circa 1928

About a week ago, I sent out my grandmother's saliva (or spit, gosh, no matter how you write it, it still doesn't sound good) to Ancestry.com. I realize that with the onslaught of Thanksgiving and Christmas DNA purchases, hers will be one of 100's, if not 1000's, of tests that Ancestry.com will have to weed through. However, I am very excited what this one particular test will show us!

There may be nothing new that the DNA test will reveal or there may be only more questions than answers - either way, testing my oldest living grandparent was something I wanted to accomplish before she may leave this world (She had many close calls this last year, so I know it's only a matter of time). 

My grandma Annette will be 87 this upcoming January 3rd, and she is not going without a fight. If anything, she's even stronger now that she was a year ago. It's amazing to watch her pick up things off the floor easier than I can. She can still give a strong hug, walk without very little assistance, and if you ask her opinion, you may just wish you hadn't - but she's an old-school dame and still has a lot of spunk! 

Back to topic, I am excited to share her results with her when they come in and hope to bring to light some interesting twists regarding her DNA, which will go back 4-5 generations, which means, her results can go back 2 more generations than my own! 

I cannot stress the emphasis on getting your oldest relatives tested. Test them even before testing yourself. You can always get another for yourself, but your grandparent or great grandparent may only have so long to offer you a deeper glimpse into their past; your past. Especially if this relative is a male - males may provide more information on the surname that he carries. 

I am also getting my father's DNA tested. There are some parts of my Dad's side of the family that are still a bit of mystery for me (such as his link to Native American lineage that did not show up on my DNA test - I actually had more African lineage show up on me than Native American - hmmmm....) 

So, again, please get your older relatives tested. In the grand scheme of things, it will be way worth it!

Throwback Thursday - When I was a Wee Tot

Well, I don't have too many photos that I show of myself on here, but thought I'd share a few of me from the 1980s, when I was a tiny little girl (yes, I have been pretty much tiny my whole life, all 5 feet of me!).

As I grow older, I am finding so much of my childhood slipping away and it can be a scary thought. Driving through my old town I grew up in, I see buildings that are no longer there. I see stores and restaurants that are no longer there. Yet, I do see many places that seem untouched from certain times in my life and it can feel a little eerie to see them and feel as if I am stepping back in time.

These pictures capture that time where many things that were around me seemed like they'd always stay that way, but slowly, they started to disappear.

My cousin Melissa and I at the ranch, circa 1987 (me, age 5 and Melissa, age 4)

Krissy and Scott, playing games after swimming, circa 1986 - The brown shag carpet, the bunk bed, the bedding, the games and the small TV! All this evokes an era that is mostly lost to any kid born after 1995 or so. The carpet used to feel so plush between your toes. I think my brother and I were playing Chutes and Ladders, along with having an Etch-a-Sketch. I remember my brother used to like playing Battleship, and I always got confused with it, but always had fun moving the little pegs and seeing things light up on it.

Easter 1990 - At Golden Hills Church (before it became a church, worship was held at a storage unit on Sunset Dr in Antioch) - I am in the front, with a light pink dress, next to my cousin Tiffany to the right and Melissa on the left.

Krissy touching the birthday Pinata, Scott's 10th Birthday, August 1989 - I was 7 years old and wow, I had some killer abs back then! My brother's party was Batman themed, which was the hit movie that Summer (yes, the Michael Keaton Batman!) One of the items that we had until not too long ago was the big screen TV in the background. We gave it up around 2006. It lasted a long time, nearly 22 years! I used to love how my mom did the streamers for our parties. She really knew how to prepare for a good party! We always had so much fun decorating the night before, and then preparing for everyone to come over the next day, tip toeing around the house, making sure to not mess up the freshly vacuumed carpet or soil the kitchen - the calm before the storm :)