Oops! What's the real birthday of Selma Henrickson?

 The prompt for this week's #52ancestors is #Oops. I thought I'd show how challenging it can be sometimes to get the right information in researching for family members. 

Selma Amelia Henrickson was the oldest daughter of George and Malvina Henrickson. All records I found relating to Selma listed her birthday as November 2, 1900. This record from the Sandhem Lutheran Church lists her birthday as Nov. 2. 

One of her descendants even confirmed to me that Selma's birthday was always celebrated on November 2. So, I was surprised when I found this record from a Lutheran church in Iron Mountain, Michigan. It lists Selma's birthday as October 2, 1900.

This record is from the First Lutheran Church (Swedish Lutheran Saron Church) Iron Mountain, Michigan. It lists Selma's birthday as October 2, 1900. That's a full month before November 2. It lists Florence, Wisconsin as her place of birth, but she's baptized on December 11, 1900 in Iron Mountain, Michigan. So, was she born on October 2, or November 2? I decided to search for her birth certificate. I went to Wisconsin's online record search. You cannot find the entire birth certificate online but you can search for names and then order the certificate. I searched for Selma's name and found, nothing. I searched for October and November 1900 and found no mention of Selma. I searched in Florence County and I searched statewide. I could find no mention of a Selma Henrickson at all in Wisconsin's archives. 

The record from Iron Mountain is curious. Did the recorder of information simply make a mistake and write down the wrong month? Being told November but accidentally writing down October? Were they told the wrong month? It seems unlikely as the information most likely would have come from George and Malvina themselves. George and Malvina should know when their firstborn daughter was born. 

2 church records. 2 different dates. Which one do you go with? Unless something more official pops up with an October 2 birth date, I have to go with November 2. After all, that's the one on all Selma's official papers and the one she celebrated. Every time I find an "Oops" I have to make a judgement call. I try to go with the one that has the most evidence to back it up. And the most reliable source. 

Out of Place: The Life of Austin Mabbs

 This week's theme is "Out of Place." Most of the ancestors in my family tree have pretty much stayed in Michigan. If they left it was to one of two places. They either moved to Florida, or they moved to the west coast of the United States, meaning California, Oregon and Washington. Today I'm going to talk about an outlier. Somebody who moved somewhere else.

Austin Mabbs is my 4th great uncle. He is the younger brother to my 4x great grandfather, William Mabbs. He is also the uncle to Harriet Mabbs, who I wrote about last time. Harriet is Mildred Strand's maternal grandmother. 

Austin was born February 12, 1828 in Chatham, Kent, England. Chatham is known for it's naval dockyards. Admiral Nelson's ship HMS Victory was built there. It's located 30 miles east of London. In 1833, when he was 5 years old, Austin came with his family to America. After a brief time in New York City, the family made it's way to Michigan. In the 1850 census, Austin's occupation is listed as a farmer, but in 1860 his occupation has changed to Master Carpenter and he's living in Ontonagon, Michigan. In 1870 he's found living with his older brother John and his family. John is listed as an Agent of Mine, and Austin is listed as Agent for Gates Stamp. John was involved with copper mining, so it looks like Austin got involved with it too. John comes to Deadwood, South Dakota in 1877. Austin soon follows. The brothers set up a company together, The Mabbs Brothers. I'm not sure exactly what they do but they are involved in mining in South Dakota. John eventually leaves and moves to Colorado, and then Chicago where he becomes the Chief Engineer for the Chicago Board of Trade. 

Austin stays in Deadwood and leads quite the life. I find him mentioned in many newspaper articles. He sets up a house moving business. 

He's elected Vice President of the Red Ribbon Club. He serves on an inquest. He's also credited with helping to foil a murder plot. 

In 1901, after selling his house moving business, he's elected president of the Yankee Gold Mining Company. He's 73 years old. While I can find all sorts of articles about his professional life, his personal life remains more elusive. In 1893, at the age of 65, I find him marrying a widow with grown children. It's the only marriage record I can find for him. His wife, Eliza, dies in 1903, and his brother John dies in 1904. Mention is made of John's passing in the local newspaper. On October 17, 1909, Austin Mabbs is found dead in his chair in his office. The local paper wrote about it.

At the time of Austin's passing it was thought he had no children, but that was not correct. After his passing was made public it was discovered that he did indeed, have an heir. A daughter, and granddaughter were found. In 1848, in Illinois, a daughter was born to Austin and his wife, Katie. That is all I could find on the daughter. The daughter later married and had one daughter, named Ruby. Austin's daughter, named Kate, died of tuberculosis at the Michigan State Asylum. Austin's granddaughter, Ruby, married and lived with her husband in Illinois where he was an engineer for the railroad company. After retiring they moved to Los Angeles where they both passed away. They had no children. 

One other fact about Austin. He and his second wife, Eliza, were Quakers. Austin's parents were Quakers also. I found their marriage listed in The Christian Worker, a U.S. Quaker periodical. 

Quaker Periodicals, Haverford College; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; The Christian Worker; Volumes: 1894 Jan - 1894 Jul (Vol 24)

I can't think of anyone more "out of place" than a Quaker Englishman in Deadwood, South Dakota, but Austin Mabbs seems to have fit in and done quite well for himself. He certainly led an exciting life.

I'd Like to Meet

 There are many ancestors I'd like to meet. If only to ask them questions about names and dates. How many children did you have? When and where were they born? Where did you live? Who were YOUR parents? But, if I could only pick one, or two, it would have to be Ulrika Johansdotter and Harriet Mabbs.

Ulrika Johansdotter is Malvina Anderson Henrickson's mother. Ulrika has such an interesting journey. She was born to two parents who were labeled as "farmers/peasants." Her parents were older and neither was in good health. Her father dies when Ulrika is only 2 years old. Ulrika continues to live with her mother, who is blind and cannot work. They are still living in poverty. Older brothers and sisters are helping to take care of the family. When Ulrika is 7 years old her mother dies. Ulrika is partially taken care of by the parish. Her older sister moves back and helps to take care of her. Older brothers and an older sister also help look after Ulrika. Without this family support Ulrika would have been sent to foster care. That would have involved hard work and starvation. She was lucky to remain with her siblings. When she was older she obtained jobs as a maid on farms and worked her way up and across Sweden. She made her way to Stockholm where she married Carl Johan Andersson. After some hard times in Sweden they made their way to Michigan. With much hard work, and some luck, they were able to purchase 80 acres of land and start their family. They raised 3 children, but unfortunately lost a young daughter to a devastating train accident. Despite this Ulrika carried on. She and Carl gave back to the community in many acts of charity. My grandfather Ray Henrickson remembered Ulrika as a nice grandmother who used to give him cookies when he'd come over, calling him her "little beggar boy." Ulrika started off in such poverty, losing her parents, but made her way to raising her own family and seeing her many grandchildren thrive and succeed in America. I would love to hear her stories and how she dealt with all the obstacles in her path. 

Harriet Mabbs Truman was born in 1850 in Michigan. Her father had immigrated to America with his family from England when he was 9 years old. Harriet married when she was 18 years old and had 5 children with her first husband, Madison Truman. They also moved the family from Michigan to Arkansas and then back to Michigan again. Some time between 1877 and 1884. Madison died when Harriet was only 33 years old. She remarried 3 years later and had 5 more children with her second husband. Her last child was born when she was 45 years old.

I can't imagine moving from Michigan to Arkansas back in those days. It would have to have been by horse and wagon. And then moving back. Also, Harriet effectively had 2 families. She had one family with her first husband, and then a whole new family with her second husband. She passed away in 1929, when she was 78 years old. She saw a lot of technological changes too, from 1850 to 1929. Traveling by horse to travel by car and airplane. From candles to electricity. The telegraph, the telephone, moving pictures, radio. She saw a lot. I would love to get her thoughts. 

2 women who lived through a lot of personal ups and downs, but seemed to keep going. They also lived through great societal and technological changes too. I'm sure they'd have great stories, and advice, to give.

Who would you want to talk to?