52 Ancestors Week 36: More than a Name

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 36:

The theme for Week 36 is “More Than a Name.” I’ve said for ages that our ancestors are more than names on a chart. They were real people with real lives. What is something you’ve found about an ancestor that really made them come alive for you?

RIP Peter Cullen

         I have to agree with Amy. You can add all the vital statistics you want into your family tree and you'd never find what made them special or real for that matter. That's why pictures are literally worth a thousand words. They tell you more things about someone than a birth record or a census would. Stories are another thing that make an ancestor come alive. Even if you have a picture of your ancestor, a story that goes along with it will transform your perception of that person. For example, if you have a picture of your ancestor and thought he/she was a decent person and then you hear a story where you find out that person isn't who you thought they were, it tends to add a little depth to them. 

    As readers of the blog know, many of my ancestors are more than just their names on my family tree. I've done my best to try and make them come alive because the stories need to be told and I definitely am not one to just say "Vincenzo Ferraiolo was born in San Pietro a Maida in 1894". There's so much more to my great-grandfather than that juicy nugget of information.  With that in mind, let's revisit my third great-grandfather Jeremiah Felker and learn about why his life was more than meets the eye. (I said what I said.)

Jeremiah and Elizabeth

    If you take a quick glance at Jeremiah Felker's page on WikiTree, you'd only get the basics. He was born in Raymond, NH in 1838 and passed away in Haverhill, Mass in 1918. He married Elizabeth Fellows and they had a family together. When I was starting my genealogical adventure back in the day, that was all I had.  As time went by, I gathered more information from descendants of his and from various records online. The more I learned about Jeremiah, the more I was able to fill in his biography and create a story that frankly should be a movie. 

    A few years ago I learned that Jeremiah was born out of wedlock to Elias Felker and Martha Smart. That wasn't the end of it. Nope. It turned out that her father Jeremiah and her sued Elias for custody of the child shortly after he was born. It is interesting that he was named after his grandfather, isn't it? Keep reading and make sure you have popcorn handy. Jeremiah's life has more twists and turns than a country road from here on out!  I actually recently sent an email to the courts in Raymond to see if they had anything more on that case. Let's hope they have some information for me.

    Time went by and his mother married Jonathan West in 1840 and had three children with him. She married Joseph Miles in 1846 and remained married to him until her death in 1875. Meanwhile, Jeremiah served with his half-brother George Mace in the American Civil War on the side of the Union. My third-great-grandfather was in the 1st New Hampshire Heavy Artillery and married Elizabeth Fellows in February of 1863. It's safe to say that the first thirty or so years of his life was full of one crazy thing after another. Sadly, this was just the beginning! Poor guy never really had the chance to settle down.

Wilfred (left) wishes he had swagger.

    Jeremiah's son Wilfred was born in 1871 and while the family was enjoying the sweet life in Haverhill, Massachusetts, young Wilfred met and married Gertrude Stevens of Wakefield, Mass in 1891. Within a year of their marriage, Gertrude was pregnant with my great-grandfather. Normally, this would have been a happy time but it seems that Wilfred took after his grandfather and also had a roaming eye.

    Wilfred met a woman named Mary Pierce in nearby Newburyport and got her pregnant while Gertrude was pregnant with their other son.  Austin was born a few months later and Wilfred and Gertrude got a divorce due to his infidelity.

    There was a bitter court battle over my great-grandfather Austin and once the dust was settled he was sent to live with his grandparents, Jeremiah and Elizabeth in Haverhill. Gertrude left town and stayed in touch with her son. Wilfred? He married the other woman and had a family with her! Sad thing is that those kids moved away from Haverhill the first chance they got. Rumor has it Wilfred was not a nice guy!

    Austin clearly broke the cycle of infidelity when he married Henrietta Legault in 1913 and stayed married to her until their deaths in the 1970s. Jeremiah passed away five years after Austin and Henrietta got married and I like to think that he was there for his grandson during that event. I would definitely love to see the guest list for that event. It should be noted that on his own death certificate, his wife Elizabeth put Jeremiah's grandfather Joseph Felker as his father. I think that made sense given how Elias died in 1844 and because of that Jeremiah likely never knew the man or had no memories of him.

Austin and Henrietta

   See what nine years of digging and talking to people about one man can dig up? And this was just a third-great-grandfather! I think I know more about him than any of my other third great-grandparents combined! Sure there are a lot of things about them online or in stories but the story here clearly needs to be a movie.

    All it took was me asking the right questions of people and seeing what information was available. The story, I will admit, isn't for the faint of heart. I do have to commend him and Elizabeth for taking in their grandson and giving him a great life. The cycle had to be broken and I think they did a great job from what my mother told me.

     As you can tell from this week's blog, there's definitely more to our ancestors than meets the eye. They had their faults, foibles and lives wrought with drama just like we do today. They're more than just names and dates. They were people. Sometimes you want to praise them for doing the right thing. Sometimes you wonder just what were they thinking. I think the story of Jeremiah proves what I've been saying this whole blog. You aren't done looking at an ancestor after you add their names and dates to your tree. There's always going to be more to their story!

See you next time!

P.S. I would have written about my grandfather Marco but since he died when I was four I really didn't want to pull at that thread!!!!