Lizzie Macdonald - the girl with five parents

I was traipsing through the gordian knot that is the Bagley families of New York, separating the various records of William Bagley into William born in New York and William born in Massachusetts. To make things interesting both lived in Brooklyn, at about the same time and were about the same age. I couldn't rely on my standard go to of newspaper stories to separate the two men.₁ William from Massachusetts died in 1869 and had parents - David and Dorothy from Amesbury. In addition, his death was recorded in Amesbury leading many to confuse him with the gaggle of William Bagleys born in the last decade of the 18th century. I decided to tackle the records for David and Dorothy's descendants, to document clearly who belonged in which family.

David Bagley (1804-1886) was David and Dorothy's youngest son I can find on record. He had three children: Elizabeth Smith Bagley (1832-1888), Sarah Ann Bagley(1837-1917) - who was known for most of her life as Annie, and William David Bagley(1843-1920). Annie is one of the five parents of Lizzie Macdonald.₂ Working through Annie's story lead me to Lizzie.

Lizzie Macdonald was born to Otis and Rhoda (Morgan) Chase in January 1858 most likely in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire.₃ In the 1860 census, Liza H. Chase and her older brother, Frank W. Chase, were living with their parents in Seabrook, New Hampshire. In 1864, Otis Chase died and Rhoda Chase dropped from the record.₄ In the 1865 Massachusetts census, brother and sister are living with Otis' older sister, Lydia A (Chase) Folsum and her husband, Joseph P. Folsum listed as Frank W. C. Folsum and Lizzie H. C. Folsum. Lydia died in 1868. In 1869, Joseph married Anne S. Bagley. The 1870 census lists the family with Joseph, Annie, Frank and Lizzie. Frank married Lizzie Bailey in 1880 and moved into his own home. Lizzie married Theodore A. Mcdonald in 1895. Lizzie and Theodore continued to live with Annie. Annie died in 1917. Lizzie died in 1935. Theodore listed her parents as Joseph Folsom and Annie Bagley. Theodore died in 1952.

¹Running a search for the name William Bagley in any archive with Brooklyn newspapers leads to a lot of interesting articles. There are plenty of Bagley families running around Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. In addition to the two New England families, starting in the 1820s you start seeing Irish immigrant families with the name.
²Lizzie's five parents are Otis Chase, Rhoda Morgan, Joseph Fulsom, Lydia Ann Chase, and Annie Bagley.
³There is no New Hampshire birth record for Lizzie - her birth date is base on the 1900 census and the birthplace is based on her death and marriage records.
⁴I believe Otis was buried in Elmswood cemetery in Seabrook, New Hampshire. There are other members of his immediate family in the cemetery - his father, mother and at least one sister. The age given at the time of death would match his age as listed on census and marriage records.

The Missing Muda

Toyota list seven types of waste - transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, over-processing, over-production, defects. Others have added an eighth type to account for human waste - under utilizing the talents of employees. Engineers relish in making processes repeatable and removing variation. Some will relentlessly remove waste and improve a process until the process is reliable, efficient, and predictable. And deathly dull for the other people involved. 

I took my car in yesterday with the service engine soon light on. It had been arhythmic, not sounding right and hesitant at times, so I was not surprised when the mechanic reported the oxygen sensor had failed. I was assured the car could be fixed by the afternoon and I would be back on the road again. Except of course the dealer didn't have the part in stock. It would take a day to get the part. Waiting. Not the person on the factory floor. The person who wants your product or service. The one who casts the vote to keep you in business. The one who relies on your goods or services. 

What if I want to continue to use it for longer? What if I don't want to be part of a throw away culture? What if longevity trumps feature set in my paradigm? What if I don't want every new safety technology to prevent and ever increasingly small return on investment to prevent loss of life and accident? What if I want sustainable products that minimize the use of non-renewable resources? What if I want something that is easily recyclable?

In short, how do you prevent the muda of not meeting customers expectations?

Maria Augusta Stevenson and Lettie A. Thorndike

Once upon a time, Maria Augusta Standish married the Unitarian minister, Reverend Benjamin V. Stevenson. Maria was the daughter of Moses Standish, who was a descendant of Miles Standish, the pilgrim leader.

In 1846, Maria Stevenson gave birth to a daughter and died. The daughter was named Maria August Stevenson. She was born in Barre, Massachusetts. There is no record for the daughter's death. Reverend Stevenson remarried 18 months later and his new wife gave birth in New Hampshire to a daughter named Maria Augusta Stevenson.

Maria A. Standish had a younger sister named Vrylina. In 1851, Vrylina Standish married John J. Thorndike, the son of Nathaniel R. and Sarah E. (Giles) Thorndike. The Thorndikes had a daughter named Letitia "Lettie" Thorndike who was probably born in 1846 and married Louis E. Granger in 1870.

Perhaps Maria and Lettie are the same person:

• There is no birth record for Lettie (Thorndike) Granger. Both girls were born in 1846.
• The first record we have for Lettie is the 1850 census where she is listed as a four year old boy name Augstius. Should this have been Augusta?
• Massachusetts didn't have an adoption law until 1851. An adoption would have been private and if it were recorded would have been in journals and letters.
• The Thorndikes and Stevesons knew one another by 1851 because of the marriage of Vrylina and John. Did they know each other before then?
• On the 1900 Census, Sarah acknowledges three births with one living child. Three sons' births are recorded and accounted for. John J would have been the living child. Lettie was still alive at the time. Did Sarah speak with the census taker? Did she not count Lettie, or was Lettie adopted?

It's quite likely, Maria Augusta Stevenson is not Lettie Thorndike. Maria Augusta Stevenson could have died and left no death record. Reverend Stevenson could have entrusted his daughter to someone in his Barre congregation. She could have been sent to live with another family member.

New Zealand Hewlings

I've been trying to answer the question what happened to William and Samuel Hewlings, the younger half brothers of George Robert Hewlings? Interestingly, there is a Samuel Hewlings who was an early settler of New Zealand. He was born in about 1820, married a Maori woman, and had four daughters.₁

Samuel has a brother named William who was married in Leicester. According to the 1841 census William was living in Leicester with his wife and children. He is the only one in the family who was not born in Leicester. Two of William's daughters came to New Zealand and were married there. In New Zealand they are clearly identified with Samuel.

The argument for the family connection is based on three observations:

• Samuel and William are about the same age as  George's younger bothers.
• I have been unable to find another pair of bothers named William and Samuel Hewlings in the readily accessible records.
• George Freeman Hewlings went to New Zealand with his wife and daughter.

The argument against a family connection is fairly strong:

• Samuel and William are common names in England. There is more than one Samuel Hewlings and more than one William Hewlings in the British Isles during the first half of the 19th century.
• Not everyone is recorded - not having a record does not prove a person didn't exist.
• Migrating to be near family is only one reason someone might move.

It is plausible William, Samuel and George Robert are brothers. It is likely. I can't prove it. 

¹Here is a very nice write up. (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlscant/hewlings.htm)

Grandma Sadie and Grandma June

My father claims he didn't know his grandmother's first names until he was an adult. He always knew them as Grandma Sadie and Grandma June. Grandma Sadie was his mother's mother and Grandma June was his father's mother.²

Grandma Sadie was my father's favorite. He said he was blessed to have two women who loved him unconditionally - his mother and grandma Sadie. Grandma Sadie and I met briefly - I was born in March. She died in May. I am told, I visited Grandma Sadie in the hospital before she died.

Both Grandma Sadie and Grandma June were widows by the time my father was born in 1938. I have the impression that at one point both were living with or near my grandparents. At one point Grandma June and both her sons and daughters-in-law were sharing a house.₂ Apparently, Aunt Melba didn't like the arrangement - she and Lamar moved out to their own house.

My grandfather, June's older son, loved to drive. After my Aunt Nancy was born, my grandfather decided to take the family out to Yellowstone for a long weekend. The baby was left with the two grandmothers. That night my grandmother had a dream that night and saw her baby in a pool of blood. Much to my grandfather's dismay my grandmother insisted the family return to Salt Lake. When they returned they found the grandmothers had been in a car accident and the baby had been in a pool of blood - the baby was fine, the blood had come from her grandmothers.

My niece Julie shares a name with Grandma June. Grandma Gladys, my grandmother, shares the same birthday - April 6, as her mother, Grandma Sadie.

¹Grandma Sadie is Sarah Jane Dibble. Grandma June is Julia Lucretia Bagley.
²1930 Federal Census, Utah Population schedules: Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City (EDs 18-1 to 18-11, 18-135 to 18-136, 18-12 to 18-21) [NARA, T626 roll 2418]