Cynthia More's Years In Michigan

1894 | Lapeer, Metamora | 2049

More, James L | Male | Husband | 37 | 4

More, Rosa B | Female | Wife | 37 | 5

More, Mandie | Female | Daughter | 10 | 6

More, Cynthia | Female | Mother | 64 | 7

Archive/Library Name Archives of Michigan

Microfilm Reel Number 5642

Residence Year 1894

County Lapeer

Township Metamora

In 1894 Cynthia More, age 64, was living with her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter.  She was divorced (widow of James More; divorced Sylvester Marshall).  Cynthia was the mother of 6 children, with 3 living in 1894.  She was born in New York (both of her parents were also born in New York) and had been living in Michigan for 43 years. 

James Pittullo In Fife

Source: A Scene In Fife

The Fife Family History Society published the information below about the Pittullo family [some links added]:

"The]...Coates estate in Upper Largo [Fife] bought in 1783 by Captain James Pittullo (1745-1795), late of the East Indies. He had been born in Elie, where his father and grandfather – both named Nathaniel – and his great-grandfather, Robert Pitulloch, had all been mariners.

Captain James Pittullo had three natural children (a son and two daughters) by a lady called Cecilia Baptisto...a natural son, Nathaniel Pittullo (1804-1880) by Janet Paton, and also a lawful son, James Drysdale Pittullo by Anne Drysdale of Haddington.


The Pattullo message board at Ancestry.com mentioned Alienated Affections: The Scottish Experience of Divorce and Separation, 1684-1830, Leah Leneman, and included the following:

"in an 1812 case Ann Drysdale stated that her husband, James Pittullo, in the presence of her brother, struck her on the head and face drove her head against the chimney... . Pittullo's version was that...[he] took her by the arm to put her out when in the struggle his hand touched her about the nose..." .

Douglass And Susan (Curtis) Scott

View Of St. Clair County, Michigan (Port Huron With Canada In The Background)

In 1850 the George W. Curtis family was living in Pennsylvania, but by 1860 they were living in St. Clair County, Michigan.

Susan A. Curtis, daughter of George W. and Angeline (Williams) Curtis married Douglas(s) Scott in 1864.  Their two children were Frank Douglass Scott (1878-1951), a University o Michigan graduate and member of the United States Congress, and Effie Scott McCain (1866 - 1943).  No grandchildren survived to adulthood.

Effie's only child (with husband Harry Botsford McCain) died in infancy.

Frank and his wife, Edna Craig James Scott (she was born about 1885 in Canada) were married in 1914 and divorced in 1926 (separated in 1922 with no children) with interesting accusations according to newspaper accounts.  In 1959 Frank, age 70, and "Jane" Scott, age 59, both of Alpena, were Honolulu passengers.


In 1890 the Civil War service of Douglas Scott was recorded in St. Clair County:

Source

In 1900 Susan was a widow living with her sister and brother-in-law, Frances and James Burt, hotel keepers in St. Clair County, Michigan.  Douglas Scott died in Alpena County, Michigan, in 1895.

Susan Scott's death record can be seen at the Michigan Archives' Seeking Michigan site:

County Calhoun
City/village/township Battle Creek
Last Name Scott
Given Name Susa A
Birth Year 1844
Age 69
Death Day 25
Death Month Jun
Death Year 1913
Father's Given Name G W
Father's Last Name Curtis

A Messy Courtship And Subsequent Divorce

From The Yelverton marriage case, Thelwall v. Yelverton...:

However it appears that after ten days or a fortnight he [Captain Yelverton] became a constant visitor at the hut of General Straubenzee. The inmates were Mrs. Straubenzee and Maria Theresa Longworth. Maria Theresa Longworth says: "He visited as my accepted lover. Madame Straubenzee was perfectly aware of all this, and she made opportunities for our being alone, which she would not have done if she did not know the relation in which we stood."

She says he was her honourable accepted lover but still that his circumstances were such that marriage could not then take place. That when he told her about his circumstances she said, "There, in God's name, let us part--visit me no more;" but that, to her great surprise, he visited her the same evening.

A book of letters between Yelverton and Maria Theresa:  Correspondence between the Honourable William Charles Yelverton ... and ..., by William Charles YELVERTON (Viscount Avonmore.), Maria Theresa LONGWORTH (calling herself Maria Theresa Yelverton, Viscountess Avonmore.)

Also see Crimean War Letters:

"Mrs. Straubenzee is differently situated from you my love. In the first place she has no children; next, her husband is a General Officer, and can command much more accommodation and comfort than I can. 

Sarah Backus's Illustrious Family

Sarah (Whiting) Backus Ingersoll was the daughter of Gamaliel Whiting and sister of General John Whiting and the wife of John Backus. The biographical information about Sarah was found in The story of Laura Secord and Canadian reminiscences; Sarah was Laura Secord's step-mother.  The marriage between John Backus and Sarah Whiting ended in divorce.

Mrs. Sarah Backus had one daughter (Nancy Backus) by her first husband, who married Mr. McKinstry. In 1850 David and Nancy (Backus) McKinstry were living in Ypsilanti, Michigan. David McKinstry died in 1856.

Nancy (Backus) McKinstry's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Mary McKinstry, died in Cairo, Egypt*.

*Michigan In Brief
Date: Friday, March 10, 1876   Paper: Jackson Citizen Patriot (Jackson, MI)
"Mrs. Mary McKinstry, of Detroit, died at Cairo, Egypt, Thursday last.  Her worldly possessions in and about her home are estimated at a million."  Mary was the widow of Commodore James Paterson McKinstry, and was the daughter-in-law of Nancy (Backus) McKinstry... .

Brief bios of David and Nancy (Backus) McKinstry's son, Elisha Williams McKinstry, and Elisha's son, James C. McKinstry, were listed in A National Register of the Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Volume 1.

[Edward] Elisha Williams McKinstry was an Associate Justice on the California Supreme Court. He was born in 1825 in Detroit, Michigan, and attended Kenyon College and Columbia Law School.  He, his wife, his son James, daughters Laura and Frances, his mother-in-law and a servant were all living together in San Francisco in 1900.   Elisha died November 1, 1901.

In 1880 the E. Elisha McKinstry family was living in Oakland, California:

United States Census, 1880

name : Edward Mc Kinstry

Oakland, Alameda, California, United States

occupation : Associate Judge

birthplace : Michigan, United States

Household Gender Age Birthplace

self Edward Mc Kinstry M 55  Michigan, United States

wife Anna Mc Kinstry F 33 New York, United States

daughter Laura Mc Kinstry F 15 California, United States

son Charles Mc Kinstry M 13 California, United States

son Clarence Mc Kinstry M 12 California, United States

brother-in-law Charles Heges M 57 New York, United States

sister-in-law Anna Heges F 46 New York, United States

other  Loy M 25 China

Another son of David and Nancy (Backus) McKinstry was West Point graduate Justus A. McKinstry (see photo).  James Paterson McKinstry, a naval officer, was also their son.

James & Bethiah Hickey Divorce Petition In 1850

Among James Hickey's children was Lorenzo Dow Hickey. Lorenzo was known as the last of the apostles affiliated with James Jesse Strang's Beaver Island sect of the Latter Day Saints. Lorenzo D. Hickey lived in Lapeer County, Michigan in 1850 (where members of my paternal family lived in the 1850's). One of L. D. Hickey's descendants had an aunt (great-grandaunt?) who married my 2nd great-grand uncle (maternal line) in Arkansas.

He was referred to as Rev. James Hickey here; Lorenzo's brothers Manasseh and George were also clergymen, though not Mormons. Manasseh Hickey was a Methodist missionary. At the time of L.D. Hickey's death, his brother George was described as "Presiding Elder in the M.E. Church of Lansing."

Divorce proceedings between James Hickey and his 3rd wife, Bethiah, were initiated in 1850.

From "Divorce Records For Oakland County 1839 - 1865:"

Transcription of above divorce petition:

HICKEY, BETHIAH vs JAMES HICKEY. Petition filed 1 Jan 1850. Bethiah's petition states that she is a resident of Royal Oak, Oakland County, age 48, married James Hickey, age about 59, at Avon as a widow named Bethiah Dean. James Hickey was a widower and had at that time six children residing with him and constituting a part of his family. At the time, Bethiah resided in Avon Township and has continued to reside in Michigan ever since.

Immediately after the marriage, James with his six children, John, James, Humphrey, Rhoda Ann, Juliaett and George, came to reside with him in Avon Township. Bethiah continued to live with James as his wife until 28 Dec 1849. During all that time she conducted herself with propriety, managed the household affairs of her husband with prudence and economy and at all times treated her husband with kindness and forbearance and aided and assisted in the care and education of James' children, with the attention of a mother. James disregarded the the solemnity of the marriage vows and his obligations to treat her with kindness and attention. Within about a year the year after the marriage he commenced a course of unkind, harsh, and tyrannical conduct toward her which continued with the very slight interruption until fearing for her personal safety, she separated from him on 28 Dec 1849.

On diverse occasions while she lived with him, he was guilty of extreme cruelty to her by using personal violence and by other means which rendered it unsafe and improper for her to cohabit with him. On 1 Aug 1848 at Royal Oak, at the house in which they resided and in the presence of Mrs. Ferguson, he charged her in harsh, abusive, and scandalous language with having abused his children at which time he went up to her in great anger and with his fists doubled and in a menacing manner said to her "You are the most saucy, impudent and insulting slut I ever saw in my life." He called her a liar and other insulting, abusive and indecorous language. She feared he would have done her bodily harm had it not been for the presence of Mrs. Ferguson.

Such fits of anger and threats of violence to her have been frequent and continued from about one year after the marriage until her separation from him and that as such times she has been compelled to go to her neighbors to avoid his insults and injury from him. In an insulting and tyrannical manner he forbid her to see her friends and neighbors and commanded her to stay at home and on such occasions he called his children to witness his commands to her. He has told his children not to mind her, that she has no right to control or govern them and has permitted and encouraged them to call her a liar and disobey her reasonable requests made to them.

About two weeks, on Sabbath Evening, before her separation from James, she had word from her daughter-in-law that she was leaving to go West across the Lakes [Great Lakes] and asked her to come see her before she left. James held Bethiah in a room and said she had no business going to see other folks. He kept her confined until she screamed enough to alarm two of his sons so that he let her out. On occasion he has called her "a dirty tripe," "an old strumpet & a liar" and that lying was her besetting sin.

About two weeks before the separation, in the presence of Mrs. Estes, he called Bethiah a "lying old strumpet" and a lying old bitch." Also he has taken her clothes and wearing apparel away and concealed them and said that she should have nothing to wear but one old wash dress. Some weeks before the separation, while in bed, James punched and struck her with his elbows so that she was compelled to sleep with one of James' daughter-in-laws. The next morning in front of the family, he directed the most vulgar, obscene and unchaste language to her.

James is a man of violent passions and ungovernable temper and because of his brutal and outrageous conduct she cannot live with him. He has frequently told her that if she left his house, he would not provide for her support or maintenance so that she is now entirely dependent upon her own labor and charity of her friends and is very destitute and is unable to defray expenses of her board and to procure necessary clothing.

At the time of the marriage she was possessed of household furniture for a family, her clothing and wearing apparel and some other personal property which James refused to let her have. James in in fee and possessed of a certain real estate: E 1/2 of NE 1/4 Sec. 17 T1N R11E containing 79 A and SE 1/4 of NE 1/4 NE 1/4 of SE 1/4 of Sec. 17 T2N R10E, containing 40A, all valued at $1500 and of personal property sufficient for farming purposes and is of sufficient ability to support and maintain her. He threatened to sell his property and leave. About three years ago he feared some difficulty and litigation with Calvin Rose and deeded away his land to avoid any Judgment which Calvin Rose might obtain against him. After settlement, James had the farm conveyed back to him together with certain land and real estate which belonged to her.

Before her marriage to James, she was the owner of and possessed in fee jointly with her son, Alanson Dean of NE 1/4 of SE 1/4 Sec. 17 T2N R10E; also SE 1/4 of NE 1/4 of Sec. 17, T2N R10E, excepting 2 acres deeded by Ira Smith to Geo. Slater from SW corner and one acre from NE corner of land SE 1/4 of NE 1/4 Sec. 17 T2N R10E (Deeds 22:57) and she continued to hold some joint with her son, Alanson Dean, until her marriage. At the time of the trouble with Calvin Rose, James induced her to join in a deed on conveyance with him conveying NE 1/4 of SE 1/4 Sec. 17, T2N R10E and SE 1/4 of NE 1/4 to Otis Judson (Deeds 32:243, 244) to avoid a possible Judgment. Otis Judson redeeded the property to James Hickey (Deeds 32:417 and 418) in a fraud of her just rights. James has since refused to convey the property back to her.

On 15 Feb 1850, Bethiah Hickey signed a statement that she had settled with James Hickey and stopped the suit in the Chancery Court in which Crofoot and Phelps were her attornies.

CASE #174, but file does not show where or when Divorce granted.

When the 1850 census was taken James & Bethia Hickey were living together and living with them were John Hickey, age 23, and George Hickey, age 11, in Royal Oak Twp., Oakland County, Michigan. It is probable that the divorce was never finalized. James Hickey died on December 15, 1851.

In 1860 the widowed Bethia Hickey was living with Calvin Rose and his wife, Fanny, in Waterford Twp., Oakland Co., Michigan. James Hickey deeded away his land in order to avoid the possibility of Calvin Rose being awarded said property in a lawsuit in 1847 (per the divorce document). Then in 1860 Bethia Hickey is living with the Rose family?!

An 1825 Divorce Between James & Mahala (Cottan) Patillo of Pope Co., Illinois

I've wanted this document since I found the following entry several years ago:

The Saga of Southern Illinois
Volume XXVI #3 Fall 1999
DIVORCE RECORDS - Pope County, Illinois
1820 - 1870
Submitted by Darrell Dexter
p. 37
James Pittullo, Senior v. Mahala Pittullo
Granted 8 June 1825
Mahala was found guilty of adultery by a jury.
(BOOK A, Page 329)
Original records in Circuit Clerk's office will provide more particulars

Pope County Circuit Court Records, Book A, Page 329 [Copy made at IRAD - Carbondale, IL]


James Pittullo, Senior married Mahala Cottan on 27 September 1821, as his 3rd wife, in Pope Co., Illinois. James Patillo, Sr. (ca 1768 - ca 1844), my 5th great-grandfather, moved to Grant Co., Wisconsin with other members of his family, although my branch remained in Illinois (Me, Living, Katherine Johnson, Katie Rice, Nancy Jane Patillo, Felix G. Patillo, John S. Patillo, James Patillo, Sr.) until Katherine Johnson moved to Arkansas, then to Michigan and finally to Texas (her mother, Katie Rice, may have moved to Arkanas before dying in childbirth).

The gravestone of James Patillo, Sr. was "unearthed" from a "vanished graveyard" per a 1931 newspaper article in the Fennimore Times, linked to the Wisconsin Historical Society website (I have it linked here on a previous blog).

Silas Gaskill Papers - Lapeer - Post Three

Background on the Silas Gaskill papers can be found on "Post One" here.

Silas Gaskill Papers:
An entry for "February 8" (1864?)
Liberty B. Irish
Retained Vs Sarah Jane Irish
Circuit Court - Chancery Division

Divorce Records of Oakland Co., MI
Case #905
Irish, Sarah
Vs
Irish, Liberty
(and vice versa)
Liberty & Judith Irish assaulted her [Sarah]
Judith to prison*
Sarah's husband Liberty wants to marry Judith

*Judith Irish, widow of Liberty Irish's brother, Norman (d. 1846), was enumerated with the Oakland County, Michigan, jailer in the 1860 census [as a prisoner].

Judith was listed in the 1880 census:
familysearch.org
1880 MI Oakland Co., Groveland
Damon IRISH Self M Male W 45 NY Farmer NY NY
Charlotte E. IRISH Wife M Female W 33 NY Keeping House PA NY
Damon B. IRISH Son S Male W 23 MI Farm Hand NY MI
Burt IRISH Son S Male W 20 M At Home NY MI
Sarah Helen IRISH Dau S Female W 14 MI At Home NY MI
Judith IRISH Mother W Female W 64 NY At Home NY NY

Irish, Willis Luther, Descendants of John Irish : the immigrant, 1623-1963, and allied families
Freeport, Me.: Dingley Press, 1964, 673 pgs. [See it online here]

Liberty was the son of David & Sally (Phelps) Irish. [See Find-A-Grave Entry For David Irish]
Sarah Jane was the daughter of Amos & Louvisa (Williams) Orton; a bio of her brother can be found here.

In 1860 Liberty Irish was living with his mother, Sally.
Liberty was the head of household in the 1870 census (Oakland Co., MI); his mother, Sally, was living with him. Judith Irish was living nearby with George Irish (probably her son).