Census Sunday - Willis Family

In a previous post I traced my Willis family from the 1850 to 1900 census records.This post traces my great-grandfather Eugene Willis in the census records from 1910 to 1940.

Willis family in 1910 census, Centreville, Queen Anne's County, MD

In 1910, Eugene Willis and the family were living with his brother Henry in Centreville, Queen Anne's County, Maryland. Eugene and Henry were born in Delaware and were farmers. Eugene's wife Pearl and their children were all born in Maryland. They have three children in this census: my grandmother Edna, age 5, Oleda, age 3, and Pauline, age 1. The census states that Eugene and Pearl had been married for six years.

Willis family in 1920 census, 7th District, Queen Anne's County, MD

In 1920, the family is living on its own in the 7th District of Queen Anne's County, MD. In addition to Edna, Oleda, and Pauline, they have Edward, age 9, Edith, age 7, and William, age 5. Eugene's occupation is Farmer.

Willis family in 1930 census, Lansdale, Montgomery County, PA

Some big changes took place in the family between 1920 and 1930. Eugene is living in Lansdale Borough, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania with his daughters Oleda and Pauline. Eugene is a farm laborer and his daughters are working as machine operators in a pants factory. My grandmother Edna married Royce Councill in 1925, so that explains why she's not living with her father. The census record states that Eugene is still married, but I know that Pearl and Eugene were divorced at some point. That may explain why Pearl isn't in this census.

Willis family in 1940 census, Boothwyn, Delaware County, PA

By 1940, Eugene is living with his son Edward Willis in Boothwyn, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. His birthplace is given incorrectly as Maryland. His daughter Edna is living nearby with her husband Royce Councill and their four daughters. Eugene's ex-wife Pearl is also living nearby with her second husband Raymond Henry. Eugene and Pearl's son Howard Willis is living with Pearl and was born in 1922 in Maryland, so I would guess they separated sometime after that. I'll trace Pearl through the census in a future post.

Source for census images: Ancestry.com. 1910-1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line] Census Sunday is a daily blogging prompt suggested by Colleen Pasquale of Leaves and Branches.

Sentimental Sunday - Grandparents Day 2014

Remembering my grandparents on Grandparents Day 2014...

Royce and Edna Councill, 1958

Royce Councill and Edna Willis were married on June 13, 1925 in Chestertown, Maryland. They had four daughters and fourteen grandchildren. They were born in Queen Anne's County, MD and lived much of their married life in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Their grandchildren used to call them Mom Mom and Pop Pop. While I don't have too many memories of Pop Pop, I remember a visit to their home when I was around six years old and visits with Mom Mom when she came to our home in Florida.

Anna Lee Pulskamp, April 1930

Robert F. Creeden, April 1930

Robert F. Creeden and Anna Lee Pulskamp were married on December 27, 1930, so these photos were taken a few months before their wedding. They had one son and two grandchildren. I never met my grandmother Anna Lee, but we had lots of visits with my grandfather when I was growing up and I still have many of the cards and letters he wrote to me. I don't have many photos of the two of them together, but I'm guessing that they took these photos of each other somewhere near their home in Celina, Ohio.

Wordless Wednesday - Pearl Chilcutt Willis with Son and Grandkids

My great-grandmother Pearl Chilcutt Willis is holding my Mom. Standing in front are my Mom's uncle "Sug" and her sisters, Audrey and Anna. The picture was taken in the early 1930s in Maryland or Pennsylvania.

Military Monday - James Willis in WWII

My great-uncle James H. Willis enlisted in the US Army from Philadelphia, PA on May 3, 1943. He was a Private and served until September 29, 1944. His enlistment record showed that he had a grammar school education and that his civil occupation was an unskilled worker in the automobile manufacturing industry. His obituary stated that he served in the African-Italian Campaign.

After his service in the Army, James worked as a contract auditor for the Sun Oil Company and he retired from there after 40 years of service.

Sources:

• National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946 [Archival Database]; World War II Army Enlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.
• Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Delaware County Daily Times Obituary, Apr/30/2010

Friday's Faces From the Past - Ed Willis

This is a photo of my great-uncle Eugene Edward Willis. My Mom always called him Uncle Ed and it was spelled "Edd" on some of the picture captions. I don't know the date of the photo, but I would guess it was taken sometime in the 1940s.

Friday’s Faces from the Past is a way to highlight photos, of known ancestors or complete unknowns suggested by Smadar Belkin Gerson of Past-Present-Future.

Fearless Females - Surprising Fact

March 19 — Have you discovered a surprising fact about one of your female ancestors? What was it and how did you learn it? How did you feel when you found out?

This was one of my original Fearless Female posts from March 19, 2011.

When I found my Willis great-great grandparents in the census, I talked to my Mom to see if she remembered any of her grandfather's siblings. She told me about her great Aunt George (Georgeanna) that she remembered from when she visited her grandparents as a young girl. Aunt George worked out on the farm with a couple of the Willis brothers and in the evenings she used to enjoy her whiskey and smoked a corncob pipe! We had a good laugh about it and were wishing that we had a picture of her. It's definitely not the kind of thing you'd find out from the census!

Updating to add the census with Georgeanna and my great-grandfather Eugene in June 1880. Georgeanna was 14 in 1880 and the family was living in Mispillion Hundred in Kent County, Delaware.

Once again, in honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

Surname Saturday - Adams and Willis

I haven't done a lot of research on these families yet, so this post is to document what I have so far. My great-great-grandmother Ruth Edna Adams was born in May 1840 in Delaware and married William Martin Willis in 1859. William was born in Maryland in January 1828 and was the son of Senah B. Willis and Elizabeth Todd. I have seen quite a bit of research on the Todds, but not as much on the Willis or Adams families. Ruth's middle name caught my eye since my Willis grandmother was named Edna.

A marriage bond for William and Ruth is signed by William M. Willis and William I. Adams, so William I. Adams may be Ruth's father.

In the 1850 census, there is a Ruth E. Adams born about 1836 living with another family in Milford or Mispillion Hundred, Kent, Delaware, but I don't know if this is my Ruth.

In the 1860 census, the Willis family is in Dover Hundred, Kent County, Delaware and there is a Mary Adams, age 55 living with Ruth and William. I've wondered if Mary was Ruth's mother, but haven't been able to find any proof so far.

1860 Dover Hundred, Delaware census

In the 1870 census, the family is living in Mispillion Hundred, Kent, Delaware, the same place as the Ruth E. Adams in the 1850 census.

There are several children: James, Esther, Henry, Georganna, and Francis. Mary Adams and Sarah Adams are living with them. Georganna was a colorful character that I've posted about before.

In the 1880 census, they are still in Mispillion Hundred, Kent, Delaware and my great-grandfather Eugene Willis is 1 year old. Other children are James, Henry, Georganna, Frank, William, John, and Thomas. John's middle name is Van Berkalow which I would think is another surname in the family, but I haven't found any connections so far.

By 1900, the family had moved to Centerville, Queen Anne's County, Maryland.

From another researcher's note, Ruth and William are buried in the Chesterfield Cemetery, Centerville, MD.

I was curious about what the "hundred" meant in the place names in Delaware. From Wikipedia, "Hundreds are unincorporated subdivisions of counties, equivalent to townships, and were once used as a basis for representation in the Delaware General Assembly. While their names still appear on all real estate transactions, they currently have no meaningful use or purpose except as a geographical point of reference. The divisions, or "hundreds" as they are called, comes from the times when Delaware and Maryland were colonial holdings of Great Britain. While Delaware alone retains the use of "hundreds", the origin of most place names in both states can be traced back to the times of British rule."

Here are a few items for my "to do" lists on these families:

• See if I can find any info on Ruth and William after 1900.
• Look into the Van Berkalow surname
• Look for info on Ruth's parents
• Review research done on the Todd family

I would love to hear from anyone else researching these families!

Tombstone Tuesday - Pearl Lena Chilcutt Henry

Pearl Lena Chilcutt Henry

Pearl was my great-grandmother and her first husband was my great-grandfather Eugene Willis. She was the daughter of George Chilcutt and Kate Covey and was born in Talbot County, MD. She is buried in Edgewood Cemetery in Delaware County, PA.

Eugene Willis - Sunday's Obituary

I had tried finding a date of death or obituary for my great-grandfather Eugene Willis with no luck. Finally, I located this note from October 8, 1951 in the Chester (Pennsylvania) Times that said he had been admitted to the hospital with abrasions of the elbow and knee. I also located several memorial notes in his memory signed from his children each year on October 8. However, I still couldn't locate an obituary. So, did he die from the injuries described here?

I went page by page in the October 1951 editions of the Chester Times to see if I could find anything and finally found the obituary on October 12 which said he died on October 8, but didn't give a reason. My mother was able to fill in some details and said that he had a bad fall down the stairs of the duplex that he lived in and also injured his head. He didn't recover from the head injury.

From Chester Times, October 12, 1951:

Eugene S. Willis
Funeral Held Thursday
  Rev. H. N. Reeves jr.; pastor of the Linwood Methodist Church, conducted funeral services Thursday for Eugene S. Willis, of 1 Naaman's Creek road, Ogden, who died Monday. Mr. Willis was buried in Hiram Memorial Gardens.
  Pallbearers for Mr. Willis were his four sons-in-law, Royce Councill, of Ogden; Jacob Rosenberger, of Soudertown; Paul Dutt, of West Chester, and Frank Bass, of Dover, Del. and two nephews, Edward Willis jr. of Boothwyn, and Russell Rosenberger, of Souderton.
  He is survived by four daughters, Mrs. Frank Bass, Dover, Del.; Mrs. Royce Councill, Ogden; Mrs. Jacob Rosenberger, Souderton; Mrs. Paul Dutt, West Chester; three sons, Edward and James Willis, Chester, and William Willis, Ogden; 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

This is one of the memorial notices that was published on October 8, starting in 1952.

This was the final memorial notice that I found, published on October 8, 1963 which was very sad.

The four daughters were Edna Councill, Pauline Rosenberger, Oleda Bass, and Edith Dutt. Eugene was also survived by his ex-wife Pearl who had remarried. I had hoped the obituary might solve some mysteries like what his middle initial stood for, his exact date of birth, and confirmation of who his parents were, but the date of death should help in tracking down some other records. Also, a bit of a mystery, I could find no record of Hiram Memorial Gardens, but there is now an Edgewood cemetery in the location where his ex-wife Pearl is buried. Her obituary also said Hiram Memorial Gardens, so it must have changed names at some point.

Fearless Females - Six Word Memoir

March 15 — Write a six-word memoir tribute to one of your female ancestors.

Did anyone else find these to be really difficult? Here is one to my grandmother Anna Lee Pulskamp Creeden:

Twin. Wife. Mother. Gone too soon.

Here's another to my grandmother Edna Catherine Willis Councill. I always found it a bit strange that my mother and her sisters called their parents by their first names! I cheated a little on the nickname we used for her which was Mom Mom.

Edna and Royce Councill - Edna to daughters. MomMom to grandkids!

This last one is from memories of my father trying to get a picture of Edna. She really didn't like having her picture taken!

Hid from camera. Giggled a lot.

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Once again, in honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

Fearless Females - Family Document

March 9 — Take a family document (baptismal certificate, passenger list, naturalization petition, etc.) and write a brief narrative using the information.

This is the marriage certificate for Royce Rufus Councill and Edna Catherine Willis. They were married on June 25, 1925 in Chestertown, Maryland by W. Gibson. Chestertown is the county seat of Kent County, so I'm not sure what the CEC1 stamped in the county name means, although there is a neighboring Cecil County. I've seen Royce's name in some online trees as Rufus Royce Councill and notice here that his name is given as R. Royce Councill. However, his birth certificate says Royce Rufus and he was listed as Royce in other documents and newspaper clippings that I've seen.

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Once again, in honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

Pearl Chilcutt Willis Henry - Sunday's Obituary

From the Chester (PA.) Times, Wednesday, Feb 24, 1954

Mrs. Pearl Henry
Ogden Resident 20 Years
  Services for Mrs. Pearl L. Henry, 68, of 2620 Clayton st., Ogden, will be held Friday at 2 p.m. at the Ward Funeral Home, 1459 Market st., Linwood, with burial in Hiram Memorial Park, Concordville. Friends may call tomorrow from 7 to 9 p.m.
  Mrs. Henry, wife of Raymond Henry, an employee of the Sinclair Refining Co. for 25 years, died Monday in Crozer Hospital after a short illness. Her health had been poor for several years, however.
   A resident of Ogden for 20 years, Mrs. Henry was born in Talbot County, Md. She was a member of the Ogden Presbyterian Church.
   Surviving besides her husband are four daughters; Mrs. Royce Councill, Ogden; Mrs. Frank Bass, Dover, Del.; Mrs. Jacob Rosenberger, Souderten, Pa. and Mrs. Paul Dutt, West Chester; three sons, Edward Willis, Chester; William Willis, Ogden, and James Willis at home; a brother, Covey R. Chilcutt, Easton, Md; two sisters, Mrs. Ola Thompson and Mrs. William Dukes, Church Hill, Md; 11 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Pearl was my great-grandmother and was married to Eugene Willis before Raymond Henry.

Fearless Females - Day 2 - Pearl Chilcutt Willis

Once again, in honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

March 2 — Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo?

This photo is of my great-grandmother Pearl Chilcutt Willis and her son James (aka Shug). I don't have an exact date for this one, but would guess it was taken around 1930 in Maryland.  I only have a few pictures of Pearl and this is the only one that gives a glimpse into what her home looked like. When I saw this picture, I was struck by how much my grandmother Edna looked like her.