Tangled Tree Thoughts: The Important of Being Earnest

  It's been forever ago since I've read the Importance of Being Earnest, but from what I do remember it was about mistaken identities. I figured for those who are trying to research their family histories, I would walk you through some past and present struggles with names that have and are perplexing me.
Grandma Margaret Emma Talady is a problem for me.  For one thing, in the census records I have for her, she goes by either Margaret or Emma, or Emily.  So, the obituary I found the other day helped confirm that she was indeed the Emma Taladay that was married to Civil War soldier Frederick Kariger.  It also confirmed that she was born in Connecticut, Hartford to be exact.  Now, that has always been a question for me.  How she jumped from CT to Will County, IL (Chicago area) was a problem - not unheard of, but a stretch.  So after I found that I started searching anew on the internet for fresh ideas.  I found a site for Tolliday/Talady researchers that had census records for people by that surname (and all variations) for all time periods and states.  I found a Henry Toloday living in Licking County, Ohio with a daughter "M.E." right age for my Margaret Emma.  Hmmmm....  Ok, so I do some further searching.  There is a Hartford township in Licking County.  Now, I've run across this before.  According to family lore, ggg-grandpa Lafayette Mauzey was supposed to have been born in Richmond, Virginia.  Turns out, his family was FROM Virginia and he was born in Richmond, MO.  Pretty easy explanation - the town that is reported is assumed to be the state capital of the state the family was originally from.  Since then I've learned to broaden my searching.  After searching all evening I finally find that Henry Toloday ended up in Blackford County, Indiana where his known son Laban lived in the town of Hartford.  More interesting is that Laban's first son was named William Henry, which is what Grandma Margaret Emma's first son was named.  To add another level of intrigue, Henry's known daughter Nancy's first son was named William H.  Ok, that's just downright weird now.  Circumstantial.  Without a will in hand, I'm stuck.  It all fits - kind of.  Sometimes that's what we genealogists have to go on and sometimes be content with until we find that final nail in the coffin so to speak:)
  Another mystery that has re-emerged is also on Hubby's family.  His ggg-grandma Mary Ida Lopossa (pronounced Low-possee) Patrick.  Now she was born about 1865 in Indiana (census info).  The problem was and is that brothers Jacob and Joseph Lopossa both had daughters named Mary born about that time.  According to all info I've found Hubby's Mary was the daughter of Jacob.  I'd been tracking down a lead and contacted a gal whose George also was the son of Jacob.  She told me that our Mary was not the daughter of Jacob.   Ok... I go back to the drawing board.... It all brings me back to this picture...

Joseph Lopossa family, Mary is front row 2nd from the left

  Although this picture is not in my possession and I have not seen an exact date for it, I doubt that the Mary in it is ours.  Ours died pre-1901 in the flu epidemic along with her husband - this is according to family lore as well as some guardianship papers dated 1901.  The woman in this picture looks too old to be about 35 which either of the Marys would have been ca. 1900.  So,  I think I'm secure in believing that Jacob is our Mary's dad.  Do I know definitively?  No.  But, I'll be content for now anyway:)
 

The Namesake

Once upon a time when the hubby and I were first married, his Grandma Patrick was having a bad case of great-grandbaby fever.  Her brothers and sisters had all started to have some come around and she was ready!  Hubby and I were the first prospect and so when we'd visit her, she'd drop hints like "when I have great-grandchildren...".  Unfortunately she didn't live to see any of those little twinkles in her eye in person, but we did fulfill one of her requests.  She used to say, "if you have a daughter, you should name her Artemacy or Sevilla".  Both were family names from both her side and her husband's and she always thought they were so neat:)  So, when Mookie came along we gave her the middle name Artemissia, and then named her first name after our beloved Grandma Patrick who gave us the idea.

Mookie 3 months

So who is this great-great-great Grandma we named our little girl after?  Artemacy Pritchett was the daughter of Andrew and Louisa Myers Pritchett.  In 1850, just before she was married, she's living with the Clark family in Morgan County, Indiana.  Her mother had just passed, and her father had died a few years previous.  She married John Edgar Patrick later that year and had 9 children over the next 22 years they had together.  In 1872 John died in a railroad accident. When we visited Indiana several years ago, I was unable to get the newspapers for that era because they were missing!  Maybe someday I can get more details. 

Artemacy, Velma, and Eliza

  Last year a distant cousin of Hubby's sent us a picture of Artemacy!  I was so excited! It was taken with her daughter Eliza (Patrick) Stone and granddaughter (aunt to my Hubby) Velma Patrick.  I envision that this was taken when Artemacy was taking Velma, who had been recently orphaned due to a flu epidemic, to live with Eliza. The funny thing is that recently I finally found Artemacy in the 1900 census, which was about the time this picture was taken, because living with Eliza Stone in Texas is an "Arta Mason".  Ha! Don't let those census takers fool you. They aren't always correct in their transcriptions:) 

  One physical tie our family has is a fan that belonged to Artemacy.  It was given to Hubby's grandparents on their anniversary by some distant Patrick cousins.  It is a treasure to have something that she actually owned and touched.  It brings the past to life!