Cady Family History & Genealogy

I Have a What In My Family Tree??? (C)

By Karen L. Jenter
March 2006
Manchester, Washtenaw Co., Michigan

I have been a genealogist for about 14 years now, researching my dad’s side of the family. My dad is 100% German, both maternal and paternal lines came from the Wuerttemberg area in Germany, to Michigan, in the mid 1850’s.
Researching my mom’s family has always been on the back burner for me. For one thing, I am the typical stubborn German. I grew up in a German family in Washtenaw County, we go to a church in Manchester founded by my German great great grandparents, and I am a 5th generation member. I cook, bake, and eat German food. I am related to just about every other person of German ancestry in Washtenaw County. My grandfather’s older sister, my great Aunt Emilie Jenter Spafard was the family genealogist. I was the only one of her nieces and nephews who listened when she talked about the family. At her death, her son Richard passed on to me her research into the Jenter family. I knew a lot about my dad’s side, I did not know all that much about my mom’s side.

My mom, June Lucille Olson, was born and raised in Alpena, Alpena County, Michigan. She left there in 1943 after graduating from high school and moved to Ann Arbor to work in the Michigan Bell Telephone company. She met my dad just before he was released from the U.S. Marine Corps after serving in the Pacific Theatre during the Second World War. They married in our church in Manchester in 1947. My mom found herself among a whole bunch of German’s.

As children, my parents took my late brother Jim and I to Alpena just about every summer to visit my mom’s family. My mom was the middle kid of 9 children. My mom’s father’s family was 100% Norwegian. They came from the Lier Valley in Norway; their name was Olesen, changed to Olson by my grandfather. My maternal grandmother's maiden name was McDonell so I suspected they were Scottish. My mom knew very little about her mother’s family but she did know her grandfather Albert E. McDonell came from Canada and may have been married prior to his marriage to my great grandmother, Ella.

In early November of 2005, I decided I had to bite the bullet and start on my mom’s family. It had gotten to the point where I had researched about 8-9 lines of dad’s family and because of the excellent record keeping skills of the German’s I have evidence of their lives through their birth, marriage and death found in the Evangelische Church records in Germany, back to the mid 1500’s. It was either do a couple of distant, female lines on my dad’s side or begin to search my maternal lines.

My mom has a cousin in Alpena and she has extensively researched our Olesen and our Ottersen Norwegian lines. She has shared her research with me, so here was no need to redo those lines. I began questioning my mom about her mother Lois. She did know that she was born in Black River, Michigan, which is in Alcona County. She also knew her grandfather was Albert E. McDonell, from Canada and she thought that Albert had been married twice. Things began to make sense. Several years ago, my mom’s younger sister Norma had given me some pictures of the family. Included were pictures of Albert and Ella McDonell, parents of my grandmother Lois. The first thing I did was request Lois’ birth record. Much to my dismay, when it arrived it listed her mother as Ella McDonell, her married name not her maiden name and thus my first brick wall.

Several years before she died in 2000, my mom’s younger sister Joyce had given me three sheets of paper with family information on them. I had filed these in a folder that contained pictures I had from my mom’s side of the family. Two of the sheets had information about my mom’s Norwegian side; the third sheet was neatly typed, and entitled “Entries in Beatrice’s Bible Book.” Beatrice was my mom’s older sister and she died in 1996. In the listing was information about my grandmother Lois McDonell and her siblings. They include older brother Walter Gordon, Lois Marian, Henry Samuel, Eleanor Alice Lu and Alberta Grace. It also gave their birthdates and places of birth in Michigan, Walter and Lois were born in Black River, Samuel, Roe Lake, Elenor in Alabaster and Alberta in East Tawas.

Now with information that included Albert and his wife and their children, I set out to see what I could find, to chisel away some of that brick wall. My first stop was ancestry.com to check the 1900 census records. I quickly found the family living in Alabaster, Iosco Co., Michigan. There was Albert with Ella and Walter age 8, Lois age 5 and Samuel age 1. The last entry for their house was for Nelson D. Stafford; he is listed as a brother in law to Albert. It also showed that Nelson was 20 years old and was born in Michigan. My first clue and a possible crack in my brick wall. Nelson had to be Ella’s younger brother so her maiden name was probably Stafford. Place of birth for Ella was also listed as Michigan.

Knowing that very little of the 1890 census exists, my next step was to see if I could find Nelson and Ella and their family in an 1880 census. Turning to ancestry.com again, I found Ella and her brother Nelson enumerated in the family of Ellen Stafford living in the Harrisville, Alcona Co, Michigan. Ella age 11 and brother David N. shown as 6 months, so that matches the ages and estimates of year of birth for Ella and Nelson in the 1900 census. This was my family and David N is the Nelson D. in the 1900 census. Also listed were 3 more siblings, Joseph W. age 7, Lydia age 6, and Samuel H. age 4.

With a few clicks of the mouse a few minutes later I was looking at the 1870 census for Harrisville, Alcona Co., Michigan, and there was the family. Head of household Samuel with Ellen and another Ellen age. 1. Samuel Stafford was the father of Ella and Nelson. The Ellen listed as age 1, in 1870, was my great grandmother Ella. Through the years, she would be known as Ella, Luella, Ellen and Eleanor. More clues emerged. Samuel was shown as estimate year of birth 1841 in Pennsylvania and age 29 in 1870 and Ellen estimate year of birth 1849 in Pennsylvania and age 21 in 1870. Was it possible to go back and find Samuel enumerated in a Pennsylvania family in 1860 and maybe 1850?

I was unable to find Samuel Stafford age19-20-estimate year of birth in 1841 in the 1860 census in Pennsylvania, or in any other state. However, I was able to find Saml Stafford age 10 estimate year of birth 1850 in Brecknock, Berks Co, Pennsylvania. Was this my Samuel? The age and estimate date of birth were very close. In a matter of a few more clicks on the mouse and I am looking at a very bad image of the 1850 census. But with the help of a good light and some maneuvering with the color print on my computer I was able to find the Stafford family headed by John age 50, Lidia (also known as Lydia) age 40, and followed by John age 11, Saml age 10, James age 8, Solomon age 6, Joseph age 1, Sarah age 14 and Keziah age 4. This had to be Samuel and his family. I also found John and Lydia, and Samuel’s siblings listed in the 1860 census in Brecknock, Berks Co., Pennsylvania. No Samuel, but the dates for his parents and siblings matched those of the 1850 census.

Since there is a great interest in genealogy and so many sources of information on the Internet, I thought I would try to find out if anyone else had done any research on the Stafford family. Family trees at ancestry.com might yield some more information. We all know that family trees on the Internet researched by someone else have to be taken with some hesitation. I prefer to do my own research, verifying data with actual records, census images, films from the LDS, etc, but trees posted by other’s can be great sources and will give you clues on other avenues to research. I soon found John and Lydia Stafford. Lydia’s maiden name was shown as Eshelman. “ESHELMAN” I said to myself, “That sounds German”. Another few hours of research on the Internet and I did indeed find Lydia’s ancestors, all the way back to Peter Aeschelman born in 1608 in Switzerland. More research into the family on various other sites and I learned that the Aeschelman’s were Mennonite’s from the Bern area in Switzerland. The Mennonite’s were forced out of Switzerland and resettled in the early 1500’s in the Palentine area in Germany, which is the Baden-Wuerttemberg area, the same area that my dad’s ancestors came from. Several generations later the Mennonite’s began leaving Germany and made their way to America.

A little more online research and I learned that Peter born in 1608 had a grandson Peter Eshelman born in 1683. He and his wife Magdalena left Europe in 1733 on the Ship Good Hope and landed in Philadelphia. They made their way to Brecknock, Berks Co, Pennsylvania. Peter and Magdalene’s grandson Martin and his wife Catherine Eckert, another German name, had a daughter Lydia born in 1811 and she married John Stafford. I found out John’s parents were James Stafford (Staffert, Staffort, still trying to figure out if they were German) and Christiana Boehm, (another German surname) and they were married on 19 Jan 1797 in the Schwartzwald Reformed Church, Exeter Township, Berks Co., Pennsylvania. Son John Stafford was born 19 Apr 1799 and baptised in the Schwartzwald church on 17 Sept 1799. The Schwartzwald Reformed Church is now Schwarzwald United Church of Christ. Suddenly my dad’s ancestor’s and our family church Emanuel Evangelische and Reformed Church, in Manchester, now part of the United Church of Christ and my mom’s Stafford/Eshelman family had a common German religious background. In a matter of a few days and some online research, I had found a lot of information on my mom’s family.

Time to move on and see what more I could find on Samuel Stafford his wife Ellen and her family. My next step was to find out what had happened to Samuel Stafford. He was in the 1870 census, but not in the 1880 census where Ellen is shown as the head of the house in 1880. Therefore, he must have passed away after the 1870 census and before the 1880. How was I going to find this out without actually going to Alcona Co, and looking through 10 years of vital records? Knowing that there are volunteers all around the country who do genealogy research in their area and that Samuel and Ellen and family lived in Alcona County, Michigan, I set out to see if I could find a someone who might be able to search for his death record. This led me to the Alcona County Genealogical Society online database. Generous volunteers have transcribed thousands of records including death, marriage and birth, and Alcona County Newspapers, and they are available online. You can search by surname or dates in birth, death, marriage and descriptions in newspaper articles. I put Stafford in the surname section of the newspaper transcriptions. Suddenly on my screen is a newspaper article on the death of Samuel Stafford. He died at age 38 in Feb 17, 1879 of a brain stroke, leaving wife Ellen and 5 young children. It also said he was born in Berks Co., Pennsylvania. After conferring with a cousin about death research, I learned about US Federal Census Morality Schedules. Samuel is listed in the 1880 census Morality schedule for Alcona County and also listed is a baby son John H. Stafford who died 3 months later, on 18 May 1879. Further research in the newspaper transcriptions and there was an article about son John’s death. From there, I went to the Michigan Department of Community Health, Genealogical Death Indexing System. It includes the years 1867 and goes for about 30 years. I found Samuel and his son John H. listed in Alcona County for the year 1879.

The newspaper article about Samuel’s death said that in the early part of the war(Civil) he went to Indiana and enlisted with the 101st Indiana Regiment and served his country. Knowing that it was possible to obtain military service records, including those of the Civil War, I went to the NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington DC, I was able to order his military records. About 2 weeks later they arrived in the mail. The records verified that he was born in Berks Co., Pennsylvania and was 21 when he enlisted in 1862. So this verified other information I had found. I was shocked to learn that after enlisting in August of 1862 he deserted in November of 1862. I have since learned that he quite possibly was wounded and lost from his regiment. He may have joined up with a new regiment and remained with them until the end of the war. This is something I am still pursuing. The newspaper article on his death also said that in 1866 he made his way to Saginaw County, Michigan. In 1868 married Ellen and moved to Harrisville where he owned and operated a farm about 5 miles from town, until he died in 1879.

As I mentioned, the online Alcona County database contains lots of information including marriage. I entered the Stafford surname in the marriage section and found the marriage of Albert E. McDonald (McDonell) and Ella Stafford, daughter of Samuel and Ellen. They were married 30 Mar 1890 in Harrisville by the pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church. I also found Albert’s first marriage in 1879 to Josephia Gibson and his divorce from her in 1889. My mom had remembered correctly, Albert had been married before his marriage to Ella, my great grandmother. I found even more clues from Albert and Ella’s marriage record. Albert’s parents were Angus McDonald and Maggie Pickering. Parents of Ella were shown as Samuel Stafford and Ellen Cady. Now I had Ellen’s maiden name. Knowing I would probably have more luck in pursing the Cady line then McDonell/McDonald line, I set off to see what I found find on Ellen Cady and her family.

Having had good luck with the Alcona County online database with the Stafford surname, I thought I would see what I could find with the Cady name. There was nothing in the 1850 or 1860 census that was promising. However, in the 1870 census I found Charles L. Cady and wife Sarah. Charles is age 79 born about 1791 in Massachusetts, a carpenter, and Sarah, age 54 born about 1816 in Pennsylvania, keeping house. Children were Margaret age 26 born about 1844, at home also born in Pennsylvania, David age 20 born about 1850-works on a farm and born in Pennsylvania. Is it possible that Charles and Sarah are parents of Ellen Cady Stafford? Knowing I need to go backward to see if Ellen is enumerated in the same family I go to ancestry.com and check the 1850 census records. I soon find Ellen (Ellen Marriah Cady) enumerated in the family of Charles L. Cady. They are living in Union, Fayette Co., New York. There is Charles L. Cady age 58 born about 1792 in Massachusetts, Sarah Cady age 34 born about 1816 in Pennsylvania, Deborah Cady age 12 born 1838 in Pennsylvania, Ellen Marriah Cady age 3 born about 1847 in Pennsylvania and David Cady age 0 born in 1850 in Pennsylvania. So far, the info for Charles, Sarah and David matches with the 1870 census in Harrisville. In addition, the information about Ellen closely matches with her census info in 1870 and 1880 in Harrisville. Was I pressing my luck, could I find Charles and family in the 1860 census? With a bit of searching in ancestry.com again I find Charles, Sarah, Margaret J., Ellen M, and David in the 1860 census living in Washington, Van Buren Co., Iowa. The ages, approximate years of birth and birth places match. Also living in Washington, is the family of Henry Cady age 31 born about 1829 in New York. Could this be another son of Charles, possibly by another wife? .

By the 1880 census, I know that Ellen was the widow of Samuel Stafford and she is living with children including my Ella, in Harrisville. I also know that in 1870 Charles and Sarah are living in Harrisville too. Are Charles and Sarah in Harrisville in 1880? Into the Alcona online database again looking for the surname Cady in the 1880 census. I find Sarah Cady age 64, born in Pennsylvania, marital status widow. So, sometime between the 1870 census and the 1880 Charles had died. There is no Charles in the Alcona database death records. In checking the newspaper transcriptions, I hit the jackpot. No Charles but I do find the death of Sarah Cady on 3 Aug 1887, widow of Charles L. Cady. She was living in Springport at the time of her death. It said she was 70 years old so that matches her information in the census record. Another article posted a few days later was a note from David Cady and his sisters, thanking friends on their recent bereavement. I found another article dated 24 Sept 1896 that noted the death of Dave Cady, former resident of Alcona Co. He was killed in a logging accident on 29 Aug 1896 while working in Skamokawa, Washington

I still had not proved the death of Charles L. Cady, sometime after the 1870 census and before the 1880. I went again to the Michigan Department of Community Health Genealogical Death Indexing System and I found Charles L. Cady. He died 20 Sep 1874, in Flushing, Genesee Co, Michigan. The only discrepancy is that it showed he was born in New York. I checked with a cousin living in Ypsilanti, and she verified that this is our Charles and that he was born in Massachusetts not New York. I also checked the same database for the death of Sarah Cady, but I did not find her. So with information about my Cady line, it was time to check to see what else I could find on the family.

Back to the internet sites of family trees. I am very particular in my genealogy and I have documents and proofs to back everything up. I soon found a tree with Charles Lewis Cady born 28 Jul 1791 in Brookfield, Worchester Co., Massachusetts. Two spouses are shown, both named Sarah. Listed under his second wife Sarah is his daughter Ellen Marriah Cady, my great great grandmother. The tree shows I can go back and view the parents of Charles. His father is Stoddard Brimfield Cady and his mother is Abigail Marsh. Stoddard’s father is Ezekiel Cady Jr. and he was born and died in Pomfret, Windham Co., Connecticut. The tree lets me go back more generations, until I am back to Nicholas Cady born 1588 in Suffolk, England. I am thinking I have enough information to take up permanent residence at my local LDS library just ordering and reviewing microfilms of records the Mormon Church has in their vault in Salt Lake City.

I find myself going forward again, through the generations, reading notes other researchers have posted on various Cady family trees. In my earlier research, I was shocked to learn my mom’s German Eshelman’s, came to America in 1733 and beat dad’s German’s who came to American in the mid 1850’s. Now I am even more shocked to learn the Cady’s came from England to America between 1640 and 1650. I am back to reading notes on Stoddard, the father of my Charles Lewis Cady. Information posted again shocks me and I almost fall off my chair. I HAVE A WHAT IN MY FAMILY???? Notes posted for him say that Stoddard was a Revolutionary War patriot who fought for the state of Massachusetts. I am a direct descendant of a Revolutionary War patriot, and I am eligible to join the Daughter’s of the American Revolution.

So I have found someone else’s tree on my Cady family. Now I have to find documentation to back all of this up. I have all kinds of birth, marriage, death and census records already, so, what else am I going to need? I can prove my relationship to my mom June Olson, , my mom to her mom Lois McDonell, my grandmother Lois’ relationship to her mom Ella Stafford , my great grandmother Ella’s relationship to her mom Ellen Marriah Cady and my great great grandmother Ellen to her father Charles Lewis Cady. I know from the notes I read on the tree about the Cady family that Stoddard Brimfield Cady, father of my Charles, fought for Massachusetts. I email my friend in Florida who I know is a DAR member. She responds almost immediately with a number of suggestions. First is to find proof of his military service, and that leads me back to ancestry.com. A few minutes later, my printer is spitting out documentation published in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution in 17 volumes. In volume 3 on page 8 and 9, is proof of Stoddard’s Revolutionary War service. These are pages from the actual book, not just someone’s transcription of it. My friend also suggests I go into the National DAR site and use their query system to see if someone else has already used Stoddard for membership into the DAR. I type in Stoddard’s name, birth information, and dates of his service in Massachusetts. A few days later information comes back that someone has already joined under Stoddard’s service through another son of Stoddard’s who was a brother to my Charles. I can send for a copy of that application. It arrives about 10 days later.

With military service documentation in file, my next step is to prove that Charles Lewis Cady is the son of Stoddard Brimfield Cady. The copy of the application I received from the DAR alludes to the published Vital Records of Brookfield, Worcester Co., Massachusetts where my Charles was born. So into an internet search engine to look for Vital Records for Brookfield. The results lead me back to ancestry.com. In a few minutes I am looking at the actual pages of a book published in 1909 of the Vital Records of Brookfield, Worcester County, Massachusetts, it shows Charles Lewis is the son of Stoddard and Abigail Cady born 28 Jul 1791. Also documented are the births of 3 of his other siblings. In more books in ancestry.com, I also find the record of Stoddard’s marriage to Abigail Marsh in Brimfield, Hampton County, Massachusetts on 12 Feb 1778. Nothing is found on ancestry.com for Pomfret, Connecticut, so back to the internet and I soon find the Vital Records of Pomfret, Windham Co., Connecticut where Stoddard’s birth is recorded as 04 Jul 1752. I also find the birth and death dates of his father Ezekiel Cady Jr. Another site and I have the Vital Records of Douglas, Worchester Co., Massachusetts where Stoddard’s mother Abigail Marsh was born. Her birth is recorded as 23 Jan 1754. I can hardly believe it, I have found so much information online in just a matter of a few weeks. I have a Revolutionary War patriot in my lineage and I have all the documentation I need to prove it.

Jump ahead to Saturday, February 18, 2006. I am attending the DAR meeting of the Lucy Wolcott Barnum Chapter of the Adrian Michigan Daughter's of the American Revolution. My mom and I are both new prospective members. The documentation of our lineage is all there and now we begin the formal application process. It is hard to believe just a few short months ago, I knew very little about my mom’s maternal side of the family. I now have 3 ring binders set up on my Stafford, Eshelman, and Cady families and enough paper documentation to stretch from Michigan to the Revolutionary War battle fields in Massachusetts and back again. I still have much to do, more films to order to document internet family information that I have found, and then there is still my great grandpa Albert E. McDonell and his Canadian and Scottish roots. I certainly have enough research yet to do to keep me up in my family tree for a very long time!!!!

b. 3 May 1750 Killingly CT
d. Nov 1825 Waterbury, Washington Co, VT
m. 28 Dec 1777 Hannah Marsh (b. 1751 d. Sep 1842)

Enlisted in the Continental Army Sept 24 1777 and marched to join the Northern Army.
Discharged 18 Oct 1777
His name appears on the muster & payroll of Capt Ebenezer Goodale's Co., Col. David Wells' Regt.
He removed in 1778 from Shutesbury to Shelburne, Mass, where he purchased considerable real estate.
On march 2 1790, he moved to Waterbury VT, where he cleared up a large farm of new land and soon opened the first tavern in town.
He carried with him from Shelburne a number of young apple trees wherewith to start an orchard on his new home.
He afterwards moved to another part of town and for many years was in charge of building roads and bridges.

Per "Descendants of Edward Allen of Nantucket, Mass" E. Ancestors of Rhoda Cady:
"Had service in the northern army in 1777; he settled in Waterbury, VT in 1790."

b. 7 Oct 1783 Shelbourne, Franklin Co, MA
d. 28 Oct 1876 Williston, VT
m. 15 mar 1809 Elizabeth "Betsey" Austin (b. 7 dec 1786 d. 6 Sep 1874)

Per "Desc. of Nicholas Cady" p. 250:
Ira Cady had service in War of 1812. His business was that of a currier, tanner, shoemaker, and farmer. he began business in Stowe VT in 1807. He continued his several kinds of business successfully in th towns of Essex and Charlotte, VT, retiring with a good property in 1865 to reside with his son, theodore, in Williston VT

Thaddeus Sobieski Cady
b. 15 Feb 1820 Stowe VT
d. 16 Jun 1890 Gonzales TX
m 26 Nov 1839 Sarah Siples (1819-1899)
The Gonzales Inquirer
Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas
June 19, 1890

Bitten by a Rattlesnake.

Tuesday morning Mr. Thaddeus CADY, an old gentleman about 70 years of age, accompanied by a little girl, went to the river bottom of Mr. S. S. BARBER to get a load of wood. While chopping wood he was bitten by a large rattlesnake on the calf of the leg. He killed the snake and cut off the rattles and gave them to the little girl and started to town. While going through a gate the wagon became fastened on a port and Mr. CADY in endeavoring to get out, fell to the ground overcome by the poison. The little girl ran to a house near by and secured assistance. Mr. CADY was brought to town in an unconscious condition and at 4:20 p.m. died from the effects of the bite. The snake had ten rattles. Mr. CADY was buried Wednesday evening. Several rattlesnakes had been killed previously in the bottom by men cutting wood. The fangs of the snake were driven through his pants and underclothing, and the wounds were about an inch and a half apart.