the lineage of violet mae elliott -...

The Lineage of Violet Mae Elliott The Geary family lore includes a life marked by pathos at every turn, that of Violet Mae Elliott. She was my paternal grandmother, who would be 100 years old at the time this was written. Violet’s birth certificate indicates she was born on Jan. 22, 1906 in Toledo, Ohio. Her parents are listed as John Elliott and Ella Bonny and their address is noted as 730 Locust Street. I have since learned that this was a boarding house at the time, filled with transients – a fitting description for Violet’s birth parents. Violet had no recollection of her parents. She had been adopted when she was two years old by Edward and Kathryn Sanford. She grew up in an unloving home on a remote farm twenty-five miles south of Toledo and was treated as no better than an indentured servant throughout her childhood. As a teenager, my grandmother waited tables in a diner. One day, she noticed an older woman watching her. When she inquired of her, the woman indicated she was Violet’s older sister. The sister indicated that she had returned to the area to find her. For the first time, Violet learned the details of her early childhood. The story reveals some of the heartache common during the era. Their mother had died shortly after Violet’s birth. The sister had taken care of Violet, but after a couple of years it became too much for her. So Violet’s father adopted her out to the Sanford family, whom they evidently knew. Soon after the adoption, Violet’s father also died. The older sister and a brother moved

to the Pacific northwest shortly thereafter, and lost all contact with their sister. After their too-short reunion in a dingy diner on a lonely country road in Ohio, the sisters agreed to keep in touch. Violet received correspondence from her sister over the next few years, but her adopted mother destroyed them in jealous fits. As a result, Violet was never able to reconnect with her sister. Years later, her husband Bob hired private detectives in the hopes of finding her family members. All attempts were futile. Violet died on November 3, 1991 without any further contact with her natural family. This story had resonated in me for years and I purposed to find these family members as a tribute to my grandmother. I had no idea that the process would stretch out over six years. My first research efforts were at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio in 1998. I found a number of records that confirmed Violet's father was a resident in Toledo for a number years prior to her birth:

• John’s Death certificate, showed his death as June 9, 1909. This was about a year after Violet’s adoption, confirming what her sister had told her:

• 1900 U.S. Census. I found a John and a James Elliott listed at 323 Locust St. I concluded that John and James were brothers since they shared the same demographics, both immigrated in 1870 (shown in the right-hand section below) and the fact that the census taker used a tilde (~) for James’ last name instead of spelling it out. This was a common notation when listing multiple family members together. The head of household – or in this case, the oldest brother – was listed first with his full name:

Left Side:

Right Side:

• A series of Toledo City Directories (the precursor to the phone books of today) during this time period included a listing for John Elliott, often with his brother James:

1899: 201 Cherry St 1900: 323 Locust St 1901: 323 Locust St (James is listed, but not John) 1902: City Directory has no listing 1903: 1021 Miami St (across the river from Locust) 1904: 323 Locust St

1905: 525 Locust St 1906: City Directory has no listing 1907: 523 Cherry St 1908: 529 Cherry St 1909: City Directory has no listing

This is a copy of a Toledo map I found tucked in the back of the 1899 directory:

These were the facts I was able to summarize and the conclusions I drew from the above:

1. There is only one John Elliott listed in Toledo during these years.

2. John Elliott and his brother James were often listed together 3. Their occupation was noted as carpenter. 4. They moved often. 5. They were always noted in the City Directories as boarders. 6. All of the above addresses are within four city blocks of the

address shown on Violet's Birth Certificate (the dot to the right of Locust in the map to the right). This area of Toledo is a few blocks north of the Maumee River, right after a bend in the river where it flows northeasterly. Cherry and Locust Streets run perpendicular to the river and are separated by Walnut Street between them. The close-up on the right shows the location of these addresses.

7. 730 Locust – even though it doesn’t appear as a residence for John anywhere other than the birth certificate – was an address that also housed boarders, according to the 1900 census.

8. All of the addresses listed for John & James housed multiple boarders, again according to the 1900 census.

9. John Elliot’s death certificate showed his address as 527 Locust St. and his age at death of 58 yrs. This is an age that is in synch with the 1900 census.

10. John & James disappear from the City Directories in the year of John’s death.

Due to these facts, I have no doubt that I had found the correct John Elliott. The only other facts I can follow up is that his parents’ names were John and Mary Elliott, as noted on his death certificate. I have looked for immigration records for the family entering the United States in 1870, but so far have not had any success. At this point, I had exhausted my resources on the Elliott family. I now turned my attention to the Bonney family. Curiously, the 1900 census for 323 Locust included a listing for a woman with the first name of Ella, aged 36, two lines above John Elliot’s listing. The writing had been hard to decipher and the last name remained a question in my mind for the next five years. The name was definitely not Bonney, so I had no choice but to dismiss the entry as an interesting coincidence. Unfortunately, the State of Ohio did not consolidate birth and death records at the state capital until 1908. This proved fortuitous with John’s death certificate, since he died in 1908. But I was unable to find any record of Ella’s death. This fit the scenario outlined by Violet’s sister, who indicated that Ella had died shortly after Violet’s birth in 1906. All death records prior to 1908 would have to be researched at the county level. I did not have the resources or time to travel to Lucas County, Ohio over the next couple of years. Then in June, 2000, I contacted by email a researcher who indicated a willingness to check the Lucas County records for me. Janet Kwasniak found an obituary that indicates John had been admitted to the Lucas County Infirmary in March, then again in June, 1908 for Tuberculosis. Janet also discovered Ella Bonney's death certificate, dated April 4, 1906. Her death record on page 59 of the Probate Court Deaths indicated her age at death being 42 years, 5 months and 4 days, with her birthplace being Michigan. She died of appendicitis, which seems so tragic by today’s medical standards.

Violet’s birth location: 730 Locust Street

Interestingly, the age and birthplace matched the Ella I had found in the 1900 census, so I surmised that if the Ella in the census were the same person, it might explain how my great-grandparents met. I just couldn’t reconcile the last name discrepancy on the census record. From the information on Ella’s death certificate, I calculated her birth date as Oct. 31, 1863 and determined that she would have been 7 or 8 years old in the 1870 census. I then researched all of the Bonny, Bonney and Bonnie families in the 1870 Michigan census. There was only one family that had a daughter Ella in the state of Michigan, and she happened to be 7 years old at the time! Since the census page was dated July 28, 1870, this was before Ella’s 8th birthday, and the match was exact. Admittedly, my Bonney family could have left Michigan before the 1870 census, which would have made them all but impossible to find. Since this family seemed to fit the known demographics, I researched them further.

This Bonney family lived in Charlotte, Eaton County and the head of the household was named Lyman. His place of birth was noted as Ohio. I wrote to the Eaton County (Michigan) Genealogical Library about Lyman Bonney’s family. They responded and provided me Ella’s mother’s maiden name: Melissa Fletcher. They also noted Lyman and Melissa’s marriage date was July 4, 1860. Using Lyman's age as a basis, I researched all Bonny, Bonney and Bonnie families in the 1850 Ohio census and found only one that had a boy named Lyman, as shown to the right. This census page was dated November 3, 1850. Since it was so late in the year, Lyman’s birthday probably fell earlier in the year, hence the one-year discrepancy in his age as shown in the respective census records. This family was found in Nelson Township, Portage County Ohio. Lyman’s father's name was William Bradford Bonney, aged 42 at the time. In further correspondence with the Eaton County ) Genealogical Library, they confirmed that William and his wife had moved to Eaton County in 1853 and later died there. With this information, I clinched the link to the Lyman Bonney I had found in the 1870 census in Portage Co., Ohio. I should that my search for variations in the spelling of Bonney was vindicated. Research affirmed what I had anticipated:

• Violet’s birth certificate indicated Bonny. • The 1850 census spelled it as Bonney. • The 1870 census spelled it as Bonnie

Variations are very common when considering the level of illiteracy during these years, coupled with the questionable penmanship of the census takers and the illegibility of some census pages followed by transcription errors by those who created name indexes decades later. I next researched the Portage County, Ohio name queries on the Internet. Many genealogists will list family names they are researching in the appropriate county web sites where their ancestors lived. They

usually list their email addresses in the event a later researcher is investigating the same family name. In this fashion, I came across a Bonney entry from a woman by the name of Jeannie Winter. I contacted her and she sent an intriguing response:

Hi Bill, You're sure hitting close to home as my 3rd G reat Grandparents, John Bonney and Orilla (Sherwood) Bonney, pioneered from Cornwall, Litchfield Co., CT to Nelson, Portage Co., OH in the early 1800's. I'd be pretty surprised if you weren't of my family. If you are, you'd bet ter get a chair ready to sit down when you find out the lineage you'll inher it! …It looks like you've found home, cousin! Do you have anything further t hat might add further substance to this being your line? If this is your line, I have tons of family history/genealogy, including lines of Mayflower des cent through both John Bonney and Orilla (Sherwood) Bonney above.

Jeannie directed me to her website where she posts her genealogy:

http://members.aol.com/jwinter588/JWinter588/HomePage.htm On this web site, Jeannie thoroughly documents the lineage of the Bonney family going back to Connecticut and Massachusetts during colonial days. Jeannie also documents the lineage to quite a few Mayflower passengers. Her data is reliable, and has been certified as the basis for her membership in the Mayflower Society. I have also confirmed all of the data with a number of additional sources; Mayflower genealogy is very complete through the first 10 generations of descendents. These are the Mayflower passengers in the Bonney genealogy: Governor William Bradford through both Joseph and William John Alden through both Elizabeth and Joseph Priscilla Mullins - John Alden's wife William Mullins - Priscilla's father Alice Mullins- Priscilla's mother Peter Browne Richard Warren Elder William Brewster Mary Brewster - William's wife Love Brewster Needless to say, this was quite a revelation. Exciting as the possibilities were, I couldn’t be confident that I shared this lineage until I unraveled the mystery of whether the Ella Bonney from Michigan was the same Ella Bonney who died in Toledo in 1906. The mystery would linger for two more years. On December 29, 2002, Mark Fletcher ([email protected]) contacted me after finding my Internet listing for Melissa Fletcher, Ella Bonney’s mother. One of Mark’s ancestors was a brother to Melissa. Mark volunteered to do some research and proved to be a resourceful and persistent researcher. Within days, he found a record of Ella's first marriage – to an Alfred Toler in Midland, Michigan – where Ella's grandparents were living at the time. The marriage date was July 3, 1879. This was initially disappointing, because it seemed to invalidate my hoped-for connection between the Michigan Ella and the Ohio Ella.

Mark also found the Toler family in Clayton, Genessee Co, MI in the 1880 census – the same location as the Bonney family: The listing includes: Alfred (23 MI OH NY), wife Ella (16 MI OH MI), and Alfred's sister, Charlotte (16). Mark’s notation for Ella – MI OH MI – matched what I already knew of her family – that she was born in Michigan, her father was born in Ohio, and her mother was born in Michigan I’ll never forget the “Ah-ha” moment. I quickly dug into my records and recovered the 1900 Toledo census. There, two lines above John Elliott, the name discrepancy finally resolved itself. It definitely was a listing for Toler, Ella! Although this provided a nearly-certain link to the Ella of Lyman Bonney’s household, and established a very believable connection between the boarders John Elliot and Ella Toler, a couple of questions remained.

• What would have brought Ella to Toledo, of all places? • Why would she have abandoned her children? • If her last name was Toler, why would Violet’s birth certificate and Ella’s death certificate show

her maiden name of Bonney? I had barely formulated these new questions when Mark uncovered new clues. He found records that Ella had a sister named Rosa, that she had married an Ira Scofield. Then he found a listing for them in the 1900 census. They happened to be living at 1614 Cone St., Toledo, Ohio. Together, the facts Mark uncovered provided a solid link to the Lyman Bonney family in Michigan – and explained what might have brought Ella to Toledo from Michigan. Mark also found a huge conflict however. There is a 1900 Census record of Alfred Toler, wife Ella and daughter Estelle (born in 1880), in Portland, Oregon! This census was taken on June 16th, 15 days after the Toledo census that listed Ella near John Elliott. This begged a new set of questions: Why would Ella have shown up in two census records two weeks apart? How could she possibly travelled the required distance in that short span of time? Another Ah-ha occurred to me at this point. If Ella Toler were to be confirmed as Violet’s mother, then Estelle could be the older sister who visited Violet from the Pacific Northwest. Portland would definitely fit the bill. The puzzle pieces were tantalizing. After having confirmed the Toler name, I revisited the Toledo City Directories. In the whole time span noted earlier, there is only one year where any Toler names appear. In the 1900 directory the following is noted:

Mrs. Dora E. Toler, artist, rms. 323 Locust Earl Toler, lab., rums 363 Forrer William Toler, lab., h, 363 Forrer

I have not been able to find any other record of the last two individuals, but it seems curious that Dora E Toler is listed as living in the same boarding house where Ella and John were residing in that year. The notation that she was an artist was curious, so I checked the census record for Ella Toler. Her occupation is noted as artist, so this confirms that the city directory merely entered her name in a way I had not

suspected. It’s possible that her first name was Dora and her second name was Ella. Other curiosity it that she’s listed as Mrs. There weren’t many cases in which the city directories listed a woman without her husband being noted. Earl & William were residing in a location near where Ira and Rosa Scofield lived. Other than that, I have found no evidence that they are connected to Ella. However, it seems curious that as soon as the Toler name appeared in the Toledo directories, it just as quickly disappeared the next year. Perhaps they moved to Portland… Another year went by with no further developments. Then in December, 2003, I decided to reconnect with the researcher who had provided the initial key that had unlocked the Bonney connection. I shared my findings and assumptions with Janet Kwasniak. I surmised that since Ella Toler dropped out of the city directories after one year, maybe there would be a marriage record for John and her. Alternatively, maybe there would be a divorce record for Alfred and her. Janet responded enthusiastically and volunteered to check. Later that month, she notified me that there was no marriage record for John and Ella. However, she found a divorce listing in the Lucas County records for an Ella E. Toler! The original court documents were buried in the Lucas County Archives and would have to be retrieved. Finally, after two and a half months, the Janet was notified that they were ready for her review. She emailed me on March 3, 2004:

“Hi, I was just about to give the courthouse a good piece of my mind today, and they said they had the records!!! So I am going down there in the morning and copy those puppies!!!! “

The next day I received the information that I had been searching for for six years. It was so rewarding to have it conveyed by a fellow researcher who had contributed so much – and who could express it so enthusiastically:

Hi, Just got home. Your papers are in the mail. Here is pertinent info before you get them: Divorce was Nov. 27, 1901 in Toledo. They were mar ried 3 July 1879 in Lee's Corners, Midland Co., MI. 4 children: Estel la, 21; Carolina, 13; Roy, 10; Hazel, 7. She filed due to gross negl ect and had not lived with him for 3 years. He threw the 3 younger kids out of the house. Had her name restored to BONNEY. YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was the clincher. It answered all of the questions that had troubled me for so long:

• Why Ella moved to Toledo at the same time Alfred & Estella moved to Portland? • Why was there a flip-flop in the Bonney/Toler/Bonney names? • Why and how had Ella reverted to her maiden name? • Why she was living in a boarding house with none of her children? • How had she met John Elliott?

It’s possible that Ella never went to Portland – or may have left by the time of the census. Alfred may have given Ella’s name to the census taker even if Ella were not present. Maybe he harbored a hope that she would soon join them in, or return to, Portland?

Interestingly, Estelle appears in various records in Portland, then San Francisco, where she died in 1976. It appears that she never married. I wonder if any extended family members may have memoirs of hers? Could there be a notation of her attempts to contact her long-lost sister Violet? Ironically, my grandmother Violet was living in Oceanside, California at the time of Estelle’s death. She was less than 500 miles from the sister she barely knew. And I wonder if Violet ever dreamed that she descended from such a distinguished group of American pioneers?

the lineage of violet mae elliott -...

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