Carrie Asbury, "Floyd Todd's first wife"

There she is, standing on the right* of two older women: tall, young, beautiful. Her outfit is obviously more stylish than the dresses the other women are wearing. It looks newer, too. "Who is this woman?" I asked myself. "What happened to her? Why is her name so hard to remember?"

I dug. I had to find the answer.

She wasn't listed in my family tree--Floyd Todd was Margaret (Gray) Dunn's grandson through her daughter Viola (Dunn) Todd, and only one wife was listed for him, a Susie C. Rawlings. She lived a long time, so I thought she must be a subsequent wife. I found two marriage records with a search for Floyd Todd, one for Carrie Asbury and one for Susan C Rawlings. Success! I found her, and I had a name.

Carrie and Floyd were married on August 25, 1914. Floyd was 22 and Carrie was only 17. I'm guessing this picture was taken in late 1914. Less than six months after her marriage to Floyd, Carrie was taken by appendicitis on February 8, 1915.

What a tragedy! She was so young. In the picture, she looks happy. She was so full of life. Carrie passed away almost one hundred years ago, but I can still taste the excitement she experienced from being a new bride and being out on her own.


Carrie and Floyd's marriage record
Carrie's death certificate

*She is on the left of the picture, but she was standing to the right of the two older women.

John Burrige and Lydia Rowe

Since Ellen Rowe spent so much time living with them, I thought I'd do a post on John and Lydia (or Lidia) Burrige. I also thought that knowing a little bit more about them might help to find out more information on Ellen's family.

John B. Burrige
Parents: Francis Burrige and Mary A. Battison
Birth: July 3, 1828
Marriage: 1850 to Lidia Rowe. He was about 22 years old.
Death: September 19, 1910

Lydia Rowe
Parents: James Rowe, ??
Birth: September 6, 1825
Marriage: 1850 to John Burrige. She was about 25 years old.
Death: March 23, 1918

Most of the information I've found about these two people is pretty sketchy until about 1870, when Ellen was living with them. I did find links to a marriage record (here's the other) for them in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, in 1850. The census records show them getting married about 1850, as well. The two immigrated to the United States shortly after their marriage (1853, as shown in the 1910 census), and may have ended up in Indiana by 1860 (see this 1860 Census). The census shows this couple as living in Dearborn County, Indiana, close to the border with Ohio, and just 60 miles from Clermont County, Ohio. The age difference between John and "L" are the same as John and Lydia Burrige. I don't know who the two children would be; they have a different surname than Burrige. According to the 1910 census, Lydia bore 2 children who were not living at the time that census was taken. However, the 1900 census records that she did not bear any children at all. They may have been fostering the two children listed with them in the 1860 census.

The couple stayed close to Ellen Rowe and her family as the years wore on; they were listed in Ohio twp, Clermont County, Ohio, in the 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 censuses. Lydia's death record lists her still living in Ohio township, very close (only about 2 miles) to New Richmond, where Ellen was living at the time. The death certificate also lists her father's name: James Rowe. I'm thinking that she was probably a sister or cousin to Ellen Rowe's father.

John's death certificate shows that his parents were Francis Burrige and Mary A Battison. I found a death record and a burial record for one Francis Burrige, born about 1798 and died in 1875 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. This is probably John's father! There is another Francis Burrige (probably the same one) listed in the England and Wales 1841 Census, aged 40, in Hemel Hempstead. No one is listed with him - just that he was a cordworker and that he was born in Hertfordshire.

Ellen was obviously close to her foster parents. She was only 8 or 9 when she made the journey across the ocean to the United States, so she had plenty of time to get close to them before she married at about the age of 21. Ellen and Wheelock also named their first son after John Burrige, and Ellen was the one to report Lydia's passing when she died.


Here's some excitement from when I started the post on Ellen Rowe:

In 1870, Ellen Rowe was living with John Burrige and Lydia Burrige, who had emigrated from England about 10 years previous to her own immigration to the US. After some digging, I found out that Lydia's maiden name is ROWE! And that her father's name is James Rowe. Dad didn't know about this when I asked him -- we have a lead! Now all I need to do is find some sort of connection between her and Ellen's father (James Rowe, who has a son named James Rowe, as well. Why did everyone have to have the same name???) I'm guessing that Lydia was some sort of aunt to Ellen; she's old enough to be siblings or cousins with James Rowe, father of Ellen Rowe.

This is a possible entry for Lidia in the 1841 England and Wales census. I just wish it was easier to make out! The Burriges in the 1860 Census(possible match), 1870 Census, 1880 Census, 1900 Census, 1910 Census.

The mysteries in this post are 1) why is it so disorganized, and 2) How was Lydia Rowe related to Ellen Rowe?


EDIT: Since publishing this post, I found a picture with Lydia Rowe in it, and she was labeled as "Auntie Burrige," supporting my thoughts that she could be Ellen Rowe's aunt! Here's the picture:

Auntie Burrige is the woman seated in the middle, with the black dress and cap (bonnet?)

John B Winspear

John Winspear was Minne May Winspear (Great-Granddad Cliff's mother)'s brother. He died at only 50 years old on New Year's Eve.

According to his death certificate, John died by "gunshot wound to the head" in December of 1923 at 2:30 A.M. "Whether suicide or otherwise [was] to be determined" at the time of the death certificate. Wow. He was a merchant, and I assume did not live a wild lifestyle.

Also according to his death certificate, John was a widower. At the 1920 census three years earlier, however, his wife was listed with him and his two daughters from a previous marriage. I found his two daughters in a 1930 US Census, so I know that at least they survived him. Was the death of his wife so devastating that he couldn't stand to be alive anymore? Was he murdered by a dissatisfied customer? (I doubt it) I guess I won't know. I hope he has found comfort and peace since then.

Henry W. Marcus

Parents: ?, Mira Marcus
Date of birth: May 1862
Marriage: early 1890's to Mattie Young, they had two children: Lela and Laura
Henry had another son named Ivey. I don't know anything about Ivey's mother.
Date of death: October 6, 1901

Thank goodness for censuses, or I would know next to nothing about Henry Marcus. From stories that I've been told by my relatives that have done more extensive research on him and his family, it seems that his mother was mistress to a wealthy man in the area who supported her and her children but remained anonymous.

Henry was the oldest of at least four children and grew up near the mountains of NC. He apprenticed with a blacksmith in a nearby town in 1880 when he was 18 years old, and probably for some time before and after that.

Henry's 16-year-old brother Hosea was working as a servant at the same time for a farmer and his wife that lived in Johns River Township, where they grew up. I couldn't find any records for their younger brother Noah besides the 1870 Census shown here. However, I did find a Laura Marcus Allen that was living close to a Hosea A. Marcus at the time that they both passed away in/near Carrabus county, NC. I'm guessing that they are Henry's younger siblings. I found one other record for Henry's sister Laura--it appears that she and her mother were working as servants in 1880 (Laura was 14 at the time). I'm guessing that Henry's father must have passed away and had not been able to leave anything to Mira and her family. For some reason, Hosea and Laura are listed as being two years younger than they would have been if the 1870 census's ages were correct. As teenagers, I'm sure they cared very much about their actual age, so I wonder what made them claim that they were younger than they actually were?

Between 1880 and 1900, some significant things happened. Henry fathered a son, Ivey--I wasn't able to find any records for Ivey's mother, but that doesn't mean she and Henry weren't married. Of course, that doesn't mean they were, but we can't assume anything. Henry also moved to South Carolina at some point, and met Mattie Young. The two were married in the early 1890's and had two girls, Lela and Laura.

About Henry's death--the story goes that Henry had been incarcerated and escaped. There was already tension between him and Mattie, so when Mattie asked the town law enforcement for advice, he told Mattie to shoot Henry Marcus if he tried to go into the house. He did come by, so she took out a gun and told him to leave or she'd shoot. Henry came up to the house, and well, she shot. It's a sad story, but definitely an interesting piece of our family history. Evidently there's a news article about it, but I don't have it, so we'll have to suffer without the official story until I do.

1870 Census

1880 Census

1900 Census

Great-Great Uncle Ralph Connell

Ralph Leon Connell was found on Great-great-granddaddy Robert J. Connell’s doorstep. Robert J. was 66 years old. I don’t know when exactly Ralph was left on their doorstep or how old he was, but Ralph was living with Robert J. and his young wife Maggie in 1930 when the US census was taken.  That census is actually how I learned about Uncle Ralph.

At first I thought Robert J. and Maggie were his parents, but I noticed from the census that Maggie and Robert J. were married about 3 years after Ralph was born.  Another thing is that Ralph was living with his sister (our Aunt Docia) when the 1940 census was taken, and not with Maggie (Robert J. had passed away). I thought, “Well, maybe Ralph was from Robert J.’s second marriage,” but I couldn’t find anything that supported that hypothesis. I thought Granddad JC would probably know something about it, so I sent Mom a quick e-mail asking if she’d ask Granddad about his Uncle Ralph. And that’s how I learned this intriguing information about him!

So Granddad said that he’s pretty certain that Uncle Ralph is related to us somehow, but doesn’t know exactly how. He said that Ralph moved in with Aunt Docia when he was 9 or 10. That was a year or two before Robert J. passed on. Some of Granddad’s older siblings were also living with Docia when the 1940 census was taken, so I think she must have liked having her younger brother and nephews around. 

Ralph enlisted in the army and fought in WWII. When he was on an R&R (rest and relaxation) break in New Zealand, he met and married his wife. Their son was born soon after, but unfortunately, Ralph had already been called back to active duty. As far as Granddad knows, Ralph never married again. Granddad didn’t know any of the details, but Ralph came back to South Carolina after the war and eventually moved out West, where he passed away. I found a record showing his date of birth, the date he passed away, and that he passed away in Los Angeles, California. He was only 57 when he died.