Great Aunt Claude Freeland

Anna Claudine Freeland fascinated me because my mother remembers meeting "Aunt Claude" when she was a child in the early 1940s. She also was found by several different names in the federal census records. She is my mother's great grand aunt and my second great grand aunt.

In a post about my third great-grandmother, Nancy (Rainey) Freeland, I listed her children as:
Mary (1850-1902) - my second great-grandmother and the only one to marry and have children, listed here.
William (1854-1918)
Anna Claudine (1854-1952)
Edward (1858-1877) - twin
Emma (1858-1893) - twin

Census records show the following for my second great grand aunt:
Year      Name                          Age     Occupation            Head of Household
1860     Hannah E. Freeland      5            -                         her parents, James and Nancy
1870     Clara Freeland            15         at school               her widowed mother, Nancy
1880     Claude A. Freeland     25        School Teacher     her widowed mother, Nancy
1900     Anna C. Freeland        43        School Teacher     her widowed mother, Nancy

Aunt Claude

In 1904, I find Claude A. Freeland in a Pittsburgh City Directory living at 3623 Perrysville Avenue in Allegheny. This is the house that her sister's son, Percy Hunter, lived in for a couple of decades. See a photo of the house here and photos of people in front of the house here. The image here is of Aunt Claude in one of the photos.

By 1910, her mother had died, and "Claudie Freeland" was living with her unmarried brother, William, who was a conductor on the railroad. She is 41 [!] years old and a School Teacher.

By 1920, her brother William had died and "Glaudine Frieland," age 50, was a lodger in a boardinghouse and was still a teacher. (Actually, her age was about 65 so she was probably about to retire.)

In all of these censuses so far, she is living in Allegheny City, which became the North Side of Pittsburgh in 1907.

In 1930, I find Anna Claudine Freeland as a 75-year-old "Roomer" in Orlando, Florida. With her birthplace as Pennsylvania, her father's birthplace as Scotland, and her mother's birthplace as Ireland, I'm sure this is my second great grand aunt. No occupation is listed. I wonder why she was enumerated in Florida in this U.S. Federal Census? Was she living there or just visiting?

In 1940, Claudine Freeland, age 85, is back in Pittsburgh as one of ten lodgers in a lodging house, no occupation listed. Interestingly, three of the other lodgers are teachers. I find it interesting to see that after she retires from teaching, she is willing to share her real age with the census takers.

And when the 1950 U.S. Census becomes available in 2022, I will be able to find her again, as she didn't die until June 14, 1952 about six months shy of her 98th birthday.

She was enumerated in ten U.S. Federal Censuses! I can only show eight, as the 1890 U.S. Census was destroyed after suffering damage in a fire and the 1950 U.S. Census is not yet available.

Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014),
Death Certificate No. 48672 / 4229. Record for Anna Claudine Freeland, died 14 June 1952.

Sadly, Aunt Claude died of an accident. The cause of death on her death certificate is listed as: "Hypostatic Pneumonia due to fracture of right hip caused by fall to floor." It is from her death certificate that I finally confirm her full name: Anna Claudine Freeland, and her date of birth: December 11, 1854. Both parents' names are accurately listed: James Freeland and Nancy Rainey. The informant, Samuel Knox Hunter, Jr. is a great-nephew (son of her sister Mary's son). She had the fall on June 5 and died eleven days later.

Along with so many members of my grandmother's immediate ancestors and extended family, Great Aunt Claude is buried at Uniondale Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. See her FindAGrave memorial here.