Esther Abigail Whitman ~ 52 Ancestors #47

My second great-grandparents, Esther Abigail Whitman and James Pyle, married in New York City in 1853, when they were recent immigrants from Guysborough, Nova Scotia. I have a lot of information about James Pyle, but much less about his wife.

Matrilineal Monday - Esther Abigail Whitman shared census records for her as well as a brief death notice from the New York Times.

Deaths, New York Times, 10 November 1921, p. 19, col. 7, Esther A. Whitman.

The New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) now provides the ability to view some birth, marriage, and death records (as long as they're far enough back that the individuals named are long deceased). These images can also be found at MyHeritage (a subscription site).

I found Esther Pyle's November 10, 1921, death certificate at New York City Deaths, 1866-1948 at MyHeritage.

Lost at Sea: Lyman Morey ~ 52 Ancestors #44

I have been building out the family tree of my paternal line to help to determine the biological father of James Pyle, my second great-grandfather. (See Narrowing Down the Non Paternal Event.)

James Pyle's sister Elizabeth married William Scott in the 1840s, probably in Guysborough, Nova Scotia. (Maybe James's son, William Scott Pyle was named after this uncle?) 

William and Elizabeth had several daughters, one of whom, Annetta (Netty), married a Maine-born fisherman, Lyman Morey, in 1873 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This was not uncommon; many fishermen sailed between Massachusetts, Maine, and Nova Scotia, and likely found their love interests in a community away from home.

In 1880, widow Annetta Morey was living in Gloucester with two young sons. by 1881, she had returned with her two young sons to her parents' home in Guysborough. How was it that a 29-year-old mother of two was already a widow? 

Her husband died in February 1879, which has been referred to as the deadliest month for the Gloucester fishing fleet. He was a fisherman on the Schooner Gwendolen.

The Boston Globe Evening Edition, 12 March 1879 (Newspapers.com), p. 4, col. 4.

1796 Deed, Moses Hull to Stephen Pyle ~ 52 Ancestors #36

FamilySearch Full Search Text is a wonderful new resource, released just over six months ago, and it's quite a genealogical rabbit hole. Some Canadian records have recently been added and among several other deeds naming Stephen Pyle, I found one from 1796 in which my fourth great-grandfather, Moses Hull, sold land to his future son-in-law, my third great-grandfather, Stephen Pyle. 

From Guysborough Land Records. 1810-1818 (though many are from the 1780s and 1790s).

Appreciative of Automobiles ~ 52 Ancestors #29

My husband and I traveled to Nova Scotia for eight days at the end of June. This was a place I had wanted to visit for years. We drove from eastern Massachusetts to Bar Harbor, Maine (over five hours), took the CAT Ferry to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and spent one night there before driving to Halifax (over three hours) and spending four nights. There was a stop in Liverpool for lunch.

Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, was a good "home base." We did a couple of day trips from Halifax where we drove at least an hour each way (one day to Burntcoat Head Park to see the Bay of Fundy at low tide and another day to see Peggy's Cove). In Halifax, we visited the Citadel, a centuries-old hilltop fort, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, and Fairview Lawn Cemetery. The Maritime Museum has interesting exhibits about the April 15, 1912, sinking of the Titanic and the December 6, 1917, Halifax Explosion. The Fairview Lawn Cemetery has a somber memorial to victims of the Titanic as well as a memorial to those who died in the Halifax Explosion.

The next drive was from Halifax to Guysborough with a stop in Truro for lunch. 

We had a wonderful two days in Guysborough, where I spent some time in the old Court House Museum, home of the Guysborough Historical Society. I met a fifth cousin (a Hull) and a fourth cousin (a Pyle) who showed us the sights: cemeteries, churches, and the house built by Stephen Pyle probably in the 1790s in which my second great-grandfather, James Pyle, was likely born in 1823.

The Stephen Pyle house in Boylston, Nova Scotia.

James Pyle and Air Safety ~ 52 Ancestors #27

On page B10 of the April 9, 1998, New York Times, the lead obituary contained the following headline.

James Tolman Pyle, my father's first cousin, was born on November 8, 1913, to David Hunter McAlpin Pyle and Dorothy Merle-Smith. He was named for his grandfather, James Tolman Pyle, who died less than two years before his birth.

 This obituary is full of wonderful detail.

Creativity: William Scott Pyle Jr ~ 52 Ancestors #22

Obituary, 17 February 1938, New York Times, p. 21, col. 6

W. Scott Pyle, Artist and Paint Originator
American Who Experimented With Plant Colors in Europe Is Dead at The Hague

   W. Scott Pyle, American artist, died in The Hague, The Netherlands, on Sunday [February 13, 1938] after an operation, according to word received here yesterday. He had gone abroad in June, taking some of his paintings with him for exhibitions in Switzerland and The Hague.
   Mr. Pyle left Princeton in his sophomore year to study painting, first under William Chase, then at the Academy of Munich and with Frank Brangwyn. He had exhibited at the academy shows in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Washington and also in the art museums of Detroit and Toledo.
   Until the last few years he was living in Europe, where he took a leading part in lengthy experiments with paints made from plant colors, which were finally manufactured by the Goetheanum in Switzerland.
   His clubs included the Princeton, University and Racquet and Tennis.
  Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Mietra [sic: should be Maria] Waller Pyle; a daughter, Joan; his mother, Mrs. William Scott Pyle, and a sister, Mrs. Albert Spalding.

William Scott Pyle, Jr. was born on June 22, 1888, in Monmouth, New Jersey, to William Scott Pyle (photo here) and Mary Ann Vanderhoef. He was their third child. The oldest, James Vanderhoef Pyle, died in 1887 of Diphtheria.

His older sister, Mary Vanderhoef Pyle, married famed violinist Albert Spalding. Because their father had died by the time they wed in July 1919, William Junior gave his sister away.

He was the first cousin of my grandfather, Charles McAlpin Pyle, making him my first cousin twice removed.

Step: Dad's Step-Siblings ~ 52 Ancestors #16

My grandmother, Elizabeth Adsit, known as Libby to everyone including her grandchildren, married Edgar Carter Rust on August 12, 1933, after divorcing my grandfather. 

They had been married for 29 years when this photo was taken.

Elizabeth (Adsit) Rust and Edgar Carter Rust
Summer 1962

Three years after they married, they traveled to Europe with my dad and Edgar's youngest son, Kenneth. I have a couple of photographs from this trip. This one has been enhanced and colorized by MyHeritage.

School Days: Poop-deck Pappy Pyle? ~ 52 Ancestors #15

Someone in my family probably has my dad's high school yearbook, but I can see it at Ancestry's U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016 database. He attended Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts, from 1937 to 1942.

The school used and still uses the British educational notations, Forms III, IV, V, and VI, though they now also refer to freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. (Form I and II, also known as seventh and eighth grades, were dropped many years ago.)

The 1942 yearbook includes a history of the class which covers over four pages of the yearbook. Near the end of the "Sixth Form History" was this paragraph.

Worship: Margot Was Not a Methodist ~ 52 Ancestors #13

... in fact, she was never particularly religious.

After graduating from college in 1956, my mother moved to Boston where she met my father when they both worked at the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company. Over the course of several years, they fell in love and wished to marry.

In the spring of 1963, my grandmother, Helen (Hunter) Copeland, a devoted Presbyterian, contacted several ministers in the Pittsburgh area (where she lived and where my mother grew up) to ask if they were available to marry her daughter and fiancé in the late summer or early fall of 1963. When a minister would say yes, he was available, he would begin to collect information about Helen's daughter and her intended. 

At this point, Helen would let him know that the wedding would have to wait until her future son-in-law's divorce was final. According to the story, this horrified several ministers that Helen spoke with and they refused to officiate at the wedding of a woman to a man who had just been divorced. I believe some were willing to marry the couple, but told Helen that the couple had to wait a year after the divorce to marry.

My parents didn't want to wait.

Helen was able to find a young Methodist minister who was willing to marry my parents in September. My father's divorce decree was final on August 13, less than seven weeks before his wedding to my mother.

Changing Names: Frances or Adelaide ~ 52 Ancestors #9

 

This week's theme is Changing Names.

 

My great-grandmother was named Frances Adelaide McAlpin, after her mother, Frances Adelaide (Rose) McAlpin. 

Charles McA. Pyle, Jr. and his paternal grandmother, "Granny Pyle" circa 1927

Stories from the Census ~ Dad (Again!) in 1950

 Last week, I shared my dad's story from the 1950 census.

A couple of days later, I learned that Ancestry.com has made their 1950 US Census index available for all states and territories, due to confidence in their proprietary artificial intelligence technology that created a separate index than what NARA has (both created by using OCR on handwriting but using their own technology). You do have to set up a free account, but that provides you with access to not only the 1950 US Census, but the 1940 US Census and the 1880 US Census among other free indexes.

You can hear Ancestry's Crista Cowen excitedly explain what Ancestry has done in a YouTube video from last Wednesday.

So to check out this newly-available index, I entered Dad's name into the search boxes. He appeared at the top of the results page... twice! Notice the differences in the column "Home in 1950."

The first result is the one I shared last week. Dad was living at 156 Thornton Road in Brookline, Norfolk County, Massachusetts.

The second result (Jeannette's name was spelled incorrectly in both indexes), shows that he lived at 156 Thornton Road, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

Stories From the Census ~ Dad in 1950

Finding my dad in the recently released 1950 U.S. Census was a challenge, as he wasn't living where I thought he would be living.

He was in Brookline, Massachusetts, at 156 Thornton Road, which is about as close to the border of the Boston neighborhood of West Roxbury as you can get. The red line on the enumeration district (ED) map below represents the town/city line for Brookline and West Roxbury.

The map suggests that Thornton Road was quite new. Look closely at the lettering where the white arrow is pointing in ED 11-137 - it looks like it was added after the rest of the lettering on the map.

This was and still is known as the Hancock Village apartments. These low-rise brick apartment buildings were built in the late 1940s for returning WWII veterans. Some more history of this area can be found at the Preserve Brookline website.

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Pyles and McAlpins

Last week, I shared photographs of Sara Carter (Pyle) McAlpin and an abbreviated family tree showing how a Pyle brother and sister were married to a McAlpin sister and brother. 

All four are all buried next to each other in Evergreen Cemetery in Morristown, New Jersey.

Sara's stone:

Sara Pyle McAlpin

February 9, 1863

May 14, 1949

"Gentle Unto All....

Apt to Teach, Patient, in

Meekness Instructing."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Wordless Wednesday ~ Sara Carter Pyle

Thank you very much to my third cousin once removed who has recently spent some time going through old family memorabilia and shared the following photographs with me.

All three are of my second great-aunt, Sara Carter Pyle, sister of James Tolman Pyle. Unfortunately only one is dated, though I think they may all be from the 1880s.

Aunt Sarah [sic] Pyle McAlpin
sister of W. S. Pyle senior
William Scott Pyle's father
J.P.D.'s father

~~~~~~~~~~~

Counting Third Cousins

Summer 1982; see
Throwback Thursday-Cousins Day

My current project (which I have spent many months on) has been to identify all the descendants of my eight sets of second great-grandparents. This is to help me identify my DNA matches on the several genetic genealogy testing sites where my results connect me to cousins. Smaller amounts of shared DNA suggests more distant relationships and knowing my third cousins might help identify those relationships.

I have identified 49 second cousins and over 180 third cousins. Note that on my father's mother's side (Adsit-Ashby), I have no known first cousins, second cousins, or third cousins. This makes it difficult to confirm more distant, colonial New England cousins on this side because I've got lots of other colonial New England in other ancestral lines.

Some families were more difficult to track forward than others; it depended on where they lived and whether I could find useful obituaries in online newspapers (among other resources). Then there are families with common names: Bailey, Hunter, Murphy, Smith, Walsh, as well as branches of cousins who moved abroad, making it harder to find them.

Notes:
* The couple's name in bold are my second great-grandparents.
*  In many cases, the number of third cousins is an estimate (especially McAlpin-Rose, Greeley half-third cousins, and Hunter-Freeland).
*  I refer to 3 siblings under my maternal lines and 4 siblings under my paternal lines as I have one sibling with whom I share my father and not my mother.
*  The colors are based on my long-time color-coding system.

PATERNAL-PATERNAL
James Pyle (1823-1900) and Esther Abigail Whitman (1828-1921) had:
   7 children (only 2 had children)
   9 grandchildren
  10 great-grandchildren
  40 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 4 siblings, no first cousins, my 31 second cousins, and 4 third cousins)

David Hunter McAlpin (1816-1901) and Frances Adelaide Rose (1829-1870) had:
  10 children
  23 grandchildren
  48 great-grandchildren
(at least) 139 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 4 siblings, no first cousins, my 31 second cousins, and (at least) 103 third cousins)


PATERNAL-MATERNAL
James Monroe Adsit (1809-1894) and Susan Arville Chapin (1820-1906) had:
   7 children
   4 grandchildren
   1 great-grandson (my dad)
   5 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 4 siblings, no first cousins, second cousins, or third cousins)

Daniel Morgan Ashby (1828-1907) and Mary Elizabeth Gorin (1833-1891) had:
   6 children
   3 grandchildren
   1 great-grandson (my dad)
   5 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 4 siblings, no first cousins, second cousins, or third cousins)


MATERNAL-PATERNAL
Henry Clay Copeland (1832-1912) and Sarah Lowell (1833-1916) had:
   3 children
   6 grandchildren
   7 great-grandchildren
  20 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 3 siblings, my 5 first cousins, my 11 second cousins, no third cousins)

Samuel Sewall Greeley (1824-1916) and his first wife Anne Morris Larned (1828-1864) had:
   4 children
  10 grandchildren
  27 great-grandchildren
  (at least) 57 great-great-grandchildren (my half-third cousins)

Samuel Sewall Greeley (1824-1916) and his second wife Eliza May Wells (1839-1880) had:
   5 children
   3 grandchildren
   7 great-grandchildren
  20 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 3 siblings, my 5 first cousins, my 11 second cousins, no third cousins)


MATERNAL-MATERNAL
James Hunter (1844-1902) and Mary Freeland (1850-1902) had:
  10 children
  10 grandchildren
  16 great-grandchildren
  (at least) 28 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 3 siblings, my 5 first cousins, my 7 second cousins, my (at least) 12 third cousins)  (Some with the surname Hunter are very difficult to trace, as the names are somewhat common.)

George Lysle, Jr. (1845-1900) and his first wife Marion Helen Alston (1850-1885) had:
   2 children
   7 grandchildren
   7 great-grandchildren
   21 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 3 siblings, my 5 first cousins, my 7 second cousins, my 5 third cousins)

George Lysle, Jr. (1845-1900) and his second wife Edith O. Hadly (1869-1933) had:
   2 children. One son died young and the other married, but didn't have any children. No half-third cousins here.

I have added these third cousins to my tree in Family Tree Maker and plan to upload it to Ancestry, MyHeritage (and perhaps other sites) to help connect me to more cousins. I have added many surnames to my tree and have already identified several cousins on the DNA testing sites while doing this project.

The Grandparents of My Grandparents

Dana at DanaLeeds.com and Jen at JenGenX Files both recently wrote blog posts to answer the question:

How many grandparents did their grandparents likely know?

This question intrigued me and I decided to figure it out while also looking for photographs of my grandparents when they were children.

PATERNAL GRANDFATHER, CHARLES MCALPIN PYLE:

Paternal Grandfather, Charles McAlpin Pyle

Charlie was born in 1893. He knew three of his four grandparents because they were all part of the same social circle in New York City and Morristown, New Jersey:
   James Pyle died in 1900, when Charlie was six and a half.
   His wife, Esther Abigail (Whitman) Pyle, died in 1921, when he was 28, two years after Charlie married.
   David Hunter McAlpin died in 1901, when Charlie was seven and a half.
   (His first wife, Frances Adelaide Rose, died in 1870.)

~~~~~~~~~

Winter and Ice Skating ~ 52 Ancestors #49

I am participating in this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. Each week has an optional writing prompt and this week's writing prompt is Winter.

These are my parents in January 1964 (if the "Jan 64" date was close to when the photo was taken). My dad, Charlie Pyle, loved to ice skate and we all learned how to skate soon after learning to walk.

Looks like it was cold enough for the pond in Dedham (Massachusetts) to freeze well enough for skating early that winter!

James Pyle in the Non-Population Schedule ~ 52 Ancestors #34

I am participating in this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. Each week has an optional writing prompt and this week's writing prompt is Non-Population.

Non-population to a genealogist suggests the various non-population census schedules that were created as part of the census enumeration every ten years between 1850 and 1880. These include agricultural, industrial, and manufacturing schedules which provide additional information about those who are enumerated in them. Digital images of these indexed schedules are available at Ancestry.

Since I have been sharing information about my soap-making ancestor, James Pyle, here is the 1880 U.S. census non-population industry schedule for the 28 soap makers of New York City.

1880 U.S. census, New York County, New York, non-population schedule, Manufactures,
p. 307 [stamped], p. 239 [penned], line 2, Jas. Pyle; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com :
accessed 28 November 2015); citing Archive Collection number I12, roll 88.

And a closeup showing Jas. Pyle on line 2:

Since this is difficult to read, I have transcribed the headings and James Pyle's entry below.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday ~ Pyle Pearline Soap Box

I recently shared a story about the legend of how James Pyle became convinced to advertise his soap powder. (It was not accurate: he had been advertising products in newspapers for years.)

If you search online newspaper websites for Pyle Pearline, you will find many advertisements for his soap product in the late 1800s throughout the U.S.

If you search images for Pyle Pearline, you will find many images of the advertising cards that have survived. Not only that, but you can also find old boxes that once held the powdered soap. One of my brothers gave me one a few years ago.

Note that this was James Pyle's Pearline but "made only by" Procter & Gamble.

Legend of James Pyle and Horace Greeley ~ 52 Ancestors #33

I am participating in this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. Each week has an optional writing prompt and this week's writing prompt is Family Legend.

I thought I'd revisit my second great grandfather's invention of powdered soap (known as Pyle's Pearline Soap) and an anecdote that was repeated in several obituaries for him upon his death in 1900.

James Pyle (1823-1900) was my second great grandfather and by 1870, he was enumerated as "Manufacturer of Soap" in the 1870 U.S. census. I shared his history at Occupations of My Ancestors ~ James Pyle.) There are many records: census, city directories and others, that relate his success in manufacturing and selling what became known as Pyle's Pearline Soap.

According to the legend, James Pyle learned about the value of advertising when he became acquainted with Horace Greeley, founder in 1841 of the New-York Daily Tribune:

Mr. Greeley had sought to secure his "ad" for some time. Finally he is reported to have said in substance: "Here is the rate card. Use whatever space you wish for one year. If at the end of that time you find that it has paid to advertise, you may pay for whatever spare you have used. If it hasn't paid, you need not pay." The space was duly paid for. ["Death of James Pyle," The New York Times, 21 January 1900, p. 3, col. 2.]

I thought I'd explore advertisements for his soap (and earlier products) at Newspapers.com, which includes many New York City newspapers in its digitized collections. I searched for Pyle Soap and wondered if this was the first advertisement in the New-York Daily Tribune?

Advertisement for Pyle's O. K. Soap, New-York Daily Tribune, 23 November 1861, p. 1, col. 6 (bottom of the right column); image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/85340859/ : accessed 20 August 2018).

However, the legend of the agreement with Horace Greeley may not be true.