Freeland Sisters Marry Lake Captains ~ 52 Ancestors #30

When my 4th great-grandfather David Freeland and his family immigrated from Scotland in 1821, they originally settled in Lanark, Ontario, Canada. Within ten years, he was in New Hartford, Oneida County, New York. Widowed by 1840, he likely lived with various of his children until his death in 1862 in Buffalo, New York.

In previous centuries, travel by waterway was often easier and more efficient than traveling over land. Three of David Freeland's daughters married ship captains who spent much of their lives on Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes. 

Mary Freeland Wolfe Family

The handwritten family tree for the Freeland family that I shared in October (smaller image at right) provides all kinds of information, even though it doesn't look like it at first.

The tree shows that the third child of Barbara Fullerton and David Freeland, Mary Freeland, married ____ Wolf. As I noted in the Freeland Surname Saturday post, I found 77-year-old David Freeland in the 1860 U.S. Census in Buffalo, New York, household of his daughter, Mary Wolf, her husband, Frederick Wolf (a Lake Captain), and their two children, Oswald and Charlotte.

I wanted to find out more about this Wolf family.

City Directories for Buffalo, New York, are found at Fold3.com for the years between 1861-1870 except for 1869. I found Fred/Frederick Wolf/Wolfe in most of them as a Captain, Lake Captain, or Sailor.

In the 1870 U.S. Federal Census in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, I found Fred Wolf, wife Mary Wolf, and children Lottie (age 21) and Ida Wolf (age 9). Fred Wolf is a "Lake Sailor."

Detail from 1870 U.S. Census for Fred Wolf family

I have not found son Oswald in the 1870 census, but I found him in the 1880 U.S. Census in Chicago, Illinois.

Detail from 1880 U.S. Census for Oswold F. Wolf family

Oswald (or Oswold) is now in Chicago, as a bookkeeper, with his two sisters, Charlotte and Ida, and his widowed mother, Mary. In later records, I find that surname is more often found as Wolfe.

I then explored Chicago City Directories at Fold3.com, finding Oswald F. Wolfe as a bookkeeper in most years between 1871 and 1880, and Frederick Wolfe as a seaman, mariner, or shipmaster in most years until 1878. At FamilySearch.org, I found the death of Frederick Wolfe on March 3, 1879, in the Illinois Cook County Deaths, 1878-1922, a name index. I then found other Wolfe family members in this death index, including wife Mary (Freeland) Wolfe (d. 1903), daughter Charlotte Wolfe (d. 1920) and son Oswald Freeland Wolfe (d. 1923). I have confirmed that the family, including Ida Wolfe (d. 1915), is buried at Rosehill Cemetery. It doesn't appear that there are any descendants.

~~~~~~~

Mary Freeland Wolf

Two years ago, I shared some old photographs of Hunter and Freeland family members. There is handwriting on the back of the photos noting "Mrs. Wolf" and "Lottie Wolf." At that time, I did not know who they were. I now know that elderly Mrs. Wolf in the photos is Mary Freeland Wolf, born in Scotland around 1816-1819. Mary Wolf would have been around 80 years old when she and her daughter, Lottie, visited her sister-in-law, Nancy (Rainey) Freeland in Pittsburgh. (Nancy's husband and Mary Wolf's brother, James Freeland, died in about 1863.)

Charlotte Wolf

Lottie Wolf is Charlotte Wolf, born in 1849 in Buffalo, New York. She would have been first cousin to my second great-grandmother, Mary (Freeland) Hunter, whose pictures can be seen in a post from November 2011.

Lottie is my first cousin 4x removed.

I am thrilled that I was able to figure out who Mrs. Wolf and Lottie Wolf were in these pictures.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday ~ My 3rd Great Grandmother

Last week's photograph was taken of the James Hunter home in the city of Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Following are additional photographs taken of family members outside this house.

On the back, in my great-grandfather Percy Hunter's handwriting:
Side porch: C.C. Hunter, Front porch: Helen, Chester, Grandmother Hunter,
Lawn: Grandmother Freeland, S.K., Lois, Mrs. Wolf, Aunt Claude, Lottie Wolf, Mother, Dad

C.C. Hunter, Helen, Chester, S.K., and Lois are all siblings of Percy E. Hunter, my great grandfather. Based on birth dates of Percy's siblings, this photo and the two that follow were likely taken in the late-1890's, possibly in 1897, the year of Percy's marriage to Marguerite Lysle. (Curtis Carr Hunter would have been five and a half when his older brother, Percy, got married.)

Based on another photo I have of her, I think that "Grandmother Hunter" is Mary (Freeland) Hunter, Percy's mother. Perhaps Percy's father, James Hunter, is taking the photograph. (Percy's Grandmother Hunter, Catherine (Carr) Hunter, died in 1891.) 

"Grandmother Freeland" is Percy's maternal grandmother Nancy (Rainey) Freeland. Unfortunately, I don't know who Mrs. Wolf and Lottie Wolf are. Update 9/28/2013: In doing research for a Surname Saturday post for the Freeland line, I think I have determined that Mrs. Wolf is sister-in-law to Nancy (Rainey) Freeland; in other words, Mrs. Wolf is Mary (Freeland) Wolf, sister of James Freeland. And Lottie Wolf is a cousin of Mary (Freeland) Hunter. See Mary Freeland Wolfe Family post (12/28/2013) for how I identified Mrs. Wolf and Lottie Wolf.

Aunt Claude is Percy's mother's sister, Claudine Freeland, a longtime schoolteacher in Allegheny.

I think that "Mother" and "Dad" are Marguerite and Percy, based on the many photographs I have of them.