Davinity Rutherford 1853-1929

The name Davinity seemed quite unusual to me, and it confused other researchers: their decision to label this child a female caused problems in many family trees! At the time of the 1860 census in Indiana, it was stated clearly that he was a male child. Davinity used "David" most of his life, although he gave his first son in a second marriage the same name.

Davinity first married Olive Petty in Stearns County, Minnesota. Not too long after the birth of their sixth child in 1866, she passed away of consumption. Their son Jesse was my cousin's grandfather.

David married for a second time about 1896. He and Etta Blake, his second wife, became the parents of eleven children.  


*52 Ancestors: "Unusual Name"

Clementina Barbara Zajchowska 1894-1978

One of the brick walls in the family research has always been the grandparents from Lithuania and Poland: Dominic and Clementina Zajchowska Churas.

When we visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City in 2015 I was able to consult with Maria, who is the Polish research expert on the International floor. She spent quite some time accessing online records before admitting there was no information available for the Zajchowski family. There was also no microfilm for that area of Poland.

Maria did have a friend in Poland who was willing look for church or civil records. Clementina's baptismal record stated the parish was Niewodna, although an address from her sister Olympia who corresponded with Grandma Churas was Grodzisko. 

Mieczyslaw spent several weeks visiting different parishes and record offices in the Wisniowa area. Ultimately, he was able to locate four birth records of children born to the same parents. 

Clementina, born 7 Feb 1894                                                    

Jozef, born 10 Sep 1896
Olympia, born 4 Apr 1901, died 18 Jan 1979
Andreas, born 7 May 1904, died 8 Nov 1908

All four were children of Adalbertus Zajchowski, son of Jozef and Agatha Seremet Zajchowski and Francisca Cierpial, daughter of Casimirus and Marianna Gruszczynska Cierpial.

After 20 years of wondering about Grandma Churas' family, we finally had two generations of ancestors!


*52 Ancestors: "Brick Wall"

Four Generations

It was more common in past generations to mark the arrival of a "fourth" generation baby with a photograph. Our collection includes several of these photos. The span of years between the dates of birth of the eldest and youngest person in the photo is similar: 80, 78 and 77 years. Has the idea of a four-generation photo fallen out of fashion? Or have other factors, such as marrying later in life or distance between families, been of more importance?

Helene Colrue, Bendicka Rowe, Leonard Rowe, Elaine

Bendicka Rowe, Hazel Smith, Russell Smith, Annette

E. W. Smith, Art Smith, Russell Smith, Allen

*52 Ancestors: "12"

John Colrue 1860-1931

John Colrue received his naturalization papers on 23 January 1891 in Waupaca County. He also filed to homestead 148 acres on 7 December 1896. More research will determine where that land parcel was located. He can be found in Helvetia Township in the 1889 plat book in the NW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of Section 34.

Locating John Colrue beyond the articles in the Waupaca newspapers was difficult. He has not been found in the 1880 census (searching under John or J. M. Swanson or Colrue), the 1900, 1910 or 1930 censuses. In 1920 John is living on Kimbark Avenue in Chicago and is employed as a salesman for a medical instruments manufacturer. 

He also appears in several of the Chicago city directories, for example in 1898 he is boarding at 464 West Congress and in 1904 and 1908 he is living at 744 W. Adams.

As more information becomes available online, we might be able to locate more records for John Colrue.



*52 Ancestors: "Bachelor Uncle"

At the Courthouse

When we first began researching the families who immigrated to Waupaca County, we spent many hours checking the various vital record indexes at the Waupaca County Courthouse. We followed up by reading the actual records for births, marriages and deaths and copying the relevant information. The indexes for land records were also available in the same room. 

However, there was one surprising book that we discovered accidentally. During the second decade of the 1900s the local farmers began recording a name for their farms. It was quite interesting to see that the Smiths and Rowes registered the names "White Star Stock Farm" and "Elm Valley Farm" at the courthouse to make them official.



*52 Ancestors: "At the Courthouse"

Lars and Kari Rowe Photograph

In 2006 my cousin Peg was contacted by a member of WAGS, the local genealogy club. Gail from Annapolis, MD had a photo that was connected to Waupaca. Gail and a friend were visiting local garage sales hunting for picture frames. Gail's story of finding the picture follows:

"Last year after Hurricane Katrina, a family who fled the storm

moved in across the street from me.  Having lived in New Orleans myself, I quickly became friends with them.  When they moved here in the fall, they had nothing.  Few clothes, no furniture, etc.  They bought new furniture. And as part of decorating, the wife found the Rowe picture in a trash pile on our street.  It adorned her walls until they returned home to New Orleans.  She had a garage sale, which is how I acquired the picture just a week ago." 

As they were crossing the street with the picture a note dropped from the back of the photo.

"Lars Raae and wife, sons David (my grandfather) and Andrew taken probably in Waupaca Wisconsin about 1880."

Lars and Kari Rowe

Gail repaired the corners of the frame before sending it to Peg and it now hangs in Peg's home in Elm Valley.



*52 Ancestors: "Family Photograph"


It is so satisfying to find another piece of the puzzle. While researching the David Rowe family on the FamilySearch Family Tree, I located records that showed his granddaughter Loretta Irene Rowe lived in Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband Irving Wasserman. She has to be the person who wrote "David, my grandfather," on the note found with the photograph.

Bertha Christensdtr Oleson 1804-deceased

We have been spending time during the past year or so adding and correcting information on the FamilySearch Family Tree, thinking that if our ancestors are going to be represented on their "one world tree" we might as well assist in making sure the facts are correct.

One great advantage to participating turns out to be corresponding with others who are working on the same family lines. Last month I wrote to someone who was adding information to Bertha's page to ask about collaborating. I learned that Bertha and her husband Ole Jensen, who married 8 January 1833 in Gausdal, Oppland, Norway, immigrated to America. My correspondent informed me that they lived in Alden, Polk, Wisconsin. I was able to locate Bertha and Ole in Polk County on the 1880 census.

I wonder whether Matthias Colrue knew that his mother was living in Wisconsin about 200 miles away from him!




*52 Ancestors: "Surprise"