My father, Bill, was maybe 12 or 13 years old when he met his Uncle George for the first time. Timestamp about 1933? ... Dad remembers that he had just started high school. He didn’t even know he had an Uncle.
Cousin S with Grandma Perlia about 1947 Ohio
Bill’s father, WmChas RONOLD, owned a Barber Shop & Confectionery store in a small town in Ohio. Bill often worked there helping out after school and weekends. One day, a total stranger wandered in to the shop and said to my GFA, “Hey, Willie, how ‘bout a haircut?”
Nobody called him Willie. It was his family name, his childhood name.
He looked up, startled at first, and then embraced his long lost little brother, George.
The most famous family story is about how GFA WmChas and my GMo Perlia met. It’s one that my father retold many times, and we’ve all known since forever.
TELL IT, Dad:
Summer, 1918. About this time, to avoid the chase of the county school super who bored her, Mom {Perlia} quit teaching school for a job in the local Post Office when a dashing newcomer hit town on a bright red Indian motorcycle. Made a real splash in staid old G’ville and with Mom too apparently. He was, they’ve told me, handsome, debonair, intelligent and attentive and three months later, they were married. I (Bill) was born 10 months later in the summer of 1919.
Other than that, there are scant few stories about WmChas … where he’d come from or where he’d been. There’s a giant gap of his adulthood that’s basically unaccounted for, other than a story or two (that’ll be a different diary if I ever uncover it). He was much older, George later told Bill and his sister Ruthie, than he had claimed to be. I believe my Dad “adjusted” the birthyear accordingly, so I don’t know what the original claim ever was to begin with, but we had the idea that WmChas was born somewhere around 1880 or maybe 1870, in or near Addison, New York (not far from Ithaca).
George’s birthday, we knew, is Feb 22, 1877.
At the time Bill met him in the mid 1930's, Uncle George THURSTON lived in Lansing, Michigan with his wife Jesse. He worked for a lumber company as a Cabinet Maker for many years, I believe. They had one daughter B, and B had one child Doris (b.1925). Doris would grow up to marry and have 4 kids of her own. Bill and Ruthie remained friendly with Doris all their lives. We’re still in touch with her husband and descendents. Doris just passed in 2005, close to 80 yrs. old.
Doris, much like my Dad, was quite the storyteller. She would prove to be my best “Informant” as I thankfully have one letter that my sister saved and scanned. Its full of funny stuff and a scattering of clues. The trick was to find the gems in there.
So many questions. “If they’re brothers, how come they have different last names?” was our main one as kids. We knew, always knew, that WmChas had changed his name himself to RONOLD but no idea what it originally was or when or why. All of us (sisters, cousins) had always speculated and joked , “Hey what if we are heirs to the REYNOLDS Wrap fortune? Ha ha”.
Anyway, here comes our Diamond Lil Myth, that’s what I call it. All the cousins know this one and I’m pretty sure it’s genesis was George and it was passed along by Doris. Dad and his sister Ruth always laughed about this tale, saying they thought it was pretty much fiction. Dad remembers some movie... similiar plot. Doris, on the other hand, swears she actually met the woman when she (Doris) was very young (born 1925). I have a Theory about that, a hypothetical. (That might be yet another diary!) Reminder: Doris is the granddaughter of our George THURSTON (but close in age to my Dad).
TELL IT Doris (letter to Dad/Bill, no date, probably 1970’s):
Now let me tell you what I know about our ancestry. Gram {that would be George’s wife} told me the last time she came down here to visit, we were talking and I asked her about Grandad’s and Uncle Bill’s mother.
I did meet her when I was real little, can barely remember. Do remember, she was a beautiful lady, with diamonds all over her hands. Are you ready for this? --- {according to Gram} she moved to Alaska when she was young, after she had her children. The Gold Rush was on and she moved out there and set up a house of ill repute and became a first class Madam. I cracked up, she even tried to get Gram to move there. Gram would not even take a drink of beer. Guess that was when Grandad was adopted by his Aunt Ellen and took her name of Thurston.
Aunt Ellen’s house was in SP, PA. It was a mansion and can remember we used to go there nearly every summer. It was 3 stories and had a pipe organ in the Music Room. She had an old maid sister Carrie, who used to go up to the top floor and hang out the window and smoke.
I think Grandad was born at Oil City, PA. Aunt Ellen had money with oil wells, she also had a son {Henry} who blew it all. What a family. Looking at pictures of Gram and Grandad, he always said he was of Danish stock, but he looks like Italian to me, who knows, he did have that black curly hair {er hem, like me? LL}. Anyway, their mother made a killing in Alaska, don’t know where the loot went. I would love to go up there someday and see if the house {the mansion in PA} is still there.
Bill was only about age 20 when his father passed away. Doris’ mother died young 42 in a car wreck when Doris was only 16. So, those two people have “teenager” kinds of memories, and they never really had much opportunity to go back later as mature adults to re-question or verify any of it. While they are “first person” reports, I take them with quite a few grains of salt. Bill recalled that his Father had always maintained that …whatever the heck it was that Happened to their parents … WmChas was old enough to strike out on his own when it happened. Back in those days, that could be as young as 15, no? WmChas also said that George, being much younger, was raised by their mother’s SISTER and her husband, the THURSTON’s. Hence, the different surname. This is a crucial piece of my puzzle too. “Mother’s sister”, eh? Hmmm.
WmChas had told his wife & kids that his mother died when she was young (one version) and that his father was killed in a mining explosion. George’s story contradicts this, he has their Father getting killed in some barroom brawl shoot out, after which Mother took off for Alaska. D’oih.
We also have my Dad’s Bill’s Baby Book lovingly filled in by his mother’s handwriting with a few more clues. The Tree in there…sigh…. Perlia’s line is solid & well documented (NOTE: goes back near Plymouth Rock, 1638, includes our patriot ancestor Rufus Branch, see LINK).
WmChas apparently told his wife that his father’s name was Charles William (which sounded mildly suspect to me) and his mother was Ruth METZ and so this is what she inscribed in Bill’s Book. He also claimed that he learned the art of Barbering from his mother, presumably before she ventured off to “Alaska” lol.
Armed with those “facts”, some notes and “interviews” written down in past years before my parents passed, my sister T and I decided to get digging. Two months ago. Sister T had some snow days so we figured what the heck, why not. She and I have been working in tandem on anc dot com. She’s tracking more the way back Irish (Mom) ancestrals while I am, like a dog on a bone, determined to solve this mystery that is my P/Grandfather… Wm Chas.
We started out thinking we’d just rummage around and see what we could find. My sister and I are now both thoroughly hooked. Lol. It’s become painfully obvious that this is a lifelong “hobby” now! The story of my big History Mystery is complicated and Im trying to explain it here, reveal it, in a way that makes sense. Do let me know if I bugger it up!
What I have found is…. As much as I have enjoyed the thrill of getting some answers, every answer seems to bring with it yet more questions.
So. Let’s see. Doris’ letter actually did give us “Aunt Ellen”, some place names, and we had a time range, so our first big breakthrough came from George, by way of Doris and… I FOUND him!! On the 1880 Census Record, living in the town that Doris remembered (correctly) in PA…. with his Aunt Ellen and Uncle Crawford THURSTON. George, in 1880, is listed there as their three year old nephew, name = George REYNOLDS.
REYNOLDS! Nephew!
Major goosebumps …
Now, the puzzle story begins to unravel. From there, it only took a short time to find William (“Willie”) REYNOLDS. In 1880, he was 8 years old, listed as “grandson” living with his GFa WmS REYNOLDS and GMo Ruth, in T’burg New York (yes a farm, a few miles outside of Addison).
Then, oh lookie there, right up the road a piece, on the very same Census page, theres a METZ family. Oh wait, holy crap, they have listed there as Maud REYNOLDS, age 10….. “adopted”….! WHAT?!?
The story I emailed my cousins (who don’t seem to care much, amazingly) is really an exciting one, if you get it with the blow by blow. It’s really too long to try to detail here, but trust me, it blew my mind. This has all only been uncovered in the past 6 weeks or so, and I’ll continue to pursue the various twists and turns as well as seek better sources and verifications of some of the details, if I can. But here’s the gist of it, what we have so far. (You’ll have to take my word for it, how Ive come by all this, some of it is in some 1890’s Genealogy pubs in google books and various others. Ive tried to cite all my sources in my Master Tree and am still working on nailing them all down.)
My Grandfather, the barber, was born William (Charles) REYNOLDS in Oil City PA on Feb 3 1873. He was in his mid-40's when he met my GMo (she was in her mid-30's).
His parents had three other children: Maud b. 1871; Frederick, b. 1875; and George b. 1877, all in Oil City.
Ruth METZ was in fact his step-grandmother. His bio-grandmother (Miss?) SCHOONOVER {Dutch ancestry} died 1848.
His sister (!) Maud REYNOLDS was farmed out 1880 to Step-Gmo Ruth’s brother Wm METZ.
His grandfather WmS REYNOLDS had two children with first wife before she died: Willson (Wilson) and Mary. Later, WmS remarried Ruth METZ, & they had several more kids.
WmChas’s parents were Wilson REYNOLDS (son of WmS with first wife) b. 1845, and Florence THURSTON, b. 1851 (that would make her about 80 when Cousin Doris claims to have met her when she was very young!).
Florence was the daughter of Henry THURSTON who had, with his first wife, four children: X (died as infant), Florence, Crawford and one more. Then that woman died, Henry re-married and had umpteen more kids with Wife#2. CRAWFORD THURSTON, who raised Uncle George, was my G-Grandmother’s full BROTHER. So we are THURSTON’s after all, not a ‘by marriage’ “mother’s sister” as reported. THURSTON. Wow. That was another big breakthrough.
Florence’s father Henry THURSTON ... (his mother was Dutch descent) was a Master Carpenter (with the R.R.), Crawford and later George were carpenters as well. As was my father.
I FOUND the newlyweds Wilson and Florence, no kids yet, right ages, in the 1870 Census Record for Oil City. Wilson’s Occupation: Barber.
Thud. BARBER!!
In 1880, to summarize, we have George in PA with Uncle Crawford, Willie is with P/Gfa in NY and sister Maud also in NY with Uncle METZ.
Where’s Frederick? What happened to Wilson and Flo??? Well, Im still searching for them.
Here’s your cliffhanger ... lol. I FOUND Wilson, still a barber, in 1880 in Bradford PA (boomtown) living with wife “Ella” (?!?!) and son Freddy, age 6. They all disappear after that. As does Florence.
I have searched and NOT found a lot of what you might suggest. I did find an obit 1906 for Old Man Henry but it didn’t cough up anything about Florence’s status. Two half-sibs were pallbearers and he’s buried back home. I bet theres a family plot or something and maybe Florence has a headstone there, with a death date.
Randoms finds… I've been trying to hook up with some of these half-siblings lines, in the hopes of maybe finding a Living Cousin with the geneo-bug that could have some more clues. I DID find, this is so cool, a cousin with a Tree in acc in NY on the REYNOLDS side… she is a descendent of one of Wilson’s REYNOLDS half-sibs. She has one of Ruth METZ’ sons that she has pics and details about who is ... you guessed it ... a barber!
I also FOUND sister Maud in Montana in 1892 married at age 19 or so…. MONTANA!! So my theory is that she maybe somehow possibly be our Diamond Lil. Married with three kids, her husband, in 1900 Census Rec, is a Saloon Keeper and then 1902 , he’s dead. Hmmm.
I am at a point now where Im trying to go back and organize all my stuff. The search is on hold until I do that and a few other things. But today, on my birthday, I wished to honor my birthday-mate, Uncle George.