Will the Real Charles Follet Please Stand Up?

As you've most likely noticed, I dropped the ball majorly with the 52 Ancestors thing.  I did get a few done, but life intervened.

While I'm no longer doing the 52 Ancestors challenge, I will keep blogging about genealogy periodically. Perhaps someone reading will see something or notice something that will help me break through some brick walls.

One such "Brick Wall" is a man named Charles Follett.  I've got a fairly well documented life for Charles once he's in the US, but where he came from is the mystery.  Here is what I know:

Charles was born in / around 1859 in either England or Ireland. 

According to a Chicago Voter's Registration list from October 25, 1892, Charles had lived at his place of residence in the city (2031 Prairie Ave, Chicago) for 1/2 a year, the state for 10 years, and the country for 10 years.  This places his arrival in the US around 1882.

Interestingly, Charles declared on the voters registration form that he was a citizen, but he didn't ACTUALLY officially become naturalized until four days later on October 29, 1892 in the Cook County Criminal Courts.

His naturalization records are incomplete as the County and Federal Court archives in Chicago only have his Declaration of Intent and his Final Oath paperwork.  The petition document (which would have arrival dates, family names, etc.) no longer exists according to the archives.

Another interesting quirk in the dates shows that he filed his Declaration of Intent to become a citizen on the 13th of October, 1890. This date is also the same day as his marriage to Norah Sullivan.

I'm not going to focus on Charles's children, as those dates are detailed on Norah's biography linked to above.

Charles died in 1898 of acute pneumonia. His death certificate states that his occupation was a Coachman and that he had been in the US for 16 years. (Again, putting his arrival in the U.S. around 1882.)

I have not been able to find any passenger lists or immigration documents for Charles.

Picture from Flickr of 1898 Chicago

The tl;dr (too long; didn't read) of the above is this:

Charles Follett - born 1859 in England or Ireland
no immigration information.
Came to the US approximately 1882.
Married: 13 Oct 1890 (Chicago)
Registered to Vote: 25 Oct 1892 (Chicago)
Naturalized: 29 Oct 1892 (Chicago)
Occupation: Coachman (Chicago)
Died: 1 Nov 1898 (Chicago)

I thought that I might try and "go around" the sticky wicket of his immigration and try and find Charles in the UK prior to 1882.  So I spent several days searching the UK census records from 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891 for all of the Charles Folletts that I could find.  Why these dates?

Since Charles was born in approximately 1859, the 1861 census would be the first one where he would appear.  The 1871 census would put him at about 11 years old, and the 1881 census would be the last one where he would appear in England or Ireland seeing as how he moved to the U.S. in 1882.  So why search the 1891 census?  So I could trace all the Charles Folletts and rule out the ones who are still in England or Ireland in 1891.

Click here to see my chart (on Google Docs)

The blank "holes" in the chart are where I couldn't find individuals in the census records.  From this, I'm about 90% certain that Charles Follett number 1 in the chart is my guy. His father was a coachman and he worked as a groom. He was born in the right year, and disappeared from the census records at the right time.  His mother's name was Sarah and my Charles named his first daughter Sarah.

My problem is, that I can't connect him to the Charles Follett in the US. I just don't have the immigration documents to "prove" well enough in my mind that this is the right guy. I don't want to "waste" the time researching him further and then find out down the road that he's not the right guy.  My husband (the non-genealogist who doesn't have an interest in doing family history work) seems to think I should claim him as mine, but I'm just not sure.  What do you all think?

Charles Follett is my Great-Great Grandfather on my mother's side.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #10 - Nora Sullivan

This is #10 in a Genealogy Blog Challenge issued by Amy Johnson Crow over on her blog "No Story Too Small." The challenge is to write 52 blog posts on 52 ancestors throughout 2014.

Nora Sullivan (or O'Sullivan depending on the documents) was born around 1867 in Ireland somewhere.  Her father's name was Daniel Sullivan and her mother's name was Julia Connor, according to the information provided by her daughter on Nora's death certificate.

At some point in her life, Nora traveled to the United States, eventually landing in Chicago, IL before marrying Charles Follett (profiled here).  They were married on the 13th of November, 1890 at St. Malachy's church in Chicago. Theirs was a mixed marriage. One was Catholic, the other wasn't. As of this time, I don't know who was which though I can harbor a guess. The paperwork and information that we currently have hints that Charles was from England where most likely he was Anglican / Church of England.  Nora, from Ireland, has a much stronger chance of being Catholic.

Charles and Nora lived at 2301 Prairie Ave, in Chicago for many years. Their two oldest daughters, Sarah Ellen and Mae Hazel were born there in 1891 and 1893 respectively.

UK Incoming Passenger List

UK Outgoing Passenger List

Interestingly, their third daughter, Catherine (Kitty) was born in Ireland in October of 1897. For a long time, I was unable to reconcile that. However, I think I may have found some evidence for this. Nora and two children are listed on a UK Incoming passenger list arriving in Southampton, England on the 27th of May, 1897. Later, there is a Nora Follett with three children (two children, one infant) on a UK Outward Passenger list leaving Queenstown, Ireland for New York on the 27th of March 1898.  The only hesitation is that both times, one of the children is listed as either being "John" or "Jacob."  However, the other names, and ages, match up.

I wish that I had birth information other than a Census record for Catherine. Knowing where she was born would help me locate Nora's family in Ireland. 

8 months after Nora and the children returned from Ireland, Charles Follett died, leaving Nora to raise three girls alone. As far as I have been able to tell, Nora and Charles had no family in Chicago.  I am unable to tell how Nora provided for her family until some of the later census records.

In 1910, Nora is not working. Her daughter Sarah is a stenographer in a law-office, and Mae is a hair-dresser.  They are living at 3100 E. 31st street in the South Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago. A 1913 Chicago directory has Nora and family living at 3732 Cottage Grove Ave in the Bronzeville neighborhood.  By 1920, Nora is living as a servant in the home of a man named James Esson in Wilmette, IL.

Nora died on the 18th of August, 1921 at the home of her daughter, Catherine.  Her job with the Esson's having not apparently lasted very long as Nora's occupation is listed as being a "housewife."  She was buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

My husband and I made a trip there to find her grave. Her gravestone had sunk below the level of the ground and we had to pull away a thick mat of grass in order to find it.


Nora is a 2nd great grandmother on my mother's side.