LINSEY-MILLER: The Almira Miller - Oscar Linsey Whiteside County Records Drama

Whiteside County, Illinois

Last month, a few days after my mom died, I hit the road for a little genealogy mystery solving in
Whiteside County, Illinois, about four hours from home. I was generally, well, completely disappointed with the results of the trip.

This couple connects to people in my tree a couple different ways, as things tend to go. I'm just talking about one connection point today.

William Miller (1789-bef.1840) from England married Lorraine Fountaine (1793-1881) and lived in upstate New York. William died and Lorraine traveled with the children to Ohio, Indiana, and on to Illinois. There are a lot of blank moments. They arrived in Whiteside County in Illinois. Peace Macomber Linsey and her children, including Oscar, left Washington County, New York and also ended up there as well.

William and Lorraine's son, Edrick Miller (1816-1868) married Eleanor Flavel (1820-1880). 

Their oldest child, Almira Elizabeth Miller (1839-1924) married Oscar Linsey (1836-1916) in 1854. In about 1859, they had a son, James (or John) Franklin Linsey.

Peace Macomber seems to have died in Whiteside County - but may not have. She died in about 1884. Lorraine Fountaine, I believe died in Iowa. I am going to go to the Linn County Courthouse to suss that out imminently. I received a call this week from the sexton of the Prophetsville and Portland township cemeteries. The bad news was as I thought - there are many lost/broken stones and burials that cannot be identified. Another dead end on the burials. This would apply to Peace Macomber.

I have always believed Almira Elizabeth Miller died young as I had not found a trace of her when I first started this, but have since learned she and Oscar divorced (of course there are no records) and she remarried to Calvin Jerome Bunnell in 1866, had four more children, and died in Oregon in 1924!

So, to the things I learned on my trip. Whiteside County is deeply rural. No big towns anywhere around. The courthouse was a total bust. Here's why. Illinois didn't capture any births, deaths, or marriages, unless it was voluntary, until 1916. There are a smattering of pre-1916 records, but not a one for any of the family who moved to this area. After 1916, these certificates were required and recorded, but this is long after what I needed to find. 

I knew that the Dorathy family (who were the children and grandchildren of Oscar's sister Sarah Linsey) were long-time residents in this area. The early generations of Dorathy's were buried at the Sandy Town Cemetery in Portland Township. The folks at the courthouse hadn't even heard of the cemetery. It is home to the remains of about forty people and many of them are Dorathy's. Eureka!  There has to be a record of who is buried in all the area cemeteries (Prophetstown and Portland Townships were really of interest).

I got the name of the person responsible for the Sandy Town Cemetery from the courthouse folks. I was given both an address and a phone number. I drove forthwith to that address, which I assumed was a township office - but no, it was her house. She was a bit surprised about my showing up on her doorstep, but was as helpful as she could be. She didn't really know who kept the records of the burials, she just sold people plots in the cemeteries. She didn't know where Sandy Town Cemetery was. I have a couple leads, but nothing so far.

I also poured over the plat maps with owners available from 1872 and 1896 and don't see any of them. So not land owners, I guess? No answers thus far, but I will update if I get any.

The one good thing that happened out of this is I nailed down information on Oscar & Almira's son, who is listed as James, John, or Franklin depending on the document. I found he and his second wife buried up in Tripp County, South Dakota.  Twice widowed, he died at 93 in 1952.

Going to need to get busy and get to the Linn County Courthouse!

Mapping it Out

I do better with visuals. I tried to map out the immigrant path - still a lot of incomplete information even after all these years of work. Here is how it went down with my four sets of great-great grandparents on my dad's side.

Includes Cappoens, Meserol, Fontaine, Leroy, Miller, Linsey lines
antecedents of my paternal grandfather, Leo Linsey
(Click to enlarge)

Abraham Owens and Zachariah Holler. This family joined with the Miller family with the marriage
of David Owens and Sarah Holler. This is the paternal side of my grandfather Leo Linsey's family.

UNK Smull immigrant who was father to Brush Valley, PA's Brothers Smull. The Quaker Cooper's of Pennsylvania and the Quaker Beams family of Whitley County, Kentucky joined  with the marriage of William Lloyd
Cooper and Elizabeth Beams. This family  joined the Smull family with  the marriage
of Johnathan Smull and Mary Jane Cooper, maternal 2GG of my grandmother Verlie Smith Michaelsen Linsey.

James Smith is the earliest located Smith originally believed to be from Monmouth, NJ
The Munson family goes back to Munson immigrant who arrive in Connecticut in 1637. Grant County, Wisconsin
was the site of the joining of the Munson and Smith families when William Custer Smith
married Mary Ann Munson. This is my maternal grandmother Verlie Smith Michaelsen Linsey's paternal grandparents.