RAOGK - Martha (Pemberton) Day

Yesterday, I received the death record transcription of Martha (Pemberton) Day from Alanna in Grand Traverse County, Michigan. Martha was my 1st cousin 4 times removed. She was the daughter of my 3rd great-grandfather's younger brother, Charles Pemberton.

Prior to getting her death record transcription, I had calculated that Martha was born about 1890, probably in St. Clair County, Michigan. Her birth date has been determined from her age of 4 on the 1894 State of Michigan census and her age of 18 on her 1908 marriage record. What's somewhat unusual is that she was only 10 years old in 1900 but is not enumerated with her parents on the 1900 U.S. census.

Martha married Carl Day, son of Jason Day and Alice Renslow, 10 Feb 1908 in Kalkaska, Kalkaska, Michigan. They had a son, Floyd A. "Forrest" Day, about 1910. Carl and Martha are found on the 1910 census in Rapid River, Kalkaska, Michigan. Carl was age 25 and was working as a farmer. Martha was age 20 and had given birth to one child who was no longer living.

In 1920 Martha was a patient at the Traverse City State Hospital in Traverse City, Grand Traverse, Michigan. After doing some Google searches, I found that the Traverse City State Hospital was founded in 1885 as the Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane. It expanded greatly between 1887 and 1903 and became the city's largest employer. The first superintendent of the hospital, Dr. James Decker Munson, who was there from 1885 to 1924, was progressive for his time and did not believe in strait jackets or any of the traditional treatments in many mental hospitals at that time. He believed in "work therapy" and the "beauty is therapy" treatments. Here is a recent photo of the hospital. I found Carl Day, and son Floyd, age 9, living in Rapid River, Kalkaska, Michigan, in 1920. Floyd was probably named for Martha's younger brother, Floyd Wesley Pemberton.

In 1930 Martha was still living at the hospital. Carl C. Day and Floyd A. Day were still living in Rapid River township. Floyd was age 19 and working as a laborer. Carl was still a farmer, and this time his marital status was given as divorced.

I became very intrigued by Martha, considering she was the first ancestor I had found living in a mental hospital. I started searching for more records and found an obit on the Kalkaska County message board at Rootsweb for Forrest A. Day. It was from a 1938 edition of the Kalkaska Leader and said that Forrest Day, age 25, a farmer from Kalkaska County, had died when his car skidded on slushy pavement, hit a guard rail, and rolled down a 20 foot embankment. His father, Carl Day, age 52, had saved his own life by jumping out of the car just before it hit the guard rail. Forrest was survived by a wife and two children, Helen, age 2, and Carl, age 4. This Forrest must have been the same as Floyd. I'm not sure if Forrest was a nickname or the paper just misprinted the name.

Now I was really saddened for this family. Martha was insitutionalized, presumably for a mental illness, and now her only surviving child, Floyd (aka Forrest) had died tragically at age 25 in a car accident, leaving two young children behind. I really felt bad for Carl, who not only had "lost" his wife to mental illness, but had unexpectedly and tragically lost his son. I also remembered at this point that Martha's two younger brothers, Floyd Wesley and Jeremiah Pemberton had died in 1919 and 1918, respectively, due to injuries and illnesses contracted during their military service in WWI. This had to be somewhat close to the time that Martha was put in the mental facility (she must have gone to the hospital sometime between 1910 and 1920). Did she have a mental breakdown at this point? She may have been close to Floyd, as she seems to have named her son after him.

Some of my questions were answered when Alanna sent me this transcription:

Local file # 36

Died at Traverse City State Hospital, Traverse City, Grand Traverse County, Michigan, length of stay 36 years 4 months 2 days

Usual residence: Mancelona, Kalkaska, Michigan- Rapid River Township

Martha Day

died 22 Jan 1955 at 1219 am, female, white, divorced 64 years old
Occupation: housewife

b. 25 Jan 1890 in Michigan
Father: Charles Pemberston

mother Blanche Poole

husband Carl Day

informant- hospital records

Cause of death- deahydration, duration 4 days and gastroenteritis 8 days

contributing factors not directly related to death: arteriosclerotic heart disease unknown duration; dementia preaecox duration 40 years

no autopsy performed

burial 24 Jan 1955 Fairview Cemetery, Mancelona, Michigan

I looked up dementia preaecox on Wikipedia and found that it was the name of schizophrenia before the term "schizophrenia" was coined. What was really great info was the length of stay in the hospital: 36y, 4m, 2d. This gives her an entry date of September 20, 1918, into the hospital. This was 1 1/2 months before Jeremiah died in France on 3 Nov 1918 and a little over two months before the family heard of his death on 29 Nov 1918. It was well before Floyd Wesley Pemberton died in France on 7 May 1919. Assuming she truly was schizophrenic, this was probably the real reason she was institutionalized, and not a mental breakdown due to the tragic death of two brothers. But what a tragedy for the family to "lose" a daughter and two sons in such a short time frame. The family had also lost a daughter, Mary (Pemberton) Baker, age 30, in 1917 due to tuberculosis.

Again, I would like to thank Alanna for finding this death record for me. It has really helped me to understand why Martha was institutionalized. Now my mind can move on to other mysteries!

RAOGK - Elva M. (Pemberton) Harriman Lerch

In a previous post on RAOGK, I mentioned that I was eagerly awaiting the obituary of my 2nd great-grandaunt, Elva M. (Pemberton) Harriman Lerch. She was the older sister of my great-great-grandfather, Lovell Hugh Pemberton.

According to her father's Civil War pension file, Elva M. Pemberton was born 30 Sep 1873, probably in Almont, Lapeer, Michigan, to John Pemberton and Mary Ann Coombs. She married John Lawrence Harriman, son of James C. Harriman and Catherine Crandall, on 11 Sep 1895 in New Baltimore, Macomb, Michigan.

Lawrence and Elva Harriman are found living next to John and Mary Pemberton, Elva's parents, on the 1900 U.S. Census in New Haven, Lenox Township, Macomb, Michigan. Lawrence was working as a house painter. They had one son, Lynn Harriman, age 3, born Oct 1896 in Michigan. According to Lynn's birth record, he was born 12 Oct 1896 in Lenox, Macomb, Michigan.

In 1910, I found Elva living with her younger sister, Myrtle, and Myrtle's husband, Hayes Wheeler Finkle (who was also Elva and Myrtle's first cousin -- Hayes' mother was Eliza Jane Pemberton, sister of the girls' father, John Pemberton). They were all living at 2322 Forestdale Avenue in Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio. Also in the household were two of Hayes' brothers, Jerry and Roy Finkle, and Elva's sons, Lynn and Hayes Harriman. Hayes Harriman was presumably named after his uncle, Hayes Finkle. Elva's marital status was given as divorced. Lynn, enumerated as "Lind," was age 13 and Hayes was age 8. According to Hazen Jesse Harriman's (aka Hayes) birth record, he was born 4 Oct 1901 in New Haven, Macomb, Michigan.

In 1920, Elva was living at 136 Main Street in Toledo, Lucas, Ohio with both of her sons, "Linn" and "Haden." Lynn was age 23, and Hayes was age 18. Both were laborers for a bridge company. This time Elva's marital status was given as widowed. I know she was divorced from John Lawrence Harriman because I've found his second marriage to a woman named Charlotte Grinnell in April 1910 in Detroit. I wonder if Elva married someone else after Lawrence and became a widow. She was still enumerated as a Harriman on the 1920 census record, though, so it's possible the census taker made a mistake on the marital status.

In 1930, Elva was still living in Toledo, this time as a boarder in the home of widower George P. Lerch at 337 Canal Street. With further research, I discovered that George was the widower of Elva's first cousin, Cordelia May Fink (daughter of Jacob Fink and Elmira Pemberton, John Pemberton's sister). I could not seem to find a death record for Elva Harriman in either Ohio or Michigan, but I found a death record for an Elva M. Lerch from 1941 at the OHS's online death index. I ordered it for $7.00, and sure enough, Elva had married George P. Lerch, likely some time between her 1930 and her death in 1941. Here is the death record below:

This week, Mark from Ohio mailed me a copy of her obit that he obtained from the OHS library/archives in Columbus.

Mrs. Elva M. Harriman Lerch, 58, of 933 South Avenue, died today in her home following an illness of several weeks.

A resident of Toledo many years, she belonged to South Side Cassel Rebekah Lodge No. 675. Surviving are her husband, George P. Lerch; sons, Lynn Harriman and Hazen Harriman, Detroit; sister, Mrs. Myrtle Hendrickson, Cleveland; brothers, Lovell Pemberton, Lexington, Mich., and Burton Pemberton, Los Angeles, Calif.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday in the Bolander Funeral Home. Burial will be in Toledo Memorial Park Cemetery.

Mark also kindly found her death record for me and sent some info about her son Lynn's WWI service. I would like to thank Mark very much for his kindness.

RAOGK Musings

I've recently become a volunteer for RAOGK (Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness) over at www.raogk.org. For those of you who don't know, RAOGK is a lookup service for which you can volunteer or from which you can find volunteers who will do one or two lookups for you if you live far away from your ancestal homelands. RAOGK suggests that you only ask for a lookup of one or two names in one or two records per month, considering that these people are volunteers and are not being paid for their time. As a volunteer, however, you can request reimbursement for copy fees, parking, mileage, and postage, and you are only obligated to do one lookup per month. In addition to becoming a volunteer, I also used RAOGK for the first time this month to request a lookup from other volunteers.

I helped Joyce in Texas find the death record of her ancestor, Stella Cuccia, at the Louisiana State Archives where I live in Baton Rouge. I also helped Clarence find three death records for his Jones ancestors at the archives. I tried to find an obituary for Stella in the special collections at Hill Memorial Library at LSU but was unsuccessful.

Joe in Muskegon, Michigan, helped me find the obituary and death record for my third great-grandaunt, Hannah Winters. Hannah's husband, William Thomas Pemberton, was the younger brother of my third great-grandfather, John Pemberton. Hannah died 9 Feb 1925 in Muskegon, Muskegon, Michigan, at age 72y, 10m, 15d. Her age suggests a birth date of 25 Mar 1852, and her birthplace was given as Canada in both the death record and obit. The death record provided the names of her parents, Isaac H. Winters and Mary Crisner, both born in Canada. This was very exciting news, as I did not have the names of her parents or their birthplaces. Below is her obituary and with a transcription.

Mrs. Hannah Jane Pemberton, aged 72 years, died at 11:59 a.m., Monday, at her home, 1??8 Washington avenue, after a lingering illness. She was born in Canada, March 25, 1852. She formerly resided at Sault Ste. Marie for fifteen years, coming from there to Muskegon three years ago. Her husband, William Thomas Pemberton, died about ten years ago.

Mrs. Pemberton is survived by seven sons, Walter S., Martin R., and William T. Pemberton, all of Sault Ste. Marie; Henry I., Leslie, and Albert W. Pemberton, of Muskegon; Brott Pemberton, of South Branch, Mich.; two daughters, Mrs. Irves Johnson, of Muskegon, and Mrs. David Barrus, of Sheldrich, Mich., one sister, Mrs. J.M. Robertson, Algonac, Mich., and a brother, Hiram Winters, of Algonac.

The funeral will be held at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Clock funeral home. Rev. J.R. Estes, pastor of the First Baptist church, will officiate. The body will be taken to South Branch, Mich., for interment.

Here is her transcribed death record from the Muskegon County Clerk's office in Muskegon:

Death Record, Liber 5, Page 116, Record 2775

PEMBERTON, Hannah Jane

Date of Death: 9 February 1925

Place of Death: Muskegon, Michigan

Female

White

Widowed

Age: 72 years, 10 months, 15 days

Cause: Carcinoma of the Stomach

Birthplace: Canada

Occupation: Housewife

Father: Isaac H. Winters, birthplace is Canada

Mother: Mary Crisner, birthplace is Canada

Recorded in the Liber on 14 March 1925

Mark in Worthington, Ohio, found the obituary of my 2nd great-grandaunt, Elva M. (Pemberton) Harriman Lerch, at the Ohio Historical Society's archives in Columbus. Elva died 19 Feb 1941 in Toledo, Lucas, Ohio. I'm anxiously awaiting it in the mail.

Judy in Lansing, Michigan, found the obituary of my great-grandmother, Jennie Grace Christina (Plaine) Currie, wife of Archie Currie. Jennie died on 24 Dec 1937 in Marlette, Sanilac, Michigan. It was located in the Brown City Banner on 6 Jan 1938, p. 6, col. 2, "Neighborhood News - Omard." She found this at the Library of Michigan. Here is a transcription below:

Funeral services for Mrs. Archie Currie were held Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. at the Elk Presbyterian Church with burial in the Omard Cemetery.

Jean Plane was born at Newberry, Ontario, May 9, 1902, the youngest daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Robert Plane. She spent her young life at Newbury. In August 1924 she was united in marriage to Archie Currie of Flynn township where she resided afterwards.

She was stricken with appendicitis on December 20th and taken to the Marlette hospital and operated on, and she was improving nicely when she suddenly passed away at 11:30 p.m. December 24th.

She leaves to mourn their loss: her husband, a daughter, Violet, 8 years old, a sister, Mrs. Russell Curtis of Windsor, Ont., two brothers: Wm. Plane of Mt. Brydges, Ontario, Howard Plane of Dresden, Ont. A son Howard and daughter Helena preceded her in death.

Rev. A.G. Howat, pastor of Presbyterian Church of which she was a member officiated. The floral offerings were beautiful and the family have the sympathy of the community.

I never knew about the appendicitis. I always thought she died of an aneurysm, though her death record, on second examination, says she died of a heart attack (coronary thrombosis).

I'm also eagerly awaiting the lookup of the death record of my 1st cousin 4 times removed, Martha (Pemberton) Day, by Alanna in Grand Traverse County, Michigan. Martha was enumerated as a patient in the Traverse City State Hospital in the 1920 and 1930 census records, so I'm curious what her death record will reveal about her mental state.

Lesa in San Bernardino County, California has said she would look up the obit of my first cousin once removed, Walter Frederick Arnold. Walter died tragically at the age of 14 in 1964 in Fontana, San Bernardino, California, when his motorbike that he had had received for his birthday collided with a car.

That is all I have to report on RAOGK at the moment. I encourage all to use RAOGK as both a volunteer and as a resource for your research.