Who Were You, Grandma Carrie
OR
Learning By My Mistakes
Submitted by GFS Jill@aol.com

Was she a FRANCISCO or a PIGSLEY? Was she a bride for a second time at the age of eighteen, or was her marriage to my great-grandfather her first? Was she born in Minnesota as several US census tables claim, or was she born in Iowa? Was she adopted? Would I be further along in my family research if I had cited my sources and looked at original documents from the very beginning?

These questions and more continue to plague me as I seek to fill in the remaining blanks in my five-generation chart. I have pages copied from a family Bible that list a couple generations of Franciscos and LAURANCEs, but no Carrie. I have a short newspaper* obituary from the end of February 1918 in Whitehall, Michigan, that names her as "Mrs. Wheeler SYERS." What was her maiden name and who were her people? The answers are out there somewhere!

According to the age given on her death record she was born July 28, 1867. After her marriage to Wheeler Syers in "approximately 1885" (of which, by the way, I have yet to find any record) she is found with her husband and children settled down in Blue Lake Township, Muskegon County, Michigan. The informant in each subsequent census year states that she was born in Minnesota but her parents were born in Michigan. (One of those cases for backwards migration!) The event of which I am most certain is her death. I have seen her grave site as well as her obituary and they jibe with oral family history.

In the death record index* for Muskegon County I found three young Syers children. Little Bentley Bell Syers was just seven months old when she died of "brain trouble" in Holton Township. Her parents were Wheeler Syers and "Cora B. Syers." (Carrie was sometimes spelled Cary also.) In 1898, little Emma Syers, also of Holton, died as a result of burns at the age of four years. Her parents are listed as Wheeler Syers and "Carrie Pigsley." Finally, there was a baby named Edith Syers who died of "gastritus," according to the death record, at just 21 days. Her parents were Wheeler Syers and "Carrie Pigsly." Unless Wheeler was married to more than one wife at the same time (and we don't believe he was because in newspaper articles he was called an "outstanding citizen" and well-known and respected in the community), the mother in all three cases was the same.

Here is where I made the first of several mistakes: when I first started filling in my pedigree chart (BC, that is -- before computer) I didn't always cite my sources. I can hear you gasping -- but bear with me whilst I "fess up!" This meant that I had to go back (and I still find myself having to fill in the gaps) and retrace my steps, writing in those missing citations and trying to figure out just where I obtained certain information. Since several years have passed, it is a pain and I hope others can learn from my mistakes. Please write down the origin of each piece of vital data you find or receive, and take the time to copy or record what that source or document actually says!

The second crucial mistake (which can be more easily corrected) is that I sometimes settled for just looking at the index and didn't actually ask to see the record or get a copy made. This is what I did in the case of these little ones who died and of whom no one in my dad's family had ever heard. I can still go back and get their records, but the point here is that when doing census research I don't just stop at the Soundex or census index after I find mention of an ancestor. I go on and view the actual census sheet on microfilm. Why didn't I do the same with these vital records? Do I really want to learn more about Grandma Carrie or do I want to keep her shrouded in mystery?

To top it all off, a couple of years ago a local historian in Muskegon told me about a Joseph Francisco who lived alone and was found dead in his home in Cedar Creek Township, near Holton, Michigan in the 1880's. This, of course, isn't that unusual, but this man had an axe in his head. The woman couldn't remember where she'd read about him as she was doing Civil War research at the time. I have yet to verify the story but it does make me wonder if he was somehow related to Carrie. The mystery continues . . . .