Blanchard-2418 great x3 paternal grandmother looking for her parents' information. [closed]

Question

Letitia Blanchard married Reuben King, King-14494. Records indicate Letitia was from Michigan (frontier territory at the time!). I have found nothing on her parentage to date.

Answer 1

There are no sources on the profile, do you know where the info came from?

Comments

Hi Marion.  Thank you for your comment.  The profile was already created. I only recently joined WikiTree after connecting with a fourth cousin via a DNA match on FamilyTree DNA. He recommended I check out WikiTree. I'm in the process of adding to what was here and linking my family tree to it.

95% of all my work is on FamilySearch. I'm in the process of bringin my boatload of references over here, but it's a slow process.

In one of the children's marriage records it shows Letitia as having been born in Michigan. I believe I have one or two other records which note Michigan. With a name like Blanchard, it's possible her parents were part of New France which was absorbed into the U.S. with the Louisiana Purchase. I've noticed there was a lot of back and forth of people between Michigan and Ontario at that time.

Answer 2

Looking for her parentage but haven't found it yet. Some sources to backup what you have

• 1861 Census of Victoria Ontario: http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1861/Pages/results.aspx?k=cnsSurname%3a%22king%22+AND+cnsGivenName%3a%22let*%22+AND+cnsProvinceCode%3a%22CW%22
• if you search on FamilySearch, a number of birth records for their children show up
• a child's death record does indicate mother born in USA: "Ontario Deaths, 1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DBT7-GXQ?cc=1307826&wc=3LV5-K68%3A1584243504%2C1584269001%2C1584270602 : 19 May 2015), Deaths > 1925 > no 23014-26157 > image 516 of 1590; citing Registrar General. Archives of Ontario, Toronto.

In this time period, New York births are notoriously difficult to find and likely don't exist. Probate records are really all you have and you may need to do what my wife did -- read through every probate for a Blanchard. Same with Michigan. The profile lists New York but you say Michigan.

Have you been through the digitized but not indexed films for Ontario records on FamilySearch? There are marriage records. These usually give where the two were from. I haven't looked at Michigan but there may be similar records. This may require going through page by page to find them.

Comments

Thanks, Doug. Yes, 95% of all my research has been on FamilySearch and that's where my records and sources are. I only recently came to WikiTree on recommendation after connecting with a fourth cousin via a FamilyTreeDNA match.  I already have the 1861 Census document with her and Reuben. I have their marriage documentation, too. You and I are on the same wavelength for research.

As I noted to Marion, there appears to have been a lot of back and forth of people (and other family members/descendants) between the area that became Michigan and lower Ontario in the early to mid-1800s when the borders weren't so fixed. It's possible her parents were New France residents, too, pre-Louisiana purchase.

I agree, it may be time to do a page by page scanning of records that have yet to be indexed. Thanks!

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I didn't find anything of use on Ancestry.

I would do some additional searching in the Canadian Archives (bat-lac.gc.ca) and see what resources the Ontario Archives suggest (http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/tracing/the_records.aspx)

Possible New France, but Blanchard is also an early New England name and there were also Blanchards in New Jersey before 1700 (I have Blanchard ancestors from 1600s in Massachusetts and New Jersey.The latter line still to be proven.)

The page by page research can be tedious but you may also find interesting things you weren't looking for.

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Thanks, Doug.  Yes, I'm using the Canadian Archives site, too. Awesome resource, since they have indexes and images of the census microfilms and FamilySearch only has the index files.

And now, serendipity - as McCallum is my paternal grandmother's maiden name. I have not done as deep research on that side of the family. Blanche Florence McCallum was my paternal grandmother, daughter of Eugene N McCallum (b 1884) and Florence Kelsey (b 1883).  I have located Eugene's 1905 S. Dakota census card (father born in Maine, mother in Vermont), and Florence in her family's 1900 census in Missouri. That's as far back as I've gone so far. Oh, and I've found one sister for Eugene, Violet, likely born in 1897, as she was 8 years old in 1905 in S. Dakota.

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If you can get your McCallum line to before Maine and have it into New Brunswick, there is a chance we are related. My own line was in New Brunswick from mid-1700s onward. My grandparents came to the USA in 1929 but a few others moved to Maine and other New England states at various times.