Question

My questions: ID personnel of the EMCC who are not living now.

Comments

Hi Eddie!  I made a free space page i think: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Photo_of_City_Mission_Workers

These two profiles should be connected with it:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shantz-971 and her sister https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shantz-970, if I'm understanding James correctly.  

I can't figure out how to make the connection between the free space and the profiles.  Can you help?

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James, what are the copyright issues on that photo?  Can we put the actual photo on WikiTree?

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@ Shirlea -- I added the space page link to those two profiles.  You can move it anywhere in the  biography you want it.  You can also copy the link for other profiles.

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Thanks, Melanie!

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I would add the profile IDs to the space page text box, as well, not just in comments.

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Sorry I had to drop out; it was my turn to make supper.

Copyright on the city mission workers photo is held by the Missionary Church Historical Trust, of which I am a trustee and curator. The Mennonite Archives of Ontario copied a number of our digital photos with permission a few years ago. What are the implications of giving Wikitree members authority to add the photo to the pages?

The MCHT only has a demonstration website so far; I am grateful to the MAO for the collaboration.

I go by my middle name, Clare, just to confuse you!

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@ Clare - if you grant Wikitree permission to repost the photograph, we would need to know how you prefer the citation to read.

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Also, if allowed, the image could be cropped to the individual faces, so those could be added to profiles as created.

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Let me talk with my fellow trustees. I don't see any great problem with posting the main phot and cropped individuals, instead it should generate more interest. Thanks for the clarification, Melanie, and Eddie King. Thanks, Shirlea.

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Hi Clare!  Is this Olive Bryant Cressman the same person as the lady in your photo?  If so, i will link her to the photo as well.  Just let me know.

Answer 1

Sounds good, Clare.  What city was the church located in?  

I am familiar with Canadian records, and this is a good time frame.   Probably we can find something.

edit: this member's preferred given name is Clare rather than James.

Comments

Have you found census records for any of the other girls in the photo?  They may have had similar life paths, so that is worth understanding.

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Was Carson a common Mennonite name in the area?  I would not have thought so.

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Just for fun, i have started a profile for Solomon Eby, the leader of the Mennonite Brethern in Christ in Canada.  Trying to get a sense of the group overall.  

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I have been working through all the city mission women I have any notice of in the Conference Journals of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Ontario Conference from 1884 to about 1950. Some were well known. I have a list of well over 100. I have been collecting anything I can about them. I am up to letter H, in searching Canada census returns about them.

Answer 2

Clare, is this the photo?

https://ontariomennonitehistory.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/city_mission_workers_1900.jpg

edit: this member's preferred given name is Clare rather than James.

Comments

Yes this is it. It is from 1908, as my email of moments ago explains. Carson is in the second row from the front, third from the left, however you count the rows. There is another photo from 1900, the very first one we know of the only photographic record we have of many of these women.

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Some of the ladies have what appear to be square metal items decorating their collars, and some don't.  

What are these decorations and what do they signify?

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Do you know anything about the ladies that Miss Carson is standing with?  Long shot, but they might be her friends and she might have married their brothers or they might have married hers, so i would like to check into them.

Answer 3

hi Clare! Just wondering if you have already checked Mennonite baptism and marriage records without finding any Carsons.

edit: this member's preferred given name is Clare rather than James.

Comments

Thanks!  By following up a little on Diana Shantz, i was able to get Ancestry to reveal a source called 

Ancestry.com. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S., Mennonite Vital Records, 1750-2014 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Genealogical Card File. Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

It lists 51 records related to Mennonites and Mennonite relatives with the family name Carson.  Some are in Canada; also, Canada was not that far away.

I'll check them out.

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Yes, she's the one. Her sister Elminda, also in the CMW, married a Norman Young and lived in Startford, but Diana never seems to have married.

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Hi Clare!  Is Elminda in the photo?

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Yes, she is 6th from the left on the third row from the front. Her glasses have a glare on one lens, unfortunately.

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Thanks!  

I just added a source for her marriage to Mr Young.

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Meanwhile, I don't mind listing all the women in the photograph, and the society president. I will list them from left to right and begin at the front to the back. There are a few ambiguities about which row some are in. I'll try to be clear. I will also give what I know about married names. Some I suspect I do not know yet.

Front Row: 1 Diana Shantz 2 Jessie E Peard 3 Olive Bryant Cressman 4 Melinda Devitt 5 Jennie Little 6 Rebecca Hostetler 7 Clara Brubacher Wood

2nd row: 1 Mary Kesselring Reinhardt 2 Annie Srigley 3 Miss Carson 4 Margaret Neill 5 Samantha Cober Waldron 6 Edith Evans Sherk 7 Hattie Thompson Dunlop 8 Maude McClelland

3rd row: 1 Jessie Mitchell 2 Emma Block 3 E Foote 4 Mary Dunnington 5 Annie Bowman 6 Elminda Shantz Young 7 Minerva Scheifele (down a step). Her last name is misspelled a lot, but this is the best form.

4th row: Susie Bowman 2 Martha Doner 3 Edna Jacobson Whitehorn 4 Louise Holmes 5 Mariah Parr 6 Elder (=Rev) John H Kitching. Susie and Annie Bowman are also sisters. Susie died in 1910.

The MCHT has better photos of some of these women.

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Thanks!  

Since the rows are a little jumbly, there might be a way to use the silhouettes and number them, or something...

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I found enough info to start a profile for Annie Melissa Srigley, raised as a Dunkard. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Srigley-53

 I see her birth reg - definitely 1884.

I see her enumerated with her family of origin in 1891 and in 1901.  Then i see her again in 1921 with her brother Melvin.

But i'd like to find her in 1911 to see what her situation is and whether it might give any clues to what to look for regarding Miss Carson.

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I have to call it a night, but will look again tomorrow

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Thanks all. It has been very interesting.

Answer 4

Hi Clare!  Welcome to WikiTree!  I am sure you can see our g2g is full of friendly and helpful people.

You might want to upgrade, if you plan to add, or edit, profiles and free space pages.  Just go to your profile and click Upgrade near the words Guest Member, then answer five questions.  There is no cost!

You could also set Clare as your preferred name.

Good luck with finding and researching all those women.

Wendy

Answer 5

Hi Clare and everyone!  Just thought i'd check in and let you know that i'm still working on this - i'm down a nice fun little rabbit hole looking at the Carson connections among the Mennonites in Lancaster Penn.  

It looks like there might be a lot of family connections among the group that went with Solomon Eby to become the MBiC.

Cheers

Shirlea