David Tannock is far and away the most interesting ancestor I have found to date. He was born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, probably April 1, 1848. His birth record seems to have been lost to the ages, although his sisters’ records are both available. Kilmarnock is best known for publishing Robert Burn’s first book and for Johnnie Walker Scotch. Barbara Hamilton was born on July 18, 1848 in Dundonald, a small town east of Kilmarnock.
David and Barbara married in 1869 in Glasgow, Scotland; in the marriage record David is noted to be a Master Baker and Barbara is a Sewing Machinist. David was 21 years old and he seems young to have achieved the level of master. He had already moved from Kilmarnock to the ‘big city’ however, and was destined to travel and work in an ever-growing bakery business in the industrial age.
In the 1871 Scotland census David is listed in Glasgow as a Fancy Biscuit Maker! Soon after, he and Barbara moved to Edinburgh with their daughter Mary. Their first child, William, was also born in Glasgow, on February 25, 1870 but died soon after birth of Imperfect Vitality.
In Edinburgh, they would have four more children: John Walter, born in 1873; Barbara Hamilton (named for her mother), born August 27, 1875 and died that same year, in December of whooping cough convulsions; Catherine Neilson, born 1877 and David, born in 1879.
In 1881, David is unemployed in Edinburgh and he may have decided to try the ‘New World’ across the ocean, although I haven’t found his passenger record. Barbara followed later, as she sailed alone with five children on the ship ‘State of Florida’, arriving on April 1, 1882 and processing through New York’s Castle Garden. Baby Walter was less than a year old!
Barbara and baby Walter died just a few months after arriving and they are buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, near Albany, New York. Walter died of pneumonia at ‘Baby’s Nursery’ in Albany; no record of the cause of death for Barbara has been found. Her health may have been compromised on the journey.
Matilda Bell was living with her sister, Alida on Madison Avenue in Albany, working as dressmakers. She was 30 years old. David married Matilda on February 7, 1883 and they lived at 185 Second, Albany, New York. With four children to care for, a step-mother must have been critical!
That same year David applied for naturalization on July 28. He became a U.S. citizen on August 14, 1886. The resulting documents handed down generation to generation led, one hundred years later, to this ancestral quest. My grandmother, Gladys Ennis, was David’s granddaughter and she passed them to me. Three decades later, that quest continues. David’s strong, adventurous personality shines through his pictures, the documents found and his descendants.
Often David is recorded twice in a census – probably because how the questions were asked as well as how they were answered and by whom often varied. Are they asking about household members that lived in the house? Or the people that stayed over that night? Often the questions were intended to be asked about a specific day and night – April 1st, for example – but the census taker often came days or even weeks later. So it was anyone’s guess who stayed where and when sometimes!
On February 14, 1884 David is recorded as a member of the St Andrew’s Society of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) in Albany. [See the various sidebar notes for more information on these and other groups mentioned here.] He continued his involvement with IOOF in other parts of the Northeast, including New London, Connecticut and Syracuse.
David and Matilda lived in New London, Connecticut and whether they were especially involved in activities of that community or the town has passed on better records, we can look back and see more of David’s personality and interests here. Also, whenever David came to town or married or was widowed it is noted in the local newspaper, The Day. Several clippings are included here.
For example, the 1893 directory lists the local clubs and their elected officers. David is listed as the Stage Manager for the Orient Dramatic Society. In 1894 he is the Chief Ranger in the Ancient Order of Foresters. In 1895 he is Ensign of Canton Unity, Patriarchs Militant, IOOF.
In 1901 Matilda and David were living in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. That census is interesting because they ask for the religion of each individual. Matilda is listed as a Methodist… David is listed as a Spiritualist! This is the first mention of David’s interest in the supernatural. Once this is found however, other ads and articles found in local newspapers are more easily tied to David.
For example, an ad in the June 23, 1903 Philadelphia Inquirer declares:
PROF. TANNOCK, PHENOMENAL HEALER of 23 years experience, at present at 11 S 52d st., West Phila., offers his services to the afflicted who have not found relief in customery medical practice: the professor shows from hundreds of genuine testimonials in his possession what he has done and assures those who may favor him with a call a patient and conscientious consideration.
Another mention in the historical ’25 Years Ago’ section of New London’s The Day newspaper of April 6, 1928 (actual date of original printing April 10, 1903):
David Tannock, who five years before was foreman of the Boss Cracker manufactory here, was visiting his daughter, Mrs. Samuel Harris [sic Ennis]. Since his departure from this city Mr. Tannock had become a professional magnetic healer.
An ad in a newspaper on April 23, 1905 states: Will exchange genuine small fox terrier bitch for Belgian hares or what have you? D. Tannock, Orontz, Pa. One has to wonder what might have led to that ad and whether he did exchange the dog for anything!
In the 1910 and 1920 censuses David is recorded living with his daughter Catherine’s family at 5316 Yocum Street in Philadelphia, and Matilda is living with her sister Alida in Albany in 1910. However, in 1915 they are living together in Albany. It could be he was just visiting Philadelphia at the time of the census or he may have stayed with Catherine when he had business in Philadelphia. In 1917, Matilda died. The obituary found indicates Gelderland and the only place of that name I can find is in the Netherlands. However, they were more likely referring to Guilderland in Albany County, New York. Her will was probated in Albany County, although we do not have a copy of it as yet.
On July 6, 1917, David married Henrica Weenink at the First Unitarian Church in Oakland, California. Henrica was born in Holland and seems to have lived on both the East and West Coasts once she immigrated in about 1870. Her first husband, Martin Iliohan was also from Holland; they had a son, Anthony Hendrick in 1874, born in New York State.
Martin died in Yukon, Alaska – according to his burial card he committed suicide there on Christmas Eve, 1902. In 1900 he is shown living with Henrica in Oakland, California and he’s a baker, like David. Both Martin and Henrica are buried in the same cemetery as the Tannocks, in the lot owned by Hendrik Weenink. It’s possible this was Henrica’s father.
According the the newspaper announcement, Henrica and David had been friends in New York 37 years before they married in July 1917 in Oakland, California. I always wondered how there could be a David Tannock, baker, same age living in Oakland when ours was in Philadelphia! Now I know they are the same person.
Henrica is quite a strong personality in her own right. She was very involved in many civic organizations and in woman’s suffrage. An article in the Oakland Tribune at her death was subtitled “Pioneer Feminist of Country Laid to Final Rest”. She died in 1921 of gangrene of the gall bladder at the age of 71. She was cremated, as was her husband before her, and buried in Albany.
David and Barbara married in 1869 in Glasgow, Scotland; in the marriage record David is noted to be a Master Baker and Barbara is a Sewing Machinist. David was 21 years old and he seems young to have achieved the level of master. He had already moved from Kilmarnock to the ‘big city’ however, and was destined to travel and work in an ever-growing bakery business in the industrial age.
In the 1871 Scotland census David is listed in Glasgow as a Fancy Biscuit Maker! Soon after, he and Barbara moved to Edinburgh with their daughter Mary. Their first child, William, was also born in Glasgow, on February 25, 1870 but died soon after birth of Imperfect Vitality.
In Edinburgh, they would have four more children: John Walter, born in 1873; Barbara Hamilton (named for her mother), born August 27, 1875 and died that same year, in December of whooping cough convulsions; Catherine Neilson, born 1877 and David, born in 1879.
In 1881, David is unemployed in Edinburgh and he may have decided to try the ‘New World’ across the ocean, although I haven’t found his passenger record. Barbara followed later, as she sailed alone with five children on the ship ‘State of Florida’, arriving on April 1, 1882 and processing through New York’s Castle Garden. Baby Walter was less than a year old!
Barbara and baby Walter died just a few months after arriving and they are buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, near Albany, New York. Walter died of pneumonia at ‘Baby’s Nursery’ in Albany; no record of the cause of death for Barbara has been found. Her health may have been compromised on the journey.
Matilda Bell was living with her sister, Alida on Madison Avenue in Albany, working as dressmakers. She was 30 years old. David married Matilda on February 7, 1883 and they lived at 185 Second, Albany, New York. With four children to care for, a step-mother must have been critical!
That same year David applied for naturalization on July 28. He became a U.S. citizen on August 14, 1886. The resulting documents handed down generation to generation led, one hundred years later, to this ancestral quest. My grandmother, Gladys Ennis, was David’s granddaughter and she passed them to me. Three decades later, that quest continues. David’s strong, adventurous personality shines through his pictures, the documents found and his descendants.
Often David is recorded twice in a census – probably because how the questions were asked as well as how they were answered and by whom often varied. Are they asking about household members that lived in the house? Or the people that stayed over that night? Often the questions were intended to be asked about a specific day and night – April 1st, for example – but the census taker often came days or even weeks later. So it was anyone’s guess who stayed where and when sometimes!
On February 14, 1884 David is recorded as a member of the St Andrew’s Society of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) in Albany. [See the various sidebar notes for more information on these and other groups mentioned here.] He continued his involvement with IOOF in other parts of the Northeast, including New London, Connecticut and Syracuse.
David and Matilda lived in New London, Connecticut and whether they were especially involved in activities of that community or the town has passed on better records, we can look back and see more of David’s personality and interests here. Also, whenever David came to town or married or was widowed it is noted in the local newspaper, The Day. Several clippings are included here.
For example, the 1893 directory lists the local clubs and their elected officers. David is listed as the Stage Manager for the Orient Dramatic Society. In 1894 he is the Chief Ranger in the Ancient Order of Foresters. In 1895 he is Ensign of Canton Unity, Patriarchs Militant, IOOF.
In 1901 Matilda and David were living in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. That census is interesting because they ask for the religion of each individual. Matilda is listed as a Methodist… David is listed as a Spiritualist! This is the first mention of David’s interest in the supernatural. Once this is found however, other ads and articles found in local newspapers are more easily tied to David.
For example, an ad in the June 23, 1903 Philadelphia Inquirer declares:
PROF. TANNOCK, PHENOMENAL HEALER of 23 years experience, at present at 11 S 52d st., West Phila., offers his services to the afflicted who have not found relief in customery medical practice: the professor shows from hundreds of genuine testimonials in his possession what he has done and assures those who may favor him with a call a patient and conscientious consideration.
Another mention in the historical ’25 Years Ago’ section of New London’s The Day newspaper of April 6, 1928 (actual date of original printing April 10, 1903):
David Tannock, who five years before was foreman of the Boss Cracker manufactory here, was visiting his daughter, Mrs. Samuel Harris [sic Ennis]. Since his departure from this city Mr. Tannock had become a professional magnetic healer.
An ad in a newspaper on April 23, 1905 states: Will exchange genuine small fox terrier bitch for Belgian hares or what have you? D. Tannock, Orontz, Pa. One has to wonder what might have led to that ad and whether he did exchange the dog for anything!
In the 1910 and 1920 censuses David is recorded living with his daughter Catherine’s family at 5316 Yocum Street in Philadelphia, and Matilda is living with her sister Alida in Albany in 1910. However, in 1915 they are living together in Albany. It could be he was just visiting Philadelphia at the time of the census or he may have stayed with Catherine when he had business in Philadelphia. In 1917, Matilda died. The obituary found indicates Gelderland and the only place of that name I can find is in the Netherlands. However, they were more likely referring to Guilderland in Albany County, New York. Her will was probated in Albany County, although we do not have a copy of it as yet.
On July 6, 1917, David married Henrica Weenink at the First Unitarian Church in Oakland, California. Henrica was born in Holland and seems to have lived on both the East and West Coasts once she immigrated in about 1870. Her first husband, Martin Iliohan was also from Holland; they had a son, Anthony Hendrick in 1874, born in New York State.
Martin died in Yukon, Alaska – according to his burial card he committed suicide there on Christmas Eve, 1902. In 1900 he is shown living with Henrica in Oakland, California and he’s a baker, like David. Both Martin and Henrica are buried in the same cemetery as the Tannocks, in the lot owned by Hendrik Weenink. It’s possible this was Henrica’s father.
According the the newspaper announcement, Henrica and David had been friends in New York 37 years before they married in July 1917 in Oakland, California. I always wondered how there could be a David Tannock, baker, same age living in Oakland when ours was in Philadelphia! Now I know they are the same person.
Henrica is quite a strong personality in her own right. She was very involved in many civic organizations and in woman’s suffrage. An article in the Oakland Tribune at her death was subtitled “Pioneer Feminist of Country Laid to Final Rest”. She died in 1921 of gangrene of the gall bladder at the age of 71. She was cremated, as was her husband before her, and buried in Albany.