Genealogy often uncovers connections and links that give you shivers or déjà vu or are just amusing.  It’s kind of a personal “Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon”.

I am now researching my husband’s family lines – very different from mine. I've decided to split into two projects – his Dad’s lines first.  I've gone back over 20 generations on one line! 

Yesterday I found Thomas Digges in his direct line.  He happens to have a Wikipedia entry: 

• Thomas Digges (c.1546 – 24 August 1595) was an English mathematician and astronomer. He was the first to expound the Copernican system in English but discarded the notion of a fixed shell of immoveable stars to postulate infinitely many stars at varying distances;[1] he was also first to postulate the "dark night sky paradox".[2] 
  

He was a student of John Dee (pictured above) – who has recently been featured in several historical fiction novels – including one I’m reading right now by Karen Harper called The Fyre Mirror!  Dee was an adviser on many things to Queen Elizabeth I, and often reported to her what he found in other parts of the world – including political things.  When sending secret messages to her he used a symbol of two circles with a bar over them, extending down the right side, signifying for her eyes only.  Dee came to be known among the close royal advisers as… 007!

And, of course, eventually that code-name was used by author Ian Fleming for his famous spy character, James Bond, classically played by Sean Connery, for whom my own Dad has an extraordinary resemblance!

Father:     Samuel Barker (1825-1904)
Mother:   Mary Elizabeth Farmer (1829-1886)

Birth:       April 24, 1857 Maldon, Essex, England
Death:     May 28, 1938 Chicago, Cook, Illinois

Children:

1. June 16, 1873        Winifrieda Henrietta Keene; Hospital York Road, Lambeth, Surrey
   
2. August 8, 1875     Elizabeth Emma Keene; Hospital York Road, Lambeth, Surrey
   
3. Sept 1878            Marion Alice Keene; Hammersmith, Middlesex, England.
   
4. ?                          Albert Charlton, adopted
   

We might never have known how old Emma was if we hadn't tracked down the record of her birth, where presumably her parents didn't lie about her age!  

George Keene and Emma married in March of 1873 at St Peters in Pimlico, Middlesex, England.  Their first child was born in June.  According to their marriage record, George was a clerk and they were living on Rutland Street, Middlesex, England.  He was 19 and she was 15 years old.  They had two more children before George died at the age of 24 years.

On the other hand, she must have had true presence to have been able to go through all she did.  She married three times, outlived two husbands and three daughters, somehow acquired a son under strange circumstances and immigrated from London to Toronto and then to Chicago.  

At 15 she was a servant in the home of Edward Martin, Messenger of Privy Council Office. She married that same year 15 and bore three daughters within five years.  In 1881, we find her as a widow,  rooming in Chelsea as a dressmaker while her daughters are living with her parents and her sister and brother.

Family legend says that Emma had gone on a trip somewhere and on her return had a baby boy with her.  She told her family that a man had come up to her at the train station holding the baby and said that his wife had died and he couldn't keep the child.  He asked if she would take care of the child for him!  It’s doubtful that anyone actually bought this story;  more likely that Emma had gone ’on holiday’ at the end of her term of pregnancy and returned with the baby.  In any event, the boy was named Albert Charlton and he grew up with his three sisters.  No birth record has been found for Albert, nor any other records, including censuses.  Only family references and a very few pictures.

Sometime between 1881 and 1900 Emma and her children immigrated to  the Chicago area.  In the 1900 census she is found listed as a nurse; her daughter Marion is living with her.  Emma is shown as married with the last name Lowe.  This husband has been very elusive.  About 1903 Emma married Allen G Mills, a grocer.  Family often hinted that Emma wanted attention constantly and the number of pictures of her certainly would lead one to that conclusion.  

Emma died at North Chicago Hospital of ‘Influenza and myocarditis’. She is buried  in Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago. 

Over a decade ago my research into my husband's Bragg family tree was helped along by several distant cousins through email.  One of those people, Damon Floyd, put his findings on website for all of us to refer to when we got stuck.  About 2002 the website went down and we all felt the loss but could not contact Damon to find out what happened.  Further research found a copy of his obituary.  RIP Damon!

The other day I was sifting through old emails for any new clues I might have missed and realized that I could indeed find that old site - on the Wayback Machine in the Internet Archives!  This is a great, often overlooked resource.  I grabbed the information on the Bragg pages and I will put them on my site - with credit to Damon, of course.  I hope this helps more Bragg researchers.

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.

I love to start new projects at the beginning of a year - kind of a New Year's Resolution thing.  This year I am going to update my website, which has been essentially dead for about 5 years.  Two of my favorite subjects will be featured:  Genealogy and Food, probably in two separate blogs so that if you are interested in one or the other you won't get bogged down.  Feel free to comment and talk back!