Grandpa’ McCracken’s Aunt Minnie Alameda Munroe unknowingly left the family a wonderful gift even though she didn’t name them in her will. The only people included in her will were Charles Munroe (her husband), Mabel Raukohl (her niece), and The Old Peoples Home of Illinois Conference of Methodist Episcopal Church in Quincy, Illinois.
The Probate Paper
Grandpa had kept a paper he had received from the Probate Court in Quincy, Illinois regarding his Aunt Minnie’s estate. It listed all of her heirs, leading to many surprising discoveries. (Thank s to Grandpa and my dad for saving this document!)
The list of heirs was quite lengthy and contained names unknown to the family. The names of these unknown people were sprinkled amongst the known names. Aunt Minnie had no known children nor did her husband Charles. So, who were these people?
Margaret Armstrong
Addie Brown
Martha Boswell,
Eleaner Kealen
Anna Macklin
John Macklin
Lester Macklin
Oltis Macklin
William Macklin
Lawrence McCracken
Bertha Neal
The 1860 Census
After much digging, I had some records, but they didn’t come together into a clear picture. Finally, I started going page by page manually walking through the 1860 census for Lee County, Iowa where Lemuel supposedly lived at the time, but where a census record for that year had not yet been found. Eventually, I found a census record that had been poorly recorded and poorly transcribed. As transcribed online, it included the names shown.
I had expected to find Lemuel, Louisiana, and their son Lemuel Franklin/Francis. However, none of the names were quite right and there were extra people. The names “Samuel “and “Lemuel” look very similar in handwriting of the time, so that was a likely match, but Rosannah was way off. And, who were Delormah, Mary, and Lewis?
Still, I was sure this had to be our family.
Census Record
(as transcribed online)
Samuel McCracker
Rosannah McCracker*
Mary McCracker
Lewis McCracker
Delormah McCracker
Samuel McCracker
* Rosannah is an apparent misunderstanding of Louisiana that occurred in multiple documents.
The Surprises
After many, many hours of research I determined how each of these people fit in the family tree, learning many surprises along the way. (I was going to number the surprises, but that became a bit complex.)
Lemuel McCracken
I found that Lemuel had been married to Sarah Dufer before he married my great-great grandmother. It is assumed his first wife died, but no information has been found about her death.
Lawrence McCracken
Delormah McCracken
Lawrence McCracken was the same person as Delormah McCracken. His name was Delorma (various spellings) Lawrence McCracken. He was the son of Lemuel and his first wife. We had never heard of him before the probate papers. He had been living with another family in 1870. Thus, he didn’t show up with the family in that census. And, although he was only 15, he stayed in Iowa when Lemuel and Louisiana moved to Kansas. He later married and had 8 children. We have DNA matches to many of his descendants.
Louisiana Matteer
Louisiana Johnson
Louisiana Badgley
Louisiana’s maiden name was not Johnson as the family had always believed or Mattser as some researchers believed. Instead, it was Matteer. Her parents were Matthias Matteer and Mary Rodgers. She was the oldest of their 10 kids. After her mother died, Matthias and his new wife Elizabeth Soloman moved to Lee County, Iowa with many of his kids. Louisiana joined them sometime before 1859, coming from Ohio.
Louis McCracken
Louis Badgley
Louis was the son of Louisiana and James Badgley. We hadn’t known he existed and something appears to have happened to him between 1860 and 1870 as no records are found for him after 1860. Additionally, he is not mentioned in the probate papers for Minnie.
Mary McCracken
Mary Badgley
Mary Macklin
Mary was the daughter of Louisiana and James Badgley. Her existence was also a surprise. She married John Macklin in 1865. They moved to Adams County, Illinois, where Lemuel and Louisiana’s children Frank, Minnie, and Ida later lived. It is believed , but not yet proven, that after Louisiana died, Mary raised her half-sister Minnie, who was 27 years younger than her. It is important to note that prior to that time Minnie was called Frances. The name change is a mystery that has yet to be solved, but Frances and Minnie are clearly the same person.
And, The Rest
Mary and John had 8 children. The remainder of the people in the probate document are their descendants. Addie Brown, Martha Boswell and Eleaner Kealen were their children. Otis Macklin, Lester Macklin, Anna Macklin, Margaret Armstrong, and John Macklin were the children of William Macklin, who was deceased.
These members of the Macklin family led to even more descendants of great-great-grandma Louisiana.
The Moral Of The Story
So, as a result of starting with one probate paper, I ended up finding additional marriages for both of my great-great grandparents, additional children for each of them, Louisiana’s parents, Louisiana’s siblings, and a bunch of descendants of the various people. Could they have been found without the paper? It is reasonably likely that I would have eventually pieced this branch of the family together without it. However, it would have set my research back years.
Moral of the story: Don’t toss aside a record just because names on it are unfamiliar or don’t look quite right. You never know what surprises are in store for you with a little (okay sometimes a lot) of research!