Saturday, April 26, 2014

Born this day - April 26, 1884 - Corlia S. Allen

For each "Born this day" post, I pick one person from my database and try to add at least one source and one piece of information that I didn't previously have.  

I have also been reading the Ragu 3-2-1-Cite Challenge by Dear Myrtle.  She has challenged us to find 3 documents, write 2 paragraphs about 1 event and cite all the sources.  It seems to me that I should improve my goals to at least that standard for each post: 3 documents, 2 paragraphs and 1 event, and of course the source citations.

Corlia S. Allen is my 6th cousin 4 times removed through our common ancestors Josiah White and Mary Rice.  She is also my 7th cousin 4 times removed through John Houghton and Beatrix Joselyn, and my 8th cousin 4 times removed 2 different ways through John Prescott and Mary Gawkroger Platt, and also my 9th cousin 5 times removed through Edward Frost and Thomasine Belgrave. She may have other relationships as I only asked for 5 blood relationships from my Legacy database.

For Corlia S. Allen, when I started, I had her name as Corlia S. Allen, she was born 26 Apr 1884 and died 6 Apr 1894, and that she was the daughter of Riley G. Allen and Sarah C Burr.  The only source I had was another researchers gedcom has this information.

As is my usual custom, I turned to Ancestry.com, where I already had Corlia S. Allen in my tree, hoping for some easy "low-hanging fruit".  And not surprisingly, I was rewarded with a Findagrave entry, and a photo that I could attach.

Findagrave.com has a picture of her gravestone.  She was buried in Dorset Cemetery, Dorcet, Ashtabula, Ohio, USA.  The stone is for R. G. Allen, his wife Cornelia Burr, their son Marshall B and their daughter Corlia S.  The gravestone has her dates as 1881-1894, not 1884-1894.

Next, I turned to Familysearch.org, hoping to solve this issue with the birth date.  And sure enough, they had a record for the birth of a Sarah C Allen on 26 Apr 1881 to Riley Allen and Cornelia Burr in Dorset, Ashtabula, Ohio, USA.  So this gave me a full name for Corlia S. Allen (Sarah Corlia Allen), and a corrected birthdate.  She is listed as "white"

birth record, Ohio County Births 1841-2003, Sarah C Allen, 26 Apr 1881, Ashtabula, Ohio, accessed at www.familysearch.org


The new birth date of 26 Apr 1881 was supported by the birth record, and also the photo of the gravestone. 

There was also a death record index entry at familysearch.org in the Ohio, Deaths and Burials, 1854-1957 for Corlia S. Allen, who died at age 12 on 6 Apr 1894 in Dorset, Ashtabula, Ohio, USA.  She is listed as "white".  Since this isn't exactly a document (no image as available) I was still looking for one more document to include (I'm looking for at least 3 documents for each post remember?)  

Since the 1890 census isn't available, I'm can't think of what else I can rely on to add more to this except surrounding family records.  

The 1880 census for Dorset, Ohio, has the parents of Corlia and her two older siblings Marshall and Rufus, but not Corlia. This is what we would expect since she wasn't born until 1881 ;) 

1880 US Census, accessed at Ancestry.com for Riley Allen and family, Dorset, Ohio
The 1900 census for Dorset, Ohio has the parents of Corlia and her siblings Rufus, Arthur and Austin.  More relevant is the fact that her mother Cornelia is listed as the mother of 5 children, 3 still living.  From the gravestone we can see that Marshall died in 1890. Corlia had died in 1894. From looking at the two census records together with the gravestone we can conclude with some confidence that Corlia was born after the 1880 census and died before the 1900 census.  Not very precise evidence, but it does support the birth date of 26 Apr 1881.

1900 US Census, Dorset, Ashtabula, Ohio for Riley Allen family, accessed at Ancestry.com

Still, there is that nagging fact that another researcher had 1884 as the year for that birth.  A bit of searching reveals that the book "A General History of the Burr Family with a Genealogical Record from 1193 to 1902" by Charles Burr Todd shows the birthdate as 1884.  This page can be accessed at Mocavo here.

page 373, A General History of the Burr Family with a Genealogical Record from 1193 to 1902 by Charles Burr Todd, entry for Corlia S. Allen

It seems likely to me that this book is in error, and likely where the other researcher found the 1884 birth year.  It is likely an error in the book, as Corlia is listed as child #3, with #2 born in 1875 and #4 born in 1882.  So, although the book states Corlia was born in 1884, her placement in child order agrees with 1881.

Sources:

Find a Grave, Inc., Findagrave, digital image, (www.Findagrave.com: accessed April 26, 2014), photograph, "gravestone for Corlia S Allen 1881-1894" Memorial # 48695343

Familysearch, (www.familysearch.org: accessed April 26, 2014) digital image, "Ohio County Births 1841-2003" Sarah C Allen, 26 Apr 1881, Dorset, Ashtabula, Ohio

Familysearch, (www.familysearch.org: accessed April 26, 2014) index, no image,  "Ohio, Deaths and Burials,1854-1997"  Corlia Allen, 6 Apr 1894, Dorset, Ashtabula, Ohio

Ancestry.com, 1880 US census, accessed April 26, 2014

Ancestry.com. 1900 US census, accessed April 26, 2014

 "A General History of the Burr Family with a Genealogical Record from 1193 to 1902" by Charles Burr Todd, online scanned image, page 373, accessed at Mocavo.com April 26, 2014.


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