Saturday, September 10, 2011

Oaklands - the Overington Family House

At the request of Mrs. Garvey, who lives across the street from Overington Park, I've taken the time to look at my pictures for glimpses of Oaklands, the house my ancestors lived in on that property. According to Brian H. Harris's book on Frankford (a neighborhood of Philadelphia) for the Images of America series, the house was built in 1847 for William Overington, my 4x-great-grandfather and the first of the Overingtons to come to America. The earliest map I have found is from 1849 and clearly names the 37-acre property "Oaklands" under the ownership of W. Overington.


On later maps the buildings' footprints are shown more clearly - probably more accurately, as they are in different places - and the property has visibly shrunk as parcels were sold off. On this map from 1920 (note: rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise from the one above), you can see that Allen Street has been renamed Overington Street. There is also a semi-circular drive approaching the back of the house from Pilling Street. Earlier maps show an L-shaped drive that came off Leiper Street to the front of the house. In fact, the house's address was 4606 Leiper Street. The other visible (square) building on the property is the stable. 


There are not too many pictures of the house itself. The earliest I've ever seen is in Harris's book. I have reproduced it here, hopefully not in violation of copyright. I assume that it must be an early photograph because the trees around the house appear quite young, and in later photos the columns on the porch are white.


Here is a picture I had of the house, showing the driveway up to the front. It is probably not much later than the one above, based again on the trees and the appearance of the porch.


And here is one we've had hanging on our wall for years. On the back it lists all the babies that were born in the house, ending with my grandmother's uncle William Overington III in 1910. My grandmother wasn't born in the house but she was the last child to be raised there.


Here is a much later photograph showing the drive off Pilling Street, visible in the second map:


And here are two more pictures of the front of the house. Apparently the driveway remained in the front but does not appear to be paved, which may be why it was not drawn onto later maps.



This picture is from the "big snow" one year:


A much earlier photograph of my grandmother's grandmother and her sister on the porch of the house, showing the doorway:


This photo appears to be of some kind of theater group but in any case it's a better angle to show the porch and doorway:


Here my grandmother is a baby, being held by her mother on the porch (ca. 1925-26):



And finally, my grandmother's mother as a girl at the pump by the stable. This is the only photograph I know of that has the stable in it.


I apologize for all the time-skipping in this post but I thought this arrangement would be best for showing the house.

Oaklands was in disrepair by the time my grandmother came along. I am not sure when it happened, but I suspect it was in the 1930s that the property was sold to the city or some such body, which subsequently leveled the house and turned the lot into Overington Park.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Who is Annie McMillan?


While surveying Ames Municipal Cemetery in Ames, Iowa, looking for Willis & Elsie Gammon, I came across this confusing headstone for Annie Witherell Gammon, wife of William McMillan, who lived from April 28, 1850 to August 26, 1901. 

I cannot figure out who this woman is! It doesn't help that I don't know which of her names might be her maiden name. She could have been born a Witherell and married a Gammon before William McMillan or maybe Witherell is her middle name and Gammon her maiden name. She could have even married both a Witherell and Gammon before McMillan (probably not, though, she was only 51 when she died). 

She must be related somehow - she's a Gammon! Witherell is also suspiciously close to Wetherill, a name I know very well from a completely different branch of the family. One of my 5x-great-grandmothers was Mary Wetherill (m. Earl). Now, she is in the records as "Mary," "Polly," and "Anne," but she died in 1853 so this cannot be her stone, even leaving the Gammon/McMillan confusion aside. 

One day, maybe I will figure her out. Until then, she will remain an enigma.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Helen Marea McKee

I've been having a good time going through family photos and posting some up here, so I thought I'd continue with that. Today I'm going to present some pictures of my grandfather's cousin Helen McKee. First, here is the family tree:


It's got a bit more information than usual but I figured I'd try doing it this way. I'd like to point out that I don't know the maiden name of Stillman's wife Mary Ramona, hence "LNU" - last name unknown.

Helen never married or had children. I don't know much about her other than that she spent her old age writing poetry to her cat - we have a whole book of it.

Anyway, let's move on to the photos! Some of them also have her younger brother Walter in them.

Helen McKee

Helen McKee

Walter Leonard & Helen McKee

Walter Leonard & Helen McKee

Helen McKee

Helen McKee

Helen Marea McKee - 1941

Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Women Before


These are the women of my father's side of the family.

1st Left: 4x-great-grandmother Elizabeth Love (Yarnall) Burns
1st Center: 4x-great-grandmother Elizabeth Caroline Wetherill (Earl) Riddle
1st Right: 4x-great-grandmother Elizabeth (Harding) Overington
2nd Left: 3x-great grandmother Armilda Eliza (Myers) Gammon
2nd Center: 3x-great grandmother Jenny R. (Burns) Overington
2nd Right: 2x-great-grandmother Anna Mary (Seufer) Gammon Bird
3rd Left: 2x-great-grandmother Claudia Wetherill (Fries) Overington
3rd Center: 2x-great-grandmother Sarah Helen (Smart) McKee
3rd Right: Great-grandmother Claudia "Poppy" (Overington) Newman Jones
4th Left: Great-grandmother Carrie Bernice (McKee) Gammon
4th Center: Grandmother Claudia Overington (Newman) Gammon
4th Right: Me!

Missing, because I don't have any pictures of them, are:
3x: Christina (Leopold) Seufer, Sally (Swain) McKee, Sarah H. (Pearson) Smart, Malina R. (Hawkins) Newman, Mary Margaret (Durbin) Whitfill, and Mary Earl (Riddle) Fries
2x: Rebecca Jane (Whitfill) Newman