Chasing the Elusive: Who was Catherine Field?

Many years ago, I received a copy of a fifty page letter written in 1965 that contained the genealogical memories of a woman named Dicky Kane, who wrote the letter to her nephew.  These memories centered around the family of Jacob Sheats (whose name was spelled a variety of phonetically correct ways: Sheets, Sheetz, Scheets, Sheetze, etc.), who worked along the waterfront of Philadelphia in the early part of the 19th century.  Among the many stories she shared about Jacob Sheats and his descendants pertained to my maternal great-great-great-grandmother, Helen D. M. Sheats, in which Dicky Kane stated that Jacob "gave the daughter Helen away to a Catholic family and she was reared in the Catholic faith."

I didn't think much of that sentence at the time, because proving who she was given away to would be difficult to do, or so I thought, so I filed the information away.

In doing my periodic research on each of my ancestors and their families, I stumbled across Helen Sheets in the 1850 census.  This was important to me because she married Jacob Miller just four months after this enumeration.  In 1850, Helen, listed as Ellen Sheetz, was living in the home of Catherine Fields in Passyunk, which at the time was a township near Philadelphia and in 1854 was consolidated into Philadelphia.  

Source: Ancestry.com, "1850 United States Federal Census," database online, Entry for Catherine Fields and household, Year: 1850, Census Place: Passyunk Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Roll: M432_820, Page: 60B, and Image: 129.

Even with this document, which I found over two years ago, I still had no idea who was the family she was given away to.  After all, on the census, Helen was almost of legal age (21 at the time) and could have been living with Catherine Field by choice, as Jacob Sheats had died in 1847.  I didn't have much to go on, so once again I just filed the information away.

Recently, Find My Past was having one of its free weekends.  Since it is one of the genealogical websites in which I don't have a subscription, I usually wait for such weekends to mine what I can from the site.  This past Veteran's day was such a weekend, and I knew that I wanted to search the Philadelphia Roman Catholic Parish Records.

There I stumbled upon Helen Sheats' baptism record.  She was baptized 30 April 1848 at Saint Philip Neri Church in Philadelphia, the same church in which she married Jacob Miller.  While no sponsor was listed for her as she was baptized as an "adult," this document made me giddy as it did lend some credence to the family story that she was raised by a Catholic family.  

However, what made me connect all of the dots was her eldest daughter's baptism record.  Catherine Elizabeth Miller, the eldest child of Jacob Miller and Helen Sheats is my blood link to these two, as she was my maternal grandfather's grandmother. She was born nine months after her parents had married and was baptized exactly one month later, on 7 October 1851 at Saint Philip Neri Church by the same priest who married her parents.  On her baptism record, listed as her sponsor (godmother) was Catherine Field.

Source: "Philadelphia Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms," database online with images, Find My Past, Catherine Field, sponsor, in entry for Catherine E Miller, baptized 16 October 1851; referencing St. Philip Neri, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania baptisms, page 80, entry 238, film number 132.01.

This discovery, as well as the discovery that Catherine Field was also listed as the godmother for two more of Helen's children, Daniel in 1865 and Jacob in 1867, led me to believe that this Catherine Field was more important that I first thought.  After all, she's listed as the godmother of three of Helen's children AND Helen was living with her in 1850.  So I went back and took a look at the 1850 census once more, and using that and the info from the baptisms I tried to search for more information on this Catherine Fields.

Unfortunately there wasn't a great deal, and what I did find could be pure speculation.  Catherine appears in the 1860 Federal Census as living in the First Ward of Philadelphia, Division One, as a 55 year old woman born in Philadelphia and having $1000 in personal real estate.

Source: "1860 United States Federal Census," database online, Entry for Cathrine Fields in household of Jno Fields, Year: 1860, Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 1 Division 1 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Roll: M653_1151, Page: 3, and Family History Library Film: 805151.

After that, she becomes fairly elusive. There is a possibility she died in 1875 in Philadelphia and was buried in Frankford, but further research must be done.

There's also chasing down any deeds she might have had. After all, she did own property according to both the 1850 and 1860 census enumerations. So there is a chance that she owned a great deal of land, but accessing the deeds for Philadelphia online means traveling to my nearest Family History Library, as most of them are locked to viewing at home.

And there also is researching the other Field people that reside with her on the 1850 and 1860 census enumerations. One of them in particular stuck out; the Elizabeth that shows up in both enumerations. One Elizabeth Field was listed as the godmother of Helen's son George in 1857, and Helen's eldest daughter was named Catheirne Elizabeth... was it for both Catherine and Elizabeth Field?

So on I go, chasing down the paper trail of clues to discover if this truly is the Catholic family who fostered Helen Sheats Miller.

Update on the Abinah Wood Descendant Project

UPDATE:

Since I missed my January 2013 deadline, I figured I would do another post about the The Expanded History and Genealogy of the Descendants of Abinah Wood and Susannah Humphreys.  You can find the original post here.  (That will open in a new window)

I am now working towards a print deadline of June 2013, as many factors have made the January 2013 deadline difficult.

Currently, I have biographies written on each of the fourteen children of Abinah and Susannah, as well as some biographies on their descendants as I get them in.  I have also done most of the research on each branch of the descendants, and while some branches are still lacking, I have run up against brick walls.

Some of the Wood descendants

It is a STILL frustrating job!

There is still much to do.  I am working on gathering information for biographies on as many of the descendants as possible.  There is also the problem of every time I get data formatted and start organizing book pages, I find new info that I want included.

There are still the family squabbles and general nitpicking of data, and also a reluctance on the parts of some to send me information when asked, but then send me emails arguing that I have wrong info because they have the data I need.  There is still the headache of trying to be diplomatic when info doesn't mesh and I have to make a decision on what gets included and how.  And then there's the waiting around for information, as this is not a full time job for any of the family members I work with, including myself, as I work one full time and one part time job.  Genealogy and book writing are tiring tasks at times, and this is one that will be richly rewarded in having a book that future generations can enjoy.

Words I try to live by while working on this project.

Shameless promotion plug here:

If you are wondering what surnames I am looking for in this project, here are just a few in the tree:

AREHART, AINSWORTH, BAIRD, BOZIC, BYERS, CABLE, ESPLEN, FOWKES, GEHLMAN, GILMORE, GREENE, HUNTER, JORDAN, LOCKE, LINDSEY, LYNCH, MARMEE, MILLER, MCDAVID, MCGINNISS (and its various variants), NICHOLS, QUINTER, SCHAFFER, SMITH,  STRICKLER, TATEM, VANDEN BOSCHE, and of course WOOD.

If you think you might be a part of this family, there is a group that was started years ago on Yahoo! Groups called The Abinah Wood Descendants.  The purpose of the group is the promotion of any and all discussion regarding the couple and any of their descendants.  This group has been a big help to me and to those who have joined it.

And as always, if anyone has info they would love to share with me, contact me!  The deadline for getting information in for the book is May 1, but if you read this after that deadline, I can still add it to my family tree database and our family tree website online at The Genealogical History of The Wood, Waldspurger, Kolek, Davis and Extended Families.  

Again, Charles Wesley Chapman Wood, who is listed in the book, was my paternal great-grandfather.

The Big Project: The Abinah Wood Descendant Project

For about a year now, I have been working on what I have come to call "The BIG Project."

I have an UPDATE HERE!!!

The book was finally finished and info about purchasing the book can be found here!


What I am doing is this:

There is a book called History and Genealogy of the descendants of Abinah Wood and Susannah Humphreys. It was written by a few of their descendants after a family reunion in 1903 - that's right, I said the book was written in 1903. I have a nice photocopy of it in my genealogical collection. There is an online copy of it at Archive.org as well.

Image of the actual cover

Anyway, to get back on subject - the book listed all of the known descendants of Abinah Belford Wood and Susannah Humphreys in 1903....of which my great-grandfather was listed as well. I am taking that info and updating it, adding 110 years worth of info and trying my best to get as many descendants as I can before January of 2013. 

Why January of 2013?  That's when I hope to have a new book made with the findings of my research.  I still don't know if I am going to publish that as a real book, or just as a PDF book that Abinah and Susannah's descendants can print on their own.  But I am hoping to have as many descendants in it, as well as biographies of the children and maybe even some of the grandchildren!

EDIT HERE:  The book was finally published in July of 2013.

John Devender Wood and family, c. 1880s

It is a frustrating job!

First of all, I have to comb through pages and pages of database info online just to find the right families - sometimes finding one branch with just four generations takes all day. Second Abinah and Susannah had FOURTEEN children, of which only three died as children, and over ONE HUNDRED grandchildren alone so that means I have to find several families. It's a tedious job, and has taken me many months to do, and I've only scratched the surface.

Add on to that the family squabbles, the nitpicking of data, the general stubbornness to share info and the headache of having to be diplomatic with people (which is a trait my mother takes credit for giving me!)and you have my day. I should mention also that I am not getting paid for this and must schedule this around my normal job as a substitute teacher AND around my day-to-day chores and family life. Not to mention keeping up with info that I find on my other branches, since I still have "oooooh shiny!" moments and find stuff that pertains to my mother's branch or my husband's several branches.

And still, I trek on, with the help of countless others, some who offer up their entire research, others who give me what they can and help me find new info, and then others who give me moral support and the much needed pats on the back (I love my husband!)

William Clifford Wood and family c. 1930s

Shameless promotion plug here:

If you are wondering what surnames I am looking for in this project, here are just a few in the tree:

AREHART, AINSWORTH, BOZIC, BYERS, CABLE, ESPLEN, FOWKES, GILMORE, GREENE, HUNTER, JORDAN, LOCKE, LYNCH, MARMEE, MILLER, MCDAVID, MCGINNISS (and its various variants), SCHAFFER, STRICKLER, TATEM, VANDEN BOSCHE, and of course WOOD.

If you think you might be a part of this family, there is a group that was started years ago on Yahoo! Groups called The Abinah Wood Descendants.  The purpose of the group is the promotion of any and all discussion regarding the couple and any of their descendants.  This group has been a big help to me and to those who have joined it.

And as always, if anyone has info they would love to share with me, contact me!

And so people know off the bat - Charles Wesley Chapman Wood, who is listed in the book, was my great-grandfather.