Tombstone Tuesday: Margaretta Shankle Space

Second great-grandmother, Margaretta Ann Shankle, was a pioneer in every sense of the word.

The second child of the eleven known children of Jacob Shankle and Rachel Click, Margaretta (aka Margaret) was born 17 April 1828 in Pennsylvania. The family is known to have been living in New Bethlehem, Clarion county, PA, by 1842. Margaret married Zephaniah Space on 19 Nov 1847 and by the early 1850's Margaret and Zeph emigrated to northern Wisconsin with their two children, Allen Zephaniah and Sarah Etta, settling in the village of Jenny on the shores of the Wisconsin River.

Zephaniah and Margaret ran one of the early boarding houses before building one of the first hotels which they named "The Clarion House." For unknown reasons, the name was changed afterwards to "The Eagle House." Land and court documents show the couple preferred to sign their names as 'Z. Space" and "M.A. Space." As the logging industry began to expand in this area of the state, relatives on both sides of the the family relocated to Jenny, now known as the city of Merrill. While some remained for a short time or a 'season', many put down roots and settled in what eventually became Lincoln county. Two of Margaret's sisters, Catherine and Sarah, both called Jenny home but only Sarah remained a resident. Catherine's daughter, Sarah Etta Frazier, and two nephews, Oscar Luzerne Frazier and William Marvin Andrew Frazier all made Jenny their permanent home.

Margaret and Zephaniah were granted a divorce on 16 April 1877, the day before Margaret's 49th birthday after almost 30 years of marriage. As part of the settlement, Margaret became the sole owner of The Eagle House as well as the title to a number of land purchases she had made over the years; enough to have a subdivision named "M.A. Space" as well as prime land along the Wisconsin River. Following the death of her daughter in 1903, Margaret amended her will to include the directive that upon her death, the land along the Wisconsin River would be sold and given to her granddaughters as they would need to have money of their own "apart from their husbands."

Money Margaret had received as part of her inheritance from her father was used to purchase land in north central Iowa, where Margaret, son Allen and his family relocated in the late 1880's until 1894 when the family returned to northern Wisconsin. While Margaret no longer had a home in Merrill, she divided her time between her two nephews, Allen and Nancy's home in Langlade county, as well as numerous trips to visit daughter Sarah Etta McCord, now living in the territory of Arizona, as well as lengthy trips back to Clarion county, PA.

Margaret died at the home of Allen and Nancy on 27 Nov 1904.

Copyright (c) 2010 Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski

Tombstone Tuesday: Margaretta Shankle Space

Margaretta Ann Space, otherwise known as Margaret Ann and as M.A. Space, was my second great grandmother.

Born 17 April 1828, possibly in Union County, PA, she was the oldest known daughter of Jacob Shankle and Rachel Click.

Margaretta married Zephaniah Allen Space on 19 Nov 1847 in Armstrong County, PA. The couple had two children: Allen Zephaniah (my great-grandfather) born in 1848 and Sarah Etta in 1853. Both children were born in New Bethlehem, Clarion County, PA.

Shortly after Allen's birth, Zeph traveled to northern Wisconsin to Jenny Bull Falls; a new settlement where investors from Clarion county were beginning to harvest the huge tracts of pine. Zeph and Margaret immigrated to the area shortly after the birth of Sarah Etta. Zeph and Margaret were employed at one of the early hotels but it wasn't long before they established their own hotel. Initially called The Clarion they later changed the name to The Eagle House. The couple played an important role in helping to establish Jenny as one of the important places along the Wisconsin River.

The couple divorced in 1877 after almost 30 years of marriage. Margaret continued to run The Eagle House with the assistance of Allen, who was now married to Nancy Ann Stone. Sarah Etta had married prominent businessman and politician Myron Hawley McCord. Zeph relocated to an area of the county that was just beginning to be settled, eventually starting a new life with his second wife, Harriet Fryer, and eventually another daughter, Olive.

Margaret proved to be a shrewd businesswoman in her own right. At the time of her death in November 1904, among her holdings, she owned all the property along the Wisconsin River in the city of Merrill. Margaret's will indicated her wish that upon her death, this property was to be sold and given to her granddaughters.

Copyright (c) 2010 Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski

Fearless Females: Sarah Etta Space McCord

Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist has created a series of daily blogging prompts in honor of Women's History Month, which kicked off yesterday, March 1st.

Today's blogging prompt: Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select the photo?

For today's post, I selected a photograph of my great-great- aunt, Sarah Etta Space. Youngest child, and the only daughter, of Zephaniah Allen Space and Margaretta Ann Shankle, Sarah Etta was born 13 May 1853 in New Bethlehem, Clarion county, PA. When she and her brother, Allen, were children, the family immigrated to northern Wisconsin and became one of the pioneer families who settled the village of Jenny, which later became the city of Merrill.

Sarah Etta appears to have been named after her mother's sister, Sarah, and follows a naming pattern with her middle name of Etta. In the Space family, she was always known as Aunt Etta; something that almost derailed a budding genealogist 20+ years ago until I realized Sarah Space and Aunt Etta were one in the same.

This photograph was taken during the time when Sarah and her husband, Myron Hawley McCord were living in Phoenix, Arizonia. Myron, newspaper publisher, lumber baron and politician, had been named as the governer of the Arizona territory. I find it amusing when reading court transcripts that the "First Lady" was known for raising and selling chickens and eggs. Prior to her marriage, Sarah was known for her travels from Jenny to Big Bull Falls (later Wausau), a distance of over 20 miles, to pick up the mail and bring it back to the post office situated in Zeph's hotel, The Eagle House. Sarah Etta made the trip alone on horseback over Indian trails along the Wisconsin River.

I chose this photograph because I see a strong resemblence to my grandfather: the set of the mouth and the auburn hair. By the time this photograph was taken, Sarah's life was not what it appeared to be: there were questions about the legality of the divorce Myron obtained from his first wife, scandal involving Myron's lumber dealings back in Wisconsin, the appointment of Myron as warden in a prison in Arizona and always nearby, Myron's long-time mistress, Mary Emma Winslow.

Sarah Etta died at the age of 50 of a heart ailment. Which isn't surprising.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Make A Calendar!

Live! From central Wisconsin! It's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (insert applause here).

After last week's SNGF step back and learn about our fellow genealogists and family historians, Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings takes us back to research with tonight's challenge:

1) Open your genealogy software or family tree program of choice and make yourself the highlighted person.

2) Find out how to create a Calendar to show birthdays and/or anniversaries of yourself and all of your ancestors (or all relatives, or all persons - your choice!). The "Help" button is your friend here!!! It can be done in all of the current software programs.

3) Create your calendar. Pretty it up if you want. Save it. Can you show us a page from your calendar  - say January 2010?

4) Which of your ancestors (or relatives or descendants - your choice!), if any, were born 30 January?

Have fun with this. How can you use this in the coming year?

No need for those round-nosed scissors and paste with this project nor do I have to worry about ending up with bits of paper clippings stuck on my fuzzy slippers.

This is a feature of my family tree program of choice, Family Tree Maker, that I make 'regular' use of; the current edition that is on my computer is Family Tree Maker 2009. Pictured above is the screen snapshot of my January 2010 calendar page.

What I am unfamiliar with is the calendar 'pretty up' feature. I have, however, used a background when creating family group sheets - usually the tree silhouette provided from the drop-down box but on occasion I have used one of my personal photographs. But back to the calendar.

I was a bit frustrated not being able to immediately scale the background to the calendar even using one of the provided backgrounds. I then used one of my personal photographs but was disappointed and frustrated when I spent too much time 'futzing' to get the background scaled to my liking. If I were to print out the calendar I would opt for the default, generic background and use one of my photographs and place it above the calendar page for the pretty factor.

I have two relatives listed on my calendar page as having been event dates that occurred on Jaunary 30th: George T[homas] Armagost, born 157 years ago and the marriage of Etienne LaFond and Marie Boucher who would have celebrated their 365th anniversary on 30 Jan (you have to love those French Canadians who knew how to record every event and store them in stone churches.)

The Armagost family married into my Space and Shankle family lines (my mothers paternal family); all from the Clarion County, PA, area. Etienne LaFond, born about 1615 in France, and Marie Boucher, born 21 Jan 1629 also in France, were married 30 Jan 1645 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Their daughter, Francoise, born 8 Jul 1658 in Trois Rivieries, Quebec, was my 7th great-grandmother. This is my father's paternal family line.

So how can I use this throughout the coming year? A number of years ago I gifted my parents with a relative/descendant and ancestor calendar using the calendar feature from FTM as a reference. I purchased a caledar that featured one week per page with large rectangle boxes for each day. This allowed me to fill in the dates with my choice of whom to include, the event date and how many years ago that event occurred. The first calendar included individuals and dates from both of my parents family lines. They enjoyed it so much that I would present them with an updated calendar every few years. A few years ago my father called me and asked if I would make a calendar for him with his family's information as he was disturbed to realize he could not remember the dates of his grandparents and other family members. Since that time I've made a calendar for each of my parents.

Thank you, Randy, for the gentle reminder that 2010 should be the year I update those calendars for my parents as I am blessed to be able to gift an updated one to them.


Copyright (c)2010  Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - What's Your Superpower?

Look!! Up in the sky! It's a bird - it's a plane! No - it's Randy Seaver with another Genea-Musings challenge. This week our challenge (should we decide to accept it ...) is:

1) Answer the question: Do you have a genealogical "superpower." (i.e. a unique research ability or technique that helps you track down records or assemble conclusions that other's can't.) If so, what is it.

2) Tell us about it in a blog post, a comment to this post, a comment to Dean's post, or a comment to this post on Facebook or Twitter.

3) If you have a picture of yourself in superpower mode, please show it to us!

1. While I wish my 'superpower' was the ability to speak to those who have passed over to the other side, I have yet to perfect that talent (I continue to leave messages on the answering machine but no one returns my calls.) If I have a superpower it is listening for that 'inner voice' and my willingness to widen my circle of research. Many times the key to solving a family research problem is held by a sibling, a cousin or even a friend or neighbor. My willingness to step outside of the box (so to speak) and let go of what I know, or what I think I know, to explore a new theory has oftentimes rewarded me with a few steps forward.

Attempting to confirm the parents of my maternal great-great grandmother Margaretta Shankle Space was going nowhere until I researched all of Margaretta's siblings. A descendant of niece Nora Kegan had documentation that proved Margaretta's parents were Jacob Shankle and Rachel Click.

At the risk of sounding 'way out there' - listening to that inner voice has never let me down. I can't take credit for that superpower as, like most family researchers, I've experienced first hand assistance with my research that cannot be explained. That might make a great topic for a future Saturday Night Genealogy Fun?

2) Complete.

3) I seem to have misplaced my cape - probably in the same box with my crystal ball and Ouija board.