Heritage Ramblings

“FANs”- Albert Hunniball and Annie Fletcher

Albert Hunniball and Annie Fletcher, and Their Dog

“FAN” is an acronym for Friends, Associates, and Neighbors– people to look to when doing genealogy to help learn more about your primary subjects.

Annie Fletcher and Albert Hunniball were close Friends to my grandparents, Associates, as the two women attended the same church, and Neighbors too- they lived just a couple of houses around the corner from Edith and Alfred Luck. The Hunniballs were very British, as was Alfred- all three immigrated to the US between 1903-1912. As a child we would go visit Mrs. Hunniball- she was mostly blind and stayed at home, so enjoyed any bit of company. Mrs. Hunniball- I never knew her first or maiden name until just recently- was tall and slender to me as a child, and wore dresses reminiscent of the cotton shirtwaists of an earlier time. Her white hair was piled high on her head in a bun or a wrapped braid, and she had an air of elegant grace even though she was slightly stooped in her 80s. She taught us how to make tea the English way and would tell stories of working in the Queen of England’s castle when she was a young girl. It all seemed so romantic, as did her love for Albert- he passed away in 1965 so it would not have been very long that she had been widowed. She had a photograph of him on the wall that she looked at, and though she probably could not actually see the image in the photo, it was obvious that she could still see Albert with her heart as the young man she fell in love with 50 years before. As she touched his portrait she would smile a sweet smile of long, deep, true love.

I had never seen a picture of the two of them together, young, until recent years when I found some family of theirs online. I just love this photograph- so quintessentially British with the wicker chair and their dog, his paw on Albert’s knee. They never had children, so I wanted to share a bit of their story so their legacy can live on.

Eliza Ann Fletcher was born in Timworth, Suffolk, England on 18 Dec 1880 to Edward and Maria Fletcher. She was listed in the 1881 census in Culford with her parents, and then in 1891, at age 11, in Ampton, both in Suffolk, this time with her parents, four sisters and a brother. Although her father was an agricultural laborer, she and two siblings were listed as “Scholars” as they did attend school. By 1905, when she was 25, she was working in one of the palaces in England- when the “Royal Household Staff” listings became available, I was excited to search for her name to see how the story I remembered fit reality. I had to learn her maiden name first though!

Annie immigrated to the US in 1911 or 1912. She married Albert John Hunniball on 30 Mar 1912 in Newton, Jasper, Iowa.

Albert had been born 07 Apr 1877 in Thetford District, Norfolk, England to George W. and Anna Simmons Hunniball. Albert was listed as a “Plumber & Painter” in the 1891 England census when he was 23 and still living with his family. Albert decided to emigrate to the United States, and sailed on the ship Campania, from Liverpool, England, to New York City, USA, arriving March 26, 1911, at the age of 33. The ship’s manifest listed him as single, his occupation “Decorator,” and it stated he was going to Colfax, Iowa to settle.

Albert and Annie lived the rest of their lives in Newton, Iowa. He worked as a painter and paperhanger. He had a heart attack and died 15 Mar 1965 at age 87. Annie lived for almost six more years, dying at 90 years of age on 26 Jan 1971, in Newton, Iowa. They are buried together in Newton Union Cemetery, Sec. 01 Lot 106 Block 18.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) 1881 England- census for Eliza Ann Fletcher: Source Citation: Class: RG11; Piece: 1838; Folio: 41; Page: 19; GSU roll: 1341445. Source Information: Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1881 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

2) Royal Household Staff 1526-1924 at findmypast.co.uk. Fee-based records accessed 2012.

3) Annie Fletcher Hunniball- Find A Grave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26821263. Accessed 11/22/13.

4) 1881, 1891, 1901 England census for Albert John Hunniball, ancestry.com.

5) Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Source Citation: Year: 1911; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 1646; Line: 28; Page Number: 102.

6) US Federal Censuses for Albert and Annie Hunniball for 1920, 1930, 1940, on ancestry.com.

7) 1925 Iowa State Census for Annie and Albert: Source Information: Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.

8) Albert John Hunniball- Find A Grave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26821111

Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.

Art in Artifacts: Mortar and Pestle from the Rose Brafe Green Family

“The hand hammered brass mortar and pestle given … Dec. 1967 by Aunt Mary Green- who inherited it from her Mother Rose Brafe Green Jan. 1935.”

Written by Aunt Mary Green about the Brafe-Green Family Mortar & Pestle.

Transcription: “Rose Brafe Green’s Mother Sarah Brafe who owned it for many years brot [sic] it to the United States in Mar. 1888- We do not Know if she inherited it or purchased it before coming here to live- but its origin we believe was Kovna (Kaunas) a state in Russia near the German border.”

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) The family name has also been spelled “Braef” or “Brave.”

2) Family oral and written history.

3) Kovna/ Kovno was the Yiddish form of Kaunas, which is in Lithuania. The Russians controlled the country at the time the Brafe-Green family immigrated to the US.

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Mystery Monday- Mabel Mulhollen

"Mabel Mulhollen, cousin to Dottie Lee." — “Mabel Mulhollen, cousin to Dottie Lee.”

This photo was found in with the papers and photographs of Dorothy Adele (Aiken) and Samuel J. Lee. We do not know how the Mulhollen and Aiken families are connected. Dottie, as she was called, was born 01 June 1884 in Black River, Lorain Co., Ohio to William Hanford Aiken (1859-1942) and Dora J. Russell (1864-1935).

There is a Mabel Mulhollen found in the 1910 US Federal Census in Reade, Cambria, Pennsylvania. Mabel was living with her parents, Fleming and Hester (?) Mulhollen and she was 6 years old. Her father was a farmer. She is found in the same family and place in 1920, working as a telephone operator at age 16. This Mabel would have been 20 years older than Dottie, but that is possible with cousins.

Find A Grave has a listing for Mabel Mullhollen North. It states her mother’s maiden name was Glasgow, and that Mabel was married to Blair S. North (1901-1973). Their children were Betty, Ruth, Jack, and Walter Blain North. Per FAG, she died 06 Jul 1976 in Pennsylvania, and is buried in Allemansville Cemetery, Allemans, Clearfield, Pennsylvania.

We would be very interested in learning how Mabel was related to Dottie- please contact us if you know.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) 1910 US Federal Census for Mabel Mullhollen: Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Reade, Cambria, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1324; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0149; FHL microfilm: 1375337. Accessed 11/18/2013 on Ancestry.com.

2) 1920 US Federal Census for Mabel Mullhollen: Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Reade, Cambria,Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1547; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 219; Image: 942. Accessed 11/18/2013 on Ancestry.com.

3) Find A Grave Memorial for Mabel Mullhollen North, Memorial # 89226566. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=89226566, accessed 11/18/2013.

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Headstones of Frederick P. Horn and Hepzibah (Clark) Horn- Sandhill Cemetery, Cedar Co., Iowa

Headstone of Frederick P. Horn in Sandhill Cemetery, near Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa, prior to restoration.

We think of today’s society as being so much more mobile than in “the old days,” but Americans have been on the move for generations. Americans moved west after those first steps on the east coast in the 1600s, and continued that westward movement through the 1890s. Exhausted land, crowded conditions, large families with many to inherit and divide the land, cheap land on the frontier, and the freedom of wide open spaces called to our ancestors and enticed them away from the family homestead.

For families, cemeteries had been places of quiet contemplation, a place to go to honor ancestors and stroll on a Sunday. Some cemeteries were like parks with beautiful monuments, and people would stroll the lanes on an afternoon with family and friends, even if they did not have family buried there. In earlier times, people paid for a plot only, not ‘perpetual care’ as is done now. Families were expected to care for the gravesite themselves. Americans on the move, however, caused less family to be nearby to maintain the cemeteries and ancestor headstones, and many fell into disrepair. The small cemeteries on family land or out in the country were the hardest hit- as family moved away, land was sold, or descendants aged, there was no one around who was able to, or who cared about, maintaining the cemetery. Headstones fell over as graves subsided, stones weathered until they could not be read, or broke into pieces with the freeze-thaw cycles of many winters. Vandalism occurred too- whether during a war or a boring afternoon, stones were broken, thrown around, and defaced by those who had no respect for ancestors “quietly resting.”

People finally began to feel the need to improve our aging cemeteries, in hopes of preserving a part of the past. Headstones were sometimes righted, and even collected and placed along a cemetery wall, such as the cemetery that was a Civil War encampment and ancestor-of-the-enemy headstones were thrown about to allow spaces for tents.

The genealogy resurgence in this country, along with people involved in “Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness” (RAOGK- no longer in existence) and websites like “Find A Grave” have increased interest in, and searching of, old cemeteries for lost ancestors. Our ‘digital age’ has also allowed cemeteries and historical societies to post an index online so that those far away can find where their ancestors are spending their final repose. Cemeteries are now being cared for, often by ‘perfect strangers’, i.e. people not related to anyone in the cemetery.

Headstone of Frederick P. Horn in Sandhil Cemetery, near Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa, after being repaired.

In some places, it is not known where some of the persons are buried, or which headstone belongs to which gravesite. Some of the old county cemetery listings done by historical societies note a grave in a specific cemetery, but the grave cannot be found- it may be covered by many inches of soil, have eroded away, or may have only been a rock or wooden cross to mark the spot. (We have ancestors that have headstones that cannot be found, but a cemetery listing includes their name.)

When cemeteries are restored, it cannot always be done just the way it was previously, especially if there are no records. The following headstone, for the above Frederick P. Horn’s wife Hepzibah Clark, was repaired and placed facing east, with Frederick’s facing west! (We do not have an image of her completely repaired stone.)

Headstone of Hepzibah (Clark) Horn in Sandhill Cemetery, near Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa, prior to restoration.

Thank you to all who help families find the final resting place of their loved ones, and to all those who care for those places of quiet repose.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Photos used with permission of photographer, who was paid to take the photos.

2) Find A Grave: findagrave.com.

Please note that not all the information posted on FAG is correct- just like with any other website, one needs additional sources of verification.

3) These photos and family information will be added to the FAG memorials for Frederick P. Horn (Memorial# 52049381) and Hepzibah (Clark) Horn (Memorial# 52049366).

Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.

George Anthony Roberts- A True Iowa Farm Boy

This image of George A. Roberts was cropped from a family portrait. It was taken circa 1904.

George Anthony Roberts Jr. was the second of four children born to George A. Roberts, Sr. (1861-1939), and Ella Viola Daniel (1866-1922). Their first child, John Robert, was born 14 Mar 1888 in Jasper Co. and died just three months later, in June. George (Jr.) was born the next year on 11 June 1889 in Monroe, Jasper, Iowa, and was always called Georgie. He was a farm boy, and worked hard his whole life on the family farm. He had knee problems and thus was not able to enlist in the military during World War I. When we visited in the 1960s, I remember him having his knee wrapped as he worked throughout the fields and stock areas of the farm. It must have been very painful for him to do such hard physical labor his whole life.

George A. Roberts, Jr., about 1963 — Georgie Roberts with his great-nieces about 1963, dressed fashionably to gather eggs in the chicken house. (It wasn’t an idyllic farm scene at all- the rooster was in there. The kids got pecked a lot and flown at- quite traumatic for city kids. But they did emerge with unbroken eggs.)

George married Irene Artie deBruyn about 1915 in Knoxville, Marion, Iowa. They had been neighbors as children, and Irene kept a journal that mentioned him numerous times. (More about that in an upcoming series of posts.) They lived in an old Victorian farmhouse on one of the land parcels the Roberts children (George and his two sisters) inherited. Georgie and Irene never had children. They divorced before the 1960s, and Georgie’s little sister Edith tried to take care of him, bringing him baked goods and other foods when she visited. He farmed her land for her and they were very close.

George Anthony Roberts passed away 30 Jun 1965 in Jasper Co., Iowa.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Family oral history

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Heritage Ramblings

“FANs”- Albert Hunniball and Annie Fletcher

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Art in Artifacts: Mortar and Pestle from the Rose Brafe Green Family

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Mystery Monday- Mabel Mulhollen

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Headstones of Frederick P. Horn and Hepzibah (Clark) Horn- Sandhill Cemetery, Cedar Co., Iowa

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George Anthony Roberts- A True Iowa Farm Boy

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