Courting Couple: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Favorite Photo”

 

Ivan and Nora In Love: My Grandparents In Front of Their Future Home

Ivan Macbeth: 1904-1972 (Maternal Grandfather)
Nora Hoffman: 1899-1994 (Materna Grandmother)

 

I loved this photo as soon as I saw it in my grandmother’s old photo album. I feel that it visually captures a special moment in my grandparents’ lives—the point where they knew they were going to build a life together, but before their April 14, 1926 marriage actually started that chapter of their lives . The photo’s background also serves as a striking metaphor for that pivotal moment.

The photo depicts my grandparents standing against the roadcut carved into the hillside below the farmhouse they would move into after their marriage. Roads in the area were changing from narrow, muddy dirt roads traversed by horses, into gravel or paved roads wide enough for cars to pass each other. The county was widening and flattening out the road that wound from Eagle Lake towards Mankato. The equipment had cut down through the hillside to make the new roadbed. While my grandfather wasn’t a tall man—probably about 5 feet 8 inches, and he and Grandma Nora were sitting on a dirt shelf rather than standing up, given that there was at least three to four feet of dirt above their heads, it appears the road cut was at least ten feet deep.

I believe the photo was taken in the year before their marriage, since Grandpa Ivan is not wearing a wedding ring on his visible left hand. The trees behind them in the Macbeth farmyard still have leaves, so I am guessing the photo was taken in early fall. Grandma Nora is wearing a long-sleeved top and Grandpa is wearing a suitcoat, so the weather was neither hot as it would have been in summer, nor particularly chilly as it would have been in late fall. I am putting a likely date of September 1925 on the photo; about seven months before their wedding. The shadows are sharp, with the sun coming from the west, so the photo was likely taken in late afternoon.

Ivan and Nora were probably engaged by this point, or close to announcing their engagement. Even though they are a bit stiff-looking and aren’t holding hands, they are sitting close to one another, leaning towards each other. I can see from their body language that they are definitely a “couple”.

My grandmother, Nora Hoffman, was twenty-six when they married, while Ivan Macbeth had just turned twenty-two. My grandmother was always sensitive about the age difference, even lying about her own age on occasion. This is the first photo where I can really see how very young Ivan was, and how Nora looks more mature.

I love their clothes. They seem to have been dressed up for a date or a party. Ivan seems to be holding a scarf or soft hat, and Nora holds a lovely hat decorated with a small bunch of flowers. Her hair is bobbed in the flapper-type style of the 1920s. She appears to be wearing pale hose, and has shoes decorated with some sort of buckle. He is wearing a nice suit and dark tie, and has a handkerchief peeking from his suit pocket. He’s wearing dark dress shoes, and the narrow pants legs accentuate his lean, lanky build.

In this photo, my grandparents are preparing to set out on a new road in their life, so it is appropriate that they are posing on the new road being built in front of their soon-to-be home.

Returning to the Scene: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Overlooked”

 

Overlooked Information Provides a Richer Picture of Fourth Great Grandfather

Isaac White: 1742-1819 (Maternal Fourth-Great-Grandfather)

 

I was recently reminded that reviewing records of ancestors that I first researched years ago can provide valuable new information. While looking at a fan chart of one section of my tree, I noticed that I had no mother listed for my fourth great-grandfather, Isaac White. This prompted me to take a fresh look at his profile on my Ancestry tree. While I found two new records that added to my understanding of his life, most of what I discovered had been overlooked on my first pass through the records.

So what did I know about Isaac White? He appears to have been born around 1742, based on records showing his age at different points in his life, and his death record from 1819 which stated he was 77 years old at death. His entire adult life seems to have been spent in West Bagborough, Somerset, England, where he was a farmer. As rural farmers in the 1700s rarely moved any great distance, he probably was born in the same general area.

I had listed his father as William White, born in 1724. I apparently copied this information from other trees on Ancestry without taking the necessary effort to verify this parentage. I should have been a little dubious just from looking at the purported father’s birth date; William would only have been eighteen when Isaac was born. In addition, William White was born in Holborn, London, almost two hundred miles from West Bagborough. Why would he have relocated so far from home? Or why would his son Isaac have done so?

I looked at three other family trees that included birth records for Isaac. All used the same birth record, showing parents William and Ann, from the parish of Frome St. John, Somerset. Frome is forty-five miles from West Bagborough, which was a red flag. However, the bigger problem with that birth record was the date, which all three tree owners (and I) had blithely ignored: July 1754, twelve years after my Isaac’s likely 1742 birth date. The Frome parish record was probably for a completely different Isaac White. I have removed the record from my tree’s profile for Isaac White.

My searches so far have not turned up any likely parents for Isaac, so ironically my attempt to identify Isaac’s mother led to the removal of his father from my tree. My “brick wall” on Isaac’s parentage is now taller than ever.

However, I made two other discoveries that were very interesting. First, when I examined Isaac’s original 1773 marriage record, I noticed that he had signed his own name quite legibly, showing he was literate. However, his spouse, Elizabeth Cox, could only make her mark—a little oval shape. She obviously could neither read nor write.

I also examined a Land Tax Redemption Record from 1798 for West Bagborough. It shows that Isaac White was a tenant farmer – the “occupier” according to the terms of the record – of three parcels of land owned by what looks like “William Yeo”. The Redemption Records were taken nationwide in 1798 to assess a land tax on landowners. The records show the property owners, the names of the occupants/renters of the land, and the tax amounts owed. This is proof that Isaac was farming land in West Bagborough, but did not own his land.

The final discovery was the most interesting, and provides the best—and saddest--glimpse into the lives of these long-dead ancestors. Isaac White died August 15, 1819 at age 77. 

Someone in England uploaded the newspaper report of the inquest into Isaac’s death. The item is printed below:

It sounds as if Isaac was an alcoholic. He got so drunk at age 77 that he passed out in the yard, falling onto his back, and apparently asphyxiated on his own vomit. Since his wife didn’t go looking for him when he didn’t come home, it would appear that she was accustomed to his heading out to drink and not returning home for hours.

My new discoveries about Isaac White showed me the value of reviewing the data in my family tree. New sources may have been added over the years, like the newspaper item on the inquest. But even more importantly, valuable information can so easily have been overlooked in a first pass through records.

Sources:

UK, Land Tax Redemption, 1798 for Isaac White. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2319/records/502617?tid=46986934&pid=322190764690&ssrc=pt

Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 for Isaac White. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60858

Inquest Verdict. Taunton Courier, Taunton, Somerset. Page 7, 26 Aug 1819.  

Revision Time for My First Blog Post: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “In the Beginning”

A Clearer Picture of a Pioneer Female Doctor: Harriet Stemen Macbeth

Harriet Stemen Macbeth: 1873-1939 (Maternal Great-Grandaunt by Marriage)

 

When I look back at my first genealogy blog post, I cringe. My little sketch, only three paragraphs in length, was sadly incomplete and in certain respects was downright erroneous. In January 2019 when I first wrote that post, I was just starting my journey in family history research. My limitations and lack of knowledge back then are now painfully obvious. I feel I did a great disservice to the subject of that first blog post, Dr. Harriet Stemen Macbeth. Now, six years later, it is time to correct my errors and provide a more complete picture of this amazing woman’s life.

Harriet Fontanna Stemen was born February 19, 1873 to Dr. Christian Stemen and his wife Lydia Enslen Stemen. She was the sixth of their seven children. Christian Stemen was a doctor and surgeon who first practiced in Ohio where Harriet was born. Around 1875 he was appointed as a professor of the theory and practice of medicine at the Medical College of Fort Wayne, Indiana, so he moved his family there. He was a man ahead of his time, a proponent of women entering medical practice, and the medical college began to admit female students.

The building that house the Medical College of Fort Wayne when Harriet Stemen was a student

Harriet became one of those medical students in 1893. She completed her studies and began practicing as a physician in 1894. She first worked as an assistant to her father, handling anesthesia during his surgeries.

On July 3, 1900, Harriet married Albert Macbeth, another physician in Fort Wayne. She was 27 years old while he was 38. Albert was ambitious, running the city health department and building a hospital. The couple had no children. Census records show them living together in the 1910 and 1920 censuses. Harriet’s parents often resided with them.

Harriet was involved in the community. She was named “grand Martha” by the Grand Matrons of the Eastern Star in the spring of 1907, a charitable fraternal (or in this instance, sororital) Masonic group. She also served as secretary for the group. Harriet was also active in the local Presbyterian Church. The church listings in the Fort Wayne newspaper for May 8, 1909 show Harriet performing two solos, one at the morning service and one at the evening service. Albert is never mentioned in articles about these community groups; it is unclear if he participated.

Harriet faced difficulties in her life. She was sued in 1914 by an obstetrics patient, Nora Ulery, who claimed that Harriet failed to arrive for three hours after Ulery called to say she was in labor. The child was already born when Harriet arrived, and Ulery claimed the doctor failed to bring necessary equipment to help with post-birth issues, and as a result Ulery needed further surgery. She also claimed that Harriet injected her with an unsanitary needle, leading to an infection and abscess that left Ulery unable to use her arm.

The suit finally went to trial a year later, with a verdict coming down January 15, 1915. The jury did not believe Mrs.Ulery, finding for Harriet. I noticed that Mrs. Ulery was suing two other people around the same time period over different issues—perhaps she was one of those people who like to file nuisance lawsuits.

Harriet was also having marital problems that seems to have led to an eventual divorce. It is unclear when she divorced Albert. On the 1920 census form they were still living together and still listed themselves as married. My mother told me that her parents heard rumors that Albert may have been a womanizer, but she didn’t know any details. I am embarrassed to admit that I failed to catch the divorce when I first wrote about Harriet. I wrote admiringly of their long marriage.

At some point in her medical career, Harriet went into practice with her niece-in-law, Bertha Goba Macbeth, another woman doctor who married Albert Macbeth’s nephew Robert Lyle Macbeth. The two physicians were featured in an article on “Fort Wayne’s Women Medical Pioneers”. The author, Peggy Siegel, wrote:

“As family physicians, Dr. Harriet Stemen Macbeth and her niece, by marriage, Dr. Bertha Goba Macbeth called on patients in their homes, often assisting at childbirth. They referred patients to hospitals only when oxygen was needed. Office hours were for follow up care when patients were well enough to get out.”

By the 1930 census, Harriet was living at 419 Wayne Street in Fort Wayne. While she still told the census taker she was married, she was obviously living separately from Albert. She owned the home and had two female boarders, a nurse and a Dictaphone operator. The house was valued at $20,000, which seems like a good sum for that era. I have found no record of Albert in the 1930 census, so I am unsure where he was living.

It is possible that Albert and Harriet never actually legally divorced, but merely permanently separated. When Albert appears on the 1940 census, he lists himself as a widower (Harriet died the year before), and his 1947 death certificate also lists him as a widower.

Harriet died March 18, 1939 at the age of sixty-six. The only obituaries I have found for her were from Indiana newspapers other than her hometown’s, so they were very brief, noting only that she had practiced medicine in Fort Wayne for 44 years, and had retired from her practice in 1937. I have found no death certificate. The obituaries said she “died…after a long illness.”

 

I am sure the Fort Wayne newspaper carried a more detailed obituary. At some point I hope to be able to find a copy of it. Harriet Stemen Macbeth’s courageous life deserves to be properly remembered.

 

Sources:

Information on Harriet’s medical school training and photo of medical college. By Nyttend - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19364527 https://www.lostcolleges.com/fort-wayne-medical

Church Solo. Fort Wayne News and Sentinel. Fort Wayne, Indiana. May 8, 1909 issue. https://www.newspapers.com/image/29184004/?match=1&terms=harriet%20stemen%20macbeth

“Mrs. Harriet Stemen Macbeth Honored by Grand Matrons.” Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Fort Wayne, Indiana. Apr 26, 1907 issue. https://www.newspapers.com/image/29251774/?match=1&terms=harriet%20stemen%20macbeth

Fort Wayne’s Women Medical Pioneers by Peggy Siegel.  https://www.in.gov/history/files/Seigel-for-WEB.pdf

Photo of headstone from Findagrave.com. Photo by Barbara Wolf. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89385484/harriet-macbeth

Obituary. “Fort Wayne Doctor Dies.” The Star Press. Muncie, Indiana. March 19, 1939 issues. https://www.newspapers.com/image/252181103/?article=054b117c-d

52 Ancestors 2024 Final Post of the Year: “Resolution”

 

I am so pleased to have finished another year of 52 Weeks, 52 Ancestors. I managed to write 45 blog posts about some really interesting ancestors.

According to Ancestry, in 2024 I added 993 people to my two big trees on Ancestry. I’m amazed that I had that much growth. I attribute it in part to my growing use of DNA matches to build my tree—I’m adding a lot of collateral ancestors, but they are helping to confirm my connection to my direct ancestors.

Here’s where my trees stand as of New Year’s Day 2024:

Aird Family Tree: 2334 people, and 1201 photos.

Peterson Macbeth Family Tree: 8,759 people and 2785 photos.

And here’s where my genealogy blogs stand:

Twigs on the Family Tree: 214 blog posts.

Another Tree to Climb: Researching the Aird, Sheild, Smiths and Jandeseks: 112 blog posts.

My New Year’s Resolution: I will complete at least 45 of the 2025 blog post prompts, and will continue to build both family trees.

I’m excited to see where I will be at the end of 2025. Happy New Year!