Documenting Your Sources and My Goal of Re-researching Lines of my Ancestry

Unfortunately, we I first began researching my family tree, I didn’t realize the importance of documenting sources for EVERY fact I from my research. Also, I made the mistake that many beginners do, and think that everything someone else shares with me is accurate. So, before I say anything else, I want to stress the importance of recording your sources. You may think, “Oh, I will remember where I got that from”, but believe me, once man years pass by and you find something that contradicts your information, if may not be so easy to remember where the heck it came from! Regardless of how insignificant you think the piece of information is, SITE YOUR SOURCE! Believe me, it will save you a lot of time and headache down the road!

After sixteen years of researching, a couple branches of my tree have very complete with as much sourced documentation as I can find. Now that I have concentrated so much of my research efforts on particular branches of my tree, I am now focusing on the lines that I have not put as much effort into.

My first quest on this project is the Ansell branch of my ancestry. My maternal grandfather’s names was Ulysses Ansell Phillippo. Most people knew his as “Ansell”. His middle name, Ansell, was his mother’s maiden name. Also, she had a brother names Ulysses, so grandpa was named after family. Grandpa Phillippo was raised in Greene County, Illinois.

Grandpa’s father, James Vincenzo Phillippo, who was born in Italy, came to Greene County via the Orphan Train, and was raised by the Elias Doyle. Lettie Lorena Ansell, grandpa’s mother, was born and raised in Calhoun County, Illinois, a neighboring county of Greene County. She worked for the Doyle family, and that is how they (grandpa’s parents) met. They were married and raised five children. (More on the Phillippo ancestry is in another blog).

Lettie’s grandfather, Jacob Ansell, along with many members of the Ansell, Cloninger and Foiles families, migrated to Calhoun County, Illinois between 1850-1860. Those that research any of these three surnames will see that there was quite a bit of intermarrying between the families. (Lettie’s mother was a Cloninger).

In the mid to late 1990’s, my mother (Brenda) and I took a research trip to Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia to research the Ansell and Cloninger lines. While we were there, we met a wonderful woman named Violet Bowen Hysell. She had done extensive research on the Wentz family. Two Wentz sisters married two Ansell brothers. (Elizabeth Wentz married Melcher Ansell - who were great grandparents of Lettie; and Hannah Wentz married Martin Ansell - the remained in the Cabell County, WV / Lawrence County, OH area.) Violet so graciously shared her many years of research on the Wentz and Ansell families with us, which I added to my database years ago.

Now that I have time to go back and work on the lines that I have neglected, the Ansell family has become my starting point. I am going thru my notes, names, records, etc. and making sure that everything I have is properly sourced. In addition, I am going thru the file, one name at a time, and making sure to add the census images to their individual scrapbook in my tree, so at a quick glance I can see where that person lived at the time each census was recorded during their lifetime (as I have already done with the Elzy line of my ancestry). To date, I have almost completed the descendant of Melcher & Elizabeth (Wentz) Ansell. Once I complete their line, I’ll move on to Melcher’s sibling families, then the Wentz line, and then the Cloninger and Joy lines. Once these side are complete, I’ll move on to Grandma Phillippo’s (Agnes Nadine Carlyle) and begin her ancestry - but at that time I’ll start a new blog explaining about her heritage.

Phillippo: My Italian Ancesty

My great-grandpa Phillippo was born in Italy. The following is what we know about his story:

It is believed that Vincenzo Phillippo was born near Florence, Italy. During his life he spoke of two older brothers, who would have been in their early teens when he saw them last. He never mentioned their names, though. By the time that he was nine or ten years old, both of his parents had died. His father had been killed when he fell off a horse and was drug to death. Vincenzo's uncle took him one day and put him on a boat. He was told to wait, that his uncle would return shortly. His uncle never came back before the boat sailed. Half way across the Atlantic, Vincenzo was discovered. They couldn't take him back, so they took him on to New York City and put him ashore. He had no money, spoke no English, and was only a child. He slept in doorways and earned a little cash for food by shinning shoes with a kit he somehow acquired.
After about a month or so of living on the streets, he met and made friends with a policeman. Each day he bought Vincenzo an ice cream cone. One day, after a week or so, the policeman took him to an orphanage instead of giving him ice cream. His first night there, he developed a severe toothache. Since he was unable to speak English, all he could do was cry, scream, and point in his open mouth. The sister was unable to understand what his problem was so she jerked him up and spanked him so hard that he forgot about his toothache!
A couple of years went by and the orphanage became overcrowded. To solve this problem, they put the children on "orphan trains". Mr. & Mrs. Elias Doyle of Wright, Illinois, took Vincenzo in. They gave him the name James, as they had difficulty with Vincenzo.
James said that he had always believed that his uncle got rid of him (and probably his brothers, too) so that he could gain control of the small amount of land and vineyards that they had. He always said that he had wished that he was an educated man so that he could write a book called "Why I Love America".
It has been told that before James's "American father" Elias Doyle had passed away, he asked his wife to make sure the Jimmy would be taken care of, financially. Unfortunately, she died soon after, and since there was no will and James wasn't a blood relative, Luther Doyle received possession of the estate.
About a mile or so south east of Wrights is where the Phillippo children grew up. (Eva Mae was about 18 and Ansell was about 16 when the family moved to Roodhouse.) Next to where the house stood, there now sits to Pinhook school house, where the Phillippo children received their early childhood education.

Where is brother William? -Ollie's story

My great-grandma, Ollie Elzy, was adopted when she was six. For most of her adult life, she talked to her children, grand children, and even great grandchildren (including myself and my brother) often about her brother William, who she remembered from so many years ago. From what she could recall, he was two years to her senior. Ollie and William were young when their father died. Their mother had no means to provide for her two small children, so she left them in the care of a very kind black woman while she went in search of a job. Since they were living in rural Arkansas, and it was in the early 1900’s, this kind woman knew that it would be unheard of for her to care for two white children. Somehow the children ended up moving from home to home within a local church group. Eventually Ollie and William came to be in the care of their paternal uncle, Charles E. Kelley. Details of what happened next are a little unclear, but we have been told that Ollie was kidnapped and eventually Ollie was put in the care of Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Daughtry. From that point on, Ollie had no idea what ever happened to her older brother. The Daughtrys adopted her in 1916.

On May 18, 1995, Ollie passed away, leaving six children, 18 grandchildren, and many more great-grandchildren. Having grown up knowing very little about Ollie’s past, I decided to try to find out what happened to William. I decided I was going to find out as much as they could about Ollie and William’s past.

There was so little information to go on, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Luckily my Grandma Woolridge (Ollie‘s daughter), had a copy of the paperwork from when the Daughtry’s adopted Ollie. The paperwork stated, “her Mother is living at DeWitt, Arkansas County, Arkansas,.....(her) name is Frankie Harden (Hardin) formerly Frankie Kelley.” Since I knew that Ollie’s mother had remarried, I decided to look for a marriage record by sending a letter to the county of the last known place Frankie was living, Arkansas County, Arkansas. To my delight, there was a record of a Mrs. Frankie Kelley and Wiley Hardin, married November 10, 1914, filed in Arkansas Country, AR. My mother and I decided to take a trip to Arkansas to see what additional information we could find. While doing research at the Arkansas County Courthouse, my mother and I discovered yet another marriage: Vernon H. Roderick to Miss Frankie Kelley, June 23, 1917. The age of this Frankie matched what would have been the age of Ollie’s mother.

This presented an interested question. If this was the same Frankie, why did she remarry under the surname Kelley rather than Hardin? To cover all bases, Mom and I decided to check and see if Frankie and Wiley Hardin were divorced. The ladies working in the courthouse led us to a room with a cabinet filled with old records. We searched and Mom finally found what we were looking for,…the divorce of Frankie and Wiley Hardin. To our surprise, not only did we discover information about a divorce, but we found that Ollie had a half-brother, Oscar Roy Hardin, b. ca. 1915. Through the years, Ollie never knew she had a little brother. Excited about the news we discovered, Mom and I called Grandma Woolridge that night from our hotel room to share with her our exciting find!

The weeks to follow after our trip to Arkansas, I began sending letters to several county courthouses in central Arkansas. My letter was asking for a marriage return for a man by the surname of Kelly/Kelley being married to a woman named Frankie (with an unknown surname.) I started with the counties in the immediate area that I knew Frankie had lived, then branched out further to surrounding counties, and continued until I received a letter from Pulaski County Arkansas with the information I had been working hard to find. I received a copy of the marriage record between Thomas A. Kelley and Frankie Wooldridge, who were married in Pulaski County, AR, December 06, 1907. Now I knew who Ollie’s father’s full name and her mother’s maiden name. (No known connection between Frankie’s Wooldridge line and my Woolridge line).

A million questions began pouring into my mind. How was I ever going to find out where and when Frankie died? Where did she live? Did she ever remarry? What happened to Roy and William? Again, I was at a dead end and didn’t know where to look next. Then, I decided to try my luck with the internet. I places queries all over genealogy sites, explaining what little information they knew about Frankie, her marriages, and her children. One of the sites I placed a query was at the Wooldridge GenForum (http://genforum.genealogy.com/wooldridge).
(Please note: my 1st cousin, once removed - Tammy, had also started researching genealogy, and although at the time we were not working together, we had the same goal of finding out more on Ollie’s ancestry, as she also was digging to see what could be found and posting queries.)
On July 8, 1998, after getting home from work (second shift), I decided to get online to check my email. Imagine my surprise and excitement when there was an email from one of (Oscar) Roy Hardin’s daughters, Nancy. Apparently Nancy’s boyfriend, Eddie, had been working on his family genealogy for a while and was helping Nancy with some research. When they went to the Wooldridge GenForum, they found the query that was placed about Frankie and her family. They replied to my post. (Nancy later told me that she was very confused that my surname was Woolridge, and since she knew Frankie’s maiden name was Wooldridge, she was curious is Ollie was raised by that name). Unfortunately, with getting the message so late at night, I couldn’t call anyone to tell them the great news! Finally, I had made a connection! I set my alarm to get up the next morning to drive into town and tell Grandma Woolridge about my latest find. Of course, I also called mom to tell her about Nancy’s message.

That following weekend, Mom and I called Nancy and then Nancy’s mother. We learned that Roy used the surname Roderick instead of Hardin, though no one knows if he was ever legally adopted. Also, Frankie remarried to Chester B. Johnson. If it had not been for Nancy answering the query that was posted, I probably would have never found Frankie or Roy, as I was searching for both under the wrong surnames! Many questions were asked from both ends of the line while talking with Nancy and her mother. Finally, the big question was asked,..... “Do you know what happened to Frankie’s oldest son, William?” Nancy said that William was living somewhere in Canada. Not only were we excited to find out what happened to William after he and Ollie were separated so many years ago, we found out that he was still alive! Unfortunately, Nancy didn’t have his address or phone number, but said that she would do her best to try find out how to get in touch with him. Nancy also said that William had two children: Beverly Rauthe, who lived in Montana, and Coleman Kelly, who lived in the Los Angeles area.

Anxious to meet this new branch of the family, I, along with my mom and my Grandma Woolridge, traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas in late September of 1998. While there, we had the pleasure of meeting Roy’s daughter Nancy, as well as two of Roy’s granddaughters. On the morning of September 25, 1998, Nancy gave me the phone number and address of William’s daughter, Beverly. That evening, in our Little Rock hotel room, I, along with Mom and Grandma, placed a call to Beverly. When Beverly was on the other end of the line, I introduced myself by saying, “Hello. My name is Alicia Woolridge. I am a great granddaughter of Ollie May Kelley. Does that name mean anything to you?” Instantly I heard sobbing on the other end of the line. Needless to say it was a very joyous and emotional call that none of us will ever forget.

Beverly learned that Ollie had passed away. She explained that William was raised by Frankie and spoke of his little sister often. Apparently Beverly had been searching for Ollie and her family for many years and always assumed that she would be the one making the phone call to her long-lost family. Shortly before the two families “found” one another, William had told Beverly it had been too many years, and she should just “let it go”.

Beverly explained that William had just turned 90 of the 1st of September (1998). Since she was unsure how he would react to the news that Ollie’s family had made contact with them and then finding out that Ollie had passed away, Beverly decided that it would be best if she were the one to break the news to him. I prepared a packet of information to send to Beverly and William, while Beverly did the same for me. In the packet that was sent to Beverly, there was an audio tape Ollie’s youngest daughter Peggy had made several years back. The tape was an interview of Ollie, where she said a few things about her mother leaving her, talked about living with the Daughtrys, and told her vivid recollection of her older brother William. Ollie remembered a few things about William very well. She was four years old the last time she ever saw him. She carried those memories with her the rest of her life. I also included pictures of Ollie, her children, grandchildren, etc.

When Beverly presented the information and tape to her father, they shared many emotions. They sat down together and listened to Ollie’s interview. Apparently William was very touched that Ollie seemed to remember his so vividly and spoke of him during the interview. According to Beverly, William listened to the tape almost daily. Five weeks after we “found” him, he passed away. None of us (Ollie’s family) ever had the opportunity of meeting him.

In June of 1999, Mom, Grandma Woolridge and I flew to Kalispell, Montana, to meet Beverly and her family. All three of Beverly’s children came home and William’s wife, Carrie, was there as well. Both branches of the family felt as if we had known each other all of our lives. Everyone seemed amazed of all the family resemblances, in actions as well as looks.

In September of 1999, Beverly and her husband Doug flew to Illinois from Montana. Nancy and her boyfriend Eddie drove up to Illinois from Arkansas. Waiting for them in Sullivan, Illinois, were most of Ollie’s family. During the weekend reunion, the families got to know one another, exchanged stories, looked through pictures, and watched old home videos. Although William and Ollie never reunited and their families had no contact in over 80 years, their children and grandchildren have become a close family once again. The family again reunited in Illinois for a hog roast in the summer of 2005. In 2006, several members of the "Illinois cousins" went down to Arkansas for a reunion with the "Arkansas cousins". It was decided then that we would make our reunions an annual event, alternating years in Illinois and Arkansas. Since that time, several different members of both sides of the family have made the trip to Illinois or Arkansas to gather together.

After 13 years of the families reunions (it’s so hard to believe it has been that long), we continue with the annual reunions. This weekend, the Arkansas cousin will be traveling to Illinois for a weekend of good food and wonderful family time. A weekend that both sides of the family are excited about and looking forward to!

Where did I come from: My start in genealogy

I began researching genealogy in 1995. There were a couple interesting stories passed down thru the family that always sparked that interest of wondering "where did I come from?" I have always known that my great-grandfather, on the Phillippo side, came over to the United States from Italy, but what about the other sides of my family.

When I was in high school, I remember reading a book at Grandpa Woolridge's house that was put together by his cousin on the ancestry of the Woolridge family. When I lived in Mattoon, a year after graduation, I remember my father loaning me his copy of the book. I read it cover to cover, many times, and from that point on, I was hooked. [Sixteen years later, I am still excited with each and every new piece of information I uncover in my quest to discover where I came from!]

So, I began with knowing that the Woolridge side of my family had been researched, but I was curious about other branches of my ancestry. In particular, I was the most interested in two branches: the Phillippo side, which I knew came from Italy, and my great-grandma Elzy's family, which I knew so little about.

I would like to begin my next few blogs with explaining the successes I have had while researching, the dead ends I have come across, and some of the helpful people I have met along the way. I hope you will enjoy reading my stories as much as I will enjoy telling them!