Searching for Nettie Emily Coolbaugh Cornell

I thought I’d look at what information I have gathered for my maternal Great Grandmother, Nettie Coolbaugh Cornell.  What do I know about Nettie and what do I still want to find out?

Nettie is the daughter of Civil War Veteran Portis M. Coolbaugh and Harriett H. Browning Coolbaugh.  As best as I can figure out Nettie was born in August 1881 in Athens, Bradford County, Pennsylvania.

The following is from the collection entitled North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Book Vol 303.  This collection reports that ‘'The Coolbaugh family in America, from their earliest appearance at New Amsterdam, 1686-1938”.



According to the New York State Census of 18 February 1892 I find Nettie and her family living in the Fourth Election District in the town of Barton, Tioga County, New York.

I find Nettie and William on 1 June 1900 according to the US Federal Census living in Hector Village in Schuyler County, New York.  She can read, write and speak English.  Nettie and William Cornell have been married for 1 year. 

 

According to the US Federal Census on 20 April 1910 Nettie and William are living in Genoa, Cayuga County, New York.  Along with children Earl, Earnest, Gertrude Arthur & Bessie.  Nettie parents-Portis and Harriett Browning Coolbaugh are also living with them.

According to the US Federal Census on 8 January 1920 census  Nettie, William and children Arthur, Bessie, Earl, Ernest and my grandmother Edna were living in Spencer, Tioga County, New York.  They appear to be living next door to William’s mother Charlotte.  Nettie was working as a Servant for a Private Family.

Looking at a map helped me realize that while Nettie moved a lot it was still within a relatively close area.

Nettie and William had 5 children:

• Earl J. Cornell born 1901
• Ernest G. Cornell born 1903
• Gertrude B. Cornell born 1904
• Arthur B. Cornell born 1906
• Bessie E. Cornell born 1908
• Edna Mae Chloe Cornell (my grandmother) born 1915

I found a U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 for Netta Cornell which listed William and my grandmother Edna Cornell Hammond.  I wonder if this is because my grandmother was only 10 years old when her mother Nettie died.
Nettie died 19 February 1925, possibly in Spencer, Tioga, NY?  However, 3 months later in June I find the family in Ithaca, NY.

In the NY State Census on 1 June 1925  William and the children are living in Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York.  I have been unable to locate her grave.  Her husband William is buried at Inlet Valley Cemetery in Ithaca, NY. according to his obituary.  Find A Grave has no record of him at Inlet Valley Cemetery. 

Definitely more research needed.  I have been unable online to locate a death certificate for Nettie or a birth certificate.  I will need to make calls to Tioga and Tompkins County NY Clerk’s office to see what I can find.

If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.

 

Enjoy the journey,

Debby

Southern California Genealogy Jamboree-What an end to Jamboree!

Yesterday was day 4 of the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree in Burbank, California.  This was the final day….until next year and what a great end it was for me.  I had 3 great classes and yet another wonderful surprise!

The day started with a class presented by Trevor Hammond entitled Getting to Know Fold3.  While I use Fold3 to look for my military ancestors’ records I know that I am not using all the features and search engines available.  Trevor was able to help us see many features and explain how Fold3 is constantly improving.  Now I also need to go in and complete memorial pages for my 2 known maternal Civil War Veterans-Joseph Cornell and Portis Coolbaugh (see previous blog posts).  If you have Military connections be sure to check out Fold3.  There are many pictures there from various wars and they are always looking for help in tagging people in the photos.  I also just had to ask Trevor about his Hammond line since that is one I research as well.  (We will need to correspond and see if he are related.  If we are, I will let you know in a future post.)

The second session of the day that I attended was presented by Kathy Warburton entitled Back Home in Ireland: Following the Trail to Patrick Murphy’s Origins.  Kathy had great reminders to gather all the information you can in the US first before going overseas.  (I have a Swedish ancestor Ebenezer Barry with a definite brick wall and this is a good reminder for me to look at neighbors in the area of Brooklyn he lived to try and find some other connections to Sweden.)  Kathy continued to give us tips and strategies for doing research like looking at name variations, coming forward in time to find ancestors children and grandchildren for information and to learn about the history of the country you are heading back to for information of the time your ancestor left.  She concluded by sharing a study she had done with very little basic information that showed how possible it was to find that elusive ancestor.  She gave me hope that I can find Patrick and Susan Hughes in Ireland one day….soon.

My third session of the day was presented again by Trevor Hammond entitled Finding Your Family on Newspapers.Com.  I have been thinking of getting a membership and after listening to all the great features on Newspapers.com and all the options to make researching easier like being able to save your clippings, being able to have a search tagged for following so that if anything new comes along you will be notified.

After lunch there was a drawing in the Exhibit Hall done by My Heritage.  The last number called happened to be mine and I won a deluxe subscription for a year!  How exciting!!  I already use My Heritage and I’m interested in seeing all the Deluxe addition features which I currently don’t have but should be very helpful.  Thank-you My Heritage for giving me a great ending to a wonderful weekend!!  I rarely win anything so this was some treat!


On the last day they asked us to wear T-shirts that commemorated our home towns.  Mine is a map of Long Island with the older lighthouses on it created by Don and Linda Lubov.
Fellow bloggers and friends, J. Paul Hawthorne and Diane Gould Hall, from The San Diego Genealogical Society compare their add ons to their name badges.  Also note the beads denoting that people are ‘Bloggers’.


I was glad to spend some time with big time blogger Randy Seaver also from San Diego.  Please check out Randy, Diane and Paul’s blogs for useful information for researching your ancestors.  Thank-you to Randy and Diane for mentioning my blog posts in their blogs.  I am so very new at this and enjoy learning from these 3 very talented people.  I am honored to call them my friends!


Something that always amazes me about Jamboree is how nice and helpful everyone is.  People came from all over.  I even met a couple from Anchorage (my birthplace) and we saw each other frequently during Jamboree.  Many friendships were made and so much information was learned.  Now to just have the time to put what I’ve learned to practice.  Stay tuned for future findings.
I hope you will be able to join us one day.

Would love to hear your comments and any information you’d like to share.

Enjoy the journey,
Debby

Portis/Porter M. Coolbaugh

What I already knew:
My maternal grandmother was Nettie Emily Coolbaugh Cornell.  She was believed to have been born in Athens, Bradford County, PA in September 1882/1883.

Her parents were Portis/Porter M. Coolbaugh (b. 14 Nov 1844 Monroeton, Bradford, PA    d. 16 Oct. 1911  Oxford, NY).  (Porter’s first wife was Emily H. Arnout)

and Harriet Bowning Coolbaugh (b. about 1850 and died 1930)

I thought Portis was in the Civil War.  I was able to find on line a copy of his Application to the New York State Woman’s Relief Corps Home. Portis, at 66 years of age, filed his application in Genoa, Cayuga County, NY on 4 April 1910.  From that single document I was able to gather a lot of information. 
Portis  was a Private in Company C, 107th Pennsylvania Volunteers.  He enlisted on 1 Mar 1862 and was discharged at the end of his term 2 Mar 1865 at Hatcher’s Run, VA.   

From his application he stated he married Harriet on 22 June 1875 and they had 4 children: Max Morris 33 yo, Manda (Amanda) B. 30 yo, Netta E. 27 years, Charles D. 24 yo.  He stated he was born 14 Dec. 1844 in Town of Monroeton, Bradford County, PA.

He stated that while in the line of duty at Fetchers Chapel, near Falmouth, VA he was disabled after “contracted Pneumonia which left me with affected lungs and in the Summer of 1864 I had the second severe attack of Chronic Diarrhea which brought on Piles and disease of the Rectum which have troubled me ever since”.  “Since leaving the service he on July 1908 contracted by a fall was ruptured from which he is now suffering, and by reason of which he is unable to support himself by his own efforts and labor, that he therefore applies for admission to the New York State Woman’s Relief Corps Home.” (I was able to find information on the internet for the Battle of Fredricksburg, VA in December 1862.  Falmouth is across the river from Fredricksburg.)

The application states he did not own real estate or have a mortgage.  He had no yearly income.  He would start receiving a $14.00 per month pension, Certificate # 368477 payable at the Buffalo Agency commencing on the 12thg day of January 1910.
It looks like Portis and Harriet were both moving in to the Relief Corps Home.

The application also lists by great grandmother Mrs. Netta E. Cornell as a Patternmaker who lived at Atwater, NY R.D. 25

I also know by the application that my great great grandfather was able to sign his own name.

What I want to know:
What information would Portis’ Civil War Pension records have for me?  Ordered

Please let me know if you have any information that adds to my search.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby

Finding Family with DNA

Several weeks ago I had the great opportunity to visit my niece Nicole while she was studying abroad in Vina del Mar, Chile .  While having a wonderful time with my niece and exploring the cities of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, Chile I was hit by that great big cosmic 2 x 4 on my off time at the Hotel where I had wifi.

Within the course of 2 days I received emails from 2 different woman searching for DNA connections to my mother’s grandfather’s Cornell side

                                                           and his wife’s Coolbaugh side. 

I have done very minimal research on this side of the family because life and my work on Carrie’s letters (Warner family side) has taken so much time.  It was simply amazing that when I had some time ‘relaxing’ in my hotel room in Chile I could work on these DNA connections due to technology.  My how genealogy has changed over the years!

While I was able to respond due to records on (Evernote,  Legacy  family tree and being able to access some data bases on-line) my iPad and with a little down time I had to wait to get home to do more.  Wendy is trying to make a connection for her 93 year old mother who was adopted.  I did autosomal DNA on  Family Tree DNA several years ago and haven’t really been able to make any real connections.  As time has progressed and I learned that I need known family to test, I have worked on that also. We did the mtDNA on my mother Marcella and Wendy’s mother matched to one side of my mother’s family.  We were able to talk today and share some information.  I don’t think I had much Wendy can use but you never know when one little piece of seemingly insignificant information can be the key.  At least we have narrowed her search down to the right surname.  Now she needs to find the right maternal connection (since the adoption records have little information) in to that surname.  I hope I can do some research and possibly help in that search.  I was a great treat to be able to just talk and hopefully one day meet Wendy and her mother.

The second woman and I are sharing trees and hope to find the right connection also.  What fun to be able to find relatives out there that we never knew about!  I still have soooooo much to learn about DNA and family connections.  I was an undergraduate Biology major so thought this would be a breeze but it’s like learning a new language.  I will keep you posted.

PLEASE contact me if you think you might be related to anyone mentioned in this blog.

Enjoy the journey,

Debby