Often we have location information on our ancestors, we have approximate dates these people married and yet we are clueless where they may have met and married. This is the case with my Great Grandparents, William Bentley and Anna Lynn.
From the 1900 Town of Neva, Langlade County, Wisconsin census I have a potential year of their marriage in 1887. Additional information gained in the process of locating a place of marriage I know the additional information:
- From several sources including letters, I have William Bentley located with high surety in Farmington, Waupaca County, Wisconsin from birth in 1862 until 1880.
- From Martha Lucas’s history of Deerbrook, the “Irish” family is listed as pioneer settlers to this area around 1889.
- An undated letter from Anna’s brother Patrick writes asking for assistance obtaining his baptismal record from a church in Junction City, Portage County, Wisconsin saying he was baptized there in 1886, or close to that time.
- Above, in 1900 they were married and living in the Town of Neva, Langlade County, Wisconsin with all three children. Ethel was born in 1899, Erwin (Grandpa) was born in 1891 and Ralph was born in 1893.
The only low surety is the marriage year of 1887, however, having high surety documented sources does give strong indication where both William Bentley and Anna Lynn lived at times close to the 1887 marriage date.
The problem we face is having only a year of 1887 and somewhere in the state of Wisconsin; we have to take this information and try to narrow down the area we start our search for the marriage record.
I began this quest getting research assistance from several diocese requesting a search for their marriage. On several occasions I sent my request in anticipation of a hit with good results and ended the search with disappointment where they were unable to find a record match.
I was not surprised by the result. Archival of church records are hit and miss where they are located. In some areas all records were turned over to the diocese and in others some churches opted to keep their records within their church. This seems to be the case with William and Anna.
One other factor needing consideration here is Anna was 100% Irish. Unfortunately history wasn’t always kind to the Irish people in the U.S. leaving records lost and in some instances not even recorded properly.
One feature of AniMap will aid in determining where their marriage records might possibly be found and we have enough information with a high level of surety to place markers where each of these people lived to create an overlap showing the area most likely William and Anna met.
In the image above we have Waupaca County, Wisconsin selected in AniMap and the event date is 27 Mar 1860; the last date Waupaca County had a boundary change that happens to be the last event in the county.
Portage County is located immediately to the left. The location markers indicate where William Bentley and Anna Bentley were living in 1887. The circles represent 25 miles in diameter; the distance considered normal for a day of travel in 1887.
These circles show an overlapping area, pointing to the most reasonable location these two would have met and married in 1887.
Even knowing the area, how it formed and approximate growth it does make sense I would find something somewhere around Stevens Point, Portage County, Wisconsin for their marriage information.
To confirm what AniMap has revealed for me in my search, I contacted both the Green Bay and La Crosse Diocese seeking a marriage record. Response from Green Bay Diocese was they don’t have records for Portage County as those are kept by La Croose Diocese. La Croose responded saying they did not have the record; but many churches in their jurisdiction kept their records, opting not to include them with the diocese archives.
In the beginning of my search I was assuming Anna Lynn was Catholic. I confirmed this by locating Anna Lynn’s death registration at St. Wencel’s Catholic Church, Neva Corners, Langlade County, Wisconsin.
Currently my search continues. I have not had time or opportunity to contact churches in the area seeking a record match.
This article shows the complexity of your genealogy research, the need to learn and understand history and events in your ancestors lives in order to locate sources of information to adequately document your ancestors. This includes finding the right tools to aid you in your quest. AniMap is one tool that can aid in reducing days, weeks and months of research into a few hours, resulting in a more targeted search.
As you dive into your genealogy, keep in mind it is more than paper; their lives have a story and genealogy was originally known as “Family Historian”.