Sentimental Sunday: Our Little House

It never occurred to me until recently that a house can have a genealogy, too.

My husband and I have lived in the same house for over twenty years, a modest cottage built in the late 1920s on an acre of land, half of which is undeveloped pasture (the rest we have to mow).  We live on Fidalgo Island, gateway to the San Juan Islands, and our property is practically adjacent to several hundred acres of community-owned forest lands.  We can step out our front door and within minutes have access to miles and miles of beautiful trails.  We are a ten-minute hike from  beautiful, pristine Heart Lake.

Recently, we were talking with a contractor about a home-improvement project, and during the conversation he mentioned that he thought his great grandparents had lived in our house at one time. He said he couldn't be sure, because he only visited once and was very young at the time, and that their last name was Dupree.

Our next door neighbor--who is in her 70s and a long-time resident--was also standing by during this conversation. When the contractor mentioned the name, she said that yes, the Duprees had lived in our house in the 1960s, and that she had bought a horse from them.  She said that the Duprees had told her that the house next door would be going up for sale, and subsequently our neighbor bought that house.

This came as a total surprise to us. We knew that our house had been owner built --by an Italian family, we had been told --but we thought the previous owners,  Dave & Phyllis Fox, were the only other residents.

All of this started me thinking about the Italian family who had originally built our house.  I had always wanted to know who they were.

Somehow, after all these years, it had never even occurred to me to check the 1930 census!  It was likely  they would still be living in this house in 1930 if they had built it in 1927, as we had been told.

I ran a search in the 1930 census for all individuals living in our little town who had been born in Italy.  There weren't that many. And finally, I found them:

Jack FERI age 40 born Italy
Florence FERI age 55 born WA; mother born Alaska
Roscoe W  FERI age 19
Marguerite F  FERI age 13

The two children apparently were the wife's from a previous marriage, and the census record indicates that the wife and two children were Native American Indian.

Their residence was located on what was then called "Lake Forest Drive" (doesn't exist anymore; now called Heart Lake Road),  with 43rd St as a cross street.

While I have not been able to locate a 1930's map of our area, I am certain this is the correct family.  Our nearest cross street is 41st St, to the north of us, and the street numbers increase heading our direction, to the south.  43rd St no longer exists, but if it did, it would be on the other side of our next door neighbor's property!

Someday, I hope to find out more about what happened to the Feri family, and how long they lived in what is now our little house.

Have a great day!

Betty

Surname Saturday: OTWELL of Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, Indiana and Iowa

I actually have quite a bit of information on my great X 3 grandmother  MARY "POLLY' OTWELL, born Dec 12, 1798 in Guilford, North Carolina. She married HENRY FRAZER on Jan 16, 1813 in Guilford, NC; she was the daughter of JAMES OTWELL & ELEANOR REYNOLDS; and she was a Quaker.

HENRY & MARY (OTWELL) FRAZER migrated in about 1830 from Guilford, NC to West River, Randolph Co Indiana (Cherry Grove MM), with most of their extended family, and possibly most of their Quaker Monthly Meeting from North Carolina.  I suspect, but have no proof as yet, that the move was at least partially based on their dissension in the Quaker church on the issue of slavery.

In 1839,  HENRY & MARY (OTWELL) FRAZER moved from West River, Randolph Co IN (Cherry Grove MM), to Hamilton Co IN (Westfield MM).  In 1844 they moved from Hamilton Co IN (Westfield MM) to Boone Co IN (Sugar Plains MM).  They can be found in the 1850 Boone Co IN census, with some of their children. At some point before 1855, HENRY & MARY (OTWELL) FRAZER moved to Mt Pleasant, Henry Co Iowa, and that is where MARY passed away. After that, HENRY moved with some of his children to Bangor, Marshall Co Iowa.

The previous generations of the Otwell family are a little less clear.  MARY's father, JAMES OTWELL  was born abt 1772 in either Somerset Co MD or Sussex Co DE.  I have not found definitive proof that he and his parents were originally Quaker.  His wife ELEANOR REYNOLDS, born July 19, 1777 Guilford, NC, was a descendant of a prominent Quaker family, her immigrant ancestors being HENRY REYNOLDS b Jan 5, 1655 Sussex, England (who likely accompanied William Penn and was an original purchaser of land in Chester Co PA) and his wife PRUDENCE CLAYTON born Aug 20, 1657 Sussex, England.

JAMES OTWELL born abt 1772 was the son of CURTIS OTWELL (born 1737 Somerset Co MD died April 13, 1779 Sussex Co DE) and TRYPHENAH/TRUFENER unknown, who died after her husband in probably Sussex Co DE.  Some researchers have indicated her last name as FISHER or FISHCHER, but I have found absolutely no records proving or disproving this.

I have never been able to find any indication that CURTIS OTWELL and his wife TRYPHENAH were Quakers; however three of their sons, JAMES OTWELL b abt 1772, SHADRACK/SHADRACH OTWELL b about 1771 and HOWARD OTWELL b 1770-1775 all migrated to Guilford, North Carolina, and/or  married Quakers and/or had children who married Quakers.

I have traced back several generations of the Otwell family in Somerset Co MD, and have had only moderate luck finding wills, land deeds or other records that would document this family.  At least one other researcher, Ed Brezenger, has published a book on the family.

For more information on my Otwell family research, please see my Rootsweb Online Family Tree "Ancestors of Alonzo Cox Huber"


As always, your comments appreciated!

Have a great day!

Betty