My Great Great Grandfather Suddenly Has a New Identity......

This is a photo of my great great grandfather JOHN F MARTINE. The photo is a copy of an original that was sent to me by a relative.

 While browsing public family trees on Ancestry.com, I discovered that someone had appropriated this photo of my gg grandfather and had given him a new identity "JOHN ALBERT MARTINE", as well as five wives and numerous children, none of them correct.  They also "borrowed" all of my research including birth and death dates and attached census records.

Clearly the person merged and combined several Ancestry.com public family trees,  including mine.   Besides all my attached census records, which are correct for JOHN F MARTINE,  this person has my gg grandfather living in Bromley, Middlesex England in 1861, Cmudu, Glamorganshire, Wales in 1890, and Hillsborough, Somerset Co NJ in 1900.

At this point I don't know whether or not the photo was intentionally attached to the family tree, but the person has so far refused to remove it.  Their only excuse was that they are "new to this", and that I need to "back off". And now they have blocked my emails, so I can't inform them that I actually found their correct ancestor.

Here is a link to the erroneous Ancestry.com public family tree:

JOHN ALBERT MARTINE

Note  3/19/2011: The person has removed the photo from his/her online family tree, so I have removed the link.

And here is a link to the "correct" ancestor of the owner of the erroneous Ancestry.com public tree.

JOHN C MORTINE/MARTINE

Using the information on this person's family tree, I found their correct Martine ancestor in about two minutes. If the person had even tried to do some research, they too would have found that my great great  grandfather was not the same person as their ancestor John C Mortine/Martine, who was born in Strasbourg, France.

Here is the correct information for my great great grandfather JOHN F MARTINE, the man in the photo:

Born June 15, 1831 Spencerport, Ogden twp, Monroe Co NY
Died Jan 30, 1907 Old Soldier's Home, Orting, Pierce Co WA


Married April 12, 1851 Racine Co WI to MARY ANN SCOFIELD, as per copy of original marriage record & Civil War Pension Record. MARY ANN SCOFIELD was the daughter of CHARLES SCOFIELD & SALLY ANN HOYT DIBBLE. 


JOHN F MARTINE Fought in Civil War 2nd WI Cavalry Co G, rank Corporal. Disabled & discharged by May 1862,  as per numerous sources, including his Civil War Pension Record.


Children:
--CHARLES ALBERT MARTINE born April 12, 1854 Yorkville, Racine Co WI m Alice Miller (my great grandparents)
--IDA K MARTINE born June 24, 1857 Yorkville, Racine Co WI m James Myers
--MINNIE LUCINDA MARTINE b Aug 16, 1869 Hardin Co Iowa m 1st) William Clifton 2nd) Joseph Rainford; died Everson, Whatcom Co WA
--JOHN EDSON MARTINE b Jan 10, 1875 Kansas City, MO m (late in life) Pearl unknown in Everson, Whatcom Co WA


Census records:
--1850 Monroe Co NY Spencerport, Ogden twp census age 19 with his sister Rachel Martine age 34 only (parents both deceased)
--1860 Racine Co WI census with wife Mary Ann and children, near father in law Charles Scofield
--1870 Hardin Co Iowa census, Etna twp, town of Eldora with wife Mary Ann and children, surname incorrectly written listed as "Morten"; occupation, drayman.
--1880 Livingston Co MO census, town of Chillicothe with wife Mary Ann and children, next door to daughter Ida and son in law James Myers.


I have not been able to find JOHN F MARTINE in the 1900 census, but his Civil War Pension record shows that he & his wife were living in Kansas City, MO until the late 1890s, before moving to Whatcom Co WA to be near their daughter Minnie.


Here is a photo of JOHN F MARTINE's tombstone in the Old Soldier's Cemetery, Orting, Pierce Co WA.

Betty

© Betty Tartas  2011

Fearless Females March 4, 2011: Marriage Records for Grandparents & Great Grandparens

Thanks to Lisa Alzo of  The Accidental Genealogist blog for providing the inspiration:  Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women's History Month.




I am fortunate to have marriage records for both sets of grandparents, and for three out of four sets of great grandparents.  While I don't have any stories about the weddings,  I do have a few facts about the couples, gleaned from various sources.

My maternal grandparents RUBY BOLTON BROWN & R B MARTINE were married April 6, 1915 in Seattle WA. They moved to San Francisco CA in 1921, and lived there until the 1950s, when they returned to the Seattle area. I have written many blog posts about my adventurous grandmother Ruby!!

My paternal grandparents MINTTIE MAE BRUTON & ALONZO COX HUBER were married July 6, 1901 in McCracken, Christian Co MO. They moved to Marshall Co Iowa by 1905, raised a family of ten children, and lived in Iowa the rest of their lives.

My maternal great grandparents MARY ETTA KENNEDY & FRANK R BROWN were married July 2, 1878 in Aurora, Esmerelda Co NV.  They were living in Bodie, Mono Co CA, about 15 miles away from the town of Aurora, but at that time, there wasn't a justice of the peace in Bodie. Both are ghost towns now.  By 1887, Frank R Brown was living on remote Unga Island in Alaska.  His wife & daughter joined him in 1888, and the family lived there until 1904, when they moved to San Francisco. Mary Etta died there at age 49, in 1907. The family  lived in San Francisco at the time of the great 1906 earthquake.

My maternal great grandparents ALICE MILLER & CHARLES ALBERT MARTINE are the only couple for whom I don't have an actual marriage record.  However, I do know they were married 1880 in Clinton Co MO, probably at the home of ALICE's sister, MARY ELLIS MILLER who married JOHN WILSON. Alice & Charles lived in the town  of Chillicothe,  Livingston Co MO at the time of the  1880 census. They moved around a great deal during their marriage!  By 1884 they lived in Alburquerque, New Mexico. By 1886 they lived in Wyandott, Kansas. By 1887 They lived in Kansas City, Kansas.  By 1893 they lived in Yamhill  Co, Oregon. By 1897 they lived in Seattle, WA. By 1905 they lived in Stanwood, Snohomish Co WA.  By 1920 they were back in Seattle WA.  All of this moving around could not have been easy on Alice or their five children!!

My paternal great grandparents CAROLINE AMELIA "CRAMELIA" FRAZIER & PHILLIP L HUBER were married Nov 17, 1869 in Thorntown, Boone Co IN.  In the 1870 census, Phillip & Cramelia were living next door to Phillip's mother CATHERINE (SHRIVER) HUBER in Sugar Creek twp, Montgomery Co IN. By 1880 they had moved to Bangor, Marshall Co Iowa, where Cramelia's mother, Nancy (Van Arsdale) Frazier,  lived.  Phillip L Huber disappeared without a trace sometime between 1880 and 1885, leaving Cramelia to raise their three children alone.

My paternal great grandparents SILOAMA K WHITECOTTON & BENJAMIN B BRUTON were married Nov 8, 1875 in Christian Co MO, Rev Jacob Burkhart presiding. Benjamin B Bruton was a newly ordained Baptist minister at the time of their marriage, and would eventually become a school teacher in Christian Co MO.  He also wrote numerous tracts, presided over several congregations and performed over at least twenty marriages in Christian Co MO. Siloama preceded him in death by over twenty years.

Have a great day!

Betty

© Betty Tartas  2011