The Cozy Cuzn Corner: Kent County

Who Was Thomas Ogle?

I am so excited. This week I came across a new document that I was not aware existed previously. And it has given me a new lead to help firm up more on the history of my Ogle family from Canada.

My 2^nd Great Grandfather was Oliver Ogle (1851 - 1917). I believe he was born in or near Seneca, Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada in 1851 and he died in Harbor Beach, Huron County, Michigan in 1917. I also know he had a brother named Samuel Ogle (1853 – 1926), who came to live with him and died in Harbor Beach, Huron County, Michigan as well in 1926. Both men are buried at Rock Falls Cemetery.

The mystery so far has been who exactly were Oliver and Samuel's parents, what happened to them and if they had any other siblings. I have seen some public family trees on Ancestry.com that shows a sister named Ellen and a brother named Jonathan, but I have been unable to validate that this is correct. And before I add this information to my own research, I'm trying to firm up as much evidence to prove of disprove any connections.

Which brings us back to this document. The Michigan Passenger and Crew Lists (1903-1965) images are located on Ancestry.com's website under immigration. The following document was found doing a search in the specific database for Samuel Ogle. What is strange to me is that a general search of Samuel Ogle's name did not produce any results that had this document listed. Instead I stumbled upon it by doing a search of the surname OGLE only with a residence of Canada, and came across other Ogle family names I recognized, such as Merritt and his wife Ethel when they moved to Canada for a time.

This document has given me several pieces of information that I have not seen before, such as "Place of Birth: Canada, Sinclairville" (where is that exactly). What does the remark "Farber" mean (or is that a signature of the person filling out the form)? But most importantly, who is the person listed as the nearest relative. "Nephew" "Thos Ogle" "Blenheim, Ont".

I know that Thomas is not a child of Oliver, so this would lead me to believe that there is another brother who apparently stayed in Ontario when Oliver and Samuel moved to Harbor Beach.

So, who was Thomas Ogle? Guess I will start with trying to locate all the Ogle's listed in the 1911 Census in or around Blenheim, Ontario ... and work my way backward.

Wish me luck!

Aloha,

Caroline Elizabeth Sterling Wood (1868-1942)

Caroline Elizabeth Sterling Wood is my 2^nd great grandmother. She was born 12 January 1868 in New Scotland, Harwich Township, Kent County, Ontario, Canada to James S and Sarah (Bassett) Sterling. She was the fifth child of eight children (five daughters, and three sons). New Scotland is located in county of Chatham-Kent, Ontario a little over two miles away from the Rondeau Provincial Park on Lake Erie.

On July 24, 1889, at the age of 21, Caroline was united in marriage to a young man from Morpeth named Nathan Wood (1870-1907) at the Presbyterian Church in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada. Blenheim is about ten miles west of New Scotland; and Morpeth is almost 5 miles north of New Scotland.

It is important to understand how geography affected the lives of your ancestors when doing research. That way when it looks like someone traveled hundreds of miles to get married, you may want to double check that there is not another community closer that used that same name at one point in history. For example: New Scotland is also the historical name for New Brunswick ... but it would be unlikely that Caroline would have met Nathan if they didn't live within ten or 20 miles of each other.

Nathan, Caroline and their son Nelson immigrated to Michigan about 1892, likely over the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, Michigan (which was built after the civil war and is about 73 miles west of New Scotland. The Blue Water Bridge, located at Port Huron, was closer for them (64 miles away) but was not open to traffic until 1938.

To this union, three children were born:

Nelson James Wood (1889-1945)
Robert Harold Wood (1893-1961) – my great grandfather
Mary Jane Lydia Wood (1903-1985)

In October 1907, Caroline was left a widow with two teenage sons (18 and 14) and a four year old daughter after the unexpected death of her husband Nathan in a boat explosion in Grindstone City, Huron, Michigan. She never remarried.

My initial records showed that Caroline died December 9, 1942, at the age of 74 IN Grindstone City (which now I believe was based on assumption or best guess) and is buried at the New River Cemetery along with her husband. However I recently came across this obituary, along with two other articles the in the newspaper the week before her death that indicate that Caroline Wood was spending the winter at the home of her son, Robert Wood when she took ill with pneumonia and was taken to the Harbor Beach Hospital, where she was at the time of her death. So it is always important to double check your assumed "facts" with other facts to make sure you have the whole picture.