SNGF – Ancestor Roulette or Perhaps Fate

In the spirit of getting back to blogging, I thought I’d participate in Randy’s latest Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge (I can’t even remember the last time I did one…sorry Randy).  The challenge was:

1. How old is one of your grandfathers now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."
2. Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel"). Who is that person?
3. Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."
4. Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook note or comment, or as a comment on this blog post.
5. If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then spin the wheel again - pick a grandmother, or yourself, a parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, or even your children!

I initially chose my maternal grandfather, Harold Miller, who would be 92.  This gave me the number 23, my second great-grandmother.  Just for fun, I tried my paternal grandfather, John Cahill, who would be 88.  This gave me the number 22, which, yep, is the husband of my #23.  Since my numbers are a couple, I’ll take a look at both of them together.  Isn’t it strange how that worked out…roulette, or fate?

James Manly GARRISON and Sarah Jane “Jennie” MULLIGAN

James Manly GARRISON, son of James or John GARRISON [1] and Susan —?—, [2] was born on 26 December 1861 in Picton, Ontario, Canada. [3]  James died on 23 May 1909 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois at the age of 47. [4]  He was buried at Oakridge Cemetery in Hillside, Cook, Illinois on 26 May 1909. [5]

James married Sarah Jane “Jennie” MULLIGAN on 23 January 1893. [6]  Sarah, daughter of James MULLIGAN and Sarah Norton WEBSTER, was born on 16 April 1870 in Flint, Genesee, Michigan. [7]  Sarah died on 26 April 1947 in Chicago. [8]  She was buried at Elm Lawn Cemetery in Elmhurst, DuPage, Illinois on 29 April 1947. [9] 

Sources

1.  Weeks Jacob W.J. W. Weeks & Co., Detroit City Directory, 1874: 264; digital images, Footnote (www.footnote.com).  Weeks Jacob W.J. W. Weeks & Co., Detroit City Directory, 1887: 614; digital images, Footnote www.footnote.com. 

2.  1871 census of Canada, district 59, sub-district F Division 2, Sophiasburgh, Prince Edward, Ontario, p. 10, dwelling 29, family 32, Susan Garrison; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed October 27, 2009). 

3.  Sarah Jane (Webster) (Coffinger) Mulligan, Family Bible Records, 1801-1936, Holy Bible (unknown: unknown, ca. 1850), privately held by Julie Marie Cahill Tarr, Normal, Illinois, 2001; This Bible belonged to Sarah Jane Webster; it was given to her by her father Calvin Price Webster in 1853.  It is believed that the chain of custody is as follows:  Sarah Jane (Mulligan) Garrison, Emma (Garrison) McMahon, Joan Garrison (McMahon) Cahill, Joseph Cahill, Julie (Cahill) Tarr (current owner).  The bible is in critical condition; very frail and falling apart.

4.  Cook County, Illinois, death certificate no. 13981 (1909), James M Garrison, Cook County Coroner. 

5.  Ibid.  Also, Oakridge Cemetery (Hillside, Cook, Illinois), Office Records, to Julie Tarr, personal office visit, citing administrative record for James M Garrison, SG 373-9. According to the office records, there is no gravestone.

6.  State of Illinois, marriage license no. 195934 (1893), James M Garrison and Sarah J Mulligan; Cook County Clerk. 

7.  Sarah Jane (Webster) (Coffinger) Mulligan, Family Bible Records, 1801-1936. 

8.  State of Illinois, death certificate, no. 13632 (1947), Sarah Jane Garrison, Department of Public Health. 

9.  Ibid.  Also, Elm Lawn Cemetery (Elmhurst, Illinois), Office Records, Sarah Jane Garrison, Section 10, Lot 340. Personally viewed the file for the family burial plot.