Turning "Weak" to "Win"

 

While the Hub's lineage to Isaac Allerton was accepted by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants a few years ago, there was an aspect to his application that has been nagging at me ever since. 

The historians who reviewed his application made two notations on his completed application. The words "weak" and "very weak" were noted between two generations. These notations meant that while the application was accepted, the evidence I provided to link two generations was weaker than they would like to see.¹

With the advent of FamilySearch's Full-Text Search, however, I have found one document that will solidify the case that Minerva Cushman, who married Edwin A. Taylor, was the daughter of Orlando Weaver Cushman of Castleton, Vermont. This relationship links the 7th and 8th generations between Jim and Allerton. Minerva and Edwin are Jim's 4th great-grandparents.

The Full-Text Search tool uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to identify names in thousands of digitized genealogical documents—from deeds to wills and more. Search results include images of the documents with the searched terms highlighted, as well as a basic document transcription. 

Using the Full-Text Search tool, I looked for "Orlando Cushman." This resulted in 42 hits in several states: Illinois, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Knowing that Orlando lived in Orleans, Jefferson County, New York, I filtered down to the New York documents—there were 35.

Scanning through the list, I noticed "Electa E. Cushman, widow," in the truncated excerpts in the search results, in the collection "Jefferson, New York, United States Probate Estate File, 1861." Electa was Orlando's wife. The document was from loose papers in Cushman's estate file, and one petition in particular had the information I was looking for: Clear documentation of the relationship between Orlando W. Cushman and Minerva C. Taylor. 

Part of the petition reads:

"Your petitioner further shows that the heirs and next of kin of the said Orlando W. Cushman
deceased, are as follows, and none other or others, to the best knowledge, information and belief of your petitioner, viz:
Rosette E. Webb wife of Frederick A. Webb of Orleans, Jefferson County, New York, Lucy
Ann Bright wife of William Bright of Lockport
Niagara
Oneida County New York, Darwin E. Cushman
of Elk Rapids, Michigan, Mary Helen Gursey
wife of Horace A. Gurnsy of St. Joseph, Berrien
County, Michigan and Minerva C. Taylor
wife of Edward A. Taylor of Bangor, Franklin
County, New - York, all children of said deceased, and all of full age..."²

Bingo!

The highlighted areas show that Minerva C. Taylor, wife of Edwin A. Taylor, was one of the "children of said deceased" Orlando W. Cushman.

 

As I'm writing this, I also noticed that the petition gives Cushman's death date as 16 February 1861, where the previous evidence I provided in a compiled family history noted it as 19 February 1861. So, this document will clarify both the death date and the father-daughter relationship.

More and more microfilmed records are becoming available to the Full-Text Search tool, many without any announcement or fanfare. I've seen not only records from the five collections listed on the tool webpage—which focus primarily on wills, probate, land, and notorial records—but also divorce, vital records, funeral home records, school records, and even foundling records in my search results. 

It's an exciting time to be working on FamilySearch and finding useful treasures hidden in plain site, and especially gratifying to find more compelling evidence for this generational link...turning a "weak" into a "win."

Until next time...

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© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2024. All rights reserved.

 

NOTES

¹ General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Application for Membership, Gen. No. 98024, State No. 3858, James Dale Casey, Jr., 2020.

² Jefferson County, New York, Estate papers 1805-1900, box C, case 285, Orlando W. Cushman, 1861, petition for proof of will; imaged, “New York Probate Records, 1629-1971,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89HP-TQPT : accessed 7 October 2024); citing County Courthouse, Watertown.