I have posted below my Michigan Insane Asylum Records article as published in the Acorns to Oaks, Vol. 32, No. 4 of the Michigan Oakland County Genealogical Society Quarterly. The article goes into detail as to how to secure records.
AsylumRecordsArticleP.1 AsylumRecordsArticleP.2 AsylumRecordsArticleP.3
John Ralston Sr. of Slippery Rock Township, Butler County, PA died in Feb. 1850. His original will and probate file can be seen digitized at familysearch.org:
Click here: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-28935-3326-4?cc=1999196&wc=M99F-446:n1410558651
John Ralston Sr. had eleven children: William, James, Jane, John Jr., Elizabeth (Betsy), Mary Polly, Samuel, David, Susan, George and Elem.
John was born 17 MAY 1776 in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, PA and is buried on the Old Smith Farm in Slippery Rock. He was married to Betsey Sharp. He was an enlisted private in the War of 1812.
John Ralston Jr. married Nancy Agnes McLane and they settled in Jackson County, Iowa in 1853. Their son Millen Ralston is my great-great grandfather.
Below is the 1863 record for George Van Buren signing up for the Union draft during the Civil War. George was not drafted but enlisted and fought in the Tenth Michigan Calvary, a Corporal, Company G, from 27 AUG 1864 to 16 JUN 1865.
George Washington Van Buren was the father of Anna Elizabeth Van Buren Ellison.
You will note the other Van Buren’s on the document. Ebenezer was George’s brother, sons of William Van Buren and Amanda Bradley Van Buren. I am not certain who Henry was, born circa 1830 also in New York. Amanda was born in 1816, making it unlikely that she was Henry’s mother.
They are living in Danby, Michigan at this time.
Below is George Van Buren’s headstone in the Soldier’s Plot at the Maple Lawn Cemetery in Boyne City, Charlevoix County, Michigan.
Oscar Eastman was the son of Norman F Eastman and Cornelia Pratt. And the brother of my ancestor Charles L. Eastman, whose daughter Nellie Mae Eastman was my great-grandmother. Nellie Mae married William Alfred Ralston. My great-grandparents were originally from Jackson County, Iowa.
EASTMAN, OSCAR
Oscar Eastman, one of the earlier settlers of Lyon
county, and whose history is largely the story of the
settlement of that part of the county where he is
found to-day, located on section 32, Lyon township, in
1887. He was born in Jackson county, Iowa, July 28,
1862, a son of Norman and Cornelia (Pratt) Eastman,
natives of New York and Vermont. The father, who came
to Iowa in the very early days, was a life-long
farmer. When he died in 1893 he had reached the age of
seventy-six years. His wife, who died in 1884, lived
to be sixty-two years. They had a family of eleven
children.
Oscar Eastman was educated in the common schools, and
in his earlier manhood worked by the month at farm
work until his marriage, when he bought his present
place. He was married March 27, 1892, to Miss Minnie
Schoen, a resident at that time of Fairview, South
Dakota. Her parents, John and Mary Schoen, were
blessed with a family of ten children, of whom Mrs.
Eastman was the fourth in order of birth. To Mr. and
Mrs. Eastman have come the following children: Irvin
O., Chester N., Clarence and Agnes M., all of whom are
living and form a most charming family.
Mr. Eastman is becoming largely interested in stock,
and upon his place now has twenty-five head of cattle,
sixteen horses, and one hundred and fifty hogs. For
breeding purposes he has a stallion, Don Arno,
registered No. 25,-564, which is very highly regarded
in the neighborhood. Mr. Eastman is a member of the
Fairview Camp of Modern Woodmen of America, and
attends the Methodist church. He is one of the bright
and progressive young men of the neighborhood.
______________________________________________________
NOTE: For more information on Lyon County, Iowa
Please visit the Lyon County, IAGenWeb page
______________________________________________________
Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of
Lyon County, Iowa. Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer
Association of Lyon County. Geo. Monlun, Pres.; Hon. E. C. Roach
Sec’y; and Col. F. M. Thompson, Historian. Geo. A. Ogle & CO.,
Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. Chicago, 1904-1905
Edith Dorothy Fry, age 20 and John Tristam Tasker, age 21 were married in the Church of England at Beeston in the Parish of Leeds in the County of York on 3 AUG 1908.
They were the parents of Ethel Tasker Ellison.
John was a bricklayer and Dorothy a shop assistant and you will notice they shared the same address already- 4 Barkley Street, Beeston.
John’s father was Tristam Tasker – a leather splitter.
Dorothy’s father was Albert Alexander Fry- deceased- a sexton.
Marriage Record
Tasker Family. John, Louis, Norman, Marjorie and their mother E. Dorothy in about 1918:
Tasker Family 1918
John Tasker:
Ethel Ellison’s Photo of her Brother John
Robert S. Fry. Born about 1890 in Thornham, Norfolk, England. Son of Albert Alexander Fry and Eliza Ann Sadler. Brother of Edith Dorothy Fry and Hilda Fry.
Robert S. Fry
Gravestone of Elizabeth Vidler Fry and George Fry in Lee Cemetery, Kent, England. George and Elizabeth were the parents of 5 children, including Albert Alexander. George was the first superintendent of Lee Cemetery.
George and Elizabeth Fry
Lee Cemetery, Kent, England
On the back of this photograph it reads “Dad’s Home”. The handwriting appears to be that of E. Dorothy Tasker’s. Her father was Albert Alexander Fry. Albert Fry died in 1900 in England.
“Dad’s Home”
Eliza Ann Sadler, mother of Edith Dorothy Fry Tasker. Born about 1868 in Thornham, Norfolk, England. She married Albert Alexander Fry and had three children with him. She was Ethel Tasker Ellison’s grandmother.
Eliza Ann Sadler Fry
After her husband died in 1900, Eliza was in a relationship and had three more children. Here is a photo of those three “Grace, Crissie & Wallace”:
Here she is on the England 1911 Census with five of her children:
Below is a postcard she sent to her daughter, Edith Dorothy Fry:
Below is a photograph I copied off ancestry.com of Eliza and her family, the Sadler’s:
Remember that you can click on the photograph and then when it appears in a new window- you can zoom, sometimes more than once!
James A Ellison with parents, Harold & Alice circa 1944:
Jim & Ethel Ellison with Harold & Alice Ellison, July 1971:
Back of photo reads in Ethel’s Hand: “Shrine Choir Jim & Ethel Ellison pregnant with Judy Spring 1942″:
