Out West

 For the life of me, I couldn't figure out where this guy was from.

Samuel Gregory McCarthy (1862 - 1918), detail.

My wife's great-grandfather, Samuel Gregory McCarthy (1862 - 1918), shows up in Hand County, South Dakota where he married Adaline "Addie" Elmira Carl (abt. 1880 - 1953) on 28 June 1896. He was 33 years old. She was 16. Oof.

Addie (Carl) McCarthy, detail.


Hand County, South Dakota

They ended up staying together and having 9 children together, until he passed away in 1918.

From family records, we had the hint that he was born in Monticello, Jones County, Iowa. We didn't have a birth record to prove the exact location, but both the 1900 and 1910 U.S. Census records confirmed that his birth place was Iowa. But we had no records of Sam before he showed up in 1896 in North Dakota. There didn't seem to be any McCarthy family in Jones County, Iowa.

Jones County, Iowa

Matches from my wife's DNA test finally solved the mystery man.

I put together my own show of "Finding Your Roots" for my wife.

"Please take a look at this photo. Have you ever seen her before?"


"No, I haven't."

"Do you know who she is?", I said with a grin, full well knowing that she had no idea who this person is.

"No, of course I don't know who she is!" She's throwing daggers at me, but I'm laughing inside. "Who is she?!"

She is your grandmother's half-sister.
Freeda Robinson
Marie "Mazie" Pooley

Now my wife is wondering how all of this is possible.

See there was one small problem. My wife's grandmother was Freeda (McCarthy) Robinson. Her half sister is Marie "Mazie" (McCartney) Pooley.

That's right. My wife's great-grandfather was not Samuel McCarthy. Or, at least not originally. That's why I couldn't find anything on him. His name was really Samuel McCartney.

What happened here?

Samuel McCartney was born to William McCartney & Maria Sennett (Croston) McCartney, and it was in Monticello, Jones County, Iowa. He's living there with his parents and siblings in 1870.

The next year, in 1871, his family moved to Plymouth County, Iowa in the western part of the state. .

Plymouth County, Iowa

Sam married Josephine Minette "Nettie" Brace in December 1882, Plymouth County, Iowa.

Samuel McCartney & Nettie (Brace) McCartney,
undated but likely around early 1883.

They started having a family.

Samuel McCartney & Nettie (Brace) McCartney and their daughter Myrtle, 
likely sometime in 1884.
                 

Samuel McCartney & Nettie (Brace) McCartney and their four oldest children,
Myrtle, William, Jessie, and Maude, likely in 1890.

In all, Samuel and Nettie had 8 children together:
  1. Myrtle Mae (McCartney) Bauerly (1883 - 1945)
  2. William Thomas McCartney (1885 - 1953)
  3. Jessie Pearl (McCartney) Randall aka Warring, Gjevre (1887 - 1967)
  4. Cecelia Maude (McCartney) McNeil aka Harry (1889 - 1967)
  5. Charles Earle McCartney (1891 - 1912)
  6. Daisy M (McCartney) Packebush (1893 - 1951)
  7. Marie "Mazie" Josephine (McCartney) Pooley (1893 - 1965)
  8. Drucilla Lucile McCartney (1895 - 1909)
Around 1895 (or perhaps somewhat before), Samuel deserted his family in Iowa, for reasons unknown but still being researched. It seems that the family did not know his whereabouts. In May 1900, his wife, Nettie, was granted a divorce on grounds of desertion. She remarried within the same month.

Le Mars (Iowa) Globe-Post, Saturday, 12 May 1900,
Volume 16, Number 1598-64, p. 1, column 2, "The Court".


Nettie McCartney and children. Back, standing left to right: Jessie, Earle, William.
Center, seated: Maude, Nettie, Drucilla (seated on the arm of the chair), Myrtle.
Front, seated left to right: Mazie, Daisy (twins).
Photo was taken before October 1909 as Drucilla died then.


Why did Samuel leave? How could he just cross the state border, change his surname, and disappear from his family? I don't think we'll ever know.

He went to Hand County, South Dakota, where he married 16-year old, Adaline "Addie" Elmira Carl on 28 June 1896. They ended up having 9 children together under the McCarthy surname. See more at my post, Unlocking a Family Photo.

McCarthy Family, November 1917


Samuel McCarthy died on 1 May 1918 in Hand County, South Dakota.

Samuel's father, William McCartney, died later on 1 March 1921 in Plymouth County, Iowa. There was a newspaper article / obituary about his life. It stated that 3 of his children survive:


To the very end, Samuel's family in Iowa had no idea of his whereabouts, or that Samuel had died 3 years earlier. Neither family knew about each other, until genetic genealogy revealed this secret in 2022, over a hundred years later.

Comments

  1. The Global GenealogistJanuary 4, 2025 at 3:57 PM

    If you wanted to run off with a sixteen-year-old in 1896, South Dakota would have probably been a great place to hide.

    ReplyDelete

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