The Orphan Boy - Abraham Frank Howard III

Johann Gottfried Hauer (John Godfrey Howard) Family Line

Abraham Frank Howard III (1859-1925) The Orphan Boy
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by Carolyn Ann Howard

This blog post was updated 29 Apr 2022.

I used to feel sorry for Frank Howard, the orphan boy. You see, Frank's mother died shortly after he was born in Iowa. Frank's father, Abraham II, and Frank's uncle, who lived with them, along with the baby, made their way back to their parent's home outside of Loogootee in Martin County, Indiana. Surely both sons were devastated.

It wasn't even a year later that Abraham II enrolled as a Union soldier in the United States Civil War, leaving his infant son in the care of his parents, Abraham I and Mary Ann Toles Howard. Abraham II was killed in the Battle of Antietam 17 Sep 1862. Therefore, the orphaned boy never knew either one of his parents.

A short time later, in 1864, Grandfather Abraham I died, leaving Grandmother Mary Ann a widow at the age of 50. After this, Mary Ann petitioned the court to adopt Abraham Frank Howard. She also applied for Frank to have his father's Civil War pension. It was $8.00/month.

Frank's grandmother, Mary Ann, had another set of grandchildren, too, Ella and Emory Howard. These children belonged to Henry Howard and his first wife, Elizabeth Smith. After the birth of these two children, Henry took a different wife and had other children with her. When Henry died in 1872, Ella and Emory were outta there. I haven't for sure tracked Emory down, but Ella went to Vincennes, Indiana, where her great aunt, Mary Jane, lived. Ella's grandmother, Mary Ann, and Abraham Frank III went with her.

My late father's research looses the trail after Mary Ann left Loogootee with her grandchildren. I don't understand this when it comes to Ella, as she is easily tracked. Unfortunately, by the time I had become interested in my family's genealogy and could talk with my father about Ella, he had already forgotten most of what he had previously known.

In the 1880 census, Mary Ann was in Mount Morris, Michigan, living with Frank and, down the road from her, was her other granddaughter, Ella Howard, now Ella Ellis! But where were Mary Ann and Frank in 1870? Ancestry couldn't tell me.

We knew that Mary Ann had remarried a man by the name of McAlpine, due to Frank's court records that listed her as Mary McAlpine. She was also listed on the 1880 census as Mary McAlpine. Because of that, using FamilySearch.org, I did a search of the 1870 Michigan federal census for Mary Ann McAlpine along with the person of Frank Howard. Bingo. There she was as the wife of Peter McAlpine living in Watertown, Tuscola, Michigan. Frank Howard is listed at the bottom of the family, age 11, the correct age. Ancestry's perimeters doesn't list Frank Howard as living in the same household, due to his last name being different from the rest, so he got lost on Ancestry. Family Search many times is the superior tool for researching.

Knowing that Mary Ann married Peter McAlpine, her marriage certificate was easily found on Ancestry. This document notes Mary Ann as being Mrs. Mary Ann Howard from Loogootee, Indiana.

As previously noted, in 1880, Mary Ann and Frank are back in Mount Morris Michigan, living down the street from Ella. But where did they go after that? And what happened to the poor orphan boy, Frank Howard?

We have no 1890 census records, so using Family Search, I searched for Frank Howard in 1900. And one came up! YAY! Not in Mount Morris but in nearby Clio, Michigan. Even better, it correctly shows his father as being born in New York. And, he has a son named Rainie. Frank's mother's maiden name was Raney. It shows his name as Abraham Frank Howard, the same name as his father. It also shows his being born in Iowa, and his birth date was correct. It all adds up.

On other censuses, it doesn't add up quite so well, but census records can sometimes be a little sketchy; you can't always trust them. Mostly, though, it makes perfect sense that Abraham Frank Howard is our Frank Howard, especially that his father and grandfather were both Abrahams.

Frank's death certificate states he was born in Vincennes and his mother's name was Martha Raney. Frank was definitely born in Iowa and his mother definitely was Eliza Jane Raney. Wonder where the name of Martha came up in the memories of his children? Mary Ann and Frank sojourned in Vincennes, Indiana, a few years before heading off to Michigan, so Frank's children may have thought he was born in Vincennes.

When doing genealogy, it's so easy to project feelings onto your ancestors. Ahhh.... poor Frank. But Frank wasn't poor at all. Growing up, he had his grandmother and his Aunt Ella. Not sure what happened those few years his grandmother was with Peter McAlpine, though. How was that time for him living with another family?

Other than that, it appears he lived a good, normal life. He took a wife, had children and apparently several occupations: On the 1880 census, he is listed as a barber; 1900, merchant; 1910, funeral director; and 1920 real estate agent! We know that he actually was all of these things. To read more, go here. (Opens in a new window)

In memory of my late father and mother, Rev. William "Lester" Howard and Mary McLean Howard.

© 2022 by December Moonlight Publishing, LLC

Rape, Predators, and Genealogy

Genealogy Tips

Rape, Predators, and Genealogy

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by Carolyn Ann Howard

This post updated 08 Sep 2021

About a week ago, I began to write a glowing blog about a particular ancestor, but in our current climate and with the MeToo movement, I stopped to think. Of course my desire is to write glowing accounts of all my ancestors. Unfortunately, it is known for certain that at least one of my ancestors was a pedophile. This particular ancestor was a pillar of his community and a well-respected church-goer, an elder. The ugly fact is only known by family and victims who have been successful in keeping it secret. These things that happen behind closed doors are so vile, so shameful, that victims most of the time remain silent.

Even today in 2018, "60% of rapes/sexual assaults are not reported to police, according to a statistical average of the past 5 years. Those rapists, of course, never spend a day in prison. Factoring in unreported rapes, only about 6% of rapists ever serve a day in jail." [1]

The message, then, is this: We who do genealogy must be diligent and intentional in our documentation. Indeed, we must be excellent. We owe that to those who read and use our work for their own trees. Its tough, and it can be exhausting, but we must not allow mediocre results to creep in.

I'm guilty. An example from my tree: I always thought Eliza Jane Raney's father was Joseph Raney. She lived in the same household as Joseph Raney so why wouldn't she be his daughter? It was brought to my attention through another person's blog that Eliza Jane Raney was an orphan who had been adopted by her Uncle Joseph Raney. [2]

To be fair, she does fit right in as a daughter. The couple have four children on the 1850 census ages 10, 8, 6, 2. Eliza Jane is the 8-year-old. So we really have no clues from this census that she is adopted. Genealogists can't rely on a single source or even several sources. Fortunately, with technology, genealogists now have so many more tools. Even so, we must always keep an open mind and consider possibilities for different outcomes.

Rape and illegitimacy have always been seen as shameful, things that are to be kept secret. In my book Blood of My Ancestor, I confronted and explained the reality of life in rural America in the 1800s. The reasoning was necessary to understand why one of the main characters, Malinda, who had a baby "out of wedlock," turned down Isreal's proposal for marriage. A hugely weighty decision made by a brave woman. (Update: This is now a deleted excerpt from the book, because, in hindsight,  I felt that it interrupted the storyline.)

The real problem was that the pioneers had no real form of birth control, meaning that many times having sex led to having a baby. That was the conundrum. Because of that, society imposed its own birth control in the form of abstinence. The punishment that society dished out to those who broke the rule of abstinence, finding themselves pregnant, was to make the woman an outcast. An unmarried pregnant woman found herself to be an object of scorn, ridicule and gossip. They were treated poorly and were deliberately humiliated. The child was often treated worse.

Another problem Malinda couldn’t fully grasp was the collective thought of what having a baby outside of marriage meant to society. Who would be financially responsible for the child? The pioneers had no social service organizations to help women with this. Orphanages, poor farms and workhouses were starting to crop up, but these were poor excuses for childcare.

Some unmarried women, after having their baby, not knowing what else to do or where else to turn, simply abandoned the child, allowing it to die. Some left their babies on the steps of a church, hoping the church or someone in the church would take their child in. 

Abrahm Alley Log Cabin in Colorado [3]

Sometimes a family would send their pregnant daughter away to hide with relatives, while the mother feigned pregnancy by stuffing her clothes with pillows. In that way, when a new child appeared within the family, people would naturally assume it was the mother’s child and not the daughter’s. Some families sent their pregnant daughter away, hiding them with relatives, telling everyone their daughter had gotten married. Then, when the daughter returned some months later with a new baby, they would say she was a widow whose husband had died shortly after the marriage. All of that was done to save face in a culture where the pregnancy of an unmarried woman was greatly stigmatized and feared.

Some states, like North Carolina, had legal lists called “bastardy bonds.” When the state learned a so-called illegitimate child was being carried, the family or the father would be forced to sign a bond. Someone had to declare financial responsibility for the child. [4]

It may never be known which ancestors of yours or mine were raped or those who were sexual predators. We can be certain they're there, though. Of course, we don't want to be judgmental, because this is very serious! But if something isn't lining up, or even if it is, keep in mind that anything is possible.

Be diligent in your documentation and resist the temptation to put your ancestors onto pedestals. Even if they deserve that pedestal, it does them a disservice as they take their place on your family tree.

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[1] Facts About Sexual Assault. (n.d.). Retrieved October 01, 2018, from https://cmsac.org/facts-and-statistics/

[2] https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/raney/761/

[3] Photo credit: By Darrylpearson [CC BY-SA 4.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

[4] Howard, Carolyn Ann. Blood of My Ancestor. December Moonlight Publishing, LLC, 2012.

© 2022 by December Moonlight Publishing, LLC