52 Ancestors: FIRE! - William McAboy's Greenhouse

This week's blog prompt immediately reminded me of the fire in my 2x great grandfather's greenhouse in Clinton, Illinois in 1883.  I've written a few times about William Warren McAboy which you can read HERE and HERE.  William was a bit of a "black sheep" but after learning more and more about him, it seems that he had a bit of a difficult life.

Map of Clinton, Illinois

I know from previous research that William's nursery was in Block 21 which was 4 blocks south of the public square.  I believe the area circled in pale orange is the public square - Johnson Street is noted by the green arrow.

Online publication - Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.
History of De Witt County, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of the scenery,
and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers. Philadelphia: W.R.

Before opening the nursery, William was the janitor of the public school building, which was an elected position.  His salary was $500 per year.

In 1879, he resigned his janitorial position perhaps to get the nursery business started.

Clinton Register,  Fri, Sept 12, 1879, page 1

William did a bit of advertising to entice people to visit the nursery.

Clinton Register, 20 September, 1882, page 5

And then the unthinkable happened on Saturday, December 30, 1882 - William McAboy's greenhouse suffered a fire.  I can't even imagine the horror of battling a blaze and watching the destruction of your business.

Clinton Register, Fri, 5 January 1883, page 3

It looks like the business recovered and William was able to show some "curiosities".  The mention of figs is interesting as William later moved to Fresno, where figs are plentiful.

Clinton Register, 15 August 1884, page 4

And then William shared a bouquet of flowers with the Clinton Register.  I wonder what prompted that?  But since the newspaper was the social media of the day, they felt it was worthy of mentioning it in the paper.

Clinton Register, Fri, 5 September 1884, page 4

Want to see some novelties from Florida?  I guess you could say that a lime the size of a football would definitely be a novelty!  And the name A.V. Lisenby means something, although at this moment I don't know what.  But his name has definitely come up in some of my research.  And six bits - my grandmother and dad used to use the terms "bits" when they talked about quarters - six bits would have been 75 cents.

Clinton Register, 27 March 1885, page 4

The Clinton Register seemed very interested in the Greenhouse, calling it Clinton's Greenhouse.  I haven't found the name of the greenhouse so, perhaps, this was it.  I like reading that William was sociable and pleasant, a description I have not heard before.

Clinton Register, 7 May 1886, page 2

The business seemed to flourish and by 1889, William was ready to expand the business by erecting two new green houses.

Clinton Register, Friday June 7, 1889 - page 3

I love reading the details of the improvements.  There it is again - sociable and pleasant.  Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all.

Clinton Register, Friday, August 23, 1889, page 3

But wait!  All of these improvements and just a few short months later, he sold the greenhouse to Mr. C.W. Moore.

Clinton Register, December 6, 1889, page 5

From the Clinton Register, Friday, January 3, 1890, page 3 I learned that William was to make his future home in Fresno.  Of course I knew he moved to Fresno but even now, I have no idea why.  More research needed.

Clinton Register, Fri, 3 January 1890, page 3

So while the fire was a tragic occurrence, it seems that William Warren McAboy, my 2x great grandfather, was able to salvage his business and even expand it in later years.

Fearless Females: What happened to…..Part 2

Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist launched a series of 31 blogging prompts for celebrating and honoring the "fearless females" in our family trees in March, 2010. This year the series is being revisited in honor of National Women’s History Month and the purpose is to focus on the women in our lives and to make sure their stories are told.

Today’s prompt is from March 11, part 2: Did you have any female ancestors who died young or from tragic or unexpected circumstances? Describe and how did this affect the family?

One of my favorite subjects has been my 3rd great grandfather, Emery Waller.  Besides being a favorite, Emery has brought me several new cousins and for someone who comes from a very small family, getting to know these cousins has been a lot of fun (Sarah, we MUST meet in real life soon!).  Emery also brings me a Fearless Female – his first wife, Rebecca Parker.

Based on the age shown on Rebecca’s gravestone, she was born on 10 Oct 1814.  I don’t know much about Rebecca except that she was married to Emery in Hamilton County, Ohio on 31 Jan 1833 by F.N. Skillman, Justice of the Peace.



Emery and Rebecca’s first child, Mary Ann, was born shortly thereafter, sometime in 1833.  By 1838, another daughter, Caroline, would join the family.  The 1840 census shows them in Liberty, Butler County, Ohio.  It appears that another daughter, Sarah, was born in 1842 and then things changed for this family. 

On 7 Feb 1845, Rebecca gave birth to her fourth daughter, my second great grandmother, and what should have been a happy occasion was anything but.  Six days later, on 13 Feb 1845, Rebecca Parker Waller was dead.  At 30 years, 4 months, and 5 days she was gone, leaving Emery alone with four daughters.  The fourth daughter was named Rebecca Moriah, most likely in memory of her mother.  Rebecca Parker Waller is buried in Plum Run Cemetery, Warren County, Ohio.

Memory of Rebecca Consort of E L Waller. She departed this Life February 13, 1845; Aged 30 Years, 4 months, and 5 days Look at this as you pas by, as you are now so once was I, as I am now so you must be. For death and follow me.

Life for Emery and the girls was about to change dramatically.  How would he care for these young children?  What would he do?  Why, he would remarry and his new wife would care for them.  And that’s just what he did.  On either 22 Jul or 23 Jul 1845, Emery and Clarinda Meeker were married.  I’ve found reference to several different names for Clarinda so it could be that Meeker was Clarinda’s married name.







By 1850 the family had moved to Clinton, Illinois, and the two oldest girls, Mary Ann and Caroline, were living with Emery’s parents, Salmon and Amelia Waller, just two doors from Emery and Clarinda.  Emery and Clarinda had added two more daughters, Elizabeth (b. 1846) and Nancy Hannah (b. 1848) to the family.

The 1860 census finds the family in Santa Ana, Illinois and while more children had joined the family, some had left.  Living in the household were Rebecca, Elizabeth, Nancy Hannah, George (b. 1855), and Minnie (b. 1857).  Mary Ann and Caroline were now married and living nearby.  But Sarah was gone, and daughter Alice, who was born in 1851, was also gone.  And somewhere along the line, “Sons Waller”, the sons of Rev. E.L. Waller and C. Waller, were born and died as they are buried in McGraw Cemetery in Clinton, Illinois.  Emery and Clarinda had been married for 40 years when Clarinda died in 1885 and, once again, Emery buried his wife.

The family was forever changed on 13 Feb 1845 when Rebecca Parker Waller, wife of Emery Waller, the mother of four young daughters, and my 3rd great grandmother, died.  

Black Sheep Sunday: Does this look like a nice man?

Fresno Morning Republican
Tuesday, January 13, 1925
Page two

I don't think so.  But he's my 2nd great grandfather, William Warren McAboy.  I've had this photo from William's obituary for about a year.  And every time I've looked at it I thought he must have not been a nice man.  Sadly, I think I'm right.

William was born in DeWitt County, Illinois on December 12, 1842 and was the oldest child of James Robert McAboy and Sarah Mann.  The family seemed to move a bit, from DeWitt County to McLean County and back again, before William mustered into army service in Battery F, Second Regiment of Voluntary Light Artillery in 1861.  At some point I believe he also served in Company F, 4th Cavalry Regiment Illinois.  I think I see another pension record in my future.

William was married to Rebecca Moriah Waller on January 10, 1864 in DeWitt County and life seemed good.  Together they had six children, the youngest of which was my great grandmother, Mabel McAboy (1883-1966).  William was a florist and gardener and in 1881 established a business (cost of $3,000) located in block 21, four blocks south of the Clinton public square.  It had three green houses, each 50 feet in length.  Either $5,000 or 5,000 plants were raised annually (conflicting information), and the business employed three people.

In 1883, one of the greenhouses caught fire.  The Clinton Public Newspaper reported on January 5, 1883:

At two o'clock last Saturday morning Mrs. W. W. McABOY was awakened from a sense of suffocation, and she awakened her husband. The bedroom was full of smoke, and when Mr. McABOY opened the door leading to the office of his green-house he was driven back by the smoke and flames. Mr. McAboy got out in the street and gave the alarm of fire, and then went back and tried to quench the flames. It seemed an age to Mr. McAboy before help came to him, but during the interval he did effective work in fighting the fire. After hard work the flames were subdued, but the wreck of flowers and glass in the green-house was great. One of the green-houses was nearly destroyed and the others were badly damaged. Mr. McAboy estimates his loss at between $400 and $500, and on flowers and seeds about $300. A kind friend went among the business men on Saturday and raised about $100 to help Mr. McAboy repair his losses. The fire caught in a barrel of soot that was in the cellar under the office. It is supposed to be a case of spontaneous combustion.

What a sad time that must have been and William was obviously well respected for his friend to raise $100 to help with his losses. 

But things changed and on September 13, 1889, the Clinton Public Newspaper had the following report:

A Brutal Father.

W. W. McABOY, the proprietor of the nursery, made a brutal assault on his son Emery on Tuesday about noon. The boy came uptown in the forenoon and went to see the game of baseball, and on his return home he had a racket with his father. McAboy threw some tomatoes at the boy and then picked up a chair and struck him on the head, cutting a bad gash. Mrs. McABOY was sick in bed and hearing the racket she screamed and fainted. The boy ran to his mother at once and seeing her condition he started out to get a doctor. As the boy was going out of the door, McAboy threw a tumbler at him, which struck him on the arm and cut an artery. The boy went over for Dr. HYDE to go and see his mother, and not finding him at home he came uptown for Dr. WILCOX. By the time he reached the square he was faint from loss of blood, and the consequences might have been dangerous had his wounds not been bound up at once. From his home up to the square he could be tracked by the blood spots on the sidewalk. Marshal MOFFET saw the boy and as soon as he learned the cause of his wounds he went to McAboy’s house and arrested him. McAboy not being ready for trial, his case was postponed till next Tuesday. The boy Emery is very industrious and attentive to his father’s business, working day and night. He is a perfect young gentleman and he has the sympathy of everybody. He is yet nursing his wounds, carrying his arm in a sling and his head is bandaged. For such a brutal assault on his own boy McAboy should be made to suffer the full penalty of the law to teach him a lesson. A fine would be no punishment as he is well able to pay it.


Uh-oh, looks like I was right and William wasn't a nice man after all.  Young Emery was 19 years old and his father assaulted him, over and over again with tomatoes, a chair, and a tumbler.  In the court papers I was able to obtain while in DeWitt County, the records show he was charged with "assault with a deadly weapon" and "the sheriff will hold the defendant to bail in the sum of one hundred dollars".  I cannot determine the outcome of the proceedings but I do see that not only was James "Emery" commanded to appear as a witness, but also his sister, Lilly.  Can you imagine the horror of witnessing your father assault your younger brother?

Things didn't get much better for William and Rebecca.  On January 10, 1890 the Clinton Public Newspaper reported that "W.W. McAboy left for California this week.  He has left his family in almost destitute circumstances.  Mrs. McAboy has been confined to her bed for several months, which is almost unendurable for her to bear.  The family has the sympathy of the community".  And then on March 7, 1890 "W.B. McAboy has returned from California.  He does not think that the land of climate is a perfect paradise, though a man might live there if there was not such a State of Illinois".   Now I'm not sure that the W.B. McAboy referenced on March 7 was really W.W. McAboy but I'm going to assume that it was because I know that William and Rebecca did end up in Fresno, California.  I like to think that William arrived in Fresno and realized he couldn't go on without his family and, thus, returned in March for them.  And in my positive world I believe they found a fresh start and lived happily in California.  But then I always like to see the positive in things.

William died in Santa Cruz on January 12, 1925 while living there with Rebecca.  What were they doing in Santa Cruz?  Was his health poor and he was hopeful that the cool ocean breeze would be a better climate than the heat of Fresno?  After his death, his body was brought back to Fresno for burial and, apparently, Rebecca remained there until her death almost 4 years later.  William's memorial. 

So while it seems that my gut was right in thinking William wasn't a nice man, he was still my 2nd great grandfather and another piece to my puzzle.  And we have to take the good with the bad.

I came, I saw, I conquered

What's a maroon, anyway?

We made it to Clinton, Illinois, home for many generations of my family!  What a thrill and I am so thankful we were able to spend some time there.

As suggested, I did my homework and contacted the DeWitt County Genealogical Society prior to our visit so I could feel fairly prepared for what was ahead of me.  The primary suggestion they had for me was, if possible, to visit on a Thursday as that was the only day volunteers were present and able to help.  As luck would have it, our road trip had us in Clinton on Thursday.

We arrived at the Vespasian Waner Library, home of the DeWitty County Genealogical Society at about noon on Thursday.  Imagine my surprise when we walked in and there were three people in the library.  Clinton is a fairly small town and I was surprised that three people were already there researching.  But I was even more surprised when I realized these people were volunteers and were all just waiting to help me research.  And boy did they help!

Charlotte was the first to ask "how can we help?" and I stammered something silly like "I'm looking for my family".  I mentioned the surname of Waller and she quickly jumped up and took me to a file cabinet while explaining "we have a file on them".  So it was a small file and half of it was copies of e-mails I had written to them but I sure was impressed with her memory.

Within minutes there were books and binders everywhere and all three of them were throwing questions at me.  When was he born?  Is this your relative?  What year did she die?  Were they married here?  More and more books arrived and then I stopped dead in my tracks - there in the probate book was Salmon Waller.  Deep breath.  Salmon (or Solomon) was the father of my elusive Emery Waller and my 4th great grandfather.  He is also the next punch I need on my DAR application ticket.  In fact, my primary goal while visiting DeWitt County was finding Salmon's burial site.  But I knew that there were several Salmon Wallers in my line as several of Salmon's ancestors named their children Salmon (who has the name Salmon, anyway?). 

I asked about the probate record - was it here, how difficult would it be to see, and some other ridiculous questions, I'm sure.  Charlotte explained that when the County digitized their records recently, they were going to throw out all of the corresponding material so the Genealogicial Society took everything, organized it, and put it in boxes downstairs.  Downstairs!  All I had to do was tell them which records I wanted to see and John would go downstairs and get them for me!  After another deep breath I said "this one, I want to see this one!" and off he went.  And about 5 minutes later he came back into the room, huffing and puffing just a bit, and presented me with Salmon Waller's probate record.  Another deep breath while I opened the file to see the specifics and IT WAS MY SALMON WALLER!!!!!  I had seen the digitized copy of his will online but there was more in this file.  Before I could even speak, Charlotte was off to the copy machine to make copies of everything in the file for me.  And the questions kept coming!  John grabbed microfilm and started scanning, Charlotte was copying, and Jan was looking in more books to find something - anything - that would be important to me.  It really was amazing (and almost overwhelming) to see these people scurrying around looking for treasures for me. 

We were almost finished here

It's going to take some time for me to really go through everything and figure out what I have but knowing these people are anxious to help is such a relief.  I can't say enough about these wonderful volunteers!

Oh, in pouring through the probate record when I got to the hotel the main piece of information I learned was that Salmon's wife was still living when he died and lived for some years afterwards.  And since Emery was the executor, I was able to see his signature on a few things!  But still no record of Salmon's burial site.

Next stop was the County Clerk's office to see if I could find the marriage record for my 2nd great grandparents, Rebecca Moriah Waller and William Warren McAboy, who were married January 10, 1864.  We walked into the office and a nice woman asked if she could help.  I explained what I was looking for, she took a few notes, and then said she'd be right back.  A few minutes later she returned with a piece of paper in her hand and asked if it was what I was looking for.  And there it was - the ORIGINAL marriage license from 1864.  Oh my!  I was tempted to throw a 10 dollar bill on the counter, stash the certificate in my bag, and run from the building but instead I acted all grown up and said "could I get a copy of this?" which sent her scurrying to get me the copy before I made a mad dash for the door.  When she returned I stared at the original again and remembered my handy dandy mobile flip-pal scanner in my bag and asked if I could scan it.  I should have practiced more with the scanner but I did what I could and will spend some time stitching it together when I have more time.  And then I remembered the camera in my bag and asked if I could take a photo.  I'm sure this lady thought I was nuts but she humored me and even helped me find a good spot to place the document to get a photo.  I know it's not perfect and I know I need to practice more with the scanner but here it is.

And it cost just 50 cents!

I also found a piece of information that isn't as exciting which I will share later.  It does remind us, though, that we can't discriminate as to what type of information we find and have to take the good with the bad.  Sigh.

Research Trip

Photo by Ben Gallagher

I'm going on my first research trip!

Well, it's not exactly a research trip but I will be able to sneak in the better part of two days in DeWitt County, Illinois to look for dead people in cemeteries, libraries, historical societies, and who knows where else.

During a road trip next month, we'll stop for a few days in DeWitt County which is where several generations of my family lived.  In fact, Rebecca Waller was married here to William Warren McAboy and gave birth to my great grandmother, Mabel McAboy, in Clinton, Illinois.  I've been able to identify the final resting place for many of the McAboys and Wallers and am anxious to get to the cemeteries to find their graves (the photo volunteers on findagrave in this part of the country haven't been too responsive).  I also think that my 3rd great grandfather, Emery Waller, and maybe his father, Solomon Waller, might be buried here.

I'm looking for suggestions as to what I need to do to plan my trip. 

What preparation should I do before I go?  Who do I need to call before I arrive on their doorstep?  I have purchased the book Courthouse Research for Family Historians by Christine Rose - just need to actually open it and start reading ;-)

What should I take with me?  How should I organize it?  I'll have my little netbook with me and maybe some hard copies of specific people I want to research but what else?

Do I need a portable scanner?  I've looked at the flip-pal mobile scanner and a wand type scanner from Costco.  What do you have?  What do you like about it or not like about it?  Since my time will be limited and I'm technologically challenged, I'd like something easy to use that will provide me with a clear scan.  Or do I even need this?

How do I "find" my ancestors who might be buried there?  Where do I start?  I've been in touch with the DeWitt County Historical Society but they were unable to find my people.  Do I just show up at the courthouse and start going through records from the time frame they died?  In one case, I don't even know exactly when he died.

I've already done some pre-planning but I'd love any and all advice from the experts out there.  Let's hear it!