Bertha Anna Parish

Relationship: Bertha Anna Parish is my great-grandmother. 

I chose Bertha for this ancestor blog post for several reasons. The most compelling reason is that out of all eight great-grandparents she is the only one that I have never seen an image. That’s right, I don’t have a picture of her.  If anyone reads this and has a picture of her I would be very grateful if they would share. 

Name: My family tree has her name as Bertha Anna Parish. I have seen the surname Parish spelled with one r or two. Her father’s headstone has the name spelled with one r, and I will use that spelling. The only source I have for her middle name as Anna is a marriage license application for her son Ralph Scott. This same marriage license application lists her last name as Perry. Ralph was only 3 years old when his mother Bertha died, and Parish can sound like Perry, especially if someone was listening to the name and the person pronouncing the name did not pronounce the ending with an emphasis on the ish.

Her father’s headstone:

Ralph Scott’s marriage license application:

Parents: James Robert Parish and Laura Emaline Joyce

Birthdate: 25 December 1878 Unfortunately, Bertha’s birthdate has some inconsistencies. The only sources I have for her birth date are the 1880 and 1900 censuses, her tombstone and her death certificate. Her death certificate and tombstone list her birthdate as 25 December 1879. 

I don’t feel confident in trusting the death certificate and tombstone for the date of birth.  Those records are only as good as the person’s memory that gave the information. They are not primary sources. 

So, I dug a little deeper into the issue. 

The 1880 census lists her as 1 year old. The census was enumerated 29 June 1880. The question for age on the 1880 census reads: Age at last birthday prior to June 1, 1880. If under 1 year, give months in fractions, thus: 3/12. 

Her age on the 1880 census is listed as 1. If she was born in December 1879 she would have only been 6 months of age on 1 June 1880 and therefore the census taker would have documented her age as 6/12.

Here is a look at that 1800 census. 

Year: 1880; Census Place: Moral, Shelby, Indiana; Roll: 310; Family History Film: 1254310; Page: 150D; Enumeration District: 201; Image: 0022.

So, I have one more place to look, the 1900 census. 

The 1900 census is a great source for birthdays. The question in 1900 reads as follows:  Date of birth - Month. Date of birth - Year. And Age at last birthday. 

Bertha’s entry reads Dec 1878 and she is listed as 21 years of age. The census was enumerated on the 10th and 11th day of June 1900. These numbers for this census add up correctly. 

Here is a look at the 1900 census: 

Year: 1900; Census Place: Brandywine, Hancock, Indiana; Roll: T623_375; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 36.

It’s a long way to come to this conclusion and it’s not what almost everyone (besides me) has recorded as her birthdate on all the available online family trees, but I am pretty solid with December 1878 as being as correct as I can be. Since the tombstone and death certificate both give the day as the 25th, I do believe that is probably the correct date. I think family would remember a Christmas birthday, even if they didn’t remember the exact year. 

Marriage: 22 December 1895 Hancock County, Indiana, USA

To: John Stephen Scott

Unfortunately, I don’t have an image of the marriage license application or marriage license. The only source I have is a WPA index. 

Hancock County Indiana; Index to Marriage Record 1828-1920 Inclusive Volum, W. P. A. Original Record Located County Clerk's Of; Book: C- 9; Page: 178

Birth of Children: 

25 October 1896 - Everett Leroy Scott
25 October 1900 - Ralph Irvin Scott
17 May 1903 - Claude Robert Scott

Death: 10 November 1903

Per the death certificate Bertha battled problems with her gallbladder for 6 months and had peritonitis for 24 hours prior to her passing. Her 3rd son Claude was born 6 months before she died. She was only 24 years old and had 3 young sons.

Here is a look at her death certificate:

I am saddened by her early departure for her, but also for her 3 small children. Her youngest son Claude was just shy of 6 months of age at her death. I can only image, in 1903, the hardship that put on the family and the baby. 

Burial: Bertha A. Scott is her name on a headstone at New Palestine Cemetery, Hancock County, Indiana, USA. Her name is listed on the same headstone with her husband and her husband’s second wife, also a Bertha. I do not know what year the headstone was placed. 

Her death certificate lists a possible burial at another cemetery. It lists she would be buried at Crown Point Cemetery that is in Indianapolis. I have been to the New Palestine Cemetery in Hancock County, Indiana and I can confirm that her headstone is at that location. I have no other information on burial at Crown Point. 

Here is a picture of her headstone:

It’s a genealogy blog.

This is new to me. I’ve never wanted to write, or ever enjoyed writing, so this is pushing me out of my comfort zone. 

I am taking this on because I want to share the family history that I have been collecting for more than 30 years. My plan is to pick an ancestor and do a page on basic information of what I know about their life. I am going to attempt to give information on that particular ancestor in a time-line fashion. However, I don’t often do things in a linear fashion, so don’t expect that I will always achieve what I’m setting out to do. 

For this very first blog post I’m going to list some of the surnames I hope to cover. These are all ancestor names in my family tree. For the future posts I may cover direct ancestors, or I may pick siblings, spouses, or children etc. I am hoping to keep each blog post to one person, but I don’t really know how it will go. There may be some people that need more than one blog post, and there may be a person that I bring into a post and then never do a full blog on them. I guess we will find out together how this will shape up. 

In the future I may branch out and cover some of my husband’s line also. Who knows what you will get on this ride? Not me, not yet! 

Here is my list of surnames. 

My known paternal surnames: Dudley, Barber, Snow, Cook, Fleischman, Wilhoit, Blankenbaker, Crawford, Carpenter, Fawcett, Painter, Bicknell, Parks, Collier, Williamson, Thompson, Ford, Phillips, Marlow, Campbell, Covert, VanZandt, Black, McClymonds, Hanna, Brown, Tindall, Ambler, Mills, Spray, Adams, Cannon, Wilson, Newton, Russell. 

My known maternal surnames: Scott, Salyer, Gunn, Murren, Alyea, Mouwersie, Abbott, Bridges, Scudder, Marsh, Morford, Whitehead, Parish, Wright, Tucker, Means, Joyce, Edwards, Smith, Murnan, Adren, Weston, Young, Solomon, Pritchett, Richardson, Glines, Garnett, Lawrence, Antrim, Seagrave, Paulin, Hewitt, Johnson, Peace, Wade, Lovorn, Lyle, Homan, Turner, Stone, Nunn, Akers, Brown. 

Here I go. I’m almost ready to push publish. It’s a big step for me, so be patient and kind. Send me a message and let me know if you find something interesting or wish to discuss something I’ve posted. 

No turning back now!

Susan McMorrine stakbrje@gmail.com