Sorry it has been a crazy crazy Summer. I am back now a ready to continue my search for Frances’ family =) And let’s all remember that I am not very good at writing, so you have been warned again ha ha!
I am going to continue on with how important it is to write things down. So some how Grandma Jensen remembered her Aunt Ellie’s(Frances’s Aunt who was her fathers sister) Address from when she visited her when she was really young. It is so amazing to me that she was able to remember it! And if you ask her to this day she still remembers it. She told me she wrote to the address later in her life to see if she could find more information about her family. But she never received anything back. So when I was with Grandma trying to get some information, she wrote the names and the address down for me.
So a few months later, I had kind of forgotten about this little note. I was researching and the 1930 census, since I could not seem to find John Ford (Frances’ Dad) on the 1920 census at the time. And some how (lets call it a miracle) I happened to come across this little note from grandma with the name and address and all the sudden it all clicked… I searched for her in the census and there Ellie was on the 1930 census living at 3161 Miller Street!
From this I found out her husbands name and that she had a daughter and also that her sister Catherine was living with her. I know this may sound silly to some but I was so so excited. I may even seem a little bit crazy when I find new people in my family line. Anyways this was a big help. I then decided to search for and Adam and Ellie on the 1920 census and that was how I found Frances and her father living with Aunt Ellie =)
In the 1940 Census Adam and Ellie Swietlik are also living at the 3161 Miller Street. 
Here is a fun picture of Great Grandma and Great Grandpa =)
Love, Camille
Wow what do I talk about next. I have been thinking about this for the past few weeks. I really feel like learning about my ancestors has made me know who I am little bit better and helped me know the type of person I want to be. I know as each of you learn more about your ancestors you will learn more about yourself and who you want to be and what you want to be remembered for.
What seems crazy to me is that I never met Frances but I feel so close to her. I know she is happy that I am trying to find her family and happy that I am a part of her forever family.
Frances was born July 1, 1912 In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to John Ford and Mary Dougherty. On her Birth certificate it says she her father was 35. He was actually 25 when she was born.
In 1920 Frances was 8 and is listed living with her father and her mother on the 1920 Census.
So I believe that she must have spent time at both places. Her brother Joseph is only listed as living with her mother. First I am going to start with the 1920 Census of Frances living with her mother Mae. There is a lot of information we can get from this document. First they live at 2632 South Camac Street in Philadelphia. When I found this Census I was so excited to see Walter Dougherty listed as living with them. Walter is the one that owned the grave plot that Mae & Mae’s mother Esther were buried (you can see those documents on my last post). At that time I knew Walter must be related to Mae but I wasn’t sure how. And this census cleared that up for me. Of course we get the ages of those living in the house, there relationship status, where they were born and there employment, which always good to know. Here it lists Mae as being divorced. But in later Census’s and on John’s Census recorded it says Married. So I am not sure if Mae and John were ever officially divorced. She is not employed at this time and it appears Walter is providing for this household as Carpenter.
Ok now lets look at the 1920 Census with Frances living with her father. They are living at 3419 E Richmond St. in Philadelphia (8 miles from Mae Ford). They are living with John’s Sister and Brother- in- law Adam and Ellie Swietlik. John’s niece and 2 of his brothers and two other sisters are also living there. It is interesting to see that John is listed as married here, and Mae’s says she is divorced. It looks like all of the family was born I Pennsylvania and most of the Family works at a the Mill.
Frances must have spent a lot of time there if she is recorded on the census. I really liked seeing that Frances was recorded as living with her mother and father, it shows that she was getting to know both sides of her family even though her parents were no longer together. We know that Frances knew her Aunt Ellie really well since, Grandma remembers meeting her when she visited when she was really young. Grandma even remembered the address where Adam and Ellie lived in the 1930s, I will go more into that another time.
Hopefully I am not boring you all to much. I get excited about things like this these days. ha ha! I think it is really important to find where our ancestors were at different times in there lives, so we can figure out a little better who they were and what might have been going on in there lives.
Love, Camille
Wow where do I start?! This has been a really neat experience for me. I had no idea that I would become a genealogist and I definitely didn't know I would love it so much. My whole family history journey started with Frances. So I thought that would be a wonderful name for my blog. So here on starting with Frances, I will go over the sources and family links I have found along the way. I will do it a little at a time so I don't overwhelm all of you :) Let's start with our family tree. When I started this Grandma had just found where her Grandmother Mae Ford (Mary Dougherty) was buried. Buried with Mae was an Esther Vandergrift, Grandma said she knew there was an Esther in the family line but she didn't know anything about the last name Vandergrift.
So I decided to start with Frances and see what I could find about her. Grandma gave me this family tree that Frances had filled out.
And here is is now! Wow! Frances had a few of the details in the wrong place but, the tree that she had filled out helped me so much! Esther was not a Slusmon or a Dougherty and she was not born in Russia. But she married a Dougherty and her husband's mother was a Slusmon and the Slusmon's did come from Russia. Esther's 1st husband Robert died when he was 29. And She was remarried and her 2nd husband was a Vandergrift. So we found out that Mae's mother was buried with her. Having this tree from Frances helped me know I was going in the right direction. I was so excited when a name would come up that was on her tree.
I do have names back to the 5th generation but I do not have all of them yet. But I am making progress on many of them :)
I hope you all enjoyed! Love you!
Camille
