The Cowboy-Fiddler: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Nickname”

 

Intriguing Shirt-tail Relative with an Occupational Nickname

Robert Hargrave: 1859-1923 (Maternal Grand-Aunt’s Stepson)

 

I was researching a Smith family descendant by the name of Serelda Hargrave Potts, and ran across a news item that mentioned her daughter, Julia Potts Coe and Julia’s cousin Nellie. The item went on to note that Julia and Nellie “are nieces of Nymphia Carillo Hargrave and Robert Hargrave, violinist, and granddaughters of Robert Hargrave, inventor, who came to California from Texas in a covered wagon train.” My research on poor Serelda was abandoned for a delightful trip down a Hargrave rabbit hole. A violinist married to a woman named Nymphia? I had to know more.

Robert Hargrave, the violinist, was Serelda’s half-sibling, born in 1859, ten years after Serelda was born. Alas, Robert is what my grandmother used to call a “shirt-tail relation”, meaning he’s rather distantly connected to the family, and not even necessarily by blood. That’s the case with Robert. Serelda’s mother was the Smith descendant, not her father, Robert Sr. So Robert Sr.’s son Robert by his second wife was not a blood relation to my husband’s family.

Photo of Robert Hargrave with his violin

Still, Robert sounded fascinating. As I poked around on Ancestry, trying to pin down exactly how he fit in the Smith family line, I ran across another gem of a newspaper item:

 

The “Cowboy Fiddler”? Now that is a wild nickname! I found Robert on census forms from 1880, 1900 and 1910. Each time he states he is a music teacher, presumably a violin instructor. But apparently by 1920, teaching music was no longer paying the bills, so he had branched out into tending cattle herds on ranches outside San Diego. He was sixty years old, no longer a young man by that point, so he must have been a little desperate.

But despite his circumstances, he had obviously continued to perform. The “Cowboy Fiddler”—I imagine him playing jaunty tunes by a campfire or in a bunkhouse to the applause of his coworkers.

It appears Robert “Cowboy Fiddler” Hargrave died on March 31, 1923, just three years after this news item was published. He was sixty-five years old. He and wife Nellie had several children. Sadly, I did not find a record of a wife named Nymphia, unless, of course, Nellie was a nickname for Nymphia. That’s a rabbit hole I will not pursue!

Sources:

Cowboy Fiddler news item. The Daily Times Advocate. Escondido, California. January 14, 1920 issue. https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-times-advocate-the-cowboy-fiddler/163112544/

“Mrs. Durand is Guest During Celebration”. San Bernardino County Sun. San Bernardino, California. November 23, 1938 issue. https://www.newspapers.com/image/49170018/?article=52604465-1eb2-4097-9a7a-51a6ee02419a&xid

 

Harry Aird’s WWI Service: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Surprise”

A Funny Draft Card Leads to Serious Service for Grandpa Harry

Henry “Harry” Aird: 1886-1966 (Paternal Grandfather)

While I knew my father-in-law John Aird had served in the Army in World War II, I hadn’t been aware that his father, Henry “Harry” Aird, had also been in the Army, serving his adopted country in World War I. An Ancestry hint first led me to Harry’s amusing draft card, and from there to a few records verifying his service.

John Aird, left, in WWII uniform, with his father Harry Aird, who served in WWI

Harry Aird was born in Dundee, Scotland, on September 16, 1886, to parents James Aird and Jane Ann Robertson. He was the fourth of their seven children. Following his father’s death in 1908, Harry decided to emigrate to the United States. His older brother, William, had already emigrated in 1906 with his wife and young children, and had settled in the Detroit area. Harry followed his brother to Detroit in 1910, and found a job as a hardware salesman.

When America began preparations for entry into World War I, men across the country were ordered to register for the draft. Harry complied. His draft card, dated June 5, 1917, stated that Harry was single, worked as a salesman for Bostwick Braun Company based in Toledo, Ohio and said he was a naturalized citizen. The second page noted that he had blue eyes, brown hair and was tall in build.

But the real kicker on the draft card is Harry’s response to Question No. 12 at the bottom of the first page, which reads: “Do you claim exemption from draft (specify grounds)?” The few times I have seen this question filled out, it mentioned disabilities, like a weak heart, lung problems or missing fingers or leg and foot issues. The second type of response usually dealt with being the sole support of aged and sick parents or of minor children.

But Harry gave a very unique response. The draft board representative wrote that Harry “does not want to go.”

Obviously the Army didn’t think Harry’s lack of enthusiasm was grounds for exemption. He seems to have been quickly drafted into the Army. His exact service dates are unclear from the records I have seen. He was discharged in 1919. The article below lists him among the Detroit veterans who need to pick up their official discharge paperwork, and his Fold 3 service record lists his discharge as February 1919.

The final little puzzle piece involves Harry’s naturalization as a U. S. citizen. I found a naturalization index card in his military records. I am not sure if that index card indicates that the army merely reviewed his naturalization status, or if he took advantage of the military’s offer of expedited naturalization for any immigrant who served in the war.

Harry had only lived in the U. S. for six years when he filled out his draft card. Since in 1910 naturalization required five years of continuous residence at the minimum, unless Harry started the naturalization process right away, he might not have been fully naturalized by the time he was drafted. I have placed a request with the National Archives to try to get Harry’s service record. Perhaps that will help to shed light on his military service and naturalization.

Interestingly, just four days after Harry completed his draft board interview and draft card, he married Mary Shields. The marriage record shows a Pastor Christopher Burnett performed the ceremony, and their witnesses were their siblings James Aird and Margaret Shields. 

Did Harry know he was about to be drafted and wanted to get married before he shipped out? Did he hope the marriage would prevent his being drafted? Or was the wedding already planned, and not wanting to leave his soon-to-be bride led to him telling the draft board that he didn’t “want to go”?

Harry Aird died November 6, 1966, so I will never be able to get answers to many of my questions. I will continue to search for Harry’s military records, although the National Archives responded to my request by stating that most of the service records from World War I were destroyed by fire years ago. At least Harry’s surprising response to why he should be exempt from service has survived.  

Sources:

Fold3, US, Index to Naturalizations of World War I Soldiers, 1918 (https://www.fold3.com/publication/107/us-naturalization-index-wwi-soldiers-1918 : accessed Jan 9, 2025), database and images, https://www.fold3.com/publication/107/us-naturalization-index-wwi-soldiers-1918

U. S. Veterans Administration Master Index entry for Harry Aird. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61861/records/670316?tid=81812584&pid=78014052183&ssrc=pt

Marriage Record for Harry Aird and Mary Shields. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9093/images/41326_342329-00147?pId=460439

United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6482/images/005257979_03790?pId=18134121

The Lengthy Rap Sheet of Albert Wing: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Legal Troubles”

Double Murderer, Thief and Prison Escapee: The Worst of the Wild Wing Brothers

Albert E. “Burt” Wing: 1860-Aft. 1920 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)

 

I wrote about the Wing brothers in two previous posts, but I saved the worst of the brothers for last. Albert Wing was the youngest of the six Wing brothers, but he had the longest and most varied criminal career of the “bad” brothers in the family.

Albert Wing was born February 24, 1860, to parents Samuel Morrison Wing and Emily M. Weir. His mother died just a few weeks after his birth, and his father, feeling unable to care for the infant, sent him to be raised by Samuel’s unmarried sisters in Greenville, Kentucky. While Albert’s brothers all attended college and law school, I have found no records that indicate Albert sought a degree or trained for a profession. Instead, he seems to have continued to live with his aunts (see the census record below) with no occupation. In later years, he was a gambler.

Albert seems to have been impulsive and dangerous from an early age. He first appears in the press in a brief note in the Crittendon Press’s November 18, 1879 issue:

Albert was only nineteen at the time of this shooting. There is no indication that he faced any legal consequences for this crime. Other articles about Albert’s brother Charles state that Albert attacked and injured one of Charles’ political opponents a year later. Albert may have briefly left the area to avoid prosecution, or his influential family may have interceded to protect him.

However, protecting Albert did him no favors. Just three years later, he committed murder. He was involved with a woman who seems to have been working as a prostitute, despite being the daughter of a well-respected judge. The woman was married and the mother of two children, but she had abandoned her family and had been supporting herself as a prostitute when she wasn’t living with Albert. She was entertaining a man named Joe Glenn when Albert burst in on them and in an apparent fit of jealousy, shot Glenn twice in the head. He tried to tell the police he was acting in self-defense and that Glenn had pulled the gun on him, but Albert’s paramour, variously called Essie Davis and Mrs. Reno, as well as her maiden name of Miriam Eaves, told the police that Albert—who she claimed to have never met before-- shot Glenn deliberately. Ms. Davis/Reno/Eaves quickly recanted, supporting Albert’s story—did Albert’s family intercede to persuade her? Did Albert reach out to her from jail? Or did she just regret throwing her lover under the proverbial bus?

An article about the Glenn murder in the Memphis Daily Appeal noted: “It is said that this is Wing’s second man; that he killed his first man in Kentucky some time ago.” It is unclear whether this is a reference to the political dispute attack in 1880-- the details of which are murky but don’t seem to have ended in death-- or if there was yet another violent incident in Albert’s past.

Albert was released on bond a few months after the murder, and immediately got re-arrested after threatening women at a house of ill repute where his lover Essie/Miriam was working. The house’s madam persuaded the police to release Albert yet again.

Albert finally went to trial for the Glenn murder in March of 1884. Essie Davis/Miriam Eaves’ testimony supported his claims of self-defense, and included her admission that “she visited Wing in the jail and gave him food and money, and after he was released he lived with her for a short time.” The jury was out several days before returning a verdict of guilty of second degree murder. Albert only received a ten-year sentence. To my shock, the press and Albert seemed surprised by the supposed severity of the verdict. They may have been expecting him to be acquitted based on his self-defense claim. However, a mob had rioted recently in Cincinnati in protest of a light charge and sentence in a murder case there, and the press suggested that the St. Louis jury may have feared a similar reaction if they let Albert off too lightly.

Albert’s special treatment continued even in jail.  He only had to serve six years of the ten-year sentence. He was pardoned by the governor of Missouri in April 1890, around the same time as Essie Davis nearly died from an overdose of morphine. She had, amazingly, spent a few years in a convent after Albert went to prison, but when she left the convent, she returned to her old life of prostitution and drug use.

Despite their past and present problems, Albert and Miriam married in April 1892. A later newspaper article provided lurid details of the wedding and their life together:

“Albert Wing and Miriam Reno were suddenly married in Greenville last May at midnight. The next morning, in the presence of a number of witnesses, both swore to a strange and brutal marriage contract. The husband vowed that should ever his newly-made wife be untrue to him he would kill her with the best and most fatal instrument he had at hand.

At the same time the wife swore hat should her husband ever return to his life of drunkenness, that she would put a sudden end to it. Neither party kept rigidly to the threatening nuptial vows….

After four months of married life at Greenville, the wife left her husband and went to Louisville. The husband followed, and after considerable notoriety, the depraved couple went to Myrtie Edwards’ unlawful house at 732 Green Street. Three weeks ago the wife was installed a regular inmate of the house.

732 Green Street in Louisville twenty years later--Myrtie Edwards "unlawful house" and the scene of Miriam's murder

Wing himself remained in the city, and did nothing but gamble and allow himself to be supported by the proceeds of his wife’s shame. Both husband and wife seemed to have forgotten their marriage contract.”

Albert and Miriam got into some sort of argument at the “unlawful house” on the night of November 1, 1892. Albert stabbed Miriam six times, and then fled out the window while the other prostitutes attempted to break into the locked room. The women found Miriam taking her last breaths.

They testified at the inquest two days later, providing lurid details about Albert and Miriam’s relationship. They referred to Miriam as “Kitty”. Lillie Roberts stated:

“Kitty told me her history…and said that she did not doubt but that Albert would kill her, but she would stick to him, because she loved him, and she did not believe that a woman could love but once. She often told me and the presence of the girls at the house that he was a dangerous man, and that if any one ever had trouble with him it would be well for that person to look out, for Albert would surely kill him. I think that both of them were ‘crooked.’ When he did not get money, she would. He would often leave the house without a cent and come back in a few minutes with money. I do not think that he was gone long enough to win this money by gambling. I do not know how he got it unless by robbery. Albert and Kitty would disappear every once and a while for days at a time and I have understood that they ‘worked’ the Indian towns not long ago when the races were going on there. It was told to me that she would manage to get to her room some man who had money and the Albert would make him pay to keep the matter secret…”

Headline from November 11, 1892 Louisville Courier

Albert was finally captured on November 9, 1892 in New Orleans. He was sent back to Kentucky for trial. At his first appearance before a judge, he said that he “was tired of life, that remaining in jail was like so much torture to him, and that as he believed there was no possible chance for him to escape the gallows, he desired to plead guilty and ask for the death sentence to be pronounced.”

Albert changed his mind by the time his case came to trial on February 17, 1893. He pled guilty but asked for clemency. Surprisingly, his father-in-law, the father of his victim, begged the judge and jury to show him mercy and give him a life sentence rather than a death sentence. The jury was out a little over an hour before returning with the life sentence.

Albert once again evaded justice. On January 1, 1908, Albert escaped from the penitentiary in Frankfort, Kentucky. He’d been made a trusty and didn’t have to wear a prison uniform. He managed to acquire a key from a guard and slipped out. He was forty-eight years old.

Albert remained at large for six years before turning himself in Cincinnati in April 1914. According to a news article in the Paducah Sun, Albert told police:

“I have traveled about the country dodging the police. Lots of times I have seen circulars advertising my escape and offering rewards for my capture. I laughed at the efforts of the police to locate me. Then I got in with a fellow known as ‘Toledo Red.’ He and I began holding up people. We robbed all over the state of Ohio. The last good robbery was at Dayton. We held up a man and got $150.”

Albert reported that he was robbed of part of those proceeds when he got drunk with some other people who were as crooked as he was. He went to the police department in Cincinnati to report being robbed, and then broke down and confessed to being a prison escapee and double murderer. The cops reported that Albert was whistling comic opera tunes as he was taken to his cell.  

He was sent back to the penitentiary. However, Albert was once again the recipient of unearned mercy. He was granted parole by the Kentucky state prison commissioners in February 1916 at age 56. The prison’s former warden, a Mr. Chinn, offered Albert a home on his farm near Harrodsburg, Kentucky after his release. An Owensboro Messenger article on his parole noted that “thousands of letters have been written to governors of the state and the prison commissioners asking that Bert be pardoned or paroled.” Once again, I am shocked that this career criminal had such popular support and was given so many undeserved breaks.

Albert seems to have disappeared from records following his parole. I can find no death notice or obituary. There are also no reports of further crimes, so perhaps he truly was reformed following his parole.  

 

Sources:

1880 census image showing Albert Wing and three Wing aunts. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4241266-00465?pId=42234089

“A Bloody Tragedy” Nashville Tenneseean, Nashville, Tennessee. April 4, 1883 issue. Accessed on Newsapers.com.

“Essie Davis’s Story”. Memphis Daily Appeal. Memphis, Tennessee. April 6, 1883 issue. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

“Bert Wing in Trouble Again”. Owensboro Messenger , Owensboro, Kentucky. Nov 27 1883 issue. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

“Ten Years for Bert Wing: Effect of the Cincinnati Riot on a St. Louis Jury”. Messenger and Examiner. Owensboro, Kentucky. April 2, 1884 issue. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

“Essie Davis not Dead”. Calhoun Constitution. Calhoun Kentucky.  February 13, 1890 issue. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

“Married After Many Years.” Owensboro Messenger. Owensboro Kentucky. April 16, 1892 issue. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

“Bert Wing Stabs His Wife Six Times in a Louisville House of Prostitution.” The Madisonville Hustler. Madisonville, Kentucky. Nov. 5, 1892. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

“Still Free: Albert Wing, the Wife Murderer, Not Yet Arrested.” The Courier-Journal. Louisville, Kentucky. November 3, 1892 issue. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

“Wing, the Wife-Murderer, Captured in New Orleans”.  The Courier-Journal. Louisville, Kentucky. November 11, 1892 issue. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

“Wife Slayer Give self to Justice.” Paducah Sun. Paducah, Kentucky. April 30, 1914 issue. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

“Parole is Given to Bert Wing, a Noted Prisoner.” Owensboro Messenger, Owensboro, Kentucky. Feb 13 1916 issue. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

 

52 Ancestors 2024 Final Post of the Year: “Resolution”

 

I am so pleased to have finished another year of 52 Weeks, 52 Ancestors. I managed to write 45 blog posts about some really interesting ancestors.

According to Ancestry, in 2024 I added 993 people to my two big trees on Ancestry. I’m amazed that I had that much growth. I attribute it in part to my growing use of DNA matches to build my tree—I’m adding a lot of collateral ancestors, but they are helping to confirm my connection to my direct ancestors.

Here’s where my trees stand as of New Year’s Day 2024:

Aird Family Tree: 2334 people, and 1201 photos.

Peterson Macbeth Family Tree: 8,759 people and 2785 photos.

And here’s where my genealogy blogs stand:

Twigs on the Family Tree: 214 blog posts.

Another Tree to Climb: Researching the Aird, Sheild, Smiths and Jandeseks: 112 blog posts.

My New Year’s Resolution: I will complete at least 45 of the 2025 blog post prompts, and will continue to build both family trees.

I’m excited to see where I will be at the end of 2025. Happy New Year!

The Broken Wing: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Challenging”

Final Wing Brother Struggled and Failed at Reinvention

Samuel Campbell Wing: 1849-1908 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)

 

While Samuel C. Wing never lived up to the infamy of his three murderous brothers, he also failed to live up to the achievements and respect his eldest brother Edward earned. (See previous blog post, "Full House") Instead, Samuel struggled to find his place in the world, trying to reinvent himself several times. His challenging life ended in despair and self-destruction.

Samuel Wing was the fourth child and third of the six sons of Samuel Morrison Wing and his wife Emily Weir. He was born in Owensboro, Kentucky on January 1, 1849, and attended college and law school at some point. In 1870, the census shows he was working as a dry goods merchant in Owensboro. The following year on November 22, 1871, he married Martha Cary Hopkins. He was twenty-two. Samuel and Martha’s first child, Lucie, was born September 2, 1872.

Marriage Record for Samuel and Martha Nov 22, 1871.

In 1875, Samuel was appointed postmaster in Owensboro, just as his second child, Elizabeth, was born.

That year seems to be the point when his life began to spiral out of control. Over the next few years, he faced the loss of several loved ones. First, his little daughter Elizabeth died in 1875 at the tender age of three months. He and his wife Martha had another child, a son named Edward Rumsey Wing after Samuel’s eldest brother, in 1876. However, Martha died just three years later in April 1879 at age thirty-one. I haven’t found a cause of death-- perhaps a miscarriage or other birth complication led to death, or some illness. Samuel’s little son Edward died just a year later. In addition, Samuel’s brother Edward died in 1874, and his sister Emma died in 1876. So many losses must have sent Samuel reeling.

Death of Martha Wing, 1879

He managed to complete his legal training just months after his wife’s death. A brief notice in the Owensboro Messenger on December 10, 1879 noted that “the Circuit Court has granted S.C. Wing a licenses to practice law, and he was sworn in this morning.” The article went on to note that Samuel was still acting as postmaster, and it was unknown how much time he could devote to the law.

That seems to indicate that Samuel was a widower with two essentially full-time jobs while he was trying to raise his one surviving child, a daughter.  He apparently felt unable to care for little Lucie, turning her over to his wife’s family to raise. Lucie appears in the 1880 census in the household of her aunt Lucy Reeve and her husband in Henderson, Kentucky. She remained with them until her marriage.

Lucy Wing in 1880 census living with her aunt Lucy Reeve

By the time of the 1880 census, Samuel was living in Louisville with his brother Charles, sister-in-law Annie and their child Emma. The brothers were law partners. The partnership and living arrangements gave Samuel a front-row seat as his brother Charles descended into alcoholism. I wonder if Samuel chose to live with Charles in a vain effort to care for him, or if Samuel’s own personal despair made him unable to live on his own.

While the 1881 Louisville City Directory still shows the brothers practicing law, their partnership had crumbled, and Samuel had left the area, moving to Boulder County, Colorado at some point in 1880. It is easy to understand why he wanted a new start. Samuel’s brothers were spiraling out of control, with three of them becoming murderers in the early 1880s, bringing the family negative press. A news article tried to tar Samuel with the same brush as his murderer brothers, even confusing him with his brother William and claiming he had killed a man. A local columnist defended Samuel in the Owensboro newspaper, writing:

“Sam Wing was born and raised in Owensboro, and was a modest, unassuming boy. When grown he entered the dry goods business with a Mr. Peters, and a few years after married Miss Mat. Hopkins of Henderson. He was postmaster here for several years, and is now mining in Gunnison, Colorado.”

I found it interesting that Samuel’s foray into the law was completely ignored in this short piece. He seems to have abandoned his legal practice when he moved west. The mining endeavor seems to have been unsuccessful, despite the following September 1880 news article in the Owensboro newspaper:

By 1885, Samuel was living in Denver. Government records show he received pay of $900.00 per annum as a postal clerk in Denver. He also worked in real estate, according to the Denver city directory entry for 1891 (see below).

At some point, Samuel switched careers yet again, becoming a representative for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. He also relocated again, even further west, ending up in Salt Lake City Utah by the early 1900s. He continued his real estate activities as well, representing East Coast investors in a bid to acquire a downtown block to construct an office building. He also participated in politics, and was appointed secretary of the Utah Republican Convention in 1905. 

Samuel also remarried in 1904. His bride was a young woman from Mississippi who frequently visited family in Utah. Mary Lowe Manning was 27 when she wed 55-year-old Samuel on June 21, 1904. The couple had a little daughter, Dorothy, who was born May 19, 1906.

Just a few years into this second marriage, something in Samuel’s life led him to despair. On March 26, 1908 he purchased a handgun and shot himself in a hallway in a downtown Salt Lake City office building. Newspaper articles speculated about his motivation. The Ogden newspaper suggested he was in financial difficulties, stating:

“Mr. Wing had invested heavily in several mining properties and it is believed that this, with other business reverses, caused his death.”

Ogden Weekly Sun Headline, March 31, 1908

The Salt Lake Herald had a different theory, stating that:

“…it is believed that he resolved upon self destruction to avoid infirmities which had fastened upon him during the past winter and of which there was little hope of cure. Friends of Mr. Wing say that he learned from his physician that he was suffering from Bright’s disease and that he may have killed himself so as to leave his family well provided for and to spare them the expense of the decline which seemed imminent. This belief is based upon the fact that Mr. Wing apparently had no financial or domestic worries.”

Bright’s Disease was a bit of a catch-all term during the early 1900s for several types of kidney disease, including end-stage nephritis, so Samuel may have been convinced he would suffer a slow, miserable death. However, given that his widow was forced to let out rooms after his death, and then returned to her birthplace of Mississippi with their daughter, where she promptly remarried, I believe the Ogden newspaper’s suggestion of financial problems certainly contributed to his despair.

The articles both noted that he seemed in good spirits the day of his death, chatting with friends and business associates, and even getting a shave at the barbershop, where he jokingly instructed the barber to shave him “fit for a wedding or a funeral.”  He had obviously planned his suicide with great care, buying the gun days earlier and preparing letters of instruction to officials on funeral arrangements, and a letter for his wife saying goodbye.

The Herald article also included some surprising details about Samuel’s purported past. A friend from Owensboro, Kentucky who also moved to Salt Lake City, claimed that when Samuel’s term of office as postmaster “expired in 1881, he went to San Francisco, where he entered the insurance business. He was afterwards in Portland and in Spokane and finally came to Salt Lake where he entered the field for Mutual Life, meeting with marked success here. Later he took up real estate and mining. Few men had more friends in Salt Lake than he.”

This account ignores Samuel’s abortive law career, and his fifteen years in Denver where he worked in mining, as a postal clerk and in real estate. If he truly spent time in San Francisco, Portland and Spokane, in was during the late 1890s, when he reinvented himself as an insurance agent.

The article also shockingly claimed that Samuel had three living daughters, while records only show two. The article identified little Dorothy, age 18 months, and Lucie, now married to banking executive named Emery Clark. But it also listed a Miss Macelle Wing, a daughter from a “former marriage” who worked as a nurse at the Latter-Day Sants hospital. I was finally able to locate a Marcelle, not Macelle, Wing in a few Utah records, but wasn’t able to find her mother’s name. Marcelle wasn’t born to Samuel and first wife Martha, as Martha’s obituary lists only Lucie and her brother as the surviving children. Did Samuel have an additional wife between Martha and Mary? Or was Marcelle born out of wedlock in Colorado?

The few records I have found for Marcelle Wing give her a birthdate of July 10, 1886 and a birthplace of Colorado. Samuel was living in Denver then, which would correspond with Marcelle’s birthdate. Marcelle appears on the Utah census in 1910 working as a nurse as stated in the Herald article. In 1912, she married a George Reinmund. I will continue to investigate her parentage.

Samuel Campbell Wing had a challenging life, losing so many family members in a short period of time, and being forced to deal with his siblings’ criminal records. He seems to have been a restless man, moving further and further westward, changing careers every few years in an endless attempt to recreate himself. Perhaps his lifelong struggles finally overwhelmed him in March 1908, leading him to kill himself at the age of sixty-one.

Samuel is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City. His grave is alone; his children and widow all left Salt Lake City a few years after his suicide.

 

 

Sources:

Samuel Wing licensed to practice law. Owensboro Messenger and Examiner. Dec. 10, 1879. Accessed through Newspapers.com.

Defense of the Wing Family. Owensboro Messenger. Apr. 10, 1883. Accessed through Newspapers.com.

Findagrave entry for Samuel C Wing. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/81812584/person/262560612134/facts

“Samuel C Wing Shoots Himself.” Salt Lake Herald. March 27, 1908 issue. Salt Lake City, Utah. Accessed through Newspapers.com.

"Insurance Agent Blows Out Brains", Ogden Weekly Sun, March 28, 1908. Ogden, Utah. Accessed through Newspapers.com

Two Aces and Three of the Worst Kind: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Full House”

The Tragedy of the Wing Brothers: Two Good Guys and Three Killers 

Edward Rumsey Wing: 1843-1874 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)
Theodore Weir Wing: 1845-1867 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)
William Wirt Wing: 1851-1881 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)
Charles Fox Wing: 1854-1897 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)
Albert E. “Bert” Wing: 1860-1920 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)

 

While the Wing brothers were distant relatives-- what genealogists call collateral, as opposed to direct, ancestors-- their lives were so fascinating I felt they deserved a blog post. Five of the brothers’ lives were cut short under sad circumstances -- I guess I could describe them as “collaterals, damaged”, if you will excuse the pun.

The Wing brothers were born to Samuel Morrison Wing and Emily M. Weir, who was a first cousin several times removed on Lorene Jandy’s side of the family. Samuel and Emily married September 2, 1838, and had seven children: six sons and one daughter. Of those sons, two were heroic and showed great promise, but died tragically young. Three others were literally killers. This combination of good and bad comprises a truly bizarre “full house”. As for the final brother, his life was filled with loss and attempts at reinvention, and ended in suicide—his story will be covered in a separate post.

The Aces: Edward and Theodore

The eldest Wing brothers, Edward and Theodore, were born in 1843 and 1845. When the Civil War began, they were the perfect age to enlist. Edward Rumsey Wing, who had just graduated from Centre College in 1861, served as the aide to Union General James S. Jackson, and participated in the Battle of Perryville where General Jackson was killed. Following the war, Edward became a lawyer and politician, and married Louisa Scott. After an unsuccessful campaign as the Republican nominee for Kentucky State Treasurer in 1869, President Grant appointed Edward to be the U.S. Minister to Ecuador. He was only twenty-six and was the youngest foreign minister ever appointed.

Edward had been dealing with poor health for some time—apparently some sort of heart condition—and according to an article in the Owensboro newspaper, had hoped the Ecuadorean climate would improve his health. Sadly, it did not. The newspaper stated that he “had several severe spells of inflammatory rheumatism, the last one so severe and of such long continuance that it determined him to come home.” He had tendered his resignation to the government, but died October 5, 1874, in Quito before he could return home. He had served five years as the Ecuadoran minister, and was only thirty-one years of age. The newspaper described Edward in glowing terms as a “very handsome person, of strong, clear, and vivacious intellect, a very ready, fluent and attractive public speaker, and of a chivalrous and enthusiastic disposition…”  

Theodore Weir Wing attended West Point in 1862 and enlisted with the Kentucky 35^th Infantry at the age of only eighteen. He was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in 1863, and served in the Civil War. Before he was mustered out in 1864, he was promoted to Adjutant. Following the war, he first attended law school at the University of Michigan, and then decided to enlist in the regular army—his military file contains letters from various individuals recommending him to receive an appointment as a 2^nd Lieutenant. He received his commission in May 1867 and was stationed in New Orleans. He contracted yellow fever there and died September 26, 1867 at the age of twenty-one.

Both Edward and Theo are buried in Rosehill Cemetery in Owensboro, Kentucky and their graves have large monuments.

Three of a Kind--the Killing Kind: Charles, Albert and William

William Wirt Wing was born in 1851 and attended college at Kentucky University; he appears on a class list in 1869 when he would have been eighteen years old. At some point, he decided to leave home and travel out west. His obituary explained the decision as follows:

…he was always regarded as a peaceable, harmless and honorable young man. Several years ago he became slightly demented on the subject of religion, but, recovering, he left his home to seek his fortune in the wilds of the far West. He was not addicted to drinking…” (See “A Terrible Encountre” below)

A more hostile article about the brothers stated that William “was always regarded as a little off in the upper story…” (See “Brothers in Blood” below.)

Whatever the truth about his early years, he moved to the New Mexico Territory and was employed by the Prairie Cattle Company as a cowboy. On October 18, 1881, William and a friend and co-worker named Burney were practicing marksmanship at the mess camp, recklessly shooting at each other’s hats. Burney had enough and quit the game, which angered William. The newspaper reported:

“At this, Wing pointed his pistol, a forty-one calibre, at Burney and fired, the ball entering Burney’s breast. Burney attempted to defend himself, and fired two shots at Wing, one of which did not take effect. The other was better directed, however, and entered Wing’s side, passing through his left lung and his heart, and came out at the left breast. He died almost instantly…Burney survived his antagonist only twenty-four hours…”

William Wing was only thirty years old at his death. His burial location is unknown.

Charles Fox Wing was born November 16, 1854. His mother died six years later, and he was sent to live with his uncle, Edward Rumsey, in Greenville, Kentucky. Rumsey sent him to college at State College, and Charles became a lawyer. He was admitted to the bar in 1877 at age twenty-two, and married Annie Hawthorn later that year. They had two children, Emma and Charles.

Charles’ legal practice was successful at first, and he decided to run for office. He entered the Democratic primary as a candidate for the state legislature. He lost the nomination in a very close vote, which provoked hard feelings between Charles, his brother Albert, and a precinct captain they blamed for Charles’ loss. Albert stabbed the precinct captain and fled to avoid prison. The incident led Charles to begin drinking to excess.

He relocated to Louisville in 1879 to practice law with his brother Samuel, but as the Louisville Courier Journal reported, “the drink habit had by this time such a strong hold on him that notwithstanding his brilliancy as lawyer and the influence of friends and relatives, he failed to make a success.” Another article was harsher, stating that Charles was “always considered the most blood-thirsty of the [Wing] boys, and his whole life has been rounded in a heap of disgraceful rows and fights. On several occasions he had attempted to take the life of his fellow-man, and has been heard to express himself that he never would be happy until he killed somebody.” (See Brothers in Blood below.)

Charles moved his young family to his wife’s hometown of Princeton, Kentucky in 1882 and took a position as City Attorney. On December 29, 1882, Charles “became drunk and while in that condition went out upon the streets and was soon engaged in using disgraceful language in a promiscuous crowd.” The City Marshal, W. R. Crugar, took him into custody, and was escorting Charles to the second floor of the police station when Charles pulled out a gun and shot Crugar in the head, killing him. Charles fired several more bullets, barely missing other officers, and was eventually captured and disarmed.

Charles’ family connections helped to secure the finest legal representation and repeated postponements of his trial. He was finally convicted in June 1885, two-and-a-half years after the murder, but he was only convicted of manslaughter, receiving a ridiculously light sentence of ten years in prison.

Following his release from prison, he moved to Greenville without his wife and children, but remained a violent drunk. The Courier Journal reported:

“He was a very troublesome and dangerous character in his sprees, and was liable to hurt his best friends or closest relatives. He had been incarcerated in jail for a number of months under the charge of trying to kill his old aunts, the Misses Wing, with whom his had lived since coming back here”.   

Shortly after he was released again, he travelled to St. Louis and took a room in a boardinghouse. His body was pulled out of the Mississippi River a few days later. It appeared he died October 3, 1897. Whether he had been murdered or had committed suicide couldn’t be conclusively determined, but suicide was the most likely explanation. His jacket pocket held a case containing a photo of a beautiful woman—his wife?—and a notepaper reading “I love thee and will leave thee never, Until my soul leaves life forever.” Charles was forty-two years old. His family did not bring his body back to Kentucky. He was buried in St. Louis.

Albert E. Wing was born February 24, 1860. His mother died shortly after his birth, and he was sent to Greenville to be raised by his father’s unmarried sisters. He seems to have been close to his brother Charles, for supposedly at the age of 19 he stabbed a precinct captain who Albert felt had disloyally voted against Charles in a political nomination fight in 1879. Albert also shot a schoolboy the same year. Still, he didn’t serve time until he murdered a man in April of 1883 in a fight over a woman. His life of crime continued, and included prison breaks and another murder. His complicated rap sheet deserves its own blog post, which will follow this one. Bert ended up dying in prison at age sixty, the only brother to live that long.

It is mind-boggling to imagine how a family with so many advantages could produce such a motley bunch of sons. One newspaper article defended the family, stating that “the wound given the dear old father by the late conduct of his two sons, was deep enough without adding insult and falsehood…” The writer was criticizing the lurid “Brothers in Blood” article.

While I’m sure Samuel Wing Sr. was wounded by his sons’ crimes, he had to bear some of the responsibility as well, if only for abandoning the two youngest boys to be raised by family members. And some of the gossip in the “Brothers in Blood” article seems to have been true in some respects. The article claimed that the Wing brothers had always been wild, stating:

“…while in their tender years the boys…were terrors to the neighborhood. At home they had full sway, and abroad they went armed with pistols and generally conducted themselves in desperado style. Sam, Weir, Charles and Albert usually went together, and made a practice of invading the public highways and shooting hogs, cattle or any brute that happened to come within the range of their pistols. They had a reckless disregard for human life..”

The news item below reporting that nineteen-year-old Albert shot a schoolboy would indicate that at least some of this gossip was based in reality. 

Samuel Wing, Sr. seems to have been an indifferent parent at best to have permitted such violent behavior. He was fortunate that at least two of his sons stayed on the right side of the law and were worthy of respectable burial in their hometown cemetery.  

 

Sources:

“Tributes to Rumsey Wing”. Louisville Commerial , Louisville, KY.  Reprinted and revised in the Owensboro Monitor, Owensboro, KY.  Nov. 11, 184 issue. Accessed via Newspapers.com.

Theodore Weir Wing headstone photos by CAWatkins on Findagrave.com

https://www.fold3.com/unit/160580/kentucky-35th-volunteer-infantry-company-fs-union-civil-war-stories

“Brothers in Blood”. Louisville Commercial, Louisville KY.  Apr. 6, 1883 issue. Reprinted in St. Louis Globe Democrat. St. Louis, MO.  Apr. 7, 1883 issue. Accessed via Newspapers.com.

“A Terrible Encourntre: A Former Citizen of Owensboro Slain, and in Return He Kills His Slayer.” Owensboro Messenger Examiner. Owensboro, KY. Nov. 9, 1881 issue. Accessed via Newspapers.com.

“The Tragic End of an Ill Spent Life Came to Charley Wing of Greenville”. The Owensboro Twice-a-Week Messenger. Owensboro KY. Oct. 6, 1897, issue. Accessed via Newspapers.com.

“The River Claims the Life of Charles F Wing.” Louisville Courier-Journal. Louisville, KY. Oct. 4, 1897, issue. Accessed via Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-journal-death-of-charles-f/122035834/

“At St. Louis the Body of Charles F. Wing Will Be Buried”. Louisville Courier-Journal. Louisville, KY. Oct. 5, 1897, issue. Accessed via Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/image/32971111/?match=1&terms=charles%20f%20wing

“Albert Wing, Wanted Here, Is Arrested”. Frankfort State Journal. Frankfort, KY. Apr 30, 1914 issue. Accessed via Newspapers.com.

Defense of the Wing Family. Owensboro Messenger. Owensboro, KY. Apr 10, 1883 issue. Accessed via Newspapers.com.

 

The Flying Parson of the 511th: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Favorite Discovery”

The “Parachute Chaplain” of the Smith Family

Rev. Harvey Murdoch Smith: 1917-2003 (Maternal First Cousin 1x Removed)

While reading the obituary of Rev. Harvey Murdoch Smith, I came across an amazing line:

“He was a parachute chaplain with the US Army’s 11^th Airborne Division during World War II and the Korean War.”

A parachute chaplain? What in the world did that mean? All I could imagine was a guy in a clerical collar reading a Bible as his parachute floated to earth while under fire by soldiers on the ground beneath him. That couldn’t be right, could it? Obviously, I needed to do some research!

First, to provide some background on Harvey, he was born in Buckhorn, Kentucky on November 13, 1917 to parents Rev. Albert Elias Smith and Othilde “Tillie” Haurin. He was the third of their four children, and grew up in the hills of Kentucky where his parents served as missionaries, teachers and his father was a pastor.

Harvey attended college at Kentucky’s Centre College, where he received a B.A. His field of study was apparently aeronautical engineering, according to a news article published later in his life. He changed course following his father’s death, and pursued graduate studies at the Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where according to his engagement notice below, he received a STB and an STM—a bachelor degree and a masters degree in Systematic Theology. He then attended the University of Pittsburgh for a master’s degree in education.

While on the East Coast, Harvey apparently spent time at his uncle’s house in Everett, Massachusetts. His uncle, Rev. Willis E. Smith, was the pastor of the Congregational Church in Everett. In 1943, Harvey became briefly engaged to a young Everett resident, Jean Ashley, just as he prepared to ship out as a chaplain to the 511^th Parachute Regiment. The engagement did not survive the war.

Chaplains in World War II weren’t just sitting in safe, rearward positions. They were embedded with troops, moving with them. So when Harvey was assigned as chaplain to the 511^th Parachute Regiment, he was trained to jump out of planes with the other paratroopers. The only difference was that the chaplains did not have to carry weapons—some did but most did not.

Here is a description of the role of the chaplain from The Chaplain, Technical Manual TM 16-205, the 1944 edition, which was used to train WWII chaplains:

“When the ground forces go into action, their chaplain should be with them. This may mean he will move from one platoon to another or will minister to the wounded in exposed positions but never that he will place himself in unnecessary danger. He must be careful that his movements do not disclose hidden positions to the enemy nor draw his fire. If casualties are numerous, he will serve best at the forward aid station. He may be placed in charge of collecting the wounded and bringing them there or he may assist in bandaging and similar forms of relief in emergencies. His skills may save the lives of wounded men. While he will do everything in his power to relieve and increase the physical comfort of the men, he will bear in mind that this is not his primary function.

He will do his utmost to comfort the suffering and give the consolations of religion to the dying. ... The chaplain who shares the peril of battle, showing kindness that never fails and a sincere concern for their welfare, will gain a place in their confidence that will reinforce powerfully all his efforts to give moral and religious instruction and inspiration.” 

It is unclear whether Harvey chose to carry a gun or not, but his unit was a storied one sent into some of the most dangerous battlefields in the Pacific theater, and Harvey was with them. A book about the unit by Jeremy C. Holm (see citation below) describes another 511^th Parachute Regiment chaplain, Captain Lee Walker.

“A special Thanksgiving service led by…’Chappie’ Walker of Ohio, one of the Divisions’s ‘Flying Parsons’, was organized to life their spirits. A Presbyterian with only six years in the ministry, Walker would become one of America’s first chaplains to earn their Jump Wings and one of the few to qualify as Jump Master.”

Chaplain Jump Wings Pin--WWII era

Since Harvey was referred to as a “parachute chaplain”, it appears he was another chaplain who earned his Jump Wings. He seems to have combined his interest in aeronautical engineering with his ministerial training.

Harvey probably experienced some intense battles. The 511^th was sent to the Pacific, where they fought in Leyte and Luzon campaigns in the Philippines, and the 511^th was the first unit to enter Japan at the end of the war. In a 1946 lecture to a Yonkers, New York missionary group, Harvey said that he was “a member of a party of eight which landed in a northern prefecture of Japan and said he was amazed ‘at the ease of adjustment shown by the Japanese toward their conquerers.’”

Harvey also served as a chaplain in the Korean War. I have been unable to locate any records from his years of military service, but he rose to the rank of Colonel in the Army, and Fold3 has Index Card records for his military burial and headstone. He remained in the Army Reserves, teaching at the U.S. Army Chaplain’s School at Fort Hamilton during the summers at least until 1967.

Photo of U.S. Army Chaplain School Class of 1963 when Harvey was teaching there.

Following his war service, Harvey married Mary Brenyo on May 28, 1946. He worked as a Presbyterian minister at churches in New York and Pennsylvania. He also served as the director of the United Presbyterian Church’s Board of National Missions, taking on the job in 1962. A 1967 article (citation below) in the White Plains Reporter Dispatch described the job as follows:

“Mr. Smith interprets the national missions program to synods, presbyteries and local churches. His work includes new church development, urban church work, town and country ministries, health education and welfare projects, and radio and television work.”

One of Rev. Smith's appearances as Director of National Missions

In addition to his ministerial and board of missions work, Harvey and wife Mary raised three children, Harvey Jr., Scott and Suzanne.

Harvey died September 28, 2003 at the age of eighty-five. He had lived in White Plains, New York for forty years. He was buried in the White Plains Rural Cemetery.

I really enjoyed learning about the role of the “flying parsons”. I love how genealogy teaches me so much about history that I never knew. Rev. Smith’s bravery as a chaplain to army paratroopers was one of my favorite discoveries this year.

Sources:

https://bethelatwar.org/spiritual-pillars-celebration-and-criticism-of-wwii-chaplains/

Obituary: Smith, Rev. Harvey Murdoch. Journal News. White Plains, NY. Oct. 3, 2003. Newspapers.com.

“511^th Infantry Regiment (United States).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/511th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)

“Miss Ashley Engaged to Chaplain Smith”. The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 12 September 1943, pg. 44. Newspapers.com.

THE MILITARY CHAPLAINCY OF THE U.S. ARMY: FOCUSING ON WORLD WAR II CHAPLAINS IN COMBAT.  Patrick G. Skelly. Capstone Paper at Norwich University, June 15, 2007. https://thechaplainkit.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/military_chaplaincy_army_ww2-skelly.pdf

 When Angels Fall: From Toccoa to Tokyo: The 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II MacArthur’s Secret Weapon & Heroes of Los Baños. Jeremy C. Holm. Independently published. Aug. 3, 2019. Pg. 71.

 “Guest Preachers.” White Plains Reporter Dispatch. White Plains, NY. July 22, 1967. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

 “Rev. Smith Addresses Missionary Group”. Yonkers Herald Statesman. Yonkers, New York. Nov. 16, 1946. Accessed on Newspapers.com