My Almost Forgotten Aunt Maggie

 

My brother invited me to come with him to visit the grave of our aunt Margaret (always called Maggie).

Maggie died in Stettler, Alberta in 1936 aged 26. Her husband and children are now deceased as well, There is probably no one alive who knew her personally. She is almost forgotten.

She was the closest of Dad's siblings in age and his closest friend among his siblings. He was shaving on a Friday when he received the shocking news of her death. For years he would avoid shaving on a Friday because it brought back the painful memory. The song "When You and I were Young Maggie" would bring tears to his eyes. 

Mom kept a special place in her heart for this sister-in-law that she had never met. And when Mom passed at age 98, she left some money in her estate to put a headstone on Maggie's unmarked grave. This has been done. (Thanks Mom.)

On August 21, Lloyd and I set off to visit Maggie's grave and view the new headstone. While we were there I offered a prayer at her grave. My brother and I reflected on the lives of Aunt Maggie and her family. It was a special time. (Maggie, we never met you, but your life is remembered.)

In Memory of Margaret Isobel "Maggie" McCALLUM (Buchanan)

Mar 7, 1909 - Feb 13, 1936

A mystery solved? Probably

I have been helping someone solve his genealogical mysteries for the past few years. 

But an on-going puzzle has been the father of his ancestor Richard Coles. Richard was born in 1871 in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England, to Jane Coles, an unmarried 16-year-old girl, Within a few months, Jane marred Thomas, Pullen, and after his death she married James Baldwin, and then Richard Robinson. Jane and Richard Robinson moved to Victoria, British Columbia in their old age. 

Jane had 11 children, but the puzzle for Richard's descendants has always been "Who is Richard Coles' birth father?" Because Jane married Thomas Pullen soon after Richard's birth, Thomas has often been assumed to be Richard's father. Then why was Richard not known as Richard Pullen? If it was someone else, why didn't he marry Jane and spare her the shame, if he could?

A YDNA test by a male Coles cousin recently provided the answer. At 67 markers, there was a perfect match with a Giles family from Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England. And in the 1871 census, we find a 16 year old James Giles from Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, living in Brackley with the Thomas Hutton family as a servant. At the time of the 1871 census, Brackley had a population of about 400 people, so everyone knew everyone in the community.

This seems to answer all of the questions. James was old enough to father a child but too young to marry. 

NOTE:
The family tree of the YDNA match shows descent from their shared ancestor through a different branch of the Giles family.