The Life of Jessie Speed "Donna" (McGlashan) Monnier (1912-1990)

Jessie "Donna" Speedy McGlashan was born in 10 September 1912 in Baltimore County, Maryland, to William James Jardine McGlashan, a Scot who was born in Australia, and Mary Helen Murray Speedie, who was also Scottish. After his birth William's parents returned to Scotland and he immigrated to the U.S. on 15 November 1909 aboard the S/S California which sailed from Glasgow on 6 November. He told immigration officials his ultimate destination was Philadelphia. Mary Speedie arrived in New York City on 4 October 1910 aboard the S/S Furnessia, which sailed from Glasgow on 24 September. Mary told immigration officials her destination was Baltimore County, Maryland, to meet her friend, William McGlashan. So the couple must have known each other in Scotland. I imagine a big surprise was in store for Mary after she cleared immigration. William was waiting for her in New York City and they married on the same day Mary arrived in Manhattan!

William James Jardin McGlashan and Mary Ellen (or Helen)
Murray Speedie marriage index record; image courtesy of
Family search

When the 1920 census was enumerated Donna, her parents and older brother, William, lived on 1725 Ridgeway Avenue in Chicago. Her father worked as a carpenter for a construction company. Her mother had another daughter, Grace Murray McGlashan, later that same year. Donna's brother died on 29 October 1927 at Waukegan, Illinois, and was interred at Lake Villa Cemetery in Lake Villa, Illinois.

In 1930 Donna and her family lived in Lake Villa at a home her father owned, which was valued at $12,000. I suspect William moved his family to Lake Villa sometime before 1927 when William died. Lake Villa is about 60 miles north of Chicago. Her father still worked as a carpenter in the building industry and Donna and her mother worked as laborers in a candy factory.

Ten years later Donna was married to Elmer Austin Monnier. They lived in Chicago at 1408 North Central Avenue in an apartment Elmer rented for $20 a month. Elmer worked as a laborer on a tree trimming and removal gang and Donna worked as a power machine operator. Two children lived with them, Donald Davis (10) and Darlynn Davis (2). They were enumerated as Elmer's step-son and daughter.

1408 North Central Avenue, Chicago; image courtesy of Google Maps

Donald's social security application listed his name as Donald Rae Davis, Jr. and his parents as Donna J. McGlashan and Donald R. Davis. His date of birth was listed as 20 March 1930 and this is consistent on all his records. However, Donna was enumerated in the 1930 census on 15 April 1930. You will recall Donna lived with her parents and her marital status was listed as single. So I do not know when of if she married Donald's father. Donald died on 17 November 2000.

Snippets of the 1930 census for the William McGlashan family; image
courtesy of Ancestry.com

Darlynn's obituary listed her father as Elmer Monnier, but my sister-in-law's mother says she was a half-sister. She was enumerated in 1940 as Darlynn Davis. Darlynn died on 17 September 2012.

Soon after their marriage Elmer and Donna moved back to Lake Villa, Donna's home when she was single. They had two daughters.

Elmer died on 1 February 1990 in Lake Villa and Donna died on 16 November 1990 in the same city. Both were interred at Angolan Cemetery in Lake Villa.

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A big thank you to a DNA of my sister-in-law who ensured I traced the correct Mary Speedie/Speedy.

Finding Speedy -- My Sister-in-Law's Maternal Grandmother

Robert Muir's Parents! Yes? Maybe? No.

Robert Muir's parents are a brick wall. Recently, I signed up for a subscription to MyHeritage.com. Two people have "my" Robert Muir in their trees with parents listed. One person was unsure where she had gotten the information about Robert's parents but thought perhaps it came from her great aunt, who I believe descended from Robert Orr Muir, a son of Robert's.

Another sent me the following infographic from a book compiled by an Australian branch of the family, which would likely be the descendants of Henrietta (Muir) Williamson, a daughter of Robert's. They believe "my" Robert was born in 1803 in Flemington and was a brother to Andrew Muir, making their parents Robert and Margaret (Melville) Muir.

I eventually concluded this was not my Muir family. The 1841 and 1861 Scotland Census for Robert Muir indicated he was not born in Scotland. The 1841 census listed foreign born, which included Ireland and England, and the 1861 census indicated Ireland. Additionally, if he was born in 1803, his age would be off on those two census documents as well as his death registration. His death registration indicated his father's name was James Muir.

I believe I have found his birth and baptism record on Ireland Roots as name of his father matches his death registration, the year of birth aligns will all other known records, and the religion is not Catholic.

Love the infographic though!

Guest Blog: Am I Related? Definitely. Maybe.

My fourth cousin once removed, Sarah Semple, reached out to me through Ancestry.com about a year ago. And what a treasure she has turned out to be. She lives in New Zealand, has written several books about genealogy, which are all fascinating; helped me with my great great grandmother Margaret Semple's family, immediate and extended; and taught me to really put records about a person in context with other people in their lives to determine if they really belong to "my" person. 

So over to Sarah...

New Zealand has a population of over 4.4 million people.  If you want to track down a Semple amongst the population, you will find 22 entries in the electronic white pages, of whom four are directly related to me (mother, brother, cousins).  The Semple name would not mean anything to people in New Zealand if it hadn’t been for Robert (Bob) Semple (1873-1955) – coalminer, trade unionist, politician and general stirrer.

The Honorable Robert Semple, New Zealand Minister
for Public Works and Transport, 1935

Bob was born on 21 October 1873 at Crudine Creek, near Sofala, on the New South Wales goldfields in Australia.  He joined the mining union, often getting involved in lengthy, bitter and violent disputes.  When he became blacklisted in Australia, he moved to New Zealand and soon involved himself in the mining unions of his adopted country.  He was known as “Bob the Ranter” or “Fighting Bob”. He was jailed in 1913 for supporting the general strike and again in 1916 after fighting conscription for overseas service.

Bob then entered politics, serving nine terms as a Labour Member of Parliament and held a number of infrastructure portfolios, such as Minister of Public Works and Minister of Railways.  He was flamboyant, colourful and devoted to the task of making working class lives better.

When people find out my family name, their next comment is usually “I hope that you are not related to that stirrer Bob Semple”.  I have not been able to identify any links to Bob Semple, however his wife Margaret McNair (1876-1967) is definitely related to me.  Her grandfather Thomas McNair and my great great great grandmother were brother and sister.

Margaret (McNair) Semple and her husband, Bob

So while I can claim to have no “stirrers” blood in me, I can say with a grin on my face, that my family is obviously attracted to stirrers.

Bundaberg Cemetery

Genealogy and family history research take you to some interesting places. While researching my grandmother's father's Muir family, I discovered my great great grand aunt, Henrietta (Muir) Williamson immigrated to Australia with her husband, John Williamson, and their four children. They arrived in Brisbane on 6 May 1885 aboard the cargo ship, Waroonga.

Immigration Depot on William Street, Brisbane, Australia.
Drawing courtesy of an Ancestry.com member

Henrietta and her family lived in Queensland, Australia until their deaths. Henrietta's husband, John, died in 1919 and Henrietta in 1929. They are both buried in Bundaberg Cemetery. The original cemetery was originally established on land surrounded by current day Woongarra, Mayborough, Woondooma, and McLean streets. In 1868 Alexander Walker and Walter Adams envisioned the prosperous city of Bundaberg would soon encroach on the cemetery. They gazetted the land on which the current cemetery is located. The original cemetery was closed and the bodies were exhumed and reburied at either the General Cemetery or the Catholic Cemetery. Unfortunately, the records of the exhumations and burials before 1879 have been lost to the sands of time. Many of Queensland's founders are buried at Bundaberg in the monumental section.

John and Henrietta (Muir) Williamson's grave; photograph courtesy of an Ancestry.com member

Their son, who died in in 1908 at the age of 23 is buried with his parents.

Guest Blog: What's in a Name?

I realized not too long ago the first anniversary of this blog was quickly approaching. I wondered if I would run out of topics to write about so I had the brilliant idea to invite guest bloggers to write posts from time to time.  One obvious choice was my fourth cousin once removed, Sarah Semple. Sarah reached out to me through Ancestry.com in early May of last year. And what a treasure she has turned out to be. She has written several books about genealogy, which are all fascinating, and helped me with my great great grandmother Margaret Semple's family immediate and extended. Sarah has taught me more than a thing or two about research and Scottish customs. She also wrote Charles Sorrell's Edwardian Napier, which was reviewed by Postcard Pillar in December 2013.

Over to Sarah -- 

When our children were born, my husband and I decided that their first names would be ones that appealed to us. However they would have two middle names -- one from my husband's side of the family and the other from my side. The criteria for each middle name was that it had to be either a prominent name that appeared consistently through the family tree or a name from an individual in our heritage who stood out by playing an important role in shaping our family. It all seemed pretty simple really, or maybe not…

Our son's middle names are Alexander and Wolfe. Alexander was a natural choice -- the name of my great great grandfather who immigrated with his wife and children to New Zealand in 1862. Alexander (born 12 October 1833 in Larkhall, Lanarkshire, Scotland) had worked as a hand loom weaver in Scotland. However, the industrial revolution saw the decline of the cottage weaving industry with many in Larkhall working in the mines instead. Alexander chose a different path from his brothers and became a stonemason. His immigration to New Zealand allowed him to become a farmer. His son, also named Alexander (my great grandfather) was born on the boat, the day after it had berthed in Port Chalmers, Dunedin. Semple Road in Waitati, Otago, is named after him.

Alexander Semple (born 1862)

Wolfe was my husband's great grandfather's middle name. Albert Wolfe Brisk was born in Safed in 1880 in what was then Palestine. He trained as a watchmaker in Switzerland and then moved to Singapore where he married and had six children. His wife died in 1936. Albert and five of his children were interned by the Japenese in various camps in southeast Asia during World War II. Albert didn't survive the experience. He was imprisoned in Changi camp in Singapore and then in Sime Road camp. He died from malnutrition on 19 December 1942.

Albert Wolfe Brisk (born 1882)

My daughter's middle names are Alecia and Sorrell. The name Alecia (or Alicia) has been in every generation of her paternal grandmother's family back to the late 1700s. This side of the family immigrated from Ireland to Australia in the early 1800s. They owned large pockets of land and were proud of the family name Alecia which ran through the family. When the family tree was finally worked on, it was discovered the name Alecia had in fact originated from a servant who had worked for the family in Ireland. Some of the older generation were horrified by this knowledge!

Ethel Alecia Sorrell (born 1878)

The name Sorrell was for Charles Sorrell, my great grandfather who had moved to New Zealand and settled in Napier working as a photographer. He captured Napier -- its buildings, landscape, people and events on film. Napier was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931; many of the buildings and landscapes Sorrell photographed disappeared. Researching the Sorrell tree proved problematic, and it turned out that Charles Sorrell was not a Sorrell at all -- his name at birth was Charles Hudson Cunningham. His mother had gotten pregnant in London for the second time, and her brothers put her on a boat in 1855 destined for Melbourne, Australia. Son Charles was born shortly after her arrival. She then moved in with a man named John Sorrell and had two daughters by him. As he lay dying in 1860, Charles' mother was brawling with the bailiff about non-payment of rent. She had a further two children by different men. It turns out there is no Sorrell blood in my family tree at all, but I was none the wiser when my daughter was born!

Sorrell residence and studio in 1911; Charles Sorrell is on the balcony with his wife