The Letters

I feel like I have done very little research lately and absolutely no data entry at all - with the exception of entering the day of my grandfather's aunt Mary (Mayme) Maitland Shackleford's birth! Yes, that's right, I did NOT have great-great grand aunt Mayme's birth date other than I knew she was born in May 1878 in Richmond, Missouri. Now I know that she was born May 11, 1878.

There is still a lot I don't know about Mayme. She and her husband, Jonathan Shackelford were divorced sometime between the 1920 and 1930 census. By 1930, he is absolutely nowhere to be found. He doesn't appear in any death records in Missouri that I can ascertain. Mayme died November 13, 1958 in Topeka, Kansas.

Mayme and Jonathan Shackelford had two daughters, Mary Katherine, born in 1904 and died in 1987 in California. She was married to Robert Brockett. Her daughter Sara was born in 1915 and married Dwayne Smith.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Isn't That What It's All About?

Cleveland Newspaper circa Sept 20 1914

Do you ever read any of the new blogs over at Geneabloggers? I read one over the weekend My Genealogy Family by Susan Hill Bonko.

What caught my eye was the fact that she was from Cleveland. I have had a few connections to Cleveland, but none of them Italian. Mine were German - Knost (KAnost) and Scots (Maitland). It is the Maitland connection in Cleveland I want to talk about. Jesse Stanhope Maitland was the son of John Skirving Maitland and Laura Goodale. John was a brother of my great-great grandfather, Alexander Maitland of Missouri via Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The story is that the Maitlands emigrated to Canada where they endured great hardships. Alexander spent some time in the mines in Colorado before eventually heading back to Missouri where he met and married Mary G. Oliphant and where they spent the rest of their lives.

John Skirving Maitland suffered an untimely death from typhoid in Pawnee City Nebraska. His son, Jesse, was four at the time of his father's death. I have no idea how he ended up in Cleveland. Some years ago this article came into my hands from one of Jesse Maitland's descendants.You will have to click on the image to read what remains of it, use your browser's back button to return to this page.


From research at Ancestry.com, I have deduced that Major A. H. Maitland died September 16, 1914. Since my ancestor Alexander Maitland was the older brother, I would have thought that the title would default to him and his sons first. This article was sent to me by a descendant of Jesse Maitland - thanks Janie.

At any rate, this is what genealogy is all about, getting our names and research interests out there so that we can find other people researching our lines.

In the meantime I keep looking for mention of this in the newspapers of September 1914 so that the parts that are missing can be included.

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes

Wedding Wednesday - Maitland & Percival

My great grandparents, Helen "Nellie" Maitland and John Henry "Henry" Percival were married on Christmas Eve, 1889 in Richmond, Missouri. Nellie was the daughter of Alexander Maitland & Mary G. Oliphant. Henry was the son of the late John Stearns Percival and the late Susan Davidson Percival Holt. I'm not sure what the thing was with marriage announcements and marriage records for this couple, but both are extremely bad. Here they are anyway.

Wedding invitation

Marriage record

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes

Wedding Wednesday - Maitland and Oliphant

On the 4th day of March, 1865, Mr. Maitland was married to Miss Mary G. Oliphant, daughter of Alexander Oliphant, deceased, formerly of Ray County. This was the day of Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration. Ironic since Alexander was a Confederate sympathizer, living north of the Missouri river. His father-in-law, Alexander Oliphant, was pro-union.

Alexander Maitland & Mary G Oliphant

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes