Does It Pay Good To Be Crazy?

While searching for a relative in the Ontario death records, I noticed a record for an individual who died in the London Asylum for the Insane. In the box where the "occupation of deceased " was noted, it read : "Insane person" !

It is Said....

Old genealologists never die... they just lose their census ! (no comments please)

Name of the Day

She was born Sarah Bigg-- but on March 20th 1889 in London Ontario she married Fred B Pickle and then her name was Sarah Bigg Pickle !

Name of the Day

On Apr 20 1925 Nina Fonugia married George Zammit and became Nina Fonugia Zammit

The Nickname Factor

More than once I've banged my head against the wall looking for an elusive family member when they've been right under my nose all along ---under a nickname. For example, the Nancy I searched high and low for in the 1880 census was recorded right after her brother Donald as "Annie" and since they were about the same age and the only other household member was his mother, I had assumed for years she was his wife.
Another Annie was found after I finally realized she was Mary Ann.She and her "sister " were actually one and the same person !
"Minnie "was a popular nickname for Mary Jane.
"Donald" and "Daniel" were interchangeable, often the same person.
"Flora" often became "Sophronia"
There were numerous , and sometimes improbable sounding nicknames used in the 1800's , so it's a subject worth boning up on if you're up against the brick wall in your family research.

Strange Brew

Sometimes researching family histories turns up some odd relationships within a group of relatives. One such case is where a young woman's mother took as her second husband the brother of her daughter's husband. This made the young wife's husband's brother both her stepfather and her brother- in-law. To be clear, this was neither illegal nor immoral--just kind of weird !

Name of the Day

John Burley married Sally E Hurley. She became Sally Hurley Burley. My husband's great great aunt Eliza Londry married their son William Hurley Burley in 1853. (I wonder if they had a whirlywind courtship.)