Western New York Roots

Submitted by Jody Keiser on Thu, 04/30/2009 – 4:30pm

I really hope some kind soul out there can help me. As I was researching my husband’s family, I found his biological grandmother is most likely Hazel Eldred Cone Baker Gigee. I am 99.9 percent sure it is. Sorry, but this is going to be a long one, even condensed.

Anyway, here is the info I have on her:

1915, Stueben County, NY, marriage record no. 5183: Listed as age 19 (dob 1896), born of Eldred George Eldred and Anna Belle Bennett.  Birthplace Middlesex, NY and current residence Avoca. Married to Dwight M. Cone, son of Robert Cone and Elizabeth Backer or Backus. Dwight’s residence listed as Hornell and he was a junk man. Performing the ceremony was Charles Henry Gall. Witnesses were C. H. Gall and Mary Belle Bennett. Marriage in Canisteo. (Information from a transciption posted on the Steuben County message board).

1928, Angelica, Allegany, NY: Dwight Cone sues Frank C. Baker for alienation of affections of his wife Hazel. It lists that by 1926 Dwight and Hazel had 6 children ranging in age from 3 – 10 years. These children were taken away and most sent west on the orphan train. A daughter, Grace, later returned to live with her father. Hazel and Dwight later divorced. (Court records held by a descendant of one of the six children)

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A couple weeks ago when I was reading Randy Seaver’s blog he asked bloggers to look up their “#21″. On an Ahnentafel report, you’re #21 would represent one of your great great grandmothers. In my case it was woman named Evelyn (Stach?) Finch. Her maiden name was always a mystery to me. The only clue I had was the 1880 Census which listed her husband’s mother-in-law living with the family and her name was Catharine Stach? (The last name was very hard to read.) Whenever I searched ancestry.com for Stach, Stock, Mench… any variations I could think of, I never found anything of use. When I read Randy’s post I decided to revisit this case and try a different method of searching. This time I searched for Catharine’s in Attica, NY and tried to match one up with a daughter Eveline. Its a small town so this worked out much easier than I anticipated. There they were in the 1870 Census! Owen, Catharine and Evaline Marchant! Next I searched ancestry for anything on Owen Marchant. Sure enough… he was mentioned in the “History of Warsaw, NY” which is scanned on the website.
It says:
Owen, born in 1796, married Amanda Brown… He had 5 children: 1. Esther, who married Henry Finch… Mr. Owen Marchant has a second wife.

Ut oh! Here’s where the problem comes in! “Esther, who married Henry Finch” is the mother of Henry Wesley Finch. Henry Wesley Finch went on to marry Eveline Marchant? If this is the case, HW married his mother’s half sister!

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