Finding and remembering foster/adoptive and birth families - Francis Kathryn Rollins Woodworth Bustard
A few days ago I had one of those lightning bolt moments: "look right here!" something said. And so I looked. As a result, I was able to unravel at least part of the mystery of the origins of an ancestor's adopted/foster daughter. It started with an obituary for Plumer Morton Woodworth, my great grandfather FJ Bird's first cousin.
I hadn't seen that particular newspaper article before, even though I've done a fair amount of research on this family. (Chalk this find up to the exponential increase in digitized, indexed resources - particularly newspapers.) The obituary said he was survived by his (second) wife Marie, his sister Hattie Lockwood, and a foster daughter, Mrs. George Bustard of Honolulu. Two other published obituaries made no mention of Francis...
In 1900, an adopted daughter "Rollen Woodworth" appears in the Federal Census in the household of Plumer and Esther Teare Woodworth. The foster daughter is age 10, born in Illinois. The 1910 census is a little more helpful: the girl is identified as Francis K. Rollins, father born in Massachusetts and mother born in England. Since Plumer Woodworth was born in Illinois and his wife Esther in Ohio, these locations would likely be for Francis's birth parents.
I had not been able to find anything about Francis Rollins after the 1910 census - no record of either a marriage or death for her in Illinois. Plumer's obituary gave a name and location that lead me to other details about Francis Rollins' life, including her marriage and family in Hawaii (not Illinois!) and her death in 1976. The death notice says very little, but one important detail it included was the town in Illinois where she was born: Aurora (Kane county).
Then came the thunderbolt: If she was born in Aurora, I should check cemeteries in Aurora for Rollins deaths prior to 1900 (when Frances shows up as a foster child in the Woodworth household). Within about 90 seconds of having the thought, I located a FindAGrave listing for a Fannie Rollins who died in 1899 - a likely candidate.
The FindAGrave listing gave sufficient detail that I then found the death record for Fannie/Francis C. Duncan Rollins in the Illinois Deaths and Burials database on FamilySearch. That particular collection consolidates death information from a variety of sources including Kane County's early death records. (I would not have had such a quick find if the death had occurred in Lake or McHenry counties, for example.)
The death record in the Illinois Deaths and Burials index provided a link to an unindexed film where I was able to find Fannie's death certificate (scrolling a page at a time through non-sequential records). It shows her place of birth as England, which is consistent with the 1910 census listing for Francis Rollins in the Woodworth household. The cause of her untimely death at the age of 41 was uterine cancer.
Frances' father Abner William Rollins died earlier in 1899, so she and her brother Phillip were orphaned by their mother's death. I don't know what happened to Phillip at his mother's death, or where he was in 1900 and 1910. He died of pulmonary tuberculous in the Kane County Alms House in 1912. The person who filled out his death certificate knew nothing about him - not his birthplace or parents' names. Frances had another brother, Willie E. Rollins, who died in 1893 and is buried in the same cemetery as their mother.
These were not discoveries that record hints would have fully unraveled. How did I get there? It started with Plumer Woodworth's obituary (Newspapers.com) which led me to Frances Rollins Woodworth Bustard's obituary (also Newspapers.com), which (prompted by the "look here" nudge) lead to burial information for Frances Duncan Rollins on FindAGrave, which led to birth, marriage, census, and death records (both FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com) where record hints, as well as unindexed collections, helped me piece together the family of Abner William and Frances Duncan Rollins who married in Massachusetts in 1878.
Frances Rollins had a family until cancer took their mother, for whom she was named. Plumer and Esther Woodworth gave her shelter and opportunities. It seems only fitting to ensure that history reflects both families.
I hadn't seen that particular newspaper article before, even though I've done a fair amount of research on this family. (Chalk this find up to the exponential increase in digitized, indexed resources - particularly newspapers.) The obituary said he was survived by his (second) wife Marie, his sister Hattie Lockwood, and a foster daughter, Mrs. George Bustard of Honolulu. Two other published obituaries made no mention of Francis...
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The Honolulu Advertiser (Honolulu, Hawaii) ·
20 Feb 1916, Sun · Page 17. Newspapers.com. |
I had not been able to find anything about Francis Rollins after the 1910 census - no record of either a marriage or death for her in Illinois. Plumer's obituary gave a name and location that lead me to other details about Francis Rollins' life, including her marriage and family in Hawaii (not Illinois!) and her death in 1976. The death notice says very little, but one important detail it included was the town in Illinois where she was born: Aurora (Kane county).
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The Honolulu Advertiser (Honolulu, Hawaii) · 10 Oct 1976, Sun · Page 32.
Newspapers.com |
Then came the thunderbolt: If she was born in Aurora, I should check cemeteries in Aurora for Rollins deaths prior to 1900 (when Frances shows up as a foster child in the Woodworth household). Within about 90 seconds of having the thought, I located a FindAGrave listing for a Fannie Rollins who died in 1899 - a likely candidate.
The FindAGrave listing gave sufficient detail that I then found the death record for Fannie/Francis C. Duncan Rollins in the Illinois Deaths and Burials database on FamilySearch. That particular collection consolidates death information from a variety of sources including Kane County's early death records. (I would not have had such a quick find if the death had occurred in Lake or McHenry counties, for example.)
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| "Illinois Deaths and Burials, 1749-1999", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HK7C-49T2 : 14 February 2020), Fannie C. Rollins, 1899. |
Frances' father Abner William Rollins died earlier in 1899, so she and her brother Phillip were orphaned by their mother's death. I don't know what happened to Phillip at his mother's death, or where he was in 1900 and 1910. He died of pulmonary tuberculous in the Kane County Alms House in 1912. The person who filled out his death certificate knew nothing about him - not his birthplace or parents' names. Frances had another brother, Willie E. Rollins, who died in 1893 and is buried in the same cemetery as their mother.
These were not discoveries that record hints would have fully unraveled. How did I get there? It started with Plumer Woodworth's obituary (Newspapers.com) which led me to Frances Rollins Woodworth Bustard's obituary (also Newspapers.com), which (prompted by the "look here" nudge) lead to burial information for Frances Duncan Rollins on FindAGrave, which led to birth, marriage, census, and death records (both FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com) where record hints, as well as unindexed collections, helped me piece together the family of Abner William and Frances Duncan Rollins who married in Massachusetts in 1878.
Frances Rollins had a family until cancer took their mother, for whom she was named. Plumer and Esther Woodworth gave her shelter and opportunities. It seems only fitting to ensure that history reflects both families.
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