By his own hands

 As seen in the Lowell Sun, Wednesday, November 15, 1898 a man took his own life.  This man has come to be known as Adam Cunningham of Paisley Scotland and Lowell Massachusetts.   Adam came to this country about 1860 his wife Mary Henderson.  Sometime in the late 1890's Mary passes away and Adam begins to struggle.  Due to the difficult clarity of the original article (see below) the following is a transcription as it appeared in The Lowell Sun, November 15th.

"Adam Cunningham whose attempted self destruction was briefly reported in yesterday's latest edition of the Sun, died last night at St. John's hospital.  His  wounds were inflicted with a pocket knife instead of a with a razor as first reported.
At the time the unfortunate man committed the deed he was alone in the home.
He had evidently been very deliberate in his preparation as a wet whetstone was found lying near the knife which was on the floor close to a large pool of blood.
His first attempt not proving successful, other than to cause a great loss of blood, he endeavored to make a second attempt but his hand was so unsteady that he could not wield the knife.
He then staggered out of the house and across the yard to the house of his daughter, a Mrs. Sullivan, and attempted to tell her what he had done.  But, the wound and the flow of blood so affected his speech that he could not articulate distinctly.
A teenager was sent at once to the **** **** stone yard and the police notified. Deputy Moffat then called the ambulance, but it had already been notified and was then on the way.
When Dr. Durham arrived the man was in a semi-conscious condition and the doctor gave it as his opinion that the second wound prove fatal.
The cause of the Cunningham's sad set was prompted by a combination of troubles, which produced melancholy or temporary insanity. He had recently buried his wife and was out of employment.
The remains have been removed to his late home, 43 Anderson Street by Undertaker Currier.
Mr. Cunningham was born 53 years ago in Paisley, Scotland and came to Lowell 30 years ago and lived here until his death.  His family consists of three sons and three daughters.  He was a cabinet make by trade and had been a hard and industrious worker."

The original article posted to the left is a little difficult to read, so I transcribed it the best I could.  There is one piece that included two words that I just couldn't make out.  I replaced the two words with asterisks (*).  So, if you can figure out what stone yard is mentioned, I would love to know.

While investigating more about Adam, the death of his wife was discovered to be just months earlier this same year.  Mary died 15 April 1898 and both Adam and Mary are resting in the Edson Cemetery, Lowell Massachusetts.

Also, while researching Adam and Mary, I was able to find the names to their parents.  So, another generation found. Adam's parents;  Thomas Cunningham and Mary Reid, both of Scotland.  Adam was born 1845 in Scotland.

Mary's parents; Robert Henderson and Catherine Graham, both of Scotland.  Mary was born 1847 in Scotland.

Adam and Mary Cunningham are connected to my family tree through an October 1903 marriage of  their daughter Catherine G Cunningham to John Heaney.

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Update!

To date, Feb 2020, I have not been able to identified who Mrs Sullivan might be.  As far as I know, Adam and Mary had three daughters; Ida b. 1879 mar 1898 to John Hoare, Catherine b. 1868 mar 1901 to John Heaney and May b. 1870 mar. 1893 Ralph Gould.  Ida and May are with their husbands and be found as such after 1898.  Catherine, not yet married in 1898, can be found living with siblings Ida and William at 43 Anderson Street.  So, who is Mrs Sullivan?  Or, is the name just an error?

Project: Finding George H Reynolds

George Henry Reynolds; where did he come from and where did he go?   These are the question I have about my great grandfather.

Shortly after the death on my mother Mary M Herrick Reynolds, Jan 2001, I realized I knew so very little about my families tree.  Sure, I had the bits and pieces like my father's family is back east and my mother's family is out west in Washington state.  I even had a hint of a great aunt in Florida.  So, I gathered up my mothers belongings and started to piece the tree back together.  It's been better than twelve years putting things together and along the way I have found relatives all over the place.  And now communicate with many.  But, that is another story, so back to George.  When I started digging, I didn't know my great grandfather by name and knew even less about his wife, my great grand mother.

In my mother's papers was a crude tree outlining my father's side, in which it listed my grand father as George Henry Reynolds.  To this point I only new George Reynolds as my uncle.  So, armed with just these small pieces I started researching the Reynolds in Lowell Massachusetts.   It wasn't  long that I discovered my great grandmother; Elizabeth Anna Wat(t)ers Reynolds, her children James, George and Flossie living in 1900 Lowell Massachusetts.  This find explored into finding the rest of my Reynolds family in Lowell.  However, George is still a mystery!

Along the way a documents came to light putting the family in 1892 Woburn Massachusetts and revealing for the first time my great grandfather was also a George H Reynolds.  So, there were three George's in consecutive generations.  The document was a birth certificate for Flossie Jane Reynolds listing Elizabeth Wat(t)ers as mother and George H Reynolds as father.  George is a mason from England and Elizabeth is from Nova Scotia. Then, my grandfather's birth certificate was found in 1891 Woburn.  This certificate conflicts with the 1900 census claiming he was born in Rhode Island.  This birth certificate also listed Elizabeth of Nova Scotia and George a mason from England.

Soon, I had Elizabeth's family in Nova Scotia outlined, include two sets of 3x great grandparents.  However, nothing more was found about George.  No marriage record for George and Elizabeth.  No birth record for first born son James who was born in 1889 Westville or Truro NS, prior to the family coming to the states.  A good thing happen while searching for George in NS, I found living Watters relatives.  It has been so great to communicate with them.

But, and that is a Big But... no George H Reynolds of England.

So, after many years searching and searching for George without finding a hint, I brought in a professional Genealogist to help.  The following is the new findings that were produced.

George H Reynolds b. Nov 1868 England.  The birth date was found in a document from the Lowell Overseers of the Poor Collection 1896 intake record for Elizabeth Wat(t)ers Reynolds.

George Reynolds, mason, age 24, was living at 15 Centre St., Woburn MA in 1892, “residence the previous year, Providence, Rhode Island.   This information was found in a document List of Polls.

1893 Woburn City Directory

George H Reynolds was living at 20 Hovey Street Woburn in 1893.  He is a Currier.  A Currier is a leather worker, so a bit of conflict with being a mason.  A very interesting and supporting find William D Watters,   William is Elizabeth's younger brother.  He too is working as a Currier.    Upon reviewing the document, it reveals three other George Reynolds living in Woburn MA and working as Currier.  I wonder if there is any family connection.  Something to look into.   This document was a city directory for Woburn MA, which I've seen before but had no supporting data to put claim.  William being in the same house is support enough.

In the Overseers of Poor record for Elizabeth, she states that she separated for George in 1894 and at the time of the intake, she thought he was dead.  No records have been found for support the death.

In the Overseers of the Poor record for Elizabeth, she states that George (my grandfather) was born in Providence.   So, it is my thought that the birth wasn't recorded until the family settled in Woburn, thus a registry for George's birth in Woburn setting up the conflict.

No additional records have been found for George H Reynolds thus far, so the search continues.

Armed with the birth date of 1868 for George, I have enlisted three amateur genealogists in the Truro, Stelleraton and Westville Nova Scotia area to dig into finding any information; migration, marriage, birth of son.  Anything to link George to Elizabeth and James.

McLeese in the Heaney House

Recently, I found a Neil McLeese with a 1953 connection to Agnes McComb of 557 Chelmsford Massachusetts.  The connection was a U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938 form, which listed Agnes McComb as the point of contact.  The house on Chelmsford street was the home to William Heaney prior to his move to 60 Cosgrove street Massachusetts in the 1920.  Many of William's family, children and siblings, lived at this house one time or another. So, who is this Neil McLeese and how is he connected to the family, if at all? Well, I know he is some how connected for he shares a given surname of another before him and the previously mentioned connection to Agnes.  But, how is the question?  These questions opened up some more research and discovery into my family tree.

U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers
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First, let's discover a little of  what is known about the Heaney and McLeese lines. The McLeese name comes from Ireland as many of my ancestors did and this is where I find that a McLeese has married into the Heaney family.  My great great grandfather John Heaney and Ellen McLeese started their marriage in 1845 Antrim County, Ireland prior to coming to the states in the 1870's. After finding out Ellen Heaney was a McLeese, which added a new name to the tree, I naturally became interested in finding out more.  Well, believe it or not, Ellen's father is a Neil McLeese, my 3x great grandfather, but I am sure the Neil I am seeking is not my great grandfather, for he didn't come to the states, as far as I know,  and if he did, he would be well over a 100 years of age in 1953. Not impossible, but I doubt it!

Obituary
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So, the question remains!  How does this Neil McLeese connect to the my tree.  The story starts to unravel with the discovery of two pieces of information; an obit for Neil in the Lowell Sun newspaper 1953, in which reveals a little about Neil's military time and his final resting place.  And a copy of Veteran's Compensation Application stating that Neil was name after his mother's father; Neil McLeese my 3x great grandfather.  Neil's mother is Sarah McLeese and father James Jinkins.

Veteran' Compensation
Application
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In June of this year I requested some information from the Edson Management Cemetery management office in Lowell Massachusetts about Neil.  Yesterday, Aug 13 2013, I  received information back from the Edson staff that relieved the connection to the family.

Update:  Neil's relationship trace to Agnes;  Neil's mother is Sarah McLeese who is sister to Ellen McLeese Heaney,  who is the mother to Annie Heaney McComb, who is the mother of Agnes.  So, they are cousins and both 1x cousins 2x removed to me.



Neil McLeese resting in McComb's family plot in Edson Cemetery, Lowell MA.

Neil McLeese served in the U. S Army K 5 Infantry from 1900 -1903.  This unit seen active duty in the Philippine, though Neil's records indicate no time served in any fire fight.

Rest in Peace

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Remembering!

I don't know why! Or why now, but my thoughts are racing towards memories on my grandmother Edith Reynolds.  It has been a busy day here today as I finished off a major database move from one server to another.  Lots of updates, broken links, users not able to log in and now I am taking a break as the phones are quiet... This is when my grandmother came to mind and I don't know why!  I didn't know her very well at all.  I did meet her in the spring of 1968 when she came to visit us in Arkansas.  I don't recall her voice, her appearance or her eyes, it was such a short visit there just wasn't time.  I do remember that she could recite the alphabet backward faster that I could forward.  She taught me to spell Mississippi with humpback, dotted and crooked letters.  She tricked me into a game of  "Who could count to one hundred" the fastest!  She said start and off I started counting as fast as a 12 year old could.. 1,2,3...21,22,23.  But! But, she wasn't counting yet... I got to 90 and she rang out 10, 10, double 10, 45, 15. And then declared that she won...  Sitting there confused, she had me add up the numbers... we laughed!  She was with us for three or fours days before she passed away. She had seen me as a baby and a boy, as we traveled with the military to an oversea duty station and back.  She, however had not met my youngest sister to this point, who was now about 6 years old. Grandma made sure that she was able to see us all again and then left.  The only other memory I have of my grandmother Edith R. Reynolds is, she loved the song Old Rugged Cross, which was played at her Wake.  We laid my grandmother to earth in the Edson Cemetery in Lowell Massachusetts. One of these days I will revisit my grandmother and tell her that I love her.