Surname Saturday – Bookless

My great-great-grandmother Louisa Bookless is the ancestor closest to me with the surname of Bookless. She was born to David Bookless and Mary Cartmell in Coshocton, Ohio on April 13, 1834. She was the fourth of five children; the others were Anna, an unnamed infant daughter, William, and James Scott. In early Coshocton county records, the surname was often spelled Buckless. At the age of 5, Louisa lost her mother and at 12 her father. She was living in the James Rice household at the time of the 1850 census along with her older brother William. When she was 18, she married William Washington Werts. The couple had 2 chidren – my great-grandmother Mary Angeline Werts and George Wesley Werts. In April 1857, Louisa’s husband died leaving her with a 4 year old son and 2 year old daughter. Louisa sent her children to live with relatives as she was unable to provide for them.

Louisa married John Simon on April 28, 1861, and the couple had one daughter, Sarah Ellen Simon – my great-grandmother’s half-sister. Louisa died on July 26, 1912 at the age of 78. The obituary in the Coshocton Tribune on July 27, 1812 on page 8 is filled with errors. She is listed as “Mrs. Eliza Simmons” instead of Mrs. Louisa Simon. My great-grandmother often went by a shortened version of her middle name – Annie –  but she is listed as Anna, and her widower is not listed in the obituary even though he also lived with my great-grandmother. John died two years later. The couple are buried together at St. Paul Cemetery in Coshocton, Ohio.

David Bookless was born in Coshocton county in 1808 and only lived to the age of 40. While in Coshocton, David became it’s very first coroner as referenced by a news article in the Coshocton Tribune on May 6, 1952. Before he died, David moved to Iroquois county, Illinois – even though he still had minor children in Coshocton. Perhaps he went looking for work. He and his wife Mary are buried in the Bookless Cemetery in Iroquois county.

David’s father was William Bookless, and presently I do not have any documented information on him.

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SNGF – Ancestor Fun

Each Saturday evening, Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings challeges other geneabloggers to participate in Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. Tonight, the theme is Ancestor Fun. The mission (should we choose to accept it!) is to pick a great-grandfather, divide his birth year by 100 and round up to the next number. Then, go to the ancestor on the ahnentafel list and find the ancestor with that number and give three facts about that person.

I chose my maternal great-grandfather, Joseph Napolean Wilt (father of my maternal grandmother), who was born in 1869. After dividing his birth year by 100 and getting 18.69, I rounded up to 19.  I use Family Tree 2011 as my genealogy program. I am the home person so I clicked on Publish at the top, then under “Charts and Reports” I clicked on Genealogy Reports. I chose the Ahnentafel Report. After the report came up, I scrolled to number 19 to see which ancestor I would write about. It was my 2nd great-grandmother, Louisa Bookless.

The line from me to her is as follows: my dad, his dad (Lloyd William Amore), Lloyd’s mother (Mary Angelina Werts Amore), “Annie’s” mother was Lousia Bookless. She was born to David Bookless and Mary Cartmell on April 13, 1834 in Muskingum county, Ohio. She married William Washington Werts (my 2nd great-grandfather) on August 24, 1852 in Coshocton county, Ohio.  I found the marriage entry on FamilySearch.org in the database – “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994” and downloaded the digital image. Louisa married a second time after William died to John Simon on April 28, 1861 in Coshocton county, Ohio. Louisa died of “apoplexy” on July 26, 1912 in Coshocton, Ohio and was buried in St. Paul’s Cemetery in Coshocton.

Three facts about Louisa Bookless:

1. Most of the documents I have found concerning Louisa, has her maiden name spelled “Buckless” – especially census records.
2. Louisa’s parents died when she was young, so she is found living with relatives in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. In 1850, Louisa and her older brother, William, are living in the James Rice household in Franklin Twp, Coshocton county, Ohio. I have not discovered if he was related to Louisa. In the 1860 census, Louisa is living with her late husband’s sister, Susannah (Werts) Shirer and her husband, Quincy.  The two children she had borne while married to William Werts were living in other households which seems to indicate that Louisa did not have any means of supporting her children and needed to rely on family for support.
3. Louisa’s first husband – my 2nd great-grandfather, passed away five years after they were married. Their oldest child, George Wesley Werts, was born five months after their wedding and my great-grandmother came along two years later. Four years after William’s death, Louisa and John Simon married.  They became parents of a daughter (Sarah Ellen Simon) three years after they married.  I did not realize my great-grandmother had a half-sister until I kept coming back to the census listing her in the same household as Louisa and John as their daughter. When I checked the newspaper account for a reunion held at my great-grandparents, I discovered that Ellen’s family came to that reunion.

Louisa’s Death Certificate

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“Mother” Amore

Mary Angeline Werts Amore

Mary Angeline Werts was born to William Washington Werts and Louisa Bookless on February 16, 1855 in Linton Township, Coshocton County, Ohio.  Her father died when she was two years old leaving Lousia to raise Mary and her older brother, George.  In the 1860 Census both children are living with others.  In 1961 Louisa married John Simon and three years later they had a daughter, Sarah Ellen.  On December 14, 1872, Mary married William Henry Amore.  In 1881 Mary lost her brother, George.

Mary – known as “Annie” and “Henry” had seven children – a daughter first, followed by six sons (“Clemmie”, “Zade”, Roy, Lloyd, Rollo, Bert, and Clarence).  The family was very involved with the Salvation Army.  I just didn’t realize how involved Annie was until I ran across an article from the Coshocton Tribune dated December 14, 1941 (nine days after Annie passed away).

In the “Fife and Drum” column written by Al Cline, he stated, “Back a quarter century ago, at the Christmas times even before the first World war, you might have seen a tiny, birdlike woman, her face rosy with cold, standing on one of Coshocton’s snow-swept street corners, ringing a Salvation Army bell.”  He went on to state that before many people knew what the Salvation Army was is when she joined as one of its first members. She was called “Mother” Amore, and as Cline reported, “very few people knew her first name was Mary. And there is no record how many derelicts she took into her little house, gave a bed and breakfast and sent on their way, because the true spirit of Christmas was with Mother Amore the year round.”

There were many Sundays she walked from her home in Roscoe to the Salvation Army home so she wouldn’t miss a service. My great-grandmother (her son Lloyd was my grandfather) saw the new citadel finished in 1929 when she was in her 70s. Unfortunately that was about the time she fell and was hurt pretty bad.  The columnist reported that for more than ten years after her fall, Mother Amore was “an uncomplaining invalid, tied to her bed and crutch.”  Salvation Army Captain Douglas Bethune told Al Cline that he always had a strange feeling in her house; one that felt as if she was comforting him instead of the other way around when he came to call on her weekly after her fall.

Cline summed up his story by writing, “I guess this is a story of faith. Mother Amore had faith, like an imperishable little . . . flame, burning inside her and shining thru her eyes. It took faith and vision to help build the snug Salvation Army citadel, and it took faith to lie calmly in bed, at 86, and wait for the quiet touch of death.”

As I read that article, tears sprung from my eyes.  No, I didn’t know my great-grandmother in the traditional sense (I also did not know my grandfather as he died six years before I was born).  I didn’t even really know her through memories of others.  The only thing my dad has said is that she was in bed all the time.  He was an adult by the time she died – so perhaps I can find out more about this woman from him.

However, I did learn a lot about this woman, just from this article.  It told me that she didn’t complain about any hardship that she encountered.  Whether she learned this at a young age from losing her father and then her brother and being “farmed out” from her mother, I don’t know.  I have a sense that she seemed to always have a sense of purpose – helping people, nurturing them, giving hope to others, and bringing the word of God into the lives of those who didn’t know Him. 

I have three pictures of Annie – the picture above is one that my cousin, Sharon Amore Brittigan, uploaded to Ancestry.  The picture below is one that my family has also shared with me of Henry and Annie and their children.  One other photo I have shows the couple surrounded by loving family members on the occasion of the first Amore reunion held at their home.

Annie died on December 5, 1941 seven years after losing her husband, Henry. Her funeral was held in the Salvation Army citadel and she was buried in Roscoe Cemetery.

R.I.P. Great-grandmother (“Mother”) Amore.

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New Discovery

As I was checking out all the updated census records on Family Search yesterday, I made a new discovery – my paternal great-grandmother had a half-sister I hadn’t found before!  My 2nd great-grandmother, Louisa Bookless, married William Washington Werts in Coshocton County, Ohio on August 24, 1852.  Their first child, George Wesley Werts, was born on January 27, 1853, five months after they were married.  My great-grandmother, Mary Angelina Werts, was born on February 16, 1855.  When Great-Grandmother Annie was three years old her father passed away.  Louisa than married neighbor, John Simon (or Simons depending on the document), April 28, 1861.  All of that I had discovered through the census records or information passed down through the family.

Yesterday, I was looking at the Ohio Death records on Family Search and came across a name – Sarah Ellen Jenning (or Jennings depending on the document), whose parents were John Simon and Louisa Bookless.  So I dug further into the census records.  There she was in the 1870 US Census living in Lafayette Twp, West Lafayette, Coshocton County, Ohio.  They were enumerated as the 105th dwelling and 88th family visited and are listed as John Simins, Louisa, and Sarah E.  When I went to check the 1880 Census, Sarah was no longer in the household.  But I knew she was alive because the death certificate said she died in 1936 – so where was she?  I thought maybe she was living close to the Jennings family since she had eventually married Alexander Jennings.  Not exactly close – she and Alexander were already married.  Sarah listed her age as 16 and the couple had a one year old daughter, Lucy.  I wonder how John and Louisa felt about their daughter marrying a man who was 28 years old at such a young age?  Apparently the marriage lasted, for they went on to have 12 children – 7 who were living at the time of the 1920 Census.

So I went back and re-read the news clipping I had of the first Amore-Werts reunion in 1924.  The lists of guests included: “Alex Jennings and family, Mr. and Mrs. John Jennings and family, Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Jennings and family.” 

I found the death certificate for Alexander – he died two years after Sarah.  Their son, Sheldon Leroy Jennings, died in 1916.  His was the only other death certificate I found so I think the other children died prior to 1908 or died outside of the state of Ohio. 

Sarah wasn’t listed as a “sister” on Great-Grandmother Annie’s obituary because Annie died 5 years after Sarah. 

So I think I need to look at the reunion attendees again and see if I can figure out how the other guests might be related – just in case!

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