Olive seems to be the most elusive of all the ancestors. Following yesterdays excursion to Kittanning, I revisited the documents that I had in my collection.
On the naturalization record of her second husband, Oswald Rohut, it states the place of her birth is the NS Pittsburgh. That would be the North Side of Pittsburgh. Up until 1907, the North Side was Allegheny City. It was a town unto it own. In that year ALLEGHENY CITY was forcibly annexed to the City of PITTSBURGH. From the reading it does not appear that this was a welcome merger in the City of Allegheny.
I have searched for both Robert Stephens and the family including Jacob Bowser/Bauser, his wife Mary and my ancestor Olive Bowser. In the 1900 and 1910 census it lists Olives parents and Olive as born in Pennsylvania. I can not find either of them in the 1880 census. I have tried to read the entire census report and still no luck. In 1880 Olive would have been five or six years old and Robert would have been twenty five.
An interesting note which was told to me on Thursday was that a lot of young women would marry the old Civil War Veterans in order to be eligible for their Civil War Pensions.
More to research…
The fun is always in the hunt!!! You will find what you seek!!! Hugs, mary
ReplyDeleteI have been following your search for Olive Bowser.... I'm wondering if there was a transcription error OR if the census taker may have miswritten the name. Also, maybe you know this already but if you don't, on Heritage Quest you can search a census by first name only for a particular year and include the whole state, which HQ will break down into counties or show the whole state. I don't know if that could be helpful information or not. HQ is usually available at no cost through public libraries. In the google search box type in Heritage Quest and the name of your public library to see if it's available.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a huge effort sometimes, isn't it? We think we're on the right track and then... nothing. I'm sure you'll eventually find her.
I have heard of Heritage Quest but never have used it. I also thought of some sort of error. Thinking about Browser, Bowser, Bauer, it is a good suggestion I think I will search for some other options.
ReplyDeleteI used the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh so I will check there.