Questions, Mysteries and Dead Ends... 

These are things that have us just plain stumped when it comes to finding any more information.  I know the 1800s was not exactly the "information age" but somewhere, someone knows the answers to at least some of these questions.  If you have anything at all (even if it seems like a tenuous lead at best), please let me know.  It may be that missing piece of the puzzle that has eluded us.  You can email me at the email address below.

Who was James L. Taylor?

The history:
My grandfather Willis Henry Fassett and his sister Loretta B. Fassett were adopted by Charles Safford Fassett in 1879 after the death of their birth father James L. Taylor.  Loretta was 2 years old and Willis had just been born.  Our Great Grandmother Lillian Loretta Silsbee Taylor bundled up the kids and moved to a new location on the Rio Grand Railroad where all that existed was a water tower.  Here she ran a small store and eating place for the railroad crews.  This location was called Henry but within a couple of year the town of Monte Vista, Colorado began just to the West.  By 1884 she had married Charles and they built a nice new store in downtown Monte Vista called the L. L. Fassett store.  The building is still there though the store was closed down may years ago.  Charles Safford Fassett adopted my grandfather and his sister and they took his name (which has caused a bit of confusion in a lot of Fassett family genealogies).  Our branch is really Taylors and Silsbees by blood as Lillian Loretta Fassett was really Lillian Loretta Silsbee Taylor Fassett.  She and Charles had no children of their own and as far as anyone knows Charles had none of his own before marrying Lillian (though if he did, we would sure love to know...  ;- )  Our branch of the Fassett family was born in Monte Vista for at least two generations and we are still represented there by my cousin William (Billy) Lee Fassett and his family.

The situation:
We have small bits of information about James L. Taylor but it seems he was not discussed by the family much.  Some of us (on my side of the family) didn't even know our grandfather was adopted until my brother John found the census records a few years back.  When "confronted" with this evidence, my mother said, "oh, everyone knows that--you mean you all didn't?"  (Arrrrrgh!)   Why, no mother, we didn't--we did just spent (at least) 50 years thinking we were blood relatives of the Fassett clan.  As much as we appreciate Charles' taking in our waif of a grandfather and raising him as his son, we would like to know about Willis' birth father (especially now that this genealogy stuff has become interesting in our "old age..."  ;- )
What we do (or think we do) know about James L. Taylor:
According to my brother John Charles Fassett who "blew the lid" off the "adoption scandal,"  ( ;- )  James was killed in a railroad accident in Kokomo, Colorado some time in 1878 or 1879 (I think this information comes from a news article).  The census records show James existed in 1880 (in Kansas) but was gone by 1890.  We also have Loretta (Fassett) Taylor's birth certificate showing her father as James L. Taylor and the location of her birth is listed as, "eight miles west of Kokomo, Colorado."  Willis is shown as being born here as well.  In doing research I believe it was actually the little valley where the Wolf River runs a few miles west of Kokomo (unless they were hanging off an awfully steep mountainside).  Somehow, Lillian came to be either in the employ of the railroad or at least partially helped by the railroad as she was soon in the San Luis Valley running a store and (at least) feeding the railroad crews and possibly running a boarding house for them.  Both James and Lillian are listed as being school teachers from Kansas and there is strong evidence James was born in Kansas.  Supposedly James is buried in the Kokomo Cemetery but since Kokomo has been a ghost town for an awful long time and there is very little left of it I am not sure if any evidence of his grave remains.  I know that Kokomo is a popular ghost town hiking destination and if anyone happens to get there, we would appreciate it if you could poke around the cemetery and see if there is any evidence of James' grave.  I'd do it but I are a bit too old and out of shape for such pursuits--I might end up as an addition to the "local ghost lore" of the place if I tried to hike in there myself...  ;- )

What we would like to know:
Anything pertaining to James L. Taylor including family, history, etc.

Who was James Allen McClelland?

The history:
This one is a bit sensitive.  If you are a descendent of James please know that these things happened a long time ago and are not a reflection of current opinions...  ;- )  James was my grandfather on my mother's side.  My grandmother Verna Murea Clark McClelland (Marie) was married to him but (as the prevailing wisdom in our family goes) she left him after repeated miscarriages due to the fact that he was a violent man and like many men of his generation saw nothing wrong with beating one's wife if they displeased you.  When she became pregnant with my mother, she decided she had had enough and "deserted" him--the official term (for that era) when a woman left her husband.  As one can imagine, my grandmother did not "wax nostalgic" concerning her former husband.  In fact, she would barely acknowledge that he ever existed at all.  We do know that she was helped by his family when she returned back to Toledo (we have letters and what little my mother overheard) to prove that.  My grandmother also talked fondly about James' brother and sister, as well as his parents.  Unfortunately, by the time my mother was old enough to really remember details, life had moved on, my grandmother was being taken care of by her extended family and there was very little mention of her father's family at all.  My grandmother refused to tell my mother much of anything about her father so she did not push the issue (nor did she seem to really have an interest in him since she was born after my grandmother left him).    Since my grandmother never remarried, my siblings and I did not have a maternal grandfather.

The situation:
Unfortunately for my generation, we know more about great, great, great, great grandfathers than we do about our grandfather.  There is a pretty big gap in the genealogy record here.  Regardless of the circumstances or character of the man, we would still like to know who he was and especially who his ancestors were.
What we do (or think we do) know about James Allen McClelland:
According to my mother, (per her mother) her father was an excellent (and well respected) chef.  That is how my grandmother met him--she was a waitress in a restaurant he was the chef at.  They met in the Toledo area but some time after that they moved to the state of Washington.  This is where my grandmother left him and where the divorce officially took place.  He filed charges of abandonment against her and she did not show up in court (being already back in Toledo).  The divorce was granted to James by default.  We have copies of the court documents as they were sent to my grandmother back in Toledo (see the "Documents" section).  There is also a notice of James' death in Washington some time in the 1940s (I need to look it up for the exact date) as well as information that states that he is buried there.  I assume this means he never left Washington after the divorce.  My mother is pretty sure he had a sister named Ethel McClelland (not sure if that is where she got her name--her mother never said).  My mother is also sure he had a brother named John McClelland who became a prominent businessman in Los Angeles, California.  The Los Angeles link she is pretty sure of as she insists he continued to write to my grandmother long after the divorce (unfortunately, I have found no letters from either him or Ethel, who my mother also insists wrote to my grandmother).  My mother cannot recall the names of James' parents though she is sure she heard them mentioned.  James and my mother's uncle (by marriage) knew each other and Ernest "Ernie" H. Frye (the husband of Fannie Irene Clark--my grandmother's sister) signed their marriage license as a witness--the other witness was the minister's wife (obviously not a big affair...  ;- )  That's pretty much the scope of all that we know about James.

What we would like to know:
Anything pertaining to James Allen McClelland including family, history, etc.  Where was he born?  Did he remarry?  Did he have any more children?  Did my mother have half brothers or sisters she never knew about?  Are there any other descendents besides us?

More information about Abner Mason Clark.

The history:
Abner was my mother's grandfather.  He went by Mason.  He Married Mathilda Ann Austin ( her name is spelled Matilda on most legal documents I have but she went by Mathilda).  Abner (Mason) died a little over a month after my mother was born so she obviously has no memory of him.  We do have a picture of him holding her so he did get to see his grandchild by his daughter Verna Murea Clark McClelland (Marie)--even if it was only for a few short weeks. Abner and Mathilda had at least eight children that we know of (most of them older than my grandmother).  Everything my mother knows about him came from family members and especially from Mathilda (her grandmother) who lived with them until she passed away just shy of her 90th birthday.  My mother insists that Mathilda always said that Abner did not fight in the Civil War because he was too young.  She received a military pension as his widow and always stated that it was from Abner's participation in the Spanish American War.  My mother tells stories about how that little pension helped them all through the Great Depression.  I have documents that show Abner did in fact fight in the Union Army as we have Abner's Military Discharge from the 111 Regiment, and Company D 183rd Infantry Ohio Infantry Volunteers, Army of the Republic showing that he served 2 years of his 3 year enlistment.  He was honorably discharged at the end of the war at the age of 18 (meaning he enrolled at 16)--see the "Documents" section for his military papers.  I know he received a pension from the Civil War and do not think he had one from the Spanish American War as he would have been 51 years old which was getting "up there" in the 1800s.  I am sure his Civil War pension is the only one that Mathilda received as I have found no other evidence for any other pensions besides the pension papers he did have, titled, "Act of May 11, 1912 - Amended by Act March 4, 1913" which was an amendment for Civil War pensions.  His occupation on various documents throughout his life states that he was a farmer and he spent his entire life in the Wood and Lucas Counties, Ohio area--mostly in Haskins.  He was born in Haskins, Ohio in 1847 and died in Toledo on 12/21/1924.

What we would like to know:
Anything more on Abner Mason Clark--especially his family and ancestry.  My mother believes he had siblings but I can find no evidence of them.  She also cannot remember his parent's names.  There is a fairly good sized extended family descending from Abner and Mathilda and most of their children were older than my grandmother--perhaps one of their descendants has more information.