William Dow

William Dow, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

William Dow 
photo by Brian Zoldak, used with permission

William DOW, husband of my paternal great aunt married her husband William DOW about 1908. Jessie was born in Westerly, RI but returned to Scotland to go "into domestic service".

Her parents and siblings returned as well and I think they may have had property owned there (or inherited) and decided to go back. I know where they lived but I don't know why they went back to Scotland.

Eventually (after being enumerated in the 1901 Scotland census), everyone returned to America. When Jessie returned to the US she went to her brother Alexander who lived in New York. She married William there.

Jessie and William lived in New York, Philadelphia and Georgia while raising three children. In 1940, she and William returned to Westerly to live on Bowling Lane near my family. By then, my grandmother Annie, Jessie sister, had died and grandfather Tom died soon after. Jessie's boys were grown up but their daughter Bertha (aka "cousin Freckles") was only 17. William worked in the dye business and was a Naturalized citizen. As you can see they belonged to Masonic organizations.

William and Jessie both completed 8th grade and Bertha was in high school in 1940. Jessie died, at 51, the October following the 1940 census but her husband lived until 1961. I have no memory of him being at any family gathering.

Over the years, family members have shared information with me about my Aiken family. The photos are great. 

Tombstone Tuesday: Jessie Taylor Aiken

Photo by Brian Zoldak, used with permission

Jessie Taylor Aiken

Jessie was my paternal grandmother, Annie (Aiken) Broadfoot's sister and my great aunt. I had no idea where she was buried until I found out from family that she was also buried in River Bend Cemetery.

My friend, Brian Zoldak, had no trouble locating the plot. It was very close to where my paternal grandparents are buried.

Jessie was named for Jessie Taylor [1808-1879], wife of Alexander Aiken and for her father,  David Aiken's sister, Jessie Taylor Aiken [b. 1864]. Naming conventions like this can really help one be sure that you are researching the right women in a family.

I think my grandmother and this sister were quite close since for a time, they both lived on the same street (Bowling Lane in Bradford).  Jessie's daughter, Bertha, who my dad called "Cousin Freckles", died in 2011.  The late Virgil Veal, whose wife Ann is a Aiken descendant, gave me a lot of help sorting out my Aiken family. With Virgil and Ann, I wouldn't know where my great grandparents are buried. I would never have found them as they are buried in Georgia. They retired there and loved it.