The Long Lost Branch

So this is a continuation of sorts of my research into Amos Smith and his wife, Mary Frazier. And it’s more of a road map of how I got from point A to B. Based on his biography in The History of Waukesha, Wisconsin I knew that Mary was from Livingston County, NY, which is also where they were married. The bio stated that Amos was born in Oswego* County.[1] His land patent for land in Waukesha County also identified him as a resident of Livingston County so I figured they lived there after they were married.[2]

I went looking in Livingston County to see what I could find. I don’t know if this is a New York thing or a North Eastern USA thing, but it seems as if many of the towns and counties have a historian on staff. And lucky for me, the Livingston County historian’s website has a lot of information. I think I clicked on just about every link to see what was there. But the one that was the turning point was for land records. This link took me to New York Land Records 1630-1975, a searchable database with images on Family Search. I decided to browse the images myself and looked for an Amos Smith in Livingston County.  In 1844, he bought/sold land to John Frazer Sr. in the Town of York.[3] Could John be a relation to Mary? Maybe a brother or even her father?

I went back to the town historian’s website and used their searchable database to look for this John Frazer Sr. There was death information for a John Fraser Sen. who died 24 Oct 1847 in York. He was 83 years old. In the notes, it states his place of birth was Inverness, Scotland and that he’d settled in York in 1804. He was buried in a cemterey bearing the same name as his birth city, Inverness.[4] There weren’t any results for John Fraser Sr. in the newspapers so I went to Find a Grave.

John Fraser Sr.’s grave at the Inverness Cemetery in York, New York is photographed on Find A Grave. Linked to his listing are his wife, Mary McDonald Fraser and four children: Simon J. Fraser, Alexander Fraser, Janet Fraser Blair and Thomas Alexander Fraser. No Mary Fraser and also no John Fraser Jr. So I clicked on each of the childrens’ graves to see what I could learn. Alexander, Janet and Thomas all had a small paragraph referencing “the memoir of John Fraser Sr.” A memoir?? How could I get my hands on this thing? I googled, but nothing came up.

From Janet’s grave:[5]

Per the Memoir of John Fraser, Senior:
1837, November 23rd, married Jannette the oldest oldest daughter to James Blair, an industrious, moved to Mumford, Monroe County, N.Y. where they still live and carry on the business of machine making extensively to advantage (thrashing machines). They have a family of 4 girls and 1 son, James, at this time 1853.

A few things looked familiar here: the surname Blair and the “thrashing machines.” Sounds a little like someone else I’ve recently learned about.

But it was Thomas’ that proved most helpful:[6]

Per the Memoir of John Fraser, Senior:
1839, September 27th married Thomas Fraser, the youngest son to Anna Fraser from Scotland. About the 3rd of October they emigrated to Illinois, Kane county, about forty miles from Chicago, where he purchased two hundred acres of land on which he lives till this day March 1853.
Contributor: xxxxxxxx

His entry had a contributer identifier (someone who didn’t manage the listing submitted the information) . So I wrote a message to this contributer, explaining who I am, that I’m researching Mary Fraser who married Amos Smith who bought or sold land to John Fraser Sr, and where can I find this memoir? And then I crossed my fingers that it was someone who checked their (likely spam) email and hit send.

All the genealogy stars aligned because later that day I received my reply:

So . . the long lost branch of Mary (Fraser) Smith has been found!
She IS mentioned in the memoir as the youngest daughter of John Fraser Sr (22146178) and Mary MacDonald Fraser (73506008). I received a copy of the “memoirs” from a Fraser relative, but have been unable to track down “who” had the original. I have lots of other items as well, so would love to connect.

!!!!!

*After further research, I now think that Amos Smith was actually born in Oneida County, NY.

[1]: The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Western Historical Company, Chicago 1880. Entry for Amos Smith, page 944. Linkstothepast.com [online database].

[2]: Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records (http://glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch : accessed [9 Jun 2020]), Amos Smith (Waukesha, WI), certificate no 7852.

[3]: United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975, [database with images, familysearch.org] Livingston County>Grantee Index 1821-1921 S-Z>image 75 of 339; multiple county courthouses, New York.

[4]: County Historian, Livingston County New York, County Historian Records Index, searchable index (http://depot.livingstoncounty.us/HISTORIAN/HISTORIAN2.pgm) death information for John Fraser Sen.

[5]: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 September 2020), memorial page for Janet Fraser Blair (1808–26 Jan 1894), Find a Grave Memorial no. 15711922, citing Mumford Rural Cemetery, Mumford, Monroe County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Donna Ruhland Bonning (contributor 46786861) .

[6]: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 September 2020), memorial page for Thomas Alexander Fraser Sr. (12 Aug 1812–30 Nov 1882), Find a Grave Memorial no. 44787419, citing Memorial Washington Reformed Presbyterian Cemetery, Elgin, Kane County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Suze (contributor 47016239) .