Eliza, George, Alzina, William

My favorite Michigan genealogy website, seekingmichigan.org, has just added more death certificate images - woohoo! I immediately started searching for any ancestors who may have died between 1921 and 1947 hoping to strike genealogy gold. And strike I did, in the form of my great-great-great grandmother Eliza Rich.

To break it down:

Eliza was the mother of Ida, my great-great-grandmother

Ida was the mother of Viola, my great-grandmother

Viola was the mother of Doris, my grandmother

Doris was the mother of Janice, my mother.

Eliza has interested me for some time. Years ago, I saw a picture of her in a photo album that used to belong to my grandmother. After she passed, my mom kept the photo album. It was a blurry picture taken outdoors; Eliza was standing in profile, looking off into the distance. I always remember my mom saying that photo was the oldest picture in the whole album (but we didn't know when it was actually taken - Eliza looked older in the photo, so it could have been anywhere from 1900 to shortly before her death in 1921).

Eliza was born in Chatham, Ontario on April 12, 1834. Thanks to the death certificate, I have her parents' names now - George Wellman and Alzina Engle (or Ingle/Ingles).   I also have Eliza's late husband's name - James Rich.

Eliza died December 2, 1921 at the age of 87 years, 7 months and 20 days. She is buried in Gracelawn Cemetery in Flint, Michigan. Her primary cause of death was myocarditis, with a secondary cause of senility. 

At the time of her death, Eliza lived with her daughter Ida and Ida's husband John Wellman. Months ago I wrote a blog about Ida and her many marriages (and subsequent name changes). On Eliza's death certificate, it says that Eliza's father was George Wellman. Ida married John Wellman after a bunch of other marriages...who was John Wellman? Was he related to her through her grandfather George Wellman? If so, hopefully it wasn't too closely, haha! Definitely something I'll be looking into further.

I also learned that James Rich wasn't Eliza's first husband. Her first husband was William Orr; they were married in November of 1859. I don't know yet when William died or when Eliza married James, but I'm working on finding out.

I can't get this white background to go away! I give up. Next post will look normal.