Tuning up the Olds       

Above: Auto-maker Ransom Olds 

(Author's note: This blog is a genealogical exercise to see if we can meet the proof standards for a branch of the Olds family. It won't be everybody's cup of tea. It's also just for fun. Enjoy.)

As always, unapologetically unedited.

One of the better parts of genealogy is discovering someone’s unexpected connection to an unusual, often "cool," piece of American history. This happened to me this week when my ninety-plus-year-old father asked for my help. He wanted to help his VA caregiver, Rebecca, learn more about her family's past.

I rarely meet people who know little about their grandparents or even a scoshe about their ancestry. However, Rebecca's case was unique; she had very little information to start with, and I figured I’d have my work cut out for me.

Oddly enough, that hasn't been the case. While Rebecca couldn't fill in many blanks herself, previously submitted family trees on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org provided crucial signposts and clues. These have allowed me to populate most of her pedigree chart, letting me begin the verification process and do a little genealogical housecleaning along the way.

One of those family trees led me to a well-known family name among her father’s branches. And that family name is Olds.

You know—like the car you might have driven back in, say, 1959?     

Yes, Rebecca appears to descend from that rather industrious and famous family that brought the world a line of cars for nearly a century. I know I need to qualify this, of course. In the simplest of terms, one of Rebecca's paternal great-great-grandmothers was Annette Olds Greene. Annette was a cousin to automaker Ransom Eli Olds, making Rebecca one and the same—a distant cousin, too! Say what you want, but I thought that was pretty cool.

                       

Now, to figure out just how...

To present what I believe is Rebecca’s relationship to the car-maker somewhat cohesively, I’ve relied on original sources and published genealogies. I've started here with the applicable pages from Edson Olds' The Olds Family in England and America... This work helps trace both lines down from the family’s assumed progenitor, "William Old," to both Ransom and, further, to Rebecca's likely ancestor, Thomas Olds, Jr. all in one volume. 

Getting to Ransom was, of course, fairly easy, as he is well documented. Getting from their common ancestor down to Rebecca has proven more challenging in terms of verification—but it has absolutely not proven to be impossible.  

As you can guess, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on Ransom beyond including "his" applicable pages from the book, and including him along with Rebecca in a pedigree chart. Or, in other words, to explain where they both descend from their common ancestor, "William Old."                 

  Following on down to Ransom, the Car Guy here:

                                

So I think "all of this" is good insofar as far as Ransom goes. And really, getting from Rebecca to Annette Olds Green's father, and then to Annette's father, Samuel Olds, hasn't been harder either.  Likewise, it's been easy getting from their common ancestor William Old to the reputed father of Samuel Olds, Thomas Olds, born 1787, shown here in the book by Edson Olds:

The problem here is that this is where the published Olds genealogy stops. The crux of the genealogical verifications that would connect Rebecca to Ransom and to the whole of her Olds ancestry lies here: In connecting Thomas to Samuel and then on down to Annette, and in verifying that we have the correct Thomas Olds, reputedly born January 16, 1787.

To do so, I've needed to rely on other sources. However, with no immediately published or contemporary sources available, I went back to Thomas Olds, shown in the image above, in hopes of retracing his steps and the paper trail down to Samuel and beyond to Rebecca. The first thing I found was his headstone:

        

       Above:  Thomas Olds, Jr. Headstone (d. 1849): The inscription lists his age as "63y 2m 22d," which conflicts with the published birth year. However, its placement in Williams County, Ohio, where later records place his son Samuel, became a key geographical clue. 

     

Thomas's headstone clearly indicates his date of death as October 9, 1849. We know he is buried in Williams County, Ohio, and that the inscription on the stone reads that he was aged " 63y 2m 22d." This, if carried back from his date of death, gives us his birthdate of 17 July 1786. This date is more or less in keeping with the record of Thomas in the published Olds genealogy. Going back to the original birth record for Thomas Olds, Jr., son of Thomas Olds Sr, and Mehitable Olds tells us his date of birth was January 16, 1787.

Do we have the right Thomas, Jr? 

Keeping in mind that people often did not know their birthdates, and after they had passed away, the people around them may have only guessed at what they thought they heard or remembered. Headstones are notoriously inaccurate. And as we have "birthdates" that vary in month and year but still occur on the 16th or 17th, and in months that begin with"J," and given that the account of Thomas, Jr. is consistent with all other submitted family trees, it is pretty likely that we do. What is most likely is that the headstone was simply carved incorrectly. Hey, it happens.

Without something further, this would not be acceptable proof for a lineage society. Nevertheless, the anecdotal evidence is strong. Moving on from Thomas, let's see how he connects to his son, Samuel Olds, who is missing from the published Old accounts.

It was about then that I got lucky. 

Seemingly out of nowhere, another published account of the family showed up in John Woolf Jordan's (1913) Genealogical and Personal History of the Alleghany Valley...where lo and behold another account of Thomas, Jr. and most notably one that connects him not only to his father Thomas, his mother Mehitable Pike (both who are alos mentionedin the Olds genealogy above), and further, Thomas, Jr.'s wife, Margaret Kennedy, and even more - also to his son, (wait for it) named Samuel. 

In addition to this, the passage clearly (and most importantly) states that he (Thomas, Jr.) was "a farmer, died in Williams County, Ohio..."         

Above: Genealogical and Personal History of the Alleghany Valley (1913): This secondary source provides the critical link, naming Thomas Olds, Jr., and his wife Margaret Kennedy, and confirming he had a son named Samuel. Crucially, it notes Thomas "died in Williams County, Ohio," aligning with the headstone location.

                         

YES! We have a corroborating account that, while not exact to the Olds Genealogy, or even as it relates to the conundrum of Thomas Jr.'s date of birth or age on his headstone, it certainly complements that account, and carries this branch of the family line forward to Samuel, where we need it to go. I was able to find corroborating evidence, too: this history names two other sons of Thomas Jr., brothers to Samuel, who are mentioned elsewhere. Notably, a marriage record for Samuel's brother, "Justice Olds" (his third), in which he names his parents as "Thomas Olds and Margaret Kennedy." 

This additional account, combined with the vital record for Samuel's brother, Justice Olds, helps solidify that the information was re-told through a family member, likely Harvey Olds, who is attested to have been "the only one living at the time the information was gathered." This may or may not be true, as compiling Genealogical and Personal History of the Alleghany Valley... no doubt took decades and generations of correspondence that grew outdated as it grew to be completed. Nevertheless, it does augment and match up to the lineage as it is being told in both the published works.

Getting a "link" from Thomas, Jr. and Margaret Kennedy to their son Samuel is still problematic, but this is eased by the introduction of an 1837 Williams County, Ohio deed where Thomas and Margaret sell land to Samuel. The deed does not specifically state that they are selling it to their son; however, Margaret Olds signed away her dower's rights and was "interviewed separately" to make sure that she was doing so of her own free will. This allowed for a "clear title" for later property transfers. The land was also sold at a discounted rate, implying that it was a land transfer between family members. Given the account in Genealogical and Personal History of the Alleghany Valley..., and given that the same Justice Olds (Samuel's brother in that same account) identifies his parents as Thomas and Margaret, and given this land transfer deed between Thomas, Margaret, and Samuel, I am confident that the identity of Thomas Jr and Margaret as being his parents.

Above: 1837 Land Sale Deed: This deed shows Thomas Olds and Margaret Olds transferring property to Samuel Olds in Williams County, Ohio. The discounted sale price and Margaret's requirement to sign away her dower rights strongly suggest this was a land transfer between family members.

I think for the purposes of this blog post, I will stop here in terms of verifications on these older lines. I'm going to move right on into the life of Thomas Jr's son, Samuel Olds, and his wife, Mary (Thayer) Olds, and how they "arrive" at Rebecca's great-great-grandmother, Annette Olds Greene. Below is an image of Samuel and his wife Mary's marriage certificate. Note that it has been witnessed by "James Kennedy," who, if submitted family trees can be verified, was Samuel's maternal grandfather.   

Again, on to Annette.          

Above: Samuel Olds & Mary Thayer Marriage Certificate (1839): This document formalizes the next generation. Note the witness: James Kennedy, who, given that Samuel's mother was Margaret Kennedy, is strongly indicated to be Samuel's maternal grandfather.

 I think the best way to do this is with Annette's obituary and death certificate.               

       

Above: Annette Olds Greene Death Certificate: This vital record officially names her parents as Samuel Olds and Mary Thayer, securely linking Rebecca's great-great-grandmother to the line traced back to the common Olds ancestor.

 And then to that of Annette's daughter, Lillie Belle (Greene) Moore:

                             

   

I think this does it - given the provisional pedigree on down to Rebecca, I think we've safely established Rebecca's Olds family lines and her relationship to the car manufacturer. In terms of a lineage society application, I believe that we can meet the genealogical proof standards, though most society historians would send us back for more. 

We have certainly updated the available information and improved the modern design and outlook for this family line. LOL.

   

                  

Indeed, I think it's safe to say I'd like to say that we have "tuned up the Olds." 

I hope it will be of value to Rebecca for years to come.

☮