Update

The family tree database has been updated and the links to the blog are working again.  A few obituaries have been transcribed and added to the database, but I’m going to add a new “page” to the blog featuring links to the original obituaries.  I’ll also add newspaper clippings and whatever other sources I have, all of which you can download.  At this point, I only plan on doing this for the first three generations, from Edward Aide and Anastasia Kent, and their siblings, to their grandchildren.  I fear if I go any further than that it might become a little confusing.

1895 Highland Township Plat Map

Here is part of an 1895 plat map I copied during a recent trip to the University of Wisconsin – Platteville archives department.

Pierce Aide’s land is along what it now County Road Q, just west of Highland, near the border of Grant County.  His father’s estate, Edward, is just to the west.  To the south, along what is now Irish Hallow Rd, is the farm is Pierce’s brother, James Aide.  To the east of Highland Town are Mary Aide and her husband, William Cody.

Update

I’m currently updating the family tree database linked to this blog, so it will likely be down for at least the next week.  Also, watch for updates to both the Edward Aide and Pierce Aide entries.

Much more coming soon.

Thanks for reading!

Pierce, son of Edward Aide and Anastatia Kent

"Pierce Aide and Family" is inscribed on this window at St. Philip Church in Highland, WI

Pierce Aide was Edward and Anna’s oldest child.  According to his obituary, he was born 15 August 1849, however, he does not appear on the 1850 Federal Census of Highland with his parents.  The Census, taken on 5 Sept 1850, should list any member living in a household as of June 1850, regardless of age, so it’s likely that Pierce wasn’t actually born until later in the year.  As far as a search of civil records in Wisconsin, counties were not required to register birth records with the state until October of 1907, and a search of the Wisconsin Genealogy Index reveals no records of Pierce’s birth.  In a situation like this, normally I would turn to baptismal records, but, unfortunately, St. Philip Church didn’t begin keeping baptismal records until 1865.  According to the 1900 Federal Census, which indicates both the year and month of birth reported by the individual, Pierce was born in May of 1852, but I sort of doubt this was his actual birth year.  It’s possible that there is a copy of Pierce’s birth record obtainable from the Iowa County Registrar of Deeds, but it’s usually about $20 to have counties search for birth, marriage and death records, and although it would be nice to have an exact date of birth for Pierce, I feel comfortable enough just estimating his year of birth to be about 1850.

Pierce’s first “official” appearance by name in the record books is in the 1860 Federal Census of Highland, where he his listed as 10-year-old Peter Aide.  His parents are 40-year-old Ed and 35-year-old Ante (note: in Ireland Ante is usually a shortened form of Anastatia), and his siblings appear as Mary, Jami, and Catharine.  Interestingly enough, the household listed on the census just prior to the household of Ed Aide was the home of a James Aide, which would indicate that they were neighbors at the time of the census.  Aged 38 and born in Ireland, James was living with his wife, Mary, a man named James McCormick, and his 1-year-old son, Pierce.  Further research reveals that this is the household of James Aide and wife, Mary McCormick, who by the 1870 Census have moved to Mineral Point, WI.  It’s interesting to speculate that this might be the James Aide referred to in the letter by Julia [Aide] Egan as Edward’s brother who lived in Mineral Point.  Such supposition, however, will be reviewed in more depth in a future writing.  It’s also important to note that there were actually two James Aides, both born in Ireland and living in Highland, WI on the 1860 census.  But, again, I’ll revisit all the Irish born Aide families living in and around Highland in a future post.

I know very little about Pierce, aside from what I’ve been able to glean from census data and his obituary.  He farmed for many years until the death of his wife, Julia, in 1914.  In the 1920 Census of Highland, Pierce is living with the family of his son, Richard.  By 1923 he had been living with the family of his other son, Edward, in Troy, WI, which is a township between River Falls and the St. Croix river.  It is here in Troy where he died of what appears to have been a chronic heart condition that he’d been suffering from for some time.

After his death, Pierce was buried in Highland, WI.  When I was in Highland performing research I was not able to find a grave marker, but according to both his obituary and St. Philip Catholic Church records, Pierce was buried at St. Philip Cemetery.  I assume he was likely buried very near Julia [Egan] Aide, but there is really no way of knowing precisely where he was buried.  About 15 to 20 feet to the right of Julia’s grave there is a large, unmarked metal cross – I suspect that this may be where he was buried.  My theory is that at some point the grave marker was somehow destroyed and this large metal cross was set in its place by the church, but, again, I honestly don’t know.

Although there is no grave marker at the cemetery, there is a stained-glass window inside the old St. Philip Catholic Church which reads “Pierce Aide and Family” on it.  No one at the church was really able to give me a history of the church or knew why his name would appear on a stained-glass window, but I believe Pierce likely helped build the church in the years it was being erected.  The original Gothic structure of St. Philip, which was built between 1869 and 1880, was completely destroyed by fire in 1887.  The church now standing today was built between 1888 and 1899.  It’s likely that Pierce volunteered with the building of the second church, if not both churches.

Pierce married Julia Egan in Highland on 04 September of 1877, a record of which can be found in the Wisconsin Genealogical Index.  Julia was born in Highland about 1860 to Thomas Egan and Julia Salinger of Ireland and she died in Highland on 05 May 1914.  Unfortunately, I don’t have much biographical information on her at this time.  After I’ve obtained her obituary, perhaps I’ll be able to shed more light on her.

Pierce and Julia had ten children, all of whom were born in Highland, WI:

• Anne Aide, born 3 July 1978 and died 6 Jan 1942 in Madison, WI
• Edward Henry Aide, born 1 Jan 1880 and died in Troy, WI (near River Falls) 3 Dec 1928
• Thomas Stephen Aide, born 29 May 1881 and died in Highland 5 May 1838
• Julia Magdaline Aide, born 17 Jan 1883 and died in Hanover, IA 24 Dec 1933
• Mayme Agnes Aide, born 17 Dec 1884 and died near River Falls, WI 5 Sep 1934
• Dora Belle Aide, born 1 May 1887 and died in Mineral Point, WI 15 Dec 1917
• Laura Aide, born 2 Feb 1889 and died in Highland 7 Apr 1935
• Ella Marie Aide, born 17 Sep 1891 and died in Chicago, IL 9 Jan 1838
• Richard Francis Aide, born 17 Oct 1892 and died in Muscoda, WI 16 May 1954
• William Pierce Aide, born 3 Feb 1895 and died in Los Angeles, CA 02 Jan 1839

Graiguenamanagh Parish records through the LDS Family History Center

Yesterday I completed my review of the Graiguenamanagh parish records (film #0926114) at the Family History Center in Bloomington, MN.  My focus was on the surnames Kent and Aide (Eaide/Ade/Aid/Ead) and I found neither Kent nor Aide in any of the marriage records from 1818 to 1838, which was pretty disappointing.  However, I did come across a few Walls and quite a few Codys, all of which I will post at the end of this entry.  Maybe someone else will find them useful…  You might think that if the Aide family were from Graiguenamanagh, there would be at least be a few relatives still hanging around.  So I guess the search continues…

Baptismal records for the church parish of Graiguenamanagh through the LDS begin at 1867, well after the years I’d actually like to look at.  I thought I might find something in the marriage records, but I found absolutely nothing.  The National Library of Ireland has baptismal records for Graiguenamanagh, but these records begin at 1838, so now I wonder where I might be able to search for records or if there are even records available to search for.  Did Graiguenamanagh not begin a baptismal register until 1838?  Were the records destroyed?  Were the baptismal records kept at another parish? Graiguenamanagh was with the Roman Catholic diocese of Kildare and Leighlin – I guess my next step will be to contact them and see if they can give me a little history of the church parish of Graiguenamanagh and see if there is another church parish associated with Graiguenamanagh.  With any luck, they will have baptismal records that pre-date those of the National Library of Ireland.

A few notes regarding the Graiguenamanagh parish records:

• The film number is 0926114.  If any of the following names ring a bell in your family history, I would strongly urge you to check the film yourself and not use this blog entry as a source.
• According to the LDS film notes, “Baptisms, 1866-1868, marriages, 1908-1931 (gives some baptismal dates), baptisms, 1869-1881, marriages, 1818-1880.”  As far as baptismal records, I am only transcribing Cody and Wall baptisms from 1869-1876; Cody and Wall marriage records from 1819-Feb 1824.  For both baptisms and marriages, some of the information was extremely faded or illegible, so it is likely I missed a few entries or made mistakes in the transcription.  In transcriptions that were hard to read, I’ve placed “??.”  With regards to the marriage records, the years 1822 to 1823 were almost impossible for me to make out, so I did not even bother trying.
• Abtract includes the surnames Wall and Cody, only.  The abstracts of the baptismal records will read: baptism date, the individual baptized, father, mother and where they were from.  Marriage abstracts will read: marriage date, spouse to bride, witnesses, and where they were from.

Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin – Parish of Graiguenamanagh: Cody and Wall – baptisms 1869-1876

• ?? Jan 1869, Michael Cody, Father: Edmund, Mother: Annie Egan, Glenmore
• ?? Jan 1869, Catherine Cody, Father: Michael, Mother: Bridget Burchaell?, Ullard
• ?? Aug 1869, John Cody, Father: John, Mother: Anastatia Price, ?Stackley ?
• ?? Aug 1869, Michael Wall, Father: Edward, Mother: Anne Murphy, Graig
• 15 Jun 1870, John Cody, Father: John, Mother: Mary Ryan, Graig
• 25 Sep 1870, Margaret Cody, Father: Michael, Mother: Bridget Burchaell, Ullard
• 11 Nov 1870, Thomas Cody, Father: James, Mother: Mary Whalen, ?KnoickGoaly??
• 15 Oct 1871, Bridget Cody, Father: Michael, Mother: Bridget Burchell, Ullard
• 28 Sep 1871, Thomas Cody, Father: Patrick, Mother: Anastatia Price, Stockly
• 13 Sep 1872, James Cody, Father: Michael, Mother: Bridget Burchell, Ullard
• 03 Nov 1872, ?? Wall, Father: Edward, Mother: Anne Murphy, Graig
• 26 Nov 1872, Mary Cody, Father: James, Mother: Mary Whalen, ???
• 29 Dec 1873, Patrick Cody, Father: Patrick, Mother: Anastatia Price, Stockley
• 25 Apr 1874, Bridget Cody, Father: Michael, Mother: ??? Burchell, Ullard
• 08 Oct 1874, WM? Cody, Father: James, Mother: Mary Whalen, ?Killkoolly?
• 20 Aug 1876, Mary Bridget Wall, Father: Edward, Mother: Anne Baker?, Heph St?
• 06 Nov 1876, Mary Coady, Father: James, Mother: Margaret Whelan, Graig?

Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin – Parish of Graiguenamanagh: Cody and Wall – marriages 1819-1824

• 23 Jan 1919: John Redmond to Catherine Wall; wit: James Connors & Judith Blanchfield; Old Grange
• 22 Feb 1821: Michael Cody to Mary Cain; wit: Andrew Henefy? & Elenor Cody; Sallybog
• ?? Mar 1821: Thomas Henefey? to Mary Cody; wit: William Cain & Elenore Cody; Sallybog
• 24 Oct 1824: Thomas Cody to Elenor Walsh; wit: Michael Nolan & ?Meredeth? Walsh; Graig?
• 14 Jan 1824: Patrick Cody to Eleanor Niel; wit: James Murphy? & Mary Murphy; Ullard
• 20 Feb 1824: Thos Ford to Eleanor Cody; wit: none mentioned; Graig
• 24 Feb 1824: Thomas Cody to Catherine Wallace; wit: none mentioned; Coolather?

It does seem odd to me that I found no one with the surname Kent in the Graig RC registers.  I know that as late as 1850, according to Griffith’s Valuation there are Kents living in the Civil Parish of Graig.  Why would they not show up in the parish registers??  So far I have found Aide’s in the RC parishes of Thomastown, Slieverue and Glenmore, before and after the time Edward is said to have been born in Graig, but absolutely no one with the surname within the parish of Graig.  I think my next step will be to check the Thomastown registers, which is just east of Graig…

Aide/Eaid in Slieverue Parish

Remember in the last posting when I mentioned that I’d found a Peter Aide that had been born in the Catholic Parish of Slieverue?  According to that baptismal record, dated 10 April of 1787, his parents names were Edmund Aide and Agnes Kehow.  Well, today I was at the Minnesota Genealogical Society doing a little research and when I was reviewing inscriptions from the Rathpatrick cemetery (from Rathpatrick Graveyard, County Kilkenny Memorial Inscriptions No. 13, by Michael O’Sullivan), which would have been part of Slieverue Parish, I came across this inscription:

“Erected by Edmund Eaid’s sons in memory of their mother Agnus Eaid alias Kehoe who departed this life January 19th 1808, aged 48 years.  Also three of her children who died young.  Also the body of James Eaid drowned at sea February 19th 1813, aged 27 years.  Also Mathew Eaid who departed this life May 20th 1813, aged 22 years.  Also the body of Edmund who departed this life 22nd April 1814, aged 61 years.”

Of course, I don’t know how exactly this branch is related to the branch(es) that settled in Highland, WI.  I sort of assume that, because the surname Aide is so rare in Ireland and because it only seems to really show up on southeastern Kilkenny, we are all probably related.  Of course, when doing a genealogy project it’s a little self-defeating to assume anything.

Anyway, I just thought I’d pass it along because I thought it was interesting. 🙂

Where was Edward Aide born?

I just want to start off by, again, thanking Maureen for giving me a copy of Julia Aide’s letter. It has been far and away one of the most important documents I’ve come in contact with and it’s led to a plethora of new leads and information, especially with regard to possible locations of where Edward Aide was born, which is the focus of this entry.

Note that in the second paragraph, although it does not specifically state where in Kilkenny Edward is from, it does mention that “a near neighbor was Walter Kent who came from the same town in Ireland…” Walter Kent, who was Edward Aide’s brother-in-law, is also buried in St. Philip Cemetery at Highland. As luck would have it, the location of Walter’s birth in Ireland is on his grave stone, and though it is quite faded, it’s still visible. When I was in Highland, WI doing research, I took a photograph of the inscription and using Adobe Photoshop I “tweaked” the photo so that the letters might become slightly more readable. Though the letters were far from crystal clear, I was still able to distinguish a enough of them to figure out what was written.

The clearest, most obvious words are his name and date of death: “Walter Kent Died Oct. 14, 1874 Aged 51 yrs.” Even without “tweaking” these letters are clearly visible on his burial marker. What is written below is much less visible. There are three lines in particular, the middle line slightly more distinguishable as “Co. KIllkenny, Ireland.” The top and bottom lines are an entirely different story. The only words I could make out were “Parish,” “of,” and “Graig.” Other than that I could only make out other various letters. After a little “tweaking” I came to the conclusion that the top line inscription read “Born in St. llybog (or) St. Ulybog Parish of Graig.” The third line simply read, “may he rest in peace.” Of course, at the time, none of these words (other than “may he rest in peace”) meant a thing to me as I hadn’t, as of yet, closely looked at a map of KIlkenny or had any knowledge of the parish names. So I did a little research.

I looked through various maps and records and performed various internet searches, searching for where “Graig” might be. As it turns out, “Graig” was short for Graiguenamanagh, which is both a civil and a Roman Catholic parish in eastern Co. Kilkenny, along the Co. Carlow border. After researching Graiguenamanagh, I hit a break one day when I came across the Tithe Applotments (an explanation of Tithe Applotments can be found here ) for the civil parish of Graiguenamanagh. On the list, there is a James Kent, whom I believe to be Walter (and Anastatia [Kent] Aide) Kent’s father, who is listed as living in the Sallybog subdivision of the townland of Raheendonore in the civil parish of Graiguenamanagh.  James Kent is again found in Griffith’s Valuation Index of Co. Kilkenny, circa 1850, again in the townland of Raheendonore.  So it seems that my interpretation of Walter Kent’s place of birth of his grave stone as “St. llybog” or “St. Ullyboh” was perhaps close, but may not have been quite right. I went back and looked at the photo of Walter Kent’s grave marker to double check and I now believe that the inscription reads “Born in Sallybog, Parish of Graig.” So I have since came to the theoretical conclusion that Edward Aide was born somewhere in or around the civil parish of Graiguenamanagh. The only way to really find birth records in Ireland, especially before the 20th century, is to look through the baptismal records of church parish documents. …and so the search begins…

Using the online records search system run by the Irish Family History Foundation, which performs partial searches of transcribed church parish records in Co. Kilkenny and throughout Ireland, I began very basic, preliminary search for the surname “Aide.” What I found was very interesting. After searching in and around the civil parish of Graiguenamanagh, I found the surname Aide, with various spellings (e.g. Aide, Ade, Aid, Ead, Eade), in significant numbers in the Roman Catholic parishes of Slieverue and Glenmore, just southwest of the civil parish of Graiguenamanagh.

Before I continue I should very briefly explain a little of what I know about the parish systems in Ireland. It’s important to understand the distinction between civil parishes and church parishes, as the concept can be a little confusing at first glance. Civil parishes are the equivalent to cities and towns in the United States, each containing different districts. In Wisconsin, these districts would be called “townships,” whereas in Ireland, they would be referred to as “townlands.” As a comparison example, I’ll use my home town of River Falls, WI – some of the townships in River Falls, WI are: Troy, River Falls, Kinnikinnick, etc. Graiguenamanagh, as a civil parish, contains the following townlands: Ballyduff, Graiguenamanagh, Raheendonore, etc. For a full list of townlands and how they are distributed amongst the civil parishes of Co. KIlkenny, click here.

Here’s the same example described another way:

In Wisconsin the breakdown would be – Township, City or Town, County (e.g. Troy township of River Falls in St, Croix County)
In Kilkenny the breakdown would be – Townland, Civil Parish, County (e.g. Raheendonore townland of Graiguenamanagh civil parish in Co. Kilkenny)

Above I mentioned that according to the  Tithe Applotments, James Kent lived in the Sallybog subdivision of the townland of Raheendonore. Sallybog, in this case, would indicate an area of the Raheendonore townland.

Church parishes, though they quite often go by a similar name as a civil parish, are different. Each church parish may consist of several civil parishes or parts of civil parishes. Furthermore, whereas a group of Irish civil parishes will make up a county, a group of Irish church parishes will make up a diocese. For example, the church parish of Graiguenamanagh lies within the diocese of Leighlin. Within the Catholic Parish of Graiguenamanagh are the civil parishes of Graiguenamanagh, Ullard and Powerstown. So if you were to try to locate a baptismal or marriage record of a person you knew to be born or married in the townland of Ullard, you will likely begin your search by looking through the records of the church parish of Graiguenamanagh, depending on the year.

Webroots has an amazing set of maps that can further clarify the distinction between church and civil parishes, as well as help locate townlands. Another really good resource is Brian Mitchell’s, A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland.

It is also important to mention that the boundaries of church parishes are not static, that the boundaries of a church parish can change from one decade to another. This means that, although Edward Aide may come from the same “town” as Walter Kent, they may have been born or baptized in different church parishes depending on the year in which they were born. Provided that the James Kent listed on the Tithe Applotments of Graiguenamanagh is actually Walter Kents father, even if Edward Aide came from the same “town” they may have been baptized in different church parishes depending on their age and depending on where their respective fathers chose to have them baptized. Additionally, when Julia [Aide] Egan states in her letter than Edward Aide was “came from the same town” as Walter Kent, this could mean a couple different things. They may have simply lived in the same relative area in southern Kilkenny or, because Edward was adopted, he may have been born and baptized in one church parish, then lived out his childhood in another parish, church or civil, after his adoption. We simply do not know.

So far, the earliest record I’ve found of an Aide in Kilkenny has been that of Richard Aide.  Baptised in the church parish of Slieverue on 16 May 1770, his parents were Thomas Aide and Joane Walsh.  Another early Aide, Peter, was also baptised in the church parish of Slieverue on 10 April of 1787.  His parents were Edmund Aide and Agnes Kehow.  There are quite a few other records accessable, however, accessing each record requires a fee of about $6 (5 Irish Pounds), so it will take both time and money to access each record.  I have accessed a few more records than these – I’ll provide this information in a future posting…

Letter from Julia [Aide] Egan to her young niece, Mary Pugil

NOTE:  You can click on most of the names in this letter to visually see where individuals fit into the family tree!  🙂

Highland, Wis.

Nov. 16, 1931

Dear Mary Pugil,

I’ll try to answer your request.  Hope it is what you want.

My father Edward Aide, better known as Ned Aide, was born in Kilkenny, Ireland about the year 1808.  His mother and father died when he was eight years old.  He was adopted by an Englishman named Forsal, with whom he stayed until he was twenty years old.  There were two other brothers James and Tom who were also adopted by Englishmen.  He had a sister, Mary, that was Mrs. Nugent of Chicago.  She is dead now.

My father and James Aide came to New York from Ireland, where they worked at odd jobs.  A year later they came westward to the mines of Wisconsin.  Father (Ned) finally came to Highland, then known as Franklin, where he cleared land for farming.  He also mined during the winter months on his farm.  A near neighbor was Walter Kent who came from the same town in Ireland he did.  At Walter Kent’s farm, after about four years of farming, he met Anastasia Kent a sister of Walter’s.  Later they married.  They had six children.  Their names were Pierce, your grandfather, James, Ellen (who died at three years of scarlet fever), Kate, Mary, and Julia (myself).

Father’s brother, James, lived at Mineral Point.  His brother Tom married and moved to England.  He never came to the United States.

Mother had three sisters and two brothers.  Her sisters were Kate, Mary and Ellen.  Mary married a Duggan and never came west of New York.  Kate married twice her first name being Mrs. Whalen and her second Mrs. J. Lynch.  She lived in Madison.  Ellen married Mr. Tom Wall of Highland.

My brother, James, married Mary Ann Ford and they had ten children.  Three of the children are dead now.  The mother and several of the children live in Chicago.

My sister, Mary, married Bill Cody and they had fourteen children.  One of the fourteen is dead but the others are all living.

Sister Kate, married John Egan and she had five children. Two of them Bertha and Howard are in Chicago.  Howard is teaching in Loyola University.

Of course there are three in my family but one child died in infancy, making four in all.

My father was about seventy years old when he died and that’s about fifty-two years ago as I’m seventy now.  Your grandfather was about seventy-five when he died some years ago.  All my brothers and sisters are dead and I’m the only one left.  I was the youngest.  Your grandfather was the oldest, then Mary, James, Kate, myself, and Ellen.  I should have written Ellen before myself.

This was written by Anna Egan, for Mother doesn’t write much, as her eyesight bothers her.

Your Cousin,

Anna Egan

**Note on letter: This letter was generously provided to me by Maureen [Aide] Kraak, Great Granddaughter to Pierce Aide.  The letter was given to her several years ago by Mary Pugil’s sister, Virginia Pugil.

Edward Aide of Co. Kilkenny Ireland

Edward Aide's grave marker at St. Philip's Cemetery - Highland, WI

The patrilineal starting point of this project is Edward Aide, who was born in Co. Kilkenny Ireland and died in Highland, WI on 11 Oct 1883 (obituary).  His headstone reads that he was 70 years old at the time of his time of death, putting his birth year at 1813.  It is, however, unlikely that he was actually born in 1813.  According to Federal Census records of Highland, WI taken between 1850 and 1880 and a letter that was written by his youngest daughter, Julia [Aide] Egan (I will post a transcript of the letter following this post) in 1931, his year of birth can only be approximated as some time between 1805 and 1820.  In his excellent book, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, professional genealogist John Grenham writes that a “measure of skepticism is necessary with regard to to dates of births, marriages and deaths reported by family members before 1900.”  He goes on to say that this is especially true for births as ages given to the Census, especially rounded numbers such as 50, 60, 70, etc, should be “treated with particular caution.  The true birth date is almost always well before the one reported, sometimes by as much as 15 years,” explaining that up to the start of the 20th century “very few people actually knew their precise date of birth.”  So, for now, we can only speculate on Edwards date of birth.

Biographical details are scant, but if we refer to Julia’s letter, Edward likely emigrated to the United States some time between the late 1830’s and the early 40’s.  Her letter also mentions that Edward settled in the Highland area at a time when it was known as Franklin.  According to the book History of Highland, Wisconsin: In Celebration of 130 Years, it is inferred that what was known as Franklin become Highland about 1849.  If Edward spent a few years in New York working “odd jobs,” as Julia tells us, then we can estimate that Edward probably arrived in the Highland (aka Franklin) area some time between 1846 and 1849.

His wife was Anastatia Kent, also from Co. Kilkenny, who died in Highland some time in early April of 1905 (death certificate).  The earliest record I have found of either Edward or Anna is on the 1850 Federal Census (see lines 9 and 10) of Highland.  Appearing with no children under the surname “Ade,” Edward, age 37, and Anna, age 30, likely married some time between 1846 and 1849, but I have found no documentation of a marriage date, yet.  They married in Highland, according to the letter written by their daughter, Julia, after they met on the farm of Anna’s brother, Walter Kent, where Edward was working in the mid to late 1840’s.  According to both her grave marker and her death certificate, Anna’s year of birth was 1817.  Census records seem to indicate that she was born between 1820 and 1825, and according to the 1900 Census in particular, which shows the individual’s reported month and year of birth (previous to 1900 Fed Censuses only indicated reported age), she was born in May 1824.  Whatever the case, in the absence of a birth or baptismal record to give an exact date, I’m estimating her year of birth to be somewhere between 1815 and 1825.  In her final years, it appears she was living with her daughter, Julia [Aide] Egan.  The 1900 Census (line 21) of Highland describes her as being “supported” by her daughter.

Appearing on the same 1850 Federal Census, right after Edward and Anna (indicating that they were neighbors), are the families of Peter and Elen Ade, both age 35, and John and Margaret Ade, age 30 and 24, all from Ireland.  Also appearing on the census, though they are not neighbors, are Perry Ade, age 45, and James Aide, age 27, both from Ireland.  How or if they are related remains unclear at this point.  Further research shows that John and Margaret imigrated from Ireland by way of  Canada, but I’ll reserve further discussion of these other individuals for a separate blog entry.

According to the 1850 Federal Census, Edward’s occupation is listed as “miner.”  It appears that Edward “Aid” acquired a land grant in June of 1858, purchasing 80 acres of land on the border of Iowa and Grant counties, near Highland.  In the 1860 Federal Census (line 3), Edward’s occupation is listed as “farmer.”  Unfortunately, I have uncovered no solid, documented information about either Edward or Anastatia previous to the 1850 Census, so we really don’t know where their port of entry was when they each came to America and I have found nothing regarding Edward’s whereabouts in New York.

Edward and Anna’s children were:

• Pierce Aide, born in Highland, WI abt 1850 and died in Troy, near River Falls, WI 20 July 1924
• Mary Aide, born in Highland, WI 05 June 1853 and died  Highland, WI 12 Mar 1922
• James David Aide, born in Highland, WI Sept 1954 (death date unknown – last appears in the 1910 Fed Census in Platteville, WI)
• Katherine Aide, born in Highland, WI Sept 1856 (death date unknown – last appears in the 1910 Fed Census of Highland, WI)
• Ellen Aide, born Highland, WI (birth and death dates unknown – see letter)
• Julia Aide, born in Highland, WI 18 Aug 1861 and died in Highland, WI 04 Aug 1836

In an effort to make this easier to read and understand, each child will be dealt with individually in separate blog entries.  For the time being I will just say that years of birth were determined using both Census data and obituaries, when available.

It is worth noting that Edward and Anna’s surname, as it appears on their grave marker, is AID while the current spelling of my patrilineal surname is AIDE.  The reason for this is best described by Robert E. Matheson in his very short work, Varieties and Synonyms of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland, published in 1890.  This book, which can be found free of charge on Google Books (an excellect resource for locating historical books and tidbits of info – highly suggested), was written as a “guide for registration officers and the public in searching the indexes of births, deaths and marriages” containing a large number of Irish surnames and their spelling variants.  Matheson states that “these variations are not only in spelling and form, but entirely different names are used synonymously  by the same person or members of the same family.”  He explained the reason for this in a few ways, from widespread illiteracy in Ireland to translations from Irish to English.  In the case of Edward and Anastasia there are a couple variations in both the spelling of the surname and the form of the given name.  For example, in Wisconsin State Censuses of 1855 and 1865, Edward’s surname appears with the spelling EADE.  In the Federal Censuses at the begining of each decade, from 1850 to 1880, the surname is spelled ADE, AID, EADE, and AIDE, respectively.  In the 1850 Federal Census, Edward’s wife appears as “Anteale,” while in later Federeral Censuses her given name appears as Ann, Anna or Anastasia.  This also holds true for Edward’s oldest son, Pierce, who in the 1860 Census appears as Peter, while in later Censuses his name appears as Pierce or Perry.  I will get into Irish naming systems and spelling variants in more detail in a later blog entries…

I am currently focusing most of my time in researching the records and indexes of parishes in southern Co. Kilkenny in an effort to find Edward and Anastatia’s baptismal records.  I will go into more detail in the coming days.