the wilks family of alpena and detroit, michigan

THE WILKS FAMILY OF ALPENA AND DETROIT, MICHIGAN
Bethany Waterbury
1. WILLIAM WILKS was born 22 December 1846 in Oswego, Oswego County,
New York and died 26 January 1933 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan.1 He
married JOSEPHINE ROUSSEAU around 1868, most likely in Detroit.2 Josephine
was born 9 August 1849 in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Joseph Rousseau
and Margaret Chicoine, and died 30 December 1931.3 William and Josephine are
buried in Holy Sepulchre Catholic Cemetery in Southfield, Michigan.4
William’s death certificate does not name his parents; his eldest daughter
Elizabeth Wilks Phillips, who apparently was not certain of his parentage,
provided the information. Research in census records prior to 1870 suggest that
William Wilks’ mother was a Caroline Waite Wilks, and that he had two brothers,
an elder brother John, born about 1842, and a younger brother Charles, born about
1848.5
Caroline and her three boys lived with her father, a tavern keeper, in the City
of Oswego on the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario.5 She is listed as married in
both the 1850 U.S. census and the 1855 New York State census, although no
husband is listed in either census. 6 The family may have been abandoned by
William’s father prior to 1850, as no church, land, probate, divorce, or death
records for Mr. Wilks have been located in Oswego, New York. During this time
1
Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, death certificate register no. 1074, William Wilks; City
of Detroit Health Department, Michigan
2
1910 U.S. census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, page 15
(stamped), enumeration district (ED) 325, sheet 7A, dwelling 119, family 128, William Wilks;
digital image, Ancestry.com (http://Ancestry.com : accessed 1 December 2005); citing National
Archives (NARA) microfilm T624, roll 687.
Charles F. Clark, compiler, Charles F. Clark’s Annual City Directory of the Inhabitants,
Business Firms, Incorporated Companies, Etc., of the City of Detroit for 1868-69 (Detroit: The
Daily Post Steam Book and Job Printing Office, 1868), p. 364 for William Wilks; digital image,
Ancestry.com, “U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989,” (http://Ancestry.com : accessed 23 February
2014).
3
Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, death certificate register no. 14417, Josephine Wilks;
City of Detroit Health Department, Michigan.
4
Holy Sepulcher Catholic Cemetery (Southfield, Michigan), Cemetery Plot & Burial Record,
section 20, Lot 400 S, Wilks family burial records.
5
1855 New York state census, Oswego County, population schedule, Oswego City, [no
page], dwelling 272, family 272, John Waite household; Oswego County Courthouse, Oswego,
New York; digital image, "New York, State Census, 1855," FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org
: accessed 31 December 2013), image no. 00181.
6
1850 U.S. census, Oswego County, New York, population schedule, Oswego, p. 145B
(stamped), dwelling 513, family 600, Mrs. Wiltse; digital image Ancestry
(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 April 2012); citing National Archives (NARA) microfilm
publication M432, roll 576.
many men left for California in search of their fortune and never returned to their
families; perhaps Mr. Wilks was one of them.
Caroline Waite Wilks married William Bonnell around 1856 and the couple
had two children.7 Perhaps William did not get along with his stepfather, or the
family may have had financial difficulties, as William is living with a neighbor,
William and Diana Squires, in the 1860 Oswego census.8 In this same census,
William’s 16-year-old brother John is working as a Boatman. Employment via
nearby Lake Ontario appeared to be a common occupation in Oswego at this time,
as there are four other men on the same census page employed as Seamen,
Boatmen, or Ship Carpenters.
With the opening of the Oswego branch of the Erie Canal in 1829, the city of
Oswego boomed as a prime shipping port, which continued into the 1870s.9 It is
likely that when William came of age he also was employed either on a boat or on
the docks in Oswego. William may have initially traveled to Detroit as a sailor or
laborer on a shipping vessel before deciding to settle in that city, where his future
wife, Josephine Rousseau, was living. By 1868, both William and his brother
Charles are living in Detroit: William as a laborer and Charles as an apprentice.10
Their brother John does not appear in Oswego or Detroit city directories or census
records after 1860; he was of the appropriate age to have fought in the Civil War
and may have either died during the war or moved elsewhere afterward.
Josephine Rousseau was one of four sisters and a brother born in Detroit,
Michigan to French-Canadian parents. 11 Like William, Josephine did not have
the luxury of a father figure in her life, as her mother Margaret Chicone Rousseau
raised her alone from at least the age of 1. 12 Margaret likely had limited skills and
7
1860 U.S. census, Oswego County, New York, population schedule, Oswego, p. 9 (penned),
dwelling 71, family 67, William Squires; digital image Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com :
accessed 8 January 2006); citing National Archives (NARA) microfilm publication M653, roll
839.
8
1860 U.S. census, Oswego County, New York, population schedule, Oswego, p. 9 (penned),
dwelling 71, family 67, William Squires; digital image Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com :
accessed 8 January 2006); citing National Archives (NARA) microfilm publication M653, roll
839.
9
The City of Oswego, “Oswego History,”; website, Oswego New York,
(http://www.oswegony.org/about_history.html: accessed 28 January 2014).
10
Charles F. Clark, compiler, Charles F. Clark’s Annual City Directory of the Inhabitants,
Business Firms, Incorporated Companies, Etc., of the City of Detroit for 1868-69 (Detroit: The
Daily Post Steam Book and Job Printing Office, 1868), p. 364 for William Wilks and Charles
Wilkes; digital image, Ancestry.com, “U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989,” (http://Ancestry.com :
accessed 23 February 2014).
11
1850 U.S. census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, p. 103B
(stamped), dwelling 1201, family 1461, Margaret Rouse; digital image Ancestry
(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 December 2005); citing National Archives (NARA)
microfilm publication M432, roll 365.
12
1860 U.S census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, p 89-90
(penned), dwelling 640, family 699, Margaret Rosseau; digital image Ancestry
(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 December 2005); citing National Archives (NARA)
microfilm publication M653, roll 566.
may have struggled to care for her five young children. She is listed as a
washwoman in the 1860 census, and two of her daughters are listed as tailoress’
while still in their teens.13
The family may have received some support, both morally and financially,
from their church. The family was Catholic and, based on baptismal and marriage
records, attended Ste. Anne’s Catholic Church, a large Detroit church with masses
held in French and a largely French-Canadian population.14 However, no marriage
record between Josephine and William has been located in the records of Ste.
Anne’s church, suggesting that Margaret or other family members may not have
approved of the marriage.
Josephine’s brother, Joseph Rousseau, was a steamboat engineer in Detroit
throughout his working life; perhaps it was through him that Josephine and
William initially met. The couple married about 1868, most likely in Detroit, and
by 1870 had moved to Alpena, Michigan.15 At that time Alpena was remote
logging town in northern Michigan on the shores of Lake Huron, 340 miles from
Detroit. Alpena’s logging boom began in 1857 and was well underway by the
time William and Josephine moved there. In 1867, Thunder Bay (the main port in
Alpena) had eight mills, which produced nearly fifty million feet of lumber and
lath.16
13
1860 U.S census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, p 89-90
(penned), dwelling 640, family 699, Margaret Rosseau; digital image Ancestry
(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 December 2005); citing National Archives (NARA)
microfilm publication M653, roll 566.
14
Ste. Anne’s Catholic Church (Detroit, Michigan), “Mariages, 1842-1874,” p. 137, Jos.
Rousseau to Ol. Aubertin (1863); originally microfilmed by the Institut Généalogique Drouin,
Drouin Collection, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; digital image, “Early U.S. French Catholic Church
Records (Drouin Collection), 1695-1954,” Ancestry.com (http://Ancestry.com : accessed 17
January 2014).
15
1910 U.S. census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, page 15
(stamped), enumeration district (ED) 325, sheet 7A, dwelling 119, family 128, William Wilks;
digital image, Ancestry.com (http://Ancestry.com : accessed 1 December 2005); citing National
Archives (NARA) microfilm T624, roll 687; married 42 years.
Charles F. Clark, compiler, Charles F. Clark’s Annual City Directory of the Inhabitants,
Business Firms, Incorporated Companies, Etc., of the City of Detroit for 1868-69 (Detroit: The
Daily Post Steam Book and Job Printing Office, 1868), p. 364 for William Wilks; digital image,
Ancestry.com, “U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989,” (http://Ancestry.com : accessed 23 February
2014).
1870 U.S. census, Alpena County, Michigan, population schedule, Alpena, p. 19
(penned), dwelling 147, family 143, William Wilks; digital image Ancestry
(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 December 2005); citing National Archives (NARA)
microfilm publication M593, roll 661.
16
C.H. Brigham, “The Lumber Region of Michigan,” in The North American Review, vol.
CVII (Boston: Ticknore and Fields, 1868), pgs. 77-104; digital image, “Making of America,”
Cornell University Library (http://digital.library.cornell.edu/n/nora : accessed 23 February 2014).
Figure 1: 1870 Map of Michigan. Alpena and Detroit, both on the eastern side of the
state, in red. Travel between the two cities was most likely via the Detroit River, to Lake
St. Clair, up the St. Clair River to Lake Huron. Map displays railroads in existence at the
time (none between Detroit and Alpena). 17
17
Dillenback & Leavitt, History and directory of Kent County, Michigan, containing a
history of each township, and the city of Grand Rapids…(Grand Rapids, Mich: Daily Eagle Steam
Printing House, 1870), between 16-17; digital image, University of Michigan Library, “Michigan
County Histories and Atlases,” (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/micounty/ : accessed 23 February
2014. Permission limited to personal use.
Josephine’s three sisters, Sophia, Delphine, and Philomena were all also living
in Alpena by 1870, although their brother Joseph remained in Detroit.18 It is likely
the families traveled to Alpena via ship, as Detroit and Alpena are connected via
well-traveled waterways and the land route would have been longer and
potentially more dangerous.
William’s career throughout his adult life was that of a carpenter, although it
is unknown if he was a builder of houses, furniture or other items. After moving
to Alpena, William and Josephine had a large family, which included nine
children. The family attended St. Bernard’s, the local Catholic Church, and
Josephine’s sisters and brothers-in-law were often the godparents of their
children.19
Figure 2: Certificate of donation of $5.00 in 1890 to the St. Bernard’s Church
fundraiser to purchase a new bell for the church.20
18
1870 U.S. census, Alpena County, Michigan, population schedule, Alpena, p. 14 (penned),
dwelling 104, family 101, Sophia Blanchard; digital image Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com :
accessed 23 February 2014); citing National Archives (NARA) microfilm publication M593, roll
661. [Philomena McGuire in same household]
1870 U.S. census, Alpena County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit p. 17
(penned), dwelling 125, family 122, Adelphena Rousseau; digital image Ancestry
(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 February 2014); citing National Archives (NARA)
microfilm publication M593, roll 661.
1870 U.S. census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Alpena, p. 92
(penned), dwelling 674, family 741, Joseph Rousseau; digital image Ancestry
(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 December 2005); citing National Archives (NARA)
microfilm publication M593, roll 661.
19
St. Bernard Church Records, 1824-1925, (Alpena, Michigan: Northeast Michigan
Genealogical and Historical Society, 1995) pgs. 91-92.
20
Family data, Wilks Family Photo Album, assembled after 1895.
Alpena continued to prosper through the late 1800s, but logging and the
town’s overall prosperity was beginning to wane by about 1890. The older Wilks
children began to move to Detroit prior to the 1900 census, and William,
Josephine and their younger children were living in Detroit by 1910.21
However, Alpena and the Catholic Church continued to play an important part
in their lives in Detroit. The extended families all belonged to the “Alpena Club
of Greater Detroit,” a social club that was open to former residents of Alpena
currently living in Detroit.22 Not much is known about this club presently, but it
was in existence until at least the 1950s, as there is a mention of their annual State
Wide Reunion in 1952 in the Alpena City Council Proceedings.23
Although it is not known what church the family attended while living in
Detroit, both William and Josephine are buried in Holy Sepulchre Catholic
Cemetery in Southfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, indicating that they were
practicing Catholics in Detroit as well. No probate record has been found for
either William or Josephine, suggesting they did not own property in Detroit at
the time of their death. They may have transferred ownership of their residence to
either their son William Wilks, Jr. or Ida Wilks, both of whom were unmarried
throughout their lives.
Figure 3: Josephine Rousseau Wilks and Emma
Kaisch (Florence Wilks’ mother-in –law), c. late
1920s.
21
1910 U.S. census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, sheet 7A
(penned), enumeration district (ED) 325, dwelling 119, family 128, William Wilks; digital image
Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 December 2005); citing National Archives
(NARA) microfilm publication T624, roll 687.
22
Conversation with Andrea McGuire (descendant of Philomena McGuire), Joann Murphy
(descendant of Sophia Blanchard) and Mary Waterbury (descendant of Josephine Wilks),
approximately May 2006.
23
Alpena, Michigan, City Council Proceedings, 2 January 1952; accessed online at
www.alpena.mi.us, 3 February 2014.
The children of William Wilks and Josephine Rousseau are as follows:
i. JOHN CHARLES WILKS, born 6 January 1868 in Ossineke, Alpena County,
Michigan; died 28 January 1868.24
ii. ELIZABETH M. WILKS, born 6 January 1872 in Alpena, Michigan; died 3 February
1934 in Detroit, Michigan. 25 She married JOHN B. PHILLIPS 28 August 1907
in Windsor, Ontario, Canada (across the river from Detroit), after the death of
her sister Carrie, John’s first wife.26
iii. CAROLINE WILKS, born 24 June 1875 in Alpena, Michigan; died 5 November
1903.27 She married JOHN B. PHILLIPS in 1897.28
iv. WILLIAM JOSEPH WILKS, born 28 January 1878 in Alpena, Michigan;29 died 21
September 1955 in Detroit, Michigan. 30 He never married.31
v. JOSEPH ANTHONY WILKS, born 30 September 1879; died 30 September 1881.32
vi. IDA MARY WILKS, born 3 June 1882 in Alpena, Michigan; died 11 November
1974. 33 She never married and worked at Parke Davis Pharmaceutical
Company throughout her working career in Detroit.34
vii. FLORENCE DELPHINE WILKS, born 13 March 1885 in Alpena, Michigan; died 3
February 1974 in Detroit, Michigan. 35 She married EDWARD R. KAISCH on 30
September 1912 in Detroit, Michigan. 36
24
Family data, Wilks Family Photo Album, assembled after 1895. Original in possession of
Mary Waterbury in 2006. Album passed from William and Josephine Wilks to their daughter
Florence Kaisch, to her daughter Audrey Flock to her daughter Mary Waterbury.
25
Michigan Department of Community Health, Death Certificates, entry for Elizabeth M.
Phillips, died 3 February 1934; index and selected digital images, “Michigan, Death Certificates,
1921-1952,” FamilySearch (http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 23 February 2014), image 02181.
26
Essex County, Ontario, Marriage Registration, p. 649, John B. Phillips to Elizabeth M.
Wilks, 28 August 1907; Archives of Ontario, Toronto; Series MS932, Reel 128; digital image,
“Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928,” Ancestry.com (http://Ancestry.com : accessed 23
February 2014).
27
Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, death certificate no. 4568, (1903), Carrie Philips; Michigan
Department of State – Division of Vital Statistics, Lansing; digital image, “Death Records, 18971920,” Seeking Michigan (http://seekingmichigan.org : accessed 11 May 2012).
28
1900 U.S. census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, enumeration
district (ED) 213, sheet 4A, dwelling 66, family 75, John Philips; digital image, Ancestry.com
(http://Ancestry.com : accessed 18 January 2006); citing National Archives (NARA) microfilm
publication T623, roll 750.
29
Michigan Secretary of State, Birth Returns, Alpena County, p. 68, register no. 876, William
Wilks,27 January 1877; digital image, “Michigan, births, 1867-1902,” FamilySearch
(http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 21 January 2006), image 85.
30
Family data, Wilks Family Photo Album, assembled after 1895.
31
Personal knowledge of Mary Waterbury, great-niece of William Wilks, Jr.
32
Family data, Wilks Family Photo Album, assembled after 1895.
33
Michigan Department of Vital and Health Records, “Michigan Death Index,” entry for Ida
M. Wilks, 1882-1974, Detroit, Michigan; online index, “Michigan, Deaths, 1971-1996,”
Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 August 2012).
34
Personal knowledge of Mary Waterbury, Ida Wilk’s great-niece.
35
Michigan Department of Vital and Health Records, “Michigan Death Index,” entry for
Florence D. Kaisch 1885-1974, Detroit, Michigan; online index, “Michigan, Deaths, 1971-1996,”
Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 January 2006).
1. MONA MARGARET KAISCH, born 14 January 1914 in Detroit, Michigan;
died 11 February 1986 in Delaware. 37 She married PHILIP CAMPBELL.
2. AUDREY MAGDELINE KAISCH, born 24 July 1915 in Detroit, Michigan;
died 22 October 1987 in Pinellas Park, Florida.38 She married ROYAL
FREDERICK FLOCK on 10 May 1941 in Detroit.
viii. ALFRED ISSAC WILKS, born 28 April 1888 in Alpena, Michigan; died 16
September 1897 in Alpena, Michigan.39
IX. MAY DIANE WILKS, born 12 April 1891 in Alpena, Michigan; died 10 January
1978 in Mount Clemens, Michigan.40 She married CHARLES BONNETT
around 1913.41
Figure 4: Wilks Family, c. 1921. From left to right, back row: Elizabeth Wilks
Phillips, May Wilks Bonnett, Charles Bonnett, Ida Wilks, John Phillips, Josephine
Rousseau Wilks, Florence Wilks Kaisch, Edward Kaisch; front row Mona Kaisch
(with bow in hair) and Audrey Kaisch (also with bow in hair).
36
Michigan Secretary of State, Marriage Returns, Wayne county, p. 417, register no. 88524,
Edward R. Kaisch to Florence Wilks, 1912; microfilm, Library of Michigan, Lansing.
37
Social Security Administration, “Social Security Death Index, Master File,” entry for Mona
Campbell 1914-1986, Wilmington, Delaware; online index, “Social Security Death Index,”
Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 February 2014).
38
Social Security Administration, “Social Security Death Index, Master File,” entry for Audrey
M. Flock 1915-1987, Pinellas Park, Florida; online index, “Social Security Death Index,”
Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Feburary 2014).
39
Family data, Wilks Family Photo Album, assembled after 1895.
40
Social Security Administration, “Social Security Death Index, Master File,” entry for May
Bonnett 1891-1978, New Baltimore, Michigan; online index, “Social Security Death Index,”
Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Feburary 2014).
41
1930 U.S. census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit City, enumeration
district (ED) 50-6, sheet no. 4B (penned), dwelling 98, family 99, Charles Bonnett; digital image,
Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 January 2006); citing National Archives
microfilm publication T626, roll 1008.