As there are so many Samuel Wellwoods in the family, I’m going to state right off that this is the chapter for the son of John Wellwood and his wife Margaret Grant Thompson.  Samuel Moses is fairly easy to trace until after 1911, at which point I have encountered several problems which I will address as I go.

First, I’d like to repeat that Samuel Moses was born on December 11, 1861 in Bridgeton, Glasgow.  The REASON this bears repeating is because his birth date is part of the problem.  But I’m not there yet, so…

Samuel Moses appears in the 1871 census living at 10 Bellgrove Street, Glasgow with his parents and siblings.  His age at that time is given as 9 years.  Perfect.  In the 1881 census, he is still living at home with parents and siblings – at 320 Duke Street, Dennistoun, Glasgow – aged 19 years, and working as a bank clerk.  Wonderful.  By the 1891 census his father has died and he is living with his mother and his sister Elizabeth at 22 Kenmure Street, Tradeston, Glasgow.  His age is 29 and he is still working as a bank clerk.  Fabulous!  In the 1901 census, Samuel Moses is living in his own home, his age is 39, and visiting him are his niece Margaret Brown Robertson (his brother George’s daughter) and her husband James, both age 31 (please note the edit in the chapter on John Wellwood for this revision to the original text!).  Samuel’s occupation is given as bank accountant – a definite step up.  So, it seems Samuel has led a fairly stable, unadventurous life, concentrating on his career and steadily moving up in his job responsibilities while maintaining strong family ties.  And he has managed this all without the help and devotion of a wife.  Pretty remarkable in that day and age.

In 1909, Samuel travelled to the United States, arriving in Boston, Ma. aboard the PARISIAN out of Glasgow on Sept. 27, 1909.  His sister Agnes’s husband Robert Ramsay was his contact there.  For the first time, his age is off – the passenger list gives his age as 45, when at this point he was actually 47.  He evidently travelled from there back across the Atlantic, as he can be found arriving once more in Boston on Sept. 9, 1911.  This time he travelled on the CALEDONIAN out of Manchester, England and his contact is listed as Mrs. Ramsay.  For the second time his age is off – the passenger list states he is only 41, when at this point he is actually 49.  If he had left the first time prior to the 1910 census, it would explain his not being found in that report, and he may have been travelling during the 1911 England census report (his ship sailed on Aug. 26, 1911), explaining his not being found there, either.  The 1911 Scotland census is not yet publically available.  Samuel’s nephew John was married, you will recall, in Winchester (north of Boston) on November 28, 1911, and it would be logical to assume Samuel was present (although he had missed his nephew Harold’s wedding in June 1911 which took place in Walpole, Ma., southwest of Boston).

I have extensively searched the 1920 census trying to find some record of Samuel’s whereabouts, but have been unsuccessful.  Considering his tendency toward job stability and his close feelings for family I feel it’s most likely he would be found working as an accountant in either the Boston area (where the his sister Agnes Ramsay’s family was), the New York area (his sister Elizabeth came to teach just outside New York City in Jersey City, New Jersey, you will recall), or near some large city most likely along the Eastern Coast of the U.S. – Samuel was definitely NOT a country boy, he liked living in or near a large city.  It’s also possible he returned once again to the Glasgow area, as his mother died in 1917 in Renfrew – however, this was during WWI and travel to Europe may not have been feasible or desirable.  He does not appear in any of the service records for any military of the U.S., Canada, or England (including Scotland) so it’s likely he either remained in the States after 1911 and found employment as an accountant or returned before the War years and remained in Europe.

Several years ago, I was contacted by a man who told me he was one of Samuel Moses Wellwood’s sons, that his father had married late in life to Jeanette Smith, and that they lived in Illinois for the 1930 census.  He also stated there existed a family Bible with genealogy information written within, but I have never seen a copy of it.

I then went looking for Samuel Wellwood in Illinois in the 1930 census, and I found Samuel M. Wellwood, married to Jeanette with children Janet E., twins John G. and James J., and Sheila M.  The children were all born in New York and were aged 6, 3, 3, and 2 respectively.  Jeanette was born in Pennsylvania and her age was given as 39.  Samuel’s age was given as 57!  He would actually have been 68 at this time.  His occupation was given as accountant for a social worker.  They were living in Oak Park, just outside Chicago, Illinois.  Everything – and I mean EVERYTHING – fit with what I expected to find for Samuel, John’s youngest son, EXCEPT his age.  But, then there was the matter of him lying about his age on both passenger records, shaving as much as 8 years off in one case.

So, I tried to look at it objectively.  Was this Samuel John’s son or could the son of Samuel that I was in contact with have been wrong about who his grandfather was?  After all, in at least one instance he had stated his Samuel’s father was Rev. John Wellwood, instead of Rev. John being Samuel Moses’ brother, another son of their father John, Sr..  So I checked EVERY other Samuel Wellwood I could find to see if it might have been one of them in Illinois instead.  There was really only one other possibility: the Samuel Wellwood born in Glasgow in 1874.  There was also a Samuel Wellwood born in Glasgow in 1875, but that Samuel died in a burn in Ayreshire in 1947.  It is not possible he was the one living in Illinois and raising a family there at the time of the 1930 census.  The Samuel Wellwood born in 1874 had married Margaret Turnbull and was living in Vancouver, B.C. at the time of the 1911 census there.  He was a bookkeeper (!) and had entered Canada in 1908.  I found his name on a passenger list in that year to verify this as correct.  His birth month was given as February on that census.  He and Margaret did not appear to have any children.  In 1930, he would have been 56.  I have no definitive information for him or for Margaret after 1920. In April 1920 Margaret left Vancouver and travelled to Seattle and then on to Montreal and then Scotland and back to renew her visa.  She returned to Canada in September 1920 and landed in Quebec, which is just north of New York State, stating her intention to rejoin her husband in Vancouver.  This is the last definitive record I could find for this Samuel or his wife Margaret.  She must have contacted Samuel to let him know she was back in Canada – did he ask her to remain there until he could meet her or did he let her return on her own after over five months apart?  When and where did she die?  This Samuel’s father was Samuel Wellwood (son of Moses and Jane) born in Ireland in about 1809 (see earlier post on birth dates).  So if the Illinois Wellwoods were descended from this Samuel they would still be gr-grandchildren of Moses and Jane.  I did find an index listing for the death of a Samuel Wellwood, age 56, in Penticton, B.C., Canada just east of Vancouver on March 19, 1930 but until I’m able to get a copy of the death certificate I can’t be sure this is the Samuel who was married to Margaret Turnbull (you will maybe appreciate by now how many records of vital statistics I’ve had to send for over the years!).  If I could find EITHER Samuel Moses, the son of John, OR Samuel Wellwood, the son of Samuel in the 1920 census it might help, but one might well have been in Canada and the other may have returned to Scotland.  Neither country has released its census records for 1921, as has the U.S.  As the Illinois children were all born in New York beginning in 1924 you would THINK I’d maybe find one of them there, but New York is a large state and the city of birth is not given.  And when I had the chance I had not remembered to ask the Illinois Samuel’s son.

At this point, I decided to see if I could find Jeanette Smith in 1920 and see if that might help, but that actually only created more confusion.  Knowing she was born at some point around 1890 in Pennsylvania I used that as my search criteria.  And this opened another can of worms.  You see, Jeanette’s marriage to Samuel was supposed to be her first, but one likely candidate in the 1920 census was a Jeanetta Holt who was married to Carl F. Smith – who was an accountant (!), which would give a common point of interest and explain how Samuel, whichever Samuel the Illinois Samuel was, could have met Jeanette, as both worked in the accounting field.  Carl was a year younger than his wife and had been born in Pennsylvania.  They were actually listed in the census twice – first on the 23-24 January living in a rented flat in Rochester, New York (about 50 miles from the Canadian border in upstate New York) and again two days later at her parents’ home in Philadelphia, Pa.  I was not able to locate them in the 1930 census, so don’t know if perhaps Carl died, as neither the N.Y. or the Pa. death records are online.  Another likely candidate was the Jane Smith age 29 lodging in Chicago and working as a bank stenographer.  This Jane was born in Pennsylvania about 1891, as she was age 29 in the census.  There is no indication of who her parents are from the census, though.  As a researcher, and not a direct descendant with access to the family Bible or children of the Illinois Samuel, I can’t be certain if either of these is the Illinois Samuel’s wife, or who her parents were.

My intuition, however, suggests that the death in Penticton was in fact Samuel’s Samuel who was married to Margaret Turnbull and that the Illinois Wellwood must then be John’s Samuel who lied about his age.  Further, I suspect that Jeanette is the bank stenographer and not the accountant’s wife.  But again, I can’t be sure from the information I have available.

So, this is why I put off writing the chapter about John’s son Samuel Moses.  I just don’t know what happened to him after 1911.  He could be the Illinois Samuel M. Wellwood, as his descendants believe.  Or that Samuel could be the son of Samuel born in 1874 who had lived in Canada and was married to Margaret Turnbull until at least 1920.  Which leaves me not knowing definitively what happened to John’s son Samuel.  And with the information I have at this moment, that’s the best I can do.

Edit Feb 16: I have received the copy of Samuel Wellwood’s death record from British Columbia that was copied, scanned, and sent to me by one of our readers who lives there.  That Samuel is indeed Samuel’s Samuel who was married to Margaret Turnbull – I will write up the particulars in the chapter to which he belongs to avoid confusion among the many Samuels.  It’s looking more and more like the Illinois Samuel is indeed Samuel Moses, the youngest child of John, Sr.  If any of our other readers have access to his marriage certificate, please consider scanning it for me!  And a VERY big thank you to E. Wellwood for the B.C. death certificate!  😉

Edit Dec. 30: I have now received a transcript of the Illinois Samuel’s death certificate in which his parents are indeed named as John Wellwood (Sr.) and Margaret Thompson, and his date of birth is correctly stated as 11 Dec 1861.  This confirms what I was told, although I would still like to get a copy of his and Jeanette’s marriage record…  😉

© Deborah Ray and archivecookie.com, 2011, 2012.