Maxted family in Pennsylvania

[Madmax]

Hi
I am trying to trace some missing family members and I am afraid it is all a little vague.
The only thing I know for sure is that one of three sisters ended up living in Stillwater Pennsylvania and were in contact with the family until the 1960's alas I have no idea who of  three sisters it was! the sisters are
Mary Maxted born st Nicholas Kent 1891
Charlotte Sarah Maxted born Nonnington Kent 1885
Fanny Eliza Maxted born St Nicholas Kent 1887
To complicate it further one of the sisters was also known as Sally but again I dont know who!
I have two possible  husbands surname they are Strabanic and Petacal but both spellings are probably wrong.
None of the sisters married in the UK so I guess the marriage must have been in the US
Any tips on where I should start to look would be greatly appreciated as this is the first time I have tried to trace anyone in the US.

Regards Madmax

[eillo]

Oh, you are gonna be so happy! I was writing up a little blurb for you with ideas and suggstions of how to approach your interesting problem systematically --- and decided to test my ideas before putting them here.

First let me share them with you 'cuz it worked, and you can finish up if you like my approach.

I would methodically check for each sister in, first, available English census records. 1891, 1901. See who is where and if you can determine which one had the nickname Sally.  I do know that gals named Sarah are sometimes called Sally, so that might be a clue.

Then I would methodically check for each sister in USA census records. I'd also check Canada, just in case.

Ok I started with Charlotte and saw that in 1901 she was a servant in another house. Her sisters were still at home. I started thinking that maybe Charlotte, who had already left home at a fairly young age, went off to N. America.

SO..... I had a little peek around and lo and behold I found her marrying in Ontario Canada on 26 July 1924 to Paul Osatchuk in York County. (I bet your "Strabanic" is this guy - Ostachuk)

Ok the marriage record lists her as Charlotte Sarah Maxted, d/o Henry Maxted and Charlotte Cheney. She is 38 born England. Her groom is 34, born Russia with parents M Osatchuk
and  Pelagia Waloshen.

And guess what - the witness is Mary Patalko of New Toronto.. wanna place a bet that  this is Charlotte's sister Mary Maxted and Patelko is your surname Petacal? Do you think two sisters left? Could they both have come to Canada and married? If yes, wonder which one went on to Pennsylvania...

 It looks like the second witness is Toney [sic] Harroway also of New Toronto. it looks like they married at Long Branch in Church of England ceremony. Groom is Greek Catholic, she is Anglican

I'm pretty excited about this! If you want to keep searching for census see http://allcensusrecords.com/ for help. And Ontario Vital Stats Project is transcribing these marriages, (also births and deaths) so you  might want to search further. For help see http://olivetreegenealogy.com/can/ont/ and choose Vital Stats

[eillo]

Wow - here's the next finding.

Mary Maxted born Kent England, age 30 d/o Henry Maxted & Charlotte Cherey or Cheney married on 18 Aug 1923 in York Co. Ontario to Mehr Patalko, age 33 born Russia. It's really hard to figure out his parents names, it looks like Harry Patalko and Donnicus Lolax

One of the witnesses was Charlotte Sarah Maxted living at the King Edward hotel in Toronto. That's right downtown now, still in existence :-)

Both Mary and Mehr give their residence at time of marriage as New Toronto. He is Greek Catholic, she is Methodist. The minister marrying them was Church of England and they married at Long Branch

So now we know that Charlotte and mary were in Toronto area in 1923 and I bet Charlotte hadn't been there long since she's living at the King Edward.

You might want to try ships lists to Canada next, see if the gals came over together or perhaps Mary first....

See http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/canada/ for help with passenger lists to Canada but remember they might have come in via USA.

I'd check Border Crossing records too for either of the girls (or both) crossing to USA or back.


PS I neglected to say that for the marriage records I first checked the online OVSR project which you can find with Google or go to the links at http://olivetreegenealogy.com/can/ont/  then choose Vital Stats. Then I looked at the images online on Ancestry.

[SueTeakle]

A couple of baptisms for you:-

Fanny Eliza Maxted - 3rd April 1887 at St Nicholas at Wade
Parents - Hry & Charlotte Eliz.
Labourer, Brooks End

Mary Maxted - 14th June 1891 at St Nicholas at Wade
Birth - 30th April
Parents - Hry & Charlotte Eliza .
Labourer


Sue

[eillo]

The Border Crossings on Ancestry show something interesting - Charlotte Sarah Maxted aka Charlotte Sarah Osatchuck aka Charlotte Sarah Str_anko or Strbanec is crossing at Niagara Falls NY on Sept 1, 1924. There is no more info on the card.

 I just realized Strbanec  is the name you had in your original post. The plot thickens! I found a second record for her (border crossings again) where she is listed as Charlotte Strabanec with hubby Nick, crossing on 9 June 1943 at Buffalo NY. It's definitely your Charlotte her age is 56, and her place of birth Nonington Kent England

But here's the bit you're gonna like - her last place of residence in this 1943 crossing record is given as Stillwater Pennsylvania :-) And she says she has been living in US since Sept 1924 to present. So it looks like she went from Canada to USA shortly after marrying Paul O. then tried to come back 20 years later -- whether to visit or stay I can't tell from the card.

The handwritten entry at top of card says "Canadian Rejection" and "turned over to Insp. Kelly- Dist. Office" These Border Crossing records are tricky to understand. For an explanation of the US Canada Border Crossing Records and to understand how to find ancestors in these records, see Sue Swiggum's article published on Olive Tree Genealogy Blog at http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/

[jorose]

eilio's really got some good info for you there! You can match it with emigration info from the UK:

http://www.findmypast.com/passengerListPersonSearchStart.action
Charlotte Maxted left from Southampton in 1923, aged 37
Mary Maxted left from Southampton in 1922, aged 31

ssdi.rootsweb.com shows only one Strbanec, Charlotte Strbanec b. 28 Nov 1884 d. Nov 1978 last residence ? last benefit to Shickshinny, Luzerne County, PA.

As to the third one, I think she may have married as Fanny Elisa Maxted in 1909 in Blean district.  The index says 1288a as the page number, but I think on the image it's 1298a, and her husband is Charles Edward Knight.  There are a number of Knight/Maxted children on freebmd, born Elham.

[Madmax]

Hi Everyone
First I should admit that I knew one of the sisters went to Canada and another to the USA but decided the story was so vague that I would concentrate on the American link first simply because I had the place name Stillwater and thought that would be my best chance.
This is how I knew of the two surnames but had no idea who was the Canadian and who the American.
I also had no idea when or why the sisters left, my first guess was that they may have married servicemen in WW1 so I had trawled through the register but with no luck.
I cannot believe the information everyone has found for me, I had more or less given up on the mystery.
Other than the vague facts that I started with the only other clue I had is the photograph I have attached below, It has written on the back " uncle Nick 1941"
So now from the above information I know this is in fact Paul Osatchuk/Strabanic husband of Charlotte
Again thank you everyone for a fantastic detective work I realy cant believe it!
Hope you like the Photograph

Max

[shellyesq]

Since these are such unusual names, I ran them through Google and came across this:  http://www.colcohist-gensoc.org/mysql/marriagedisplay.php?pageNum_marriagedisplay=202&totalRows_marriagedisplay=3507&varpaper=2

Nick Strbanec of Benton and Charlotte Osatehuk of Benton Twp. got a marriage license on 11/26/1931.  Looks like Charlotte married twice, and Uncle Nick was really named Nick. 

[Madmax]

Hi Again
This is unbelievable, I had no problem with the idea that Osatchuk had been corrupted into Strabanic, but it seems not! at least I have only wrongly attributed the person in the photograph for a couple of hours!!!
Can anyone out there find the death of Paul Osatchuk or can we add bigamy to this story.

Max