Author Topic: What became of William, George and James Ennis?  (Read 538 times)

Online Erato

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What became of William, George and James Ennis?
« on: Friday 31 January 20 18:40 GMT (UK) »
William Ennis was born in Ireland [or possibly Canada] in 1840.  George E. Ennis was born in Canada in 1847 and James was born there in 1848.  They came to Wisconsin with their parents and other siblings in 1848/49.  The family settled in Buffalo Twsp., Marquette County, Wisconsin.

William lived and worked in Marquette County until 1883.  He apparently never married.  In 1883, the Montello Express reported that he had acquired land "out west."  This land was in Viding, Clay County, Minnesota where he was recorded on the Minnesota state census in 1885 along with his brothers George and James.  Sadly, in October 1887, the Wisconsin State Register reported that William had been accused of pilfering township funds in Viding and was believed to have fled to Canada.  I have no further record of him.  What became of William Ennis after 1887?

>>>>

Meanwhile, George had married Hannah J. Neale on 4 July 1881.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XRNY-26B

On 17 January 1893, Hannah J. Neale married David G. Ritchie
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XRNT-BZP

Presumably, George had died before 1893 or George and Hannah had divorced but I can find no record of either. The last confirmed record of George is in the 1885 Minnesota state census when he was recorded in Viding, Clay County with his brothers William and James. In that same year, he was also involved in a legal wrangle with his father in Marquette County, Wisconsin.  What became of George Ennis after 1885?

>>>>

And James Ennis had married Mary Blume [or Bloom] on 15 March 1875.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XRLQ-CXR

They had one son, John William Ennis born in 1876 however by 1880 they were separated and thereafter lived apart. Whether they were ever actually legally divorced is unknown. Mary Blume Ennis and her son lived quietly in Portage, Columbia County, Wisconsin.

James was in Minnesota in 1885 with William and George.  I haven't found him on the 1900 census. On the 1905 Wisconsin state census, he was working as a servant [presumably a farm hand] for Hannah J. Ritchie, his widowed former sister-in-law, in Packwaukee, Marquette County, Wisconsin. The last sighting of James was in 1906 in Marquette County when he served as a witness for his sister Mary Ennis McGwin in the probate of her husband's will.  What became of James Ennis after 1906?








Wiltshire:  Banks, Taylor
Somerset:  Duddridge, Richards, Barnard, Pillinger
Gloucestershire:  Barnard, Marsh, Crossman
Bristol:  Banks, Duddridge, Barnard
Down:  Ennis, McGee
Wicklow:  Chapman, Pepper
Wigtownshire:  Logan, Conning
Wisconsin:  Ennis, Chapman, Logan, Ware
Maine:  Ware, Mitchell, Tarr, Davis

Offline oldohiohome

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Re: What became of William, George and James Ennis?
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 01 February 20 15:28 GMT (UK) »
have you looked at this James yet? He's a bit young for the information you have.

1911 New Westminster, British Columbia
in the Samuel Rice household, address: Strawberry Mills

James Ennis, 56, single, relation to head of household: employee, born February 1855 in Ontario, Irish origin, Canadian nationality, no religion, laborer, logging camp

--------
Do you think George and William went off together?  But still no sign of them. I looked for all three, assuming they kept heading west. Maybe they went back to Ontario. But the Ennises I saw there looked like they had been there a while, or else had been born somewhere besides Ontario or Ireland.

Online Erato

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Re: What became of William, George and James Ennis?
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 01 February 20 18:26 GMT (UK) »
It seems unlikely that any of them died in Wisconsin.  It was a large family and all the rest of the Ennises are buried in Marquette County, mostly in the Buffalo United Presbyterian Cemetery. 

I have hypothesized that William and George fled together and that maybe James joined them later, either in Canada or somewhere out West.  As far as I know, they had no Ennis relatives in Canada.  The Ennises had originally settled at Amherst Island, Ontario and spent about eight years there before moving on to Wisconsin.

They did have two nephews who had headed west, sons of their older brother Thomas Ennis - Thomas James Ennis [b. 1861] who went out to Grant County, Oregon and later Benton County, Washington and Wlilliam H. Ennis [b. 1862] who settled in Williams County, North Dakota.  I particularly suspected that young William H. might have harbored the fugitives because he had also spent some time in Clay County, Minnesota when his uncles were there.  However, I have scrutinized North Dakota, Washington and Oregon and found no trace of them.

Of course, William and George could have changed their names but that seems a bit extreme for what was a relatively minor theft charge that was unlikely to be vigorously pursued.
Wiltshire:  Banks, Taylor
Somerset:  Duddridge, Richards, Barnard, Pillinger
Gloucestershire:  Barnard, Marsh, Crossman
Bristol:  Banks, Duddridge, Barnard
Down:  Ennis, McGee
Wicklow:  Chapman, Pepper
Wigtownshire:  Logan, Conning
Wisconsin:  Ennis, Chapman, Logan, Ware
Maine:  Ware, Mitchell, Tarr, Davis