In
1969, talking to my Uncle Carl Unroe about the dates
concerning our Grandma Paul (and Miller) relatives,
he said information was given by a neighbor because
he was drunk with grief.
He
told me to go talk to the woman. She said she really
didn't know the dates when asked so just gave them what
she thought might be right. Documents and Gramdma's
bible that I have says she was born March 5, 1866 [I
have the Bible, Lee L. Roberts].
Uncle
Carl said to me in 1969 that he had years ago hired
an agency, "Tracing Your Ancestors" to trace
the Unroe family. He said it took over 3 years and was
very costly. He gave information passed down through
the ages from father and mother of Unroe descent to
him.
CARL
UNROE
The
agency started with our grandfather and worked back
through the years. Grandfather was an only son who had
no relatives. He worked for the Ohio Railroad where
he met Edythe Ilah Cross, married her and had 5 children.
A stillborn son was born in 1888, Verna Bell in 1889,
Florence Ellen in 1890, Guy in 1891 and Carl in 1895. Grandpa
Unroe was killed when Verna Bell was 14 years old.
GUY
C. UNROE - 1917
The
agency traced the Unroes back north through the eastern
states and into Canada. Records show that in the early
1700s, the French Huguenots in northern France were
religiously persecuted and all left for free land in
Nova Scotia in eastern Canada.
In
the 1750s, the English claimed the settlement in Canada
then known as Acadia (later Novia Scotia) settled by
French Huguenots and were all banished 1812-1815. The
Unroeaux families wandered south through farmland and
became horse trainers for wealthy owners through the
Civil War (1861-1865), managing to stay together. |
VERNA BELLE UNROE - 1905
Births
and deaths entered in a small bible belonging to Edythe
Lint Cross was given to her on her wedding day, December
12, 1887 by George C. Unroe. [Given to me, Lee
Luella Miller Roberts, August 1969 by Uncle Carl Unroe.]
On
December 19, 1905, Edythe Unroe married O.J. Paul
who had children with children. O.J. Paul died January
1942 and was a descendant of original Welsh clan that
migrated to New York and Pennsylvania in the 1800s.
EDITH
and O.J. PAUL - 1941
After
reading through the material from "Tracing Your
Ancestors" and taking notes, Uncle Carl took
me to see the court records. What he found didn't
compare with the records and information he had. When
he questioned it, he was told the information was
supposedly gathered from the U.S. Census and was very
often incorrect, taken from uneducated workers, neighbors
or gossips who only guessed dates of birth or death
and put their own spelling of names.
In
April 1961, I moved from Michigan to California. In
September 1967, I flew back for my father's funeral.
My cousin, Leonard Unroe, was there and I asked him
to take me to Coldwater to see Grandma Paul and Uncle
Carl. He told me that Grandma had died in January.
I asked why I wasn't notified and he said that they
didn't know the addresses of any of his cousins. Both
Uncle Carl and my stepmother verified her death as
January 1967.
LEE
AT EDITH UNROE PAUL'S GRAVE
Upon
Uncle Carl's death, I was to be given all this information,
death and birth records, etc. His son took all of
it and wouldn't share it with me.
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