Nancy Jean White

Family/Spouse: Robert Eugene Jonckheere. Robert (son of Charles Jonckheere and Josephine Marie) was born on 19 Feb 1942 in Howell, Livingston, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 15 Mar 1905, Williamsburg, Whitley, Kentucky

Notes:

His name on his daughter Jeannette's birth certificate reads "Everett Lloyd White." He evidently disliked his middle name and frequently gave it as "Lloyd" instead.

Everett married Gwendolyn Lottie Gyles on 5 Aug 1930 in Court Street Methodist, Flint, Michigan. Gwendolyn (daughter of Richard Edwards Gyles and Lottie Couch) was born on 12 Nov 1910 in Toronto, Ontario; died on 17 Oct 1997 in Brevard, Transylvania, North Carolina; was buried on 24 Oct 1997 in Summit Cemetery, Williamston, Ingham, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Born at 65-7 Bloor Street East, Toronto.

"WHITE, GWENDOLYN L. [...] Age 86, died October 17, 1997. Born November 12, 1910 in Toronto, Canada, Mrs. White was a former member of O.E.S. #29, Williamston and the Women's Club and Child Study Club. She moved to Williamston in 1945 and was the Future Homemakers State Mother of the Year in 1949. She was preceded in death by her husband, Everett in 1967; and her parents, Richard Gyles and Lottie (Couch). Surviving are 4 daughters, Joanne (Neil) Van Syckle of Brevard, NC, Jeannette (James) Hayden of Mt. Pleasant, NC, Jane (Francis) Van Gigch of Savannah, GA and Nancy (Robert) Jonckheere of Williamston; 1 son, Edward (Beverly) White of Charlevoix; 14 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren; 1 brother, Richard Gyles of Flint; 2 sisters, Beth (Robert) Smith of Flint and Jean (Paul) Cameron of Florida. Funeral services will be held Friday, October 24, 11 a.m. at St. Katherine's Episcopal Church, 4650 N. Meridian Road, Williamston, with the Rev. Jannel Glennie, Pastor, officiating. Interment will follow in Summit Cemetery, Williamston. Friends may call at the Chapel beginning Thursday 2 p.m., where the family will receive friends from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m." [Lansing State Journal, 22 Oct 1997, p. 2B]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 22 Apr 1880, Williamsburg, Whitley, Kentucky

Notes:

Kentucky death records give his birthdate as 22 Apr; his tombstone says 14 Apr.

Records from Joan Van Syckle list his burial place as "Detheridge Cemetery", but note this, from Jeanette Hayden: "This informal hillside cemetery is listed as Detherage Cemetery, Knox County, near Kayjay, Kentucky. The road it is on is listed on Google as Deatheridge Cemetery Rd."

Alfred married Mary Jane Freeman on 4 Jan 1899 in Williamsburg, Whitley, Kentucky. Mary (daughter of John Freeman and Teresa "Tacy" Allen) was born on 27 Feb 1880 in Whitley County, Kentucky; died on 22 Oct 1932 in Kayjay, Knox, Kentucky; was buried on 23 Oct 1932 in Detherage Cemetery, Knox, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Some researchers say she was born in Elk Valley, Tennessee. The record of her marriage says she was born in Whitley County, Kentucky. She was a nurs, and died of the consequences of diabetes. Her son Everett was also diabetic, as are at least two of Everett's grandchildren.

Notes:

A family story has it that they eloped and married in Tennessee, where the age to marry without parental consent was (allegedly) lower. But the actual record of their marriage shows this to be untrue. They were married by the Rev. Henry Patrick in Williamsburg, Whitley County, Kentucky, on 4 Jan 1899. The record includes two laid-in notes handwritten on small pieces of ruled paper. One note reads "Jan the 4. 1899. We have no objection to Alfred White and Mary Freeman a mering [sic]. John Freeman, Stase Freeman". The other note is mostly illegible, but it's clearly signed "J. N. White".

Notes:

Emigrated to Canada 1 May 1908; arrived in Quebec City. [According to notes on his 1921 arrival form, Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924, on ancestry.com.]

The birth certificate for his daughter Lottie lists his occupation as "moulder." The 1940 US census describes his occupation as "foundry man." His 1942 draft card shows his employer in Flint, Michigan, as the Buick Motor Company.

Richard married Lottie Couch on 15 Apr 1908 in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales. Lottie (daughter of Anthony Couch and Elizabeth Jane Penberthy) was born on 12 Jul 1886 in Penzance, Cornwall, England; was christened on 5 Dec 1888 in St. Ives Primitive Methodist Chapel, St. Ives, Cornwall, England; died on 29 Jun 1974 in Flint, Genesee, Michigan; was buried in Sunset Hills Cemetery, Flint, Genesee, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Arrived in Canada at Quebec City, 17 Sep 1909, aboard the Canada out of Liverpool.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Jun 1848, Whitley County, Kentucky

Notes:

Libby Freeman Spieth, quoted by "Dolores1630" on ancestry.com says that sometime soon after 1870, "my gr-grandfather John [Freeman] went to Elk Valley TN. He managed a lumber business for my other gr-grandfather Jasper Newton White (Newt) and that is also how he met my gr-grandmother Teresa Allen. They returned to Whitley." Of interest since both John Freeman and Jasper Newton White are among PNH's direct ancestors as well (great-great grandfathers, in his case).

Relationships between Jasper Newton White and John Freeman:

GG-grandfather Jasper Newton White (1848-1909):
* employed GG-grandfather John Freeman (1850-1931) as manager of his lumber mill
* married, as his third wife, Mary Ann Freeman (1855-1928), sister of John Freeman
* Jasper Newton White's son by his second wife, G-grandfather Alfred Franklin White (1880-1952), married John Freeman's daughter, G-grandmother Mary Jane Freeman (1880-1932)

Jasper married Rutha Parker on 29 Jun 1880 in Scott County, Tennessee. Rutha (daughter of William Henderson Parker and Sarah "Sally" Patrick) was born on 19 Dec 1863 in Whitley County, Kentucky; died about 1895 in Whitley County, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Identical twin of Sarah Parker.

"Rutha died young, about 1895, or possibly earlier, whereupon her identical twin, Sarah, came to stay with the children for a while. Nancy Jonckheere says that the children were very distraught when Sarah left, because it was like losing their mother again." [Parker's Genealogy & History Establishment]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 18 May 1841
• Alternate death: 18 Jan 1928

Notes:

The birth and death dates of 18 May 1841 and 18 Jan 1931 are on his tombstone at Wofford, but this stone was erected well after his death; it was the opinion of both Joan Van Syckle and Nancy Jonckheere that both of these dates are wrong. Nonetheless, notwithstanding the sources that have him dying in 1928, he was recorded as alive and living with his family in the 1930 census, so we're going with the presumption that the death date on his tombstone is more correct than not.

(We also have a 1984 letter from Nancy Jonckheere to Jeannette Hayden claiming that John Freeman's actual birth year was 1857, but we think she revised her opinion since then.)

Libby Freeman Spieth, quoted by "Dolores1630" on ancestry.com, says that sometime soon after 1870, "my gr-grandfather John went to Elk Valley TN. He managed a lumber business for my other gr-grandfather Jasper Newton White (Newt) and that is also how he met my gr-grandmother Teresa Allen. They returned to Whitley." Of interest since both John Freeman and Jasper Newton White are among PNH's direct ancestors as well (great-great grandfathers, in his case).

Relationships between John Freeman and Jasper Newton White:

GG-grandfather John Freeman (1850-1931)
* managed a lumber mill for GG grandfather Jasper Newton White (1848-1909)
* Jasper Newton White married, as his third wife, Mary Ann Freeman (1855-1928), sister of John Freeman
* John Freeman's daughter, G-grandmother Mary Jane Freeman (1880-1932) married Jasper Newton White's son by his second wife, G-grandfather Alfred Franklin White (1880-1952)

It's also notable that John Freeman's brother William Freeman married Rachel Allen, sister of John Freeman's wife Teresa Allen. Libby Freeman Speith says that John Freeman met Teresa because he moved to Elk Valley to work for Jasper Newton White, which is entirely plausible since Teresa was born there, or in Campbell County at any rate. Possibly William Freeman also worked for Jasper Newton White, or just as possibly, he met his wife Rachel Allen through his brother's marriage to her sister Teresa Allen.

John married Teresa "Tacy" Allen in 1876 in Whitley County, Kentucky. Teresa (daughter of John Allen and Nancy Barnes) was born on 3 Jan 1857 in Campbell County, Tennessee; died on 15 Feb 1934 in Wofford, Whitley, Kentucky; was buried in Wofford Cemetery, Wofford, Whitley, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1858
• Alternate birth: Abt 1860, Tennessee
• Alternate birth: Abt 1862, Tennessee

Notes:

Widely said to have been born in Elk Valley, Campbell County, Tennessee. She was almost certainly born in Campbell County, as both the 1850 and 1860 Federal censuses show that as her parents' residence.

Her tombstone dates, transcribed by Joan Van Syckle, are 3 Jan 1857 and 15 Feb 1934. Her stone gives her name as "Tishia" Freeman. Some descendants report that she was also called "Tisha."

According to a family group record prepared by Joan Van Syckle, "Teresa's date of birth according to [the] 1900 census is Aug 1863." The same FGR gives Teresa's parents as "Joseph Allen (? 1/1/1838 - 5/24/1910)" and "Patricia Barnes". But Teresa Allen's sister Rachel's death certificate on ancestry.com shows her parents as John Allen and Nancy Barnes, both born in Tennessee.

Posted by user "Dolores1630" to ancestry.com:

Teresa was variously known as, Tasia, Tacia, and Tacey on census records. My father, Teresa's grandson, told me in the late 1970s that he remembered his grandmother being called "Tasia" or "Stasia" and wondered if this was a nickname for "Anastasia" which is my oldest daughter's name. From her death records and her tombstone it appears her given name was Teresa.

My father also remembered that Teresa was known for her herbal remedies and was always growing and preparing herbs. She would always quote from the Old Testament and loved to quote the verses about the revenge and punishment of God. "Hellfire and brimstone" verses he called them. He said he was none too pleased with this as a child as it frightened him a bit.

Notes:

Described on his marriage record as "bachelor" and "fisherman." Could sign his own name.

Many online records for Thomas Gyles give his parents as William Harry Gyles (1814-1877) and Ann "Nancy" Quick Curnow (1821-1909). But I think this is a different Thomas Gyles, not the one who married Mary Edwards. Most significantly, the record of Thomas Gyles's marriage to Mary Edwards, 1 Jun 1873, searchable at the Cornish Online Parish Clerks Database (https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/home/), gives his father as George Gyles, master mariner. Supporting this, the 25 Jul 1850 record of Thomas Gyles's baptism at the St. Ives Primitive Methodist Chapel, which gives his birth date as 5 Jul 1850, gives his parents as George Gyles, sailor, and his wife Ann Curnow Gyles.

The 1851 census shows Thomas Gyles, age 9 months, living with his mother Ann Gyles, age 35, relationship to head of household "wife". The 1861 census shows Thomas Gyles, age 10, living with his mother Ann C. Gyles, head of household, age 45. It is easy to see how both of these records could be interpreted to refer to Ann "Nancy" Quick Curnow rather than Ann Curnow Gyles. But the 1871 census disambiguates this. The Thomas Gyles who is shown in St. Ives, age 20, living in the household of William H. and Nancy Gyles, is given as a "builder", not a trade our Thomas Gyles is ever recorded as having plied. (This Thomas Gyles's father, William Harry Gyles, was a "builder & architect.") Meanwhile, also in the 1871 census, our Thomas Gyles, age 20, called a "fisherman" (which we know was his trade), is living at The Wharf, St. Ives, with Daniel Veal, age 49, head of household (to whom Thomas Gyles is called "son-in-law"), and Ann Veal, age 56. And St. Ives parish records show that in 1862, following the 1854 death of Thomas's father George Gyles, Ann Curnow (Hodge) Gyles married Daniel Veal. (Her 1895 death record calls her Ann Curnow Veal.)

He and his wife Mary moved to Wales sometime between the 1891 census of England and the 1901 census of Wales. They appear to have lived the rest of their lives in Barry, Glamorganshire. His probate record of 14 Jan 1927 refers to him as "GYLES Thomas of 68 Castleland-street Barry".

Thomas married Mary Edwards on 1 Jun 1873 in St. Ives, Cornwall, England. Mary (daughter of Anthony Grenfell Edwards and Jane Andrew) was born on 4 May 1851 in Penzance, Cornwall, England; was christened on 14 May 1851 in St. Ives Primitive Methodist Chapel, St. Ives, Cornwall, England; died on 27 Jun 1937 in East Glamorgan, Glamorgan, Wales. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Described on her marriage record as "spinster." Could sign her own name.

Notes:

Witnesses: Anthony Grenfell Edwards, Jane Edwards.

Notes:

"COUCH--At the Royal Jubilee Hospital on December 29, 1937, Anthony Couch, of 568 Hillside Ave; aged 86 years; born in St. Ives, Cornwall, England, and a resident of this city since 1919. Survived by two sons, Anthony Couch, Victoria, and Alwyn Couch, Toronto; three daughters, Mrs. John Matthews, Toronto, Mrs. James Beckerley, Victoria, and Mrs. Richard Gyles, Flint, Mich.; also 34 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. The remains are resting in Hayward's B.C. Funeral Chapel, from where the funeral will take place Friday morning at 11 o'clock. Interment in Royal Oak Burial Park." [Victoria, British Columbia, Daily Times, 30 Dec 1937, p. 14]

Called a "fisherman" when his daughter Lottie was baptized in 1888. He and his wife, with their son Alwyn, emigrated on the Royal Edward, which departed from Avonmouth (near Bristol) and arrived at Montreal on 25 Oct 1911. On the passenger list, he's described as a "gardener."

(Built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Glasgow, Scotland, the Royal Edward was placed in Avonmouth-Quebec-Montreal service in May 1910. Converted to a troopship in 1914, it was torpedoed and sunk near Kamadeliusa, Aegean Sea, August 1915, with the loss of 935 lives.)

He was baptized a Methodist, as was his daughter Lottie Couch. His mother was Elizabeth Uren, daughter of John Uren (1781-1862), son of Philip Uren, "tinner," who marred Anne Odgers, "sojourner," in 1777. A History of the Parishes of St. Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor in the County of Cornwall (by John Hobson Matthews; London: Elliot Stock, 1892) notes that in St. Ives, "in Street-an-Garrow, are the ruined remains of an old house where Wesley stayed during his later visits to Saint Ives, when the house was the home of the Uren family." The Wesley in question being John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. This is confirmed in Wesley's own journals, published in seven volumes in the late 19th and early 20th century. On 27 Aug 1789 Wesley reports that he preached first at Truro (near St. Ives) and then at Port Isaac (a few miles further up the north coast). "I preached in the evening, in an open part of town, to almost all the inhabitants of it. How changed since the time when he that invited me durst not take me in, for fear his house should be pulled down!" A editor's footnote to this passage states that "During his later visits to St. Ives he was the guest of the Uren family in the house adjoining that of John Nance, his earliest host."

Wesley wasn't kidding about the threats of violence during his earlier visits. His entry for 4 April 1744, on the occasion of his first visit to St. Ives forty-five years earlier, notes that "I was a little surprised at entering John Nance's house, being received by many, who were waiting for me there, with a loud (though not bitter) cry. But they soon recovered; and we poured out our souls together in praises and thanksgiving. As soon as we went out we were saluted, as usual, with a huzza and a few stones and pieces of dirt." An editor's footnote notes that John Nance's house "stood at the top of the Street-an-Garrow (the rough street)", thus further confirming the accuracy of John Hobson Matthews's report. Street-an-Garrow exists today and can be viewed on Google Street View, which shows it to be one of those impossibly narrow English streets that would be terrifying to drive a car on. Its upper reach is capped by a U-shaped street now called Wesley Place.

In the next day's entry, 5 April 1744, Wesley writes "I took a view of the house which the mob had pulled down a little before, for joy that Admiral Matthews had beat the Spaniards. Such is the Cornish method of thanksgiving. I suppose, if Admiral Lestock had fought too, they would have knocked all the Methodists on the head." The house the mob had "pulled down" was that of a Methodist named James Roberts, who, like our ancestor Philip Uren, was a "tinner." In other words, Wesley's hosts and associates, both at the beginning of his long career as a travelling preacher, and at its end, were frequently working people just like the Urens, most of whom lived in what we would consider the rough part of town.

Anthony married Elizabeth Jane Penberthy on 30 Aug 1876 in St. Ives, Cornwall, England. Elizabeth (daughter of James Penberthy and Elizabeth Hocking) was born on 21 Feb 1852 in St. Ives, Cornwall, England; was christened on 22 Aug 1860 in St. Ives, Cornwall, England; died on 14 Oct 1933 in Saanich, British Columbia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The passenger list of the Royal Edward, on which she and her husband (and their son Alwyn) emigrated to Canada in 1911, calls her "Lily Couch."