Clerical Errors do Happen

For years I've been following Grandpa CANTY and his story.  A few months back I made a huge discovery - his death certificate.  I'd searched everywhere under various names such as Thomas Canty, Thomas W. Canty, T Canty, TW Canty.  So where did I find it?  Under George Canty.  What?  Clerical error folks.  Someone had drawn a line through T. W. Canty and written in George Canty.  He lived and died in Beaufort, South Carolina, but someone had written in Jasper County and yet that was crossed out and Beaufort was written in.  One of the Canty family had the date correct, but I could never find it.  So I tried once more and I opened up everything I could find and low and behold, it was listed under George.

I knew it was him because his brother W. A. Canty of Clyo, GA gave the death information.  But I also figured out something else.  His  brother Willy when he gave the names of their parents said Alex Canty.  The person writing it down heard Ellie or Ellic.  But Great Grandpa was  James Alex Canty.

So, one more challenge.  Where is Grandpa Thomas Walter Canty buried?  I'm on the hunt.  Any suggestions????

The Continuing Search Leads to More Answers.

I learned an important lesson.  Go back and try again.  I found from another search of "The Day" which is an old New London, CT newspaper, a very small article but with answers to a couple of important questions I had.  Were they married?  I had never found any documents confirming it.  Well, this little article was about my Grandma suing Grandpa for desertion and requesting custody of their two daughters Leona and Nellie.  It listed the date of their marriage (yay).  Turns out Grandpa was kind of a rat.  He left Grandma in Connecticut and went back to what must have been his much-missed South.  Of course, it seems impossible to get all the facts at this point.  But I was happy to learn this part of the story and now I can try to get a copy of their marriage certificate.  I also need to get his death certificate to verify the information I have, but from knowing nothing to knowing even more than my mother probably knew about her paternal side, I have filled in almost all the blanks.

So if you did a search once - go back and try again - you might be rewarded with some answers.

A Date of Death

Rejoined Ancestry and found an updated Family Tree from another Canty Cousin and low and behold was a date and place of death.  9 Nov 41 in Beaufort, South Carolina.  There were no records to back this up but I'm hoping with an actual place and date I can send for a certificate.  I feel like I am closer to this grandfather than the ones I had more information about to start with.  I have searched, and turned over stones, and been to many many genealogy classes and I feel I now understand the story of his life.  I'll never know why he left his original family but I suspect he was homesick for the South.  A long history of calling the Low Country home.  On the other hand, my Grandma Fanny had an even longer relationship to the North.  Of course, there is more to this than we'll ever know, but I feel like I have graduated from the child who lost her mother at 5 years of age and knew very little about her and the extended family, to a woman who knows more than even her mother did about this family.  It is a special time we live in to have these answers at our finger tips.  I feel at peace and I am glad to share this story with my sons and their family.

Another Divorce

Continued searching has led me to another census report showing that Grandpa Canty and Mamie, his second wife, divorced.  He ends up back in South Carolina in a place called Bluffton.  I wonder if my mother knew anything about him or if they ever connected?  I don't suppose I'll find the answer to their personal relationship, but I do know it was a possibility.

The Quest and Finding Answers

Wow, has it been this long since I've updated my Quest for the Canty family?  Amazing.  It is also amazing the answers I have found since I last checked in.  Yes, I can confirm that my Great Grandfather James Alex CANTY was born on St. Catherine's Island.  It took a while to get from "St. Sincath" to St. Catherine's but I did arrive.  Evidently Great Grandpa was born on this island back in the 1860 era while his father Thomas H CANTEY (the spelling goes back and forth) was working as an overseer on a plantation owned by Jacob Waldburg, a man with 255 slaves.  I was shocked to learn this and dismayed.  I am curious to find out more and will continue to search the facts.  Isn't it interesting how history becomes so personal when family connections bring it alive?

In my quest for Grandpa Canty, I have found answers as well.  The last information was that he lived in Clyo GA and then I lost him.  However, it turns out he remarried and moved to Savannah, GA.  Lost him again around 1930 which I think is more than likely when he passed away.  I am going to try to get a death certificate.

A Face to Face Connection

So I've slowed down a bit searching for my Canty roots but have also made concrete strides.  Grandpa Canty and Grandma Fanny had two daughters and one son.  My Aunt Leona took some effort to find, but eventually I was able to find that Leona had married Ora Lambert and they had a daughter, my first cousin, whose name was Verna "Val" Lambert.  I persevered and found Verna's obituary and from that found that she had married a Frank Lewis and had a daughter named Linda.  Well, she had also married again and other children, but the fun part of this search is I have made contact with my first cousin, once removed (hope I have that right).  She lives in Texas.  I live in Idaho.  But she is traveling this way and I am going to get to meet her in person!!  So Grandpa we have not forgotten you.  The Canty family is still connecting.  More later y'all.

Sidetrips

I have not been able to find out any more about Thomas Walter CANTY.  The last piece of information was his WWI registration where he was living either with or near his brother William CANTY in Clyo, Georgia.  This was in 1918.  So, was there a marriage? a divorce? and what happened after that? 

Since I have not been able to find out any more YET, I have been taking some side trips into explorating the area where my Great Grandfather James Alex CANTY was from.  Looks like he might have been born on St. Catherine's Island off the coast of Georgia.  Having never been to that part of the country I am finding the barrier islands along the southeastern U.S. to be very interesting.

St. Catherine's Island is now used for wildlife research, but it had an interesting past.  I will share more that next time.