Emma

Have you ever thought about ‘guiding stars’ when it comes to your genealogy research? When I first started doing research, my ‘guiding stars’ were basically information from others. At first, this was my grandmothers and great aunts. As I dug deeper, my ‘guiding stars’ were family group sheets, IGI records, printed genealogies and even biographies in county histories. These ‘guiding stars’ provided information about the family structure (i.e. names), places and dates. Armed with that information, I was able to dig into the records to find documentation to support that information.

Today, I would have to say that my ‘guiding star’ is the FamilySearch collaborative tree because

• I can capture the information about an individual by pulling said individual directly into my genealogy software and connect them to their family.
• the information for an individual in the FS tree is the result of several researchers coming to a consensus about the person in the tree.

Unfortunately, there are times when my guiding star, the FS tree, lets me down. While updating my research of the descendants of Lewis Crandall and Almira Nafus, in particular the children of John Nafus Crandall, the FS tree did just that, it let me down.

While researching John’s daughter, Emma, I found that I needed to add her husband and children to my file in order fully utilize a census record. Thus, out to FS I went to grab her husband and children. I had Emma connected to LR5B-VSX on the FS tree. The husband and children on FS matched the census record I had found for Emma Crandall Wiley.

But, this Emma Crandall shows her as the daughter of Charles Crandall and Sarah Robinson and not of John Nafus Crandall. When I checked the sources attached to this Emma Crandall, it appeared possible that the sources were for two different Emma Crandalls.

Before making any changes on the FS tree, I continued to document the life of Emma Crandall Wiley in Oregon. In particular, I was looking for documents connecting Emma Wiley to John Nafus Crandall. I already had an article about John and Charlotte Crandall’s 50th wedding anniversary which names the children.

The children are: L. A. Crandall, I. M. Crandall, A. I. Crandall, Mrs. W. M. Brown, Mrs. A. G. Williams, all of this city; Mrs. L. A. Wiley of Portland, and W. H. Crandall of Roseburg.

“Mr. and Mrs. John N. Crandall,” Oregonian, The (Portland, OR), 9 April 1911, page 6; Digital Image, Genealogy Bank (www.genealogybank.com : viewed online 14 April 2022).

In addition, I had found an obituary for John N. Crandall in a Smith county, Kansas newspaper that also identifies the children.

“He was married to Charlotte Jane Brown at Bonaparte, Ia., April 4, 1861, who survives him. To this union seven children were born, four sons and three daughters as follows: Lewis A., Ira M. and Albert Il, of Lebanon; M. Harley of Roseburg; Mrs. W. M. Brown and Mrs. A. G. Williams of Lebanon and Mrs. L. A. Wiley of Portland, all of whom were with him during his last sickness and death.

“John Crandall Dead,” Smith County Pioneer (Smith Centre, Kansas), 31 December 1914, page 4; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 14 April 2022).

In 1922, the obituary for her sister, Lula Crandall Williams, identifies the siblings.

She is survived by her husband, A. G. Williams, her son Lewis, and the following brothers and sisters: M. Harley Crandall and Mrs. L. A. Wiley of Portland; Mrs. W. M. Brown, Lewis A., Ira M. and Albert I. Crandall who have resided here for the past thirty years and are well known.

“Obituary,” The Lebanon Express (Lebanon, Oregon), 5 April 1922, page 4; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 15 April 2022).

Further digging in the newspapers uncovered an article about Emma’s 1900 marriage to Luther Wiley. Unfortunately, it does not name Emma’s parents.

Married
Wiley- Crandall — At the home of the bride’s parents in Lebanon, on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 1900, Prof. Luther A. Wiley and Miss Emma O. Crandall both of Lebanon. Dr. D. M. Davenport officiating.
The groom is one of Linn countys best known and most popular young men. He came here from Illinois when but a child, received his primary education in Santiam Academy, and graduated from Albany College in 1898. Mr. Wiley was a member of the Second Oregon Volunteers and rendered faithful service in the Philippines until the recall of the regiment. He has been elected principal of the Jefferson schools for the ensuing year. The bride is a most estimable young lady, well and favorably known. Prof. and Mrs. Wiley were in Albany yesterday en route to Portland, where they will attend the carnival. After October 1st they will make their home in Jefferson.

“Wiley-Crandall,” Albany Weekly Herald (Albany, Oregon), 13 September 1900, page 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 15 April 2022).

Emma’s husband, Luther Wiley dies in June of 1923. One of his obituaries identifies his wife and their children.

He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Emma Crandall, and twin daughters, Merle and Merz, 11 years of age. He also has two sisters in Portland, Mrs. Joseph Reddich and Mrs. Ila Robe.

“Former Albany Educator Dead,” Albany Daily Democrat (Albany, Oregon), 28 June 1923, page 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 15 April 2022).

At the time of his death, there are a couple of mentions in the Lebanon, Oregon papers of Mrs. Brown traveling to Portland to spend time with her sister.

Mrs. W. M. Brown has returned from Portland, where she was at the home of her sister, Mrs. L. A. Wiley, during the illness and recent passing of Mr. Wiley.

“Local Happenings,” The Lebanon Express (Lebanon, Oregon), 4 July 1923, Page 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 15 April 2022).

Then, in 1936, the obituary of a brother, Ira M. Crandall, names Emma Wiley as a sister.

He is survived by four daughters, Mrs. Grace Harden and Mrs. Nina Kreitz of Lebanon, Mrs. Hattie Harrison and Mrs Nettie Westerfield of Portland and two grand daughters, Mrs. Frances Bicknell of Bremerton, Wash. and Mrs. Virginia Marks, of Lebanon and one great grandson, Tommy Marks of Lebanon. He is also survived by three brothers and two sisters, L. A. and Mrs. A. L. Crandall and Mrs. Flora Brown of Lebanon and Harley Crandall and Mrs. Emma Wiley of Portland.

“I. M. Crandall, Long Prominent Here, Passes On,” The Lebanon Express (Lebanon, Oregon), 10 December 1936, page 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 15 April 2022).

All of the above newspaper items support Emma Crandall being the daughter of John N. Crandall and wife of Luther Wiley. Fortunately, her death certificate is available to confirm both of these facts.

Now that I’m armed with documentation that Emma is the daughter of John Nafus Crandall, I can begin the process of changing the family connection between Emma and her parents. That’s when I discovered TWO other Emma Crandalls.

• MQ72-GS4 – Emma Oleno Crandall, daughter of John Nafus Crandall but no spouse or children connected to her
• MCVG-3QL – Erma O. Crandall wife of L. A. Wiley with a marriage date of 5 Sep1900. Neither Erma nor L. A. Wiley were connected to parents or children.

After finding an Emma Crandall already attached as a daughter of John Nafus Crandall, I

• added sources to MQ72-GS4 Emma Oleno Crandall
• uploaded some images of those sources to MQ72-GS4
• merged MQ72-GS4 and MCVG-3QL into MQ72-GS4 Emma Oleno Crandall
• merged MCVG-3QW L. A. Wiley and KC54-W7J Luther Alva Wiley into Luther Alva Wiley
• Attached Luther Alva Wiley (KC54-W7J) as a spouse for Emma Oleno Crandall
• Attached the children, Merl Wiley and Merz Wiley, as chidden of Emma Oleno Crandall and Luther Alva Wiley.
• Messaged the individual that had added sources to Emma Crandall (LR5B-VSX), daughter of Charles Crandall that seem to be for Emma, daughter of John Nafus Crandall informing him of my suspicions about the two Emma’s being mixed up.
• Posted a note on Emma (LR5B-VSX), daughter of Charles about my suspicions

Hopefully, I have provided enough information to those updating and/or watching Emma Crandall (LR5B-VSX) to separate Emma daughter of Charles from Emma daughter of John.

Although my guiding star let me down in this instance, it did prompt me to do further research to make sure that I was going in the right direction.