GOAL
To get answers to these questions:
Q1. – Did a divorce ever occur?
Q2. - Frank emigrated from Ireland to Canada. When and with whom?
Q3. - Frank emigrated from Canada sometime after 1871, but I can’t see the
Canadian Census records. When did he emigrate and with whom? Did he enter the
US in Detroit and stay there?
Q4. - When did Frank die? Where? Where is he buried?
Q5. - Where is Mary Farrar Pimlott buried?
Family Group Sheet
Francis B. Pimlott
b. 1844, Tipperary, Ireland.
Mary L. (or J.) Farrar
b. 1.9.1871, Columbus, MI
d. 1920-1930, Detroit, MI (guessing)
m. c.1890 (Frank was 46; Mary 19!)
d. November 1933, Detroit, MI
Children
Baby Pimlott (gender unknown)
b & d. 7.22.1890, Detroit, MI (premature)
George Tilley Pimlott (my grandfather)
b. 9.29.1891, Detroit, MI
d. 10.2.1953, Covington, KY (buried in
Detroit)
Francis Lafayette Pimlott
b. 12.1893, Detroit, MI
d. unknown
Mary Alice Pimlott
b. 11.1895, Detroit, MI
d. unknown
William Farrar Pimlott
b. 1.14.1898, Detroit, MI
d. 11.1.1904, Detroit, MI (decapitated)
Hannah Isabel Pimlott
b. 1901, Detroit, MI
d. 1976, Santa Monica, CA
Syble Pimlott
b. 6.24.1903, Detroit, MI
d. 6.2.1981, Vandalia, OH (Dayton)
Margaret(h) Pimlott
b. 1906. Detroit, MI
d. unknown
1
1844 Francis B. Pimlott b. 1844, Tipperary, Ireland. From subsequent
census records we surmise his father is William, an engineer born
England and his mother is Bridget, born Ireland.
And we know from the dates their children were born that they came to
Canada between 1848 (when son George was born in Ireland) and 1851
(when son Henry was born in Ontario).
1856 William (an presumably the rest of the family) is in the Toronto
City Directory (Ancestry.com image)
1861 – you need the international subscription to get Canadian census
on Ancestry.com and it costs more. 1861 is not yet up at
FamilySearch.org.
Simcoe, West Canada (i.e. Ontario) , Canada Essa Twp. E.D.4
2
William Pimlott Engineer b. England, Church of England age 50
Bridget Pimlott b. Ireland age 42
Francis Pimlott Laborer b. Ireland age 16
George Pimlott b. Ireland age 13
Henry Pimlott b. U.C [Upper Canada] age 10
John Pimlott age 7 b. U.C.
Thomas Pimlott age 5 b. U.C.
Alfred Pimlott age 2 b. U.C.
So they arrived in Canada sometime between 1848-1851
3
William is still alive and living there in 1867; village of Apto -- Apto is
North of Barrie and would not be in Essa Twp. (see map above)
Simcoe Co. City Directory on Ancestry.com
Look at this:
1870 census -- Frank Pimlott age 26 RR Engineer b. Canada fa of foreign
birth, mother of foreign birth, male citizen is living in Norwalk Village,
Norwalk Co. Ohio.
1871 Census of Canada –
Ontario, Canada District: Simcoe South (sub district Essa)
Bridgett Pimlott
Francis Pimlott
George Pimlott
Henery Pimlott
John Pimlott
Hanah E Pimlott
52
27 Engineer
22 Captain
20
17
9
All in hh are listed as b. Ireland, religion Weslyan Methodist.
We’ve lost William, Thomas and Alfred.
Let’s look for death records. REMEMBER: Death, Burial, Probate, Obituary.
1. Death – Ontario started civil registration of deaths in 1869. We have William
in an 1866/67 city directory. We’ve lost him by 1871.
a. The Family Search index of Ontario deaths 1869+ is taken from
recorded vital records. Checking that we do not find the death of any
of these three. We might try church and other records, but for now
let’s go on.
2. Burial Ontario cemeteries are well indexed at http://ocfa.islandnet.com/ --- I
find no burials for any of them.
4
a. Check the list of cemeteries included – it shows none for Essa Twp. in
Simcoe Co.
b. Check the Canada Gen Web /Ontario/ Simcoe Co. – Contact the Simcoe
Co. Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society
i. http://www.waynecook.com/Tombstone_Territory.html
ii. http://www.simcoebogs.com/
3. Perhaps we can find a probate record for William in Simcoe Co. They have
been filmed and can be ordered through the Family History Library.
4. If we look at a map of Simcoe Co. it appears that the large city to closest Essa
Twp. will be Barrie.
So first, let’s go to the Barrie Public Library site and see if they have an index of any
sort….
I checked the online index for this newspaper and no Pimlott deaths appeared
during these years.
Maybe we should start looking for Church records.
Start with the FamilySearch Wiki ONTARIO CHURCH
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ontario_Church_Records
5
1880 Census –
Springwells (Detroit), Wayne County, MI
Uriel S. Farrar, Head, Age 40, Milkman
Alice Farrar, Wife, Age 29, Keeping house
Mary L. Farrar, Daughter, Age 9
Walter Farrar, Son, Age 2
Francis Pimlott does not appear in 1880 Census, as far as I can tell.
But he is in Detroit City Directory 1882
1884 Detroit City Directory
1884 Census. (This is from SeekingMichigan.org)
1884 Springwells, Wayne Co. Michigan house #293/294
6
Pimlott, George | Male | Husband | 36 | married b. IRE ENG IRE
Pimlott, Maggie | Female | Wife | 21 | married SCOT SCOT SCOT
Pimlott, Charlotte T | Female | Daughter | 3 single MI IRE SCOT
Pimlott, Irene H | Female | Daughter | 0 | single b. March MI IRE SCOT
Pimlott, Bridget | Female | Mother | 65 | married IRE IRE IRE
Pimlott, Frank | Male | Son | 40 | single IRE IRE IRE
Buchholz, Bertha | Female | Servant | 20 | 7
Also in Springwell, 1884 household #272
Farrar, Uriel S | Male | Husband | 44 | MI MI NY
Farrar, Alice M | Female | Wife | 33 | NY NY RI
Farrar, Mary I | Female | Daughter | 13 | MI MI NY
Farrar, Walter, Junior | Male | Son | 6 | MI MI NY
Where is (was) Springwells Twp.? Go to Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springwells_Township,_Michigan
And my MICHIGAN page links to an 1873 Atlas, where we find this helpful map of
Wayne County. (Springwells is below Greenfield, west of Detroit proper) Both
Greenfield and Springwells are now defunct.
7
1886 and 1877 City Directory – entries are the same
.
Frank’s brother John dies 1890 in a train
wreck. He is the engineer on one of the
trains.
This is a long story. Two trains collided
in the tunnel in Ohio and several people
were hurt. The accident was blamed on
the carelessness of the crew of one of he
trains. John, who was the engineer on
the train, fell asleep waiting for another
train to clear the tunnel. When he
awoke he mistakenly believed that the
train had come out of the tunnel and
drove forward.
Online (Google books) is a RR
Brotherhood document that notes an
insturance payment to Mrs. Annie
Pimlott, probably a wife of John.
8
He marries in late 1889 or 1890; the 1900 census says married 10 years.
He is 4Their first child is born (and dies) July 22, 1890.
1900 Census –
Detroit, Ward 16, Wayne County, MI
Francis B. Pimlott, Head, Age 56, b. Jan 1844 m10yrs Locomotive Engineer entered
the U.S. 1865;35 years in the U.S. Papers Filed
Mary Pimlott, Wife, Age 30 b. Jan 1870 m10 years mother of 5 children, 4 living MI
MI NY
George Pimlott, Son, Age 8 b. Sept. 1891 MI IRE MI
Francis Pimlott, Son, Age 6 b. Dec. 1893 MI IRE MI
Mary Alice Pimlott, Daughter, Age 4 b. Nov. 1895 MI IRE MI
William Pimlott, Son, Age 2 b. Jan 1898 b. MI CAN (fr) CA(fr)
Bridget Pimlott, Mother of Francis, Age 81 b. Feb. 1819 IRE ENG IRE
They are living at 803 Campbell Ave. ; also living at this address is the family of his
brother
George Pimlott age 51 b. Mrch 1849 b. IRE ENG IRE
Charlotte T. Pimlott dau age 18 b. Oct 1881 b. MI IRE SCOT
Irene Pimlott dau age 16 b. Nov 1883 b. MI IRE SCOT
Francis Pimlott son age 14 b. June 1886 b. MI IRE SCOT
Elizabeth Tilley aunt age 33 b. Sept. 1866 b. IRE ENG IRE
1901 his mother, Bridget
dies. I learn of it by
searching the Detroit
Free Press Historical
newspaper (to 1922)
from the AADL website.
Note the funeral from the
Campbell Ave. M.E.
Church.
9
I had not found a death certificate for her in SeekingMichigan, which has
death certs online 1897-1922. (1867-1897 are online at
FamilySearch.org)
Now that I know the year of death, I will try SeekingMichigan again.
(Notice we also now know the church she attended – Campbell Ave. M.E.
Church. )
I knew she was not under Pimlott because that is what I checked earlier.
This time I searched for given name Bridget county Wayne and Year of
Death 1901.
Her death certificate confirms her maiden name (Tilley) and place of
burial – which will be the first place we look to find the burial of
Frank.
10
Notice that only 3 of her 8 children are living. We only know of 7:
Frank, Henry, John, George, Thomas, Alfred and Hannah.
We believe two died young in Canada (Alfred and Thomas). Frank and
George are alive.
John died in the 1890 train wreck.. Also buried in Woodmere
(FindAGrave) is Hannah Pimlott, who died 1881; this seems likely to be
the dau of William and Bridget, leaving Henry as the likely remaining
living child (and brother to Frank). George will die in 1910. We will
want to keep tabs on Henry and so far he’s not been with the family.
There is a Woodmere Cemetery database online, but the search function
is temporarily disabled because the creator did not like the fact that
data was taken for use on FindAGrave and in Ancestry.com. This is not
the official website of Woodmere.
http://www.woodmerecemeteryresearch.com/records.php
We don’t know if the burials that now appear on FindAGrave are the
only Pimlott in the cemetery. Did she close down the site before
FindAGrave completely raided it??
This 1902 newspaper notice
tells us which church Frank
attended; the St. Thomas
Episcopal Church (Detroit
Free Press, AADL)
TO DO: See if we can find
church records for this
church. Here it is… you will
want to go to the Bentley
Library.
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/
bhlead/umich-bhl9414?rgn=main;view=text
11
We might be able to find their marriage in these records also. And the
baptism of the children, perhaps… but it appears that they don’t have
the earlier death dates. Darn.
Mary and the kids moved out to Gilroy California sometime between 1901 and
1910; her parents are already in Gilroy, running their own orchard, by the 1900
Census.
1910 Census –
Detroit, Ward 16, Wayne County, MI
Francis B. (Frank) Pimlot (misspelled) is living in the household of his brother
George, Age 66, Locomotive Engineer
Gilroy Township, Santa Clara County, CA
Mary Pimlot (misspelled), Head, Age 38, Married, Fruit farmer
George Pimlot, Son, Age 18
Francis Pimlot, Son, Age 16
Mary Alice Pimlot, Daughter, Age 14
Hannah Pimlot, Daughter, Age 9
Sybil (misspelled) Pimlot, Daughter, Age 6
Margaret(h) Pimlot, Daughter, Age 4
In 1910 his brother George dies
Notice his obit names only one
brother (Frank) -- but we think
there is a brother Henry out there
somewhere.
Detroit Free Press Historical
Newspaper from AADL.
1914 Frank Pimlott retires.
Because Pimlott is somewhat unusual, I went to Google Books and used
the advanced search to find Pimlott in full view books, published
between 1870-1950.
12
I found this tribute to him, on the occasion of his retirement, published
in the Locomotive Engineers Monthly Journal vol. 48 p. 640-641 (1914)
13
14
1920 Census –
His wife and family have returned to Michigan and the 3 oldest are
living with him in a house he owns.
Detroit, Ward 18, Wayne County, MI Address: 603 Artillary
Francis B. Pimlott, Head, Age 76, Married, Automotive plant repairman owns
home-mortgaged Year of immigration into U.S. 1880 Papers for
Naturalization filed in 1892.
b. Ireland, parents b. Ireland
George John Tilley Pimlott, Age 28, Locomotive engineer b. Michigan fa b.
Ireland mo. B. Michigan
Francis Lafayette Pimlott, Age 26, no occupation b. Michigan fa b. Ireland mo.
B. Michigan
Mary Alice Pimlott, Age 24, no occupation b. Michigan fa b. Ireland mo. B.
Michigan
Detroit, Ward 8, Wayne County, MI
Mary Pimlott, Head, Age 48, Married, Teacher (Conservatory)
Hannah Pimlott, Daughter, Age 18, Stenographer
Syble Pimlott, Daughter, Age 16, Stenographer
Margaret M. Pimlott, Daughter, Age 14
We believe he may have died sometime after this 1920 census and probably before
the 1930 one, when we are unable to find him. We can find Mary.
1930 Census –
Detroit, Ward 19, Wayne County, MI
Mary F. Pimlott, Head, Age 58, Widowed, Piano teacher
Syble Pimlott, Daughter, Single, Age 27, Stenographer
Ila Mae Pimlott, Adopted daughter, Age 2+
Note: Iola (misspelled) Mae is known to have been born out of wedlock to Syble. Census
lists her father as being born in Connecticut. If she were adopted, would that
information be known and recorded in the Census? (Yes)
So we are back to getting determining his date of death, at which point
we will look for death certificate, burial (place should be noted on death
cert), probate and obituary. To find date of death, we will first work
with city directories 1920 forward to see when he appears, then
disappears. (Burton Collection, Detroit Public Library). Then we will
follow the instructions in the Kucy report for getting a post 1922 death
certificate from Detroit.
15
You may also want to contact other researchers through the
Ancestry.com message boards – You do not need to subscribe.
There is a Pimlott board; here is a sample of a message. I didn’t look at
them. Even though messages are old, people often get notified when
there is a response.
C
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