GENEALOGY PROBLEM
Betsy Jackson
GOAL
My goal has changed as I’ve begun to research Census data, family letters,
and other listings on Ancestry.com. The original goal was to try to confirm/refute
family lore that says that my paternal great-grandmother Mary Farrar Pimlott and
her husband (my paternal great-grandfather) Frank Pimlott had eight children,
divorced at some time, and divided the custodial arrangements by gender – the girl
children going with Mary and the boy children going with Frank. I was most
interested in (1) confirming divorce decree and charges for bringing the divorce
request (and who brought it) and (2) whether the custodial arrangement was
mutually agreed to, or awarded by the court.
BUT…Census research does confirm that Mary and Frank separated, but
custody was not divided by gender lines. At one point, Mary has all living children
with her; at another time, she has some of the children (all girls), while Frank has
two boys and one girl. Frank and Mary self-identify as married even while living
separately. Mary self-identifies as widowed after Frank’s death. They never lived
together after the 1900 Census.
SO… here are my 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?
Francis B. Pimlott
b. 1844, Tipperary, Ireland.
d. 1920-1930, Detroit, MI (guessing)
m. c.1890 (Frank was 46; Mary 19!)
Mary L. (or J.) Farrar
b. 1.9.1871, Columbus, MI
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
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b. 1.14.1898, Detroit, MI
Hannah Isabel Pimlott
b. 1901, Detroit, MI
Syble Pimlott
b. 6.24.1903, Detroit, MI
Margaret(h) Pimlott
b. 1906. Detroit, MI
d. 11.1.1904, Detroit, MI (decapitated)
d. 1976, Santa Monica, CA
d. 6.2.1981, Vandalia, OH (Dayton)
d. unknown
1861 Census of Canada –
Simcoe, West Canada, Canada
Francis Pimlott
1871 Census of Canada –
Ontario, Canada
Francis Pimlott
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.
1900 Census –
Detroit, Ward 16, Wayne County, MI
Francis B. Pimlott, Head, Age 56, Locomotive Engineer
Mary Pimlott, Wife, Age 30
George Pimlott, Son, Age 8
Francis Pimlott, Son, Age 6
Mary Alice Pimlott, Daughter, Age 4
William Pimlott, Son, Age 2
Bridget Tilley, Pimlott, Mother of Francis, Age 81
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
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Hannah Pimlot, Daughter, Age 9
Sybil (misspelled) Pimlot, Daughter, Age 6
Margaret(h) Pimlot, Daughter, Age 4
Note: Mary and the kids moved out to Gilroy sometime between 1901 and 1910; her
parents are already in Gilroy, running their own orchard, by the 1900 Census.
1920 Census –
Detroit, Ward 18, Wayne County, MI
Francis B. Pimlott, Head, Age 76, Married, Automotive plant repairman
George John Tilley Pimlott, Age 28, Locomotive engineer
Francis Lafayette Pimlott, Age 26, no occupation
Mary Alice Pimlott, Age 24, no occupation
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
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?
No record of Francis Pimlott in 1930 Census, to my knowledge. Date of death
unknown.
1940 Census –
No record of Mary F. Pimlott; believed to have died November, 1933, in Detroit, MI
Note: Sybil (misspelled) Pimlott is listed in the 1940 Census as age 44 and living with
her daughter Ila Mae, in the household of William and Agnes Maloney. Syble is listed as
divorced (for the first time – she was previously only listed as single). Her occupation is
still stenographer (loan company). Somewhere – I can’t reproduce it – Syble is
identified as both Syble Pimlott and Syble Maloney in parens.
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