Tag Archives: Benacs

The True and Unknown Story of James and Margaret

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The story of James and Margaret touched me deeply when I first heard it. What happened to Margaret? I wanted to find her. Since today it is Grandma’s birthday in the USA, I thought I’d post about them again.

Before I began the research for this family, I found that James M. has been sealed to Margaret and to his three children. We think we know Margaret’s parents and James’ parents. They’ve all been sealed, and James has been sealed to his brothers. Now we need to go back a generation.

In doing some very preliminary research, I’ve found holes in this romantic story: I don’t think this story is actually true, and I don’t think we have the children of James and Margaret correct. Here are some things I’ve found and the questions that are raised. If any of you know anything about family history research, I’d love pointers of where to go next.

  • Tradition shows James M. and Margaret being married in 1867. The marriage certificate I found places their marriage in January 1869. This is the one Grandma and my mom believe is theirs, and the parents listed as witnesses are those James and Margaret have been sealed to.
  • James D. claims his own birth as June 1866. This is what he claimed on the 1900 Indiana Patoka census. I don’t think he’d mis-claim his own birth year when he was more than 30 years old. This birth year seems odd given his parent’s marriage date, either the certificate year of 1869 or the traditional year of 1867.
  • In an 1871 U.K. census, I find James and Margaret listed with James Delany, a nephew. I believe this is our James M. and Margaret because it is in the district their wedding occurred in. Also, on the census, James M. is listed as a brick labourer, which is what we know his occupation was in England. This raises many questions. First, where is Margaret Ann, who was supposedly born in 1869? Also, if James D. is James Delany, and he is a nephew, then we’ve sealed him to the wrong parents! Who are his parents? Grandma Benac doesn’t recall Uncle Jim being anything but James M.’s son, but since he was already living with James and Margaret in 1871, maybe something happened to his parents before then and he was adopted at a very young age.
  • I found a 1881 census that lists James M., Martin (James’ brother), and Margaret Ann. I believe these are the correct ancestors, given the district they are found in and their ages and occupations. However, Edwin and Margaret are not to be found on that census, and neither is James D./James Delany. Supposedly, then, Edwin and Margaret already left for America. When did they arrive in America? I have been unable to find them on any ship manifest between 1880 and 1885. Did they make it to America? And where is James D./James Delany? If he’s been adopted, would he still be at home as a 15-year-old boy? Where did he go?
  • I found the 1885 ship manifest from England to New York which lists James Simmons (42), Martin Simmons (46), Margaret Ann Simmons (17), and James Simmons (19). So, by the time they were coming to America, four years after that last census, James D. was already “adopted” into the Simmons’ family and had taken on him their surname. Where did his family go? Who were his family? And why did James M. wait four years before coming after Margaret and Edwin?
  • James D. married late in life. He and his wife, Neicie, were unable to have children. They adopted a boy they named Logan, which was James M.’s mother’s maiden surname. Was James D. related via James M.’s family? On which side, Margaret or James, was he a nephew, as was indicated in the 1871 census?

I need to find James D.: when he was born, who his parents were, where his parents went. I don’t know where to begin. There is so much unanswered, and the search function on Ancestry.com is not the easiest to manipulate. U.K. records are not digital — only the indexes are. So I suspect I’ll have to order the records when I’m sure I have the right one. And how can I be sure? I can’t.

Here’s what I am sure of: there is more to this family than I thought. The most important thing will be finding the right parents so our family can be sealed to their right parents.

The Romance of James and Margaret Simon (Simons/Simmons)

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I started a Benac family history project a year and a half ago. Then I got distracted by a big box of Sorenson Family History. While I remained in Chicago, I scanned the Sorenson family history stories. I am grateful I could get those stories into an electronic format. All of the baptisms and sealings have been done for the Sorenson side, back for a long time.

Lately, I keep thinking about the Benac family history project I started a year and a half ago. I know I need to work on it. I keep feeling the promptings of the Spirit urging me into action. I’m beginning again. Since it is Grandma Benac’s birthday today (it’s already April 14 in Australia), I thought I’d post about this couple in her honor.

I’ll begin telling you the family folklore. In another post, I’ll tell you what I’ve discovered.

James M. Simons (Simmons/Simon) and Margaret were both Irish Catholics, married in the 1860s in England. They had three children: James D., Margaret Ann, and Edwin. James M. was a bricklayer. When Edwin was quite young, the family decided to immigrate to New York City. Margaret had been offered a job working with her sister at a home of a well-to-do woman. She would be the housekeeper for this woman.

In 1881, just when the family was prepared to head for New York, James took a fall and broke his leg. Margaret would lose the job if she didn’t continue to New York City, so she took Edwin and traveled to New York without James, James D., and Margaret Ann.

In the course of time, letters were exchanged. Supposedly, James M.’s housekeeper, who liked James, wrote to Margaret that they were having an affair. Margaret accused James of this. James, in a stubborn Irish way, insisted that she come home and see for herself that it was not true. She refused to do that. When she stopped writing, James got worried and decided to come to America himself. James M. left England for New York with his older brother Martin, James D., and Margaret Ann. They headed to New York City to find Margaret and Edwin. (Tradition says his father Thomas also came and died on the voyage but there has never been any evidence of this.)

When they arrived in New York City, Margaret was nowhere to be found. The people at the house where she had been working told him she’d left. There was no forwarding address, and no sign of her or Edwin anywhere. James took his children and went with his brother Martin to Indiana, where his other brother, Patrick, lived.

His daughter Margaret Ann married Charles Edwin Wilson in 1888, bore him five children, including John William Wilson in 1891, and died in 1895. John William Wilson later had a daughter named Helen Ruth.

For the rest of James M. Simon’s life, he pursued his quest to find Margaret. He hired private detectives to search for her. All was in vain. He never found her. He died in 1927. Grandma Benac says she remembers the day of his funeral. His dog “Old Vick” lay on the porch by the front door after his death and refused to let anyone enter the house.

But what happened to his wife, his Margaret?