WEEK 3 – Out of Place - The Chicago Marriage of William Robertson & Harriet Queen

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This year, I’ve decided to participate in “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Genealogical Challenge (#52Ancestors). This is a way of chronicling my ancestors and getting the information out of my filing cabinet and out to friends and family.

If you can add to the information or have your own stories, please feel free to add them in the comments. Who knows, perhaps you’ll help me break through a few of my brick walls.

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#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks

WEEK 3 – Out of Place - The Chicago Marriage of William Robertson & Harriet Queen

For 45 years I could not find anything that showed my 2nd Great-grandparents married.

William Robertson, himself was a bit of a mystery.

The first time I found documentation on him was the 1852 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia for Grenville County, Canada West Ontario, Canada conducted on 12 January 1852. He was listed as single and a clerk. It also said he was born in Canada East (Quebec).

The next instance of his existence was recorded on 14 January 1861 for the 1861 Census of Canada, almost nine (9) years to the day of the first Census. He is listed as being 28 years old, Married, living in Spencerville, Edwardsburgh, Grenville County, Canada West.

Hard as I tried, I could not locate any Marriage documents for William and his bride Harriet QUEEN.

On top of that I have not been able to discover any birth documentation on their first born, Andrew Robertson. Various documents indicate he was born around May 1858 or 1859.

Now we fast-forward, to the fall of 2021. I was conducting a general search on Google for "William Robertson and Harriet Queen" and I got a hit on from a Chicago, Illinois Newspaper Site.

I found a clipping from the Chicago Tribune, 08 July 1858, which read:

MARRIED

On the 6th inst. by Rev. H. L. Hammond. Mr. WM. ROBERTSON and Miss HARRIET QUEEN, both of Spencerville, C.W.

Chicago Tribune clipping, 08 July 1858 Marriage of William Robertson & Harriet Queen

Wow!  At last I found it. Unfortunately that was all I was going to find. It seems that all other records for that time period in Chicago were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Mrs. O'Leary's cow was really messing with my research.

On top of that, this discovery opened up several more questions:

1. If they were married in July 1858 and Andrew was born in May, was the baby with them?
2. Was Andrew born in Chicago?
3. Why travel to Chicago to wed? It's over 1200 km (on todays roads/rails). Were there not better, closer destinations in Canada to get married?
4. Did either of them have family in Chicago? I haven't discovered any as of yet.

But alas, that is the nature of Genealogy. The stick and the carrot is always there and on occasion we get the carrot, but more often that not, we sometime just get a longer stick.

The Search Continues...