Samuel McCoskery, Matilda Howe 

and Mary Ann Shier Moore

 

 

 

At this point, the trail back to Scotland and Ireland is unclear for our great-great grandparents, Samuel Sr. and Matilda Howe. Paperwork places them in Canada and they indicate on census forms that they were born in Scotland and Ireland, but I haven't found a definite link to family or place in Great Britain.

 

In 2016, I received a message in Ancestry from Wes, a distance cousin in Dawson Creek, BC. He had information about the lineage of Margaret Moore, our great-grandmother (Fred's mother). Margaret's mother was Mary Ann Shier Moore and her father was Walter Moore. This information comes from Wes:

 

"Just a short word about Walter Moore. As you know, they arrived in Bervie in 1850, (from St. Marys, I think). After Christmas in 1854, Walter was either (1) away down towards Windsor, Ontario working at cutting wood or (2) he was in Goderich picking up some belongings that he had not been able to take on the last leg of their initial journey to Bervie. He had a loaded sleigh and was on his way home. Crossing the river there at Goderich, I guess he thought the river was frozen, but it wasn't hard enough (in March), and the horses, sleigh and himself were all lost. The very sad part was that his youngest daughter was born the following August. I can scarcely imagine how Mary Ann managed!"

 

In the 1861 Canadian census, Mary Ann Shier Moore is recorded as a farmer and a widow and she lived in a log home. Her children were 14, 13, 11, 9 and 7. She was a Wesleyan Methodist, she never remarried and lived to be 92.

 

Wes also sent me the lineage of the Shier family back to 1674 where they lived in the area of the Upper Rhine of Germany. The term Palatine describes one of a group of about 14,000 immigrants who fled their homeland in the area of the Upper Rhine during the period of May to October 1709 and the Shiers were part of this group. I suggest checking out Wikipedia for a complete history of these poor people. Everyone was after them and nobody wanted them. The Shiers ended up in Ireland, Protestants in a Catholic country, which didn't work very well. Some of the Palatines settled in Ireland after a time, but most kept hopping boats to Canada and the US. The Shiers were Wesleyan Methodists, converted probably by John Wesley himself in Ireland. From the journal of John Wesley, we read,

 

"In July 1760 I rode to Pallaskenry, which was a German settlement, but the poor settlers with all their diligence and frugality could not procure even the coarsest food to eat and the meanest raiment to put on, so that most of these, as well as those at Ballingrane, have been forced to seek bread in other places, some of them in distant parts of Ireland but the greater part to America."

 

Mary Ann and Walter were both born in Ireland and married in London, Ontario on January 13, 1845.

 

Our ancestors were tough people, men and women both, but I'm always taken with the women who were widowed young and ended up staying single and raising children in the wilderness. Matilda McCoskery and Mary Ann Moore lived in the same community and their children, Samuel G. McCoskery and Margaret Moore married. It was obvious the church was important to both families and I like to think Matilda and Mary Ann were friends surrounded by a loving church family. 

 

 Samuel G. McCoskery from Ontario to Wheatland

 

Laura Boyer McCoskery

 

 Laura G. Boyer McCoskery from Illinois to Montana

Laura Boyer McCoskery was born on May 28, 1892 in Sherman Township, Mason, Illinois. In her first census in 1900, she is 8 years old and the family lives in Sherman Township. Her father, Malain is 32 years old and a farmer. The census also notes that everyone in the family can read and write, including Laura. Her brother Clyde is 14 and sister Stella is 11. 

 

Malain Boyer Family of Illinois about 1900-1904
Stella, Clyde, Mother Lura, Laura and Malain seated

By 1910, the family has moved about 90 miles west to the township of Montebello, Hancock, Illinois on or near the Mississippi River. Malain and Lura are in their early 40s, Clyde is 23, Stella is 21, Laura is 17 and Chester is 2. Malain is a farmer and Clyde's a farmer's helper. The census also records that Lura had 5 children and 4 are living.

 

 

 

Clyde Boyer is on the left. No date or location.

 

Four years later, on November 29, 1916, Laura married Fred McCoskery in Clay County, Minnesota, which was just down the road from the McCoskery's in Wheatland, ND. I've wondered how Laura, the Illinois native, met Fred, and I stumbled across a newspaper clipping from Fargo, "On Wednesday of this week, Fred McCoskery and Miss Laura Boyer, were quietly married at the home of the bride." She lived in or near Fargo. Maybe her whole family moved there, but there's no record of it.

 

By 1920, she, Fred, and baby Woody were all in Helena with her brother Clyde and her mother-in-law Margaret. In 1920, her father Malain, mother Lura and brother Chester lived at Lakeside in Montana. One year later, on March 11, 1921, Chester died of kidney failure brought on by measles. He was 13.

 

Laura's history in Helena is tied up with Fred, which I've already written about. She doesn't show up in the social columns. If Linda, Bob or even Dave have memories they would like to share, I'll post them! I was about four and a half when she died. My memories include a nice feeling and cigar smoke. Not her cigars - Clyde's. 

 

 

Fred and Laura McCoskery with Ruth, Linda and Bob

 

Fred and Laura McCoskery with someone peeking out the window

Clyde Boyer with his sister Laura McCoskery. These Christmas photos have 1957 on the back but I think they are reprints.

Ruth McCoskery, Elsie and Don Wilcox, Stella's husband Max and Fred McCoskery

Stella Boyer

Fred McCoskery after North Dakota from Census records and the Independent Record

 

    

 Fred McCoskery after North Dakota from Census records and the Independent Record

 

Woodrow Frederick McCoskery was born on June 8, 1918 in Wheatland, North Dakota, but he didn't stay there long. The census taken in Helena on January 14, 1920, lists him and Fred, 25; Laura, 27; Clyde, 35;  and M. McCoskery (Margaret), 67; living on Main Street (no number). Fred and Clyde, Laura's brother, worked at the smelter.  Two months later, In the March 28, 1920 edition of the Independent Record, it's noted that "Clyde Boyer, Fred McCoskery and family moved out to the farm on Thursday." In April of 1920 there was another notice stating that, "Mrs. Fred McCoskery, who has been ill at St. Johns Hospital, is home again." Perhaps Margaret, Fred's mother,  came out from North Dakota to help with 18 month old Woody because Laura was ill. Margaret didn't stay. She died in North Dakota a few years later.

 

In 1930, when Woody was 11, the family lived at 633 Logan Street in Helena. Fred worked as a clerk at "Implement Company", probably T.C. Power as indicated in his obituary, and Laura worked as an operator at the "Cream Station". Elsie, dad's sister, was 10 and there wasn't anyone else living with them at this time. I know that the family lived at Canyon Ferry in May of 1932, because Canyon Ferry student Woody McCoskery won the Lewis and Clark County 8th grade first place award for arithmetic.

 

By 1935, Fred was either owner or part owner of Blue Mill Service Station on the corner of 11th and Roberts Street. When I asked Elsie about the 1935 earthquake, she told me about the service station. She said her dad had a station across from the Intermountain College and got a lot of business from the students. He sold food items, including sandwiches. Woody, at about 15 or 16, worked there, too. On October 12, 1935, after a month of small tremors, the first big quake hit. Elsie said she was upstairs in their home and she ran down to her mother. Eventually, she ran to the service station where Fred and Woody were working. She said her dad and brother pumped gas all night for people who were leaving Helena. She also indicated it was the beginning of the end of the service station, as the college, heavily damaged by the quake, moved to Great Falls.

 

The October 31, 1935 edition of The Independent Record lists requests to the city for building permits for earthquake damage repair. Fred McCoskery had asked for a permit to "move Blue Mill Service Station at 11th avenue and Roberts street,  parallel to 11th avenue", at a cost of $175. It's unclear exactly what that meant or if anything happened. On November 21, 1935, Fred's photo was included in an ad for Calso Gasoline products in the Independent Record. 

 

 

 In March and April of 1936 there were a series of notices from the city building council about Fred McCoskery's request for a building permit for 10 tourist cabins on the corner of 11th and Roberts. A second article indicated a petition from neighbors protesting the permit, and an article on April 14 states, "Protests have been made by owners of adjacent property and the building permit for the project has been held up for more than three weeks. Commissioner Noble Evans said he believed that the objections would be withdrawn if McCoskery's plans were fully understood. No action was taken, however." The project would have cost $5000 and it never materialized. A side note on this particular article - at the same meeting, the city building council approved the sale of the old fire station on Breckenridge for $350 to a trucking company.

 

Four years later, in the April 13, 1940 census, Fred listed his employment as a prospector in the mining industry. At that time, the family lived at 208 North Hoback and Woody, at 21, was employed at Capitol Motors. On October 13 of that year, Woody married Ruth. In 1940, he also filled out his draft notice which indicated he and Mom lived at the Stewart Homes.

 

The 1950 census is the first time Lura Boyer, Laura's mother, turns up in the census in their home, 415 N. Beattie. Clyde was also living with Fred and Laura at this time. Fred was employed as a planer at a lumber mill, probably Foley's Mill. Some time during the 40's Fred and Laura farmed in the valley, but it was between the census years. Fred's obituary also states, "during WWII he was engaged in defense work at the shipyards in Tacoma." From Elsie I remember something about a turkey farm at some point. He did whatever he could.

 

On March 18, 1952, Fred died after a two year illness, which Linda remembers as lung cancer or emphysema. At the time of his death, he was the custodian at the Mitchell Building across from the Capital building. 

 

 --------------------------------

 

US Census Records from 1920, 1930, 1940 and 1950

Independent Record Articles: 28 March 1920, 25 April 1920, 31 Oct 1935,  21 Nov 1935, 17 March 1936, 18 March 1936, 24 March 1936, 20 March 1952

Elsie Wilcox