People
Every ancestor has a permanent record. Living relatives appear by name only; their details are kept private.
Albert M. Derry
Albert M. Derry is the son of Thomas Derry Jr. (b. 1832, Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire, England) and the father of Ernest A. Derry (b. 1886, Michigan). He was born in New York, which reflects his family's emigration journey: his grandfather Thomas Derry Sr. (b. 1808, Lichfield, Staffordshire) emigrated to New York, where the family settled before Thomas Jr. eventually pushed west to Michigan. Albert was born during that New York period, then followed his father to Michigan. Tucker's 1913 history gives his birth date as 29 May 1859 and says he lived at Ashley, Gratiot County, where "A. M. Derry & Son (Ernest)" sold agricultural implements, buggies and wagons. The 1884 album says he married Mary Williams and had a son Earl. Find a Grave gives 1859–1945.
Ann (Hartle) Prince
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Anne Emma Stamp
Anne Emma Stamp is the wife of Reuben Hartle and mother of William Lorenzo Hartle. She is identified in a compiled genealogy source. Her birthdate, birthplace, and further details are unknown from currently available records. The surname "Stamp" has English roots.
Annie McLean
Annie McLean is recorded on Find a Grave (memorial created in 2022) as the wife of Archibald McKinnon (1796–1866), which would make her Neil McKinnon's mother. Her memorial gives no dates and notes only "died in Scotland?". A user-built Ancestry tree instead records an Archibald MacKinnon (b. 1796 on Tiree, d. 14 Feb 1866) with mother Ann McLean, so she may be Archibald's mother rather than his wife. The Tiree genealogy site lists an Archibald McKinnon and Ann McLean married about 1778 at Ruaig, but those are the parents of Fingon McKinnon (baptized 1795) and his siblings, not of an Archibald born in 1796. Her role is unresolved.
Archibald MacKinnon
Archibald McKinnon was born about 1796 on Tiree and died on 14 February 1866 in Bruce County, Ontario, aged 70. He is buried at Lovat Cemetery in the same plot as Neil McKinnon (1827–1905) and Neil's wife Janet McLaren; his gravestone is transcribed as "Native of Tiree Scotland". Find a Grave lists him as Neil's father, with a wife, Annie McLean, and the Bruce Township "Migrants" compilation (Anne Judd) names an Archibald, a widower, as the father of Neil and Hugh MacKinnon in Bruce Township. Neil's own son Archie was born in 1866, the year Archibald died. FamilySearch's tree instead gives Donald McKinnon and Christina McFarlane as Neil's parents, but that profile merges two men named Neil McKinnon; Donald and Christina's son was a different man, a minister at Mosa. No record has been found that names Archibald as Neil's father, and his own baptism is not identified: several Archibald McKinnons were christened on Tiree in 1794–1797 (to John and Cathe. McDonald, John and Flora Kennedy, John and Flora McLean, Malcolm and Marion McNiel, and others).
Bailey Bourcier
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Betty (Hartle) Stover
Betty (Hartle) Stover is a sister of Beverly J. (Hartle) Derry. William J. Hartle's 2016 obituary lists Betty among four surviving sisters. Family knowledge supplies the married name Stover, that she is deceased, and three sons: Dean Stover, Kent Stover, and Todd Stover. No public obituary or death date was found.
Beverly J. (Hartle) Derry
Beverly J. Hartle was born April 24, 1930, in the Saginaw, Michigan area — the daughter of Clifford (Lloyd) Hartle and Catherine MacKinnon Hartle. She married Jack Derry and later lived in Shepherd, Isabella County, Michigan, where she passed away on May 23, 2022. She is buried at Salt River Cemetery in Shepherd. Her brother William J. Hartle's 2016 obituary names four sisters — Beverly, Betty, Ann, and Dell. Family knowledge identifies Betty as Betty Stover and Ann as Ann Prince; Dell's legal given name is not yet recorded. Beverly carried both the Scottish MacKinnon heritage (through her mother) and the English/Ontario Hartle heritage (through her father).
Brae Bourcier
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Brantley Bechtel
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Brian Bourcier
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Bruce Mattern
Bruce Mattern was the husband of Dell Hartle and the father of Paige Bahrami. He is deceased.
Catharine McKinnon
Catharine McKinnon was christened on Tiree in July 1835, the daughter of Donald McKinnon and Christina McFarlane (the index gives a christening of 1 July and a birth of 8 July, an order that cannot be right). She is probably the Catherine, 5, in the 1841 census household. Nothing more is known.
Catherine A. MacKinnon Hartle
Catherine A. MacKinnon (later Hartle) was born in 1903 in Bruce County, Ontario, she was the daughter of John MacKinnon and Isabelle Scott. She married Clifford William Lloyd Hartle and moved to Saginaw, Michigan. She and Lloyd are buried together at Roselawn Memorial Gardens, Saginaw County. She is confirmed in the Bruce Township "Migrants" compilation, a Saginaw cemetery transcription, and her son William J. Hartle's 2016 obituary.
Cheryl Prince
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Christina McFarlane
Christina McFarlane was born on 25 June 1802 at Kilkenneth, Tiree, according to the FamilySearch tree, the daughter of Neil McFarlane (b. 1742) and Marion McLean (b. 1769), who married at Grianal on 5 August 1786. She married Donald McKinnon on Tiree on 14 September 1825. The baptism registers write her name as Catharene (1827), Christina (1835 and 1839) and Christiana (1837). She emigrated to Ontario about 1850 and died there in 1861 (FamilySearch tree; no record seen). Their son Niel became Rev. Neil McKinnon of Mosa, Middlesex County, who is not Kyle's ancestor Neil McKinnon of Bruce Township.
Clifford William Lloyd Hartle
Clifford William Lloyd Hartle — known as "Lloyd" — was born August 9, 1903, in Collingwood, Simcoe County, Ontario, he later moved to Michigan and settled in the Saginaw area. He married Catherine A. MacKinnon — a Scottish-descended woman from Bruce County, Ontario — bringing together two Ontario-rooted lines that had both migrated to Michigan. He died March 13, 1974, in Saginaw and is buried at Roselawn Memorial Gardens (Masonic section). A Find a Grave memorial confirms his parentage through what appears to be a birth registration extract.
Colt Prince
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Connor Prince
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Craig Derry
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Dan Prince
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Daniel Derry
Daniel Derry was born around 1782 and lived in Gresley Row, Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is a historic cathedral city in the West Midlands, famous as the birthplace of Samuel Johnson and home to the stunning three-spired Lichfield Cathedral. "Gresley Row" was a street or area within Lichfield. Daniel was a farmer — as were his son Thomas Sr. and grandson Thomas Jr., continuing a farming tradition across three generations before the family eventually emigrated to America. His son Thomas Derry Sr. was born in 1808, also in Lichfield, which, if the family records are right, would place the family there across two generations. Daniel represents the English roots of the Derry name. One published reading derives it from the Norman-French "daree" (penny weight, recorded in 1200 AD); others point to an Irish origin (Ó Doiridh) or to other English sources, so the origin is not settled. No parish or census record for Daniel has yet been found; the Lichfield address and his place in this chain come from family records. A Daniel Derry was baptized at Cannock in 1785, and several other Daniels lived around Lichfield, but none is yet tied to this family.
David Smith
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Dean Stover
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Debra L. Philo Derry
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Dell Hartle
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Donald McKinnon
Donald McKinnon was christened on Tiree on 4 April 1790; the register names his father as John McKinnon and gives no mother. Family records say he was born at Balevullin. He married Christina McFarlane (b. 1802, Kilkenneth) on Tiree on 14 September 1825 (FamilySearch tree). Tiree baptisms record their children Niel (1827), Flora (1829), Catharine (1835), Hugh (1837) and Mary (1839); the 1841 census lists the household at Heylipol with two more children, Marion and John. The family emigrated about 1850 to Ontario. Their son Niel became Rev. Neil McKinnon of Mosa, Middlesex County, who is not Kyle's ancestor Neil McKinnon of Bruce Township; earlier versions of this archive confused the two. The archive also once gave Donald's parents as John MacKinnon and Mary Kennedy of Strath, Skye. That came from the 1873 death record of a different man, Donald Mackinnon of Torrin, Strath, whom FamilySearch's tree had merged with this Donald; his death date of 6 January 1873 at Strath also belongs to that other man.
Dylan Derry
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Ellen Kanitz
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Elton Laverne 'Verne' Philo
Elton Laverne Philo — known as "Verne" — was born 30 December 1922 in Union Township, Isabella County, Michigan, the son of Harley G. Philo and Helen E. Lethorn. On July 4, 1942, he married Ina Mae Racer at the First Church of Christ parsonage in Mt. Pleasant. Together they raised two children: Mark D. Philo and Debra L. Derry (Kyle's mother). Verne and Ina Mae rode motorcycles across 40 US states and 4 Canadian provinces. He died December 1, 2015 in Mt. Pleasant. Ina Mae preceded him on March 17, 2015 — they had been married 72 years.
Ernest A. Derry
Ernest A. Derry was born in 1886 and is the father of Jack Derry, who married Beverly (Hartle) Derry. Ernest married Hattie Estelle Smith (born March 2, 1889, in Jackson Township, Sandusky County, Ohio). Together they lived in Alma, Gratiot County, Michigan, where they raised a large family of 10 children. Hattie died there on August 13, 1959. The Derry surname continued through Jack Derry and Wyn Derry. Ernest's own birthplace and parents remain to be confirmed by primary records — a search of Gratiot County census records starting around 1900–1920 would be the best starting point.
Flora McKinnon Keith
Flora McKinnon was born on 18 May 1829 at Balevullin, Tiree, and christened there on 24 June 1829 (FamilySearch tree), the daughter of Donald McKinnon and Christina McFarlane. On 19 February 1861 she married Duncan Keith (b. about 1826 in Scotland, son of Peter Keith and Julia McDougall) in Ontario County, Ontario; the register names her parents as Donald McKinnon and Christina McFarlane, and her age as 30. The tree gives her immigration as 1850 and her death in 1903 at Mosa Township, Middlesex County, buried at Oakland Cemetery, Glencoe. She is probably the sister of Rev. Neil McKinnon of Mosa, whose 1881 household included two Keith children, Christina and Neil D., who were probably hers.
Gisela Elias
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Haddie Albaugh Racer
The Albaugh surname has a well-documented history, but Haddie's own descent from the immigrant Zachariah Ahlbach has not yet been traced generation by generation, and her parents are unknown. What follows is the history of the surname. The Albaugh surname is an Americanization of German "Ahlbach," the name of a stream and a village in Rhein-Pfalz, Germany. Zachariah Ahlbach was born in 1698 in Germany, sailed to Philadelphia in 1734 on the "Hope Galley," and settled first in New Jersey, then Frederick County, Maryland. Over generations, descendants moved westward through Pennsylvania → Ohio (Preble County) → Indiana → Michigan. The name transformed from Ahlbach to Albach to Aulabaugh to Albaugh along the way. In 1840, Ohio was home to 52% of all American Albaughs. Haddie's branch eventually settled in Michigan, where she married Robert Racer. Together they are the parents of Ina Mae (Racer) Philo — Kyle's maternal great-grandmother.
Harley G. Philo
Harley G. Philo is Kyle's maternal great-great-grandfather and the father of Elton Laverne "Verne" Philo. He is named in Elton's 2015 obituary as one of the "late" parents. He lived in Union Township, Isabella County, Michigan, where Elton was born. A shared stone at Riverside Cemetery, Mount Pleasant, gives the years 1897–1989. Compiled Social Security / Find a Grave notes give the full dates 9 April 1897 and 28 December 1989; those day-and-month figures are not yet checked against a birth or death certificate.
Hattie Estelle Smith Derry
Hattie Estelle Smith was born on March 2, 1889, in Jackson Township, Sandusky County, Ohio — the daughter of William Henry Smith and Manetta A. Moomey. She married Ernest A. Derry and moved to Alma, Gratiot County, Michigan, where they built their life and raised 10 children. One of those children was Jack Derry. Hattie died on August 13, 1959, in Alma, Gratiot County, Michigan, at age 70. Her Moomey maiden name may point to German or Swiss ancestry, but her mother's line has not been traced, and earlier notes equating Moomey with Mumma are contradicted by DNA results.
Helen E. Lethorn Philo
Helen E. Lethorn married Harley G. Philo and is the mother of Elton Laverne Philo. She is named in Elton Philo's obituary with her maiden name Lethorn. A shared stone at Riverside Cemetery, Mount Pleasant, reads Helen E. 1901–1999. Compiled Social Security notes give 28 August 1901 and 20 February 1999; Find a Grave's heading also lists 1902, so the day and the 1901 vs 1902 year should be checked against a birth record. The Lethorn surname is highly concentrated in Michigan.
Hugh McKinnon
Hugh McKinnon was born on 5 December 1837 and christened on 25 December 1837 on Tiree, the son of Donald McKinnon and Christiana McFarlane. He was 3 in the 1841 census. Nothing more is known. (The Bruce Township "Migrants" compilation names a Hugh MacKinnon alongside Neil McKinnon of Bruce Township, but that Neil's father is recorded as Archibald, so it is probably a different Hugh.)
Ina Mae Racer Philo
Ina Mae Racer was born 8 July 1923. She married Elton "Verne" Philo on July 4, 1942 — a date they shared for the rest of their lives. Together they raised two children, Mark and Debra, in the Mt. Pleasant, Michigan area. Known for her adventurous spirit alongside Verne, she traveled extensively by motorcycle across 40 US states and 4 Canadian provinces. She passed away on March 17, 2015 — just months before Elton, after 72 years of marriage. Her parents were Robert Racer and Haddie Albaugh. The Albaugh surname connects to a German immigrant family that arrived in 1734, though Haddie's own descent from it has not yet been traced.
Isabelle Scott
Isabelle Scott is the wife of John MacKinnon. She married John in 1896 in Bruce County, Ontario. Her husband's Find a Grave memorial lists her as Isabell Wilson "Bella" Scott (1877–1969), married 1896; her birthplace and parents remain unknown. The 1896 Ontario marriage registration is expected to unlock her parents' names.
Jack C. Derry
Jack C. Derry was born May 4, 1926, in St. Louis, Gratiot County, Michigan — the son of Ernest A. Derry and Hattie Estelle (Smith) Derry. He served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, then earned a degree from Central Michigan University. On June 17, 1951, he married Beverly J. Hartle in Saginaw — bringing together the Derry and MacKinnon/Hartle family lines. He built a 32-year career with the Michigan State Treasury Department, retiring in 1988, and was later inducted into the Gratiot County Baseball Hall of Fame. He and Beverly lived in Shepherd, Isabella County, where he died on June 16, 2011, at age 85. Family tradition holds Irish roots on the Derry side — likely Ulster/County Derry, Ireland, fitting the massive 1880s emigration wave from that port to the Great Lakes states. Through his mother Hattie's Moomey line he also carries German ancestry — a remarkable echo of the Albaugh line on the maternal line.
Janet (Davis Fisher) Hartle
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Janet McLaren
Janet McLaren is the wife of Neil McKinnon. She was born in Perthshire, Scotland — a detail from family genealogy research that has not yet been checked against a record. Perthshire is a large inland county in central Scotland, historically known for the McLaren clan (also spelled MacLaren). She emigrated to Bruce Township, Ontario, where she and Neil farmed Lot 11, Concession 1. FamilySearch profiles for their daughter Christina (b. 1862) list her as the mother, and she is named in the Bruce Township "Migrants" compilation alongside Neil.
Jeana (Philo) Bechtel
Living relative. Details are kept private.
John MacKinnon
John MacKinnon (b. about 1765) and his wife Mary Kennedy are known from the 1873 death record of Donald Mackinnon at Torrin, Strath, Skye, which names them as his parents (John a crofter). An earlier version of this archive made them the parents of Donald McKinnon of Tiree (christened 4 April 1790, father John McKinnon, mother not named), after FamilySearch's tree merged the two Donalds. The two Donalds are different men: one died at Strath in 1873, the other had a wife Christina McFarlane and emigrated to Ontario about 1850. Whether the Tiree Donald's father John McKinnon is this John is not known. Strath (Strathaird) is a district of the Isle of Skye, long a MacKinnon heartland.
John MacKinnon
John MacKinnon was born in 1868 in Bruce County, Ontario — he was born in Canada, the son of Neil McKinnon (who was born in 1827 on Tiree, Argyll, Scotland) and Janet McLaren (born in Perthshire, Scotland). John settled in the Tiverton/Inverhuron area of Bruce Township and married Isabelle Scott in 1896. He is documented in both the Bruce County Museum's PastPerfect database and the Bruce Township "Migrants" historical compilation. His daughter Catherine later moved to Saginaw, Michigan. He died in 1935.
Jordan Bechtel
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Kent Stover
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Kim (Hartle) Fizell
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Kristen (Fizell) Kelly
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Kyle Derry
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Lilly Strong
Lilly (or Lillian) Strong is the wife of William Lorenzo Hartle. Born around 1863, she married William on October 22, 1902, in Collingwood, Ontario. The 1911 Canada Census lists her in the Collingwood household with William and their children. A compiled marriage index note suggests her parents were Robert Strong and Malinda (surname unknown).
Louann Philo
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Manetta A. Moomey Smith
Manetta A. Moomey is the wife of William Henry Smith and mother of Hattie Estelle Smith. The Moomey surname is rare and appears in many spellings (Moomey, Mummy, Mumy, Momeyer). It may be of German or Swiss origin, but this family's descent has not been traced. Earlier notes named a Jacob Moomey (1699–1779) as her earliest ancestor and cited a published genealogy, "The Descendants of Jacob and Mary Moomey of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and Iowa" (Webster, 2006). That book covers a different Jacob, born in 1789 in Pennsylvania, who married Mary (b. 1792) in Ohio in 1811 and moved to Iowa in 1851, so it does not support the 1699–1779 claim. A Mumma family DNA project also found that Moomey descendants share no common ancestor with the Mumma family, so a Mumma link should not be assumed. Manetta's parents are not yet identified.
Marion McLean
Marion McLean was born in 1769 on the Isle of Tiree, Argyll. She married Neil McFarlane and together they had a daughter Christina McFarlane (b. 1802, Kilkenneth, Tiree). The McLean (MacLean) name is one of the most prominent Highland clans with deep roots in Tiree — the MacLeans of Duart held Tiree as part of their territory for centuries. Marion's McLean heritage means Clan MacLean blood runs directly through the McFarlane/McKinnon line.
Mark D. Philo
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Mark Derry
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Mary A. Johnson Derry
Mary A. Johnson is named in the 1884 Portrait and Biographical Album of Gratiot County as the mother of Thomas Derry Jr.: "Thomas and Mary A. (Johnson) Derry, natives of England, where Thomas, Jr., was born, in Cambridgeshire, Jan. 26, 1832." She emigrated with her husband Thomas Derry Sr. and their son in 1854 and settled in Wayne County, New York. Nothing else is known: her birth and death dates, her birthplace in England, her parents, and any other children are not recorded in the sources found. Johnson is a very common English surname, so the name alone gives no lead on her origin.
Mary Ann Swailes Derry
Mary Ann Swailes (also spelled Swails) was born on 13 September 1838 in Wayne County, New York, on the shore of Lake Ontario, the daughter of John Swails, deceased by 1884. The 1884 Gratiot County album says she was raised on the farm where the British troops landed in the War of 1812; the 1913 history says the parents of both she and her husband were natives of England. She married Thomas Derry Jr. and had nine children: Albert, Herbert A., Frank A., Emma E., Agnes M., Willis, Lewis, Anna and Frederick. She was a Presbyterian from the age of 16. The family moved from Wayne County, New York to Hamilton Township, Gratiot County, Michigan, in 1866. She died on 8 December 1890 (Tucker 1913; Find a Grave gives 1838–1890). Her husband later married Ann "Annie" Hounsell (1838–1908) in 1897, according to Find a Grave.
Mary Kennedy
Mary Kennedy is named in the 1873 death record of Donald Mackinnon at Torrin, Strath, Skye, as the mother of the deceased and wife of John Mackinnon, a crofter. An earlier version of this archive made her the mother of Donald McKinnon of Tiree after FamilySearch's tree merged two men named Donald; the Tiree Donald's 1790 baptism names only his father, John McKinnon. Kennedy families do appear on Tiree in later records (an Archibald McKinnon was christened there in 1796 to John McKinnon and Flora Kennedy), but none is shown to be this woman. Kept as an unattached entry.
Mary McKinnon
Mary McKinnon was christened on Tiree in March 1839, the daughter of Donald McKinnon and Christina McFarlane (the index gives a christening of 8 March and a birth of 11 March, an order that cannot be right). She was 1 in the 1841 census. Nothing more is known.
Michelle Prince
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Neil McFarlane
Neil McFarlane was born in 1742 on the Isle of Tiree, Argyll, he married Marion McLean (also from Tiree) and together they had a daughter Christina McFarlane (b. 1802, Kilkenneth, Tiree). The McFarlane (MacFarlane) name comes from a powerful Highland clan — Clan MacFarlane of Loch Lomondside — though many McFarlane families spread throughout the islands and Argyll in the 18th century. Tiree is one of the flattest and most fertile islands in the Hebrides, historically known for its agricultural communities.
Neil McKinnon
Neil McKinnon was born in 1827 on the Isle of Tiree, Argyll, Scotland (17 July 1827 on Find a Grave), and died on 15 May 1905 in Bruce County, Ontario. His gravestone at Lovat Cemetery reads "Native of Tiree, Argyleshire Scotland", and the Ontario death register gives his age as 78. Find a Grave lists his parents as Archibald McKinnon (c. 1796–1866, also a native of Tiree, buried beside him) and Annie McLean, and the Bruce Township "Migrants" compilation (Anne Judd) names an Archibald as the father of Neil and Hugh MacKinnon. He settled in Bruce Township, Ontario, and married Janet McLaren (b. 1830, Scotland); family records say they farmed Lot 11, Concession 1. They had at least seven children: Annie (1858–1942), Christena (1860–1918), Archibald "Archie" (1866–1953), Catherine A. (1866–1896), John (1868–1935), Mary A. (1869–1870) and Donald "Dan" (1872–1951). His son John was born in Bruce Township in 1868. John married Isabelle Scott, and their daughter Catherine later married Lloyd Hartle. Earlier versions of this archive called him Neil Chambers McKinnon and gave his parents as Donald McKinnon and Christina McFarlane. That came from a FamilySearch profile that merges him with a different man of the same name, Rev. Neil Chambers McKinnon of Mosa, Middlesex County, who was that couple's son.
Nick Harris
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Nicole (Fizell) Hess
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Paige Bahrami
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Reuben Hartle
Reuben Hartle is identified in a compiled genealogy source as the father of William Lorenzo Hartle and the grandfather of Clifford (Lloyd) Hartle. He was likely based in Ontario, Canada, in the mid-to-late 1800s. His own English origins are probable but unconfirmed by primary records.
Rev. Neil McKinnon of Mosa
Neil McKinnon (the FamilySearch tree calls him Neil Chambers McKinnon) was a Presbyterian minister who lived at Mosa, Middlesex County, Ontario. A Tiree baptism for Niel McKinnon, christened in June 1827, names his parents as Donald McKinnon and Catharene (Christina) McFarlane, and his sister Flora's 1861 Ontario marriage record names the same couple. The 1881 census at Mosa lists him aged 53 with his wife Annie (33), their children Mary C. (5), John D. (3), Jessie (2) and Willis (2 months), and Christina Keith (19) and Neil D. Keith (13), who are probably Flora's children. FamilySearch gives his marriage as 24 February 1875 at London, Ontario, to Anne Cameron McGregor (b. 1848), with eight children. He is a different man from Neil McKinnon of Bruce Township, who is Kyle's ancestor: the two were counted in the same year, in different counties, with different wives. FamilySearch's tree merges them into one profile, and earlier versions of this archive followed that merge. His death and burial are not known.
Riley Bechtel
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Robert Racer
Robert Racer is the father of Ina Mae (Racer) Philo. Ina Mae grew up in West Virginia, placing Robert's household there. A Joseph L. Racer was found in West Virginia (his son Theodore was born there in 1894 in Kanawha County), who may be Robert's brother or close relative. The Racer surname is, according to the Dictionary of American Family Names, an altered form of Rasor or Razor, themselves altered from German Rauser. Earlier notes also gave an Old High German derivation ("hrauso", "daring") and a figure of 44% of US Racers living in Ohio in 1840; neither has been verified. German immigrant forebears who followed the Great Wagon Road south are a possibility, not a documented route. Robert and Haddie Albaugh likely met and married in West Virginia before eventually moving to Michigan — a common migration pattern driven by industrial and automotive jobs in the early 1900s.
Sarah (Derry) Prince
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Scott C. Derry
Scott C. Derry is a son of Jack C. Derry and Beverly J. (Hartle) Derry. He is deceased. His story is told in part through a panel on the AIDS Memorial Quilt (NAMES Project), the community memorial for people lost to HIV/AIDS.
Scott Hartle
Scott Hartle was the son of William J. Hartle and Janet Hartle. He predeceased his father (before 21 November 2016). Birth and death dates are not yet in the archive.
Thomas Derry Jr.
Thomas Derry Jr. (Thomas Frederick Derry on Find a Grave) was born on 26 January 1832 in Cambridgeshire, England, the son of Thomas and Mary A. (Johnson) Derry, both natives of England (1884 Gratiot County album). The village is not named in the printed sources; earlier notes in this archive said Fen Drayton, a fenland village on the River Ouse about 8 miles northwest of Cambridge, which is unconfirmed. He had a school education in England, emigrated with his parents in 1854 and settled in Wayne County, New York, and came to Hamilton Township, Gratiot County, Michigan, in January 1866 with his brothers William, John and Alfred. He farmed section 3 of Hamilton Township, was a Presbyterian, and married Mary Ann Swailes (b. 13 Sep 1838, Wayne County, NY; d. 8 Dec 1890), daughter of John Swails. They had nine children: Albert, Herbert A., Frank A., Emma E., Agnes M., Willis, Lewis, Anna and Frederick. He died on 11 December 1901 and is buried at Hamilton Township Cemetery, Ithaca. The "Jr." fits the record: his father was also named Thomas Derry.
Thomas Derry Sr.
Thomas Derry Sr. was born in 1808 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England — the son of Daniel Derry of Gresley Row. He was a farmer, like his father before him and his son after him. He emigrated from England to America, settling in New York, where his grandson Albert M. Derry was later born (Albert is recorded elsewhere in this archive as Thomas Jr.'s son). Thomas died in New York in 1866 — never making it to Michigan, where his son Thomas Jr. would eventually settle and die in 1901. A county history says Thomas Sr., his wife Mary A. (Johnson) and their son Thomas Jr. emigrated in 1854 and settled in Wayne County, New York. That is the pivotal journey that made the Derry family American. The sources found say only that he and his wife were natives of England; Lichfield, Staffordshire comes from family records and is unconfirmed. His death in 1866 in New York means he witnessed the Civil War years as a relatively new immigrant.
Tim Fizell
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Todd Stover
Living relative. Details are kept private.
Trevor Bechtel
Living relative. Details are kept private.
William Henry Smith
William Henry Smith is the father of Hattie Estelle Smith (later Derry), who married Ernest A. Derry and became the mother of Jack Derry. He married Manetta A. Moomey. The family was based in Sandusky County, Ohio, where Hattie was born in 1889. "Smith" is England's most common surname, derived from the Old English "smið" — a craftsman who works with metal. Whether William's branch came to Ohio via New England or directly from Britain remains to be confirmed.
William J. “Bill” Hartle
William J. Hartle — known as Bill — was born 14 October 1937 in Detroit, the son of Lloyd and Catherine (MacKinnon) Hartle and the brother of Beverly J. (Hartle) Derry. He married Janet Davis Fisher on 1 October 1966. He taught at Saginaw Township Community Schools and coached soccer and swimming. He died suddenly on 21 November 2016 in Fort Myers, Florida, at age 79. His obituary names four surviving sisters: Beverly, Betty, Ann, and Dell; a predeceased son, Scott Hartle; and a daughter, Kim Fizell.
William Lorenzo Hartle
William Lorenzo Hartle was born September 27, 1863, he settled in Collingwood, Simcoe County, Ontario. On October 22, 1902, he married Lilly (Lillian) Strong in Collingwood. By 1911 he was recorded in the Canada Census as a lumberman in Collingwood. His son Clifford (Lloyd) was born there in 1903. The Hartle name is English in origin; the best-supported explanation is a place-name such as Harthill (Old English heorot, "stag" + hyll, "hill"), though a derivation from "hart" + leah ("deer clearing") has also been suggested. Neither has been tied to this family.
Wyn Derry
Living relative. Details are kept private.