People
Every ancestor has a permanent record: narrative, calculated family, evidence status, sources and unresolved research.
Albert M. Derry
Albert M. Derry is your 3× great-grandfather — 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. His middle initial "M." and exact dates remain to be confirmed from census or vital records.
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.
Archibald MacKinnon
Archibald MacKinnon appears in the Bruce Township "Migrants" historical compilation (compiled by Anne Judd) as a widower named as the father of Neil (and Hugh) MacKinnon in Bruce Township, Ontario. However, confirmed genealogy records now show that Neil Chambers McKinnon's father was Donald McKinnon (b. 1790, Balevullin, Tiree, Argyll). Archibald may represent a different generation, a confused record, or a separate MacKinnon family branch. His exact relationship to the confirmed McKinnon line is currently unknown.
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. Beverly carried both the Scottish MacKinnon heritage (through her mother) and the English/Ontario Hartle heritage (through her father). She is your grandmother and the direct link to two centuries of transatlantic family history.
Catherine A. MacKinnon Hartle
Catherine A. MacKinnon (later Hartle) is your great-grandmother and the direct MacKinnon link in Beverly's family. 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.
Christina McFarlane
Christina McFarlane is your 4× great-grandmother, born in 1802 in Kilkenneth, Tiree, Argyll, Scotland. She is the daughter of Neil McFarlane (b. 1742, Tiree) and Marion McLean (b. 1769, Tiree). She married Donald McKinnon (b. 1790, Balevullin, Tiree) — both from the same island. Together they had a son Neil Chambers McKinnon, who emigrated to Bruce Township, Ontario. Christina's Kilkenneth birthplace is in the heart of Tiree — a small township on the island that appears in parish records consistently throughout the 1700s and 1800s.
Clifford William Lloyd Hartle
Clifford William Lloyd Hartle — known as "Lloyd" — is your great-grandfather. 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.
Daniel Derry
Daniel Derry is your oldest known Derry ancestor — your 5× great-grandfather. He 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, confirming the family was established there across multiple generations. Daniel represents the English roots of the Derry name — almost certainly connected to the Norman-French "daree" (penny weight) recorded in Northamptonshire in 1200 AD, with the name spreading through the English Midlands over the centuries.
David Smith
David Smith is the stepson of Kyle Derry and the son of Gisela Elias.
Debra L. Philo Derry
Debra L. Philo is Kyle's mother and the daughter of Elton "Verne" Philo and Ina Mae (Racer) Philo. She married Wyn Derry — himself the son of Beverly (Hartle) Derry and Jack Derry — bringing together two distinct family lines: the Philo/Racer Michigan line and the MacKinnon/Hartle Scottish-English-Ontario line. Through her parents, she carries a distinctly Michigan heritage; through her marriage to Wyn, Kyle inherited the rich Scottish, English, and Ontario ancestral history.
Donald McKinnon
Donald McKinnon is your 4× great-grandfather, born in 1790 in Balevullin, Tiree, Argyll, Scotland. He is the son of John MacKinnon (b. 1765, Strath, Inverness-shire) and Mary Kennedy. He married Christina McFarlane (b. 1802, Kilkenneth, Tiree) — both on the same island of Tiree. Together they are the parents of Neil Chambers McKinnon, your 3× great-grandfather who later emigrated to Bruce Township, Ontario, Canada. Donald's birth in Balevullin connects directly to the Tiree MacKinnon heritage confirmed in this family tree.
Dylan Derry
Dylan Derry is the son of Kyle Derry and Gisela Elias.
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 your great-grandfather — 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 carried to your grandfather Jack, your father Wyn, and to you. 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.
Gisela Elias
Gisela Elias is the wife of Kyle Derry and the mother of Dylan Derry and David Smith.
Haddie Albaugh Racer
Haddie Albaugh is your great-great-grandmother — and her family line is one of the most historically documented in your entire tree. The Albaugh surname is an Americanization of German "Ahlbach," the name of a stream and a village in Rhein-Pfalz, Germany. Your direct ancestor 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 — your grandfather. Hattie died on August 13, 1959, in Alma, Gratiot County, Michigan, at age 70. Through her Moomey maiden name she carries a hidden German ancestry — the Moomey (Mumma) family were German immigrants who arrived in Pennsylvania in the early 1700s, making her German heritage remarkably parallel to the Albaugh line on your mother's side.
Helen E. Lethorn Philo
Helen E. Lethorn married Harley G. Philo and is Kyle's maternal great-great-grandmother. 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.
Ina Mae Racer Philo
Ina Mae Racer married Elton "Verne" Philo on July 4, 1942 — a patriotic 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 — connecting her line to German immigrants who arrived in America in 1734.
Isabelle Scott
Isabelle Scott is your 2× great-grandmother, wife of John MacKinnon. She married John in 1896 in Bruce County, Ontario. Beyond her name and marriage year, her birthdate, death date, birthplace, and parents remain unknown from currently available public sources. 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 your mother's side.
Janet McLaren
Janet McLaren is your 3× great-grandmother, wife of Neil Chambers McKinnon. She was born in Perthshire, Scotland — a confirmed detail from family genealogy research. 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.
John MacKinnon
John MacKinnon is your 5× great-grandfather, born in 1765 in Strath, Inverness-shire, Scotland. He and his wife Mary Kennedy (also born 1765 in Strath) are the parents of Donald McKinnon, born 1790 in Balevullin, Tiree, Argyll. The MacKinnon name here bridges the mainland (Strath, Inverness-shire) and the island territories of Argyll — a pattern consistent with Clan MacKinnon's historical presence across both regions. Strath is a township on the Isle of Skye, Inverness-shire, which was the heartland of the MacKinnon clan for centuries.
John MacKinnon
John MacKinnon is your 2× great-grandfather. Born in 1868 in Bruce County, Ontario — he was born in Canada, the son of Neil Chambers 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.
Kyle Derry
You are Kyle Derry — the family historian bringing this heritage to life. Your father Wyn Derry carries the MacKinnon Scottish-Hebridean line (Isle of Tiree, Argyll → Bruce County, Ontario) and the Hartle English-Ontario line (Collingwood → Saginaw, MI) — both through grandmother Beverly. Your mother Debra (Philo) Derry brings the Isabella County, Michigan Philo and Racer lines. Together you are the meeting point of Scottish Highlands, English countryside, and Great Lakes Michigan heritage. Your family cottage in Inverhuron/Tiverton sits on the very land where the MacKinnons farmed in the 19th century.
Lilly Strong
Lilly (or Lillian) Strong is your 3× great-grandmother, 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).
Manetta A. Moomey Smith
Manetta A. Moomey is your great-great-grandmother on the Derry side, wife of William Henry Smith and mother of Hattie Estelle Smith. The Moomey surname is one of the hidden German gems in your family tree. The name is likely a variant of the German "Mumma" or Swiss Mennonite origins, possibly from Alsace-Lorraine (Huguenot). The earliest confirmed American ancestor is Jacob Moomey (1699–1779), who settled in Pennsylvania. His descendants spread through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and Iowa — a migration pattern remarkably parallel to the Albaugh family on your mother's side! Both families arrived in America in the same 1699–1734 wave of German/Swiss Mennonite immigration. A 680-page published genealogy titled "The Descendants of Jacob and Mary Moomey of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and Iowa" documents 7 generations of the family. The Ohio branch — where Manetta lived — is heavily documented. Leonard Mumma arrived in America in 1732, just two years before Zachariah Ahlbach (1734) — suggesting these German families came over in the same great wave.
Marion McLean
Marion McLean is your 5× great-grandmother, 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 in your lineage through the McFarlane/McKinnon line.
Mary Kennedy
Mary Kennedy is your 5× great-grandmother, born in 1765 in Strath, Inverness-shire, Scotland. She married John MacKinnon and together they had a son Donald McKinnon (b. 1790, Balevullin, Tiree, Argyll). The Kennedy surname has deep Scottish Gaelic roots — from the Gaelic "Ceannaidheach" (ugly head), associated with Clan Kennedy of Ayrshire and also present in the Highlands and Islands. Her presence in Strath, Inverness-shire, alongside a MacKinnon shows the tight clan intermarriage networks of the Scottish Highlands.
Neil Chambers McKinnon
Neil Chambers McKinnon is your 3× great-grandfather on the MacKinnon side. Born in 1827 on the Isle of Tiree, Argyll, Scotland, he is the son of Donald McKinnon (b. 1790, Balevullin, Tiree) and Christina McFarlane (b. 1802, Kilkenneth, Tiree). He emigrated to Bruce Township, Ontario, and married Janet McLaren (born in Perthshire, Scotland). Together they farmed land on Lot 11, Concession 1 of Bruce Township — in the tight Tiverton/Inverhuron orbit where your family still has a cottage today. His son John MacKinnon was born in 1868 in Bruce County, Ontario (the first of the line to be born in Canada). John married Isabelle Scott, and their daughter Catherine became your great-grandmother.
Neil McFarlane
Neil McFarlane is your 5× great-grandfather on the Christina McFarlane side of the MacKinnon line. 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.
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.
Robert Racer
Robert Racer is your great-great-grandfather on your mother's side, and 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 an Americanized form of the German Rauser (also Raucer), from Old High German "hrauso" meaning "daring and energetic." The Racer/Rasor/Rauser cluster was concentrated in Ohio in 1840 (44% of US Racers), suggesting German immigrant forebears who likely traveled the Great Wagon Road south through Virginia into what became West Virginia. 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
Sarah (Derry) Prince is the sister of Kyle Derry, daughter of Wyn Derry and Debra L. (Philo) Derry.
Thomas Derry Jr.
Thomas Derry Jr. is your 4× great-grandfather and the confirmed English origin of the Derry surname in your family. He was born in 1832 in Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire, England — a small fenland village on the River Ouse, about 8 miles northwest of Cambridge. He was a farmer. At some point he emigrated from England to America, with his son Albert being born in New York — the classic landing point for English emigrants crossing the Atlantic. The family then continued west to Michigan, where Thomas died in 1901. His presence in Michigan in 1901 means he lived to see his grandson Ernest (b. 1886) as a teenager. The Derry surname in this Cambridgeshire context almost certainly connects to the Norman-French "daree" (penny weight) recorded in Northamptonshire in 1200 AD — both counties are in the East Midlands/East England belt where the name was historically concentrated. The "Jr." designation confirms his father was also named Thomas Derry, pushing the line back one more generation in England.
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 son Albert M. Derry was born. Thomas died in New York in 1866 — never making it to Michigan, where his son Thomas Jr. would eventually settle and die in 1901. Thomas Sr.'s emigration from Staffordshire to New York is the pivotal journey that made the Derry family American. His death in 1866 in New York means he witnessed the Civil War years as a relatively new immigrant.
William Henry Smith
William Henry Smith is your great-great-grandfather on the Derry side — 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 Lorenzo Hartle
William Lorenzo Hartle is your 3× great-grandfather on the Hartle side. 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, likely derived from Old English "hart" (stag) + "leah" (clearing) — "deer meadow."
Wyn Derry
Wyn Derry is Kyle's father and the son of Beverly J. (Hartle) Derry and Jack Derry. Through Beverly, Wyn carries the MacKinnon Scottish-Hebridean heritage (tracing back to the Isle of Tiree, Argyll) and the Hartle English-Ontario heritage (Collingwood, Simcoe County). He married Debra L. Philo, daughter of Elton and Ina Mae (Racer) Philo, uniting both sides of Kyle's family.