About the Laabs and Fitzpatrick Families
About the Laabs and Fitzpatrick Families
THE LAABS COME TO AMERICA
Our first Laabs’ ancestor to come to America was Max Alfred Albert Laabs, an optometrist from Berlin, Germany. When he came is unknown, but probably in the 1890’s, Max being about 20 years old at the time. He married Bessie Granville, from St. Catharines, ON, near Niagara Falls. Bessie’s father, Thomas, was from Halifax, NS (1881 census says his ancestry is Irish) and her mother, Mary Curtin, was an immigrant from Dublin, Ireland. The couple had one son, Edwin, after which they divorced. In 1908, Max married again, to Nellie Hughes of NY. Max and Nellie had five children and lived in Southbridge, MA. One of the children, Max jr., followed his father into the optometry world as a machinist at American Optical Co. Most of the descendants of Max & Nellie have remained in the New England area.
After her divorce from Max, Bessie Granville Laabs married Edwin Forster of Ontario. Her son Edwin Laabs’ WWI draft card gives his address in Ontario, with his mother, so we assume the family lived there, although they were U.S. citizens. Edwin Laabs eventually moved to Rochester, NY where he was a machinist. At some point in time he lived in Detroit, where he met Edna Fitzpatrick whom he married. Edna bore two sons - Edwin Jr. and Richard. She died of influenza in 1928, along with her infant son Richard. Edwin Sr. handed off his surviving 1-year old son, Edwin jr., to Edna’s mother for raising, as he felt inadequate to do so by himself. Edwin Sr. went on to marry two other women, but had no additional children.
Meanwhile, Edwin jr., raised in Detroit by his grandmother, grew up to ultimately work as line supervisor at Ford's Livonia Tranmission Plant, a hard worker who raised his family of five children with his wife Joan Van Marter in the Detroit suburbs. If anything could be said of both of them, it was that they lived their Catholic Faith with sincerity and conviction. Edwin served his country during WWII in the Naval Aviation field.
THE FITZPATRICK FAMILY
Edna’s parents were Edward Fitzpatrick and Christie James, both of Canada. Edward was born in Cornwall, ON and met Christie in Meldrum Bay, ON. The couple moved to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where Edward worked in the logging industry. After his death, Christie moved downstate to Detroit, living with her children and raising her grandson, Edwin jr.
Edward’s immigrant ancestor was Peter Fitzpatrick, from Smithtown, County Meath, Ireland and member of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York which fought in the Revolutionary War. After the war, he settled down in Canada with his wife, Catherine Warner. Peter’s son, William, married Mary Casselman, daughter of Cephranus Casselman, a Loyalist leader during the War who became enshrined as a character in the famous novel, “Drums Along the Mohawk” (our ancestor was a fictional character!). The Casselman family ancestry goes back to Germany and Switzerland. (More fictional ancestry: Peter Fitzpatrick's homeland of County Meath was also the homeland of Scarlett O'Hara's father George, in "Gone With the Wind;" the plantation Tara being named after an ancient site in Meath.)
Christie James’ paternal grandparents, Thomas James and Elizabeth Groves, immigrated from Shilleleigh, County Wicklaw, Ireland in the early 1800’s to East Wawanosh, ON. Christie's maternal grandparents, Dougal Black and Christina Welsh, were both immigrants from Scotland.
A famous descendent of William Fitzpatrick/Mary Casselman was Frances Gumm, aka actress Judy Garland. Judy’s beloved grandmother was Eva Fitzpatrick, a great-granddaughter of William & Mary.
CONNECTIONS TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Of interest are the ancesters of Catherine Warner (wife of Irish immigrant Peter Fitzpatrick). Catherine's great-grandmother was Deborah Leffingwell, daughter of Lt. Thomas Leffingwell jr. who was an early settler of Norwich, CT and a friend of local indigenous people from his boyhood. Among Thomas' friends was Uncas, a chief of the Mohegan people of eastern Connecticut. Uncas sided with the newly arrived colonists, like Thomas, and led his people to fight along side them during King Philip's War and other local battles. The outcomes were favorable for Uncas who became a sachem among the Mohegan, Pequot and Narragansett peoples locally; a sachem is a chief among chiefs. While there is no hard evidence, it is generally believed that Uncas' princess daughter, "Mary," married Thomas Leffington, Uncas' friend and confidant among the colonists, and so was Deborah's mother. Descendants of Deborah can claim Mohegan heritage. Deborah married Andrew Warner, who was the great-grandfather of Catherine Warner, wife of Peter Fitzpatrick. (While there is no hard evidence for the marriage, there is substantial "soft" evidence, making this the leading hypothesis among Warner/Leffingwell geneologists, which you can easily read about online in many sites.)
Additionally, Catherine Warner's grandmother was Elizabeth E. Allen, from Salem, MA in the late 1600's. Elizabeth's great-grandfather was William Allen, an immigrant from Dorset, England and an early settler of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600's. In fact, all of Elizabeth's ancestors were English immigrants who settled in Salem, MA during the 1600's. And so they were witnesses to the Salem Witch Trials, although I've found no evidence that any of them were accused or that any of them were among the accusers. Of interest, though, from the New England Historical and Geneological Register: "In 1692 Elizabeth BUXTON signed the testimonial to Rebecca NURSE's character in the Witch Trials. She signed as Elizabeth N. BUXTON. In the June 1692 witch trials, Elizabeth BUXTON was described as being "grand, wise and skillful". Elizabeth Buxton nee Leach was among Elizabeth Allen's ancestors of Salem, MA. She was one of 39 who testified in favor of Rebecca Nurse, accused of witchcraft. To testify in favor of an accussed witch was a very courageous act, as it so often resulted in becoming accused. Elizabeth Buxton was fortunatley never accused afterwards, however Rebecca Nurse was hanged for witchcrft in 1692. The people of Salem considered her an exemplary woman and almost no one believed she was a witch; her execution seemed to mark the beginning of the end of the Salem Witch Trials. You can read more HERE.