Tag: Lacy

Nancy J. Whitney (March 1843 – 27 October 1906)

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Nancy J. Whitney was born in March 1843 in Ohio, the daughter of John P. Whitney and a mother whose identity remains unresolved in the surviving records and has been discussed in earlier research.¹ She spent her early childhood in Clinton Township, Wayne County, Ohio, where she appeared in the 1850 census with her father and her younger sisters Mary Belle and Lucretia.²

By the end of the 1850s the family had moved to Saginaw County, Michigan. Nancy’s mother died about 1859, and the 1860 census captures the family in a changed arrangement. Seventeen-year-old Nancy was living in East Saginaw in the household of Loton Eastman, where she was employed as a servant, while her father and youngest sister were enumerated elsewhere.³

Marriage and the Early Years

On 25 March 1866 Nancy married Martin V. Lacy in Taymouth Township, Saginaw County.⁴ Their first child, Emma, was born later that year, followed by Alice in 1869 at Montrose in neighboring Genesee County.⁵ The 1870 census shows the young family there, part of the movement of Saginaw Valley residents between the river towns and the farming communities that supplied them.⁶

By the mid-1870s they had returned to the Saginaw Valley for good. Their younger children, Mary Belle and William Henry, were born in Michigan, and by 1880 the family was established in Kawkawlin Township, Bay County.⁷

A Long Residence in Kawkawlin

From 1880 through 1900 the censuses place Nancy and Martin in the same township, reflecting decades of continuity in one community.⁸ The 1900 census records Nancy as the mother of five children, three of whom were living, and gives her birth as March 1843 in Ohio.¹

Land and Legal Standing

Bay County land records show Nancy as more than a farmer’s wife in the census columns. A deed transferred property from Martin V. Lacy to Nancy in her own name, and she later appears as the mortgagor on a mortgage of that land. Other mortgages were executed jointly by Martin and Nancy as husband and wife.⁹ These entries place her directly in the legal and financial record of the township and demonstrate her recognized interest in the family’s property.

Losses

In 1897 Nancy’s eldest daughter, Emma, died in Bay County.¹⁰ Seven years later, on 8 August 1904, Martin died in Garfield Township.¹¹ After nearly four decades of marriage, Nancy entered widowhood in the community where she had spent most of her adult life.

Death in Virginia

Nancy died on 27 October 1906 in Charles City, Virginia.¹² The record gives the date and place but does not explain her presence there. Her life had been centered for many years in the Saginaw Valley, where she had worked, married, raised her children, and held property in her own name.

Sources

  1. 1900 U.S. census, Bay County, Michigan, Kawkawlin Township, Martin V. Lacy household; Nancy J. Lacy, birth March 1843, Ohio.
  2. 1850 U.S. census, Wayne County, Ohio, Clinton Township, John P. Whitney household.
  3. 1860 U.S. census, Saginaw County, Michigan, East Saginaw, Loton Eastman household, Nancy Whitney, servant; John P. Whitney in a separate household with daughter Sabria.
  4. Saginaw County, Michigan, marriage records, Martin V. Lacy and Nancy J. Whitney, 25 March 1866.
  5. Michigan birth records, Emma Lacy (1866); Alice Lacy, 1 June 1869, Montrose, Genesee County.
  6. 1870 U.S. census, Genesee County, Michigan, Montrose, Martin V. Lacy household.
  7. Michigan birth records, Mary Belle Lacy (1875) and William Henry Lacy (1878); 1880 U.S. census, Bay County, Michigan, Kawkawlin Township.
  8. Michigan state census, 1884 and 1894, Bay County, Kawkawlin Township; 1900 U.S. census, Bay County, Michigan, Kawkawlin Township.
  9. Bay County, Michigan, Register of Deeds, index to deeds (Martin V. Lacy to Nancy J. Lacy) and index to mortgages (Nancy J. Lacy; Martin V. Lacy and wife). mgt Martin to Nancy Nancy lacy mortgage 2 Nancy Lacy Mortgage2 Martin Lacy & wife mortgage Nancy Lacy Mortgager
  10. Michigan death records, Emma Lacy, 1897, Bay County.
  11. Michigan death records, Martin V. Lacy, 8 August 1904, Garfield Township, Bay County.
  12. Virginia death record, Nancy J. Lacy, 27 October 1906, Charles City.

Margaret Doonan: The One Who Stayed

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Margaret Doonan was born into a family that already knew how quickly life could fracture.

Margaret Doonan. On the back it states it was taken October 20, 1923.

She was the daughter of William Doonan and Rosetta “Rose” Smith — a household still living with the consequences of the violent death of Rose’s brother Jude at the hands of another brother. That history formed the emotional landscape of Margaret’s childhood, one we have already explored through the lives of her parents.

Margaret was born on 2 June 1888 in Beaver Township, Bay County, Michigan, at a time when her parents were part of the steady movement of families through Michigan’s lumber and farming communities.¹

And then, as the family began to move north into Ontario, Margaret made a different choice.

She stayed.

The Michigan Line

While her parents and most of her siblings eventually settled in Canada, Margaret remained in Michigan with her husband, William Henry Lacy, whom she married in Midland County on 28 May 1907.²

That decision created the divide that would shape the family for generations — a Canadian branch descending from her parents and a Michigan branch descending from Margaret.

But she did not disappear from the Canadian story.

One of the many trips to Canada. In the tree is Flo Doonan. Then Rosie Ball, Margaret Doonan, Sabria Lacy and Keith Rivers. A 4-generation picture.

Border-crossing notices in local newspapers and family photographs document her frequent trips to Ontario to visit her parents and siblings. She did not follow them permanently, but she maintained the relationships in person, again and again, across an international boundary.

She became the living link between the two halves of the family.

A Young Family in Bay County

Margaret and William began married life in Bay County, where their first children were born in Garfield Township and the Crump area.³

Their daughter Elizabeth Sabria Lacy — known in the family as Sabria — was born 24 January 1909.⁴

Motherhood for Margaret was marked by a pattern that repeated with painful regularity. Between 1908 and 1918, four of her children died:

  • Milo in infancy in 1908
  • Ira in 1910
  • Howard in 1916
  • Dorothy in 1918

Each death is documented in Michigan death records, each a separate entry in the public record — and each a private loss within the same decade of her life.⁵

The surviving children — Sabria, Eva, Cora, and Martin — would carry her line forward.

Widowhood in Saginaw

By 1920 the family had moved to the city of Saginaw, where William worked to support the household in an industrial economy very different from the rural communities where their marriage began.⁶

On 7 July 1924, William Henry Lacy died in Saginaw at the age of forty-six.⁷

Margaret was thirty-six years old.

City directory entries from the mid-1920s place her at 3369 Glenwood Avenue, an address that would remain associated with her for years.⁸

This is the moment when she stopped being defined primarily as a daughter or a wife and became the central figure holding her household together.

A Second Start — and Grandpa Jack

Margaret married Stephen Wolverton in Tuscola County in October 1927; the marriage ended in divorce in Saginaw in September 1929.⁹

Five days later she married John William Phillips in Saginaw.¹⁰

Grandpa Jack, Margaret Doonan, Mary, Dorothy Rivers, Archie Doonan on another Canada trip.

He is remembered not by his formal name but as Grandpa Jack — the name that tells us he became part of the lived family memory, not just the documentary record.

The 1930 and 1940 censuses show Margaret and John together in Saginaw, once again in a stable household on Glenwood Avenue.¹¹

The Border That Remained Open

Even as she built that stability, Margaret continued to travel to Canada to see her parents and siblings.

Her father died in Timiskaming District, Ontario, in 1913.¹²
Her sister Emily died in Montreal in 1917.¹³
Her mother died in Cobalt, Ontario, in 1952.¹⁴

Margaret did not move north — but she never allowed the distance to become separation.

The First Diagnosis

Margaret died on 12 October 1950 in Saginaw.

Her Michigan death certificate records the cause as diabetes mellitus, following a diabetic coma of forty-eight hours.¹⁵

She is the earliest person in this family line for whom that diagnosis is documented.

That fact places her not only in the past but in a continuing medical history that reaches into later generations — including my own.

What She Built

Margaret grew up in a family defined by violence, migration, and loss.

She spent her adult life creating something different:

  • a fixed home in Saginaw
  • a surviving line of children and grandchildren
  • a living connection between the Michigan and Ontario branches

Every Michigan descendant of this family traces back to one decision — her choice to remain.

She was the one who stayed.

And in ways she could never have known, she is still present — not only in the records we read, but in the inheritance carried forward by her descendants.

Sources

  1. Michigan birth records, Bay County, for Margaret Doonan; 1894 Michigan state census, Beaver Township.
  2. Midland County, Michigan, marriage record: William Henry Lacy and Margaret Doonan, 28 May 1907.
  3. 1910 U.S. census, Garfield Township, Bay County, Michigan.
  4. Michigan birth record, Elizabeth Sabria Lacy, 24 January 1909, Crump, Bay County.
  5. Michigan death records: Milo W. Lacy (1908); Ira Gerald Lacy (1910); Howard Guy Lacy (1916); Dorothy Helen Lacy (1918).
  6. 1920 U.S. census, Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan.
  7. Michigan death record, William Henry Lacy, 7 July 1924, Saginaw.
  8. Saginaw city directories, mid-1920s, listing Margaret Lacy/Phillips at 3369 Glenwood Avenue.
  9. Tuscola County marriage record, Margaret Lacy and Stephen Wolverton, 1927; Saginaw County divorce record, 9 September 1929.
  10. Saginaw County marriage record, Margaret Lacy and John William Phillips, 14 September 1929.
  11. 1930 and 1940 U.S. censuses, Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan.
  12. Ontario death record, William Doonan, 1913, Timiskaming District.
  13. Quebec death record, Emily Doonan, 1917, Montreal.
  14. Ontario death record, Susan Rosetta (Smith) Doonan, 1952, Cobalt.
  15. Michigan death certificate, Margaret Phillips, 12 October 1950.

William Henry Lacy (1878–1924)

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Early life in Bay County

William Henry Lacy was born on 26 May 1878 in Michigan, the son of Martin V. Lacy and Nancy J. Whitney.¹ His childhood unfolded in Bay County, where he appears with his parents in the 1880 federal census and again in the 1884 and 1894 Michigan state censuses in Kawkawlin Township.²³⁴ These records place William within a rural farming community shaped by agriculture and seasonal labor along the Saginaw Bay watershed.

William Henry Lacy

Loss marked his early years. Several older half-siblings died before William reached adulthood, and family deaths continued through his youth. His father, Martin V. Lacy, died in 1904 in Garfield Township, Bay County.¹ Two years later, William lost both his mother, Nancy J. Whitney Lacy, and his sister Alice, who died shortly before their mother in Charles City, Virginia.¹ By his late twenties, William was already the surviving member of a significantly reduced immediate family.

Marriage and establishing a household

On 28 May 1907, William married Margaret Doonan in Midland, Michigan.⁵ Margaret, born in Bay County in 1888, was the daughter of William Doonan and Susan Rosetta Smith.¹ Their marriage coincided with William’s transition from his childhood household into building a family of his own.

Early records identify William as a farmer, consistent with his upbringing and the agricultural economy of Garfield Township and surrounding areas. Farming during this period often required supplemental wage labor, and many men combined agricultural work with trades or seasonal employment as opportunities arose.

Children, work, and repeated loss

Between 1908 and 1920, William and Margaret had eight children. The surviving records reveal a family life marked by both continuity and repeated tragedy.

Their first child, Milo W. Lacy, was born and died on the same day in February 1908.⁶ Elizabeth Sabria Lacy was born in January 1909.⁷ In February 1910, Ira Gerald Lacy was born, but he died later that same year.⁸ These early losses occurred while the family was still living in Bay County.

By the 1910s, William had moved his family to Saginaw. Census records, city directories, and his death certificate list his occupation as carpenter, indicating a shift toward skilled wage labor.⁹¹⁰ Carpentry placed William within Saginaw’s expanding residential and industrial economy, offering steadier employment than farming alone.

Eva Lucushia Lacy was born in 1911.¹¹ Howard Guy Lacy followed in 1912 but died in March 1916 at the age of three.¹² Cora Mae Lacy was born later that same year.¹³ Dorothy Helen Lacy was born in December 1917 and died on her first birthday in 1918, during a period when childhood illness and infectious disease were common causes of death.¹⁴

The death certificates for these children record causes such as pneumonia and infantile illness, clinical language that conveys little of the cumulative emotional toll on the family.¹⁵ By the end of the decade, William and Margaret had buried five of their eight children.

Margaret “Maggie” Doonan, William Henry Lacy, Cora Lacy, Eva Lacy, Elizabeth Sabria Lacy.

Later years in Saginaw

Despite these losses, William continued to work and support his household. City directory entries between 1917 and 1923 show the family living at multiple addresses in Saginaw, including North Washington Avenue, South Jefferson Avenue, Williamson Street, and West Genesee.¹⁰ These moves reflect the realities of working-class life in an industrial city, where housing was often tied to employment and financial conditions.

William registered for the World War I draft in 1918, providing confirmation of his birth date, residence, employer, and physical description.¹⁶ Although he was not called into service, the registration places him within the broader national context of the period.

In February 1920, the couple’s youngest child, Martin Van Buren Lacy, was born in Saginaw.¹⁷ The 1920 federal census shows William living with Margaret and their surviving children, still working as a carpenter.⁸

Death and burial

William Henry Lacy died suddenly on 7 July 1924 at the age of 46. His Michigan death certificate lists myocarditis as the cause of death.¹ Contemporary newspaper accounts report that he died at his home at the corner of Williamson and Bradley streets and emphasize the unexpected nature of his passing.²

William Henry Lacy

He was buried on 8 July 1924 in Taymouth Township Cemetery, Saginaw County.¹ His headstone bears the inscription “Wm Henry Lacy and family,” a phrase that quietly reflects both his role as a husband and father and the shared losses experienced by the family he left behind.¹⁸

Remembering William Henry Lacy

William Henry Lacy did not leave personal papers or written reflections. What remains are records: censuses, civil registrations, city directories, draft cards, and headstones. Taken together, they describe a man who worked with his hands, adapted from farming to carpentry, and endured repeated personal loss while continuing to provide for his family.

For those who know him only through documents, his life can appear compressed into dates and causes of death. But for the relatives who remembered him—and for later generations—William Henry Lacy was more than a name on a stone. He was a working man whose life unfolded quietly within the communities of Bay County and Saginaw, Michigan.

Sources

  1. Michigan Department of Health, Certificate of Death for William Henry Lacy, 7 July 1924, Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan.
  2. Obituary of William H. Lacy, Saginaw-area newspaper, July 1924.
  3. 1880 U.S. Federal Census, Kawkawlin Township, Bay County, Michigan.
  4. 1884 Michigan State Census, Kawkawlin Township, Bay County, Michigan.
  5. 1894 Michigan State Census, Kawkawlin Township, Bay County, Michigan.
  6. Michigan Marriage Record, Midland County, Michigan, 28 May 1907.
  7. Michigan Birth and Death Records, Garfield Township, Bay County, Michigan, 1908, Milo W. Lacy.
  8. Michigan Birth and Death Records, Garfield Township, Bay County, Michigan, 1910, Ira Gerald Lacy.
  9. 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Garfield Township, Bay County, Michigan.
  10. U.S. City Directories, Saginaw, Michigan, 1917–1923.
  11. Michigan Birth Record, 1911, Eva Lucushia Lacy.
  12. Michigan Birth and Death Records, Saginaw, Michigan, Howard Guy Lacy, 1912–1916.
  13. Michigan Birth Record, Saginaw, Michigan, 1916, Cora Mae Lacy.
  14. Michigan Birth and Death Records, Saginaw, Michigan, Dorothy Helen Lacy, 1917–1918.
  15. Michigan Death Records for children of William Henry Lacy and Margaret Doonan.
  16. World War I Draft Registration Card, William Henry Lacy, Saginaw, Michigan, 1918.
  17. Michigan Birth Record, Saginaw, Michigan, 1920, Martin Van Buren Lacy.
  18. Taymouth Township Cemetery records and headstone inscription for “Wm Henry Lacy and family.”

Martin V. Lacy (1833–1904)

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Martin V. Lacy was born in September 1833 in Le Ray (often recorded as Leray), Jefferson County, New York. He was the son of Erastus Lacy (1790–1856) and Florilla Billings (1793–1860). Early census and family records place him in Jefferson County during his childhood years, where he lived among several siblings, including Jane, Julia, Milo, and others.¹

On 28 November 1855, Martin married Henrietta O’Dell (1838–1865) in Genesee County, Michigan.² By 1860, he was residing in Brownville, Jefferson County, New York, where he appeared in the federal census with his occupation listed as farmer.³ A military description recorded in August 1862 described him as having blue eyes, sandy hair, a light complexion, and a height of five feet eleven inches.⁴

Image generated by ChatGPT of Martin Lacy based on his military description.

Martin served in the American Civil War. He enlisted in August 1862 with the 35th New York Infantry, Company I, and later served with the 80th New York Infantry, Company H, during 1863.⁵ Military records place him in Watertown and Albany, New York, during his service, and a residence record dated 1 July 1863 lists him in Fabius, New York.⁶

Martin and Henrietta had several children: Adelbert Lacy, born in November 1859 in Michigan; Helen Mae Lacy, born 3 June 1860 in Brownville, New York; and Fred Lacy, born 12 December 1860 in Michigan.³ Henrietta Lacy died in 1865 in Charles City, Virginia.⁷

On 25 March 1866, Martin married Nancy J. Whitney (1843–1906) in Taymouth Township, Saginaw County, Michigan.⁸ The couple settled in Michigan, where Martin appeared regularly in state and federal census records. Their children included Emma Lacy (born 1866), Alice Lacy (born 1 June 1869 in Montrose, Genesee County), Mary Belle Lacy (born 13 August 1875), and William Henry Lacy (born 26 May 1878).⁹

By 1870, Martin was living in Montrose, Genesee County, Michigan, and by the mid-1870s he had acquired land in Kawkawlin Township, Bay County, Michigan, as documented in federal land records dated 1 August 1874.¹⁰ Census records from 1880 through 1900 consistently place him in Kawkawlin Township, where he was listed as married and head of household.¹¹

Throughout his life, Martin experienced the deaths of numerous family members, including his parents, siblings, and children Fred (1883) and Emma (1897).¹² He remained in Bay County into the early twentieth century.

Martin V. Lacy died on 8 August 1904 in Garfield Township, Bay County, Michigan. His death certificate records the cause of death as cardiac disease.¹³ He was seventy years old at the time of his death.

Sources

  1. U.S. Federal Census, 1860; Brownville, Jefferson County, New York.
  2. Michigan, County Marriage Records, 1822–1940, Genesee County, marriage of Martin V. Lacy and Henrietta O’Dell, 28 November 1855.
  3. U.S. Federal Census, 1860; Brownville, Jefferson County, New York.
  4. New York, Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, 1861–1900, description dated 20 August 1862.
  5. U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles; service with 35th New York Infantry, Company I, and 80th New York Infantry, Company H.
  6. New York, U.S., Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790–1890.
  7. Michigan, Death Records, 1867–1950; death of Henrietta (O’Dell) Lacy, 1865.
  8. Michigan, County Marriages, 1822–1940; marriage of Martin V. Lacy and Nancy J. Whitney, 25 March 1866.
  9. Michigan, U.S., Birth Records, 1867–1914; Lacy family entries.
  10. U.S. General Land Office Records, 1776–2015; land patent, Kawkawlin Township, Bay County, Michigan, 1 August 1874.
  11. U.S. Federal Census, 1870, 1880, 1900; Michigan State Census, 1884, 1894; Kawkawlin Township, Bay County, Michigan.
  12. Michigan, Death Records and U.S., Find A Grave Index.
  13. Michigan, Death Records, 1867–1950; death certificate of Martin V. Lacy, 8 August 1904.