"The Morning Oregonian", August 22, 1913, page 13
"APTED At the residence of his daughter, Mrs. N. A. Snyder, Dover Addition, Woodstock, Aug. 21, James Apted, aged 82. Deceased Is survived by a wife and daughter. Remains are at the new parlors of the Skewes Undertaking Company. News of service later."
We can expect to have both success and pain in our lives. The love of our families helps us endure.
From user Anonymous: "When Agnes and James Apted married, she moved into his hotel in Owosso, Michigan, that James owned with his sister Emily. They sold it in 1871 and moved to Niles, Michigan, where he became a grocer similar to his brother-in-law John Milton Wells. "
[NOTE: A series of Apted relatives had been grocers. First, a James Apted, grocer, was listed in a Niles directory of 1856, when the town of Niles was small, maybe his father, maybe him. Next, seen in the US Census of 1860, two called Francis Apted, a Francis R and his father, had a grocery/bakery two counties eastward, at what later became Three Rivers. Finally, James' brother John Kendall Apted had run a Niles saloon in 1860, which had a grocery next-door, then, once married, was seen in the 1870 and 1880 US Censuses at Niles running a grocery.]
Anonymous continues...
,,."Two daughters Dorothy and Edith May were born in Niles. However, around the time Edith was born, James was declared bankrupt July-1878. They left Niles and moved to Glyndon, Minnesota where they ran a restaurant. By 1890 they were living in El Paso chasing gold."
[NOTE: They went to El Paso County in Colorado, not the town in Texas. Before they left Niles, something called the "Financial Panic of 1873" intervened, with over-expansion of railroads said to be one of the chief causes of the big bust that followed, many foreclosures, bankruptcies and so forth. His brother John K.'s business may also have failed, as he was said to have taken his family Denver before 1880 ended, is buried there. ]
"James had a gold miner license and a gold lease. They were still there in 1900. By 1910 James & Agnes had moved to Portland, Oregon, living with dau. Edith May and her husband Newton Snyder.
"By 1912 James was living in the Multnomah County Poor Farm/Hospital where he died 21-Aug-1913. In 1915 Agnes was living in Boarding Houses, working as a maid. In 1920 she is a lodger with 74 others at the Patton Home for the Friendless, Michigan Ave, Portland Oregon. She died 23-Nov-1920 of heart disease and asthma. Both Agnes & James are buried in Riverview Cemetery, Portland, in unmarked graves."
Above on Jan. 30, from user Anonymous, Id 50893343
In progress...
ADDED BIO. He immigrated from England, circa 1853. That date is given in his 1900 US Census. He was not on the NY passenger list with his parents and siblings when they sailed into NY harbor in May of 1850 on Ship Henry.
He spent almost two decades in the States, before marrying Canada-born Agnes Priscilla Montgomery, in 1870, at Niles. The hotel took some time. He may have postponed marriage due to the Civil War, his sister Emily able to run the hotel if he had to leave to serve. His wife's obituary later mentioned GAR activities. GAR stands for "Grand Army of the Republic", a Civil War veterans' group for ex-soldiers and their wives or widows, similar to our modern American Legion.
The handwritten record made by the signing minister for his and Priscilla's marriage mid-1870 said James was a hotelkeeper, residence Owosso (Shiawassee County). Things had gone well for the Apteds at Owosso, except for one thing. His youngest brother Albert had been in Owosso with James, took time off to substitute for someone else, at the friend's job working on the rails. There was an accident. Albert's accident and a young child witnessing it are described in the obituary at Albert's grave page (link below). His brother Albert's service was as at an Episcopalian church (the American version of England's Anglican church, but without a king at the top).
With his bride Agnes Priscilla using her middle name, they married at Niles, the minister Baptist, his congregation not meeting in homes. as some did, but with a church building in Niles, the congregation still existing today. The town of Niles served as the bride's residence, one of three main towns in Berrien County, with Anonymous telling us she lived with married sister.
Next-door to Berrien County, Niles at the boundary, was neighboring Cass County. There his parents and two married siblings farmed at three separate locations, seen in their 1870 Censuses and later. Both counties were in the valley of the St. Joseph River. Berrien was the last county before that river emptied into Lake Michigan. The County thus lay on Lake Michigan's east shoreline, near its southeast tip. That river, coming from south Ohio and flowing across southmost Michigan, carried farm produce over its navigable parts, with steamboats and other vehicles moving across the Lake .
The area was busy with business potential. Across Lake Michigan, lay the emerging metro of Chicago. Rail tracks then attempted to go around the Lake's south tip, with varying success once successful, displacing the steamers.
Booms would be associated with the varied rail efforts, after and during Michigan's experiment with wild cat banking. For good reasons, some college professors say, "Every boom is followed by a bust".
In the boom years, business directories for Niles listed several run by Apted owners, including the grocery and saloon plus, a restaurant. There was something called the Apted Block, near a rail depot. A book on Berrien County published at the time, in 1871, indicted the block was considered important (book compiled by an Edward Cowles, viewable at archive.org).
His Apteds were the only ones in town. His Apteds had prospered if they owned a whole block?
His bride of 1870 was recently of South Bend, Indiana, at, the Lake's south end. Her parents, James Montgomery and Phebe Bertram, had taken her and three sisters taken there, from their birth region in Canada. Their 1851 Canada Census had counted their still large family in Ontario, before her brothers left for Australia. Their 1860 US Census done i South Bend then caught her parents, Mr. Montgomery and his Canada-born wife, with an almost empty house. Only their two youngest daughters were still at home.
Agnes Priscilla was the one to be James' future wife. The town of Niles, Michigan, was in the county immediately north. Agnes and another Apted female moved in with a married sister at Niles, to be counted there for their 1870 US Census. She and James then wed there that summer.
This James' immigrant Apteds came from Surrey, England. His family's 1841 UK Census found him the eldest of six siblings already born, of the nine children to immigrate 1850 to 1853, so more had been born after the 1841 Census, done in the Surrey district of England, before their May, 1850 trip. Inside Surrey, they lived at Croydon, the childrens' births all registered there. His sister Sarah, the two only a year apart, was probably a "best buddy", both listed right after the parents. The birth of the children's fathher iws also registered at the town of Croydon (summaries viewable at FamilySearch.org).
Their father married their mother in London in 1830, her name listed as Elizabeth "Kindell". That seemed to be as "sound-it-out" of the "Kendall" instead written for their mother in the Michigan death records of some of James's sisters, later on. Elizabeth was sometimes called Betsy.
The handwritten New York passenger list, image viewable at Familyseach.org, shows the large family arriving, May, 1850, on Ship Henry, with several young children added since 1841. James was missing from the set, old enough to stay behind, come later. His sister Sarah was maybe expected to be a second parents to the other children, as voyages took longer then ,than now.
Born 1804-1806, hIs parents' were in their early 40s at immigration, their names ahead of the children's on the handwritten passenger list. (The address needed to find the image at FamilySearch.org is New York County, NY. James said in his 1900 US Census, done later, while mining in Colorado, that he'd immigrated in 1853, making him about 20.)
He'd been named for his father. There Surrey district was thick with Apteds, not a common name elsewhere in England. His father was the eldest of several James Apteds, both close in age, and also found in the Surrey district of England. His father seemed to be the only James Apted of his age born at Croydon. Especially confused with their family in some family trees was one with the wife also an Elizabeth, and their eldest daughter also a Sarah. Key differences, to tell them apart? The bit younger family was different in geography, at Lambeth for their 1851 UK Census, none listed as born at Croydon. That other Elizabeth Apted was younger, of a different maiden name, not Kendall. Being markedly younger, she'd had fewer children, only two with her in her 1851 UK Census at Lambeth, staying behind, not off to the States in 1850.
His parents' passenger list showed a note to the side of the children's names below. It indicated someone was a tailor, none of the children likely to have such skills, the tailor likely their father, the senior James. His parents would farm in Cass County, MIch., by their 1870 US Census, In Volinia Twp., James likely maiden sister, an aging Henrietta boarding at the farmhouse next-door, maybe there for the spate of weddings, no signs of her later, unless she was the Henrietta Apted listed after death ,with her will probated in England.
After arriving, work and marriage caused the maturing older children to disperse. Only one teen sister, Henrietta, clearly named for her aunt, was easily found in the 1850 US Census done a few months later. She was counted in "District 10" of Berrien County, Mich.
The Apted surname was often mis-spelled, ranging from Aplek to Opted. At some point, they must have learned to ask the clerk to show them what was written, as spellings by 1870 became more consistent.
His younger sister, Henrietta, was with a carpenter's family and their infant, named Davis, maybe hired as their babysitter. They dwelled in a cluster of carpenters nestled between a very few farmers, as if in some sort of camp. What were they building? a rail depot? a strip of shops? Did District 10 overlap with future Niles?
This James never seen as a farmer, nor on a census page surrounded by farmers. The names of some James Apted would be in Niles for an 1856 business directory, probably his father. The spelling was perfect, as if the business directory was paid to show an ad for James Apted, grocer.
By 1870, his sister Sarah, close in age, was definitely in Niles. She's married carpenter Lemuel Jones, stable, both to stay there until death, as would their married daughter Alice and her spouse Mark Vandenburg,. The Vandenburgs and their infant son were easily found in the 1870 Census, as they lived with Alice's parents.
Did Sarah and Alice help James and younger sister Emily meet marriageable people in Niles, both having been in Owosso? Both celebrated their marriages in Niles. (Two children of sister Sarah, found in the Niles house in 1870, would marry and finished their married lives in Chicago. Cook County records noted their surviving spouses consented to have their bodies shipped to Niles' Silverbrook Cemetery, where Apted, Jones, and Vandenburg graves are found, for at least four generations.)
If in Niles in 1856 with grocer James Apted or in Cass County in 1870 with the Apted parents, there should be multiple 1860 Censuses nearby. Thus far, only two brothers, William Apted, never using a middle initial, and John K Apted are found. Maybe live-in employees, maybe boarding with an employer's neighbors, each was listed after the family housing them. His brother, William, a known Civil War veteran. Of record in Cass County before the War, e returned from the War, to marry an Elizabeth Lowry in Vironia, where their Apted parents farmed. There was another young William Apted, the other in St. Joseph County, MIch.. The other, his name written as W. J. on his wife Sophia's stone, also went to the Civil War, but didn't return. A skilled kind of carpenter called a joiner, he was also born in England, though not at Croydon, instead at Greenwich in Kent. The other's parents were Francis and Sarah Maria Apted, with Francis the one born in the Surrey district of England. They'd immigrated late in the Three Rivers area of St Joseph County, just a few counties eastward, their William Julius Apted, aka W.J. Apted, one of two sons to die in the Civil War. A third son, A. M. Apted, came home damaged, but alive, perhaps using gold earnings from prospecting at Pikes Peak in the late 1850s to aid his success in Grand Rapids, MI.
Related, the two fathers were probably first cousins, but could have been brothers. Francis was the younger of the two.
(Francis initially raised his children in the Kent area of England, not at Croydon in Surrey. A.M.'s biography as Albert Melcathon Apted was printed in a book about Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan, published in 1900. It named Greenwich as their town in the Kent district, giving 1857-1858 as their immigration dates, 1857 marking A.M.'s trip to Pike's Peak looking for gold, 1858 as the date the father Francis Apted the elder brought them to St Joseph County, MIch, not far east of Niles.
For the W. J. who died in the War, his Regiment Ten (from Michigan) had over 10% die of disease. (Very few of Reg. 10 died in battle, as they guarded a key bridge, train tracks, etc., mostly in Tenn. )
Old-time Michigan had good early marriage records. Its birth and death records were poor at first, with the state's Civil War records inconsistent until a centennial of the War was held. "Retrospective" record were combined into a special Centennial list drawn from federal applications for gravestones and from so-called GAR membership lists. The list did its best for those who stayed in MIch., not those like James who left the state or those whose widows also died young, the case for W.J.
Was this James in the Civil War? Marrying rather late, in 1870, he easily could have spent time in the Civil War. His wife's obit cited GAR connections (Grand Army of the Republic, a veteran's group of Union soldiers. His relatives say he's buried in grave unmarked. Portland has a GAR cemetery. Checking details, we see it is part of the larger cemetery where James is said to be buried.
This James may have served, but there's no clear record, such that as seen for his brother William, who survived and remained in Michigan. Cousin W.J.'s widowed wife, buried as Sophia Apted, elsewhere in Mich, called him WJ on her stone. Also, her name as Sophia Apted on a federal card showed she received a widow's pension, citing her spouse as William Apted, of Michigan's Regiment Ten. (It listed the first date his Regiment sought volunteers iin brother A.M.'s county, not the soldier's death date, so records must have been a mess. Her death in 1867 was too early for someone to try to fix the mess?)
Also in Cass County, was this James' sister Mary. She married a Goodspeed. who farmed in Cass County. They married there before 1870.
James' parents were very clearly in Cass County for Mary's wedding and their 1870 and 1880 US Censuses. His parents would both die soon after, 1883-1884, buried just across the Cass County line at Silverbrook Cem, in Niles, Mich. (Again, Sarah Apted Jones, her spouse, her daughter Alice and two other Jones children, and Sarah's Vandenburg grandchildren by Alice are buried there. Recall that Niles is in Berrien County, just across Lake Michigan from Chicago, just north of South Bend, IN.)
HIs father-in-law was James Montgomery, with Mr. Montgomery's work said by his family to range from teacher to laborer. His work took him from the US to Canada when young, where he married and had children, all born in Ontario, records pointing to the section of Ontario on the north side Lake Erie, near Niagara NY. A daughter Julia would marry and stay in Canada. Some sons were off to Australia, while Mr Montgomery returned to the States. He guessed his birth was in Penn., when surprised by the question in his 1860 US Census. One daughter corrected that answer in a later one of her own Censuses. She said her father was born in Virginia. (It would have been a much larger Virginia than true now. His birth was before the Civil War caused West Virginia to break away.)
Her sisters Agnes Priscilla Montgomery Apted's answer in one of her later Censuses? She said her father was born in West Virginia. Recall that both answers were true, given West Virginia was created out of Virginis as the West Virginians did not like mother Virginia's decision to secede. In 1860 when they lived in South Bend, some say it had a reputation as abolitionist.
Why did he guess Penn.? When people guess a birthplace wrongly, it often turns out to be a place that mattered in their lives some other way. Maybe his parent moved there when he was tiny? Gettysburg Penn., important in the Civil War, was just north of the West Virginia line. Going up though Pittsburg to the end of Penn's northmost line put one right on Lake Erie, crossable directly into the part of Ontario where he and Canada-born wife Phebe Bertram raised their children.
This James' wife, Agnes Priscilla, was born in what remains of one of the several places in Canada called Selkirk, hers not the larger and better known old Selkirk in Manitoba, its Red River of the North coming up Minnesota's west edge and running to Lake Winnipeg. Her Montgomeries were never in Minnesota, says the user currently called Anonymous. Agnes' sister Julia remained in Ontario, when asked for ethnicity and religion in a Census, said her religion was Methodist and her ethnicity was "Scotch" (often used by settlers who came from Scotland, but not directly, but via northern Ireland.)
NOTE: Agnes's FindaGrave bio has news items printed after her death.
Some noted Agnes had connections to the GAR, Grand Army of the Republic. That was an organization for Civil War veterans of the Union and any widowed wives. James did not marry until in his early 30s, as if something had kept him busy. Their marriage year of 1870 is also consistent with waiting until Civil War service was over and recovery completed. The war ran mid-1861 (earliest volunteers, after Confederates attacked on Fort Sumner, most in Michigan vehemently against slavery.)
The War ended after the emancipation of just those slaves held in seceding states and after Lincoln's death, some key battles yet to be won, other slaves yet to be freed. Mustering out was common mid-1865, and if not then, by early 1866.
PTSD was not yet acknowledged. However, wandering about and "taking awhile to settle down" were noticed for returning soldiers without serious physical injuries. Life spans of those who'd gone to the war were shorter than in earlier generations in multiple families. Thus, he was fortunate to be quite elderly by the time of his death.
He had a chance to know his grandchildren.
JB, 2023,last revised Feb. 9
"APTED At the residence of his daughter, Mrs. N. A. Snyder, Dover Addition, Woodstock, Aug. 21, James Apted, aged 82. Deceased Is survived by a wife and daughter. Remains are at the new parlors of the Skewes Undertaking Company. News of service later."
We can expect to have both success and pain in our lives. The love of our families helps us endure.
From user Anonymous: "When Agnes and James Apted married, she moved into his hotel in Owosso, Michigan, that James owned with his sister Emily. They sold it in 1871 and moved to Niles, Michigan, where he became a grocer similar to his brother-in-law John Milton Wells. "
[NOTE: A series of Apted relatives had been grocers. First, a James Apted, grocer, was listed in a Niles directory of 1856, when the town of Niles was small, maybe his father, maybe him. Next, seen in the US Census of 1860, two called Francis Apted, a Francis R and his father, had a grocery/bakery two counties eastward, at what later became Three Rivers. Finally, James' brother John Kendall Apted had run a Niles saloon in 1860, which had a grocery next-door, then, once married, was seen in the 1870 and 1880 US Censuses at Niles running a grocery.]
Anonymous continues...
,,."Two daughters Dorothy and Edith May were born in Niles. However, around the time Edith was born, James was declared bankrupt July-1878. They left Niles and moved to Glyndon, Minnesota where they ran a restaurant. By 1890 they were living in El Paso chasing gold."
[NOTE: They went to El Paso County in Colorado, not the town in Texas. Before they left Niles, something called the "Financial Panic of 1873" intervened, with over-expansion of railroads said to be one of the chief causes of the big bust that followed, many foreclosures, bankruptcies and so forth. His brother John K.'s business may also have failed, as he was said to have taken his family Denver before 1880 ended, is buried there. ]
"James had a gold miner license and a gold lease. They were still there in 1900. By 1910 James & Agnes had moved to Portland, Oregon, living with dau. Edith May and her husband Newton Snyder.
"By 1912 James was living in the Multnomah County Poor Farm/Hospital where he died 21-Aug-1913. In 1915 Agnes was living in Boarding Houses, working as a maid. In 1920 she is a lodger with 74 others at the Patton Home for the Friendless, Michigan Ave, Portland Oregon. She died 23-Nov-1920 of heart disease and asthma. Both Agnes & James are buried in Riverview Cemetery, Portland, in unmarked graves."
Above on Jan. 30, from user Anonymous, Id 50893343
In progress...
ADDED BIO. He immigrated from England, circa 1853. That date is given in his 1900 US Census. He was not on the NY passenger list with his parents and siblings when they sailed into NY harbor in May of 1850 on Ship Henry.
He spent almost two decades in the States, before marrying Canada-born Agnes Priscilla Montgomery, in 1870, at Niles. The hotel took some time. He may have postponed marriage due to the Civil War, his sister Emily able to run the hotel if he had to leave to serve. His wife's obituary later mentioned GAR activities. GAR stands for "Grand Army of the Republic", a Civil War veterans' group for ex-soldiers and their wives or widows, similar to our modern American Legion.
The handwritten record made by the signing minister for his and Priscilla's marriage mid-1870 said James was a hotelkeeper, residence Owosso (Shiawassee County). Things had gone well for the Apteds at Owosso, except for one thing. His youngest brother Albert had been in Owosso with James, took time off to substitute for someone else, at the friend's job working on the rails. There was an accident. Albert's accident and a young child witnessing it are described in the obituary at Albert's grave page (link below). His brother Albert's service was as at an Episcopalian church (the American version of England's Anglican church, but without a king at the top).
With his bride Agnes Priscilla using her middle name, they married at Niles, the minister Baptist, his congregation not meeting in homes. as some did, but with a church building in Niles, the congregation still existing today. The town of Niles served as the bride's residence, one of three main towns in Berrien County, with Anonymous telling us she lived with married sister.
Next-door to Berrien County, Niles at the boundary, was neighboring Cass County. There his parents and two married siblings farmed at three separate locations, seen in their 1870 Censuses and later. Both counties were in the valley of the St. Joseph River. Berrien was the last county before that river emptied into Lake Michigan. The County thus lay on Lake Michigan's east shoreline, near its southeast tip. That river, coming from south Ohio and flowing across southmost Michigan, carried farm produce over its navigable parts, with steamboats and other vehicles moving across the Lake .
The area was busy with business potential. Across Lake Michigan, lay the emerging metro of Chicago. Rail tracks then attempted to go around the Lake's south tip, with varying success once successful, displacing the steamers.
Booms would be associated with the varied rail efforts, after and during Michigan's experiment with wild cat banking. For good reasons, some college professors say, "Every boom is followed by a bust".
In the boom years, business directories for Niles listed several run by Apted owners, including the grocery and saloon plus, a restaurant. There was something called the Apted Block, near a rail depot. A book on Berrien County published at the time, in 1871, indicted the block was considered important (book compiled by an Edward Cowles, viewable at archive.org).
His Apteds were the only ones in town. His Apteds had prospered if they owned a whole block?
His bride of 1870 was recently of South Bend, Indiana, at, the Lake's south end. Her parents, James Montgomery and Phebe Bertram, had taken her and three sisters taken there, from their birth region in Canada. Their 1851 Canada Census had counted their still large family in Ontario, before her brothers left for Australia. Their 1860 US Census done i South Bend then caught her parents, Mr. Montgomery and his Canada-born wife, with an almost empty house. Only their two youngest daughters were still at home.
Agnes Priscilla was the one to be James' future wife. The town of Niles, Michigan, was in the county immediately north. Agnes and another Apted female moved in with a married sister at Niles, to be counted there for their 1870 US Census. She and James then wed there that summer.
This James' immigrant Apteds came from Surrey, England. His family's 1841 UK Census found him the eldest of six siblings already born, of the nine children to immigrate 1850 to 1853, so more had been born after the 1841 Census, done in the Surrey district of England, before their May, 1850 trip. Inside Surrey, they lived at Croydon, the childrens' births all registered there. His sister Sarah, the two only a year apart, was probably a "best buddy", both listed right after the parents. The birth of the children's fathher iws also registered at the town of Croydon (summaries viewable at FamilySearch.org).
Their father married their mother in London in 1830, her name listed as Elizabeth "Kindell". That seemed to be as "sound-it-out" of the "Kendall" instead written for their mother in the Michigan death records of some of James's sisters, later on. Elizabeth was sometimes called Betsy.
The handwritten New York passenger list, image viewable at Familyseach.org, shows the large family arriving, May, 1850, on Ship Henry, with several young children added since 1841. James was missing from the set, old enough to stay behind, come later. His sister Sarah was maybe expected to be a second parents to the other children, as voyages took longer then ,than now.
Born 1804-1806, hIs parents' were in their early 40s at immigration, their names ahead of the children's on the handwritten passenger list. (The address needed to find the image at FamilySearch.org is New York County, NY. James said in his 1900 US Census, done later, while mining in Colorado, that he'd immigrated in 1853, making him about 20.)
He'd been named for his father. There Surrey district was thick with Apteds, not a common name elsewhere in England. His father was the eldest of several James Apteds, both close in age, and also found in the Surrey district of England. His father seemed to be the only James Apted of his age born at Croydon. Especially confused with their family in some family trees was one with the wife also an Elizabeth, and their eldest daughter also a Sarah. Key differences, to tell them apart? The bit younger family was different in geography, at Lambeth for their 1851 UK Census, none listed as born at Croydon. That other Elizabeth Apted was younger, of a different maiden name, not Kendall. Being markedly younger, she'd had fewer children, only two with her in her 1851 UK Census at Lambeth, staying behind, not off to the States in 1850.
His parents' passenger list showed a note to the side of the children's names below. It indicated someone was a tailor, none of the children likely to have such skills, the tailor likely their father, the senior James. His parents would farm in Cass County, MIch., by their 1870 US Census, In Volinia Twp., James likely maiden sister, an aging Henrietta boarding at the farmhouse next-door, maybe there for the spate of weddings, no signs of her later, unless she was the Henrietta Apted listed after death ,with her will probated in England.
After arriving, work and marriage caused the maturing older children to disperse. Only one teen sister, Henrietta, clearly named for her aunt, was easily found in the 1850 US Census done a few months later. She was counted in "District 10" of Berrien County, Mich.
The Apted surname was often mis-spelled, ranging from Aplek to Opted. At some point, they must have learned to ask the clerk to show them what was written, as spellings by 1870 became more consistent.
His younger sister, Henrietta, was with a carpenter's family and their infant, named Davis, maybe hired as their babysitter. They dwelled in a cluster of carpenters nestled between a very few farmers, as if in some sort of camp. What were they building? a rail depot? a strip of shops? Did District 10 overlap with future Niles?
This James never seen as a farmer, nor on a census page surrounded by farmers. The names of some James Apted would be in Niles for an 1856 business directory, probably his father. The spelling was perfect, as if the business directory was paid to show an ad for James Apted, grocer.
By 1870, his sister Sarah, close in age, was definitely in Niles. She's married carpenter Lemuel Jones, stable, both to stay there until death, as would their married daughter Alice and her spouse Mark Vandenburg,. The Vandenburgs and their infant son were easily found in the 1870 Census, as they lived with Alice's parents.
Did Sarah and Alice help James and younger sister Emily meet marriageable people in Niles, both having been in Owosso? Both celebrated their marriages in Niles. (Two children of sister Sarah, found in the Niles house in 1870, would marry and finished their married lives in Chicago. Cook County records noted their surviving spouses consented to have their bodies shipped to Niles' Silverbrook Cemetery, where Apted, Jones, and Vandenburg graves are found, for at least four generations.)
If in Niles in 1856 with grocer James Apted or in Cass County in 1870 with the Apted parents, there should be multiple 1860 Censuses nearby. Thus far, only two brothers, William Apted, never using a middle initial, and John K Apted are found. Maybe live-in employees, maybe boarding with an employer's neighbors, each was listed after the family housing them. His brother, William, a known Civil War veteran. Of record in Cass County before the War, e returned from the War, to marry an Elizabeth Lowry in Vironia, where their Apted parents farmed. There was another young William Apted, the other in St. Joseph County, MIch.. The other, his name written as W. J. on his wife Sophia's stone, also went to the Civil War, but didn't return. A skilled kind of carpenter called a joiner, he was also born in England, though not at Croydon, instead at Greenwich in Kent. The other's parents were Francis and Sarah Maria Apted, with Francis the one born in the Surrey district of England. They'd immigrated late in the Three Rivers area of St Joseph County, just a few counties eastward, their William Julius Apted, aka W.J. Apted, one of two sons to die in the Civil War. A third son, A. M. Apted, came home damaged, but alive, perhaps using gold earnings from prospecting at Pikes Peak in the late 1850s to aid his success in Grand Rapids, MI.
Related, the two fathers were probably first cousins, but could have been brothers. Francis was the younger of the two.
(Francis initially raised his children in the Kent area of England, not at Croydon in Surrey. A.M.'s biography as Albert Melcathon Apted was printed in a book about Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan, published in 1900. It named Greenwich as their town in the Kent district, giving 1857-1858 as their immigration dates, 1857 marking A.M.'s trip to Pike's Peak looking for gold, 1858 as the date the father Francis Apted the elder brought them to St Joseph County, MIch, not far east of Niles.
For the W. J. who died in the War, his Regiment Ten (from Michigan) had over 10% die of disease. (Very few of Reg. 10 died in battle, as they guarded a key bridge, train tracks, etc., mostly in Tenn. )
Old-time Michigan had good early marriage records. Its birth and death records were poor at first, with the state's Civil War records inconsistent until a centennial of the War was held. "Retrospective" record were combined into a special Centennial list drawn from federal applications for gravestones and from so-called GAR membership lists. The list did its best for those who stayed in MIch., not those like James who left the state or those whose widows also died young, the case for W.J.
Was this James in the Civil War? Marrying rather late, in 1870, he easily could have spent time in the Civil War. His wife's obit cited GAR connections (Grand Army of the Republic, a veteran's group of Union soldiers. His relatives say he's buried in grave unmarked. Portland has a GAR cemetery. Checking details, we see it is part of the larger cemetery where James is said to be buried.
This James may have served, but there's no clear record, such that as seen for his brother William, who survived and remained in Michigan. Cousin W.J.'s widowed wife, buried as Sophia Apted, elsewhere in Mich, called him WJ on her stone. Also, her name as Sophia Apted on a federal card showed she received a widow's pension, citing her spouse as William Apted, of Michigan's Regiment Ten. (It listed the first date his Regiment sought volunteers iin brother A.M.'s county, not the soldier's death date, so records must have been a mess. Her death in 1867 was too early for someone to try to fix the mess?)
Also in Cass County, was this James' sister Mary. She married a Goodspeed. who farmed in Cass County. They married there before 1870.
James' parents were very clearly in Cass County for Mary's wedding and their 1870 and 1880 US Censuses. His parents would both die soon after, 1883-1884, buried just across the Cass County line at Silverbrook Cem, in Niles, Mich. (Again, Sarah Apted Jones, her spouse, her daughter Alice and two other Jones children, and Sarah's Vandenburg grandchildren by Alice are buried there. Recall that Niles is in Berrien County, just across Lake Michigan from Chicago, just north of South Bend, IN.)
HIs father-in-law was James Montgomery, with Mr. Montgomery's work said by his family to range from teacher to laborer. His work took him from the US to Canada when young, where he married and had children, all born in Ontario, records pointing to the section of Ontario on the north side Lake Erie, near Niagara NY. A daughter Julia would marry and stay in Canada. Some sons were off to Australia, while Mr Montgomery returned to the States. He guessed his birth was in Penn., when surprised by the question in his 1860 US Census. One daughter corrected that answer in a later one of her own Censuses. She said her father was born in Virginia. (It would have been a much larger Virginia than true now. His birth was before the Civil War caused West Virginia to break away.)
Her sisters Agnes Priscilla Montgomery Apted's answer in one of her later Censuses? She said her father was born in West Virginia. Recall that both answers were true, given West Virginia was created out of Virginis as the West Virginians did not like mother Virginia's decision to secede. In 1860 when they lived in South Bend, some say it had a reputation as abolitionist.
Why did he guess Penn.? When people guess a birthplace wrongly, it often turns out to be a place that mattered in their lives some other way. Maybe his parent moved there when he was tiny? Gettysburg Penn., important in the Civil War, was just north of the West Virginia line. Going up though Pittsburg to the end of Penn's northmost line put one right on Lake Erie, crossable directly into the part of Ontario where he and Canada-born wife Phebe Bertram raised their children.
This James' wife, Agnes Priscilla, was born in what remains of one of the several places in Canada called Selkirk, hers not the larger and better known old Selkirk in Manitoba, its Red River of the North coming up Minnesota's west edge and running to Lake Winnipeg. Her Montgomeries were never in Minnesota, says the user currently called Anonymous. Agnes' sister Julia remained in Ontario, when asked for ethnicity and religion in a Census, said her religion was Methodist and her ethnicity was "Scotch" (often used by settlers who came from Scotland, but not directly, but via northern Ireland.)
NOTE: Agnes's FindaGrave bio has news items printed after her death.
Some noted Agnes had connections to the GAR, Grand Army of the Republic. That was an organization for Civil War veterans of the Union and any widowed wives. James did not marry until in his early 30s, as if something had kept him busy. Their marriage year of 1870 is also consistent with waiting until Civil War service was over and recovery completed. The war ran mid-1861 (earliest volunteers, after Confederates attacked on Fort Sumner, most in Michigan vehemently against slavery.)
The War ended after the emancipation of just those slaves held in seceding states and after Lincoln's death, some key battles yet to be won, other slaves yet to be freed. Mustering out was common mid-1865, and if not then, by early 1866.
PTSD was not yet acknowledged. However, wandering about and "taking awhile to settle down" were noticed for returning soldiers without serious physical injuries. Life spans of those who'd gone to the war were shorter than in earlier generations in multiple families. Thus, he was fortunate to be quite elderly by the time of his death.
He had a chance to know his grandchildren.
JB, 2023,last revised Feb. 9
"The Morning Oregonian", August 22, 1913, page 13
"APTED At the residence of his daughter, Mrs. N. A. Snyder, Dover Addition, Woodstock, Aug. 21, James Apted, aged 82. Deceased Is survived by a wife and daughter. Remains are at the new parlors of the Skewes Undertaking Company. News of service later."
We can expect to have both success and pain in our lives. The love of our families helps us endure.
From user Anonymous: "When Agnes and James Apted married, she moved into his hotel in Owosso, Michigan, that James owned with his sister Emily. They sold it in 1871 and moved to Niles, Michigan, where he became a grocer similar to his brother-in-law John Milton Wells. "
[NOTE: A series of Apted relatives had been grocers. First, a James Apted, grocer, was listed in a Niles directory of 1856, when the town of Niles was small, maybe his father, maybe him. Next, seen in the US Census of 1860, two called Francis Apted, a Francis R and his father, had a grocery/bakery two counties eastward, at what later became Three Rivers. Finally, James' brother John Kendall Apted had run a Niles saloon in 1860, which had a grocery next-door, then, once married, was seen in the 1870 and 1880 US Censuses at Niles running a grocery.]
Anonymous continues...
,,."Two daughters Dorothy and Edith May were born in Niles. However, around the time Edith was born, James was declared bankrupt July-1878. They left Niles and moved to Glyndon, Minnesota where they ran a restaurant. By 1890 they were living in El Paso chasing gold."
[NOTE: They went to El Paso County in Colorado, not the town in Texas. Before they left Niles, something called the "Financial Panic of 1873" intervened, with over-expansion of railroads said to be one of the chief causes of the big bust that followed, many foreclosures, bankruptcies and so forth. His brother John K.'s business may also have failed, as he was said to have taken his family Denver before 1880 ended, is buried there. ]
"James had a gold miner license and a gold lease. They were still there in 1900. By 1910 James & Agnes had moved to Portland, Oregon, living with dau. Edith May and her husband Newton Snyder.
"By 1912 James was living in the Multnomah County Poor Farm/Hospital where he died 21-Aug-1913. In 1915 Agnes was living in Boarding Houses, working as a maid. In 1920 she is a lodger with 74 others at the Patton Home for the Friendless, Michigan Ave, Portland Oregon. She died 23-Nov-1920 of heart disease and asthma. Both Agnes & James are buried in Riverview Cemetery, Portland, in unmarked graves."
Above on Jan. 30, from user Anonymous, Id 50893343
In progress...
ADDED BIO. He immigrated from England, circa 1853. That date is given in his 1900 US Census. He was not on the NY passenger list with his parents and siblings when they sailed into NY harbor in May of 1850 on Ship Henry.
He spent almost two decades in the States, before marrying Canada-born Agnes Priscilla Montgomery, in 1870, at Niles. The hotel took some time. He may have postponed marriage due to the Civil War, his sister Emily able to run the hotel if he had to leave to serve. His wife's obituary later mentioned GAR activities. GAR stands for "Grand Army of the Republic", a Civil War veterans' group for ex-soldiers and their wives or widows, similar to our modern American Legion.
The handwritten record made by the signing minister for his and Priscilla's marriage mid-1870 said James was a hotelkeeper, residence Owosso (Shiawassee County). Things had gone well for the Apteds at Owosso, except for one thing. His youngest brother Albert had been in Owosso with James, took time off to substitute for someone else, at the friend's job working on the rails. There was an accident. Albert's accident and a young child witnessing it are described in the obituary at Albert's grave page (link below). His brother Albert's service was as at an Episcopalian church (the American version of England's Anglican church, but without a king at the top).
With his bride Agnes Priscilla using her middle name, they married at Niles, the minister Baptist, his congregation not meeting in homes. as some did, but with a church building in Niles, the congregation still existing today. The town of Niles served as the bride's residence, one of three main towns in Berrien County, with Anonymous telling us she lived with married sister.
Next-door to Berrien County, Niles at the boundary, was neighboring Cass County. There his parents and two married siblings farmed at three separate locations, seen in their 1870 Censuses and later. Both counties were in the valley of the St. Joseph River. Berrien was the last county before that river emptied into Lake Michigan. The County thus lay on Lake Michigan's east shoreline, near its southeast tip. That river, coming from south Ohio and flowing across southmost Michigan, carried farm produce over its navigable parts, with steamboats and other vehicles moving across the Lake .
The area was busy with business potential. Across Lake Michigan, lay the emerging metro of Chicago. Rail tracks then attempted to go around the Lake's south tip, with varying success once successful, displacing the steamers.
Booms would be associated with the varied rail efforts, after and during Michigan's experiment with wild cat banking. For good reasons, some college professors say, "Every boom is followed by a bust".
In the boom years, business directories for Niles listed several run by Apted owners, including the grocery and saloon plus, a restaurant. There was something called the Apted Block, near a rail depot. A book on Berrien County published at the time, in 1871, indicted the block was considered important (book compiled by an Edward Cowles, viewable at archive.org).
His Apteds were the only ones in town. His Apteds had prospered if they owned a whole block?
His bride of 1870 was recently of South Bend, Indiana, at, the Lake's south end. Her parents, James Montgomery and Phebe Bertram, had taken her and three sisters taken there, from their birth region in Canada. Their 1851 Canada Census had counted their still large family in Ontario, before her brothers left for Australia. Their 1860 US Census done i South Bend then caught her parents, Mr. Montgomery and his Canada-born wife, with an almost empty house. Only their two youngest daughters were still at home.
Agnes Priscilla was the one to be James' future wife. The town of Niles, Michigan, was in the county immediately north. Agnes and another Apted female moved in with a married sister at Niles, to be counted there for their 1870 US Census. She and James then wed there that summer.
This James' immigrant Apteds came from Surrey, England. His family's 1841 UK Census found him the eldest of six siblings already born, of the nine children to immigrate 1850 to 1853, so more had been born after the 1841 Census, done in the Surrey district of England, before their May, 1850 trip. Inside Surrey, they lived at Croydon, the childrens' births all registered there. His sister Sarah, the two only a year apart, was probably a "best buddy", both listed right after the parents. The birth of the children's fathher iws also registered at the town of Croydon (summaries viewable at FamilySearch.org).
Their father married their mother in London in 1830, her name listed as Elizabeth "Kindell". That seemed to be as "sound-it-out" of the "Kendall" instead written for their mother in the Michigan death records of some of James's sisters, later on. Elizabeth was sometimes called Betsy.
The handwritten New York passenger list, image viewable at Familyseach.org, shows the large family arriving, May, 1850, on Ship Henry, with several young children added since 1841. James was missing from the set, old enough to stay behind, come later. His sister Sarah was maybe expected to be a second parents to the other children, as voyages took longer then ,than now.
Born 1804-1806, hIs parents' were in their early 40s at immigration, their names ahead of the children's on the handwritten passenger list. (The address needed to find the image at FamilySearch.org is New York County, NY. James said in his 1900 US Census, done later, while mining in Colorado, that he'd immigrated in 1853, making him about 20.)
He'd been named for his father. There Surrey district was thick with Apteds, not a common name elsewhere in England. His father was the eldest of several James Apteds, both close in age, and also found in the Surrey district of England. His father seemed to be the only James Apted of his age born at Croydon. Especially confused with their family in some family trees was one with the wife also an Elizabeth, and their eldest daughter also a Sarah. Key differences, to tell them apart? The bit younger family was different in geography, at Lambeth for their 1851 UK Census, none listed as born at Croydon. That other Elizabeth Apted was younger, of a different maiden name, not Kendall. Being markedly younger, she'd had fewer children, only two with her in her 1851 UK Census at Lambeth, staying behind, not off to the States in 1850.
His parents' passenger list showed a note to the side of the children's names below. It indicated someone was a tailor, none of the children likely to have such skills, the tailor likely their father, the senior James. His parents would farm in Cass County, MIch., by their 1870 US Census, In Volinia Twp., James likely maiden sister, an aging Henrietta boarding at the farmhouse next-door, maybe there for the spate of weddings, no signs of her later, unless she was the Henrietta Apted listed after death ,with her will probated in England.
After arriving, work and marriage caused the maturing older children to disperse. Only one teen sister, Henrietta, clearly named for her aunt, was easily found in the 1850 US Census done a few months later. She was counted in "District 10" of Berrien County, Mich.
The Apted surname was often mis-spelled, ranging from Aplek to Opted. At some point, they must have learned to ask the clerk to show them what was written, as spellings by 1870 became more consistent.
His younger sister, Henrietta, was with a carpenter's family and their infant, named Davis, maybe hired as their babysitter. They dwelled in a cluster of carpenters nestled between a very few farmers, as if in some sort of camp. What were they building? a rail depot? a strip of shops? Did District 10 overlap with future Niles?
This James never seen as a farmer, nor on a census page surrounded by farmers. The names of some James Apted would be in Niles for an 1856 business directory, probably his father. The spelling was perfect, as if the business directory was paid to show an ad for James Apted, grocer.
By 1870, his sister Sarah, close in age, was definitely in Niles. She's married carpenter Lemuel Jones, stable, both to stay there until death, as would their married daughter Alice and her spouse Mark Vandenburg,. The Vandenburgs and their infant son were easily found in the 1870 Census, as they lived with Alice's parents.
Did Sarah and Alice help James and younger sister Emily meet marriageable people in Niles, both having been in Owosso? Both celebrated their marriages in Niles. (Two children of sister Sarah, found in the Niles house in 1870, would marry and finished their married lives in Chicago. Cook County records noted their surviving spouses consented to have their bodies shipped to Niles' Silverbrook Cemetery, where Apted, Jones, and Vandenburg graves are found, for at least four generations.)
If in Niles in 1856 with grocer James Apted or in Cass County in 1870 with the Apted parents, there should be multiple 1860 Censuses nearby. Thus far, only two brothers, William Apted, never using a middle initial, and John K Apted are found. Maybe live-in employees, maybe boarding with an employer's neighbors, each was listed after the family housing them. His brother, William, a known Civil War veteran. Of record in Cass County before the War, e returned from the War, to marry an Elizabeth Lowry in Vironia, where their Apted parents farmed. There was another young William Apted, the other in St. Joseph County, MIch.. The other, his name written as W. J. on his wife Sophia's stone, also went to the Civil War, but didn't return. A skilled kind of carpenter called a joiner, he was also born in England, though not at Croydon, instead at Greenwich in Kent. The other's parents were Francis and Sarah Maria Apted, with Francis the one born in the Surrey district of England. They'd immigrated late in the Three Rivers area of St Joseph County, just a few counties eastward, their William Julius Apted, aka W.J. Apted, one of two sons to die in the Civil War. A third son, A. M. Apted, came home damaged, but alive, perhaps using gold earnings from prospecting at Pikes Peak in the late 1850s to aid his success in Grand Rapids, MI.
Related, the two fathers were probably first cousins, but could have been brothers. Francis was the younger of the two.
(Francis initially raised his children in the Kent area of England, not at Croydon in Surrey. A.M.'s biography as Albert Melcathon Apted was printed in a book about Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan, published in 1900. It named Greenwich as their town in the Kent district, giving 1857-1858 as their immigration dates, 1857 marking A.M.'s trip to Pike's Peak looking for gold, 1858 as the date the father Francis Apted the elder brought them to St Joseph County, MIch, not far east of Niles.
For the W. J. who died in the War, his Regiment Ten (from Michigan) had over 10% die of disease. (Very few of Reg. 10 died in battle, as they guarded a key bridge, train tracks, etc., mostly in Tenn. )
Old-time Michigan had good early marriage records. Its birth and death records were poor at first, with the state's Civil War records inconsistent until a centennial of the War was held. "Retrospective" record were combined into a special Centennial list drawn from federal applications for gravestones and from so-called GAR membership lists. The list did its best for those who stayed in MIch., not those like James who left the state or those whose widows also died young, the case for W.J.
Was this James in the Civil War? Marrying rather late, in 1870, he easily could have spent time in the Civil War. His wife's obit cited GAR connections (Grand Army of the Republic, a veteran's group of Union soldiers. His relatives say he's buried in grave unmarked. Portland has a GAR cemetery. Checking details, we see it is part of the larger cemetery where James is said to be buried.
This James may have served, but there's no clear record, such that as seen for his brother William, who survived and remained in Michigan. Cousin W.J.'s widowed wife, buried as Sophia Apted, elsewhere in Mich, called him WJ on her stone. Also, her name as Sophia Apted on a federal card showed she received a widow's pension, citing her spouse as William Apted, of Michigan's Regiment Ten. (It listed the first date his Regiment sought volunteers iin brother A.M.'s county, not the soldier's death date, so records must have been a mess. Her death in 1867 was too early for someone to try to fix the mess?)
Also in Cass County, was this James' sister Mary. She married a Goodspeed. who farmed in Cass County. They married there before 1870.
James' parents were very clearly in Cass County for Mary's wedding and their 1870 and 1880 US Censuses. His parents would both die soon after, 1883-1884, buried just across the Cass County line at Silverbrook Cem, in Niles, Mich. (Again, Sarah Apted Jones, her spouse, her daughter Alice and two other Jones children, and Sarah's Vandenburg grandchildren by Alice are buried there. Recall that Niles is in Berrien County, just across Lake Michigan from Chicago, just north of South Bend, IN.)
HIs father-in-law was James Montgomery, with Mr. Montgomery's work said by his family to range from teacher to laborer. His work took him from the US to Canada when young, where he married and had children, all born in Ontario, records pointing to the section of Ontario on the north side Lake Erie, near Niagara NY. A daughter Julia would marry and stay in Canada. Some sons were off to Australia, while Mr Montgomery returned to the States. He guessed his birth was in Penn., when surprised by the question in his 1860 US Census. One daughter corrected that answer in a later one of her own Censuses. She said her father was born in Virginia. (It would have been a much larger Virginia than true now. His birth was before the Civil War caused West Virginia to break away.)
Her sisters Agnes Priscilla Montgomery Apted's answer in one of her later Censuses? She said her father was born in West Virginia. Recall that both answers were true, given West Virginia was created out of Virginis as the West Virginians did not like mother Virginia's decision to secede. In 1860 when they lived in South Bend, some say it had a reputation as abolitionist.
Why did he guess Penn.? When people guess a birthplace wrongly, it often turns out to be a place that mattered in their lives some other way. Maybe his parent moved there when he was tiny? Gettysburg Penn., important in the Civil War, was just north of the West Virginia line. Going up though Pittsburg to the end of Penn's northmost line put one right on Lake Erie, crossable directly into the part of Ontario where he and Canada-born wife Phebe Bertram raised their children.
This James' wife, Agnes Priscilla, was born in what remains of one of the several places in Canada called Selkirk, hers not the larger and better known old Selkirk in Manitoba, its Red River of the North coming up Minnesota's west edge and running to Lake Winnipeg. Her Montgomeries were never in Minnesota, says the user currently called Anonymous. Agnes' sister Julia remained in Ontario, when asked for ethnicity and religion in a Census, said her religion was Methodist and her ethnicity was "Scotch" (often used by settlers who came from Scotland, but not directly, but via northern Ireland.)
NOTE: Agnes's FindaGrave bio has news items printed after her death.
Some noted Agnes had connections to the GAR, Grand Army of the Republic. That was an organization for Civil War veterans of the Union and any widowed wives. James did not marry until in his early 30s, as if something had kept him busy. Their marriage year of 1870 is also consistent with waiting until Civil War service was over and recovery completed. The war ran mid-1861 (earliest volunteers, after Confederates attacked on Fort Sumner, most in Michigan vehemently against slavery.)
The War ended after the emancipation of just those slaves held in seceding states and after Lincoln's death, some key battles yet to be won, other slaves yet to be freed. Mustering out was common mid-1865, and if not then, by early 1866.
PTSD was not yet acknowledged. However, wandering about and "taking awhile to settle down" were noticed for returning soldiers without serious physical injuries. Life spans of those who'd gone to the war were shorter than in earlier generations in multiple families. Thus, he was fortunate to be quite elderly by the time of his death.
He had a chance to know his grandchildren.
JB, 2023,last revised Feb. 9
"APTED At the residence of his daughter, Mrs. N. A. Snyder, Dover Addition, Woodstock, Aug. 21, James Apted, aged 82. Deceased Is survived by a wife and daughter. Remains are at the new parlors of the Skewes Undertaking Company. News of service later."
We can expect to have both success and pain in our lives. The love of our families helps us endure.
From user Anonymous: "When Agnes and James Apted married, she moved into his hotel in Owosso, Michigan, that James owned with his sister Emily. They sold it in 1871 and moved to Niles, Michigan, where he became a grocer similar to his brother-in-law John Milton Wells. "
[NOTE: A series of Apted relatives had been grocers. First, a James Apted, grocer, was listed in a Niles directory of 1856, when the town of Niles was small, maybe his father, maybe him. Next, seen in the US Census of 1860, two called Francis Apted, a Francis R and his father, had a grocery/bakery two counties eastward, at what later became Three Rivers. Finally, James' brother John Kendall Apted had run a Niles saloon in 1860, which had a grocery next-door, then, once married, was seen in the 1870 and 1880 US Censuses at Niles running a grocery.]
Anonymous continues...
,,."Two daughters Dorothy and Edith May were born in Niles. However, around the time Edith was born, James was declared bankrupt July-1878. They left Niles and moved to Glyndon, Minnesota where they ran a restaurant. By 1890 they were living in El Paso chasing gold."
[NOTE: They went to El Paso County in Colorado, not the town in Texas. Before they left Niles, something called the "Financial Panic of 1873" intervened, with over-expansion of railroads said to be one of the chief causes of the big bust that followed, many foreclosures, bankruptcies and so forth. His brother John K.'s business may also have failed, as he was said to have taken his family Denver before 1880 ended, is buried there. ]
"James had a gold miner license and a gold lease. They were still there in 1900. By 1910 James & Agnes had moved to Portland, Oregon, living with dau. Edith May and her husband Newton Snyder.
"By 1912 James was living in the Multnomah County Poor Farm/Hospital where he died 21-Aug-1913. In 1915 Agnes was living in Boarding Houses, working as a maid. In 1920 she is a lodger with 74 others at the Patton Home for the Friendless, Michigan Ave, Portland Oregon. She died 23-Nov-1920 of heart disease and asthma. Both Agnes & James are buried in Riverview Cemetery, Portland, in unmarked graves."
Above on Jan. 30, from user Anonymous, Id 50893343
In progress...
ADDED BIO. He immigrated from England, circa 1853. That date is given in his 1900 US Census. He was not on the NY passenger list with his parents and siblings when they sailed into NY harbor in May of 1850 on Ship Henry.
He spent almost two decades in the States, before marrying Canada-born Agnes Priscilla Montgomery, in 1870, at Niles. The hotel took some time. He may have postponed marriage due to the Civil War, his sister Emily able to run the hotel if he had to leave to serve. His wife's obituary later mentioned GAR activities. GAR stands for "Grand Army of the Republic", a Civil War veterans' group for ex-soldiers and their wives or widows, similar to our modern American Legion.
The handwritten record made by the signing minister for his and Priscilla's marriage mid-1870 said James was a hotelkeeper, residence Owosso (Shiawassee County). Things had gone well for the Apteds at Owosso, except for one thing. His youngest brother Albert had been in Owosso with James, took time off to substitute for someone else, at the friend's job working on the rails. There was an accident. Albert's accident and a young child witnessing it are described in the obituary at Albert's grave page (link below). His brother Albert's service was as at an Episcopalian church (the American version of England's Anglican church, but without a king at the top).
With his bride Agnes Priscilla using her middle name, they married at Niles, the minister Baptist, his congregation not meeting in homes. as some did, but with a church building in Niles, the congregation still existing today. The town of Niles served as the bride's residence, one of three main towns in Berrien County, with Anonymous telling us she lived with married sister.
Next-door to Berrien County, Niles at the boundary, was neighboring Cass County. There his parents and two married siblings farmed at three separate locations, seen in their 1870 Censuses and later. Both counties were in the valley of the St. Joseph River. Berrien was the last county before that river emptied into Lake Michigan. The County thus lay on Lake Michigan's east shoreline, near its southeast tip. That river, coming from south Ohio and flowing across southmost Michigan, carried farm produce over its navigable parts, with steamboats and other vehicles moving across the Lake .
The area was busy with business potential. Across Lake Michigan, lay the emerging metro of Chicago. Rail tracks then attempted to go around the Lake's south tip, with varying success once successful, displacing the steamers.
Booms would be associated with the varied rail efforts, after and during Michigan's experiment with wild cat banking. For good reasons, some college professors say, "Every boom is followed by a bust".
In the boom years, business directories for Niles listed several run by Apted owners, including the grocery and saloon plus, a restaurant. There was something called the Apted Block, near a rail depot. A book on Berrien County published at the time, in 1871, indicted the block was considered important (book compiled by an Edward Cowles, viewable at archive.org).
His Apteds were the only ones in town. His Apteds had prospered if they owned a whole block?
His bride of 1870 was recently of South Bend, Indiana, at, the Lake's south end. Her parents, James Montgomery and Phebe Bertram, had taken her and three sisters taken there, from their birth region in Canada. Their 1851 Canada Census had counted their still large family in Ontario, before her brothers left for Australia. Their 1860 US Census done i South Bend then caught her parents, Mr. Montgomery and his Canada-born wife, with an almost empty house. Only their two youngest daughters were still at home.
Agnes Priscilla was the one to be James' future wife. The town of Niles, Michigan, was in the county immediately north. Agnes and another Apted female moved in with a married sister at Niles, to be counted there for their 1870 US Census. She and James then wed there that summer.
This James' immigrant Apteds came from Surrey, England. His family's 1841 UK Census found him the eldest of six siblings already born, of the nine children to immigrate 1850 to 1853, so more had been born after the 1841 Census, done in the Surrey district of England, before their May, 1850 trip. Inside Surrey, they lived at Croydon, the childrens' births all registered there. His sister Sarah, the two only a year apart, was probably a "best buddy", both listed right after the parents. The birth of the children's fathher iws also registered at the town of Croydon (summaries viewable at FamilySearch.org).
Their father married their mother in London in 1830, her name listed as Elizabeth "Kindell". That seemed to be as "sound-it-out" of the "Kendall" instead written for their mother in the Michigan death records of some of James's sisters, later on. Elizabeth was sometimes called Betsy.
The handwritten New York passenger list, image viewable at Familyseach.org, shows the large family arriving, May, 1850, on Ship Henry, with several young children added since 1841. James was missing from the set, old enough to stay behind, come later. His sister Sarah was maybe expected to be a second parents to the other children, as voyages took longer then ,than now.
Born 1804-1806, hIs parents' were in their early 40s at immigration, their names ahead of the children's on the handwritten passenger list. (The address needed to find the image at FamilySearch.org is New York County, NY. James said in his 1900 US Census, done later, while mining in Colorado, that he'd immigrated in 1853, making him about 20.)
He'd been named for his father. There Surrey district was thick with Apteds, not a common name elsewhere in England. His father was the eldest of several James Apteds, both close in age, and also found in the Surrey district of England. His father seemed to be the only James Apted of his age born at Croydon. Especially confused with their family in some family trees was one with the wife also an Elizabeth, and their eldest daughter also a Sarah. Key differences, to tell them apart? The bit younger family was different in geography, at Lambeth for their 1851 UK Census, none listed as born at Croydon. That other Elizabeth Apted was younger, of a different maiden name, not Kendall. Being markedly younger, she'd had fewer children, only two with her in her 1851 UK Census at Lambeth, staying behind, not off to the States in 1850.
His parents' passenger list showed a note to the side of the children's names below. It indicated someone was a tailor, none of the children likely to have such skills, the tailor likely their father, the senior James. His parents would farm in Cass County, MIch., by their 1870 US Census, In Volinia Twp., James likely maiden sister, an aging Henrietta boarding at the farmhouse next-door, maybe there for the spate of weddings, no signs of her later, unless she was the Henrietta Apted listed after death ,with her will probated in England.
After arriving, work and marriage caused the maturing older children to disperse. Only one teen sister, Henrietta, clearly named for her aunt, was easily found in the 1850 US Census done a few months later. She was counted in "District 10" of Berrien County, Mich.
The Apted surname was often mis-spelled, ranging from Aplek to Opted. At some point, they must have learned to ask the clerk to show them what was written, as spellings by 1870 became more consistent.
His younger sister, Henrietta, was with a carpenter's family and their infant, named Davis, maybe hired as their babysitter. They dwelled in a cluster of carpenters nestled between a very few farmers, as if in some sort of camp. What were they building? a rail depot? a strip of shops? Did District 10 overlap with future Niles?
This James never seen as a farmer, nor on a census page surrounded by farmers. The names of some James Apted would be in Niles for an 1856 business directory, probably his father. The spelling was perfect, as if the business directory was paid to show an ad for James Apted, grocer.
By 1870, his sister Sarah, close in age, was definitely in Niles. She's married carpenter Lemuel Jones, stable, both to stay there until death, as would their married daughter Alice and her spouse Mark Vandenburg,. The Vandenburgs and their infant son were easily found in the 1870 Census, as they lived with Alice's parents.
Did Sarah and Alice help James and younger sister Emily meet marriageable people in Niles, both having been in Owosso? Both celebrated their marriages in Niles. (Two children of sister Sarah, found in the Niles house in 1870, would marry and finished their married lives in Chicago. Cook County records noted their surviving spouses consented to have their bodies shipped to Niles' Silverbrook Cemetery, where Apted, Jones, and Vandenburg graves are found, for at least four generations.)
If in Niles in 1856 with grocer James Apted or in Cass County in 1870 with the Apted parents, there should be multiple 1860 Censuses nearby. Thus far, only two brothers, William Apted, never using a middle initial, and John K Apted are found. Maybe live-in employees, maybe boarding with an employer's neighbors, each was listed after the family housing them. His brother, William, a known Civil War veteran. Of record in Cass County before the War, e returned from the War, to marry an Elizabeth Lowry in Vironia, where their Apted parents farmed. There was another young William Apted, the other in St. Joseph County, MIch.. The other, his name written as W. J. on his wife Sophia's stone, also went to the Civil War, but didn't return. A skilled kind of carpenter called a joiner, he was also born in England, though not at Croydon, instead at Greenwich in Kent. The other's parents were Francis and Sarah Maria Apted, with Francis the one born in the Surrey district of England. They'd immigrated late in the Three Rivers area of St Joseph County, just a few counties eastward, their William Julius Apted, aka W.J. Apted, one of two sons to die in the Civil War. A third son, A. M. Apted, came home damaged, but alive, perhaps using gold earnings from prospecting at Pikes Peak in the late 1850s to aid his success in Grand Rapids, MI.
Related, the two fathers were probably first cousins, but could have been brothers. Francis was the younger of the two.
(Francis initially raised his children in the Kent area of England, not at Croydon in Surrey. A.M.'s biography as Albert Melcathon Apted was printed in a book about Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan, published in 1900. It named Greenwich as their town in the Kent district, giving 1857-1858 as their immigration dates, 1857 marking A.M.'s trip to Pike's Peak looking for gold, 1858 as the date the father Francis Apted the elder brought them to St Joseph County, MIch, not far east of Niles.
For the W. J. who died in the War, his Regiment Ten (from Michigan) had over 10% die of disease. (Very few of Reg. 10 died in battle, as they guarded a key bridge, train tracks, etc., mostly in Tenn. )
Old-time Michigan had good early marriage records. Its birth and death records were poor at first, with the state's Civil War records inconsistent until a centennial of the War was held. "Retrospective" record were combined into a special Centennial list drawn from federal applications for gravestones and from so-called GAR membership lists. The list did its best for those who stayed in MIch., not those like James who left the state or those whose widows also died young, the case for W.J.
Was this James in the Civil War? Marrying rather late, in 1870, he easily could have spent time in the Civil War. His wife's obit cited GAR connections (Grand Army of the Republic, a veteran's group of Union soldiers. His relatives say he's buried in grave unmarked. Portland has a GAR cemetery. Checking details, we see it is part of the larger cemetery where James is said to be buried.
This James may have served, but there's no clear record, such that as seen for his brother William, who survived and remained in Michigan. Cousin W.J.'s widowed wife, buried as Sophia Apted, elsewhere in Mich, called him WJ on her stone. Also, her name as Sophia Apted on a federal card showed she received a widow's pension, citing her spouse as William Apted, of Michigan's Regiment Ten. (It listed the first date his Regiment sought volunteers iin brother A.M.'s county, not the soldier's death date, so records must have been a mess. Her death in 1867 was too early for someone to try to fix the mess?)
Also in Cass County, was this James' sister Mary. She married a Goodspeed. who farmed in Cass County. They married there before 1870.
James' parents were very clearly in Cass County for Mary's wedding and their 1870 and 1880 US Censuses. His parents would both die soon after, 1883-1884, buried just across the Cass County line at Silverbrook Cem, in Niles, Mich. (Again, Sarah Apted Jones, her spouse, her daughter Alice and two other Jones children, and Sarah's Vandenburg grandchildren by Alice are buried there. Recall that Niles is in Berrien County, just across Lake Michigan from Chicago, just north of South Bend, IN.)
HIs father-in-law was James Montgomery, with Mr. Montgomery's work said by his family to range from teacher to laborer. His work took him from the US to Canada when young, where he married and had children, all born in Ontario, records pointing to the section of Ontario on the north side Lake Erie, near Niagara NY. A daughter Julia would marry and stay in Canada. Some sons were off to Australia, while Mr Montgomery returned to the States. He guessed his birth was in Penn., when surprised by the question in his 1860 US Census. One daughter corrected that answer in a later one of her own Censuses. She said her father was born in Virginia. (It would have been a much larger Virginia than true now. His birth was before the Civil War caused West Virginia to break away.)
Her sisters Agnes Priscilla Montgomery Apted's answer in one of her later Censuses? She said her father was born in West Virginia. Recall that both answers were true, given West Virginia was created out of Virginis as the West Virginians did not like mother Virginia's decision to secede. In 1860 when they lived in South Bend, some say it had a reputation as abolitionist.
Why did he guess Penn.? When people guess a birthplace wrongly, it often turns out to be a place that mattered in their lives some other way. Maybe his parent moved there when he was tiny? Gettysburg Penn., important in the Civil War, was just north of the West Virginia line. Going up though Pittsburg to the end of Penn's northmost line put one right on Lake Erie, crossable directly into the part of Ontario where he and Canada-born wife Phebe Bertram raised their children.
This James' wife, Agnes Priscilla, was born in what remains of one of the several places in Canada called Selkirk, hers not the larger and better known old Selkirk in Manitoba, its Red River of the North coming up Minnesota's west edge and running to Lake Winnipeg. Her Montgomeries were never in Minnesota, says the user currently called Anonymous. Agnes' sister Julia remained in Ontario, when asked for ethnicity and religion in a Census, said her religion was Methodist and her ethnicity was "Scotch" (often used by settlers who came from Scotland, but not directly, but via northern Ireland.)
NOTE: Agnes's FindaGrave bio has news items printed after her death.
Some noted Agnes had connections to the GAR, Grand Army of the Republic. That was an organization for Civil War veterans of the Union and any widowed wives. James did not marry until in his early 30s, as if something had kept him busy. Their marriage year of 1870 is also consistent with waiting until Civil War service was over and recovery completed. The war ran mid-1861 (earliest volunteers, after Confederates attacked on Fort Sumner, most in Michigan vehemently against slavery.)
The War ended after the emancipation of just those slaves held in seceding states and after Lincoln's death, some key battles yet to be won, other slaves yet to be freed. Mustering out was common mid-1865, and if not then, by early 1866.
PTSD was not yet acknowledged. However, wandering about and "taking awhile to settle down" were noticed for returning soldiers without serious physical injuries. Life spans of those who'd gone to the war were shorter than in earlier generations in multiple families. Thus, he was fortunate to be quite elderly by the time of his death.
He had a chance to know his grandchildren.
JB, 2023,last revised Feb. 9
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