Joseph Schryer
b. 30 Jan 1815
d. 10 Feb 1899
Married: 27 Nov 1835, Papineauville, Quebec, Canada
Nancy Ann Schryer (nèe) Robinson
b. 18 Mar 1819
d. 25 Oct 1907
In the ragged religious history of our family, Joseph was baptized in a Roman Catholic church on 30 Feb 1815 at La-Visitation-de-la-Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie Roman Catholic parish in Sault-au-Récollet, Montréal. Below is their record:
In the 1850/1851 Canadian census, Joseph was listed with his wife Madame Schryer and children Liviny 16, Maria 14, Louisa 11, Alanson 8, William 5, and [Jacob] Walker 3. They listed their religion as Anabaptist. In a subsequent record he reported his religion as Universalist.
By the 1870 U.S. census, multiple Canadian-born Schryers were living in Michigan including three of Joseph’s children: son Davison with wife Mary Corcoran. Also, Joseph’s daughter Mary Maria with husband Francis Blais, as well as Joseph’s son Alanson (working in a saw mill), all in the first ward of Flint.
Mary Maria and her husband Francis Blais with their 3 children (Harley, who had a club foot, Ida, and Nellie) were living next door to Alanson. Francis’s occupation was listed as saw setter. In the 1900 census, the couple reports that they came into the U.S. from Canada in 1867, and that they had had 8 children, 3 of whom were living.
By the 1880 census, our family had seen an even larger migration. Joseph, then aged 65, was living in Burton Township as a farmer with sons Joseph William (a common laborer) and Alanson (working in a saw mill), both of whom were to be found on the farm throughout their lives.
By 1900 Louisa was found in Michigan census records, working in Flint independently from her family as a servant and boarding with her various employers (Flint City Directory records spanning 1876-1903). She continued as a domestic servant well into her 60s.
Phoebe is not reported as living at the family farm until 1900 (U.S. census records) at the age of 48. We’re not sure what she did during her adult life, but Joseph did not report in the family bible that she had married and there are no known records that she had children.
In the 1910 U.S. Census we learn that all the siblings living in the United States were able to read and write and the boys were listed as owning a free farm.
Rachel worked as a school teacher and didn’t return to the family farm until later in life. At a minimum she taught at the Center School in Grand Traverse, 1894, in Ishpeming in 1920, and in Calumet at the age of 65. (Flint City Directory, 1894, 1910, her brother Alanson’s obituary). Rachel left her estate to our ancestor William Arthur, the last living child of her brother Davison. Audrey Schryer remembers Rachel as a strong-willed woman. Unfortunately, Rachel suffered from mental deterioration as an elderly woman.
I found a Detroit Free Press article that may have referred to Rachel although a first name was not used. In 1905 she was 50 and it’s possible she was still working in Traverse City. At that time, a “Miss Schryer” was badly injured in an accident involving a four-seated rig carrying eight passengers. The rig ran into a tree. One boy drowned and a Miss Schryer received “painful injuries” (“Small Boy Drowned.” Detroit Free Press, July 31, 1905, p. 3).
Of Joseph’s nine children, seven lived to adulthood. But only two of those seven married (Mary Maria and our ancestor Davison). Each had three children who lived to adulthood.
Here is a part of the family record from 1877. According to Audrey Schryer, Joseph wrote it in his own hand, in the family bible, at the request of his grandson William Arthur Schryer:
When my mother and I visited the family farm in 1996 the road, formerly known as St. John’s, had changed names to St. John’s Industrial Parkway. The factory was deserted and no sign of the farm remained but it was easy to see why the land would have been an enticing location, it backed up against a gentle river.
Audrey went to stay at the family farm as a child when she had one too many questions about where babies come from when one of her younger siblings was born. She described the family farm as having no electricity, running water, or plumbing.
Joseph died of a malignant carbuncle at the age of 84 in Burton Township on 10 Feb 1899. Nancy died in 1907 at the age of 87 on 25 Oct 1907 in Burton Township. Genesee County Death Records and The Flint Daily Journal record the deaths of Joseph and Nancy and their children. The deaths were natural, unremarkable, and while the person was living on the family farm in Flint. Most had long lives.
The Robinsons
Nancy listed her birth place as Ireland and her religion as Presbyterian (1851 Canadian census). Her father was Alva Robinson and her mother’s maiden name was Margaret Davison. That name surfaced a few times in our family. Joseph named a son Davison Walker a generation before Nancy entered the family. Nancy emigrated from Ireland in 1830 (according to the U.S. 1900 census). Nancy was illiterate. When she and Joseph deeded the family farm to their son Joseph William in 1898 she signed her name with an X. She died on 25 Oct 1907 (Genesee County Deaths 1900-1917).
All photos of Avondale Cemetery courtesy of Ann Lawson, May, 2010
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