Olive Matilda Ward, the Daughter of William Ward and Eleanor Lewis Ward
Olive Matilda Lewis was born on June 1, 1859 in Little Cottonwood, Utah. She is listed on the 1870 census with her parents and siblings, Martha Ward and William Ward,[1] living in Echo, Summit County, Utah.
I have been unable to locate her parents or her sibings in the 1880 census, but Olive Matilda Lewis has married and is living in Helena, Lewis and Clark County, Montana. Her husband is Lafayette Doan[2], 37 years old, a blacksmith who was born in Indiana.[3] Olive is listed as Olive Doan, 21 years old, born in Utah, father born in England and mother born in Utah.[4] Lafayette and Olive Ward Doan have had two children: William Doan, 3 years old born in Utah and Olive Doan, 1 year old born in Utah.[5] The census data would mean that Lafayette and Olive moved from Utah to Montana within the year since their daughter, Olive, was born. Helena had become the capitol of Montana in 1875 and, with the coming of the railroad in 1883, the city grew from what was a typical, small mining town to a larger city.
Lafayette and Olive Ward Doan had two other children in 1881 in Montana: Bessie and Bertha Doan. But, by the 1900 census there is no sign of the Doane family.
Olive Matilda Ward Doane had remarried by 1900 and was living in BearCreekTownship, District 252, Dickey County, North Carolina. She married William Wrangham, who had been born in February 1842. In 1900 he was 58 years old and had been married for 11 years. This would mean that Olive Ward Doane married him in about 1889. William Wrangham was born in New York and was a farmer. In the 1900 census Olive is listed as Olive M. Wrangham, born in January of 1859 in Utah. She is 41 years old and has had 7 children, all of whom are still alive. She states that her father was born in England and her mother in Ohio.[6] In addition to her four children with her first husband, Lafayette Doan, she has had three children with William Wrangham.
Charles B. Wrangham, born in November of 1889 in North Dakota.
Thomas W. Wrangham, born in August of 1892 in North Dakota.
Anna E. Wrangham, born in October of 1893 in Minnesota.[7]
Living with William and Olive Matilda Wrangham in the 1900 census is one of her daughters from her first marriage, Bertha Doane, listed as a step-daughter of William Wragham. She was born in 1881 in Montana.[8]
Olive Matilda’s husband, William Wrangham, had served in the Civil War as a Private, E Company, 1st Infantry Battalion, Minnesota Regiment. His induction date was March 16, 1865 and he was discharged on July 14, 1865.[9] He was listed as living with his parents and siblings in the 1865 census of Minnesota, and was also with his mother in the 1875 census for Minnesota. In the 1880 census for Freeborn, Harland County, Minnesota, William Wrangham is listed as a boarder and farmer, 37 years old, living with Niels Peterson.
I do not know where Olive Ward Doan and William would have met. Had her first husband, Lafayette Doan, died? Did she move after that?
Olive Matilda Ward Doan Wrangham’s other three children from her first marriage are not living with her and her second husband, William Wrangham, in the 1900 census.
In 1900, Olive Doane is in Woodlawn, Kidder County, North Dakota, living as a boarder. She states that she was born in October of 1878 in Utah and tht her father was born in Indiana and her mother in Utah.[10] She is single.
I have been unable to locate the other two children from Olive’s first marriage in the 1900 census: William and Bessie.
In 1910, Olive Ward Doane Wrangham is still living, with her husband, in Bear Creek, Dickey County, North Dakota.
William Wrangham[11], 68 years old, married for 21 years, born in New York. He is farming.
Olive M., 50 years old, and this is her second marriage. She has had seven children, six of whom are still living.[12] She was born in Utah, her father was born in England and her mother was born in Illinois.[13]
Anne E. Wrangham, their daughter, 15 years old. Born in Minnesota, father born in New York and mother born in Utah.
Howard W. Mitchell, their grandson, 7 years old, born in North Dakota. Parents birth places unknown.[14]
Irene F. Mitchell[15], their granddaughter, 5 years old, born in North Dakota, parent’s birth places unknown.
In the 1920 census for Hardin, Big Horn County, Montana, there is an Olly Flindt, whom I believe to be Olive Doane. She is 41 years old, which would make her birth date around 1879, which is correct. She is head of household, but is married. She states that she was born in Utah, and that her father was born in Indiana and her mother in Utah. She is working as a dressmaker. Living with her is her son, Howard Mitchell, who is 17 years old, and was born in North Dakota. He states that his father was born in New York and his mother in Utah.[16] Also living with them in 1920 is Irene Mitchell, Olive’s daughter, who is 15 years old and was born in North Dakota.
From this information, it is likely that sometime after 1900, when Olive Doane was living in Woodlawn, Kidder County, North Dakota, she married Mr. Mitchell.[17] They had three children and he must have died prior to the 1910 census when the two surviving children are living with Olive Doane Mitchell’s mother, Olive (Ward Doane) Wrangham. In that 1910 census Olive Doane is living in District 68, James RiverValley, Dickey County, North Dakota, where she is listed as 31 years old, widowed, a servant and a dressmaker who has had three children, two of whom are living. In that same census, in District 68, Bear Creek, Dickey County, North Dakota, on the same page as her mother Olive (Ward Doane) Wrangham and her second husband, William Wrangham, is Charlie V. Flindt, head of household, widowed, born in Iowa, father born in Denmark and mother born in Indiana. He is a farmer. I believe that by 1920, Olive Doane Mitchell had remarried to Charlie V. Flindt and was living in Montana with her children from her first marriage.
But, if Olive Doane (Mitchell) Flindt is married in 1920, where is her husband? There is a Charle V. Flindt in Melstone, Musselshell County, Montana in this census. He is 42 years old and married. He was born in Iowa, his father was born in Denmark and his mother in the U.S.[18] He is a farmer and a stockman and is living with his partners, Carl R. Thompson and John O’Neill. I believe that this is the Charlie Flindt that is married to Olive Doane Mitchell Flindt.
Olive (Doane Mitchell) Flindt apparently dies before 1930, when Charles V. Flindt is listed in Alice Garfield County, Montana as a widower. Olive (Doane Mitchell) Flindt’s son from her first marriage, Howard Mitchell is in Big Creek, Shoshone County, Idaho. He is 27 years old[19]and is a woodsman in a logging camp.
I cannot locate Olive Ward Doane Wrangham in either the 1920 or the 1930 censues. According to an ancestry file,[20] William Brangham died on February 16, 1915 in Oakes Dickey County, North Dakota. and Olive Matilda Ward Doan Wrangham died on September 22, 1937 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington.[21]
In the 1930 census, the oldest son of William Wrangham and Olive Matilda (Ward Doane) Wrangham, Charles Bowen Wrangham was working in the U.S. Fish Hatchery in Shasta, Shasta County, California. He was 40 years old, and had first married at the age of 27, in about 1917.[22] His wife is Eda M.[23] is 31 years old and was first married at the age of 18. Charles and Eda Wrangham have a daughter Eldeen M., who is 10 years old and was born in Washington.[24]
The second son of Olive Matilda (Ward Doane) Wrangham and William Wrangham, Thomas Wrangham was in Bismark, Burleigh County, North Dakota at the time of the 1930 census.[25] He is living with his wife, Myrtle, and their children: Ray, Fern, Eva, Gayle, and his Uncle Charles.[26]
According to the pligman ancestry file, Anna Ellenore Wrangham was born on September 12, 1894 in Oakes, Dickey County, North Dakota. She married Thomas Leander Bench on December 18, 1916. He had been born on December 2, 1889 in Logan, Cache County, Utah. Thomas and Anna E. Bench had four children: Cline M. Bench, a daughter, born about 1917; and three sons: Charles W. Bench, b.c. 1919; Ralph W. Bench, b.c. 192; and Keneth L. Bench, b.c. 1926. Thomas Leander Bench died on April 8, 1936. Anna Ellenore Wrangham Bench later married Charles Moorehead. Anna died on November 10, 1977 in Pleasanton, Alameda County, California.
[1] Her parents’ names are incorrectly given as Samuel and Emma Ward, but I believe this is the correct family. See under Eleanor Lewis document.
[2] Name is sometimes spelled Doane.
[3] The birth place for his parents was left blank.
[4] The birth locations for her parents is correct.
[5] I believe this is the correct family since this is the only Olive who was born in Utah at about the correct time whose father was born in England and whose mother was born in Ohio.
[6] Consistent with earlier census data and family history.
[7] All of these children state that their father was born in New York and their mother in Utah.
[8] Bertha Doane states that her father was born in Indiana and her mother born in Utah. Indiana birth place is consistent with Lafayette’s information in the 1880 census,
[9] Need to look at the history of this – it seems very late in the war. Information from widow’s pension application.
[10] The name is indexed as Olive Dane.
[11] Note that this is indexed as Urangham.
[12] Which child has died? In view of what we know about these children’s later lives, it must be either Bessie or William Doan, neither of whom I can locate after the 1900 census.
[13] Should be Ohio.
[14] In view of later census data, I believe that this child is the son of Olive Doane.
[15] Indexed to Mitckett.
[16] This differs from the last census, when Howard Mitchell was living with his grandparents, William and Olive Ward Doane Wragham, in which it was stated that both of his parents were born in North Dakota. This census information is probably more accurate.
[17] First name unknown.
[18] This agrees with the 1910 census.
[19] Born in North Dakota, father born in Utah and mother in New York (switched from last census).
[20]. The owner of the file is also listed as the contact person for the Wrangham family on the Dickey County Gen page – e-mail her (She appears to be Allison Ligman and is registered for both the Wrangham and Doane surnames on the DickeyCounty genweb page. E-mailed her 07-03-08). According to this file William Wrangham was William Bowen Wrangham, son of William Wrangham and Judith Bowen. He was born on February 24, 1842 in Keesville, Clinton County, New York. William Wrangham and Olive Matilda married on Feburary 6, 1889 in Oakes, Dickey County, North Dakota.
[21]These is an obituary for her. Need to write to the Dickey County Historical Society, Oakes, North Dakota58474, Attt: Mary Ann Kunrath. There is an obituary for Mrs. W.B. Wrangham (32) and Olive Wrangham (Mrs.) (228W).
[22] According to the pligman ancestry file, Chares Bowen Wrangham was born on Jovenber 24, 1890 in Oakes, Dickey County, North Dakota.
[23] According to the pligman ancestry file, his wife’s name ws Eda Marie Jewett.
[24] Since their daughter is ten years old and was born in Washington, I checked the 1920 census for Washington state, but was unable to find the family.
[25] According to the pligman ancestry file, Thomas Wrangham was born on August 17, 1892 in Oakes, Dickey County, North Dakota, and died on October 3, 1983 in Bismark, North Dakota.
[26] This must be an uncle on his father’s side since we know that Olive Matilda did not have a brother named Charles.