Although these trees may be difficult to read on my blog due their extended size of paper (most of which could not even fit onto my printer/scanner), below are some of the particulars that really stood out!

          (1)  GREAT GRANDMA NELL'S ACTUAL NAME













On the biggest tree layout (spreading over three pages) I immediately noticed Nell's branch with a different name above. To all of her grandchildren, she was just known as Great Grandma.  We knew her first name to be Nell and that was it.

YET what caught my eye were the first and middle names above Nell Cook as Ellen Elizabeth.  This was Great Grandma's actual name!!









According to the website nameberry.com

Nell, once a nickname for Helen, Ellen, or Eleanor, is a sweet old-fashioned charmer that is fashionably used today in its own right. While Nell is perfectly in tune with contemporary vintage name style, it hasn't taken off the way some of its sisters have and so maintains an air of distinction.

Our parents were aware of this but until I saw this tree, I never was nor do I think that any of my cousins knew this about Great grandma Nell before?!?!

         (2) CHRISTINE B STEELE










Christine was Nell's older sister and on my blog posting titled, The Family of Eugene and Mary Ann Steele- I wrote about her- wondering what the middle initial of B stood for. At that time, I had no documentation or leads to assist on the answer to my question.

FROM MY BLOG POSTING "As to exactly what the middle name of B stood for is unknown. However, I suspect it may have been Bertha or even possibly Beatrice.
 
Looking up popular girl’s names of the 1800’s showed that names in the B category for a middle name were few and far between, but the name of Bertha however, was the most popular one at that time!"

Thanks to cousin Clare and these written family trees I now know!!!!!!












On the very same family tree layout where I found out Nell's real name was the answer to what the middle initial of B in Christine's name stood for. It is Barbara and that does makes me wonder if that is how Nell came up with the name when our Grandmother was born.

Nell was very close to her older sister Christine. Shortly after their mother Mary Ann died, Nell went to live with Christine and her husband John McMahon. She helped take care of their house while Christine was pregnant with son Norbert (Nell also used this name for her last born child). The following year when Christine was pregnant with her second child, Nell took care of both young Norbert and the house until her sisters passing in 1901.

                      (3) CLAIRE STEELE
















Above are two photos of a family member I could not figure out. A young baby girl named Claire Steele?!

Who was she?! Where did she fit into our family tree?!

Eventually I learned that her parents were Robert and Estelle Steele. One ancestral tree put her birth to be in/abt 1920. But why after only a short time why did she suddenly disappear off the radar altogether?!

Looking through dozens of newspapers on the website-newspapers.com and/or family trees did not provide the answer until cousin Clare sent me this family tree titled Estelle Daley. Below is a close up of the four biological children.












Yes there it was, Claire's name on the tree! It backed up the proof of  her existence in the above photos. On a separate sheet of paper (included with these family trees) it showed that her full name was Claire Francis born on June 16 1920. Sadly, she only lived to age 2, passing away on January 14 1922.


      (4) FILBEN/PHILBIN/FILBORN/OR FILBURN?!






There are many ways to spell the last name of our Irish ancestors. Looking up on Ancestry.com, IF spelled Filbin then this is a variant of Philbin from Mac Philbín.

IF spelled Philbin then this would be an anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Philbín ‘son of Philbin (Irish Philbín or Filibín)’ a pet form of Philip .

As you can see in this screen shot above (taken from the three page layout) whomever wrote this family tree sheet either did not know the last name, guessed or misspelled it.  At first glance it appears that last name was written as either Filborn or as Filburn?!

But most definitely we are descended from the Irish ancestor Thomas F Filben.

5) ADDITIONAL CHILDREN IN THE FAMILY OF EUGENE AND MARY ANN STEELE!!!

Dear cousins, Eugene and Mary Ann would be considered our great great grandparents. Several years ago, when I had completed their family tree (that included our great grandma Nell) there was a total of seven children.










However, according to what third member and second born son Robert wrote- there were three more additional siblings.* Alas, none of these siblings lived much beyond 4 years to 18 months! Thank goodness our great grandma did living to the ripe old age of 94!

*Pictures below are not of the actual ancestors but rather what a child/baby of that time in their death bed would have looked like.