Who the heck was Ellie Barlow and why were there no records (I mean not one documenting record) of her existence anywhere except that her name ‘Ellie’ which was entered onto this handwritten family tree that I had been given a copy of? Ellie was listed as the daughter of William Barlow and mother to Effie Adams, my 2rd great grandmother. The assumed link to the Barlow family line and to Samuel K Barlow. I understood that my father and my grandmother had spent countless hours working on our family history and specifically on the link to Barlow. Though major omissions still existed and finding nothing of Ellie had me wondering about this long believed family connection to Samuel Kimbrough Barlow. Was it really true or rather just a big fantasy that had been passed down?
My first research efforts began by looking at the most recent family ties. I had found good census information on Warren Styner with ties to his mother Effie Adams but then the research went very cold. So my next research tactic was to work further back from William Barlow, who as a notable pioneer of Oregon and was well researched with lots of documentation. However, even with good information on William there was no sign of Ellie. This tactic was also difficult because the box next to William Barlow on this family tree I had been given was empty. No record of William’s wife.
Turns out William had married twice. His first wife Rachel Larkins passed away only one year after their marriage in 1848, they had no children together. William’s second wife, Martha Ann Partlow had married several times bringing children from each and then having three children with William. It was at this point I became very discouraged thinking that if Ellie was to be found anywhere she was likely a child from one of these previous marriages and our ties to Barlow was all fiction. However I still couldn’t find Ellie. The obvious thought was that Ellie could have been a nickname. Maybe for Elizabeth? However, none of William’s children had a name you would likely think could have gone by Ellie. Again the trail for Ellie was dead cold. A 'brick wall,' as I have learned - the term genealogists use for a dead end.
All of this research I had been doing was simply through countless hours Googling every possible combination of names, dates, locations, and any other reference material I could find or simply guess at trying. Not even close to being a genealogy guy, I hadn’t joined any websites like Webroots, Ancestry, etc. Though as the summer of 2011 was fading away, one evening I finally entered another Google search and hit gold. In a WOW moment - I had found a somewhat obscure, but fortunately very detailed of record Effie Adams and Thomas Styner’s marriage. This Cowlitz County
record included information for both the parents of Thomas and Effie, and listed as the mother of Effie, was one Callie Barlow. Not Ellie but 'Callie' and it made sense! That over 150 years since her birth the name passed down could have been understood as Ellie that in reality was Callie.
So now the research could finally progress towards documenting our ties to Samuel K Barlow. Except for another slight hitch. There were no records of Callie Barlow located in either Oregon or Washington. Again, amazing research has been done on the Barlow name including Samuel and William Barlow, but no suggestion of a Callie Barlow, believed daughter of William Barlow was to be found. There was however, a Caroline ‘Callie’ Barlow born 1847 in Ellenville, New York. She had no relationship to Samuel K Barlow of the Oregon trail, but if there was one Caroline going by Callie maybe there could be another. Turns out I was indeed able to find a few other Caroline's that also went by Callie, but still none that matched the location or dates making them Effie’s mother.
Back to more Googling but now with naming combinations of Callie, Caroline, and Barlow. Then one day my searches uncovered a view of the (above) headstone. Caroline Adams! It was linked to an Ancestry.com file and this really looked like maybe the final link to solving the mystery and finally locating Ellie/ Callie/ Caroline Barlow. It was inside this world of shared family trees and shared documentation that finally revealed the long sought after 'Caroline F Barlow Adams', and she was not the daughter of William Barlow, but rather of his brother James K Barlow, son of Samuel K Barlow and Susannah Lee. To add a little more insult to those trying to track her down, Caroline aka Ellie, aka Callie, actually went by another nickname of Carrie. Her birth name is Caroline F Barlow, and I have not learned what the F stands for, nor at this point do I care. Finally the link and the documentation to Samuel K Barlow had been accomplished.
Now another amazing find. Below are photos found just in the last week from a family album we can assume was passed down to Hannah & Warren Styner that actually include photos of Caroline and her family.
Below from left to right Joseph Adams, daughters Celia, Effie, Winnie and mother Caroline on the far right. Taken in Portland, Est 1890.
Below photo of Effie Adams Styner with her baby son Warren A Styner Sr., Est 1899-1900.
