William & Malvina Butrick
Status: looking for family!
What isn't to love about the subjects in this photo? The woman, stout and round, with dramatic mutton sleeves; the man, poised and clear-eyed. It was Malvina, the woman, who interested me most, not only due to her peculiar physical appearance but also because the author of the notes on the back of the photo indicated that she was a twin. Perhaps there was a story there.
It wasn't hard to find William and Malvina Butrick, of Indiana, on FamilySearch; indeed, I knew this when I bought the photo. Go for the uncommon names!
William Butrick was born in New York in 1842. It appears he served in the Civil War, as there are pension applications filed by both himself, an invalid, and his wife Malvina. He served in Company I of the 19th Michigan Infantry.
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Around the time of William's service, he married Celestine Fifield in Cass, Michigan on November 20, 1866. With Celestine, William had two children: Edwin, born 1868, and Vernie, born 1872. Celestine died that year.
The next year, William married our lovely subject, Malvina. Malvina was born to Felix Rich about 1846 in Indiana, along with her twin sister, Alvina. The family's movements are easy to trace. In 1850, Felix and his children are living in Ontwa, Michigan, a small township just north of Elkhart, Indiana, along the Michigan-Indiana border. The eldest daughter, Phoebe, was born in Vermont when Felix was 18. The next three children, Cordelia, Lewis, and Julia, were all born in Ohio. Finally, the twins were born in Indiana. It would seem like the matriarch of the family likely passed during Malvina and Alvina's childbirth.
By 1860, Felix, Julia, and the twins live with Cordelia's family. By 1870, Cordelia's family has grew, but both Julia and Alvina have moved out. Melvina, single and 24, lived with her family.
So, although Celestine's death was premature, it allowed Melvina to finally find a husband.
The earliest census to be found for William and Malvina is the 1880 Federal Census, where they are living in Elkhart, Indiana with five children: Celestine's children, Edwin and Vernie, and three of Malvina's own offspring: daughter Beryl (6), son Louis (4), and daughter Ethel (3). Sometime between 1877 and 1880 the family moved to Elkhart, where William and Malvina's photo was taken.
After the 1880 census, William and Malvina would go on to have a handful more children: supposed twins, Claudia and Ray born 1879 (Claudia dies only one year later), James (1883), Julia (1885), and Charles, (1888), and Everett (1891).
By 1910, William and Malvina are living with their two sons, Charles and Everett, in Osolo, today one of sixteen townships in Elkhart County, Indiana. William is a farmer.
William died on August 3, 1915, and Malvina followed four years later. There does seem to be some confusion as to what William's name really was. In most records, it is listed as William; however, in the 1880 census, he is listed as Willard. On his tombstone, which should hold the definitive answer, is written Williard.
What a name.