{"id":9822,"date":"2015-03-03T17:32:31","date_gmt":"2015-03-03T17:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=9822"},"modified":"2015-03-03T17:32:31","modified_gmt":"2015-03-03T17:32:31","slug":"genealogy-search-tips-uncover-a-captains-tragic-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-search-tips-uncover-a-captains-tragic-story.html","title":{"rendered":"The Nelson Shipwreck & Captain Hagney: Name Research Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: Duncan Kuehn is a professional genealogist with over eight years of client experience. She has worked on several well-known projects, such as \u201cWho Do You Think You Are?\u201d and researching President Barack Obama\u2019s ancestry. In this blog post, Duncan searches old newspapers to learn more about Captain Hagney and the sinking of the schooner \u201cNelson\u201d on Lake Superior in 1899, using various search tips to get good results.<\/em><\/p>\n

Searching newspapers for an ancestor\u2019s name that doesn\u2019t seem to have a standard spelling can be a challenge for family historians. Here is an interesting case study about the captain of a sunken ship that may help you research those difficult ancestor names. Recently this ship, the schooner Nelson<\/em>, was found under more than 200 feet of water in Lake Superior. There were several newspaper articles about the shipwreck discovery, but they had various spellings of the captain\u2019s name \u2013 including \u201cHaganey\u201d and \u201cHagginey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Story of the Sinking of the Nelson<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The shipwreck story goes like this. On 15 May 1899, the schooner Nelson<\/em> was overloaded with coal, in addition to the 10 people on board. There was a terrific storm on Lake Superior and ice accumulated on the ship, causing it to sit even lower in the water. The waves began to crash over the edges of the ship. The Nelson<\/em> was being towed by the steamer A Folsom<\/em> along with the Mary B Mitchell<\/em>. At some point the towing line either broke or was cut. Shortly after, the Nelson<\/em> tilted and the stern popped up out of the water as the entire vessel almost immediately went under. The captain placed his crew, his wife, and his toddler son into the lifeboat. Then he dove into the water to join them. Unfortunately, the lifeboat was still tethered to the Nelson<\/em> and it was dragged down to the bottom of the lake by the sinking ship. The captain, who never reached the lifeboat, watched helplessly as his ship and family were lost. He clung to a piece of the wreckage and was found unconscious along the shore. The storm\u2019s violent 50 mile-per-hour winds prevented any rescue efforts by the other two ships. Nine lives were lost; only the captain survived.<\/p>\n

My Search for the Captain<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a compelling story of a heroic effort by the captain\u00a0of the Nelson<\/em> that just wasn\u2019t enough to save his family or crew, and I wanted to learn more details.<\/p>\n

As always, I searched for contemporary records to find out more. I started by looking into GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>. I ran this search:<\/p>\n

\"screenshot<\/a><\/p>\n

I entered the name of the ship in quotation marks as a keyword. You do not necessarily need to use a person\u2019s name to search on GenealogyBank \u2013 a keyword search is often effective. I also entered a date range from the date of the accident to several months after the event. When the search results came back I sorted the results with the oldest article first, as I prefer to read articles in chronological order.<\/p>\n

I found many newspaper articles from all over the United States telling the story of the accident. Here are three of those articles.<\/p>\n

This article refers to Captain \u201cHaganney.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Elkhart Weekly Review (Elkhart, Indiana), 17 May 1899, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This historical newspaper article refers to Captain \u201cHagney.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Anaconda Standard (Anaconda, Montana), 15 May 1899, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This old news article also refers to Captain \u201cHagney.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Bay City Times (Bay City, Michigan), 15 May 1899, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using these old newspaper articles, I discovered that much of the information in the present-day articles about the discovery of the shipwreck reflected the information given in those 1899 articles. However, I found some inconsistencies as well. Perhaps most importantly, the old articles make no mention of the captain\u2019s heroic effort to save his family and crew. A typical comment from those 1899 articles is that \u201cThe Nelson disappeared as suddenly as one could snuff a candle,\u201d suggesting that the captain did not have time to do anything. I also find that Captain Haganey\/Hagginey (as spelled in the modern newspaper articles) is spelled differently in the 1899 articles:\u00a0 \u201cHaganney\u201d and \u201cHagney.\u201d<\/p>\n

[search_box]<\/p>\n

After learning about the shipwreck, I now wanted to know more about the captain himself \u2013 but there were so many spellings of his name I wasn\u2019t sure which was correct. A quick search of census records on FamilySearch.org told me that he was the son of John and Mary Hagney from Oswego, New York. He also had siblings: Ellen, Thomas, William, and Mary.<\/p>\n

Going back to GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, I narrowed my search using the name as it appeared in the census: \u201cHagney.\u201d This search turned up several articles that told me a great deal about the captain.<\/p>\n

One of the first I found was this very sad newspaper article. It appears that on the same day the Nelson<\/em> when down with Captain Hagney\u2019s entire family, his friends from New York were frantically trying to reach him with the sad news that his mother had just died. The unfortunate man lost his one remaining parent and his wife and child.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Saginaw News (Saginaw, Michigan), 15 May 1899, page 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Captain Searches for His Family<\/strong><\/p>\n

Immediately after the Nelson<\/em> accident, Captain Hagney refused to give up hope. As this old news article explains, he wasn\u2019t willing to give up on his family \u2013 and spent hours and days combing the beach for any sign of his loved ones:<\/p>\n

Capt. Hagney is now engaged in patrolling the beach with the help of the crews of life saving stations here and at Deer Park. The broken yawl, some parts of the cabin, a lady\u2019s hat, a man\u2019s cap and a mattress are all that have yet been found.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"article<\/a>
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 19 May 1899, page 10<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hagney was understandably distraught, as reported in these next two newspaper articles. This Ohio newspaper article\u2019s headline, \u201cCapt. Hagney in Bad Shape,\u201d says it all, and reports that he had been hospitalized:<\/p>\n

The doctors class his trouble as nervousness and insomnia.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"article<\/a>
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 24 May 1899, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This Michigan newspaper article reports that Hagney\u2019s condition is serious.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Saginaw News (Saginaw, Michigan), 24 May 1899, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Previous Life of Captain Hagney<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 1900 census shows him safely ensconced at the home of a family member in Toledo, Ohio, where he was working as an agent for the seamen\u2019s union.* As tragic as all of this was, I still wanted to know more about Hagney. He had a life before the shipwreck of the Nelson<\/em> and one after, so I ran some more searches. I started with changing the spelling from Hagney to Hageny. I figured this would be a common misspelling even though I hadn\u2019t seen it in any of the records so far. This search did produce results, and I found a series of articles about his life back in New York a decade before the accident.<\/p>\n

[search_box]<\/p>\n

Ten years previously, in 1889, Andrew got into some difficulty with the law. As this New York newspaper reports, there was a trial after some union trouble involving strikes, \u201cscabs\u201d and violence:<\/p>\n

Andrew Hageny, William Putman, and Michael Donovan were charged with a murderous assault upon Jesse Josephs, mate of the schooner John Scheutte of Toledo, at the dock in this port\u2026Josephs was dragged a mile into the suburbs, pounded with belaying pins and thrown into the cellar of a burned house; he managed to crawl to an adjoin house.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They were all found guilty of assault in the second degree, with a second, upcoming trial for coercion and conspiracy in forcing some \u201cscabs\u201d to leave another ship.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, New York), 20 July 1889, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This \u201cAndrew Hageny\u201d seems to be the same man as the later Captain Andrew Hagney of the Nelson<\/em>, based on location, occupation, and name, but more evidence is always wanted \u2013 so I kept searching the archives. I found this earlier newspaper article about the assault on sailor Jesse Josephs, and learned that Andrew Hageny\u2019s brother Thomas was also involved. This lends credence to the belief that this Andrew Hageny is the same as the later Captain Andrew Hagney, since I knew from my earlier research on the census that Andrew Hagney had a brother named Thomas.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, New York), 17 May 1889, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But how did Andrew become a ship\u2019s captain with this background of conviction for assault, especially when we find that he had been sentenced to four years in prison?<\/p>\n

Intrigued, I kept searching for answers \u2013 and found this newspaper article two years into Andrew\u2019s prison sentence, indicating that Governor Hill had promised to pardon him.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, New York), 25 November 1891, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And that was indeed what happened \u2013 Governor Hill pardoned him. So that was how he got out of prison early, and presumably set about setting his affairs in order. I was unable to find any newspaper articles reporting Andrew getting in trouble with the law again. He must have worked hard and stayed out of trouble, because in a few years he was entrusted as a ship\u2019s captain.<\/p>\n

The Post-Shipwreck Life of Captain Hagney<\/strong><\/p>\n

But what happened to Captain Andrew Hagney after the shipwreck of the Nelson<\/em>? Was he able to recover from the trauma? It took some searching to find a newspaper article to answer this question. I had to go back to the other spellings of his name, and eventually found his obituary by searching under the spelling \u201cHaganey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"obituary<\/a>
Cleveland Leader (Cleveland, Ohio), 23 February 1912, page 10<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Captain Andrew Hagney appears to have remained in Toledo for the rest of his short life. He remarried and fathered three more children. He died at age 52 in 1912, while visiting his in-laws in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Captain Hagney\u2019s life was full of tragic and challenging experiences. While it must have been difficult to live, searching for his life story provides an opportunity for us to learn about ancestor name search tips, and demonstrates how much we can learn about the lives of our ancestors simply by continuing to dig in the archives..<\/p>\n

Genealogy Tips:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Many of us have ancestors with unusual names, or names that appear in records with different spellings. When searching on GenealogyBank, the search engine will look for exactly what you type. Therefore, if you know of an alternative spelling of your ancestor\u2019s name \u2013 or if you can guess at one \u2013 you may end up finding even more articles. And if you stumble across an article that seems to be about your ancestor, but the name was spelled differently than you thought, it could still be them. Keep searching for additional information to help you determine if that record or article is the right person.<\/p>\n

Another thing you might notice is the location of these articles. They appear from places all over the United States: Cleveland, Ohio; Saginaw, Michigan; Watertown, New York; Elkhart, Indiana; Anaconda, Montana; and Bay City, Michigan. While some of these locations make sense because Andrew had a connection with them, some do not \u2013 such as Montana and Indiana. Keep in mind that news travels, and reports about the ancestor you are looking for could be in any newspaper in the country. If you don\u2019t find what you are looking for in your ancestor\u2019s local area, don\u2019t hesitate to search nationwide. This is always a good approach to take, even if your initial searches do find articles in your ancestor\u2019s hometown, because many more articles might be out there. Best of luck in your family history searches!<\/p>\n

—————-<\/p>\n

* \u201cUnited States Census, 1900,\u201d index and images, FamilySearch (https:\/\/familysearch.org\/pal:\/MM9.1.1\/MMD2-KFQ<\/a>: accessed Dec. 2014), Andrew Hagney in household of Robert V. French, Port Lawrence Township, Precinct F Toledo city Ward 10, Lucas, Ohio, United States; citing sheet 8A, family 159, NARA microfilm publication T623, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; FHL microfilm 1241298.<\/p>\n

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