My gr-gr-grandfather has been a brick wall for more than 15 years. The first time I encounter Philip McCall is on 27 December 1884 when he married Dora Emily Rutter in Pipestone, Pipestone County, Minnesota.1 The couple would reside in Pipestone for the next 13 years, and all three of their daughters would be born there:
Rose E. McCall, b. 11 September 1885
Nina Estelle McCall, b. 20 November 1886
Maude Alice McCall, b. 22 September 1888
By 1899 the family had moved to Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. They appear in the 1900 US census and 1905 Minnesota state census, and every year in the city directories. The census records agree that Philip was born May 1860 in Pennsylvania to Irish-born parents. A family tree in a great-granddaughter's baby book gives his birth as 6 May 1860 in Pennsylvania.2 Previous searches have not revealed a Philip McCall in earlier censuses that falls within these perimeters.
The last record Philip appears in is the 1906 Minneapolis City Directory. His wife and daughters continue to appear in records, but he has disappeared. What happened to Philip? Who is Philip?
"Not My Family," But a Very Interesting Story
My family is the middling sort that rarely appears in the newspapers of the major cities they lived in. But every once in a while, with advanced to OCR technology, I like to poke around and see what I can find. I was doing just this, searching for "Phil* McCa*" in the Hennepin and Ramsey counties newspapers on Newspapers.com, when I came across a murder mystery!
Summary: A man was found murdered in the park with no identification.
"Mrs. Philip McCall, 2716 Twenty-sixth street south, was the first person to identify the remains... Mrs. McCall was prompted to this action because she was worried about her husband. He has been employed in the railroad work in Wisconsin for some time. Not having heard from his she became worried. Thinking it possible that it was he was was lying at the morgue she called yesterday morning.
"Instead of finind the corpse of her husband, Mrs. McCall was more than astonished to see the body of her husband's brother, Thomas... [S]he gave the address of McCall's sister, Mrs. Matthew Flannigan, 2428 Sixteenth avenue south...
"Mrs. Flannigan stated that she had not seen her dead brother for about three years. He was a laborer, but frequently was employed as a teamster. He was somewhat of a roving disposition and had traveled extensively. He was born in McGregor, Iowa, was 45 years of age and unmarried."3
A very interesting story, but McCall is a common surname and this family has no known FAN club ties to other McCalls - or Flannigans. This has frustrated my efforts to break down this brick wall.
He's Not Dead!
Turns out it wasn't Thomas McCall who was found murdered in the park. A friend of his went to collected his personal belongings at the boarding house he was staying at, and found Thomas alive and well.4
A very interesting story, but not my family. Right...?
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Sources
1. Pipestone County, Minnesota, Marriage Record A: 95, Philip McCall to Dora E. Rutter (1884); FHL microfilm 1,403,125.
2. 1885 Minnesota state Census, Village of Pipestone, Pipestone County, p. 338, family 189, for P. McCall, lines 21-29; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded); citing Minnesota Historical Society (St. Paul, MN), MNSC_20. 1895 Minnesota state census, Pipestone 4th District, Pipestone County, p. 30, family 242, for P. McCall; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded); citing Minnesota Historical Society (St. Paul, MN), microfilm Reels 1-47 and 107-164, V290_82. Davison's Minneapolis City Directory, 1899, vol. XXVII (Minneapolis, MN: Minneapolis Directory Company, 1899), p. 820; digital images, Hennepin County Library, "Minneapolis City Directory Collection 1859-1937, 1939, 1942 and 1944," (https://box2.nmtvault.com/Hennepin2/ : accessed 16 August 2019). 1900 U.S. census, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, population schedule, Ward 12, enumeration district (ED) 123, p. 2A (penned), p. 238 (stamped), dwelling 19, family 22, Philip McCall; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded 9 December 2005); citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication T623, roll 770. 1905 Minnesota state census, Hennepin County, Minneapolis, population schedule, p. 4, lines 5-9, for Philip McCall; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded); citing Minnesota Historical Society reels 1-47 and 107-164, Roll No. MNSC_128. Davidson's Minneapolis City Directory, 1906 (Minneapolis, MN: Minneapolis Directory Co., [1906]), 1209; digital images, "U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta)," Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 April 2012).
3. "Thos. M'Call the Dead Man," The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 16 October 1902, p. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://startribune.newspapers.com : downloaded 12 August 2019).
4. "M'Call Returns Home, His Funeral Postponed," The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 17 October 1902, p. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://startribune.newspapers.com : downloaded 3 September 2019).
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