Journey to His Past

 Saying our vows at St. John Lutheran Church, Palms, Michigan

The Leyndyke Family

L-R  Brenda, Kirk, Joanne, Michael, Melissa, Elizabeth, James, Curtis, Karen, and Jim

Kirk, Grandma Lee (Leona Dollaway Corcoran), Brenda

Where in the World is Leona Dollaway Corcoran?

One of the first place a genealogist looks for family information is in census records.  I have decided to make census tables showing the place of residence for each ancestor.  The census table below is for Kirk's maternal grandmother, Leona Dollaway who married Bertrand Corcoran, in 1925.  I am having trouble locating Leona, and the Dollaway's, in the 1920 United States Census.  I believe they were living in Lowell Township, Kent, Michigan at this time.  I went page by page for Lowell census records and didn't find them.  I used Heritage Quest, Ancestry.com and Family Search census records.  I even searched for all the Leona's in Michigan at Heritage Quest.  

Entrance to St. Andrew's Cathedral, Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan

Altar of St. Andrew's Cathedral which was remodeled in 1979-1980

Cornerstone at St. Andrew's, which was established in 1875

St. Andrew's Cathedral and Piazza Secchia which was laid in 2009.

The Piazza Secchia explaining that St. Andrew's Piazza was modeled after Michelangelo's Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome.  

Cover Page of Grandma Dollaway's (Francis) Cookbook



Later that same week, I took my niece, Betty's granddaughter, for a visit.  When I got there Betty said she had the recipes.  She handed me two black books.  I was surprised, I had only expected a recipe card or two.  I didn't even know the recipe books existed.  As a lover of recipe collections I was thrilled.  So what I thought would be a cookie recipe or two turned into a whole lot more.

The two books were recipes that had been written in daily calendar books.  The 1939 Calendar book of recipes is written in Grandma Dollaway's handwriting and this is her recipe book.  It contained cakes, coffee cakes, quick breads, hash, biscuits, cookies, pies, and more.  There is even a dandelion blossom wine recipe.  One recipe I have been tempted to try is the home remedy for rheumatism and arthritis.  Credit was given to the recipe's owner.  Some of the names include Agnes (Francis Dollaway's son's, Roy, wife), Betty's, Lottie Smith, Mrs. Martin, Florence Baily, Alice D., Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Berry, Mrs. Earnst, Josie (Francis Dollaway's sister, Josephine), Cecil (Francis Dollaway's daughter), Mrs. Jessup (Francis Dollaway's daughter's, Cecil, mother-in-law), and Leona (Francis Dollaway's daughter and my mother-in-law's mother).  Some of the women above were women that Francis worked for.  She worked as a housekeeper.  I was so excited to get my husband's great grandmothers recipe, but that wasn't the only recipe I got.  There was one of Grandma Denny's recipes for Molasses included.  Grandma Denny was Francis Dollaway's mother, my husband's 2x great grandmother! 

Ice Box Cookies Recipe from Grandma Dollaway's (Francis) Cookbook

This is the cookbook that contains the recipe for Grandma Dollaway's Ice Box Cookies, the original recipe I thought I would scan.  I haven't made them yet, but one thing I noticed is the lack of instructions for mixing and baking.  I am a little surprised the measurements are included.  Cooking and baking was such a routine in those days that they didn't need measurements or instructions, they just knew. 

Ice Box Cookies

3/4 cup lard

3/4 cup Butter

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 cup White Sugar

1 tsp. cinnamons

1 cup nutmeats

4 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 teaspoon soda 

Press in tin or roll put in ice box until next day.

What was in the second cookbook?  You will have to check back to find the answer to that.

Who is Grandma Dollaway?

L-R Cecil Dollaway Jessup with her mother, Francis Denny Dollaway

Grandma Dollaway is Francis Denny Dollaway.  She was born in Lowell, Kent, Michigan on 13 April 1866 to Joseph W. Denny and Adelia Degan Denny.  She lived near Lowell, Michigan most of her life, along the river and near what they called Dollaway hills.  She died on 22 February 1955 at the age of 88.  Kirk has a few memories of going to her house, she always had lemon drops in a jar with a lid on them, which would be a treat for a four year old.

Other names mentioned:

Betty-Francis Dollaway's granddaughter, Kirk's mother

Leona- Leona Dollaway Corcoran; Francis Dollaway's daughter, Betty's mother, Kirk's grandmother

Cecil-Cecil Dollaway Jessup, pictured above; Francis Dollaway's daughter, Leona's sister

Grandma Denny-Adelia DeGan Denny; Francis Dollaway's mother who lived from 1830-1905 and Kirk's 2x great grandmother.

BERTRAND F.

CORCORAN

1903-1959 

LEONA A.

CORCORAN

1905-2005

Leona Adelia Dollaway was born 30 May 1905 in Lowell Township, Kent, Michigan to Willis George Dollaway and Francis A. (Denny) Dollaway.  She died 2 July 2005 in Pawleys Island, Georgetown, South Carolina.

Bertrand Corcoran and Leona Dollaway were married in St. Andrew's Catholic Church, Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan on 3 June 1925.

They are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, 2530 Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan.