Cannie Christena Kenney

In trying to decide who to write about in this week's blog I was looking at my family pedigree and started thinking about my Great-Grandma Squire.  I have often wondered what her correct name was and now that I have spent several hours researching and looking through documents I have come to the conclusion that the more important questions are...Who is she? and What was she like?  But first, What was her REAL name?  My grandfather, Loren D. Squire filled out her death certificate with the name of Cannie Christine Kenney Squire Peterson.  Although, she can be found in several reliable records with a variety of names.

Here is how her name appears on her tombstone Christena K.S. Peterson.

On the Western States Marriage Index it shows her name as Kanney Charistina Kenney.  At this point, I was beginning to understand the confusion of Cannie's name.  I found her in the United State Census records in 1910 as Christina Squier, in 1920 as divorced Christina Squire, and in 1930 as Christina Peterson. 

When I saw that she was divorced in 1920, I thought, "What happened? Why did my great-grandparents get a divorce?" I never found out those answers but I did find some interesting clues from reading my Grandpa Loren D. Squire's, A Genealogy and Family History.    Here is an excerpt:

Amasa Kenney and his wife, Kanney, were the parents of two children.  First, Amasa, Jr. who married Annie Hansen [Jensen] and they made their home in Gunnison where they raised their four children, two boys and two girls.  Their second child, a daughter, was born Jan. 12, 1879 in Spring City and given the name of Kanney Christene Kenney.  Her mother died ten days after she was born and her father drew up a contract with her dead mother's sister, Lena Tullgren Larson (who later married Moroni Bradley) to have her take and raise this baby girl as her own. (This agreement is in my possession.)  In this agreement her father states that her name shall be Kanney Christene Kenney.  Many records spell Kanney as Canny and Christene as Christena.  This agreement was made and signed on Jan. 30, 1879 when mother was 18 days old.  Lena Larson had a baby son near mother's age and she raised them on her breast as twins.  My mother had a pretty rough life as a child, as her aunt's husband run off and left her with her family along with the additional child she had taken to raise.  She was the only mother my mother ever knew and we called her Grandma Bradley, as she later married Moroni Bradley, a widower.  She was also known at times as Aunt Lena.

On Jan. 8, 1897, my father, John P. Squire, being a widower at the age of forty with two children, Leona, age nearly eight and Gilbert, age five and a half, married my mother, Kanney Christene Kenney, who was four days short of being eighteen.  So my young mother had a family to start with.  Father owned his home and a good farm three miles south of Manti.  Father was a hard worker and a good provider and was known everywhere for his honesty.  

My Grandpa Loren D. Squire continued his writing of his parents and stated that early in his parent's marriage his father, John P. Squire, had some differences with ward leaders and knowing the way of their life became disturbed and became inactive and remained so all the rest of his life.  He never said anything against the church and usually went to the quarterly conference.

I guess it doesn't really matter why my great-grandparents divorced, but maybe it had something to do with the 22 year age difference or the fact that John P. Squire had become inactive.  Kanney married her second husband, another widower, Frederick Peterson.

My dad recalls Grandma Peterson (Kanney Christene) with fondness.  He said she was kind and not bossy.  It appears that Kanney preferred to go by the name of Christina. I think it is interesting that my Grandpa Squire said he had the agreement document in his possession showing her name as  Kanney Christene Kenney, but listed it on her death certificate as Cannie Christine Kenney Squire Peterson.  I'm guessing that my Grandpa Squire had to fill out his mother's death certificate from memory and that is why there is a spelling difference.  But, after visiting her mother's tombstone, her namesake, Cannie, and  visiting Grandma Peterson's tombstone listed Christena, I am going to go with Cannie Christena Kenney in my PAF file.  It has been a fun journey getting to know my Great-Grandma Squire Peterson.

The paradox of genealogy is that family history doesn't usually become important to you until the people who had the answers are gone.