On This Day in Family History - June 27

 Elisha Forrest Herdman was born 27 June 1862

The Herdman family is only tangentially related to us, by the marriage of Belle Treat -- sister of my great-grandfather Marcus Treat. She married Ulysses Grant Herdman. Aunt Belle died in 1962, so maybe that's where we got so many pictures of the Herdman family. Or maybe my dad got them from someone else when he was working on the Treat family history. (Come to think of it, I don't have any hard-copy pictures of them. Only digital prints from my dad's research...) Well, anyway... 

I've had a heck of a time figuring out all the permutations of the Herdman family -- and I'm still not sure I've got it all straightened out. The census records don't match our family records, nor the FamilySearch records. Well, FamilySearch is not that reliable. (It's like Wikipedia, in that anybody can pretty much put anything they want on the website, with or without official sources.) Census records are not altogether reliable, either, when it comes to specific names -- but pretty good as a head-count, at least. So, after comparing 1) family records and photographs 2) FamilySearch, 3) census records, 4) obituaries... I'm still just making my best guess. 

In the first place, there are two Michael Herdmans. (There are FIVE John Herdmans!) Fortunately, one of the Michael Herdmans had an obituary that I found, so I was able to pretty much verify that the three people in the photo above are his children. The funny thing about it is that Eva (or Eve) does not show up in any of the records except the census. In two different census records the Michael Herdman family children include Elisha and Eve, who are the same age. (Twins, I assume.) But poor little Eva is not mentioned anywhere else. BUT -- here she is in this picture! The obit mentions four children - Sarah Scott, W.I. and E.F., and 'Mrs. Frank Brown' ... well, um... I'mma assume Mrs. Frank Brown is Eva. W.I. is kind of a mystery, because census records list a William, but other records don't, but they do mention an Amos Wesley, who doesn't show up in the censuses! Aarrgghh!

Well, here's the obituary for Michael Herdman -- you can figure it out for yourself:

Michael Herdman, a well known pioneer resident of this county, passed away at his home in Armour, South Dakota, Sunday, April 19th. The remains were brought here for burial and the funeral held from the Pleasant Hill Church Wednesday afternoon. He was born in Ohio in 1829. In 1850 he was married to Miss Hannah Bennett, who preceded him in death August 26, 1887. They came to Boone county in 1851 and made their home here continuously until a few years ago when he went to Armour to make his home with his son, Forest. Four children survive, Mrs Sarah Scott of Linton ND; W.J. and E.F. Herdman of Armour, S.D.; and Mrs Frank Brown of Boone.

[Boone Co Democrat, 24 Apr 1908]