Isaac Brough Law's Mission Photos

Isaac had at least two photographs taken during his time in the Northern States Mission. Isaac's Mission Diary includes the following two entries:

Chicago, Ill Sat Mar 31-1900 (weather fine) -- I went and had my photo taken and spent the rest of the day in study.

Chicago, Ill Sat Dec 15-1900 (Weather cool) -- We went over on North Ave and had my photo taken then returned to our room and spent the rest of the day in study.

We have four photographs, two of which likely are recorded in the above diary excerpts. As you can see two are individual portraits and 2 are group portraits.

Unfortunately there are not enough details to determine which of these photos might have been taken on the days mentioned in the diary. Presumably some descendants of other missionaries in these group photos might have dated copies of these photographs, but first we would need to identify the individuals in the photo.

Anyone up to the challenge?

Scott Law - A Few Pet Phrases

Last night I heard myself say something that I heard my Dad say many times--especially when I was young. He would ask us to do something and then follow it up with "Quick, like a bunny". It's one of those phrases that when I hear it or say it, I think of my Dad. Another one that he would say when we didn't believe that he was going to do something. For example, when we were playing a game and we thought we were winning and he'd make some claim that he was going to win. We'd say you're not going to win this time... He'd respond with "you just hide and watch". There was something endearing about both of these pet phrases. It's good to remember.

The Law Brothers & WWI

Four of the sons of Isaac Brough Law registered for the draft during WWI. The following are images of their draft registrations, all of which come from Ancestry's World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918.

Charles Isaac Law (b. 23 Sep 1886) registered 5 Jun 1917 (First Registration)

Jesse Law (b. 30 Nov 1887) registered 5 Jun 1917

Ira Law (b. 5 May 1891) registered 5 Jun 1917

Orrin Law (b. 26 Jul 1898) registered 12 Sep 1918 (Third Registration)

Milford was too young and Milan had died as an infant. Charles, Jesse, and Ira were all married--Orrin was not.

After registering for the draft, were any of these called up to service?

Following the Line: Charles - Isaac - John - Isaac - ?

Here's the Brick Wall: Isaac Law and Martha Parkinson were married in Felkirk Parish, Yorkshire, England on May 8, 1764. Prior to his marriage we really don't know where Isaac came from: where he was born, where he lived, etc.

The marriage record is very brief: "May 8th. Isaac Law & Martha Parkinson of this Parish & Banns."

Marriage by banns indicates that the impending marriage was announced for three consecutive weeks prior to the ceremony so that any objections from the Parish could come forth.

Isaac died September 15, 1819 and was buried 2 days later on the 17th. He died in South Hiendley, a village in the Felkirk Parish. The burial record indicates that he was 89 years of age, placing his birth sometime about 1730.

So in 1764 Isaac was of the Parish of Felkirk, but this only means that he had resided in the parish for the minimum of a few weeks. He could have been there for a few weeks, a few years, or decades. However, careful inspection of the parish registers reveals no birth record for Isaac in the Felkirk Parish.

So where was he born? In an attempt to come up with some good possibilities I culled from FamilySearch 5,000 Laws born in Yorkshire. I would have limited to a specific range of years, except the search engine won't allow that without a given name. After deleting some some that were women whose married name was actually something other than Law (or Lawe, Lawes, or Laws) I have a list of just over 4,600 Laws. Here are the top 22 towns and cities for Laws being born and/or christened in Yorkshire.

Todmorden, Yorkshire, England	701
Sheffield, Yorkshire, England	632
Halifax, Yorkshire, England	275
Rotherham, Yorkshire, England	136
Yorkshire, England	112
Birstall, Yorkshire, England	104
York, Yorkshire, England	93
Wath-upon-Dearne, Yorkshire, England	89
Wakefield, Yorkshire, England	88
Leeds, Yorkshire, England	80
Cantley, Yorkshire, England	77
South Hiendley, Yorkshire, England	77
Bradford, Yorkshire, England	72
Hartshead, Yorkshire, England	71
Horbury, Yorkshire, England	63
Egton, Yorkshire, England	50
Elland, Yorkshire, England	50
Swinton, Yorkshire, England	47
Brampton, Yorkshire, England	40
Sedbergh, Yorkshire, England	39
South Kirkby, Yorkshire, England	39
Walsden, Yorkshire, England	38
Heptonstall, Yorkshire, England	37
Heck, Yorkshire, England	36

Obviously Todmorden and Sheffield have the "Lion's Share" of Laws. I've contacted a researcher who has connected up most of the Laws in Todmorden and our Isaac doesn't fit in anywhere.  Some of the other localities here remain good possibilities. Isaac married Martha Parkinson who was born in Hunslet, which was a Chapelry of Leeds until 1719 when it was made a parish itself. Hunslet is 130th in the ranking of places with Laws in Yorkshire, having only 4 in the IGI. The four entries are all for Hannah Law with two records indicating her birth on 12 Aug 1759 and two other records indicating her christening on 12 Aug 1759.

It's also worth noting that the last entry in the list shows that some of the Laws came from Heck (is that a good place to be from?).

The following map shows the proximity of Hunslet and Leeds to South Hiendley and Felkirk.

To see this map on FamilySearch's English Jurisdictions project click Here.

Charles Law Photograph or Not?

For decades a blurry, poor quality photograph has been circulated in the Law family purporting to be a representation of Charles Law (1832-1862). For decades I accepted it as actually being Charles Law. Then about 10 years ago doubts concerning this identification began to fester when a colleague pointed out that the hairline, broadened nose, and general appearance was not that of a man who died at age 29, but rather that of someone upwards of 50 years of age. Here is the photo with which many of Charles' descendants are familiar:

click to enlarge

I now believe that this photograph is of Simon Price (1808-1890), Isaac Brough Law's father-in-law.

The photograph below depicts Susan Juchau (Price) Law and her daughter, Cora (Law) Wilhelmsen. Also in the photograph are portraits of Isaac Brough Law (Susan's husband), Mary Lousia Stanners Price (Susan's grandmother), and Simon Price (Susan's grandfather).

click to enlarge

Cropping the Simon Price portrait from the larger photograph above and enlarging and straightening it resulted in the following photo:

click to enlarge

Finally, I took this photo and cropped it down to the head, straightened it and removed the slight tint resulting in the following portrait:


Placing this photo side-by-side with the photo of Charles Law it becomes apparent that it is the same photograph:

















My conclusion is that we have no photograph of Charles Law (1832-1862). If we could locate the portrait depicted in the photograph of Susan (Price) Law and Cora (Law) Wilhelmsen we could undoubtedly obtain a much better copy of this photo of Simon Price.

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Scott Milan Law Memorial Slideshow

Charles Law - Arrival in Boston, Massachusetts

Charles Law came to the United States on the ship George Washington, a clipper ship built in Boston in 1851. As part of the Williams & Guion Line, Train's Line, and Warren & Thayer's line, this ship made many trips between Liverpool and Boston. In 1857 the ship carried 817 Mormons immigrants from Liverpool to Boston in just 23 days.

The ship set sail on on March 28 from Liverpool when Josiah Cummings was captain. The Mormon immigrants were under the leadership of James P. Park and his counselors Jesse B. Martin and Charles R. Dana. Amos Musser served as secretary for the ship, recording events of the journey. The ship arrived in Boston Harbor on April 20, 1857, but it wasn't until April 23rd that the passengers were allowed to disembark.

The passenger list of those arriving in Boston show Charles Law, age 25, a merchant, as the 9th person listed on this page from the record.

click on image to enlarge

Source: United States. Department of the Treasury. Bureau of Customs.
"Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving in Boston, 1820-1891; with index, 1848-1891";
FHL 419943.