ancestor-sketch
Souvenir of the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Henry Eesley and Clemens Wilkins, 2 November 1915 (Midland, Michigan)
Printed two-sided souvenir booklet from the 50th wedding anniversary of Henry Eesley and his wife (born Clemens Wilkins), who had been married in the township of Blenheim, Canada on 2 November 1865 — four years after Chuck's great-great-grandparents Albert Robert Eesley and Jennie Goldie were married in nearby Ayr, Canada in 1861, and within the same Ontario Eesley network. By 1915 Henry and Clemens were residents of Midland, Michigan, with eight children documented (including one deceased): Edward (d. 1879), Mrs. Tressa B. Maddock of Detroit, Harry H. of Denver, Mrs. John A. Dillon of East Tawas, Wm. J. of Steamboat Springs, Arthur L. of Winegar Wisconsin, Mrs. Gus A. Winkler of Midland, and Lewis E. of Midland. Handwritten annotation on the souvenir: 'Eesley cousin to MaryAnn Harris Cobb.' This is an extended-Eesley-family branch — Henry was almost certainly a cousin or sibling of Albert Robert Sr Eesley, the Stratford-on-Avon emigrant. The reconciliation against Dale's tree is open.
What the souvenir is
A two-sided printed souvenir program — the kind a Victorian-era American couple of moderate means would have had locally printed for a major anniversary to mail to extended family. The front page has the dates “1865” and “1915” flanking the word “Souvenir” in Old-English type, twin oval cabinet-card photographs of Henry and his wife (he with a long beard and round wire-rim glasses; she with white hair pulled back, dark dress with a high collar), and the announcement:
Souvenir
Of the Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary of Henry Eesley and wife (Clemens Wilkins) who were married in the township of Blenheim, Canada, November 2, 1865.
Greetings to our children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters and other kinsfolk, friends and acquaintances:
Dear Ones All—
We are glad to send you this as a token of our love and a reminder of the length of days that has been our lot. May you too be thus kept. In the fifty years that we have journeyed life’s pathway together, we have struggled with sickness, suffered bereavement at death’s call, been blessed with children and a host of kind friends, had the leading of God’s spirit that has brought us a rich Christian experience that proves a constant solace in our old age.
Yours,
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Eesley
Midland, Michigan
The children, geographically scattered
Beneath the greeting is a list of the children, in the printed convention of “Mrs. [husband’s name]” for daughters:
Our Children
Edward Eesley, Died Dec. 11, 1879
Mrs. Tressa B. Maddock, Detroit, Mich.
Harry H. Eesley, Denver, Colorado
Mrs. John A. Dillon, East Tawas, Mich.
Wm. J. Eesley, Steam Boat Springs, Colorado
Arthur L. Eesley, Winegar, Wisconsin
Mrs. Gus A. Winkler, Midland, Mich.
Lewis E. Eesley, Midland, Mich.
Eight children — one deceased in 1879, the other seven scattered across Detroit, Denver, East Tawas, Steamboat Springs Colorado, Winegar Wisconsin, and the home town Midland — a midwestern Eesley diaspora map of 1915.
Why this is significant for Chuck’s family
A handwritten annotation in the upper right of the souvenir reads:
“Eesley cousin to MaryAnn Harris Cobb”
The annotation identifies this Henry-Eesley branch as “cousin to MaryAnn Harris Cobb” — meaning Henry’s family is in some collateral relation to a Harris-or-Cobb branch of the broader Eesley relations. The reconciliation against Dale’s tree is open.
What is clear from the marriage date and place:
- Blenheim Township, Canada, 2 November 1865 is in Oxford County, Ontario — the same Canadian county-region the Goldie family of Ayr lived in. Henry’s 1865 Blenheim marriage took place four years after Chuck’s great-great-grandparents Albert Robert Eesley and Jennie Goldie were married in nearby Ayr, Ontario in 1861.
- Both Henry and Albert Robert ended up in the U.S. Midwest — Henry settling at Midland Michigan, Albert Robert moving across Michigan through several mill towns before retiring to Toronto. The parallel Canada-to-Michigan migration paths in the same decade strongly suggest the two were cousins or possibly brothers within the broader Eesley emigration from England via Canada.
Albert Robert Sr had brothers per the 1851 Stratford-on-Avon census: William (b. 1834), an elder son (b. 1830), George (b. 1836), Albert himself (b. 1837), Jane (1841), plus older sisters Mary and Eydith. Henry Eesley is not in the 1851 census of Albert’s immediate family in Old Stratford. But the Eesley family of Hanwell had multiple branches, and Henry may have been a cousin or first-cousin descendant from an earlier-emigrating line.
Reconciliation queued
The exact relationship of Henry Eesley to Chuck’s documented Albert Robert Eesley Sr line is the queued research thread. The most plausible readings:
- Henry was a cousin of Albert Robert Sr — both descended from a common earlier Eesley generation in Oxfordshire or Warwickshire, both emigrating to Canada in the 1850s–60s, both settling in Michigan or Ontario.
- Henry was a more distant Eesley — perhaps from a different Hanwell or Stratford Eesley branch entirely, with the family-cousin connection mediated through the Harris-Cobb branch the souvenir’s annotation names.
Dale Eesley’s FamilySearch tree carries 3,465 individuals across 1,529 families; a Henry Eesley of Blenheim Canada → Midland Michigan should appear in it, and the FAMC/FAMS lookups will settle the cousin-or-sibling question.
Provenance
Original souvenir transmitted by Chuck Eesley 2026. The handwritten “Eesley cousin to MaryAnn Harris Cobb” annotation is in pencil in the upper right corner. The scan is now embedded above.
Companion documents: William Eesley c. 1916 obituary, which documents the Albert Robert Sr Eesley generation directly preceding Henry’s 1915 anniversary; Albert Robert Sr Eesley person page for the parallel 1861 Ontario marriage that brackets Henry’s 1865 one.
Scans
