Wil John McComb

This is a bit of a family mystery through my mother, who was adopted by Mark and Mabel Shankel shortly after birth in January of 1924.Her original birth certificate lists her parents as William John McComb and Ina "Charles Rivers" with maiden name of Wilson.Bear in mind as I continue that only the records named have allowed us to make what I hope are well founded speculations.

At any rate, the notation on my mother's mother's name is difficult to read, but more on that later.

There are records that show both William John and Ina crossing the border from Winnipeg to the US in 1923.William John came earlier in the year, and Ina arrives near the end of the year as Ina R McComb.There is a marriage record in March of 1923 in Manitoba for William John McComb and Charles Rivers Wilson.Ina appears to have been named after Sir Charles Rivers Wilson, for whom the town Rivers in Manitoba is named, but it's unclear to me if she was really named Charles Rivers Wilson and called Ina or perhaps was named some feminine variant of Charles for which the use-name could be Ina.

My mother was born in Los Angeles.William John's profession is given as clerk in a shoe store; Ina's is bindery girl at a book bindery.Tracking backward by ages and dates of birth and entry, we've puzzled out this much:

Thomas McComb, born in 1879, emigrated to Canada, from Listooder, County Down, Ireland to settle in Fort William, Ontario around 1913.WWI occurred before the rest of the family joined him; he served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and returned to Canada after the war.In June 1921, William John McComb, the eldest son, arrived in Quebec.In April of 1923, Mary Jane (called Minnie) arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick with sons Thomas Bailie (or Baillie) McComb and Samuel Robert McComb.William John's marriage took place in March, 1923, in Manitoba, and he crossed into the US in May of 1923.He was born sometime in 1904, I believe, and Ina was born sometime in 1907.Her Winnipeg address is given as 155 Hespeler Avenue, and she indicates that her destination is Los Angeles.

My mother's birth name was Christine Rivers McComb, but the first and middle names were added several days after the birth, and the family legend is that Mabel and her sister took the train to Los Angeles within a day or so to pick the baby up.The baby, however, was not born in a hospital.It's possible, I suppose that Ina's full name was Christina Charles Rivers Wilson, hence the Ina, but we really have no idea.

In the 1930 Census, Thomas Bailie McComb and wife Charlotte, and (Samuel) Robert McComb and wife Harriet Fitzpatrick McComb, and William John McComb, now giving his status as single, appear in Detroit, Wayne County, MI.We suppose by this that Ina and William John were divorced, or Ina died, although depending, I'd think the census taker would have indicated he was a widower.

Robert died in Illinois, and Thomas in Livonia, MI, and I have not been able to find where William John went after that.

Going backward from Thomas Senior and his wife Minnie:

Thomas Sr's father was John, and the family appears in Crossgar, County Down, in/on Killyleagh in 1901.He had a brother Robert, born abt 1887, and a sister Lizzie, born about 1889.

Minnie, or Mary Jane, appears with her family in Listooder, Kilmore, County Down.Her mother's name, which appears on her Ocean arrivals form in Canada, is Isabel Bailie (or Baillie).Her father's name, as shown on the 1901 Census, was William.Her mother's maiden name appears to have been Patton, for two Pattons, Hugh and William, born respectively abt 1845 and 1866.Minnie had a sister, Margaret Ann, who married a William Alexander and had at least three daughters, also in Listooder.There were also at least two brothers, Thomas W Bailie, and Hugh P(atton) Bailie.Between the Canadian immigration, Border Crossing records, WWI Attestation from Thomas Senior, I feel we've been incredibly lucky to put this all together and am reasonably confident about what we've found.We have no idea of where to go next, of what happend to William John and Ina, of whether or not we have aunts or uncles born from later marriages for the two of them.

This is something of a last ditch shot to see if anyone recognizes any of these people and can point us in any directions.Thanks.