Vining Research Problems
Problem 1 - Parents of Carroll Vining (b. 22 September 1899)
Background information: According to the 1900 census of Northampton (Hampshire County), MA, Carroll Vining was 8 months old and a "boarder" in the household of Lucy Dickinson, a widower. By the 1910 census of ward 3 of Northampton (Hampshire County), MA, Carroll [spelled Carol] was 10 years old and an "adopted son" of Louis and Mary Pelissier [spelled with one L]. Now, it is thought that Mary Pelissier was a Dickinson (see the 1880 census of South Hadley (Center) (Hampshire County), MA). Also a Jesse R. Vining married an Annie, possibly Angelina M. Dickinson, a daughter of Lucy Dickinson, the woman in whose household Carroll was boarding in 1900. A working hypothesis is that Annie Vining (?=? Angelina M. Dickinson) may have given birth to Carroll, who was then "boarded" with Annie/Angelina's widowed mother and family and later adopted by the Pelissier's, her (Angelina's) sister and brother-in-law.
Information sought:
(1) Were Annie Vining and Angelina Dickinson the same person?
(2) If so, were Angelina/Annie and Mary sisters?
(3) Who were Carroll's father and mother?
Problem 2 - Descendants of Arthur L. Vining (b. 22 October 1867, Maine)
Background information: According to his death certificate, Arthur L. Vining died in Utica, NY, on 3 June 1931. The "place of burial, cremation or removal" was Waterford, NY, and the "date of burial" was 6 June 1931. His death was reported by Delmar [Delmer?] Vining, his younger son.
Information sought:
(1) Obituary
(2) Image of gravestone
(3) 1930 census record for his wife or either son (Here is a summary, including images, of the 1910 and 1920 census data for this family.)
(4) Did either son have offspring?
Problem 3 - Namesake of Vinings, Georgia
Background information: Vinings, GA, was settled in the 1830s by Hardy Pace and was initially known as "Crossroads". In 1837 Stephen H. Long, a civil engineer, was charged with building the Western & Atlantic Railroad from Atlanta to Chattanooga. The railroad was constructed through the area of Crossroads in 1838-1841. In the course of this construction, there was a culvert-tressel-styled bridge that had to transverse a creek around a mountain. Somewhere in this time frame a railroad worker or supervising construction foreman, supposedly by the name of Vining, may have had the responsibility of this stretch of rail. The bridge on early maps was called "Vining's Bridge". Subsequent placement of a railway station one-half mile south of the bridge transferred the name as "Vining's Station", known for the duration of the Civil War as such, and mentioned no fewer than 150 times in the official records and memoirs of primarily Union forces. The name was shortened in 1904 to simply "Vinings". Today it is a historic place inhabited by rather wealthy individuals -- and is in need of a fathered identity.
There are no census, marriage, or death records that put a Vining in this (Cobb) county during the target years (1840 more or less). There were some Vinings from Putnam County, GA, who won land in the Georgia Land Lotteries, but it appears they never actually lived in Cobb County and they sold the land. Further, they were farmers and the work on the railroad required engineering know-how, something not common in the south. A hypothesis is that this presumed Vining was an individual from the northeast -- Pennsylvania, Delaware, etc. -- who worked on the railroads, went to Crossroads contractually, and possibly moved on.
Information sought:
The name of a Vining, likely 30-40 years old, who worked on the railroad or in bridge construction and was in Georgia during the 1840 (more or less) time frame.
To post your Vining research problem on this page or to solve one of the above problems (or add information that may help some else solve it), please e-mail info@vfthomas.com, call me at 207-266-5748, or write to "Vining Research Problems; V. F. Thomas Co.; P. O. Box 400; Southwest Harbor, ME 04679".