James Francis Tillotson and Clara M. Stahler

My great-grandfather James Francis Tillotson was the son of Franklin James Tillotson and Jane Ann Sexton. James was born on August 29, 1849 in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio. He appears as a one year old child in the 1850 U. S. Census. James grew up in Elsie, Michigan and Crete, Illinois. James married Clara M. Stahler (abt 1853-1925) in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois on March 5, 1878 (see their marriage certificate (80K)).

James Francis Tillotson.

James and Clara produced five children:

• Eva Josephine Tillotson (1878-1956), my grandmother. She married John Michael Burns. They had five children:

  • Mary Burns (1905-1905) who died as an infant;
  • Margaret Adele Burns (1906-1994);
  • Grace Evelyn Burns (1909-2001);
  • John Edward Burns; and
  • Robert Francis Burns, my father (1914-1999).
  
  

• Frank James Tillotson (1880-1932). He married Jane Georgina Carroll. They had three children:

  • Francis James Tillotson.
  • Edmund Carroll Tillotson.
  • Genevieve Marion Tillotson.
  
  

• Jennie May Tillotson (1882-1963). She married Harry Vandenberg. They had no children.

• May Tillotson (1885-1886) died at the age of eight months.

• Milo Tillotson (1893-1893) died at the age of three months.

Children of James Francis Tillotson and Clara M. Stahler.

Left to right: Frank James Tillotson, Eva Josephine Tillotson, Jennie May Tillotson.

James was a freight inspector for the Western Railroad Association in the Chicago Stock Yards for over twenty years. You can read some letters to his mother Jane Ann which James wrote in 1877 through 1882.

James died on June 11, 1893 at the age of 43 (see his funeral card (25K image)). I do not know the cause of his early death, but it was not sudden as he had time to draft his own obituary.

James Francis Tillotson was born in Brunswick. Medina Co., Ohio Aug 29th 1849, went with his parents to Duplain Clinton Co. Michigan in the Spring of 1852 where they resided till Nov 1865 when they came to the town of Crete. He has made his home near the Stock yds in Chicago since about 1873, was married to Miss Clara Staeler March 4, 1878. There were born to them five children. A little girl died Apr 13, 1885 aged eight months, a boy died May 21st aged three months.

James Francis Tillotson is buried in the family funeral plot in Crete, Will County, Illinois.

Photo of the Tillotson children courtesy Susan Linn.

Back to Franklin James Tillotson.
Back to Jane Ann Sexton Tillotson.
Back to my Tillotson genealogy.
Back to index of my personal genealogy pages.

Last modified by pib on July 12, 2003.