Riches in Discovery! Nina and Albert Hall

In my research on my great grandmother Ada C. [Hall] Crofford, I have often wondered where her siblings, Nina and Albert, were as they were not listed with the family on the 1870 U. S. Census.  Nina and Albert would be my grandfather's aunt and uncle. Both were born in Michigan. Ada had an older brother Benjamin F., born in 1855 in Oswego,NY (New York State Census), but I am assuming he died in childhood.

Today, I hit upon a gold mine of sources about the lives of both Nina and Albert. I am still wading through all of the information, but couldn't wait to tell about this exciting break through! Both siblings were born around the time of the Civil War, between 1859 and 1862. Nina was born in 1859, according to census documents. Albert was probably conceived before his father joined the army in September 1861. The family endured extreme hardship during Andrew's year-long absence in 1861-1862, nearly starving to death and wearing nothing but rags. It is hard to imagine how Miriam Olivia held her family together with two infants to care for during that time.

Brief summary of what I already knew:  In 1860, the Halls were living in Marquette, Michigan. At the 1870 Census, the Halls lived in Delton, Michigan, where Andrew worked at the Furnace (an ore refinery). By 1871, they were among the first settlers in Fargo, ND. (Ada wrote about this time in Fargo, but never mentioned her younger siblings). They moved south to Fort Lincoln for a year in 1876, and went from there by wagon train to South Dakota. They are all listed together on the 1880 Census in Bear Butte, South Dakota.

New Information! and Pictures!

Nina Caroline Hall was born around 1859 in Marquette, Michigan. At the 1860 Census, she was 6 months old. [She is not listed with the family in the 1870 Census]. In 1880, she was 21 years old and living with her family in Bear Butte, SD. Nina married William Nathan Curington in 1892 at age 30. They had four children: Albert, Ruth, Stanley, and Eva. She was "widowed" by 1930, and went to live with her daughter Ruth in Florida where she died sometime after 1940. The information about her marriage gets fuzzy after 1915; William N. Curington, her husband, may not have died until 1948, also claiming to be widowed. It may take me a while to straighten out this conflicting information.  

Albert, called "Ed," married an Indian girl from the Cheyenne (Sioux) tribe named Mary Amiotte in 1897. After they married, they lived with her family on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. They had five children: Walter, Steven, William, Alice, and Alfred. Albert died in 1942, and was buried on the reservation.

Walter, Mary, Steven, Ed, William (front), and Alice