Untangled Family Roots

Genealogy Goals for 2012

2011-12-30T14:07:00.000-08:00

I really only have one major goal this year. Start writing and publishing books! I know that a genealogist work is never done. On the other hand if I keep waiting until my research is done, which is never, I would never get a book written.

Right now I have begun to work on my grandmother's genealogy, her Jenkins line. I'll have to write a few distant cousins that have shared photos with me and ask for their permission to use the photos if I look the book enough and decide to publish it. But for now it'll just be for my families enjoyment. My goal is to have this book done before my father's birthday so I can give him a copy for his birthday. He would really enjoy that. His birthday is in March, so I best get cracking.

I keep saying I want to write a book about the Old Paupers cemetery in Post Falls, ID, but I really need to do some more research before I will have enough histories to complete a book. It may have to be a series of books too. So this one will also go on my list to write and research as I go.

I'd also like to start books for each of mine and my husband's grandparents primary lines: Woolsey, Roe, Hayes, Riddle, Conner, Crooks and Ward. Eventually I'll write books for all the lines that merge into each of these primary lines.

I hope everyone has a good time and good luck achieving their genealogy goals for 2012. I know I will.

A Name and Story behind the face; Bethany Slusher Barnett

2011-11-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

I wrote about this lovely young lady a long time ago when I first received a copy of this photo from a gracious cousin, in We Have a Face. At the time all I knew is that she was the mother of Laura Alice Barnett Conner, but we did not know her name. Recently I've been working on finding out who this lady was along with a couple other cousins. I now have a story to tell.

According to her death certificate in Texas Bethany Barnett was born 4 August 1856. Her parents were unknown. She died 23 Nov 1945. The informant on her death certificate was her son Wilford Barnett. She was a widow by this time.

The family reported to me that her husband and Laura's father was Sam Barnett. I did find Sam's death certificate in Texas as well. He was born in Kentucky on 17 May 1850, parents unknown. He died 30 Aug 1937. The informant on his death certificate was his wife Bethany Barnett.

At around the same time as I found both death certificates I also found their graves. I found this on Find-A-Grave. They are buried at Old Fellow Cemetery, Georgetown, Williamson County, TX. The photo is posted there courtesy of John Christeson. Their headstone information corresponds with their death certificates, but unfortunately neither certificate gives us any parents names.

Up to this point I only had the word of family that Sam Barnett was the father of Laura Alice Barnett, that is until I found Laura and William Conner's marriage certificate, where S. J. Barnett gave his permission for his young daughter to marry William. They were married by the justice of the peace on 30 Aug 1890 in Webster County, Missouri.

Then I found the record that linked them all together. I found a birth record in Menifee, KY for an Alice Barnett born 30 Dec 1875 to a Samuel Barnett and Bethana Slusher. Father was born in Floyd Co., KY and mother in Breathitt Co., KY. This was the proof I was looking for. Then I began to search for the families in this area.

Now I was looking for the parents of Sam Barnett and of Bethany/Bethinia Slusher, but before I did that I wanted to complete the family history by finding them in the 1880 census. I found them in Jeffersonville, Montgomery, KY. Sam is age 30 and Beatheney is 23. They have a son, Henderson age 7, daughter Alice age 4, and baby boy Wesley 8 mo. This means that Sam and Bethany have were likely married before 1873.

Other than Laura and William's marriage the Barnett's seem to have strong roots in KY. So I focused my search in KY and was reward well. Next was an explosion of records. Knowing the Bethany's maiden name was Slusher I began searching for her in the 1870 census. My assumption was that she was married shortly after the 1870 census and that I would hopefully find her with her family, and I did. They are living in Menifee, KY. Which is where Sam and Bethany's daughter Alice was born. I'm certain this is her family. She is 14 years old and that matches very closely to her death certificate that puts her birth in 1856. Her father's name is G. R. Slusher and her mother is Ibby.

I then found them in 1860 in Breathitt, KY. This time her parents names are clarified as Gradner Slusher and Isabella Slusher both age 23. They have three children, Phoebee age 6 Nathina (I believe this is a misspelling on the part of the census taker, as the age is consistent with Bethany) age 2 and Shylvana age 1. Everyone except Shylvana is listed as born in Floyd, KY and Shylvana was born in Breathitt, KY. Also on either side of the family are two other Slusher families. One is Phillip Slusher age 52, likely Gardners father? The other is John Slusher age 26, likely a brother?

Then I found the marriage record of Gardner Slusher and Isabella Prater on 27 Sept 1855 in Floyd Co., KY. This record is very hard to read, but by blowing up on my computer I was able to make out the names. Now I have Isabella's maiden name. But I've not yet researched her family. I wanted to find out more about the Slusher's as I believed that the Phillip Slusher living next door to them was likely his father, the age was right.

Then I began a search of Gardner Slusher and sure enough I found him the in 1850 census in Floyd Co., KY in the house of Phillip Slusher and Mary. Likely I suspected, Phillip is likely his father and Mary his mother, though this is hard to prove from the census records as relationships are not listed at this point. Also in the house is a John Slusher that corresponds in age to the John Slusher living next door to them in 1860. It's not proof, but considering the connections and repeated places I believe that Phillip and Mary Slusher are the parents of Gardner Slusher the husband Isabella Pratter the parents of Bethany Slusher.

Even in all of this research though I have found no mention or proof of the family being Native American like the family swears they are. According to the family Bethany Slusher was 100% Native American. So far these are the only records I have found to establish this family. However, it is interesting to note that William Conner married Laura Alice Barnett the daughter of Bethany and Sam Barnett in Missouri. Up until this point the Slusher and Barnett family lived exclusively, from what I can tell, in KY. Why they move? William and Laura were married in 1890 which is too late for the Trial of Tears, and during the Trail of Tears the are definitely well rooted into their communities around Floyd, Breathitt and Menifee Counties, KY. These counties are not next to each other, but near by. Why then did they suddenly move to MO in the late 1800's. Were they able to avoid the Trail of Tears, but truly were Native American and were forced to move later? We may never know, but I will always keep searching. I will admit that Bethany Slusher Barnett does appear to be Native American. I will also add that I have search Dawes Application and the Dawes rolls to find none of these family member on them. If they were in fact Native American it appears at this point that they never registered on the rolls. Though we do know that William and Laura did go to OK at a later date, but it was too late for them to have registered either, and I know from my research of the Conner that they never register for Native American rights.

My search will continue, but this is where I am at this time on the Conner, Slusher, Barnett and Prater families.

Leonard P Rollett, shot by officer

2011-09-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

I wrote a while back about my mom's family the Rollett's. I was in search of more information in order to compile a family medical history for my mother. I had finally found memorials for them in Find-A-Grave. I new I needed to send off for their death certificates, but at the time couldn't afford it. Then I had a lovely, generous lady, her name was also Amy, write me an email and tell me about Missouri's Digital Heritage that had online death certificates. I had heard about it when it first opened, but it was still difficult to search and didn't yield much to my research back then. You tend to forget about sites if you don't use them often, so thank you Amy for reminding me. As a result of going to Missouri Digital Archives I was able to find nearly two generations of Rollett and the extend the family by one more generation on the mother's Clark side.

I'm still compiling all the details in order to write a follow up story to the Rollett saga. However, I am stopping to write a story asking for a little help. I currently can't not afford any of my subscriptions to online databases. I really need someone willing to do a look up for a newspaper article if there is one. This story could be interesting.

I am looking now for information on Leonard P Rollett. I did find his death certificate on Missouri Digital Heritage. He died 31 July 1929 in Kansas City, MO. Here is where the death certificate got interesting. He was only 21 years old. The cause of death was Homicide, fire arm, additional note states: shot by officer. His family lived for many many years in Buchanan County, MO usually around St Joseph. So why is they young man, occupation: Truck driver, in Kansas City where he is shot by an officer?

I can only speculate. But let's consider for a moment that this is the hay day of the Prohibition which began in 1920 and continued until 1933 with the passing of the Volstead Act. Was Leonard rum running? He was my mother's great uncle, though of she never new of him until I discovered him.

I'd be grateful if anyone can find information on him, especially a newspaper article or if anyone knows how to get copies of police reports from those days.

My Happy Dance!

2011-05-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day I gave myself my favorite gift, another break through. My husband got to witness my happy dance (or happy claps) for the first time. He probably thinks I'm a nut, but loves me anyway.

My mother as she is only six year younger than her mother was when she died of colon cancer has become more curious, not of her genealogy, but of the life span and causes of death of her ancestors. So on Saturday we were looking at her lines. We notice that the two generations before her of all four of her lines had short life spans. The youngest died at 49 and the oldest of her parents and grandparents was her mother at 62.

The youngest was her grandmother, May Elizabeth Rollett whom I've written about before. She is still a serious mystery to us. We do now know enough to continue on with the line, but it's her life that I would still like to solve the mystery of.

Here is a complete look of what I previously knew:

May Elizabeth Rollette was born 5 Apr 1899 in Missouri. I still don't know where in Missouri or exactly who her parents were. The date and place comes from her California Death Record 1940-1997.
May married Frank Roe. Based on the 1920 census they were married around 1919, most likely in Missouri.
Then they had the following children, all born in OK: Rachel and Hazel born about 1921, Von Joseph Roe born 10 Oct 1924 and died 3 Mar 1976 in Modesto, CA, Clarence Roe born 13 Oct 1926 and died in Alameda Co., CA 4 Apr 1974, (the information on these two come from their Social Security Death Index), and James Roe born about 1930. (the other birth dates are based on the 1930 Census)

She died 22 Dec 1949 in San Fransisco, CA. She died young. She was estranged from the family. We don't even know if she had any family with her as she was dying of a brain tumor. I've also noticed that so far no one in the family has a picture of her either.
Family tradition is that shortly after the 1930 census May went to take care of a sick sister. Now what we don't know is if they at that point had agreed to separate. What we do know is that with out May's return, Frank picked up the kids and left Oklahoma for California. From there Frank and his son lived the end of their lives in and around Turlock and Modesto, CA. Clarence known as Charlie I see ended up in Alameda County, CA. The rest I'm still not sure where they ended up. Frank remarried six more times, and from what I can see May never married again.

Possible Theories:

May possibly was the child of a David and Rose Rollette of Missouri. In her California Death Index it list her father's surname as Rollette and mother's maiden name as Clark. In 1920 I find Frank and May in St. Joseph City, Buchanan Co., MO in the home of John W Stephens at 519 Maple St. They are just boarders and are both working in a local box factory. (this can be found on sheet 9, enumeration district 109, supervisor's dist 4?, Dwelling 189, family 206). Living in the same county and city at 227 South 13th St is a Rosa Rollette with sons Ralph, James, Leonard, and daughter Pearl (sheet no 7, enumeration district 117 and supervisor's district 4, dwelling 195, family 157). This in it's self doesn't say much, but if I go back to the 1910 census I find a David Rollette and Rose with children and daughter, May! In 1910 they are in Platte Twnp, Clinton Co., MO (sheet no 5, enumeration dist 40, supervisor dist 3, dwelling 117, family 112).
May and Frank divorced, but the divorce records have not been found. Either that or she just left and there was no divorce, but there had to of been if he was able to remarry legally six more times.
I'm sure she was buried somewhere in San Fransisco, but I have yet to find her burial. Though if she were alone with no family and no estate it may be possible that she is buried in one of the many unclaimed persons cemeteries and that may be why I can't find her. I need to contact funeral homes next.
I have the source information listed above with the details but an overview of the records I have are:

1910 Census of Platte Twnp, Clinton Co., MO in relation to the Rollette family
1920 Census of St Joseph City, Buchanan Co, MO for both the Rollette family and Frank and May
1930 Census of Port of St Louis Twnp, Oklahoma Co., Oklahoma of Frank and May with children.
California Death Index 1940-1997 for May Elizabeth Roe
Social Security Death Index for Frank and Clarence Roe

Now the fun was to find more. I pulled up all the tabs of my regular hot sites; Footnote, Ancetry, Rootsweb, Find-A-Grave, to name a few. I did a few of the usual searched on Ancestry and Footnote to see if anything new appeared and then went to Find-A-Grave. The first thing I noticed is that they have changed their search. You can now search by a range of years. Which was perfect in this case, because a range is all I had. Without definite dates I had not had any luck in the past. So I searched first for David and hit the jackpot. Not only did I find David, but his wife Rosa, one son, and Rosa's parents! This was the point I said YES! and started clapping. I got "have you fallen off your rocker" look from my husband.

I found David's memorial here. Linked to it was Rosa's here. From these memorials it appear that David Rollett was born 26 Jan 1866 and died 3 Feb 1913, likely in Missouri where they lived and where he is buried. It's unknown based on this where he was born, though in the 1910 census he gives his birth place as IL. Rosa was born 16 Dec 1876 and died 24 April 1932 in Chillicothe, Livingston, MO. Again the memorial did not give a place of birth, but according to the 1910 and 1900 census she was born in MO. Interesting to note that she remarried after David's death. Her second husband was Arthur Rifingburg Wilson a WWI vet. This may explain why I couldn't find her in the 1930 census even though she was still living.

Rosa's father was Elias Franklyn Clark born 10 September 1839 in VA and died 25 Apr 1914 in Buchanan County, MO. Her mother was Margaret (maiden name unknown) born 10 Sept 1846 and died 1 March 1922. There is no photo of her headstone and the information is sketchy at best. Either her birth date is an error or she shared a birth day with her husband, interesting to say the least.

From this I was able to report to my mother that yes this line of her family lived short life spans. We knew that May was 49 when she died of a brain tumor. Now we know that her father was 47 and her mother 56 at the time of their deaths. I need to send off for their death certificates now. It would be interesting to know what they died so young of. I'll work now to find out about David's family as well. Now Rosa's parents were both 76 at the time of their death. Why is that? In my mom's family every line barely lived to 60 and most died in their 50's for about three generations then four or so generations back are longer, sometimes even 100 years, life spans. My theory was they were smokers, but then I found out that my grandfather was not a smoker and grandma quit smoking until after he died. I'll know more when I send off for death certificates.

Fearless Females - March 30: Words of Wisdom

2011-03-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

I'm a day late on this one, but I really was looking forward to this one. I've just been up so sick from strep throat. I'm better just in time to do one last post to honor my female.

There is one piece of advice that was given to me by my mother that was given to her by her mother. She looked at me just before I married my husband and said, "now I'm going to give you the same piece of advice as my mother gave me......." She went on to tell me that grandma had advised her to wait two years after she was married to have children. She said the grandma told her that they would need that time to grow and know each other before they brought children into the picture. Mom said it was the best advise that grandma ever gave her.

I agreed with her and really didn't give it too much pause as we did not plan to have children right away anyway. I was only 19 and I didn't want children then. I knew I would later. But no mater my feelings I saw it as the perfect to tell my to be husband about our conversation and about how I felt about children at that time. He also completely agreed as he was headed off to the ARMY and didn't want them right away either. We didn't have kids for two years, then two and a half.......By then my mother said she was to wonder if she should have given me that advice and if they were ever going to have grandchildren. We found out that we were going to have our first child the same month we celebrated our three year anniversary. My parents had just moved to ID from CA a month before. When we found out we decided to stay behind and wait until after the baby was born to move to ID as well. As a result my mother wasn't there when her first was born, but she sure knew how to get on a very quick flight and be there in time to see him just after he came home. It didn't mater too much, she was just glad to be a grandma finally.

I will certainly pass on the same advice, not only to my daughter, but my boys as well. I think its important that a newly web couple take the time to know each other, grown together, learn to live together and create a strong foundation for a wonderful marriage before they bring children into the picture. They owe their children that much. They will all be happier for it.

Fearless Females: March 25 - With Her Children

2011-03-25T05:29:00.000-07:00

When I think of an ancestor and how she was with her children, I can't help but think of my Grandma Woolsey.

Olivia Joyce Jenkins married Albert Lee Woolsey. From what I can tell it appears that she came from a family that may not have been rich, but lived comfortably. She then married and lived in poverty. I can only assume that she truly married for love, and I know she love my grandpa. They had ten children total, however two girls died as infants.

Life was not easy for the Woolsey family in OK. I had photos that I've lost on my computer. I'll have to get them from my dad again. The photos say it all. The children are barefoot, which they were a lot of the time because they couldn't afford shoes, but like many families in those days and in that situation, they would get shoes when school started and it was winter, but all summer long they were bare foot. Some photos depict a run down almost shack like home.

Life got a lot easier when they moved from OK to Oakdale, CA. They later moved to Modesto behind my mother's family. No mater how easy life got there was still one way that Grandma showed that her children came first. She wouldn't sit at the table and eat with the family. She would make sure that her husband and all the children ate first and had their fill, and she would eat whatever was left, even if it was scraps left on their plates. That's probably how she stayed so skinny...........hmmm maybe I should try that diet plan.

Grandma was also not the disciplinarian. It was always a joke even when I was a kid. She would walk around with a belt around her neck, as a threat, but we all knew that she would almost never ever use it. Grandpa however had no trouble using his belt.

There is one story where my dad, his brother, and a friend are bouncing on the bed. My grandpa warned them to stop jumping on the bed or he would whop them. They didn't, and he did, including the friend. You'd never hear of that happening today.

Grandma endured through the toughest times and shined in the best times. A Christian woman with a big loving heart.

Fearless Females - March 24 Inherited Traits

2011-03-24T05:24:00.000-07:00

This is Me on the floor in front, hubby on the right of me. My brother is in the back, and of course my parents between us.

What you can't see in this photo is where the curly hair comes from, but you can see that I get my red hair from my mother. My dad at this point has lost all of his, otherwise you'd be able to see the head full of curls he once had. His nick name as a child was "Cotton Top" because of his almost white blond hair that was full of kinky curls. We also know where he got those curls. It's in the picture below.

In this photo is my dad's father, the baby boy, Albert Woolsey. It is his mother Mary Joanne Williamson whom we get our kinky little curls from. She has her hair pulled back, but there is no doubt it is curly and fluffy.

Not only was my dad called Cotton Top, but he use to call me his little lion. When I was young I kept my hair braided, but when it was down it use to puff out and give me this big red main of hair.

Madness Monday - Jerry Roe

2011-03-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted about my great great grandmother Rachael Roe who was half Chippewa Indian and French Canadian. Since then I have discovered that a dear cousin, Jeanette Perrin Coaly has made another of her fabulous break trough's. She discovered one of the unknown children's names, Jesse Roe, and I believe through that discovered from his social security death records that his mother's maiden name was Mason. Then she was able to find Jerry and Rachael's marriage records in Livingston, MO on 2 Jan 1883!!!

This was like dangling a chicken in front of an alligator! Give me a little tiny piece and I think great, finally I'll break down this brick wall. LOL sure. Not a chance. Then the chicken is thrown beyond the wall our of my reach. Just a tease!

Here is what we know:

Jerry Roe was born about 1861 in Iowa (based on the 1910 census of family in Otoe, Noble, OK ).
He married Rachael Mason on 2 Jan 1883 in Livingston, MO (based on (Ancestry.com. Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.
Original data: Missouri Marriage Records. Jefferson City, MO, USA: Missouri State Archives. Microfilm).
Their first believed child, Jesse, was born 1887 in MO. (this was found by Jeanette Coaly. Not sure how she made the connection)
Then we know based on the 1910 census that they certainly had three boys: Pier born 1895 in MN, Frank born 1898 in MO, and Jaybird born 1903 in KS.
According to the 1910 census Rachael was half Chippewa Indian, making the boys 1/4. Jerry was not Native American.

Searches done:

Searched Dawes rolls, Dawes Index, Dawes packets on Ancestry and Footnote for any indication that they applied for the Indian rights. They were living on an Indian Reservations after all.
1900 and 1920 census. Even using various surname spelling such as: Rose, Rowe, Row.
Find - A - Grave for any of the names in the family
Guion Rolls would not be a likely fit because it appears that Rachael was from Canada and part of the Chippewa/Ojibwa tribes. Guion Rolls, primarily but not solely, involved the Cherokee and other southern tribes. However the index on NARA was searched for the slim chance.

Searches still to do:

Microfilmed records in: Livingston, MO and Noble Co., OK
Roe families in Iowa. Research any that can be found in the 1860 to 1880 census in the hopes any of them connect to Jerry Roe.
Mason families in Canada and Missouri from 1860 to 1880 that have an English father and a Native American mother.

I will keep working on this family. Some day I will break through. I know the answers are out there somewhere they are just not easy to find.

Fearless Females - March 20; My Brick Wall

2011-03-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

I previously posted this as my Madness Monday post back in June 2009. Nothing has changed in the story as I've not had a chance to look into her life further. It's sad really that she seemed to just disappear from her family. I do know that I need to send off for Social Security records and death certificate. I will soon, but hear is May Eliabeth Rollette Roe's story as I know it today.

Now this is one that truly drives me crazy. My mother knew a few basic details, but the family didn't really talk about her.

Here is what I have found.

May Elizabeth Rollette was born 5 Apr 1899 in Missouri. I still don't know where in Missouri or exactly who her parents were. The date and place comes from her California Death Record 1940-1997.
May married Frank Roe. Based on the 1920 census they were married around 1919, most likely in Missouri.
Then they had the following children, all born in OK: Rachel and Hazel born about 1921, Von Joseph Roe born 10 Oct 1924 and died 3 Mar 1976 in Modesto, CA, Clarence Roe born 13 Oct 1926 and died in Alameda Co., CA 4 Apr 1974, (the information on these two come from their Social Security Death Index), and James Roe born about 1930. (the other birth dates are based on the 1930 Census)
She died 22 Dec 1949 in San Fransisco, CA. She died young. She was estranged from the family. We don't even know if she had any family with her as she was dying of a brain tumor. I've also noticed that so far no one in the family has a picture of her either.

Family tradition is that shortly after the 1930 census May went to take care of a sick sister. Now what we don't know is if they at that point had agreed to separate. What we do know is that with out May's return, Frank picked up the kids and left Oklahoma for California. From there Frank and his son lived the end of their lives in and around Turlock and Modesto, CA. Clarence known as Charlie I see ended up in Alameda County, CA. The rest I'm still not sure where they ended up. Frank remarried six more times, and from what I can see May never married again.

Possible Theories:

May possibly was the child of a David and Rose Rollette of Missouri. In her California Death Index it list her father's surname as Rollette and mother's maiden name as Clark. In 1920 I find Frank and May in St. Joseph City, Buchanan Co., MO in the home of John W Stephens at 519 Maple St. They are just boarders and are both working in a local box factory. (this can be found on sheet 9, enumeration district 109, supervisor's dist 4?, Dwelling 189, family 206). Living in the same county and city at 227 South 13th St is a Rosa Rollette with sons Ralph, James, Leonard, and daughter Pearl (sheet no 7, enumeration district 117 and supervisor's district 4, dwelling 195, family 157). This in it's self doesn't say much, but if I go back to the 1910 census I find a David Rollette and Rose with children and daughter, May! In 1910 they are in Platte Twnp, Clinton Co., MO (sheet no 5, enumeration dist 40, supervisor dist 3, dwelling 117, family 112).
May and Frank divorced, but the divorce records have not been found. Either that or she just left and there was no divorce, but there had to of been if he was able to remarry legally six more times.
I'm sure she was buried somewhere in San Fransisco, but I have yet to find her burial. Though if she were alone with no family and no estate it may be possible that she is buried in one of the many unclaimed persons cemeteries and that may be why I can't find her. I need to contact funeral homes next.

I have the source information listed above with the details but an overview of the records I have are:

1910 Census of Platte Twnp, Clinton Co., MO in relation to the Rollette family
1920 Census of St Joseph City, Buchanan Co, MO for both the Rollette family and Frank and May
1930 Census of Port of St Louis Twnp, Oklahoma Co., Oklahoma of Frank and May with children.
California Death Index 1940-1997 for May Elizabeth Roe
Social Security Death Index for Frank and Clarence Roe

Also found is a record that as far as I know does not fit May. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 Record for Elizabeth Roe born 1899, State California, County or city Los Angeles, enlistment date 27 May 1944, branch Women's Army Corps...... Education 2 yrs of college, civil occupation aerial photographer, single without dependents. The last part really doesn't fit, unless she considered that her status because she had nothing to do with the children and as far as we know she never went to college or was a photographer. As far as my mom knows she never was in the army and she didn't use her middle name. She always went by May.

According to the family they never saw her again after she left Oklahoma. What was she running from or to? Was the brain tumor a long term thing that effected her judgement? Did Clarence become a part of her life in the end? Did he forgive her? From what I understand my grandfather never spoke of her. I'm sure he never forgave her. But is there more to the story and her reasons for leaving that we never knew? This is a mystery that I will forever look to solve. If anyone out there knew her or knew of her I would sure love to know more.

Future research will be of the San Fransisco funeral homes until I find a record there, a possible birth record in MO, a divorce record in OK or CA for May and Frank, and there will be more as I get deeper into this mystery.

Fearless Females - March 19 Surprising Fact

2011-03-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

My mother was a Roe. Little did I know that this family was in fact living on an Indian Reservation in 1910. I discovered the family in the 1910 census records living in Otoe Township, Noble County, OK enumerated in the Indian Population. This is where I learned that my great great grandmother was half Chipaway Indian and French Canadian. The family was not complete at that time. There are still three other older siblings I have not found. But in the family unit was my great great grandfather Jerry Roe (47), Rachel (44), and three sons, Piere (12), my great grandfather Frank (9) and the baby Jaybird "Jay" (5).

My favorite photo of my Grandpa Von Joseph "Rusty" Roe on the left and his father Frank Roe on the right. It's Frank's mother who was Half Chipewa Indian.

I believe the family migrate from Canada to the Indian Reservations of Oklahoma. Piere was born in MN about 1896, followed by Frank born in MO and then last Jay was born in KS before they end up in OK by 1910. Frank would later marry a woman from MO, May Elizabeth Rollette and live with her family for a time in MO before moving back to OK. Then in about the early 40's he takes the children, leave May and moves to CA where he starts a new life. The Roe's faired well in the Industrial world. Jerry was a farmer, but the future generations all went for Industrial work and seemed to be better off then those of our other ancestors during that era.

After I had discovered this I asked my mom if she knew about the Native American in the family, and she didn't. I remember asking her, "well where did Grandpa get his red hair then?" She laughed and asked me where I had gotten that. Mind you most colored pictures I had seen of him were late in life with grey hair. I said, "well I always assumed that his hair was red because his nick name was Rusty." She just laughed and told me she had no idea where he had gotten that name. For all we knew it could have been from his days in WWII, but no matter where it came from it had nothing to do with his hair. He in fact had jet black hair and very olive tone skin. When we discussed that she realized it was very possible and she could see that he was probably 1/8 Indian.

Fearless Females - March 16; Aner Sackett

2011-03-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite female ancestors whom I wished I had the privilege to have known is Aner Sackett. This photo is of her and my GGGG Grandfather George Scott. One account that I discovered is that Louise La'Moure, one of my favorite western authors, wrote a series named "The Sacketts." Supposedly it was my Sacketts that he researched in order to help him write his books. If this is true or not I don't know, either way I still love the Sackett series and I'm still a descendant.

Aner had to be one tough lady. She moved so often with her husband. Having children in three different states is a good indication that they didn't stay put for long. She married George in Franklin Co., IN on 9 Oct 1847. Their first two children were born in IN; Emily Lutitia (my GGG Grandmother) on 1 Sept 1848 followed by Alexander in 1851. In 1850 the family is enumerated in Center, Marion Co., IN.

Off to Iowa. Somewhere between 1850 and 1854 the family moves to Iowa. The next child Mary is born in 1854 in IA. George is then enumberated in Iowa State Census in 1856 living in Lucas, Iowa. They must have liked it there enough to remain until 1865 at least, when John was born.

One more child is known to be born in 1871 in MO, though I have yet to find the family in the 1870 census. It's very possible they were on the move at the time of the census.

In 1880 they are living in Plum Creek, Pawnee, NE. Four states in less then 40 years. I don't doubt there were many stories to be told along that trail.

If I could have the chance to go to lunch with Aner I'm afraid we would have to make it a day long affair. I wouldn't care what we ate, only that I had plenty of time to sit and listen to her undoubtably amazing life stories.

Fearless Females - March 15 a Tribute

2011-03-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

Strong, Independent, Loving, Confident, Passionate, Excepting.

I find that out of all my ancestors, I am the most like my Grandma Roe. Mary Ellen Hayes Roe Garcia was not your normal Suzie Homemaker. She didn't cook nice dinners. She would be like the mom today who runs to fast food for dinner. She didn't have that privilege so her dinners were often from a can. If she burned food to a pan, it went out in the garage in a big sink to soak. If it didn't clean up easy, it went in the trash. Though I will admit the one trait I get from my other grandmother, the ability to pinch the pennies, keeps me from throwing away the pans, but I do hate to spend too much time scrubbing them, especially the bottom. Who ever said the bottom of the pan needed to shine, must not have had as many passions as I do. There are more important things in life then worrying about every little detail in a home. I use to be the kind that preferred quick meals and fast food because I didn't like to spend time in the kitchen either. I completely understand her reluctance to the kitchen, but out of a need and desire to feed my family health I do spend time on my meals, just not scrubbing the bottom of the pans!

Grandma watched her beloved husband Von Joseph Roe suffer through bone cancer for nearly two year before she lost him. She was only 45. My Aunt was still at home a young teenager. My mother and her twin were young married mothers at the time.

She always had her passions. Especially gardening. She had beautiful gardens that we all loved. My mother and I inherited her green thumb. I can't wait until I get out to the farm so I can have my garden too. All of us women have learned to fill our lives with passion. It keeps us happy and we are never bored

At only 5' 2" or somewhere close to that height, she was a giant to me as a little girl. She was the kind of woman that could look at you and say "absolutely not, young lady," and you didn't ask why. She was also the kind of grandma that showed up with a big bag of candy and a huge hug to spoil her grandchildren. She loved us all, and we all miss her.

Fearless Females: March 11 - She left us too young

2011-03-11T05:51:00.000-08:00

I've told this story before. I was a sad one that had a huge impact on my husband's family.

The woman in the photo is my husband's great grandmother Flora Mae Manning. In the photo is her husband Ernest Gahmo Connor.

The fell in love and were married. Ernest was part Native American and Flora was not. This created a rift with her family and she became estranged from them. They lived near Ernest's parents in a little shack in Hominy, OK.

In that little shack Flora gave birth to a set of twins on 29 May 1929; a girl, Estelle Connor (my husband's grandmother) and a twin baby boy whom left us the same day. To hear grandma talk about them you can tell that they were deeply in love. They were always loving on each other. She had three more children after they moved to Amarillo, TX; Mattie, Lotti and Billie.

Flora had a heart of gold. I wished I had a chance to meet her. I'm sure she is where grandma found her heart of gold. Always giving and always loving. At one point they lived along a railroad track. Life was good then. Grandma remembers there being parties and a lot of get togethers with friends. They were happy. Flora must have felt blessed. Many times she would bring a plate of food out to men who were traveling on the railroad. If Ernest wasn't home she would keep them outside and not let them in the house, but she never turned anyone away from their door. When they got back on the railroad it was always with a full stomach.

In March 1940 she was pregnant again with their fifth child. She gave birth 11 Mar 1940. It was a difficult birth. They named the baby girl Geneva, though she also left them the same day. The real tragedy was a few days later. Flora never recovered from that birth, and on 15 Mar 1940 she joined her two baby's in heaven. She and Geneva were laid to rest beside each other at the Llano Cemetery in Amarillo, TX. I wrote about finally finding their graves in a previous post and how emotional it was for grandma when she discovered that they barely had a marker.

The loss of a child is a tragedy, but the loss of a mother can have staggering effects on the family she leaves behind. Grandma experienced this first hand. She was the oldest child, and basic became the mother. At first Ernest needed help, so he went back home to be close to his mother who could help him with the raising of four children.

In those days, sadly, society thought it wasn't possible for a father to raise his children on his own. All four children were taken from him and placed into an orphanage, we believe in OK, for a while. He had to remarry in order to get his children back, so he did. This time it was not for love, it was out of desperation. It soon became clear to him that he couldn't stand the woman enough to be married to her. She was mean to all of them and he couldn't take it any more. He packed up the kids and took off one day while she was away. They ran to Arizona. Here's what isn't clear, either Ernest was like many men and had the inability to remember those important dates and ages of his children, or he did it on purpose as a way to hide his trail. But when they settled in Arizona he used incorrect dates for the children's birthdays when he registered them for school. To this day grandma had celebrated the date of her mother's death as her birthday, until I finally found her true birth certificates which had mistakes that made it impossible for the state of OK to find her actual birth certificate. None of us new what the significance of that date was until I began to do our research.

Ernest and the children lived from one farming tent community to another. Grandma says that she never knew what The Great Depression was because they were already living it. They continued to live it long after The Great Depression was over as well. She lived from one farm to another in a tent harvesting. She meet her first husband on one of those farms in CA. Eventually they found a way to get on their feet and live in a home.

Ernest did once again find love and married another woman whom they all loved as a second mother. Though they all found their way in life and got back on their feet, it is clear that Flora's death left a huge hole in all their lives.

Fearless Females: March 10 - Religion

2011-03-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

Religion is a sore subject for me. Don't get me wrong. I still believe in God and that there is something great then all of us. I still believe in living my life in a way that is wholesome. However because of the church I grew up in as a child you will likely never see me step foot back in a church again. These photos are of me while me family was in the church. The religion was Old Fashion Pentecostal. I was a church in Modesto, CA. Today, as far as I'm concerned, I believe it was a cult.I remember how strong my mother was. When I was young I can remember I want to go to college and be a school teacher. Now I wonder what I was thinking. It's a challenge just to help my own children with their homework without loosing my patients. But back then that was my dream. My mother believed that every girl had as much right to dream and fulfil that dreams as any man did. Unfortunately the church did not feel that way. The place in the world for a women was as a wife and mother at home. My mother did stand up to them and told them that her daughter would go to college if she wanted to in so many words. She basically let them know she disagreed with the idea. She also knew that I was at a disadvantage for marriage. Most of the boys were much older and already had their eyes on someone, or were much younger than I was. No matter what thought she wanted me to be able to make my life my own and not under the control of another. It wasn't longer after she stood up to them about me being able to go to college that she quit the church. We followed a year later. To this day my life is my own. No one controls me or tells me what to do, how to dress, where to live or any other aspect of my life.

I've also applied the same to my children, to a degree. I'm still a parent. I still control how they dress, behave, where they go and suck. I still raise them right and don't let them make bad decision, but I don't control things in their life like religion. My oldest does go to church. That is his choice. The other two will have the same choice when they are older.

The photos are of me and my brother.

Life wasn't all bad though. In our religion we were not allowed to have a TV, so we became a stronger family as a result. We did things together more than most families of my time. We would get in the car and go for drives. Discover old sites that had long been forgotten. It is because of the religion that I grew to love history which I still have a passion for today. I wasn't allowed to read fiction, so I only read biographies of real peoples lives. To me it was as great of entertainment as any other. And I will give it credit for making us a very strong family.

Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to celebrate Women's History Month

2011-03-06T16:47:00.000-08:00

March 6 - Describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor.

I have a few items that are special to me that I have inherited from my grandmother's. My two most treasured items are from my mother's mother, Mary Ellen Hayes Roe.

The first most treasured item are her pearls. My grandmother was very ill, battling cancer, when I went to my high school senior and junior proms. James and I had been together a few months when we went to our Junior Prom. That year I wore a peach colored satin dress with bare shoulders. My grandmother saw that and knew that I needed to wear her pearls with it. She lent them to me, and when I went to return them after the prom, she told me to keep them. She said "honey your momma bought me those ear rings and I've had that necklace for years. I want you to have them." Little did any of us know how sick she was at that time. She was gone just over a year later. She was still with us when we went to our Senior prom, but I didn't wear the necklace that year. It was more important to have the right jewelry with the right dress back then. If I had known that she would have left us a month later I would have found another dress to go with those pearls. I did however wear her pearls a few days after we lost her to my high school graduation and also to her funeral. I still have them safely locked away in a box. The clasp broke some years back on me and I need to get it fixed.

The next treasure of her are a set of pigs. After James and I married that following November we went to visit my step grandfather, Paul. As we were getting ready to leave that day he told me to hold on, he had something that he thought my grandmother would have wanted me to have. He brought me a set of ceramic pigs. They are a dark pink. They are a creamer and sugar set. The head comes off the sugar one and the cream pours out of the mouth of the other one. Even my family knows that if you drop my pigs you die (well not really, but they will hear about it).

Last is a treasure that has seen it's better days. This one is from my dad's mother. When I got married my father handed me a small 10 Commandments plate that use to hang on their walls. He told me that it was his mother's and to take good care of it. I promised I would and carefully packed it in newspaper before putting it into a box that fit just right and then placing it into a bigger box. We got all my things to my new home the day before we married. I went home that night and didn't return to our apartment until we were married. I was old fashioned. We never lived together. I stayed with my parents until the day we married. A new bride of one day and my heart was broken by my dear husband. He was trying to be helpful when he was unpacking my boxes and not knowing what was in the little white box, he dropped it on the floor. I heard it and screamed. I knew it couldn't have survived. We opened it to see all the little pieces and I was in tears. It stayed in that box and I never threw it away. It's still in the box today. My dear husband though, knowing how much it meant to me, set one day and pains stakingly glued the whole thing back together. There is one tiny missing piece, but it's together. Maybe someday I will find a way to smooth out the cracks, but either way I will always keep it. My dad's mother was the religious one who always had her bible and really believed and lived by it. That's why the 10 Commandments plate reminds me of her so much.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Disasters

2011-03-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

I'm a California native, so I'm sure it's not hard to guess what disasters I experienced in my childhood. There is only one earthquake though that stays so vividly in my mind. It was the 1989 earthquake when the Nimitz bridge collapsed. I was probably about fifteen years old I'm thinking.

We had just finished up dinner. I was walking back from the kitchen into the dinning room to pick up some more dinner dishes when we began to feel the house shake. I remember we all stopped and looked at each other. Mom look up and calmly said "Whoa, that's a big one." Each of us stepped back into a doorway as we had been taught for years. We stood there for a moment and felt the shaking ease a bit. Then we all four went outside into the back yard, and as another aftershock began we watched as waves went the length of our fish pond and crashed on the outside of the pond. Then I looked up and watch the tall palm trees sway back in forth. Someone commented on the likelihood of them falling, but to our amazement they just swayed farther than I had ever seen them sway.

In those days we didn't have a TV as I have explained before because of the religion we were once a part of. We knew then the news would not be good, and our only way of getting the news immediately was by radio. We had lost electricity for a while in the house, so we all went out front to turn the radio on in the car. As we had feared the news was not great. The Nimitz Bridge in San Fransisco had collapsed during rush hour. I remember them still looking for survivors for days. Still finding miracles days later of people who had survived in their cars.

We lived in Modesto which was a couple hours away, but we certainly felt how strong the quake was. We did not see any damage in our area.

Genea-Musings: New "Research Courses" on the FamilySearch Learning Site

2011-03-03T05:58:00.000-08:00

Genea-Musings: New "Research Courses" on the FamilySearch Learning Site

Genealgy is shifting. Where do you stand.

2011-02-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

Genea-Musings: Three (or more!) Genealogy Worlds?

Way in on where you think the genealogy world is going. It's moving fast toward technology based research. Are you following suit? What are the draw backs? What are the advantages?

My response to Randy's post was: "I'd say I'm probably in the Techie group. Again it has a lot to do with one point you made we have families, work full time jobs, and only go to repositories as a last resort, in my case I'd like to go much more, but time is the issue. I think technology is the one thing that is making this hobby/profession more available to the younger everyday working class person. We don't have the luxury of time due to retirements, but we need information, usually quickly so we can keep the momentum. I am looking forward to more records available online. I use every source I can find online to help with my researches, and at times even gracious lovely volunteers who have more time then I or are in a location I can not afford to travel too. But we must still be careful to source everything and research thoroughly."

What do you think?

Tough lengthy another great read on the subject, written by Greta Toward a Genealogical Democracy . I couldn't have said this better myself. So I'll let you read her post. She makes some great points and pulls from others who have posted on the subject.

Here's my view. We all play a roll in genealogy. Some traditionalists my not embrace Techies and visa verse, but if they would look at it this way maybe they could. As a Techie I truly appreciate the traditionalist who is most likely retired and has more time on their hands to go to a facility and volunteer their time to find records that I would otherwise never find either because of geographic location or time. I'm a mother of three with a full time job. What research I'm able to do is generally online, with some small portions of time at local repositories, but with out the traditional genealogist there are so many records I may never be able to find. They are important to me. In return I have those that have appreciated my knowledge of computers and online research to help them quickly and easily compile what they have gathered. If we realize that we all serve a purpose and embrace each other strengths instead of criticising then we may accomplish more.

Finding Treasures

2011-02-12T18:43:00.000-08:00

William "Billy" Grant and Lillie Woolsey

I had one of those happy dance moments the other day. I was on Ancestry.com just poking around to see if there was anything new on my family. I clicked on a leaf by William G Woolsey profile.

Normally the only thing I look at are the records. I'm so often disappointed by what other people have placed as fact in their trees that I don't look at trees that much, but this day something compelled me to look. Again I was some what disappointed because so many people have fallen prey to the genealogy pit falls that I experienced early on with the Woolsey family. I'm ashamed to admit, but before I knew better, I also shared the same information claiming it to be fact. There are a great deal of trees that now have a William Woolsey and Armile Hatch as the parents of William Grant Woolsey. However, I have yet to see any of these trees use anything other than census records to substantiate this finding. Since then I have traced that Woolsey family to a William Woolsey who died and is buried in Spokane, WA, ironicly 30 from where I live today. I have been in touch with that William Woolsey's family and we are not related. I know it's a lack of experience, but it's so frustrating to continually see this. Okay, enough venting. I think you get the point as to why I don't look at trees often other then to gather potential clues to dig deeper for records.

Any way this time was a bit different. Though I had my usual disappointments I also had a moment of shear joy. For the first time since I began my quest I got to see the face of my ggg grandfather William Grant "Billy" Woolsey! I've already seen a picture of Lillie his wife, but I had never seen a picture of William, and everyone in the family I have talked to has never had a picture to share either. Above is that photo. William died in 1913 at the age of approximately 50, give or take as I have yet to find concrete proof of his birth, only numerous records that contradict each other on his birth year. I would venture to guess that this picture was taken some time around 1910 and likely in Garvin Co., OK where he lived.

Unfortunately I didn't find any new information, but this photo was enough to put me on cloud nine for the day.

Then to make my week even better. The next night I decided to look to see if there was any new information on my best friend's Portuguese roots. One that I have had very little luck with because of my lack of experience with Portuguese genealogy. As if my week couldn't get any better it just did. There in the tree of a distant cousin to my friend were three more generations of information and photos to her Victorino family!!!! The only thing we knew is that her grandfather's mother was Mary Victorino and I had never found anything more. I think that was because of the Portuguese tradition, of which I still don't quit understand, of using two surnames and my distance from our old home town, otherwise I might had found more if I were close enough to make it to the courthouses in Stanislaus Co., CA The family can be found in records further back with the name Victorino Azevedo.

Anyway the following picture was found that then lead to more finds. I have since been in touch with and put my friend in touch with her cousin Gloria. It has been a real treasure for her whole family who has been just buzzing on Facebook about it. Her grandfather had apparently destroyed the families photos after the tragic death of his wife, and therefor her family has had no photos beyond the past 40 years or so. It's moments like this and the joys I know I bring to others when I help them find those special treasures that make me keep doing what I do.

The Victorino Family of Newman, CA
The Victorino Family Standing Ida age 13, Manuel age 17, Ellen age 11, Anna age 10, Mary age 15, Manuel Victorino Azevedo age 43, Maria Josepha (Cunha) age 44, Rose age 9 (Baby Tony Balthazar baptism)

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Radio & Television

2011-02-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

Well now that's an interesting topic. Favorite radio and TV shows from my childhood......hmmmmm? Well lets see, when I was about four my parents started a church that did not allow TV and the only radio was gospel. They stayed in that church until I was 16. So guess what I grew up on? Yep you got it, gospel radio.

At sixteen though I was finally able to watch TV. Part of my morning routine before leaving for school was to sit with my parents and watch "Little House on the Prairie." They just don't make shows like that any more. It's still one of my favorite shows. I had read all of the books. Since they were based on a true story I was allowed to read them. I was not allowed to read fiction growing up, so I read a lot of real life stories. I guess that's where my passion for history sprang from. Then to top it all off, when I first attempted to be a stay-at-home-mom I found I got board very easy. So one day when I was watching........ Oh come on, it can't be that big of a stretch of the imagination........"Little House on the Prairie" I was sitting at my computer and thought........"I wonder what has been put online about the real Ingalls family?" So I started searching, and a search into her history soon lead to a curiosity and search into my family. From this moment sprouted the roots of what is now "Untangled Family Roots." So I guess you can say that my favorite TV show lead me to be a genealogist. Wow I never quit thought of it that way myself.

Image from Morty's TV.com

I also use to love such shows and Bonanza, Gun Smoke, Renegade, and Knight Rider. Yeah I liked the old stuff even when most kids my age would have thought that was strange as a teenager in the early 90's to like Bonanza, Gun Smoke and Little House on the Prairie. But I was still trying to catch up on what I had missed out on when I was younger.

I never really got into watching cartoons though. Probably because I was already a teenager when I started watching TV, but I do remember one cartoon my brother and I would watch every weekend...... Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I loved all the movies and the cartoon.

Expert Conect, No More

2011-01-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

I won't try to resay this. Thomas MacEntee says it best in his post. In this post he talks about possible reason why Ancestry.com will discontinue their Expert Connect and what possible directions they are going in return.

Here were my humble thoughts on the matter:

I completely agree with you. I found Expert Connect was another avenue to get my name out there. But the transactions with my costumers were so much more of a hassle then the ones I received using APG.

I have since stepped out of the research realm for a time. I needed to make my family my priority and genealogy was stealing my attention from them. But when I do return, and it is in the works, I will use APG to hang my shingle. Expert Connect was great in theory, but the clientele it brought me (in some, but not all cases) took more hand holding and wanted something for nothing. Though I appreciated the contacts I gained through them, I know it will be no big deal in the future to use APG to gain further clients, that is APG’s niche after all.

I’m sure Ancestry.com will focus their attention in a way that will better serve us all. They gave it a great try, but not everything is made to last forever. There have been times when many of us have been highly irritated with Ancestry.com, but I will give them this, every time that I know of they made an extra effort to right their wrongs and satisfy their customers the best they can (keep in mind you won’t make everyone happy all the time). I will look forward to what they bring us in the future.

I especially like Stephanie Hoover's "Wal Mart mentality" perspective. I truly agree with her. I encountered that as well.

Home- 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy

2011-01-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

I grew up in a very special home. My parents bought the home on 130 Glenn Ave in Modesto, CA from my Grandmother, Mary Ellen Roe. I was four years old. My Grandfather, Von Joseph "Rusty" Roe had recently passed away, and Grandma wanted to sale the home. She bought a smaller home one street behind us.

My Grandparents, Mary and Rusty Roe had bought the home when my mother and her twin were about five years old, so this would have been about 1960. My Woolsey Grandparents lived in the home behind us that faced the alley at 130 1/2 Glenn Ave. I was fortunate to live so near both sets of grandparents and be so surrounded by their love.

The home set on a lot and a half, probably 1/2 acre or so. When I was about 12 my parents stuccoed the home, it was blue and remained that way until they sold it. They had friends in the church as well as my uncle who were plasterers. I can still see all the people working on our home who helped to finish it in a very short time. My mom and all the women would set up big tables with food for everyone. All of us kids would entertain our selves with all kinds of games in the yard, as long as we stayed away from the scaffolding. Later my dad put a new roof on the home as well as Grandma Woolsey home behind us. I'll still never forget the mishaps he had on her home. He went straight through the roof into a back bedroom for one and then the back porch broke away and fell with him. I'd say Grandma's home was in desperate need of repair.

Our home had three bedrooms and one bath. We didn't have the luxury of two of three bathrooms for everyone. We had to learn to share. It had the beautiful detail of the inset ceiling design, rounded corners, plastered walls, and a huge kitchen. The kitchen was as big as the family room. With cabinets filling two walls, the stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher taking up three other nooks in the kitchen. I remember wall papering the kitchen with my mother and painting the cabinets and stenciling little designs on them. When I was pretty young my parents converted the garage into a den with a cozy wood stove. I can still smell the firewood burning and the popcorn popping. We would come home after church on cold nights (well California cold anyway. Today I'd say that's nothing after living here in the snow of Idaho), start a fire in the wood stove, pop popcorn and make a batch of tea to drink with it. Set around a watch the fire as we visited. Remember all the years I grew up in that home until I was 16 I never had a TV to watch with my family, so we really did talk.

This is my mother in the middle, her twin to the right and my Dad's sister on the left. This shows the stencle work she did on the cabinets.

I had a huge yard to grow up in and my mother made the best use of it she possibly could. You would have thought that I lived on a five acre farm the way she used that 1/2 acre. The only animals we didn't have there was our horse, and then any time we raised a calf or pig to butcher. They were kept elsewhere. But we did raise, chickens, rabbits, turkeys, ducks, goats and even my FFA lamb on that 1/2 acre. We always had fruit trees; apple, pear, fig, cherry, lemon, pomegranate and more. We had vegetable gardens and even mom's beautiful rose and iris gardens, and I don't mean just little flower beds. They were huge gardens!

My dearest memory was a cool day in October 1993. James (my later to be husband) and I were sitting out by the fish pond. I believe my grandfather was the one who built that fish pond, but I'm not sure. It was made out of cement blocks and plaster. It was always green from the algae, but we would all get in there every now and then and clean it out together. At one end of it was a very tall palm tree and if you would look toward the street from there you would see another one straight ahead in the front yard. Anyway I was sitting between James' legs and he had his arms wrapped around me. We were just talking and sharing our dreams when he quietly and tentatively asked me if I would marry him. We had already been together for nine months and I already knew he was the one. We were still in high school, but I didn't hesitate. I said yes. I still finished high school before we got married a year later. Actually my parents didn't really accept it at first and he didn't have a ring for me until November of 1993, when we made the engagement official. But to me it was that cool October day when he proposed that stays in my mind. Probably because it was so unexpected and I know unplanned on his part, but truly from the heart.

I had many great memories growing up in that home, and I know my parents did as well. My parents first rented the home to my husband and I for a while when they moved up here to Idaho, and then to her twin sister and her family when my husband and I moved up here in 1997. When Grandma Woolsey passed away, my mom's twin was also ready to move out of the family home to be closer to her children, so my parents put both homes on the market. This was back when the market was booming in 2001. They made a killing on both homes. I will always miss that home, but I will no longer miss the neighborhood. When I was growing up there we were surrounded by the old families that had lived there for generations. Today almost none of them are left and the old part of town has gone to hell in a hand basket. It's not an ideal part of town to live in any more. It's also known as South Modesto.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Cars

2011-01-15T13:19:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist this weeks topic by Amy Coffin of We Tree. To write in my blog about memories of cars. We are a car family. I married a car man for Pete's sake! I have so many good memories, and when I get back home I will see if I can find some photos to share as well.

I'm starting first with my childhood. It was an old blue Ford 1972 pickup my Dad drove. I can still hear the sound to this day. For many years the darn fan built would squeal. We always new when Dad was around the corner on his way home from work. You could hear that thing squeal from a mile away! It was a good old pickup. It also comes with a darker memory too. The day I was almost left with out a father. If not for the grace of God by his side he would have been shot to death by a police officer in Modesto, CA because of a mistake in identity. My Dad worked only about five blocks from home at Proctor & Gamble in Modesto, CA. I don't know what year this happened as I was very young, though I think I was about 8 or 9 years old which would have been around around 1983. The grocery store down the street on Crowslanding road in South Modesto had just been robbed as my father was leaving the house for work. The description given to the officers matched my father's blue Ford pickup. When he pulled out of Glenn (our street) onto Crowslanding Rd, the rooky cop spotted him and followed him into the Proctor and Gamble parking lot where he worked. The officer opened fire on him. My Dad took two shots, one in the hand and the other in the shoulder. There were about four or five shots fired. One barely missing his head. He recovered fully.

Then my first car......a piece of junk! Actually my first two cars were. My first was a $200 green 1970 something fast back Mustang. My cousins grandmother had it out in here field. At the time my husband and I were dating and he looked at it and believed he could fix it, so we bought it from her. James and Dad did get it running, but not for long. I drove it for a while until the darn engine overheated and it was done for good. I even remember the day I went to James house to give him back his ring and break off our engagement. I was driving that car, and I'll never forget how when I was getting back in I looked up to hear my now mother-in-law screaming "Shannon (that's what his family calls him) get back in here." I had told him it was over, left the rings and walked out. He obvously didn't want me to leave with out an explanation and since he had been in bed was still in his underwear, to his mother's dismay, running across the lawn to my car. I had to stop and go back in the house. I left there with a promise to give it another try. I guess the boy in the front lawn in his underwear was enough to disarm a determined girl who had taken her brother along to make the point. We laugh about that all the time. Of course for a newly engaged couple that car also had other great memories too. That was back before the drive-in movies were completely gone. There was still one in our town, though it was gone a few years later. It sure was an ugly pain in the butt car, but wonderful memories.

Then since those days I've had many other cars. The one I miss the most is our T-top lemon ice yellow '95 Trans Am with a V8 engine. Boy did that thing have power. I loved that car and still miss it. My husband had used the whole back trunk to put in a speaker system. I remember I use to think he was crazy. That was something young stupid kids did right? That was until the car became mine and I fell in love with hearing my country music in stereo! Shanian Twain and even George Straight sounded so much better in stereo. I was also an outside account rep for a printing company in Spokane. I remember that people took notice when you pulled up in an impressive vehicle like that. It was also nice to have such a beautiful car when you took clients out to lunch. I was pregnant with Jamie, my third child when I was driving that car. It did get more difficult to get in and out of that thing the bigger I got though, but otherwise it was a very comfortable and fun car. We sold it after Jamie was born because the back seat wasn't a bench but two buckets. It wouldn't hold three kids with two in car seats!

Madness Monday - Edward H. Kaufman

2011-01-03T04:32:00.000-08:00

Here I am again after more than a year. I have finally found a little time to pick up my old Kootenai County Paupers Cemetery file and do some more work. To my dismay, many of them I still can't seem to break through, at least not online. I have got to find time for the library and the FHC to do some deeper digging.

But I was, at least in part, able to put together another man's life from the Old Paupers Cemetery.

On my list is a man named Edward H. Kaufman. He died 25 May 1940 and is buried at the Old Paupers Cemetery. According to the county list of burials he was born 28 Sept 1879 in Saranac, Michigan. The first record I found on Ancestry was the Idaho Death Index 1911-51. In this index his county of death is Shoshone in the city of Osburn. This is interesting. Why would a man die in Shoshone County, ID and then be buried by Kootenai County in their Pauper's Cemetery. I'll need to look into this further. This record confirms the same death and birth dates I had.

I found a 1930 census, Lakeshore, Coeur d'Alene City, Kootenai County, Idaho, Enumeration district - 28-12, sheet 11A, written pg 8351, Enumerated 10 April 1930 by Mrs Mary Eastburn, living at 822 Mullen Ave, Dwelling - 286, Family 286. Edward Kaufman a 49 year old single male is a boarder at the home of Marshall Pearson. He was born in Michigan, father in Ireland and mother in Canada. He is a laborer at the lumber mill. Later we'll find out that Marshall Pearson is his brother-in-law.

Next I found an Edward Kaufman with an Irish father and Canadian mother born in Michigan in the 1880 census. I searched through many, even more in Michigan, but this was the only one that fit. Sanilac, Sanilac, Michigan, page no 39, Sup. dist. 3, Enum dist. 342, enumerated 30 June 1880 by John H Hopkins, Port Sanilac Vil., Dwelling - 354, Family- 357, Daniel Kaufman head of house age 40 born in Ireland, Emily his wife age 39 born in Michigan, but her parents in Canada. Julia - 13 born in Canada, Willie - 11, Louisa - 10, Fred - 7 and Eddie - 9 mo. The rest of the children were born in Michigan. I still wanted to dig deeper to see if this family was the right one. I had a head scratching moment when I looked at the census further. Daniels occupation is listed at Hustler. Wow, I bet there is a story behind that. I will look deeper in Sanilac County records when I can.

I did another search for Edward and found him and his mother in Saginaw Ward 6, Saginaw, Michigan, sheet 5B, Enumeration District 53, they are living at 109 Bristol St, Dwelling 94, Family 104. This time however, I have my doubts that I am on the right path. This Edward is listed as being born in June (not Sept) of 1880 (not 1879). This concerns me. But he was born in Michigan. Once again it states his mother is born in Canada and that she immigrated in 1860. That would be before Julia was born. If Julia was indeed born in Canada then they must have traveled back and forth for some time. Edward's occupation is an Iron Worker.

I still wanted to find more, but was unable to find any other records of an Edward Kaufman born around 1880 in Michigan to an Irish father and Canadian mother. So I began to search for his siblings. Again I was doing the happy dance.

1910 Census, Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai County, Idaho, page 17B, Enum. Dist. 166, image 130, again on Mullen Ave, dwelling - 330, family - 351, Head of house is Ed Kaufman (would be why I hadn't found him. I had not yet gone through name variations.), mother Emily Kaufman, brothers Fred and William. The boys are all born in Michigan and Emily in Canada. This time he is 37 years old, and his brother is listed at 39. Neither have the right age. I would say age wasn't important to this family. Then in the same year and even on the same street, but about 22 dwellings apart is his brother Fred again, this time in the home of their sister Julia Huyck. Fred must have been living back and forth between the two homes.

With no further luck on Fred and Edward I looked for Julia, now that I had a married name. I then found her in the 1920 census in Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai, Idaho, sheet 4B, sup dist. 8, enum dist. 206, enumerated 3 Jan by Mrs. Blanche K. McMartin, at 822 Mullan, dwelling 91, family 101. Head of house is Marshall Pearson her brother-in-law, husband of her sister Adaline. This sister is a couple years older than Julia. Until this point I had thought Julia was the oldest, but it's possible that Adaline was already married by the 1880 census, therefor not with the family. Also in the home is Edward Coffman (another variation of his name, which is why I had not found this census of him), as well as their mother Emily. Most of the information is close to what has been found to this point. This census again confirms that Emily, Julia and Adaline all immigrated in 1870, which fits the timeline established by the 1880 census better, since the next child after Julia was born in 1870 in Michigan.

Then I did some searching on Find-A-Grave to find his brother Fred Kaufman born 10 Sept 1870 in Michigan and died 6 Feb 1920 in Coeur'd Alene, ID. This means he died about a month after the 1920 census was taken. He is buried in the Forest Cemetery in Coeur d'Alene, ID. The quote in his memorial states "Single; son of Daniel Kaufman and Emily Brown; Lineman." Again confirming that he was the son of Daniel and Emily, but this is the first account of his mother's maiden name. I'll need to look further into this.

Also in the same cemetery is their sister Adeline Kaufman Pearson born 3 Jan 1864 in Wisconsin and died 3 April 1936 in Coeur d'Alene, ID. This leads back to the idea that the family was back and forth from the US a few times when their first children were born. Likely because Emily's family was in Canada. The quote on her memorial read "Wife of Marshal B Pearson; daughter of Daniel Kaufman and Emily Brown."

That is Edward Kaufman's life story as I currently know it. There are a lot of holes that I hope to fill, but will take some time for me to visit the library and the FHC in Hayden. Until I can do that I would certainly be interested in hearing from anyone that can share stories or photos of this family to help me build upon his life story. My goal still is that some day I will be able to recreate the life story of every person buried at the Kootenai County Cemetery, before it is gone forever.

Wordless Wednesday: Can you ID them?

2010-09-01T09:47:00.001-07:00

Jean Carpenter and I have been trying to Identify everyone in this top photo. Hear is what we do know. The elderly woman in the center is Martha "Ellen" (McCombs) Hoard. We believe that this photo was taken in the 1940's. Ellen died in 1946 so it had to be before that. We also knew the woman on the far right to be Pearl. Then I went back to some of my known photographs to help me identify the others. From the photos below we can deduce that the man in the back, far right is probably Roy. His name is also written on the bottom of the photo, so I'm sure he is in the photo. Then based on my deduction of the photos below taken in 1961 of Ellen's children I believe the man on the far left to be Oscar. I also think that is the name someone tried to write on the bottom of the photo. It looks more like Osker, but was likely meant to be Oscar. Then the young man in the back, second from the left I believe is J.Y Gailey, one of Pearl's son's. Pearl also had a set of twins, Johnnie and Donnie. The young boy in the front looks a lot like J.Y and is likely to be one of the twins. The only other one that I can not really say for sure is the oldest looking gentleman in the back next to Roy. He looks to old to me to be Oscar and Roy's brother, Ernest. However this could also be their oldest brother George. I have no photos of George so I don't know what he looks like. Then the other tricky ID would be the young lady in the front. At first I thought this was Mary Celestia (Aunt Perky), but now I'm thinking this was my grandmother, Mary Ellen Hayes. Here is why; I believe this photo was likely taken not long before Ellen's death. She appears to be in poor health here. Her eyes are more sunken then in any other photo I've seen of her. If this was taken around 1945-46 my grandmother would have been about 14-15 years old. Aunt Perky would have been nearly 40, and Mary's mother, Lillie would have been around 36, so I know that girl has to be a granddaughter of Ellen. If you compare that to the photo of Mary Ellen Hayes taken when she was 15, it really looks like her.

This photo was given to me by a cousin, Dave McCombs a couple years ago, and I've been trying to figure out who everyone is every since, but after gathering all the these other photos from my Aunts I was able to make better conclusions on my identities then before. I've also gotten help from my mom to identify some of them.

This photo was taken in 1961. The women L to R are Pearl, Mary Celestia or Aunt Perky as we called her, and Lillie (my great grandmother). The men we weren't sure of the order at first, but after looking at other photographs I believe it is L to R: Oscar, Roy and Ernest. Roy I know is in the center and I really believe that Ernest is the one with his arms around the girls on the right based on the photograph at the bottom.
Mary Ellen Hayes, my grandmother at age 15.

This one was used to help identify one of the young men in the top photo. This was a known photo of J.Y. Gailey (bottom right) and his army friends. None of them are identified, but this was possibly WWII, so early 40's. He looks to be about the same age in the top photo.This one is a four generation photo of Emily Lutitia (Scott) Hoard, her son Thomas Hoard (the husband of Ellen above), his son Roy and Roy's daughter Fontana.

This was a known photo of Ernest Hoard.

Tombstone Tuesday: Eli Assad

2010-08-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

When I saw this I had to look into this a bit more. I wondered where the title Uncle came from. Was he someone's uncle or was he called uncle as a term of endearment? It turns out that he was an uncle.

Eli Assad arrived to the US from Turkey in 1900. He was living here at the mission in 1910 when he was enumerated as head of house hold. Living with him was his nephew Eli Jurdy who was 19 at the time, also from Turkey. Both of them were carpenters. This is all from the 1910 census of District 165, Mission, Kootenai, Idaho.

The mission was built between 1850-1853 and the Parish House was built in 1887. He was likely there to build or maintain the many other buildings that were on the property at one time. All other buildings are now gone.

Eli Assad was in the US for such a short time that not much can be found on him. On the other hand his nephew Eli Jurdy made his life here in the Kootenai County, Idaho area. In 1917 Elios Joseph Jurdy registered for WWI in Spirit Lake, Idaho. According to his registration he was born 10 August 1891. On the 12 May 1918 he married Rose M Rodgers in Spirit Lake, Kootenai County, Idaho. This record can be found in the marriage book at the County Courthouse located in Kootenai Co., ID in Volume 13 on Page 256. Then Rose and her whole family can be found in the 1920 census in Butte Ward 3a, Dist 207, Silver Bow County, MT. Eli Jurdy is living with his new wife in her families home. There are a total of 16 people in Dwelling 110. Salem and Anna Rodgers are her parents along with 10 siblings and one grandmother - Anna Farris. All of their roots go back to Syria. Most of the children were born in MT and a couple in PA. By the 1930 census Eli and Rose can again be found in Spirit Lake, Kootenai County, Idaho where they now have one daughter, Josephine (6) and a son, Raymond (1 1/2). Raymond is listed as being born in WA and Josephine in ID. So it's apparent that the family moved throughout the northwest. Likely to follow where there was work. He did everything it appears. In 1920 he was a smelter, in 1930 he was a laborer at the lumber mill. In1942 he registers again for another World War, WWII. He and Rose are now living at 815 5th St, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

This started out as a history search of Eli Assad, but turned into a history of his nephew. More can be found about Eli, who apparently died of tuberculosis, on the Assad and Brooten family website.

1910 Fire: 100 Year Anniversary

2010-08-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

Source: U.S. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
Wallace, Idaho after the fire.

On August 20th and 21st of 1910, a century ago, the Great Fire of 1910 devastated the Inland Northwest, including North Idaho and Western Montana. More than one million acres of forest were burned. 86 people were known to have lost their lives due to the fire. Whole towns were burned to the ground before it was over, including Wallace, ID. The Great Fire was feed by smaller fires that actually began as early as May across the Bitterroot Mountains and the Cour d'Alene Forest. On the afternoon of August 20th, near Elk City, ID a great gust of wind helped to spur Mother Nature into an inferno feed by dry pine needles, leaves, brush and grass as the result of a very dry spring and summer. There are so many stories and photos to share on this centennial event.

I began putting this together earlier in the week and didn't have time to finish before my dear friend Mariam, writer of AnceStories, posted a great post:The Great Fire of 1910 Centennial Events and Articles. So I guess I better get busy and finish this, thanks for the motivation. :-)

The West Is Burning UP! An endless array of stories and photos of the 1910 Fire. There is also another link at the bottom of this article asking a very important question: Could the 1910 Fire Happen Again? It's something to think about. The answer is yes, but the likelihood is much slimmer due to the advancement in equipment and our forest practices. Also read stories from smoke jumpers.

Stories of survival: Families and the 1910 fire. A herring story given by the last known survivor of the fire. Lilly Cunningham was 3 years old at the time of the fire. She talks about how her family lost their homestead on Little Beaver Creek in Thompson, MT. But she also recalls how her father and brother ran to the aid of others neighbors to help them save the homes.

Wallace, Idaho after the 1910 Fire: Wallace is a quaint little mining town in Shoshone County, Idaho. It's known for the Sierra Silver mines. I have visited many times, and I love the little town. In 1910 it was nearly destroyed by the fire. Then in 1997 it was destroyed again on screen for the making of the movie "Dante's Peak." Thank goodness that was only in the movie. I'd hate to see this little town ever destroyed again. I also found out through the grape vine that Wallace is also having an event to remember that day.

When the Mountains Roared. More great photos and stories of the Wallace, ID area. That photo of the rail road after the fire is from this website.

Centennial Commemoration of the 1910 Fire: The Idaho Fire Chiefs are holds a Commemoration to honor the fallen of the 1910 fire.

Forest fire photos - near Scalplock Lookout: great photos of the devastation left by the 1910 Fire in Glacier National Park.

Sandpoint and Sagle, ID in the 1910 Fire: Many accounts leading up to the fire and of the fire, as well as some photos of damage that can still be seen today, 100 years after the fact.

Wordless Wednessday

2010-08-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

Four Generations
Left to right: Emily (Scott) Hoard,
Thomas Hoard (Emily's son and my great great grandfather)
Roy Hoard (Thomas' son)
Fontana Hoard (Roy's daughter)

I don't know when or where this picture was taken, but I love it. It sits right in front of me every day on my desk. It reminds me that there is always more to their stories then just their data. Look at the old cabin behind them.

What I do know is that in 1920 Thomas and his family are enumerated in Benton, AR,though Roy is not with them. Then in 1925 Roy is enumerated in the 1925 Kansas State census in Butler, KS. In that census Fontana is five years old, which is about how old she looks in this photo. So it's very possible that this photo was taken around 1925 in KS at Roy's home, or possibly in Benton, AR where Emily lived most of her life and where Thomas was in 1920. I know he was in Oklahoma by 1930 though.

___________________________________________________________________
Sources:

Ancestry.com.. Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009. 1925 Kansas State Census. Microfilm reels K-1 – K-177. Kansas State Historical Society.
Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 are on roll 323 (Chicago City). Year: 1920;Census Place: Dickson, Benton, Arkansas; Roll T625_54; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 18; Image: 190.

AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors: Online Genealogy Classes Available in Spokane Area

2010-08-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors: Online Genealogy Classes Available in Spokane Area

A good genealogy friend of mine is teaching classes in the Spokane, WA area on researching you ancestors. You'll enjoy her class! One is learning to research military records and the other is research of online records.

Tombston Tuesday: A Grave in the Wilderness

2010-08-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

On Saturday my family and I took a bike ride on the Route of the Hiawatha. On August 20th and 21st of 1910 this area was devastated by fire. It killed 86 people and burned millions of acres of Montana and Idaho forests. From 1906-1911 the Pacific extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St Paul was being built through here. When the fire hit the area those that were working on the railroad jumped into rail cars and rode them to the safety of the tunnels.

In this case a man on one rail car panicked and jumped from the car, and died. The train continued to tunnel 20 where the rest of the passenger survived. Later the railroad workers went back and buried his body beside the rail, where a cross still marks the spot today. His name is unknown, but he was believed to be one of the railroad workers known as a "gandy dancers."

Farragut Naval Base in Idaho

2010-08-16T13:16:00.001-07:00

Farragut State park was once a Naval Base during WWII. It was opened in 1942. Due to the fear of more strikes on other shoreline bases this one was built inland near Bayview, ID along the shore of Lake Pend Oreille. Lake Pend Oreille offer an inland location with a lake that is deep enough for submarine testing. Today the submarines are subcontracted and not done by the military. The base it's self has been turned into a lovely state park. The Naval Brig is the only building still standing of the old base, that now serves as a museum to preserve the history of the base. You can read more about the history of the base here. If you would like to know more about the park for it's recreational value today, go here.

Below are two photos I took on our visit yesterday. The first is of my children standing in from the the statue that was erected to honor the Naval Sailors that lost their lives in WWII. On the face are more faces etched. No two are a like, and in the front on the ground are cement step stones with the impression of booted feet. Again no two are alike and they are suppose to represent the sailors standing at attention. The other photo is of my daughter riding my parents horse, Bunny. They brought the horses out where we spent a few hours riding the trails. It is absolutely beautiful there.

Route of the Hiawatha

2010-08-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

We took a bike ride in the mountains today. Now when we took off on this trip I was very apprehensive. I haven't had my bike out of the basement to ride in probably more than five years. I have enough trouble staying upright on my bike on level ground, and yet my husband thought that I would be just fine going down hill for 15 miles at a 2% grade. Okay so I hate to admit it, but he was right. I did just fine the whole day, and enjoyed myself the whole time.

The Route of the Hiawatha is full of history. It was once the Pacific extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul rail road line through the Bitterroot Mountains between Montana and Idaho. The old towns that once dotted the landscape along the rails are long since gone. Today it has been returned to the wilderness, except for the path that winds through Idaho from the Montana border near Roland to Pearson, Idaho. The old Rail Road tracks were removed and the path was made into a trail for bikers and hikers. The route includes seven high steel trestles and ten tunnels. All along the trail there are interpretive signs that tell of the history of this area.

Many nationalities were hired and worked on building the rail road from 1906-1911. The rail road used millions of workers at a cost of $260 million. The Milwaukee road finally went bankrupt in 1977 after many workers proudly kept her running for decades.

The Taft Tunnel was built from both the Idaho and Montana side at the same time. When it came together they were only a couple inches off. It is a very dark and wet 1.7 mile tunnel. I choose to walk instead of ride my bike when starting out in this tunnel at the beginning. When we went back through I dared to ride about half way before I again got off and walked again. It is very easy to get disoriented. It's very hard to see. The bike lights almost aren't enough to help you see. Not to mention it's in the 40's and very wet through the tunnel.

The most dominate historical event of this area would be the 1910 fire. It devastated over three million acres through Idaho and Montana on August 20 and 21st. It killed 86 people, one of whom was from this rail road. I'll show the marker of that grave later.

Left: One of the many trestles. Right: The Idaho side of the Taft Tunnel entrance.

Along the path are many interpretive signs. On the left speaks of the 1910 Fire, on the right is a funny account remembered by a rail road worker about one of it's more colorful characters Cora "Ma" Van Antwerp. She was the first station agent at Falcon.

One of the many beautiful views from the trail.

Left: My three angles (at least sometimes;-) just outside the Taft Tunnel in front of the beautiful waterfall. Right: Justin entertaining a chipmunk who came up to his hand thinking he was offering food, only to run away disappointed. The chipmunks were all over, begging and entertaining very well for their food.

Madness Monday - Daisy Dollie Lee Dean Riddle 1890-1966

2010-08-09T09:39:00.000-07:00

I've pulled up Daisy's file again, so I'm bringing this post back up. I really want to solve this mystery.

My next plan of attach:

Find a marriage record for James J Dean and Mary. According to the 1900 census they were married for 13 years, so about 1887. The problem lies in where to look. She was born in IT, but we don't know her maiden name. He was from IL. Their oldest living son was born in MO (there were three other children not living by 1900) and by 1900 they are in KS. It's likely that they were married in the place their first child was born.
But here is the interesting part. Ulias is likely not Mary's child, and Mary may be a second marriage for James. Ulias is 16 in the 1900 census and James and Mary had only been married for 13 years at that point. So it's likely that in MO James lost one wife (the mother of Ulias) and married another. Or the census record is wrong on the number of years that they had been married. If you take out the number of years, then everything else about Ulias lend to the idea that Mary is his mother. So it's possible that they had been married more like 18-17 years.
Death records of Mary and James Dean. I have been unable to find James or Mary after the 1900 census. Starting with Cherokee County, KS I will search for any death records for them.
Marriage record of Daisy Dean and Sam D Riddle. They were married about 1907. In 1910 they were in Atoka County, OK, so I will start there. Atoka Co., OK can also be considered as a possible death place for Mary and James Dean.

I mentioned Daisy Dollie Riddle a few weeks ago in another Madness Monday post when I wrote about her husband Sam D Riddle. At that time all I knew is that she was the second wife of Sam D Riddle. They were married about 1909 and that was based on the 1910 and 1930 census records. I also knew based on the California Death Index 1940-1997 that she was born 2 Oct 1890 in Oklahoma and died 27 April 1966 in Stanislaus, CA. One more piece of information from the 1930 census record further confirmed to me and the family that Daisy was most likely Native American. She was listed as born in OK, father of Mixed Blood (origin unknown) and mother was Pottawatomie.

After talking to my mother-in-law a few weeks ago she agreed to go to the court house, where they live and also where Daisy died, and obtain her death record. She called me this weekend to give me the details. From this Stanislaus County Death Certificate is further confirmed the birth and death dates above as well as giving me her full name which was Daisy Dollie Lee DEAN RIDDLE. I don't know how she ended up with so many names, but I suspect her parents likely named her Daisy Lee DEAN and Dollie was what everyone called her from what I understand. So when Uncle Bill reported on her death he just listed the whole name. It also listed her father as Jim DEAN and mother unknown.

She had lived in CA for 15 years and in Stanislaus County for five of those years. From Grandma Estelle's (the wife of Daisy's son Sam C) account of history they moved to CA and lived first around Bakersfield working in the fields and living in tents. It was a very hard life. It wasn't until her children were grown and on there own that Daisy had the privilege of living in a home with four walls and a roof over her head.

So with this new information I began looking for a Daisy DEAN with a father named Jim. I did find one family that fit. A 1900 Census from Salamanca, Cherokee Co., Kansas.

Name:

Daisy Dean

Home in 1900:

Salamanca, Cherokee, Kansas

Age:

Birth Date:

Oct 1891

Birthplace:

Arkansas

Race:

White

Ethnicity:

American

Gender:

Female

Relationship to head-of-house:

Daughter

Father's Name:

James J

Father's Birthplace:

Illinois

Mother's Name:

Mary

Mother's Birthplace:

Indian Territory

Marital Status:

Single

Residence :

Columbus City, Cherokee, Kansas

Occupation:

View on Image

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
James J Dean	45
Mary Dean	32
Ulias Dean	16
Aura L Dean	11
Daisy Dean	8

The only problem with this is that Daisy's birth year is listed as 1891 not 1890 and her birth place is Arkansas not Oklahoma. But these mistakes happen in Census records all the time. The one thing I did find interesting is that her mother Mary was born in Indian Territory. This would lead me to believe there is a true connection here since we are looking for a mother of Pottawatomie blood born in OK. Based on the 1910 Census taken of Sam and Daisy just after they were married she listed her mother as born in OK and father born in IL which matches this family completely.

I also found another member on Ancestry that does have this same information and some other facts I'm not sure enough of it to post right now, but she did know from her family that the Daisy in her record did marry a Sam Riddle and that was about all she knew of the family. She also had the above family members listed. So I may or may not be on to something here, but at this point I haven't found anything more to confirm I have the right family.

Tombstone Tuesday

2010-07-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday I took family that was visiting from out of town to the old Cataldo Mission. I knew there was a cemetery there and we all wanted to see it. What we didn't know is that there are two cemeteries. One was for those in good standing with the church, which is neat and clean and well cared for, though most of the stones are now gone. The other was for those that were not in good standing with the church. It is back on the hillside over the swamp. It had little individual plots and most of it is overgrown with bushes. Only a few were visible.

The not in Good Standing with the Church Cemetery

The main Church Cemetery

Making Memories

2010-07-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

It's summer time again! Since my husband and I work opposite shifts and I see so little of the kids during school time, we try to make the best of our weekends as a family. We've been exploring again! I love it and so do the kids.

My last post was on our visit to see the Civil War Reenactment in Spokane, WA in May. Then in June my husband's parents and grandmother were here visiting. We took them to see our own town. Here is my mother-in-law taking a photo of the falls here in town, while my boys enjoy the view. I believe my father-in-law was up on the deck going "put your hand in the strap. You don't want to loose that camera!" as she was leaning over the fence. There is never a lack for laughs with my in-laws. At moments they keep me shacking my head and then the next they have me laughing so hard. I'm a lucky gal to have in-laws I love.

The weekend after they were gone we went up to Metaline Falls in WA near the Canadian border. The first stop was at the Gardner Cave in the Campbell State park. Then we took a little hike up to the Canadian Border. I started out holding my five year old daughters hand to make sure she didn't fall. Eventually I realized that she was more sure footed than I was and was soon our running my big butt. On the way back the boys ran up ahead of us and had a laugh when it took my husband, myself and our daughter so long to meet them at the head of the trail. It's sad to say, but I'm out of shape, even though I have a physical job. Here are photos of the family at the Canadian Border.

The photo of the forest is to show the Canadian border. That's right, if you've never been to the Canadian border around a forested area, that is a strip of tree that is cleared out to mark the border. God forbid that our trees touch theirs. It reminds me of my kids. "Mom he's touching me!"

Then we still had time to go to the Dam near by. I forget the name of Dam. But I got some beautiful photos of the rainbows coming our of the Dam. We got lucky. They had the gates open so wide that it was flowing with full force. They said the weekend before they had them open all the way. There has just been so much rain fall up here.

We really had a lot of fun in one day. That is pretty evident by the smile on my son's face.

Civil War Reenactment, Spokane, WA

2010-07-03T16:23:00.001-07:00

I've been so busy these days that I've not had time to do much writing, but My family and I did have the privileged of going to a Civil War reenactment in Spokane, WA. We all had lots of fun and the kids learned a lot and asked lots of questions, like inquisitive minds often do. I put together a little slide show of our day. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday, Graham headstone

2010-04-21T07:32:00.001-07:00

James Holcomb Graham
My GGG Grandfather
Born Dec 22, 1852
Died Feb 3, 1909 in Bradley, Grady Co., OK

Family History Center, Hayden, Idaho

2010-02-10T07:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, I've been very busy lately. Up until about three weeks ago I was working ten hour shifts as well as working on my customers families in what ever spare time I could find. Now we are lucky if we will get 24 hours a week at work. But that's okay. I need the time to catch up on my research at home and starting this month I'm busy with my ProGen Study group as well.

I had to make time to post this today though. I went yesterday to the Hayden, ID FHC branch. I had been there a couple others time, but with the kids. So I had never stayed long in the past. My daughter is now in preschool, so I was able to go there alone and not take along any disruptions.

I walked in and Julia introduced herself and asked what she could help me with. I told her about my current project in Lee Co., VA, but I didn't divulge the fact that this was a commissioned job. As some of you may have read before I had a less than pleasant experience with the local genealogical society while at the Hayden Lake Library because I do commissioned and volunteer work for others. Well after a bit I did tell her that it was a commissioned job, and her and another gal there said that was great! I couldn't believe my ears. They were supportive of the fact that I was helping others, even if I make some money at it. I even laughed and said, "I'm not getting rich at it, but it's finally great to make a little money at something I love to do so much."

Julia pulled down some books and we became more familiar with the geographical surroundings of Lee Co., VA. Then she took me to their computer room and we got to work. She first showed me, what I had yet to figure out on my own, how to look for microfilm that I may want to view, what numbers I needed and other information to place an order. Now I can do that part from home!!! Thanks Julia. Then to my surprise she started looking on different websites to see what she could find of the family I was working on. We actually found bits and pieces together on the family and I may have solved the one mystery of a mixed up spouse. Now I'm just waiting for the microfilm to come in so I can find the piece of proof I need to prove that mystery once and for all.

Then I got an even bigger surprise. I went in there expecting to pay for the microfilm. But no, not now!!! They have a benefactor (I don't know if that's just local or nation wide. I was too excited to ask) that was hoping by supporting them and covering those cost they would be able to get more patrons to come to the center and work on their family history. Surprisingly their visits really haven't increased, but maybe that will change eventually.

I will certainly be going back to the Hayden FHC. I enjoyed my two hours there and look forward to more. If I have a choice between the company and help of these lovely ladies over the attitude I get from one particular person at the Genealogical section at the Hayden Library, I will go to the FHC. By the way my issue isn't with all of Kootenai Genealogical Society. Some of those ladies were great as well, but I seem to keep running into the one who has an issue with me helping others.

Casefile Clue

2009-12-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

Here a while back I purchased my copy of Casefile Clues, 2009 from the brilliant writer Micheal John Neill. I have been going back to the material often. As I hit different scenarios in my research that may stump me for a bit I go back to by binder I've created of his files. Either I learn something new, or confirm a thought I may have had. No matter the outcome I can say I have thoroughly appreciated his volumes for learning and growing in my genealogy practice.

Each volume discusses a different type of records, or a series of records used to solve a particular problem. Say for instance you have difficultly with an ancestors birth year. You have records that conflict. He has written an example, A Chicago Birth in 1913, that may help you solve that discrepancy. He clearly walks through all the documents he found, what the family tradition was as to her age at time of marriage, and then how he used all this information to arrive at a reasonable conclusion, as well as cautioning us to make clear notes when we are using conjecture.

I just purchased his weekly newsletter for $15 annually. I look forward to getting more and adding them to my binder.

How to find Native American Heritage

2009-11-24T21:29:00.001-08:00

I recently had a client ask this:

Client’s Question:
I am attempting to find my husband's biological father in order to prove that he was Cherokee Indian. How do I find if he did belong to the tribe and what if any benefits can be afforded to our children because of their ancestry? I believe he is now deceased.

Here was my response to her and I thought maybe it could help others. So I asked her permision and she graciously granted it for me to post to share with all of you.

My Response:
To start you will need to pin point the ancestor the Indian blood comes from. You are aware that G**** was Native American, so your first task then is to find his parents. Obviously it had to have come from one or both. If he was born in 1942 then you may have to go back as far as each of his grandparents to answer this question. Once you have traced back to his grandparents then you need to narrow down which one the Natvie blood comes from. You may be able to answer this by finding them in the 1900 Federal Census (more on this later).

The key is to find the ancestor that is on the Dawes Rolls and has a roll number. With out that no descendant would be eligable for Indian rights. So keep in mind this may even need to include a search for his great grandparents, if not successful with his grandparents. The Dawes rolls were taken between 1898 - 1914, so it's very likely that you only need to find out who his grandparents were, and if his parents were older when he was born, then they may even be on the rolls.

Next you need to know the tribe, which it appears you do, but if there is some question as to the accuracy of that then look for them in the 1900 Census. I would still do this as you don't know which ancestor is Native American. This will help narrow down who you need to look for in the Dawes rolls. In the 1900 Federal Census they recroded the tribe of Native Americans (though not all claimed their Native Heritage, so this does not mean they were not, if they did not claim a tribe in the census).

Then search the Dawes roll under the tribe for the ancestor. You can search the index here. This will take some time. Be patient. First find the tribe (in your case Cherokee), if the ancestor is by blood, then Cherokee by blood. Then the index is in somewhat alphabetical order by first letter of surname. I did take a quick look at pg 300 (narrowed it down alphabetically) for G**** and there were none listed, but don't panic. That may mean his Native Blood came from his maternal side or a grandmother, or you need to keep looking through the "G's." Like I said I just took a quick look. But what this tells me is that this can not be easily answer by just searching the rolls. You will need to research his ancestry.

As far as your other question. It really depends on the tribe. My husband is in the process of apply for his rights through the Chickasaw Nation. When we are done (just waiting for a birth certificate we had to reorder) he will be eligable for medical help, free hunting and fishing licenses, and if he were interested help with college. So yes there are benifits to finding this out, but each tribe is different. I would have to look into the Cherokee tribe to find what eligabilites they would have. But first and foremost the ancestor on the Dawes rolls must be found and their number found. With out that ancestor and the number from the rolls it won't matter how much Indian your children have they are not eligable. Which even in my husbands family we know. His mother is part Native American, but she is not eligable because her Cherokee ancestor ran away from the authorities and went to TX. They refused to be put on the reservation or be a part of the rolls. They went to great lengths to hide their heritage, and as a result, none of their descendants are eligable for rights. So be prepared for disapointment as well. I've dealt with both, just in our own family.

After you narrow down to the ancestor and find their roll number the last thing you will need is proof. To do this you will need birth (of those living) and death certificates (of desceased ancestors) between your children and the ancestor on the rolls in order to submit for approval to the tribe and their rights. Also get familiar with the tribe, their laws and guidelines for applying.

Note: I do this kind of research, and can certainly help you if you are looking for someone to do this work for you, but it is possible to do it yourself as well. Just be patient and sometimes you will need to think outside the box. Feel free to ask for help when you get stuck.

Good Luck,
Amy Crooks

* Names removed to protect identity.

Tombstone Tuesday - Issac Knight

2009-10-06T07:27:00.001-07:00

Issac T. Knight
born February 24, 1861
died April 18, 1905

According to the Moore Family Tree on Ancestry.com Issac was born in England and died here in Harrison, Idaho where he is buried in the Harrison cemetery. It appears that he may have been the only one of his family to come to the US. The rest of his family remained in England from what I can see of this tree.

The headstone was in pretty bad shape. I could not make out the symbol at the top or the inscription at the base.

Family Tree Voting!

2009-10-06T00:20:00.000-07:00

Family Tree Magazine voting is now open. Take a moment to cast your votes for your favorite blogs. But first visit Footenote Maven. She has put together a great list of all the nominees, including yours truly. I can't write it any better then she did so I wont even try. Besides I'm tired, it's late and I'm off to bed.

You can read more at the Family Tree Magazine Genealogy Insider

Madness Monday - Educational

2009-10-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

I've not had time to do a lot of research myself, but I have been answering questions lately. In some of the cases people think they have hit a brick wall, but many times it appears that they just don't realize all the sources that are available to them in order to break that brick wall. So I thought I'd take a moment and touch on some of these common questions and give my answer.

The most common one I get is: I've found everything I can on ancestry about my great grandfather. I'm at a brick wall. What do I do now?

Let's answer this questions with a few answers.

Not everything that can be found on an ancestor is online, let alone on ancestry.
Just because you found everything on ancestry.com doesn't mean you've hit a brick wall or that you can't find more online.
You stop. You analyze all the records you have. Then you write a research report that details everything that has been found (source it!!) and from the analysis of your clues find the missing pieces. Then create a research plan that lays out the missing pieces. Read my previous post Family History Made Easy and use the link to down load a very helpful form for this part of the project. If you aren't sure where to find those missing pieces then maybe the rest of this will help you, or ask someone you know who's been doing this for a while.
Did you try the name with various spelling? If not then try it. You might be amazed at what you find. If you can't come up with different spelling then research the surname it's self. Get the family to help you brain storm. Also don't forget abbreviations and miss spellings of the given name as well.
Broaden your search. Often times we get hung up on dates and places we found in one record (or from family memory. Lord knows that can keep you from the truth), with out thinking that this particular one record could be incorrect. Omit information in your search to open up more doors.

Other online sources you can use are:

Cindy's list: No genealogist (professional or hobbiest) should be with out this valuable resource bookmarked on your computer.
UsGenWeb and Genealogy Trails: These are two valuable sites that break down your search first by state and then by county. Some of them have nothing in some counties because no one has volunteered in that area, but for the most part you may actually be amazed at what has been scanned and put online of your ancestor. The down side is you really need to know a state (at the least a state) and county to began searching in.
Ellis Island and Castle Garden: are two of many sites design for helping you find your ancestors immigration records.
Footnote: though a paid subscription it is worth every penny. It is also a great partner to ancestry. I maintain both subscriptions. They compliment each other well. Though some of their records overlap Footenote provides a a lot that ancestry has yet to put on their sites. I have found civil war record files on ancestor of mine. I have also found the files of ancestors who went before the Commission of the Five Civilized Tribes to apply for their Indian rights.
Find A Grave: this has been a very valuable source, not to mention the ability to not only find a record of an ancestor grave, but the chance to either see their grave or request for a local volunteer to photograph it for you.
Rootsweb: they not only have other researchers trees that they have graciously shared online for others to see for free but they have a wealth of other records. One word of caution about finding other trees online. Make sure that you verify everything. Not all trees are sourced and there is lots of erroneous information out there. I'm embarrassed every time I find a tree with erroneous information only to discover it's mine when I was wet behind the ears on this, and I can always tell it was from the early days as it has no source information except that I got it from someone else's tree. But now I know better.
Land Records: on BLM you may just find the records that prove that your ancestor did own that tract of land was rumored to be in your family. Either way this is valuable in establishing residence of your ancestor in a certain area.

These are just a few of the source I use on a regular basis that are very general. There are also sites that specific to a location that may help you as well. I hope this helps some of you break down your brick wall. But always remember three important things, SOURCE, PLAN and then SEARCH.

Mining Country

2009-09-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

Once again we decided to spend a day exploring history. So we packed an ice chest and headed out. Dressed in jeans and tennis shoes for walking and exploring; our mission was to visit some near by ghost towns. Our destination was Burke, Idaho.

Burke Idaho lays in ruins. What once was a thriving rich community, though in some ways inhospitable due to the lack of room and over population of the area, not to mention the harsh winter conditions, is now reduced to rubble and empty buildings.

I couldn't resist snapping a shot of the "Ghost Town Auto." Apparently someone had a sense of humor about the state of the town.

You might want to visit Ripley's Ghost Towns. The photos on their page were taken at a much earlier date then the ones here that I just took. For instance you can see the foundations of two buildings beside the green house in the top photo, but on Ripley's the buildings are still there. Slowly the last remaining pieces of this history will be gone.

I've read a few times about the Tiger Hotel. I wished I could have seen it. It's been gone for many years, but it was one of a kind. There has never been another hotel that had a rail, a road and stream running through it's lobby. This was necessary in Burke since the canyon is very narrow (about 300 ft at center). There wasn't room for a hotel to be built off the side of the road. So they threw tradition out the window and built it over the road and the stream, and later the railroad was ran through it as well.

As you look around Burke you eventually realized that not only are the building collapsing and being reduced to rubble but so are the retaining walls. As a way to build the necessary buildings to run the mine and housing for the miners, retaining walls were built up and down the canyon. This allowed for more level building ground on which to build. Now in many areas of the canyon all you see are logs sticking out of the side of the mountain as they decay in the summer sun and harsh winter snows of this area.

We first got side tracked in Wallace, Idaho before we went up to Burke. Though we have been here many times we had never gotten the chance to go through the Sierra Silver Mine Tour. It was well worth it. The children even enjoyed the history lesson on mining. On the tour the guide did point out the famous Nine Mile Cemetery outside of Wallace. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go back up the hill and see it later. It will have to be another trip and another excuse to go up there again.

You can see the whole family here in front of the Silver Mine and below is a photo of our fabulous tour guide. With a sense of humor he took us through the mine and showed us the harsh conditions and hard work these men and women go through to get our precious minerals and stones out of the earth. It certainly isn't a job I would want to do.

I couldn't resist sharing this photo of my husband and kids playing in the sand. I don't know who was having more fun him or her.

Madness Monday - Certification Process

2009-08-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

Well it's not an ancestor who was mad. It's not me going mad over a brick wall ancestor. I'm going mad over transcribing a document! I got in me copy of original to transcribe as part of my BCG portfolio and I wanted to cry. I've encountered some pretty difficult records over time, but this one looks like someone scribbled lines on the page. This will certainly be a challenge.

As far as ancestor I haven't pulled any new brick walls out of my file in a while. I've been working on my CG portfolio and taking stabs at my previous brick walls I've posted in the hopes that I can post a Falling Wall Friday post. However, those darn elusive ancestor insist on continuing their stand as elusive ancestors!

I will say to others of you who may be getting discouraged or loosing interest in Madness Monday, don't! As a result of Madness Monday there are cousins that have found me. As it turns out they are also stumped on the same ancestors, but many of them have graciously shared other information and photo that I didn't have for the family. The photos are my favorite part! When I get to see an ancestors face for the first time after researching them and learning a great deal about their lives for years.......well I almost can't describe how exhilarating it is. At times I've even teared up over the gifts that people have shared.

So keep up the chain of sharing. It will come back to you some day, it has many times over for me.

Camping and fun

2009-08-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

We went camping this weekend and saw some breath taking sites. The picture here is one I took from my phone of the Kootenai Falls just outside of Troy, Montana. Silly me I left the camera back in the car. It couldn't be that I had my hands full with two dogs and three kids, not at all. My husband had the biggest (pain in the butt) dog, I had the other (well behaved and smaller) dog, with the kids between us. We hiked the trail down to the falls. I'm still sore from the hike, but it was well worth it!

I've got other pictures of our camping trip that I'll have to download from my camera. I'll do that later and share. We camped at a little place called Blue Lake RV Resort just outside of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. I'd call it a pond more than a lake, but it was still a great place to camp. We loved it. It was clean, beautiful, and even had showers. The kids loved fishing off the dock. In other words we had lots of fun.......that was except for trying to sleep on the hard ground after our air mattress sprung a leak.......that's another story I'll tell later.

The road to Certified Genealogist

2009-08-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

I could use your help. I received my packet to apply for my certification as a genealogist. I plan to specialize in the Northwest region of the US and from Civil War to post WWII eras. One stipulation of this certification is that I can't use the research I've done for my family. I have others I have done research for, but only one covers this region and era. I would really like one or two more research projects to pull from for my portfolio. The other research I am doing for this area is not for any client (which is also another stipulation), but for use in a book I plan to write, so this will not work.

If you would like the opportunity to have someone work on a genealogical problem that needs to be solved and it falls into the region and era I am working on, please get in touch with me. Maybe we can help each other out.

To all of my readers, please keep visiting. Bare with me as I work on my certification. It will unfortunately take my attention away from by blog, but I hope to squeeze in time for an article here and there. It'll get easier to juggle all of this in a few weeks when the kids go back to school as well.

New Site

2009-08-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

I know there are new sites popping up all the time, but I like the idea behind this one. Ancient Faces encourages you to post stories, photos and family recipes. I have seen some stories that are more of a query though. But I like the site and the whole idea. This also has a paid section, kind of like MyFamily, allows you to create a family web page.

Untangled Family Roots - Home

2009-08-01T08:47:00.001-07:00

Untangled Family Roots - Home

Shared via AddThis

I have finally done it! I'm still working on my AG and saving money for the final, but doing some work may help me save the money I need faster. So I'm going for it. Come visit my website and let me know what you think.

Wordless Wednesday, Harrison Cemetery, Harrison, Idaho

2009-07-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted a photo of a headstone at the Harrison Cemetery
in Harrison, Idaho. Here is the last photo I took that day looking from the
cemetery out over Coeur d'Alene Lake. It is certainly a beautiful resting
place. One can see why this site was chosen.

Tombstone Tuesday

2009-07-28T09:49:00.001-07:00

Louisa J Yaxtheimer was born Louisa J Bailey on 10 Mar 1862 in Pennsylvania. She married Willoughby A Yaxtheimer on 20 Sept 1909 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. She died 1 Nov 1939 in Springton, Idaho and was buried at the Harrison Cemetery in Harrison, Kootenai County, Idaho.

I would assume that Willoughby has passed away at this point, but either he was buried somewhere else or the date of his death was never inscribed.

I am happy to report that do to the great efforts of the local Girl Scouts this cemetery has been cleared of it's underbrush and it is once again accesable and the headstone have been cleaned up so they are readable. Thanks girls for all your hard work. I had about three men stop by who were locals to see if I needed help. There was construction going on that they were doing on the nearby road. They were very proud of the work the Girl Scouts have been doing and bragged to me about all of their hard work. It's great to see that there are still those who teach our children respect for the dead.

Madness Monday, Michael Oliver Jenkins 1824- 1905

2009-07-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

Michael Oliver Jenkins is my 3rd great grandfather. I have been searching for his family for more than four years. As in the case of my gg grandfather William Woolsey, it's as though he life also does not start until he married. I often expect to encounter this hurdle with my female ancestors, but I seem to be encountering this with my male ancestors quit often. So in order to break down this brick wall, I sat down and wrote out his Biographical Outline as I know it.

Biographical Outline of the Life of M.O. Jenkins

4 Apr 1824 Michael Oliver Jenkins was born in Lincoln, NC.
31 Aug 1848 Michael married Mary Ann Freshour in Greene Co., TN.
29 Oct 1850 Michael and Mary are in the 1850 Federal Census of 9th Division, Greene Co., TN. Living next door are Mary's parents Joseph and Catherine.
30 Nov 1851 Catherine Barbara Jenkins was born to Michael and Mary.
25 Nov 1851 Michael is listed as one of two executors on a will dated on this date for John Stephens who was Mary's uncle through her mother Catherine Stephens. (Will probated 7 March 1853).
22 Nov 1853 John Stephens Jenkins (my 4th great grandfather) was born in Greene Co., TN.
Abt 1855 Ann Jenkins was born
Abt 1857 Mollie T Jenkins was born
Abt 1860 Sallie C Jenkins was born
11 Jun 1860 Michael and Mary along with the four children listed above are in the 1860 Federal Census living in Limestone, Greene Co., TN. Living next door is Joseph and Catherine, Mary's parents.
Abt 1861 Missouri P Jenkins was born.
27 Sept 1862 M.O. Jenkins (also known as Oliver) enlisted as a Private in Co I, 64th North Carolina Infantry and fought in the Civil War until 1864. He later became a Sargent and later became part of Co E, 16th Battalion Tennessee Cavalry. It appears that his records continue until July of 1863. I'll elaborate more on this set of records later.
Abt 1865 William O Jenkins was born
Abt 1867 Lavina Elizabeth Jenkins was born
Abt 1870 Lucinda J Jenkins was born
Abt 1876 Joseph A Jenkins was born.
28 Jun 1880 Michael O and the family are enumerated in Precinct seven in the county of Eratt, Texas. The only child not with them in this census is the oldest Catherine Barbara Jenkins, whom I'm sure was already married by this time.
24 Jan 1905 M. O. Jenkins died. According to the family in Oklahoma, but his body was taken back to Erath Co., TX and buried beside Mary who died 5 May 1892.

Records I have:

1848 Greene Co., TN marriage record, page 277, record 1479 shows M. O. Jenkins married to Mary Freshour on 31 Aug 1848.
Civil War records. There are too many to list everything, but to summarize most of these were from the muster rolls. All of them can be found on footnote, under the name Oliver or M.O Jenkins. He enlisted 27 Sept 1862 and the records continue on until 31 July 1863. He was a Private then a Sargent and last his title simply says D. S. which I can only assume is Drill Sargent? Please correct me if I'm wrong. He started out in Co. I, 64th North Carolina Inf. and was last in Confederate Co E, 16 Batt'n (Neals) Tennessee Cavalry. I also noted that in the Cavalry he was enlisted with a W. R. Jenkins (who was a deserter) and and E.T. Jenkins. I need to look into these two men further. They may be related and may lead mo to the family of M.O. Jenkins. It's top on my list.
1850 Federal Census 9th Division, Greene Co., TN, pg 204, family 1200, dwelling 1200 is Michael and wife Mary. Next door in dwelling 1201 is Mary's family the household of Joseph Freshour. Michael is a Carpenter and is listed as born in NC. Also living in Dwelling 1206 is Mary's uncle Jacob Stephens, and living in the home of Jacob is another uncle John Stephens.
1860 Federal Census, Limestone Springs, Greene Co., TN. series M653, Roll 1252, page 374, family 275, dwelling 275 M. O Jenkins age 35, male, Farmer born in North Carolina. Also listed is wife Mary age 28 and their first five children. Again living next door in dwelling 276 is Mary's father, Joseph Freshour.
1880 Federal Census, Precinct Seven, Eratt Co., TX, page 3011?, dwelling 246, family 249, Michael O. Jenkins age 55, Farmer born in NC as well as both parents.
Photo of his headstone that he shares with his wife Mary in Hannibal Cemetery, Hannibal, Erath Co., TX. I also just received a photo from a very generous lady showing Mary's original headstone still standing beside the one they share. It's broken and leaning against the base, but it's still there.

Future research:

Find W.R. Jenkins and E.T. Jenkins from NC or TN enlisted in the Civil War around the same time as Michael.
Still missing and need to find census for 1900, 1870, 1840 and 1830. Though the last two I may not discover until I know the name of his father.
Record of his death. I'd like to know where he really died, if in TX or OK. I may need to find if there are records for the Hannibal Cemetery which may reveal this information.

Is Nothing Sacred Anymore?

2009-07-10T09:52:00.001-07:00

We should be shouting out loud over this! Yes I'm mad and it didn't even affect my family, but it could have. Think about this for just a moment. How would you feel if you found out your sacred hill where your ancestors once morned their dead, was destroyed for profit? What about if your loved ones were dug up from their graves and dumped in a field in order to make room for more burials in a full cemetery, so someone again makes money? Is the all mighty dollar going to destroy our ethics, morality and respect? Well it is!

I was watching the news late last night when I heard about the historical African-American Burr Oak cemetery in Alsip, Chicago that has been desecrated. Four people have been charged in the scam to remove bodies in order to make room for "new" plots. In some cases the bodies were removed and dumped in abandoned fields, in other cases the bodies were pounded down to make room for a burial above them. In one report a family member said "it's like killing them again." It is believed that they have desecrated 200 to 300 bodies. It is disgusting and outragouse! Have we become a society where the all might damn dollar is more important to us then showing respect to our dead?

You can read more about this in these post:

Then this morning I recieved an email alerting me to this tragedy. In Oxford, Alabama a sacred 1500 year mound is being destroyed. This mound was used by the Indians to morn their dead and then bury them in the caves below. What is even more infuriating is that the mayor of Oxford, Leon Smith is involved in making it possible for the constrution crew to destroy this mound in order to use it for......get this.....fill dirt for a Sam's Club. I use to work for Wal Mart and one thing they really make a big deal of in your orientation is how important family is. You really even get a bit of a history leason on the Walton family. I doubt they are condoning this. I'm sure this is all in the hands of the construction crew who wants to make that all might damn dollar and is willing to distroy something so sacred to others in order to make that dollar.

Please do take the time to visit this well writen post about the mound in Oxford, Alabama. She has done a great job of pulling together a history and addresses where you can write to make your voice heard. I plan to sit down later today and put together a few letters myself. Oxford, Alabama Destroying A 1500-Year-Old Indian Mound To Build A Sam's Club by Deep Fried Kudzu.

Genea-Musings: California Assembly Bill AB130 - IAJGS Letter

2009-06-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

All Genealogist from Hobbyist to Professional should be aware of this issue that will inevitably effect the genealogy community as a whole. Read Randy Seaver's post.

Genea-Musings: California Assembly Bill AB130 - IAJGS Letter

Changing Gears

2009-06-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

This happens to me several times a year. I will continue to write here in the future, but for now I have other projects that really need my attention. I have a yard that still needs a lot more work, though I am very happy to report that we finally have the front yard done! (all but one flower bed that I'll save for later, since we still need to tear up the ground there to replace a basement window) Next is to clean up the side of the house (probably next weekend), the basement and level, seed and start watering the back yard. Then we still have one small section of siding to buy and finish on the side of the house, paint it and then that's done! We need to put on a new roof and put up a fence. All of this takes time and of course we can only go as fast as the money comes in. I doubt we'll get to the new kitchen for another couple years as that will take a great deal of money. Though we could probably get a couple rooms in the basement finished this fall too.

On top of that I am beginning to pull together my work and work toward my accreditation. I would like to achieve this goal in the next year. I have a book I am doing research for and would like to write after I get my credentials. Then in the future I hope to take on genealogy projects for customers.

Let's also not forget my quilting projects either. I went to the Inland Northwest 2009 Quilting show in Kootenai Idaho on Saturday. I took my daughter and my niece and we meet up with my Aunt Dawna there. Just looking at some of the quilts inspired me to finish some of my projects that I have started and became bored or stumped on. So it's back to the sewing machine for me as well. Not to mention my daughter's new bed is now put together in her room and now I really need to finish her quilt. That project is nearly done.

I have really bad tendinitis in my right elbow and I'm sure being on the computer and using the mouse doesn't help it any either. So I have a few really good reasons to take a break. I'll be back soon I promise! I'm sure by the fall all of these projects will slow down and I'll be able to return more often. Though if work slows down any more, I may have more time on my hands than I want. Ta Ta!

They're Back......

2009-06-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

Please stop on over to Looking 4 Kin (the real one) and show your support. I was bummed at the end of last year when Looking 4 Kin dropped out of the genealogy scene, but I understood, as I have had to do the same thing from time to time when life gets too crazy. But Just M and team are back! And so is their chat room!!! So stop by, find some new genealogy friends and welcome them back. I've really enjoyed the chat room in the past. I wished I had more time to visit myself. I just stopped by, but go figure I'm the only nut up at midnight trying to visit a genealogy chat room...hehe!

Heads up there is a copy cat site out there according to Just M. Please make sure you visit through the link I provided to make sure you get the right Looking 4 Kin instead of the copy cat. It's sad to think that even amongst those of us search for our family history that there are jerks trying to making a profit off of the hard work of others.

Tombstone Tuesday - Greiff Couple

2009-06-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

Gladys Greiff photo curtosey of Ronald Sykes
Gladys Mae Greiff 1918-1977 was the wife of Willie Greiff. Willie's parents immigrated to the US from Germany. In about 1916 they came to the Spokane area in Washington. Their farm is still owned by their family and is now a museum in Deer Park, near the Wild Rose Cemetery. See my previous post to read more about the museum.

These two photos I took when my family and I were visiting the Wild Rose Cemetery. I was looking for older or military headstones, but this one caught my eye and I just had to take a picture. It's beautiful. It wasn't until I got home that I realized this is the man the museum was created in honor of.

Madness Monday - Alice A Jeffery

2009-06-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

I am going to pull one of my subjects from my Old Paupers Cemetery research as my Madness Monday today. I am not related to this person, but I would certainly like to know more.

From the records of Alfred E and Betty J Shane which they extracted from records in May 1983, I know that Alice A Jeffery was born 7 July 1849 in Wheaton, IL. She was the wife of W. H. Jeffery and died 23 July 1940.

Armed with the above information I began my search on her life.

First I found her in the Idaho Death Index 1911-1951 on Ancestry.com (original data: Bureau of Health Policy and Vital Statistics. Idaho Death Index, 1911-1951, Boise, ID: Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.) The dates match that found in
1880 Census of Village of White Creek, Adams Co., Wisconsin William H Jeffery age 23 and wife Alice age 27 with two children, Luella age 3 and David age 1. William was born in Canada, Alice in Illinois, and both children in Wisconsin. (1880 Federal Census, Village of White Creek, Adams, Wisconsin, page no. 1, sup dist 2, enum dist 4, 1 July 1880 by C. J. Austin, dwelling 2, family 3)
1894 Graham, Benton Co., Minnesota Territory I find them again. William age 41, Alice age 39? and Ella-19 and David O-15. I know ages don't exactly match, but I've seen this so many times I've about become numb to it. But they are in close proximatity to the ages of the subjects I'm looking for. Though this time I notice that William is born in NY, and the others are the same as the 1880 census. (I have a printout of this that I can hardly read the source information, but I do know that it was the 1894 Minnesota Territory census of Graham, Benton Co. The page number is unreadable)
1900 Federal Census of Graham, Benton Co., Minnesota. Once again I find the family of William Jeffery, born Oct 1853 age 47, married 25 years, born in NY, parents both in England, farmer, Alice, wife, born July 1855, age 45, married 25 years, 2 living children, born in IL and parents in NY. Child David, son born Apr 1879 age 21 born in Wisconsin. (1900 Federal Census, Graham, Benton Co., Minnesota, sup dist 6, Enum dist 320, sheet no., 4 B, on 7 Jun 1900 by Scott Thomas, dwelling 76, family 76)
WWI registration of son David Orvil Jeffery on Sept 12, 1918 in Simpson Hill, Hill Co., Montana. He was born 1 April 1878 (one year different than the 1900 census). His wife is Sadie and also lived in Simpson Hill. This helps to bring him closer to Idaho.

I have yet to find Alice and William after the 1900 census. I will keep looking, but from what information I have here is her story.

Alice A (maiden name unknown) was born 7 July 1849 in Wheaton, IL. She married William H Jeffery about 1875 possibly in WI where their children were born. Their daughter, Luella or Ella, was born about 1877 in WI, followed by David Orvil Jeffery on 1 Apr 1878 also in WI. Since the family is in the 1880 census living in Village of White Creek, Adams Co., WI it's very possibly that the children were born in Adams Co., WI. By 1894 the family has moved on to Graham, Benton Co., Minnesota Territory, where we still see them again in the 1900 census. Then I loose track of the family, but I do find David registering for WWI in Hill Co., MT. Somewhere between 1900 and Alice's death William and Alice moved to Kootenai County, Idaho, where Alice A Jeffery died 23 Jul 1940 in Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai Co., ID.

She is interred at the Kootenai County Cemetery aka Old Paupers Cemetery. Unfortunately we do not know exactly where she is buried as all but one no longer have names or markers. If you know anything on this family or about this person I would love to hear from you. I would love to write her story and add it to the Old Paupers Cemetery book that I am working on.

Roads Less Traveled - Tour Six

2009-06-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

We decided to put my new book to use yesterday. While I was at the Coeur d'Alene North Idaho Museum on Friday I purchased a book Roads Less Traveled through the Coeur d'Alenes. It has eight different tours of the area covering Kootenai, Benewah and Shoshone Counties of Idaho. So for our first tour we choose the Tour Six: Historic Coeru d'Alene National Forest.

The tour starts at the Fernan Ranger Station on E Sherman in Coeur d'Alene. Just in front of the Ranger Station is the Fernan Village. This was once the homestead of John Fernan a Civil War veteran. He came to Fort Sherman where he was a soldier in 1878. His wife joined him a year later and they raise thier six children here. Interestingly Mary Jane, his wife, was the first white woman to raise a family in this area. How scary I'm sure that was at times. John rented boats for use on the lake and raised alfalfa hay in the area. Now it is all homes.

Then the route takes you around the lake. At 0.7 miles there is suppose to be a Cattle Crossing. Not over the road, but under the road. The CCC built this road and built tunnels under the road for cattle to get through to the water on the lake. I didn't see the tunnels, but we didn't want to spend long on the road. There is currently construction going on to widen the road. Parts of the road are on the verge of sliding into the lake, so it looks like they are shaving away the mountainside on the other side in order to move the road safer away from the lake.

Next was the Moate House, built in 1954 by Robert Moate. It is a very cute and interesting vertical log cabin. It is one of the first homes built on this lake. His father homestead the area up on the hill.

The route continues to take you around the lake. This road was built by the CCC beginning in 1934. I was a one lane road with turnouts. It took nearly 20 years to complete. It helped to boost the economy in the area and provided greater access to the lumber used in the housing boom after WWII.

Lillypad Bay appears to be in the process of being restored to it's form natural beauty. There was a bridge built across Lillypad Bay that was torn down and the bay was filled in to create a road across. As we traveled passed we see that another bridge is being constructed across Lillypad Bay. I'm sure they will they tear out the current road and open the end of the bay back up. It's obvious where it gets the name Lillypad Bay. It is completely full of Lillypad's and they are huge. I wanted to get a picture, but with the construction there is really no safe place to pull over.

Next was the Kelly homestead. William Kelly came to this area in 1886. He homesteaded this area just on the other side of the lake as you head back into the beautiful valley with his wife and nine children. Over the years there were three different homes built on the property and all three of them burned down. Only two large 100 year old barns remain on the property. I didn't see them, but I'm sure they were amongst the trees at the base of the hill. There is a new home on the property and new owners, though some of the Kelly descendants still own section of the original homestead in the valley.

There were several other sites along the way that have their share of history, but for us they were mostly full of beauty. The hills here are full of pine trees, ferns, and other native plants and flowers to north Idaho.

After going up and over the Fernan Saddle and coming down the other side you come to Deception Creek Experimental Forest. This area was once homesteaded by Isaac Sand in 1904. Then in 1906 the Forest Service pulled this area from homesteading and began to reacquire the homesteads. After Isaac died in 1913 his wife refused to sell the land to the McGoldrick Lumber Company and the land eventually went back to the forest service. I was saddened to discover that Ranger Haynes burned all the buildings on the homestead.

Then we discover there is a grave under the road! Yes a reread the entry a few times. Bill Moore and a couple companions were traveling to Coeur d'Alene. They stopped in the area. The next morning Bill suffered a heart attach and fell dead from his horse. The other two men buried him and reported his death when they reached Coeur d'Alene. Then the story gets more interesting. A storekeeper that Bill owed money, came out here and dug up his body to see if he had any money on him, but he didn't. The cabin the men stayed in was destroyed when the road was built in 1934 and Bill's grave ended up under the road near the mouth of the creek that bares his name.

Then we came to one of our favorite camping sites which you can see in the photo above with my middle boy, the Honeysuckle Campground. Actually when we camp here we have a secluded places back behind this campground on the other side of the creek where we go. We don't stay in the campground.

Then the route took us into uncharted territory for us. We had never been back this way. This area was absolutely breath taking and the road a bit scary as there was only room for one car! But it looks like not too many people know of this area or rarely visit it. There were two interesting sites along this road.

The first was the Halsey Homestead and Barker Sawmill. The location of this former homestead is in the picture below. You are suppose to be able to see the foundation of the Tepee Burner, but from our view point we couldn't see it. There was 85.82 acres here that was homesteaded by Homer Halsey's mother in the early 1900's. In 1912 Homer's sister died and was buried beside the creek here. In 1946 Bob Barker built a Saw mill here and operated it until the early 1960s. It has since been returned to the Forest Service. In 2003 efforts were began to restore the natural foliage of the area. In an effort to chock out the noxious weeds more of the native plants and flower you see here were planted in this valley.

Next we came to the Trail Creek Work Camp site and Magee Ranger Station. Supposedly the camp was dismantled, but there were still cabins there and even cars there. So I didn't take pictures. But the ranger station sat empty. Below you can see one of the cabins. The Station was in use from 1908-1973. There is also a warehouse, barn, office, bunkhouse, as well as the house. During WWII the CCC built a 900-meter long emergency airstrip. The rangers house can be rented.

My daughter and oldest son looking at the cabin. My daughter is on this kick of begging her brother for piggy-back rides lately.
McPherson Meadows, another breath taking site. I told my husband to stop so I could take a photo of this. I wished I could have gotten closer, but you might be able to see the little log structure. It was a tool shed and is the only thing remaining of the McPherson homestead. Frank McPherson lived her from 1920 until he died in 1980. He was a trapper and also did seasonal work for the Forest Service. This land is still privately owned and only the tool shed remains. McPherson's cabin was moved in 2004 to the Shoshone Work Center. Hopefully we'll get to see that when we go on the tour of Shoshone County.
There were other interesting stories along the way. The children really loved having their mother be a tour guide. As we came to each location along the way I would read the history about it. It made the trip a lot more interesting then just staring out the window at the trees and flowers. I can't wait until we take another one of these tours and neither can the kids. They keep asking when we are going to do this again.

North Idaho Museum

2009-06-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well my Friday trip with the kids took us not far from home to the Museum of North Idaho in beautiful Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Our four year old daughter got a bit tired of it all, but she hung in there. The boys however were reading and looking at the pictures. I heard a few "wows" and "mom look at this" or "What is that?" I would say they really enjoyed themselves. It's a great experience for children and a chance for them to learn history, especially our local history.

The local history is comprised mostly of the logging and mining industries of the area as well as the Coeur d'Alene Indian history. The Coeur d'Alene Indian are still a major part of this area. I hope to learn more of their history as we spend our summer exploring more historical area.

I meant to get a picture but I completely forgot. Now I think I will sit down and read the book a bought "Roads Less Traveled Through the Coeru d'Alenes" by Dorothy Dahlgren and Simone Kincade.

Next Friday I think the kids and I will travel to Harrison, Idaho to visit the museum and cemetery there.

Wordless Wednessday

2009-06-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

Another attempt at my retouching. This photo as you can see was taken in April 1960 of my grandfather Rusty and his twin daughters (my mother and Aunt Mary). I think it turned out pretty well.

Tombstone Tuesday - Wild Rose Cemetery

2009-06-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

This post is not about the headstone. For one I wasn't prepared. I just happened to be out with the family, had my camera and stopped at this cemetery. I think I am going to have to prepare a little box with cemetery supplies to keep in the van. I have a feeling this will happen more often.

Anyway this is about the family in the back ground. My husband and daughter holding hands while looking at a headstone. My oldest off to the side, and my middle boy looking at the ones under the tree.

FamHist: The Problem With Primary Source Documents

2009-06-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

FamHist: The Problem With Primary Source Documents

This is a great post and something to consider. Many of us today will or usually post are Madness Monday posts. Well here is an article that you may want to read instead.

Often times we can't find records because information is recorded incorrectly. Death certificates, though a primary source, are a common place for this, as explained in this article.

From my experience I never rely on just one primary source. You really need to gather all of your sources and come to a working conclusion based on ALL of the evidence.

I've even found a birth certificate of my husband's grandmother that had her mother's maiden name as her father's surname and the mother had someone Else's surname. Try to figure that one out. We were luck she was a twin, or it may have never been found. The state sure couldn't find it.

Just something to consider on those maddening elusive ancestors.

Wild Rose Prairie

2009-06-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun with the family yesterday and it was packed full of history at that. The day started out with a trip to the Car d'Lane show, which is the annual car show in downtown Coeur d'Alene, ID near where we live. You can see my boys admiring the cars in the photos. If they were facing the camera they'd probably be drooling like their father.

So we spent a while there looking at two streets full of cars. We missed the Friday Night Cruise. We've gone to that before, but I was wiped out Friday night.

Then we had a couple errands to run. One took us to North Spokane, WA near Mead to get an electric used lawn mower we finally found on Craigslist. We just finished our front lawn and it is now a raised lawn with rock all the way around. Gas lawnmowers are too heavy to lift up there, so we had been looking for an electric. It's for just a small patch of lawn.
So we were on our way. I called and got directions, and don't laugh....I missed one of the turns he told me to take. So we ended up going a little too far down Hwy 395 trying to find this street that didn't exist on 395. Where we turned around we saw a sign for a Farm Museum. So we agreed that after we meet the guy holding this lawn mower for us we'd come back. We finally found the place, almost by accident, bought the lawn mower and headed back to the museum. It was a five mile drive off of 395 through beautiful winding hills that opened into stretches of farm land and then back to hills....until we got there. About a mile in we saw an old school house being restored. I love to see that when someone take the time, care, and money to restore and protect our history. On the right just before the museum was a cemetery (made mental note to return after we were done). We got to the museum and had a wonderful time. This was the North Spokane Farm Museum Wild Rose Prairie in Deer Park, WA. Most museum you go in and walk through the displays and read for yourself, but this was different. The lady who walked us through talked to us and told us the history behind so many of the pieces. Some of it was from her family, some from her husbands and others pieces donated by other local family. But they have done a fabulous job of preserving the history of everything there. Even my children had their own tour guide, a young boy....I believe was the ladies grandson. He was I sure younger than my oldest, but he walked them through and showed them the working displays they could play with and they had a blast. My husband and I were in awe of the care that has gone into creating this museum. If you are ever in Eastern Washington you've got to make a trip to visit this museum. It's well worth it!

On my way out I asked my husband to be a dear and stop by the cemetery. He did.It was the Wild Rose Cemetery established 1885, though the gal at the museum did say that they believe people were buried there before it was actually established and that the headstones are gone on some of the old ones. The cemetery is still used though they are nearly out of space. We all got out and visited. It was a great lesson time for the kids. I took a moment to explain respect in a cemetery to them. They did really good really. My daughter stayed with me, and on occasion I had to remind her to look down that she was too close to a headstone and over the grave. She'd give her usual respond of "Oppie" and quickly move. The boys did really good. They split up and helped me look for old headstones or military stones. My husband also walked through and admired a few until his allergies got the best of him and he went back to the car. I didn't care if my allergies were getting to me. I managed to get photos of plenty of headstones, so I now have plenty of material for future Tombstone Tuesday posts. Now I am going to visit Find-A-Grave and see if this cemetery is even on there. If not then I'll post it.

Then we grabbed a bit to eat and came home. I walked into the house to find that even the dogs behaved themselves. There wasn't a problem at all. So it was a really good day!

Now I've told the kids that since I'm off on Fridays for I don't know how long (work is just really slow and looking worse) I'm going to take them to museum to give us something to do. The next two we will visit is the Coeur d'Alene museum and Harrison Museum. I'll report on these later.

To step back......

2009-06-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

in time and see the actual records that were hand written in beautiful cursive hand writing is the one experience an aspiring genealogist should never pass up.

I had a doctor's appointment today and when I was done I knew that I had enough time to go a few blocks down to the courthouse. The baby sitter was at the house with the kids, and I could have one of those moments I have dreamed about for so long.

I went in to the Kootenai county courthouse and asked were I would find the old archived records I was looking for. The nice gentleman directed me to the Records office down on the left. I went in and explained to the lady, that quickly stepped forward to help me, that I had been doing research on the Kootenai County Cemetery up on Seltice (aka Paupers Cemetery). I told her a little about it and what I was hoping to find out. She took me to the vault where all the old books were kept and thought for a minute, and then went back out and pulled out a file. In this file was a copy of the list and history compiled by Alfred E and Betty J Shane. Their records come from the old Cassidy Funeral home record books (I'm still trying to find where those records disappeared to). Anyway she just gave this to me. Then she took me back to the vault and began to explain the different collections of books and what I may find in them, which ones most likely would yield information I was search for, and which ones were for the year range I was looking for.

Then she pulled down the Grantee Deed Book for 1920-1940, and then left to let me began my search. Oh how to describe it. I ran my hand down the spin of it and felt the old well worn leather that has seen seventy years of hands. I carefully opened the cover to see tattered edges and appreciate it oh so much more. I selected "B" to start with. Why not? I've done research and written about both Rufus Beck and Paul Best. Let see what this little treasure can tell me about these two men. I pull back the first page with the "B" tab on it only to discover it was blank. Well that can't be. So I pull back the next page. Well of course there we go. As I slide my finger down the pages, looking at each and every surname, I can't help but admire this beautiful scrolled handwriting. With the occasional rough handwritten line. I bet there was one particular person who maintained the majority of the records listed in this book. They took pride in their work, and I loved seeing that.

Though I found no surname of Best I did however find several individuals buying deeds in the 1920's with the surname of Beck. I will dig further into these later and see if they are of any relation to Rufus.

I told myself that I had to leave there at 12:00 in order to have time to eat lunch and get to work. At 12:00 I thought....Oh just another page won't hurt.....then 12:05 .....just another .....I'll be okay ....then at 12:10 I finally had to say okay that's enough. I regrettably folded up the book and put it back on the self where she pulled it from.

As I went out the door she smiled and waved and I said "thanks. I'll come again when I can stay longer." I left there with such excitement and a big smile on my face. I'm sure that's why the lady outside the door looked at me strangely. She was probably thinking "what on earth would have her leaving a court house with a big goofy grin on her face." If only she knew the feeling a genealogist gets when.......... Oh heck why do a try to explain it. Only a genealogist would understand.

All the way home I'm thinking of how can I possibly get away for a little time with out the children to go through more of these records? Then it hit me. Heck I made a deal with the babysitter so that she could afford her college that I would at least pay her a minimum each week. Well I've been tacking on 1-4 hours extra each week to make that minimum. So as soon as I got home I asked her if she would mind actually watching the kids for those extra hours on Friday, now that I have Friday's off (work is really getting slow. It's scary really) so that I can go down to the court house and maybe even the library. It'll be easier on the kids, and I can go to places they aren't allowed for now. She was more than grateful that I always paid the extra, even if she didn't work it, that she answered "sure" in a heartbeat. So problem solved. I will now have a chance to spend more time in records and find more of the missing pieces.

Ok it's now midnight and I guess I should get some sleep. I just couldn't go to bed with so much pent up excitement, without sharing. I even shared it at work. I swear I watched one gals eyes glaze over.....oh well.

Burial vs. Cremation

2009-06-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered why there are so many cemeteries with nothing but flat headstone and no monuments? How about the reason behind more cremations and fewer burials, besides the obvious cost? Ever wondered why people buried before a certain time in history in your area had beautiful standing monuments and raised family plots, and then sometime in the 1900's all the headstone lay flat on the ground?

All of these questions are answered in a well written and very detailed post by Dead Man Talking on Blogging a Dead Horse: A Little History. Stop by and read his post and learn a little something new you may not know.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Where were they in 1909?

2009-06-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

I've done a post like this a couple years ago. I was a lot of fun. Thanks Randy for bringing it back.

1) Which of your ancestors were alive in 1909?
For me it's not my grand parents but my great gandparents who were alive in 1909. That is except for one exception. My great grandmother Lillie Lutitia Hoard wasn't born until 1910. She was my mother's maternal grandmother. Lillie's parents were Thomas Miller Hoard and Martha Ellen McCombs Hoard. My mother's maternal grandfather James Martin Hayes though was aliveas were his parents James Martin Hays and Mary Jane Vest Hays. Then for my mother's paternal grandparents.... Frank Roe was alive as were his parents Jerry and Rachel Roe. As well as May Elizabeth Rollette. My father's grandparents were all alive.....Ewing Richard Woolsey, Mary Joan Williamson (both paternal grandparents) and John Hugh Jenkins and Leota Morton (both maternal grandparents). Mary Joan Williamson's mother died that year. Some of the others I don't know when they died or if they were alive that year. A couple were though.

2) Tell us where your ancestral families were living in 1909. What country, state, county, city/town, etc. Who was in the family at the time? Use the 1910 census as "close enough."

3) Have you found each of these families in the 1910 census?

4) Write a blog post about your response. Or write a comment to this post.

5) Have fun. Learn something!

Genea-Musings: Ancestry Quirks - Census Source Citations

2009-06-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

Genea-Musings: Ancestry Quirks - Census Source Citations

This is worth reading. There has been a lot of emphasis on source citation. Randy has discovered a little issue with the way Ancestry.com publishes the source information. If you care about citing your source information correctly, you'll want to know about this.

Puckerbrush Award

2009-06-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

I was shocked to find that Judith of Genealogy Traces awarded me the Janice Brown Puckerbrush Blog Award. Judith did an amazing job of pulling together the history of the award and of the word "puckerbrush" in her post The Janice Brown Puckerbrush Blog Award for Excellence so I'll let you visit this wonderful blogger and read it from her post instead of trying to slaughter it by trying to rewrite it myself. I sure enjoy reading Judith's blog and now thanks to her post I now have a few more on my list that I will enjoy reading. If only I had enough time to do all of that reading. There are just way too many wonderful bloggers out there when it comes to genealogy, but I will try to nominate a few of my favorites.

Lisa of 100 years in America does a wonderful job of writing about her Croatian history here in America. I enjoy reading this blog from time to time. Ironically 100 years in America celebrated a two year Blogoversary this last week! Stop by and wish her another great year of telling us her New York history.
Miriam Midkiff of AnceStories: The stories of my Ancestors has been an absolute inspiration to me. She not only is a wonderful genealogy bogger, but she also is a great research, teacher, and also keeps me updated on local events involving genealogy. I don't know what I would do without her. Probably be lost!! Thanks Miriam for all you have done.
Now this one is great for a wonderful laugh. I just recently discovered Dead Man Talking author of Blogging a Dead Horse of Portland, Oregon. He is also a fellow Grave Yard Rabbit. I'm so glad I found the time that day to read a few new bloggs. Dead Man talking and I share a common interest. We are drawn to grave yards by an unexplainable force. he is lucky to have a wife who shares this interest as well. When ever they see a sign in Oregon for a grave yard, even if off the beaten path, they go for it. I'll look forward to such a time in my life when I'm not wrangling the kids, killing my feet at work, and have some time to just take a drive and visit graveyard. I love to read about his escapades to these sacred places.
Now this one is special to my heart. Though she is not a genealogy blogger, she is still a wonderful writer and worth reading. She is a part of history today and loves to write about her adventures and accomplishments at NASA. She is Desiree Sylvia author of Space Princess & The Boron Bunch. She has been a life long friend (since high school). I miss her all the time, since now she is down in Southern California in the heat of the desert that I can't tolerate very well and I'm up here in North Idaho in knee deep snow in the winter that scares the bajebbers out of her

Then of course there are the ones that most of us know whom have already received the award like Randy Seaver, Thomas MacEntee,and of course Judith, so I'll stop here. I've got some kids to round up, a grocery list to finish and many many photos still to scan as people are now sharing their photos with me and even giving me the originals because they feels I will care for them and preserve them for the family and future generations. I just backed up all my genealogy and photo files on my computer last night. So there is at least one thing off of my list. Again Judith thank you for this wonderful thought. Oh and by the way it's all not as hard as it looks to be a mother, work full time and do what I love. I had to learn to make a schedule if I didn't want my husband constantly complaining that I spend too much time doing what I love with my research and my blog and not enough time on the house, kids and of course him. So I have certain times I spend on the computer during the week, time set aside for house cleaning, and then I work in the evening. Then on the weekend if he is home we find something to do together as a family, but lately I've had the weekend to spend on the computer because he has been at the shop rebuilding one of our vehicles that has been broke down, leaving me with out a car for months. But hopefully "fingers crossed" I will have a vehicle by Monday "fingers still crossed"

Worldess Wednesday - Children

2009-06-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Amy at We Tree did a fabulous post today about how to entertain our children while pursuing our interests. So for my Wordless Wednesday, since my allergies have me too tired to think, I will link to her post, In the Good Old Summertime.

Madness Monday - James J Morton

2009-06-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

I know a little late. I was waiting on this one in the hopes that I could find something to break down this brick wall, but with no luck so far.

James J Morton was my grandmother, Olivia Joyce Jenkins' grandfather. I know very little about him, but here is what I do know. James J Morton was born about 1862 in Alabama. This information is based on the 1910 & 1920 census which I will give more detail later. He married Flora Idela Beason on 23 December 1890 in Comanche County, Texas. Thanks to a very generous distant cousin, Carole, I now have the original marriage certificate for this. I have no death date or place for him.

James and Flora had the following children:

H. G/Q? Morton born about 1893 in Texas. I only find this child once with the family in the 1910 census and nothing more.
Leota Morton born 4 Sept 1894 in Oklahoma. She married John Hugh Jenkins and they are the parents of my grandmother Olivia Joyce Jenkins. She died 1974 in Modesto, CA. Leota was in the 1910 and 1920 census with her parents. I obtained her birth and death from her Soc Sec record.
Conrad Morton was born 14 Jun 1902 in Arkansas, married Bessie, they had three children I've found Raymond, Dorris and J.B. and he died Aug 1985 in Maysville, Garvin Co., OK. Again his information is from the 1910, 1920 & 1930 census as well as Soc Sec record.
Eric Morton was born 14 Jul 1904 in Arkansas and died Jan 1978 Maysville, Garvin Co., OK. Again records are from 1910, 1920 and 1930 census records. Note in 1930 Eric was living in the home of his brother Conrad and his family.
Octavous Morton was born 14 Nov 1906 in Arkansas and died Jan 1977 in Maysville, Garvin Co., OK. Records are from 1910 and 1920 census and Soc Sec records.

Records I have

Comanche County, Texas marriage certificate for J J Morton and F I Beason issued on the 19th December 1890 and married on the 23rd.
1910 census Henderson Twnp, Hot Spring Co., Arkansas. James was born in Alabama as well as both of his parents. His profession is a Teamster Log Hauler. Flora was born in AL and mother in SC and father in GA. They have been married for 19 years. At this time Flora has given birth to eight children, but only five are living (the five listed above).
1920 Census Whitehead Twnp, Garvin Co., OK. Here James is 58 and a farmer and everything else is the same as before. Flora's information is pretty much the same as well.
1930 Census in the same location as 1920 however I can't find Flora and James. I believe that Flora passed away in 1921. I have yet to prove that but that date is based on family. James however I do not know when he passed way, but may very well be gone by 1930. The 1930 census I found is of Conrad and his family with his both Eric living with them.
Social Security Death Index Records for Leota, Conrad, Eric and Octavous

Now here is a real lesson in looking at the neighbors. I noticed that in the 1920 Census there is a Henry Allen and wife Alice living a couple houses from James Morton. Then in the 1930 census the same Henry Allen and wife are living a couple houses from Conrad and Eric Morton. Also James Barber is living next door to both families in both census records. This leads me to believe that Conrad and Eric are living in the same home their parents lived in 1920. Which would also lead one to believe that it is very possible that James has passed away by 1930.

At this point I think it would be very beneficial for me to obtain a death record for James J Morton who most likely passed away between 1920 - 1930 in Maysville, Garvin Co., OK. Now there lies a challenge, but I'm sure I will find someone who can help me obtain that record at some point.

School of Hard Knocks

2009-05-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

Admit it we've all done it. We do the genealogy dance only to find out, some times after much to do sharing with others and posting online, that we were dancing off in left field because the family we thought we had found turns out to the wrong family.

I decided to participate in this weeks Genealogy prompt brought to us by Amy of We Tree. 21. Lessons learned. Fess up to your research mistakes so others can learn from them.

My latest mistake I had documented and wrote about recently in my post about William Henry Manion. I didn't just make one mistake and link him to a William H Manion in a different county once, but I did it a second time when I thought it was possible that the William H Manion in the other county was the father of the William Henry Manion I was looking for. You can read more about this on going mystery of William Henry Manion in my previous post Paupers Cemetery, Post Falls, ID. I at least now know who he was and where he lived prior to his death. This is why it is so important to not rely on census records. They are a piece of the puzzle, but never use them as a sole source of proof. You always need more evidence to back up a census record.

Of course this was not my first nor will it be my last I'm sure. I remember my first though. I had only been doing family history research for maybe six months. I had stacks of paper piled everywhere. I certainly was not organized with it yet. I had known an approximate year and state where my great grandmother Mary Joann Williamson was born, whom she married and when she died. I was ready to begin finding her family. So being a real rooky I started looking for a Mary Joann (last name unknown) born 1890 in KY. I didn't find very many matches to that, but one. I was certain this had to be her, Mary Joann Wycoff. Don't ask me how I found it. For the life of me I can't even find how I linked her up now. I've since thrown away all of that when I realized I was on the wrong path. But for a while I thought that my dad's grandmother descended from the Wycoff's of NY. Finally one day when discussing this with my Aunt, she said "oh no! She wasn't a Wycoff. Her maiden name was Williamson. She lived next door to Ewing Woolsey and his family before she married him. Sure enough I went back to the census record that I had already found for Ewing Woolsey and his parents and there she was living next door. Her father was Henry King Williamson and appears her mother was dead at this point. This was when I learned that first lesson ALWAYS LOOK AT AND CONSIDER THE NEIGHBORS!

Another path I got off on was Mary's own father-in-law William Grant "Billy" Woolsey. He is still a mystery to me and it's almost as if he was hiding his past. But at one point I did find a William G Woolsey born the same year and also in Iowa as my William. I knew the story he told of having an abusive Irish step mother after his mother died. This other William born around 1865 in Iowa I found in one census record living in the Dakota Territory with his mother Armille and father William Woolsey. In the following census he has a step mother who is Irish. Oh it was too good not to be true. I was certain I had finally found the family, and for some time I was convinced of it. But I kept digging deeper and that same young William who was born in Iowa about 1865 ends up in Montana in 1900 when I knew for a fact that my William was in Oklahoma. Now we are talking before the age of easy travel. If I had seen that in today's time I might have questioned if my ancestor had two families and was a traveling man. But in 1900 that just doesn't make sense. These men were thousands of miles away from each other, the same age, born in the same state and having a very similar story of an Irish step mother. There is still a part of me that thinks there is something there that I will find links these two families together. In the 1880 census the young William is listed with his family in the Dakota Territory in the same county is listed another William Woolsey, same age and same place of birth living and working as a hand on a farm. I often still go back to that and wonder if these were the same boys or if in fact one of them (most likely the farm hand) is my great great grandfather and is it possible he was taking on this other boys identity to hide from the law. Anyway I did finally trace the other William through Montana and on in to Spokane, WA about thirty minutes from where I live is where he is buried. I've also talked to his descendants, so I know they are two different men. Just how do they relate, if at all, is still unknown. This is just another case of the puzzle pieces fit the census until you dig deeper and turn over every rock.

You can read more about how I became organized in my three part series, The Organized Genealogist, Getting Started I, The Organized Genealogist II, and The Organized Genealogist III. Getting organized and later learning to use more precise forms to guide my research helped. I also did a post on the forms that have helped me a great deal In Wordless Wednesday - Family History Made Easy.

New Gadget

2009-05-28T09:43:00.001-07:00

I'm just trying out my new set up gadget using my cell phone to add posts to my blogg.

Cool it worked. Now I have a new avenue for posting to my blog. This means I can take photos with my cell phone and post it right to my blogg!!! I love it!!!

A Little of This and a Little of That

2009-05-27T08:10:00.001-07:00

I guess this will be a not so Wordless Wednesday. I know I haven't been doing all of my regular posts lately. As usual it's called life, but I'm still having fun some where in there.

This weekend we went out to my parents house (only about fifteen minutes from home :-) ) to camp. They live just a tad closer to the hills then we do and have five acres of which a couple of those acres are heavily treed. It still felt like camping, especially when the temperatures dipped low enough for us to still freeze our butts off that night. My brother and his two children were there so we had lots of fun. The kids really enjoyed a whole two days playing with their cousins. Of course the best part is always when Grandma brings out the Reese's Peanut Butter cups, marshmallows and Graham crackers to make her version of smores over the big camp fire!

Unfortunately I don't have pictures to share since my camera decided to take a dirt nap. It's been going out for the last couple months, but it finally gave up. I need to buy another camera, but I can't afford it right now. So it's just another thing on my list of wants that will have to wait for a while.

Then before we left for the weekend I got started on my annual photo restoration. I learned from a good friend that I worked with at a photography studio how to do really good photo restoration using Adobe Photoshop. Well every year I down load there newest and latest version to use to retouch my photos. Photoshop is just one more thing on my list of wants. I just can't afford $300 for a software program. So I've been looking for a while on ebay to see if I can get my hands on an old version that would cost a lot less, but you know how that goes. First it starts out around $20 and before it's over the bid is well over $100 and I'm out of the game. Oh well. I'm sure I'll be able to get one some day. In the mean time I keep using their free 30 trials to do what I need to do to the few photos I need to fix. So I've been spending time on that.

I've also been working a lot of overtime and I've been so exhausted that my mind just isn't in gear the last couple weeks. So the photo retouching is something I can do that doesn't take a lot of thought process. It's amazing. They've laid off so many people at work that those of us still there are killing ourselves with lots of overtime just to try and get everything out on time. Arggggg!

Well here are some samples of the retouching I've been having fun with. The first photo is of my Great Grandmother Lillie Lutitia Hoard Hayes on the right and a friend of hers Maydian Balentine. I don't know anything about Maydian. Her name was just on the back of the photo.

This photo is of my mother and her twin sister with their dog Cocoa. As you can see from the photo this was taken in Apr 1960.

Then when me brain is fully fried and I can't think for nothing there is always a good game to play. Which I think I will now do for the rest of the morning until enough of the coffee kicks in for me to do my house cleaning.

Genealogy Bumper sticker

2009-05-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

I just now read some of Randy Seaver's post on Genealogy bumper stickers. I didn't get around to reading all of them because I have to get ready for work in just a few minutes. But I'm glad I took time to read it. I got a few laughs and some of them were very cute.

I just happened to think of one for my bumper.

If you don't like me, it's not my fault. It's my ancestor's genes. If you do, give them the credit.

Well it's off to another day, another dollar.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

This was a post card my grandmother, Mary Ellen Hayes bought while her and my grandfather, Von Joseph Roe were on their honeymoon in San Fransisco.

I would have posted the back, but the words are almost unreadable. It's so faded. On the back is reads

Love Mary & Rusty Dear Folks, A few lines this morning. We went to Oakland Friday night and stayed till Sat night. We went under the bridge on the ferry. I bought some of these cards. I'm ???ing grandma on this morning???? Did Aunt Celestia & all get started ? Charley called us Friday night and wanted us to come up. I didn't want to but I did on account of Rusty. They have a new T.V. set. Ans soon.

I'm a bit confused though since the post office stamp is dated Nov 1950. The only thing I can think of is this was their second honeymoon. They were married in 1947, but because grandpa couldn't find his first wife it wasn't a legitimate marriage. When his first wife showed up a few years later they divorced and Grandma and Grandpa was married legally. This has to be a second honeymoon.

The photo on the front of the card is of the San Fransisco Bay Bridge at sunset. The card is about 8x10. Which is probably why it's seen better days. Someone finally put it in the family album. But I'm sure it spent time floating around in drawer having the corners bent before it was finally put in an album page to protect it.

Madness Monday, George Scott

2009-05-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

This is one of those ancestor's whose file I pull out from time to time, only to put it back in the cabinet still scratching my head.

Here is what I do know. George M Scott was born about 1828-29 in Indian. This is based on 1850 and 1880 Federal Census records. Of course 1880 is the first census where we get a glimpse at his parents. He states both parents were born in KY. Again he is one of my male ancestors whose life seems to only begin when he married. Prior to that I can find nothing on him. He married Aner Sackett 9 Oct 1847 in Franklin Co., IN. Now this I have not found a record on. It has only been passed through family. However it does seem to fit just fine. Their first child that I know of and can find was born 1 Sept 1848, Emily Lutitia Scott, in Metamora, Franklin Co., IN. The following is a list of the census records that I find the family in.

1850 Center Twnp, Marion Co., IN. Scott, Geo M, 22, M, Farmer, Ind, Aner, 20, F, Oho, Emilia, 17, F, Ind, Nancy Sackett, 42?, VA (I'm not sure how see relates, but she must relate to Aner since Aner's maiden name was Sackett, and I'm not sure if the age is 42 or 62). Now interestingly living next door is a Henry Scott at 21, F, (no profession listed), NC. I'm sure he is related to George some how, but I have yet to connect him. The other family members are Charlotte, Mary, Levena, Elizabeth, and Henry.
Iowa State Census 1856, Lucas, IA. George M Scott- Ind, Aner - Oho, Emily - Ind, A. V. - Ind, M.C. - Iowa?
1880 Plum Creek, Panoma? Nebraska, Scott, Geo M, W M 51, Farmer, Ind, KY, KY, Ann W F 49, wife Keeping house, Ohio, Ohio, VA, Alexander W M 29, Son, Farmer, Ind, Ind, Ohio, John W M W 18, Son, Farming, Iowa, Ind, Ohio, James N W M 9, Son, at-home, MO, Ind, Ohio.
Nebraska State Census, 1885 pg 9, Island Grove Precinct, Gage, Nebraska, George Scott age 56, Aner Scott age 54, Alexander Scott age 34, John Scott age 20 and James Scott (says 34 in transcription but should be 14) Original record unavailable. This information is from the transcription.

Now their daughter, my ggg grandmother Emily Lititia Scott married James Wesley Hoard in Platte City, Platte Co., MO 12 July 1866. This again is passed down from family. I'm still looking for this record as well. But if this is the case then possibly George and Aner were in MO during this time. Their youngest child James was born in MO about 1871. So I would say from the late 60's until at least the early 70's they were in MO before they moved to Nebraska where we can find them in the 1880 and 1885 census records.

Family tradition has said the George died in Liberty, MO and in Cherokee County, KS though I wouldn't rule out the possibility that he may have died in Nebraska either. I've never found a death record or burial for either George or Aner. We don't know when or where each of them died.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

My Dear Aunt Dawna surprised me this weekend with a package of family photos that she thought were best left in my care as I have the most interest in family history. She had scanned some things for me and was now giving me all of it. The best part though was to sit and listen to her and my mom tell stories of the different family members. If only I could figure out how to work the recorder option on my cell phone I could have recorded it. But instead I'll rely on memory.

The most intriguing picture out of the whole package, though, was the one above of the old cabin. According to my aunt this cabin is where my great grandfather Martin Hayes/Hays was born in OK. Now according to my other Aunt, Mary, Martin's birth certificate states that he was born in Hominy, OK 4 April 1907. Martin's mother is the same woman I wrote about recently whose brick wall I crashed through, Mary Jane Vest Hays.

In the image below is the back of the photo. It is a message from her to Martin "To Martin a Reminder Mother." This is so special. I have so few things of my ancestors. Now not only have I broken down the brick wall and know so much more about my gg grandmother, Mary Hayes, but here I have something in her own writing.One can only speculate about the meaning behind her message to her son. Was she telling him to never forget the humble roots he came from? Was she telling him to not forgot Oklahoma where she and his sibling still lived? A little behind that is that Martin and his father James Martin Hays picked up and moved out to CA. James divorced Mary. Supposedly he went back to OK at some point, but she wouldn't take him back as he was an unfaithful man. This is of course passed to me by other family members that knew Mary better than we did. Our family knew James better as we are all from CA. Or was she reminding him that he would inherit property of the family upon her passing? Who knows I can only speculate as to what the message meant.

Just some of my favorite blogs

2009-05-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

As the title say the following are just some of my favorite blogs. I don't have the time to write about all the wonderful genealogy bloggers there are out there.

AnceStories: Rightfully so this lovely lady has recieved several blogger awards. She does a wonderful job on her blog. Along with sharing stories of her research on her family, she also shares helpful hints and tips. I have had the priveledge of meeting Miriam Midkiff. She does live near me and has done a great deal to expand my knowledge in genealogy and introduce me to others who have done the same.
Genea-Musings: It is beyond me where this man find the time and the material for his blog. He is like a little energizer bunny in the genealogy blogging world. Everytime I click on his blog I am sure to find another helpful new tid bit.
Creative Gene: Repeatidly brings all all together as we post on a particular topic in the Carnival of Genealogy. Sometime the Carnival is hosted on other sites, but this is the home of the COG. Always wonderful stories to read.
footnoteMaven: No list would be complete if I didn't mention footnoteMaven.She is also the author of Shades of the Depart also a wonderful blog to read.
Genealogy Traces: Judith Shubert is a wonderful story teller. Most of what she writes about is her ancestors, their stories and sharing their photos. It's just a lovely blog to relaxe to with a cup of coffee in the mornings and read. Of course she just is overflowing with stories and couldn't just stop at one, so you will also find her other blog Tennessee Memories just as wonderful to read.

Like I said this is just a small list of some of my favorites. There are many more that I read as well. There are too many talented genealogy bloggers out there to write about and many that I don't even know about I'm sure. But to those on my lists, thank you for sharing such wonderful stories, pictures and genealogy tidbits and tips.

100 Plus Years of Automobiles

2009-05-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

As I was running about like a chicken with my head cut off yesterday doing some errands, I wondered.......Are we really better off in America do to the invention of the Automobile? That is a very complicated question. I would say the answer is both yes and no.

We are better off because with the invention of the automobile. It allowed those in the crowded cities to move further out, thus the building of suburbs, and yet still work in the city. Travel by horse meant that if you were more than 15 miles from a major city, railroad or waterway that business was difficult to do. You were isolated from the rest of the world. Before the car you either lived and worked in the not so pleasant conditions of crowded cities or you were isolated on the farm where you lived and worked. Cars bridged the gap and allowed for a happy medium. Families could now live in homes that gave them a little yard for the kids to play while the parent(s) worked in the city, and the farmer could then easily move his goods by truck and errands were more convenient.

But I realized yesterday as I'm driving around that all of this comes with a down side. Crowded freeways, pollution, greater demands, drunk drivers, greater risk to life and limb, road rage and more. I've had the privilege to be with out a vehicle for months now. My husband drives the one vehicle we have running and I go to work with my parents. But this week I had a lot to take care of and borrowed my parents spare vehicle. It was when running those errands the last two days that I realized I had enjoyed not having a vehicle. It was much easier to say "No I can't. I have no wheels." On the other hand though I'd be lying if I said I don't enjoy driving. I'm one of those car gals. I like a big pick up truck. I like power. I like driving a standard even. There is nothing like the open road and a good car stereo to make me smile. But I don't enjoy the errands and demands put on me when I do have a car. Looking back that's something our ancestors didn't have to worry about. They didn't have the convenience of a car so they most likely grouped their errands into one day a week that they went into town. The rest of the time they had all their chores on the farm to tend to, but at least they didn't have the interruptions of jumping in the car to run a quick errand.

A hundred years ago when cars were being invented I'm sure they had no clue as to the long term effect of the waist product engine put in the air. It was an era of invention and they weren't concerned about the environment then. But we are living with it today. Many of us deal with asthma as a result of an environment where the air is no longer clean like it was one hundred years ago. Only time will tell if the environment will continue to deteriorate or if we will some day get a handle on it and come up with alternative fuels that are cleaner to use.

Then don't get me started on the frustrations of driving with idiots on the road. You've got the ultimate idiots who think it's okay to drink and drive, or the young teenagers who are having fun and don't really have the maturity to realize the risks they take to themselves and to others when they drive stupidly. There are also those who are always in a hurry, weaving in and out of traffic and asking for trouble. Of course I'm the kind of gal who likes to have fun with people like that. I don't drive slow on the freeway. I'm usually in the fast lane, but I don't weave in and out to get one more car ahead. I go with the flow and I follow safely, unless I'm not paying attention. But when I see an idiot like that in my rear view mirror I like to get beside another car and stay with them so the idiot behind us can't get around.

Of course we have one of America's favorite sports as a result of the invention of the car, NASCAR! Now I don't watch NASCAR. I just don't have the time. But I do like a little speed safely on the open road. You just can't have that kind of fun in a horse and buggy.

So I'll ask you do you think the invention of the automobile improved America for the better or worse?

Note: Click on photos for website of history behind each.

Flora May Conner and baby girl

2009-04-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

As a result of more than two years of research I was finally able to give my husbands grandmother the gift that she most wanted from this. When she was a child her mother Flora May Manning Conner died after giving birth. Grandma didn't even know if the child was a girl or a boy and all she ever wanted was to find where her mother was buried and return and visit her. After I found where she was buried at the
Llano Cemetery
Amarillo
Potter County
Texas, USA
Plot: Section 74 Lot 46 Space 1 my sister and mother-in-law were able to take her on a trip to Texas and Oklahoma so that she could visit their graves. She was saddened to find that the only thing marking their graves was a gray brick with just their first names on them. She decided then that she would give them new headstones, so she purchased these and marked their graves with a beautiful headstone. She was also happy to discover that she had a baby sister and that her parents had given her a name before the baby and her mother died.

These are the moments I look forward to in my research when I can give something special to a family member that they always wanted to know or see about their ancestors.

Madness Monday, William Vaughn Cook apx 1859 - 1945

2009-04-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

I know I've touched on the subject of my husbands great great grandfather William Vaughn COOK in the past. At that time I thought his name was spelled COOKE, but as I changed the name today and did more research I quickly discovered records for him by dropping the "e" in the surname.

Surprisingly just spending today on his file I found three census records and his Dawes Packet for Indian rights. Yet I still don't know exactly when and where he was born or who his parents were. He seems to follow the same scenario that my own great great grandfather, I posted about a couple weeks ago William Grant Woolsey, did. I can trace his life easily after his marriage, but know little to nothing prior to that time. What is it with these men?

Up until today I really only had two sources of information about William Vaughn Cooke. The first was my mother-in-law. She knew some names in her husband's family. First she knew that my husbands great grandmother was named Stella Cook and that she married James "Rubin" Ward. Their daughter was my husband's grandmother, Ruth Ann Ward. She also knew that it was Stella who was a descendant of Jesse Chisholm of OK, whom the Chisholm trail was named after. Stella's mother was Mary Chisholm the granddaughter of Jesse Chisholm. She gave me a few dates that she could remember, but not much there.

In photo is Rubin and Stella (daughter of William) Ward with baby daughter Ruth. This was likely taken around the time of the 1910 census and probably at their home in Byers, McClain Co., OK.

Mostly with the names I began my search. I got lucky and stumbled across a cousin whom still corresponds with me from time to time who exchanged more information about the Chisholm family and also pointed me toward a transcription of Mary A Chisholm's memoirs.
Even if you have no interest in the Chisholm's I highly recommend reading her memoirs. It's very interesting reading as she also speaks of many other people she grew up with and knew in her life. But of course the most important information she gave in her memoir for me at the time was of her husband William V Cooke. This is where I got the spelling of the Cook name as Cooke. I assumed she knew how to spell her own name, and I'm still not sure that the name isn't spelled with an "e". It's just none of the records I've found are spelled Cooke, but rather Cook.

For the last few years I have been at a dead end with this family, until today when I filled out one of my Individual Research Worksheets and began my search. For me I always find it useful to do a broad search for the person on Ancestry.com to see what records I might find before I tailor my searches to look for specific records. So I first searched for William Vaughn Cooke, born about 1859 in OK only to find nothing. So I tried again only I changed the surname to COOK and also added that he lived in OK (which I knew from family accounts). Voila! There he was three census records in a row; 1930 then 1920 and last a few lines down in 1910.

1930 Census in Maxwell, Pontotoc Co., OK is William COOK age 71 and Mary, wife, age 62.
1920 Census in Byers, McClain Co., OK is William COOK age 60, wife Mary age 50, Charles, son age 36, divorced, William Graham son-in-law age 33, Lavera, daughter age 26 and Edward, grandson age 8.
1910 Census in Byers, McClain Co., OK is William COOK age 51, wife Mary age 43, son Charles age 23, daughter Stella age 21, Vern 18, William 13 and Cleo age 12.

In all three of the census records William states he is born in MO as well as his mother. In two of the three he states his father is born in KY and in one in MO. Also noted that in the 1910 census the family is living next door to Rubin and Stella Ward with baby daughter Ruth. Now that is funny, Stella is listed as living in both house holds. I think someone forgot that their daughter was married the previous year and is living next door. Then I realized that I had this same record in Rubin's file. Well I had found that back when I was a rookie. I guess I didn't realize the importance of neighbors back then. Go figure!

Now I had a location for the family. Which I had suspected was their area of residence all along. According to the family all (or most all) of the COOK and CHISHOLM family members are buried in the COOK/CHISHOLM Family Cemetery in McClain County, Oklahoma and supposedly that was on the Chisholm family homestead. I've been emailing and trying to find out from people if this homestead is still in the possession of Chisholm descendants. We know it had been as of about ten years ago, but last we heard the cousin who owned it passed away. Which worries me as to rather or not the family cemetery is being cared for. Anyway I'm sure this will be an article for another day.

So next I looked for information on his burial and the family cemetery on Find-A-Grave, as well as UsGenWeb, Oklahoma, McClain County. With no luck. The only thing I did find was the Cook/Chisholm Family Cemetery listed on a list of cemeteries in McClain County.

So next I pulled up Footnote. I am having so much fun finding large files of information on family members on this site, and once again Footnote did not disappoint me. About five records down is a Dawes Packet for William V COOK. I wasn't exactly expecting this because though I knew his wife Mary was Native American I didn't think he was. But he did file for Indian rights under intermarriage laws. Included in the packet was a letter from the judge who married them confirming that they were married 19 Nov 1885 in Pontotoc Co., Chickasaw Nation. In the interview with the commissioner William states that he is forty years old, that he had lived in the area for 20 years and that his wife was Mary Chisholm of Chickasaw blood. This means that William was born about 1862 which is a bit off from all three census records that would put his birth at about 1859. He says he had lived in the Chickasaw Nation for about 20 years which means since this interview was conducted on 22 Oct 1902 that he would have moved to the area about 1882 just a few years before he married Mary.

I will keep looking and I hope to find more.

Falling Walls Friday Part II - Helen Fannie Burnett Williamson

2009-04-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, Falling Walls Friday Part I - Henry King Williamson, I wrote about how the Williamson wall began to crumble on Henry's wife. Today I'll continue to add to Helen Fannie Burnett's story.

So now that I know Helen Fannie Williamson was born 24 Aug 1862 somewhere in KY and died 15 Sept 1909 in Bradley, Grady Co, OK (from the family bible of Lillie Mae Woolsey, grave marker, and 1900 census of Mahulenburg, KY.), I wanted next to find her marriage to Henry King Williamson and her parents.

First I did a standard broad search of all records for Helen Fannie Burnett born about 1862 in KY and only one records came back that matched almost perfectly, except that she was called by her middle name.

1880 Census Bristow, Warren Co., KY
Burnett, John, M, W, 50, head, TN.......
Mary J, W, F, 38, wife, KY......
Fannie H, W, F, 17, dau, KY......

This is certainly a fit for my Helen. If this is her family then I can also see that Helen named her daughter (my great grandmother) after her mother. So I decided to look into this family more and see if I can't find something that will prove this is Helen's family.

Next I find the John Burnett family in the 1900 census in Bristow, Warren Co., KY. Still living in the same place they were twenty years prior. This time John is 69 years old and thanks to the 1900 census I also find out that he was born Oct 1830 in TN. This time there is no wife listed, only three more sibling.......oh and what's this a Williamson living in their home. The last name listed in the household is a William Williamson, son-in-law.......wait so does this mean that two of John's daughters married Williamson boys. It's very possible. It may be just a coincidence, but it gives one more clue that may connect Helen to this family. He was born 1872 in KY. So that would make him six years younger than Henry. It's very likely that this William is a younger brother or a cousin to Henry King Williamson the husband of Helen F Burnett. I will need to conduct a search later for Henry and his family and see if he has a younger brother or a cousin named William that fits this man.

I continued looking for Helen though by searching the Death records in Kentucky for John Burnett. My hope was that maybe I could find Helen's name listed as the informant or even be lucky enough to find an obit with her name in it. Here is what I did find though.......

Kentucky Death Records, Reg Dist 1121, Reg # 16289, Prim. Reg Dist 7746, County of Warren, Vet Pet. Sunny Side Mashale?.
John Burnett
died: 1 July 1921
DOB: 22 Oct 1830 (definitely fits the John in 1900 Census and in 1880 most likely too)
Father: Vinson Burnett born in TN
Mother: Unknown
Informant: J W Burnett of Franklin, KY (likely the son listed in the 1880 Census of John and Mary, James W)

Okay so I know this John died in Warren Co., KY. So let's find out where he was buried. That turned out to be a short search. I went to the UsGenWeb, Kentucky, Warren County site and searched the cemeteries....a couple cemeteries later I had it.

Bowling Green, Warren Co., KY, Fairview Cemetery
John Burnett 10/22/1830 - 7/1/1921 (no doubt this is the John in the death record above, but the question remains is he Helen's father?)
Mary J Burnett w/o John 2/8/1843 - 11/20/1890 (so according to the transcription she is the wife of John. This leads to a conclusion that the family of John and Mary with child Fannie is this same couple. Their ages are correct as the 1880 census. But still not proof of Helen's parents)

Okay so I quit there. I think my best bet is to stop spending time on this family until I can connect this family to my Helen with out a shadow of doubt. I decide to find someone in Warren Co., KY to search courthouse records for a probate or will for John Burnett. So my next step was to go to Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, Kentucky and find someone who can search this area of records. I did find one gal listed, so I emailed her. I hope she is able to do the search and that something shows up in the records. If I get lucky and she find a probate it should list Helen (or Fannie as they may have called her) with her married name and give her place of residence. Though I do have to consider that John died many years after is daughter, so in that case it may list her husband or their children if he even left them anything in his will. If not then I'll go back to the drawing board.

I also tried to find a marriage records for Helen and Henry which might have her parents name, but with no luck. I suspect they were married in KY, though TX or OK are a possibility I would say not likely.

So for now I will wait and see if I can get the help I need from Warren Co., KY in finding records on John Burnett.

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