The Pieces of My Past

Please contact me if we have a research connection

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 20:02:00 +0000

Life has taken many twists and turns since my last post in 2011 (gulp). I have been busy raising the next generation in my family tree and haven't spent as much time posting about the generations that have come before. However, that doesn't mean my research has stopped and since 2011 I've made many new discoveries, both through DNA and by traditional research methods. Therefore, if we have common ancestors or research interests, PLEASE email me. My email is tracysroots at gmail dot com.

I will be happy to communicate with you. Who knows? I might have the information you need to knock down a brick wall. Or you could hold the key to something I've long searched for.

Don't be shy. Please email me at tracysroots at gmail dot com.

©2016, copyright tracysroots

Ancestors' Geneameme

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:07:00 +0000

Jill from the Geniaus blog has created a new meme: The Ancestors' Geneameme. Here are my results.

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item

Which of these apply to you?

Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents
Can name over 50 direct ancestors (I can name 108 at last count)
Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents (I have six, but have seen a portrait of the last two, but do not have a copy of it)
Have an ancestor who was married more than three times (I wrote about Medina Sherer here)
Have an ancestor who was a bigamist
Met all four of my grandparents (only three, my grandpa Lee died before I was born)
Met one or more of my great-grandparents (I saw my Hiby great-grandparents several times before they passed away)
Named a child after an ancestor (my children's middle names only)
Bear an ancestor's given name/s
Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland (my most recent would be Fanny Arnold Harmon, my 2nd great-grandmother)
Have an ancestor from Asia
Have an ancestor from Continental Europe (yep, lots)
Have an ancestor from Africa
Have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer (I think nearly all my ancestors were involved in agriculture)
Have an ancestor who had large land holdings (not sure how large is large, but many had 160+ acres)
Have an ancestor who was a holy man - minister, priest, rabbi (Rev. Isaac Grindstaff, a Baptist preacher)
Have an ancestor who was a midwife
Have an ancestor who was an author
Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy or Jones (sigh, yes, at least two different unrelated Jones lines)
Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki or Ng
Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X
Have an ancestor with a forename beginnining with Z (Zerlinda, daughter of Medina mentioned in #4 above)
Have an ancestor born on 25th December (nope but a set of great-great-grandparents got married on Christmas)
Have an ancestor born on New Year's Day (4 relatives, but not a direct ancestor)
Have blue blood in your family lines
Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth (my most recent ancestor of foreign birth is Fanny Arnold born in Warwickshire, England in 1856)
Can trace a direct family line back to the eighteenth century
Can trace a direct family line back to the seventeenth century or earlier
Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents
Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X (While I'm sure I do, I'd be happy to just have a copy of a marriage certificate!)
Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university (I was the first college graduate in my family, followed by my sister three years later)
Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offence (I've heard rumors of a bastardy bond filed against a couple of ancestors - sure would like to see the evidence of it.)
Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime
Have shared an ancestor's story online or in a magazine (several times here on my blog)
Have published a family history online or in print (Details please)
Have visited an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries
Still have an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family
Have a family bible from the 19th Century (I do have copies of pages from an early 20th century bible that lists some 19th births/marriages.)
Have a pre-19th century family bible

I have more on my list than I thought I would. It makes me feel like I've accomplished something in the last dozen years or so.

Porter J. Harmon and Rebecca Armstrong

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:10:00 +0000

Porter J. Harmon and Rebecca Armstrong are my third great-grandparents, through their son Walter Harmon.

Porter J. Harmon was born 14 May 1819 in New Marlborough, Berkshire, Massachusetts, to Walter Harmon and Azubah Hyde. He was the oldest of five known children of this couple. Very little is known of Porter's early years, but recent research has led me to his first marriage to Jane S. Hubbard on 25 November 1840 in Monterey, Berkshire, Massachusetts. To this union was born one known child, a daughter Emma Jane Harmon born about 1842.

By 1845, Porter, his daughter Emma Jane, his parents Walter and Azubah, his sister Mary and her husband Ira Heath, and another brother, had arrived in Whiteside Co, Illinois. Porter and his father Walter homesteaded property in what would later become Hopkins Township in Whiteside Co. More specifically they lived near a small community called Round Grove.

In 1849, Porter married Rebecca Armstrong, also of Round Grove. Rebecca was born in Pennsylvania in about 1825. While little else is known of Rebecca, I strongly believe that she is the daughter of the Barbara Armstrong living nearby in the 1850 census in Whiteside Co, Illinois. I have an unsourced date of death for Rebecca Armstrong Harmon as 31 March 1876. It may be likely she was buried in the nearby Round Grove Cemetery. Porter and Rebecca had the following children:

Adaline born Sept 1853, married Almon Zimmer on 3 July 1871 in Whiteside Co, Illinois and died 24 Jan 1922 in Clark Co, South Dakota.
Evaline born in 1855, married Lemuel Moffat on 20 Aug 1878 in Whiteside Co, Illinois and died in 1904 in Clarkesville, Butler, Iowa as a victim of a fire.
Walter J. Harmon, my great-great-grandfather, born Feb 1857 and died 6 June 1921 in Clark Co, South Dakota. He married Fannie Arnold on 16 Feb 1882 in Whiteside Co, Illinois.
Mary born May 1862, married Samuel F. Etter on 29 Dec 1881 in Whiteside Co, Illinois. By 1900 the couple was living in Adams Co, Washington.
Barbara born 1867 in Whiteside Co, Illinois
Milo born 1869 in Whiteside Co, Illinois. It is presumed he died before 1880 as he is not found in that census with the rest of the family.

Porter married for a third time on 24 Jun 1880 to Margaret Houston in Whiteside Co, Illinois. I do not know what became of Margaret after this time.

In about 1883, Porter, his son Walter and family, his daughter Adaline and family travelled to Clark Co, South Dakota where they homesteaded near the town of Clark. Porter died in Clark on 25 November 1897 after having gone out to do the chores. According to his obituary, Porter was living with his son Walter. Porter is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery north of Clark. His children Walter and Adaline and their spouses are buried nearby.

Please contact me if you are researching this family. I would be thrilled to share information. Sources available upon request.

©2011, copyright tracysroots

Memory Lane: What a Difference an Apple Makes

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 23:30:00 +0000

I was a tween in 1986 when I first worked on an Apple computer. It sat in the back corner of my school classroom and we were given assigned times to work on it. I recall it had a 5 1/4 inch floppy drive and a flashing green cursor, but have no recollection of what I did on the computer.

Two years later, I was in junior high at a different school district taking a required computer class. I again worked on an Apple computer until I had "paid my dues", so to speak, and was able to move up to one of the limited numbers of Macintoshes in the room. I was in love! This computer stuff was easy. I remember thinking once I learned to type (which came the next year - backwards, I know) working on computers was going to be great.

Fast forward to high school where I took a variety of business and computer classes as some of my elective choices. One of the offerings was desktop publishing on a Mac. I remember loving that class, the teacher, and marveling at how simple the Mac interface was. As a senior, my business teacher recommended that I take another class that focused on learning the PC interface as preparation for college. My god, it was like taking a step backwards trying to learn WordPerfect 5.1 on a DOS-based system. It got worse when as a college freshman I was required to take another computer basics class where we learned more DOS programs. I missed my Mac, but I was suddenly immersed in a PC world.

That was about the time I met my husband who was a landscape architecture student. Because of all the draft courses in his major, he used a Mac. I used his computer a few times to write papers, rather than fighting for a computer in the labs spread across campus. As my husband and I entered the workforce, our focused shifted to PCs and we drifted away from our beloved Apple products.

And then came the iPod. It was musical magic. I stopped buying cds and started converting our existing cds to play on the iPod. Then my husband upgraded to an iPhone, which really helped with his work. I was green with envy and couldn't wait until I was due for a phone upgrade. On Mother's Day 2011, my husband gave me a white iPhone. He was like a kid in a candy store as he helped me set up my new ~~toy~~ phone. The first app I downloaded was the Ancestry.com app so I could have my trees handy! While I never really cared about the kind of cell phone I had before, this iPhone has changed my life, just as I expect Steve Jobs thought it would.

Just last week while checking Facebook on my iPhone, I learned of Steve Jobs passing. It's hard to describe how his innovations have changed the last 25 years for me. Rest in peace, Mr. Jobs. There will never be another like you.

Note: I am not affiliated with Apple, Inc. or any of their products mentioned. I am just a satisfied paying customer.
©2011, copyright tracysroots

Children of Walter and Fanny (Arnold) Harmon

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:53:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my previous post, my great-great-grandparents, Walter and Fanny (Arnold) Harmon, had five children. In this post, I will present a bit more information about the children. Please contact me if you have further information. I would LOVE to share.

1. Edward Joseph Harmon, my great-grandfather. I wrote about him in this post.

2. Edna Barbara Harmon: born 16 Feb 1885 in Dakota Territory in what became Clark County, South Dakota. Edna married a second cousin, Willis Fellows Heath, in Clark 15 July 1901. According to the 1910 U.S. Federal census, they were in Jefferson Co, Colorado and had 2 living children (Maud and Emmett) and one child deceased. Willis registered for the WWI draft in Kansas City, Missouri and they were residents of that city in the 1920 U.S. Federal census. By 1930, they were apparently living apart. I have found Barbara living with their son Emmett. She lists herself as head of household and married. I have not been able to find Willis in 1930. Willis died 11 October 1944 in Kansas City of stomach cancer. The death certificate indicates he was buried in Lawrence, Kansas and his last residence was in Merriam, Kansas. Edna married a second time to a Clarence W. Harrod. She died 11 April 1951 in Kansas City as a result of bronchial pneumonia, abdominal peritonitis, and likely the ultimate culprit was metastasized liver cancer.

3. Ida Elizabeth Harmon: born 13 July 1890 in Clark Co, South Dakota. Ida married Walter W. Watson on the 30 October 1909. They were living in Clark Co in 1910 for the U.S. Federal Census but by about 1914, they had moved to Alberta, Canada. According to Fannie Arnold Harmon's obituary, Ida was living in Gadsby, Alberta Canada in 1945. She died there 14 May 1954 and is buried in Stetler-Lakeview Cemetery. Ida and Walter had at least four children: Vivien about 1911, Vienna about 1912, a son Virge about 1913 and Victor in 1929.

4. Fannie Mary Harmon: born 12 March 1892 in Clark Co, South Dakota. Fannie married Herbert E. Schaefer on the 6 June 1911 in Clark. By 1920, Fannie and Herbert were living in Orleans, Winnesheik Co, Iowa, which is the area Herbert was from. The couple had four children (birth dates are approximate): Esther b. 1914, Arvine b. 1915, Viola b. 1917, and Laverne b. 1923.

5. Morris Walter Harmon: born 25 April 1896 in Clark Co, South Dakota. Morris married Jessie Mae (last name unknown) prior to 1920. They had three children (birth dates are approximate): Wilma Joyce (1920-1920), Ida born 1922, and Izetta born 1923. Morris served as a Private in the Air Service in World War I. Morris lived in Clark County his entire life and died there in 1962. Jessie died in 1971. The couple is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Clark County, South Dakota in the Harmon family plot with Morris' parents, Walter and Fannie, and Walter's father, Porter Harmon. Their infant daughter, Wilma, is also in the family plot.

I would be thrilled to connect with any descendants of Edna, Ida, Fannie and Morris. I do have a few pictures and more specific information on the oldest child, Edward, who is my great-grandfather. I am happy to share my sources and further information. Also, if there are any errors in the above information, please let me know so I can update this post and my database.

©2009-2011, copyright tracysroots

Obituary of Fannie Arnold Harmon 1856-1945

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 01:59:00 +0000

Published in the Clark County Courier, June 14, 1945, Thursday edition:

Funeral Friday for Early Pioneer
Mrs. Fannie Harmon Passed Away in Clark Home Tuesday Evening.
Funeral service will be conducted from the Peace Evangelical Lutheran church Friday afternoon for Mrs. Fannie Harmon, early day pioneer of this community, who passed away Tuesday evening at the home of Mrs. Sarah Felstehausen in this city. Mrs. Harmon was nearly 89 years old at the time of her death.
Born at Warwickshire, England, November 7, 1856, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Arnold, she being the last member of a family of 13 children.
At the age of 10 years, Mrs. Harmon came to Ontario, Canada, with her parents. As a young woman she went to Illinois to work and there met and married Walter Harmon, at Round Grove, Illinois on February 16, 1882. To this union 5 children were born. Mr. and Mrs. Harmon came to Clark county, Dakota territory, in March, 1883 and filed on a claim in Mt. Pleasant township. They farmed in Clark county until 1908, when they moved to the city of Clark.
Mr. Harmon passed away at his home in Clark on June 6, 1921. Mrs. Harmon was a member of the church of England, and became a member of the Peace Evangelical Lutheran church of Clark, a few years ago.
Besides her five children, Edward of Henry, Morris of Raymond, Mrs. Edna Harrod of Kansas City, Mo., Mrs. Ida Watson of Gadsby Alberta, Canada, and Mrs. Fannie Schaefer of Cresco, Iowa, Mrs. Harmon is survived by 15 grandchildren and 18 great grand children.
Services will be held from the Peace Evangelical church in this city Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock with Rev. W. H. Zuecher in charger. Interment will be in the family lot in the Rose Hill cemetery. Pallbearers will be George Sherwood, Earl Anderson, Ardean Graff, E.A. Silfies, L.T. Strand and Max Brown.

Notes:
This obituary says she died at the home of Sarah Felstehausen. I do not recognize that as a relative nor do I recognize any of the names of the pallbearers. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who know know of those individuals.

©2011, copyright tracysroots

Memory Lane: The Challenger Explosion

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

That frosty January morning of my fifth grade year started as every other school day did. I got up and began to get ready for school. I decided I really didn't feel well and went to my mother. After feeling my forehead and taking the obligatory temperature, my mother decided I wasn't going to school that day. My sister, three years my junior, headed off on her own to wait for the bus. My mother got herself ready for work and then I was at home with just my grandma. I can't recall where my grandpa was but likely out working in his shop on something or other.

I had settled onto my mom's bed with pillow and blankets in tow to watch morning television. I distinctly recall seeing the first few minutes, maybe even as much as a half hour, of Bob Barker and The Price is Right. Suddenly there was a breaking news story cutting into the show. The Challenger launch at Cape Canaveral had gone awry. It was too early to know what happened, but I recall there was a lot of speculation on the news anchor's part.

When it became apparent that The Price is Right wasn't going to resume any time soon, I relocated to the living room sofa. My grandma had likely been watching Donahue as was her routine after everyone left for work or school. She was watching the NBC coverage and I can distinctly see Tom Brokaw talking about the apparent explosion of the Challenger Space Shuttle. The morning wore on, the coverage continued, and the questions began. I must have watched that short, but tragic video clip a hundred times that day. The focus seemed to be so much on Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space.

Probably the reason this day sticks so much in my memory was that Idaho teacher Barbara Morgan was in the Teacher in Space program with McAuliffe and was backup to McAuliffe for the Challenger launch. Our local news coverage was heavy in the days leading up to the Challenger launch, with particular emphasis on the Morgan connection. She was an elementary school teacher in the McCall-Donnelly School District and it was big news that little ol' Idaho had such a teacher worthy of being selected for this elite group. I remember it was talked about in my fifth grade class.

My memories of the rest of that day are blurry, likely from not feeling well. I know I went to school the following day. I remember the teacher talking to the class about explosion. It was the top story of the NBC news coverage for days to come. And I remember learning that the Teacher in Space program was suspended.

Though the program was halted due to the catastrophe that January day, Barbara Morgan did get her turn in space when in August 2007 she participated in a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. Following her successful mission, she has been a speaker and more recently at the local university as a Distinguished Educator in Residence. However, nearly all news coverage of her links her to the Challenger disaster and Christa McAuliffe.

It seems hard to believe 25 years have passed since that day I didn't feel well.
©2011, copyright tracysroots

Obituary of Walter J. Harmon 1857-1921

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

This obituary was published in the Clark County Courier, Clark, SD on June 9, 1921:

Walter J. Harmon Passed Away on Monday Morning
Another of the early settlers of this section passed to the great beyond at nine-forty Monday morning when the death angel called Walter J. Harmon to his eternal home.
Deceased was born at Round Grove, Ill., sixty-six years ago and was there united in marriage to Fannie Arnold in 1881. A year later he was one of a party who came to South Dakota and took up a homestead in section five, Mt. Pleasant township, where he lived for many years and raised a family of five children.
In 1907 Mr. Harmon moved to Clark where he has since resided and during the past several years has not enjoyed the best of health, having experienced a paralytic stroke a few years ago from which he never fully recovered and was unable to walk prior to his death.
Besides his widow, deceased is survived by three daughters and two sons, Mesdames Edna Heath of Kansas City, Walter Matson of Canada, and Herbert Schaeffer of Cesco, Iowa. Ed and Maurice of near Garden City. Funeral was held from the late home in this city Tuesday Afternoon with service at the Methodist church conducted by Rev. Hoyer and interment made in Rose Hill.

Notes:
First, I believe he was 64 years old rather than 66 at his death. He listed his birth month and year in the 1900 census as Feb 1857. Additionally, his headstone lists 1857 as his birth year.
Secondly, his daughter Ida married Walter Watson not Matson as listed above.
Lastly, his younger son's name was spelled Morris not Maurice.

©2011, copyright tracysroots

Take a Stroll With Me Down Memory Lane

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 04:01:00 +0000

For a long time now I have been trying to decide how to record some of the memories of my childhood, my college days and some of the memories of my husband and I before we got married. I want to be able to share those memories with my children who are now too little to understand them but hopefully someday can appreciate them. Additionally, now that my sister has been out-of-state for a few months and will likely move away permanently, I want to share with her some of the things I remember of our childhood. I hope maybe she will even want to share her stories and memories, since I know mine differ from hers. I have talked with my own mother and grandmother about things such as Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy Assassination, the Beatles invasion, Watergate and a whole plethora of now historical events. I want to have those same memories documented of the major historical events that have occurred in my lifetime. And, with luck, I can record some of the memories of my family, too.

I have been a long admirer of Greta's Memory Monday posts but lack the discipline to post weekly, not to mention the lack of comparable writing skills. Let's face it, nobody can tell the story of a simple dish like Greta! So in honor of Greta's original Memory Monday posts, I am creating my own Memory Lane posts. I hope you will join me as I take a stroll down my Memory Lane.

©2011, copyright tracysroots

Walter J. Harmon and Fanny Arnold

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:10:00 +0000

Walter Harmon and Fanny Arnold are my great-great-grandparents, through their son and eldest child, Edward Joseph Harmon.

Walter was born February 1857 in Whiteside Co, Illinois, likely in or near the community of Round Grove. He was the son of Porter J. Harmon and Rebecca Armstrong, and one of six children. When Walter was 19 his mother passed away, leaving some younger siblings without a mother in the house.

Fanny was born in Berkswell, Warwickshire, England on 7 November 1856, the daughter of Edward Arnold and Mary Arnold. When Fanny was only about 4 years old, Mary died, leaving four young children. Edward remarried to Emma Smith and had several more children. At about the age of 10, Edward and Emma brought their children to Niagara, Ontario, Canada. They settled in this area and as of current research, Fanny is the only child that I have found to have left Canada. In about 1881, Fanny arrived in Whiteside Co, Illinois though by what route I do not know nor do I know the reason she came.

On the 16th of February 1882, Walter and Fanny were united in marriage. Their first child, Edward, was born in 1883 and as a two-month-old infant the family relocated to Dakota Territory. Walter and Fanny homesteaded property in Clark Co, Dakota Territory, in what is now Clark County, South Dakota. It appears that Walter's sister, Adaline, and her husband Almon Zimmer, as well as their father, Porter Harmon all came together from Whiteside Co, Illinois.

Walter and Fanny had five children:

Edward Joseph, my great-grandfather, born 9 Jan 1883 in Whiteside Co, Illinois
Edna Barbara born 16 Feb 1885 in Clark, Clark Co, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota)
Ida Elizabeth born 13 Jul 1890 in Clark, Clark Co, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota)
Fannie Mary born 21 Mar 1892 in Clark, Clark Co, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota)
Morris Walter born 25 Apr 1896 in Clark, Clark Co, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota)

Their original homestead was in Mt. Pleasant township in Clark Co. Research indicates that Walter's father, Porter, likely lived with Walter and Fanny on their farm until his death in 1897. By 1910, the family had moved into the town of Clark and lived their until Walter's death on 6 Jun 1921. According to Walter's obituary, he had suffered a stroke some years prior that left him unable to continue farming. He died within days of my grandfather Fred's birth. I always have wondered if Walter ever saw his grandson through which the family middle name of Joseph was passed along.

Fannie Arnold Harmon - July 1944

As a result of Walter's death, Fanny was a widow for over 20 years. During her later years, she lived with her son Edward. My grandfather Fred was the youngest of the children in the house, so he spent some of those years at home with his grandmother Fanny living with them. Because she was only 4'10" tall, Fred had coined the term "Little Grandma" and I remember as a child hearing him refer lovingly to his "Little Grandma". She died 12 Jun 1945, just mere months before my grandpa Fred returned from his military service in her home country of England. I remember him speaking with regret that he didn't make it home in time to see her before her death.

Walter and Fanny are buried together in Rose Hill Cemetery, north of the city of Clark, Clark Co., South Dakota. On my mother's recent trip to South Dakota, she photographed the headstones of her great-grandparents.

Photo taken June 2010

Please contact me for more information, especially if you descend from Walter and Fannie. Please note that I have seen Fanny's name also spelled Fannie.

©2009-2011 copyright. All rights reserved.

Honored to be Ancestor Approved

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 02:45:00 +0000

I have been remiss in acknowledging the kindness of two fellow bloggers for awarding me with the Ancestor Approved Award originally created by Leslie Ann Ballou of Ancestors Live Here. Back in December, Cheri Daniels of Journeys Past posted a comment to honor me with this award. Last evening, I was pleased to received it again from Sue Edminster of Echo Hill Ancestors. Both of these wonderful blogs were new (to me) and have been added to my Google Reader. Please take the time to visit and add them to your feed.

Considering I haven't been a consistent blogger of late, I am deeply honored these ladies think enough of what I have done here to consider me for this award. When I first received this award last spring, I posted my list of what surprised, humbled or enlightened me and that list is still appropriate today. I hope you will take the time to revisit that post.

As for passing it on, I am behind (again) in my reading and have no idea who has received this or not. At this time, I will defer passing it along but there are hundreds and hundreds of wonderful genealogy blogs written every day so please consider yourself honored. I would be thrilled to read your list so please share.

©2011, copyright tracysroots

Looking Back at 2010 - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Because my computer is bogged down in an online backup, it is too terribly slow to try to upload photos of the things I discuss below. Please look for those at a future date.

Please see Part 1 where I discussed my 2010 goals.

At some point this summer I realized that once my second daughter was born, I stopped making an effort to put up recent pictures of our girls and stopped updating photo albums. Two children became more than double the work and I really let things slip. As a way to make up for that and to document our lives currently, I decided to take the plunge to begin digital scrapbooking. I had successfully completed one traditional (i.e. paper) scrapbook a few years ago which both girls love to look at. It really hit me that the album I had made was of my older daughter at about the age my younger daughter is now. I knew I needed to make something for both girls that they could view (and laugh about) for years to come.

I have successfully completed one digital album that also doubled as a gift. Last August we took a trip to the Oregon Coast. My in-laws and two nephews joined us. There were lots of wonderful memories from that trip. For my mother-in-law's Christmas gift this year, I made a 10 page album with all the pages made digitally. The bonus is that I can make copies for us as well. Two albums for the work on one! I am all about saving time.

The second way I decided to document our lives was to make an album (12x12 size) that documents each year's Christmas photo and letter. Yes, I am one of these people that write a standard letter to enclose with the Christmas cards. Because I send out over 40 cards each year I simply do not have time to write a personalized letter. I was able to find letters dating back to 2000 which is probably the first year I wrote such a letter. I am making an individual scrapbook page for each year from 2000 until 2003. Beginning in 2004, I am doing a two-page spread that has one side with the letter and the other side with the Christmas photo of our family. It has been a lot of fun to read about the major happenings in our lives like the year we got a new puppy and two weeks later I had thyroid surgery, or the first Christmas after 9/11, or the year our oldest daughter was born followed four years later by her baby sister. It's amazing some of the details that I have forgotten. This album is helping us to remember.

If you are interested in documenting the stories of our lives now, especially through digital scrapbooking, I highly recommend the following:

Ali Edwards - Beautiful photography and with a strong emphasis on the story
Cathy Zielske - First off, she's very funny, but she makes beautiful, simple pages. She, too, emphasizes the story.
Renee Pearson - She has a wonderful intro to digital scrapbooking class called Just The Basics.
Jessica Sprague - Extensive class selection on all things digital for scrapbooking, photo editing and design. I have taken her Family History Album class as well as Up And Running, an intro to digital scrapbooking. I also will be completing the followup for the intermediate level.

While I am no artist, I have created some pages that my daughters can look back on fondly and remember. That to me has become one of the most important things I did in 2010.

©2010, copyright tracysroots

How One Little Word Will Guide My 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

I will readily admit that I am not good at New Year Resolutions. I always start out with a bang and fizzle in no short order as my work week rapidly expands to 50+ hours through mid-April. By that time, I'm tired and have long forgotten what I wanted to do on January 1st.

I have been very intrigued by scrapbook blogger Ali Edward's One Little Word concept and how it guides so many people through their new year. Once I started thinking about this concept, I realized that this is actually something that might work for me. It's not a Resolution (which always get broken) and it's not a Goal (which I'm not so good at either). It's just one word. I can do that!

So then I started thinking about how I wanted this word to correlate to my family history research AND work with the memories my family is making now. All of December I spent agonizing over this choice and realized that it shouldn't have to be agonizing....that's how I feel about resolutions and I didn't want this to end as those usually do.

While many people following Ali's blog or taking the class came up with very profound, thought-provoking words, I chose something simpler. For me, my word is Completion.

I started by making a list of the top 10 items I wanted to complete during the year. And I don't mean start, lose interest in and abandon. I mean complete, as in finish, be done with....well you get the idea. I won't list them all right now, but I can say I have made great headway already on three of those items.

First on the list was to sign up for Mozy Home. I actually signed up on December 30th to take advantage of a coupon for a year's subscription. I downloaded the program, selected the files to backup on my new computer and the external hard drive (in my case these are not duplicates) and it is has been chugging along ever since. With over 30,000 files to backup, it's a slow process but one that I feel is very worthwhile.

The second and third items on the list are really the same project, just one for each of my daughters. When I was a child, my mother saved the greeting cards I received for birthdays, holidays and Valentine's from school friends. She put those in a scrapbook for me and it was always so much fun to look at all of the pages. I wanted to do the same thing for my children so when my older daughter was a year old I gathered all of the cards and put them in an album....and that is where the project stopped. She is now nearly 7. So I started by tackling the smaller scrapbook for my two-year-old and I can happily report hers is complete through 2010. I am still in the sorting and organizing phase for my older daughter but am very close to putting those into an album for her.

Already Completion is working for me. Here it is the 11th of January and I have made progress. While my list isn't static and I do expect to make changes over the course of the year, I will continue to work through them. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

©2011, copyright tracysroots

Looking Back at 2010 - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 03:36:00 +0000

To say that I will miss 2010 as a whole would be a lie. While I will miss the ages that my children are at the moment (6 and 2) and the funny things they have done this year, the rest of 2010 can just go away as far as I'm concerned. Between car accidents (my sister's and my husband's), my grandmother's health, my work that has kept me busier this year than in the past, along with a plethora of other unexpected things, 2010 has been a blur.

Because of all the extraneous stuff that has occurred, I also have sort of lost that urgent desire to work on my genealogy. The first half of the year I continued documenting and researching and then June came along and it was downhill from there. So when I set my 2010 goals, I was clearly being optimistic! When I started writing today's post, I figured I would be very embarassed to say that I didn't do anything on my goals that I set a year ago. However, I can honestly say that I did make some progress, small though it may be. Here is a recap of where I am on my 2010 goals:

1. I am continuing sourcing records in my database. I have approximately 1900 individuals in my database and I left off sourcing at the 1880 census. That means I still have 1900 through 1930 to go.....will I make it before the 1940 census is released?

2. I wanted to complete the Illinois Prairie Pioneer Certificate on my ancestor Walter Harmon and his wife Azubah Hyde Harmon. I made it as far as printing out the application and filling out a draft in pencil. I did this so I could see what pieces I was missing. Unfortunately, there was more missing than I thought and so it sat to collect dust.

3. My third goal was to sort old photos with my mom and grandmother. This is easier said than done. We did spend several hours in late May sifting photos and trying to identify people, years and locations. We laughed and shed a few years. It was a nice way to spend a few hours. I left my grandmother's with some things to scan. And that's where this project ends for 2010.

4. I set a goal to continue writing mini "bios" on my ancestors. During 2010, I managed to do at least three more of these in addition to posting some updates on previous bios. I was expecting to do more of these, but part of the problem lies in the need to scan some documents to add to the posts.

5. My last goal was to write a few sentences on a near daily basis of what was happening in our lives. I was able to maintain this for a few months and then chaos took over. My entries became more sporadic and highlighted the "big" things and fewer of the daily tidbits of life with two small children. Please read Part 2 of this series of posts to see how I am continuing to document our lives for the future generations.

There are a few other accomplishments that are worthy of a mention. I have been attending a RootsMagic User Group at my local Family History Center. I also attended the 2010 Fall BYU-Idaho Family History Conference in October and attended five very worthwhile classes. Lastly, I know my blogging (minimal as it has been) has been worth it. Several distant cousins and fellow researchers have contacted me regarding some of my posts. Creating "cousin bait" through blogging has most definitely been worth the effort.

While my 2010 goals weren't a complete failure, they weren't a roaring success either. Therefore, I bid adieu and good riddance to this year. May 2011 be more successful.

©2010, copyright tracysroots

Carnival of Genealogy #100: My Family and a Murderess

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 02:46:00 +0000

This is written for the 100th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy entitled "There's One in Every Family". My take on this theme is that every family has a sensational story, one that has morphed over time into something juicier than it probably was. It is my heartfelt sentiment that the story I present here absolutely does not happen to every family!

My Family and a Murderess. That sounds just like a title for a fictional murder mystery. Alas, this story is very true. For anyone that lives outside of the state of North Carolina and perhaps more so out of the western North Carolina mountains, you've probably never heard of Frankie Silver, known as one of the few women in the state to be hung for murder. I know I hadn't.

As I began my Mitchell County, North Carolina research, I tried to gain a general overview of the area, the people, the work they did, and what brought them there. I don't even recall when I first heard about the story of Charlie and Frankie (Stewart) Silver, but I remember seeing snippets of information here and there alluding to the notorious crime. Out of morbid curiosity, I searched the internet for information and read some books only to discover a sad story from the 1830s, and much to my surprise, with connections to my own ancestors.

THE MURDER

On a cold December day in 1831, a nineteen year old Charlie Silver was murdered by his wife, eighteen year old Frances "Frankie" Stewart Silver. Charlie was hacked to death with an ax and dismembered in their cabin in the mountains of what was then Burke County, North Carolina (now Mitchell County). The story goes that Charlie had gone out hunting though Frankie may have suspected drinking and carousing. He came home, perhaps drunk, an altercation ensued, and the result was the death of Charlie. The facts are not all clear, but Frankie may have been protecting herself and their toddler from Charlie's violent behavior. Or perhaps Frankie had just had enough and in a fit of rage attacked her husband. Apparently aware of the violence she had committed and for the need to dispose of his remains, she cut up his body and burned it in their fireplace.

In any case, it was not disputed that Frankie bundled up her daughter and went to her in-laws home the next day asking for the whereabouts of her husband. They hadn't seen him for a few days, since he had left on his hunting trip. Apparently she then went to her parent's home. The Silvers and other neighbors became worried when Charlie didn't return and a manhunt began. Perhaps Frankie's story began to unravel then but suspicions were definitely aroused. His remains were not immediately found, but an oily residue in her fireplace and the fact that a weeks worth of firewood was gone were strong suspicions for something amiss. The very clean floorboards were lifted up in their small cabin and blood stains were found on the ground beneath.

THE ARREST

There are a variety of things that cause great speculation even all these 179 years later. It was said that Charlie had a tendency towards alcohol, towards abusing his wife, and towards messing around with other women. There was speculation that Frankie may have acted in self-defense, or to protect their baby, while Charlie was on a drunk. Alas, no one knows what ever happened that night to cause her to ax him to death.

About a week after the murder, Frankie, her mother and her brother were arrested and taken to the jail in Morganton, Burke Co, North Carolina. An inquest followed and her mother and brother were later released for lack of evidence, but Frankie was held over for trial. She had a young lawyer who may not have fully explained her rights or what was likely to happen to her. Since court met infrequently (usually quarterly), she was in jail for some time and quite a distance from her family.

THE TRIAL

A jury of Frankie's peers, all men, was gathered and the evidence presented. Because of the laws at the time, a defendant was not allowed to testify on his or her behalf. The conviction came swiftly with the jury never hearing from Frankie. Death by hanging was to be Frankie's fate. At some point while awaiting execution, Frankie stated that she acted in self-defense. Seven of the twelve jurors then came forward to petition to overturn the conviction. An appeal was made to the state's Supreme Court. Friends and neighbors of the Stewart family came forward on her behalf. During the time leading up to her hanging, her family helped her to break out of jail. She was found wearing a man's hat and coat walking behind an uncle's wagon when officials caught up with them. But all these efforts were to no avail.

THE HANGING

It was a warm July day in 1833 when the hanging occurred. Legend has it that her father stood in the assembled crowd and yelled up to Frankie as she stood on the gallows. His supposed words: "Die with it in you, Frankie." A lot could be read into that statement and it has probably morphed into more than what ever really occurred that day. What appears to be fact is her father was there to take her remains home to a final resting place. Due to the rugged mountain conditions and the summer temperatures, it was a slow trip home. As a result, she is supposedly buried in an unmarked location on the road outside Morganton. A memorial has been erected in her memory near where she is believed to have been buried.

MY FAMILY'S CONNECTIONS

So what does this all mean to me? First, I should begin by saying that at the present time I have not found any direct genealogical connection to either Charlie or Frankie. However, my ancestors were neighbors of both the Silver and Stewart families. As I was reading Perry Deane Young's book, The Untold Story of Frankie Silver, I discovered that some of the members of the inquest, a prosecution witness, and petitioners to the governor were my ancestors.

My fourth great-grandfather, Isaac Grindstaff, appears as a witness for the defense. According to Young, Isaac later identifies himself as a member of the inquest jury. It should be noted that there was more than one Isaac Grindstaff in this area, but for this time frame, my ancestor seems to be the likely Isaac.

My fourth great-grandfather, Thomas Howell, served as a witness to the grand jury and later as a witness for the prosecution. Thomas was a blacksmith and apparently made Charlie Silver's shoe buckles which were identified amongst the burned remains.

My fourth great-grandfather, Hector McNeill, as well as a John McNeill, a Dim McNeill and a Malcolm McNeill all signed an undated petition to Governor Montfort Stokes requesting he pardon the prisoner. The document states that many of those signers were neighbors of the defendant and knew her to be of good character.

My third great-grandfather, Archibald McNeill, was the son of Hector and son-in-law of Thomas Howell. Archibald's second marriage was to Sarah Ann Sparks Silver. Sarah was the widow of Reuben Silver, brother to the murdered Charlie. According to Cabins in the Laurel by Muriel Earley Sheppard, Arch built a cabin backed up to the same chimney where Frankie committed her crime. Sheppard writes the original cabin was gone but the chimney and fireplace were in strong condition. She goes on to state that Arch's wife (Sarah) found one of Charlie's "shoeheel irons jammed into the stones of the fireplace." The said victim was Sarah's former brother-in-law and were made by Arch's former father-in-law.

Oh what a tangled web. And such a sad, sad story. This month marks the 179th year since this crime occurred. The truth behind the murder may never be known and speculation still runs rampant. I hope the victims, for I believe Charlie and Frankie were both victims, rest in peace.

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:

I know that I have not done justice to the story of Frankie Stewart Silver. Any errors in the above information are mine. For further information, please consider reading the following books or visiting these websites.

The Untold Story of Frankie Silver by Perry Deane Young.
Wikipedia's page on Frankie Stewart Silver
Charlie's memorial at Find A Grave
Frankie's memorial at Find A Grave
A summary from the North Carolina Museum of History.
For a fictional account, I recommend The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb
The Burke County Visitor's center has an article
The Frankie Foundation which produced a play describing these tragic events
Cabins in the Laurel by Muriel Earley Sheppard

December Dates in My Family History

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:00:00 +0000

6th - anniversary of Porter J. Harmon and Rebecca Armstrong, my 3rd great-grandparents, in 1849 in Whiteside Co, Illinois

9th - anniversary of Rev. Isaac Grindstaff and Mary Jane Woody, my 2nd great-grandparents, in 1872 in Mitchell Co, North Carolina

13th - death of Solomon Scherer or Sherer, my 4th great-grandfather, in Nodaway Co, Missouri

25th - anniversary of Robert Nelson McNeill and Margaret Ledford, my 2nd great-grandparents, in 1877 in Mitchell Co, North Carolina

28th - birthday of Sarah Jane Johnson, my 2nd great-grandmother, in 1856 in Randolph Co, North Carolina

November Dates in My Family History

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:00:00 +0000

5th - birthday of Kate Nellie Arthur, my great-grandmother, in 1889, in Moody Co, South Dakota, just three days after statehood

7th - birthday of Fannie Arnold, my 2nd great-grandmother, in 1856 in Berkeswell, Warwickshire, England

19th - birthday of Bertel Scott, my great-grandfather, in 1884

25th - death of Porter J. Harmon, my 3rd great-grandfather, in 1897 in Clark Co, South Dakota

26th - anniversary of Bertel Scott and Frona Rebecca Greathouse, my great-grandparents, in 1907 in Kansas City, Missouri

A Memory Fading

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 22:00:00 +0000

In the last few years I have noticed my grandmother's memory becoming a bit more precarious. Things that happened many years ago were very clear while what happened a few days ago was not. When I have mentioned these issues to my mother, she didn't notice them as much because she sees my grandma on a more regular basis. However, in the last 12-18 months, it has become more of a concern. Her father suffered from "senility" which we would now term to be some form of dementia, so we knew the likelihood of her suffering from memory loss was pretty great.

As a result of these circumstances, my mom, sister and I have tried to get more stories recorded, more old pictures looked over, and more things written down. Over Memorial Day weekend, we sat with a big pile of photos, some more labeled and some not. We worked to identify some of the people in the photos and I took notes. They were also preparing to leave for their June trip to South Dakota so I went to the Clark County Genweb site and printed the cemetery transcription where I knew a vast majority of our relatives were laid to rest. My mom helped my grandma and her brother as they discussed the names of the burials. Mom took notes of who the people were, how they were related or if they were just a family acquaintance. I now need to update my database.

For a long time I have been contemplating how to document my mother's childhood. She was like an "army brat" in that she attended 13 different schools from Kindergarten to her Senior year of high school. However, my grandfather wasn't in the Service during those years. He worked in construction, specifically welding which was a trade he learned during his years in the Army stationed at Warton Air Base in England. As a result, his life work included working at the Naval Base in Bremerton, Washington, he spent several summers in the 1950s working in Alaska, and later with a company named Chicago Bridge & Iron where he became a job foreman.

My solution to document the schools my mother attended as well as the myriad of places my grandparents lived and worked was to come up with a spreadsheet. I broke it down into each year from the time my grandparents married until the early 1980s as I know where they were after that period. I was primarily trying to get her to write down where they lived from roughly 1946 until my early childhood when they were more stationary. I listed each year on the left side providing two or three lines of space for her to write. Across the top I put columns for the city and state they were living, the job he was working on, and any significant memory from that location.

A recent memory came just a few weeks ago after the devastating gas explosion and fire in San Bruno, California. About 1967 or 1968, my grandfather was building a tank for Pacific Gas & Electric just a few miles to the north of where the recent explosion occurred. She described the job site, how their trailer was parked on the site, what they did on the weekends, etc.

I also prepared a spreadsheet for my mother listing years along the side and columns across the top. Because she remembers where she attended school each year and can sometimes even remember the month they moved from one place to another, I wanted them to work together. I knew that my mom could prompt grandma's memory. I also wanted my mom to list her teacher and a significant memory from each of those places. She still speaks fondly of the woman who read "Little House in the Big Woods" to the class. She made sure my sister and I read those stories as children and now I am beginning to read them to my oldest daughter.

It has been probably three weeks since I gave those pages to my mom and grandma. We haven't really talked much about them and I hadn't asked about their progress. Last night my mother called me as she was on the way to taking my grandmother to the emergency room. My mother suspected she had a mini-stroke. My mother's suspicions were confirmed as the doctor diagnosed a TIA and gave them instructions on follow-up appointments for today. As I write this, I am waiting for another update.

If there is a moral to this story it is this: do not wait. Do not wait to document stories. Do not wait to label photographs with the only person who knows who is in the pictures. And above all else, do not wait to visit the doctor. Go now to get your blood pressure and cholesterol checked and whatever other pertinent screenings you need. Your family will thank you.

©2010, copyright tracysroots

October Dates in My Family History

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:00:00 +0000

6th - death of Eunice Brown, my 3rd great-grandmother, in 1867, in Northfield, Rice Co, Minnesota, just three days shy of her 18th wedding anniversary.

9th - anniversary of Thomas Arthur and Eunice Brown, my 3rd great-grandparents, in 1849. They were married in Trumbull Co, Ohio

22nd - death of Robert Nelson McNeill, my 2nd great-grandfather, in Asheville, Buncombe Co, North Carolina

29th - birthday of Robert Nelson McNeill, my 2nd great-grandfather, in 1858

31st - birthday of Isaac Harmon in 1773. I believe Isaac to be my 5th great-grandfather, through Walter Harmon (1798-1865)

Edward Joseph Harmon and Kate Nellie Arthur

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Edward Joseph Harmon and Kate Nellie Arthur are my great-grandparents, through their youngest son, Fred. They had both passed on by the time I was born but my mother remembers them well and has shared many stories with me.

Edward Joseph Harmon was born 9 January 1883 in either Morrison or Round Grove, Whiteside Co, Illinois to Walter and Fannie (Arnold) Harmon, the first of five children. When he was perhaps a year or so old, Walter and Fannie left Illinois and homesteaded in Clark Co, Dakota Territory. He was raised on a farm in or around the community of Clark.

Kate Arthur Harmon,
date unknown

Kate Nellie Arthur was born 5 Nov 1889 on a homestead near Trent, Moody Co, South Dakota, just three days after South Dakota achieved statehood. Her parents were Homer Eugene Arthur and Amanda Savilla Myers; she was the fifth of six children. Her parents later left Moody Co. and traveled north to Clark Co. where Homer obtained more farmland.

Ed and Kate were married 30 November 1910 about six miles east of Clark, presumably at one of their homes. They lived in Clark Co. or neighboring Codington Co. their entire married life with the exception of a short stint in Santa Cruz, California in the late 1930s. They had three sons: Kenneth, Harry and Fred, my grandfather. Seven grandchildren would follow in later years.

Obituary for Edward Joseph Harmon
found in Fred Harmon's personal papers,
newspaper unknown, but likely a Clark
or Codington County, SD newspaper

Ed suffered a stroke and for several years was cared for by Kate in their home, but eventually he had to be moved to a nursing home. He died 31 Jan 1960 in Watertown, Codington Co, South Dakota. Kate lived to the age of 84 and died 21 Sept 1974 in Clark, Clark Co, South Dakota. They are laid to rest in Lorinda Cemetery, Graceland Township, Codington Co, South Dakota.

I remember my grandfather talking about his parents often. His father was strict and expected hard work from his sons. I speculate that the sense of humor my grandfather had came from his father. I think my mother and I both have some of it and I can see those same things coming out in my oldest daughter. We often refer to it as the "Harmon sense of humor." His mother, Kate, was the family historian and photographer. My grandfather was given a family history record for Christmas 1955 that we still have today. In it, Kate painstakingly laid out her son's pedigree, listing birth, marriage and death dates and locations, all the way through his great-grandparents. Without her information to get me started, it would have been a much slower process to gather the data I have today.

We have copies of many of the wonderful photos that Kate took over the years. Apparently she liked to catch you unawares and take your picture, often times by coming around the corner of the house and taking the photo. Some of her grandchildren later termed this "shooting from the hip" as she'd hold that camera against her hip, look down through the view finder, and capture the image. One of the other memories my mother shared with me was Kate's love of books. Mom remembers she had stacks of books upstairs in her house.

My grandfather, Fred, had a terrible sweet tooth and he and his mother would make homemade ice cream. They would eat the whole container just the two of them. Apparently my grandfather used to crack jokes that we "gotta get ready for the 4th" [of July] in imitation of his mother. Now I always remember him as a sort of "bah humbug" about 4th of July but as a child his parents would have a celebration that required some big preparations. I understand one of those was hand cranked ice cream so his sweet tooth was established early in life.

I'd like to think that my love of books, family history, and photos comes from Kate. I was born just a few short months after her death, but she knew that my mom, her youngest grandchild, was going to have her first baby. My research would be nothing without the wonderful documentation Kate left behind.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 17:55:00 +0000

This post should more aptly be called "Why I Haven't Had Time to Blog". Since the beginning of June, the following things have happened, both genealogical and non-genealogical, and in no particular order:

Kindergarten graduation
two weeks of tennis lessons
swim lessons
our thirteenth wedding anniversary
my husband was involved in a small car accident (he was fine)
car shopping (the car was not fine)
a few days spent at Tamarack Resort in beautiful Donnelly, Idaho with my husband's father and his wife
some volunteer work
I have been attending a new RootsMagic User Group recently established in my area. There have been monthly meetings held at our local family history center. I have been the only non-LDS person in attendance and also the youngest. I was very flattered when the organizer asked me to present a topic on color coding, a feature I use and love.
My mother and grandmother took a trip to western South Dakota to visit my mother's first cousin on her paternal side (Harmon), and then off to eastern South Dakota to visit with all of the remaining family from my grandmother's side (Hiby and Hanson). I had prepared a list of cemeteries for her to visit and photograph the headstones with her new digital camera. She had done this for me 6 years ago, but it was on film. She was hoping to avoid doing this again, but I convinced her digital images would be better! :)
One week prior to my mom's departure in June, I received an email from a Clark County, South Dakota resident who was writing on behalf of a woman without a computer. As we wrote back and forth, it was determined that his friend, Mary Lou, was a granddaughter of Homer Arthur (my 2nd great-grandfather), making her my late grandfather's first cousin. It was an absolute thrill and the timing couldn't have been better, but I had to scramble to gather data to send with my mom. As a result of all the back and forth emailing, my mother and grandmother were able to meet Mary Lou, her husband, and later her brother and his wife. There were many stories shared back and forth, of what the rumors were on the family, and even a few photos. My research to establish Homer's parents as Thomas Arthur and Eunice Brown was new to her and she was excited to know this piece of information.
a road trip from our home in southwest Idaho to the Oregon coast. This long of a trip was a new experience for our two- and six-year old daughters. The older one actually made it four hours before asking "Are we there yet?" We stayed with a college girlfriend of mine in Vancouver, Washington and then met up with my mother-in-law, her husband, and our two nephews (ages three and six) at the Portland, Oregon airport. We spent the next five glorious days taking in the sights and sounds of the coast from Tillamook to Newport, with our home base in a beautiful house on Siletz Bay in Lincoln City. It was truly a wonderful way to relax and watch our daughters play with their grandparents and cousins.
school supplies and clothes shopping
and finally, the first weeks of a new school year. It is a big transition going from half-day Kindergarten to all-day First Grade. She loves school and her teacher said she is a "reading rock star". We are very proud of her.

So I am in "catch up" mode and will get back on track with sharing some information. My intent is to switch gears and focus on the Harmon and Arthur lines as some exciting discoveries have been made recently.

September Dates in My Family History

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:32:00 +0000

Important dates for September in my family history include:

10th - death of Iver Hiby, my 2nd great-grandfather, in 1951 in Hamlin, South Dakota

21st - death of Kate Nellie Arthur, my great-grandmother, in 1974 in Clark Co, South Dakota. She was married to Edward Harmon.

22nd - anniversary of Abraham Lincoln Greathouse and Sarah Jane Johnson in 1910. They were married in Kansas, likely Johnson Co. Sarah was my 2nd great-grandmother. Abraham is the brother of Sarah's first husband, William Michael Greathouse.

August Dates in My Family History

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:27:00 +0000

As in July, this month only has a few dates in my family history.

4th - birthday of Homer Eugene Arthur, my 2nd great-grandfather, in 1850. He likely was born in Trumbull Co, Ohio where his parents, Thomas Arthur and Eunice Brown were married in 1849.

8th - anniversary of Conrad Coons Scott and Zerlinda Jane (Jennie) Pitts, my 2nd great-grandparents, in 1869 in Nodaway Co, Missouri

30th - death of Walter Harmon, my 4th great-grandfather, in 1865 in Whiteside Co., Illinois. He is buried in Round Grove Cemetery in the same county.

July Dates in My Family History

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:25:00 +0000

Only a couple of dates in my family history for July:

10th - anniversary of Absalom Stroud Pitts and Medina Sherer, my 3rd great-grandparents, in 1853

16th - death of Lee McNeill, my grandfather, in 1971 in Sacramento, California

31st - death of Archibald McNeill, my 3rd great-grandfather, in Mitchell County, North Carolina. He is buried in what is called McNeill Cemetery in Mitchell Co. with his second wife, Sarah Ann Elizabeth Sparks.

June Dates in My Family History

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:00:00 +0000

1st - birthday of Fred Joseph Harmon, my grandfather, in 1921 in Clark Co, South Dakota

2nd - birthday of Titus Brown, my 4th great-grandfather, in 1792 in Connecticut

6th - death of Walter J. Harmon, my 2nd great-grandfather, in 1921 in Clark Co, South Dakota

12th - death of Fannie Arnold in 1945 in Clark Co, South Dakota. She was married to Walter Harmon (above) and they were my 2nd great-grandparents.

13th - birthday of Frona Rebecca Greathouse, my great-grandmother, in 1890 in either Webster or Wright Co, Missouri

14th - birthday of Isaac Grindstaff, my 4th great-grandfather, in 1773 in North Carolina

24th - anniversary of Porter J. Harmon, my 3rd great-grandfather, and Margaret Houston in 1880. I believe Margaret was his third wife. They were married in Whiteside Co, Illinois

25th - birthday of Eunice Brown, my 3rd great-grandmother, in 1826 in Ashtabula Co, Ohio. She was the daughter of Titus Brown, above, and the wife of Thomas Arthur

25th - death of Bedie Buchanan, my 3rd great-grandmother, in Bakersville, Mitchell Co., North Carolina. She was the wife of Henry Grindstaff.

29th - death of Frona Rebecca Grindstaff, just two weeks after her 81st birthday, in Sacramento, California