The Sum Of All My Research

I've moved!

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 17:56:00 +0000

Well I've finally done it......I've moved this blog to the backup site. I've thought about it for a long time even ask you, my loving readers, opinions and now I have decided to act on the thought.

With the new year comes a new blog address and a new blog look. If you want to check out the new digs and start following me over there, I welcome you. The new address is: https://debsresearch.wordpress.com/

I will still leave this site up, but I will not add any more content to it.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please check out the new site ;)

Happy Birthday Minnie!

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 02:51:00 +0000

My paternal grandmother, Minnie Frances Shofner, was born on this date in 1915 in Allendale, Green County, Kentucky. SOOO thanks to my public school education I know she would have been 100 years old today.

I have found these wonderful pictures of her as a young girl and young woman in family photo albums.

Minnie Shofner as a young girl

Minnie Shofner as a young girl in school

Minnie Shofner in about 1933 wearing a red dress

Happy Birthday Grandma and hope you enjoy the pictures.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Mystery Monday - Eliza and possible Eliza

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 10:30:00 +0000

Ok I know I've asked you my dear readers to give opinions on family pictures the last couple of blog postings, but I really do value your thoughts and ideas. So here's another chance for you all to give me your 2 cents. I have a wonderful picture of a young woman only recently found in family pictures. Of course there is no label or pencil marking(s) stating or hinting at her identity.

Here's what I DO know:

She's pretty
The picture is on metal probably tin
Her earrings, necklace and lace are painted on or enhanced
It was found with my maternal aunt's family pictures - that narrows down the possibilities

Ok here is where your 2 cents come in......

The picture on the left is the newly found picture. The one on the right is a known picture of my great-great grandmother, Eliza Ann (Scott) DeSpain. So I put them side by side so you can see any similarities or differences they may have:

The longer I look at them the more I think they look alike. I will refrain from stating my opinion of their similarities so see what you all come up with.

As always thank you all so much for taking the time to read and comment on this blog of mine.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Veteran's Day - One mother's thoughts on having a son at war

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Wishing everyone a happy Veteran's day. I found this clipping that my maternal grandmother, Gussie (DeSpain) Munday had posted in the newspaper. It is about how she (and probably the family) felt about her son, William L Munday, being in Germany and the war.

The clipping reads:

"Dedicated to my son, T/5 William L. Munday, in Germany.
Many months ago as the battles raged on and the old war clouds hung so low, we stood at the bus station one afternoon and watched our darling go. As we held him closely in our arms and bid him goodbye, we thought our hearts would break, but with bright eyes and a sweet brave smile, he said goodbye through falling tears. We watched him go as he stepped in the bus. We prayed "Dear God in Heaven, keep him through this awful war."
Then the days and weeks went by, not knowning what we might hear, but praying continually to God to keep our soldier dear.
After weeks came a letter, telling us he had landed and was fine and now in Belgium. Our hearts rejoiced to hear again. He said, "Dear ones, don't worry. I am trusting God, the one that can and will take care of me. Just take care of yourselves. I want you both living when I come home."
But well we knew he was marching on to the battlefront; still our faith was unshaken in God who gives his angels charge over his children. Oh the days and weeks slipped slowly by, while across the sea he fought - a soldier brave helping to gain the victory, as he wrote "it was very, very thrilling to toss shells at the Germans and they would toss shells back at us."
The fighting is over, the victory won; he filled his mission and now we hope how soon he can return. Oh happy day, when he takes that last boat ride, coming back to the good old country he loves so well.
- By his mother, Mrs. R. S. Munday."

There aren't any notations stating in which paper it was posted or what day.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Mystery Monday - Possible Simon spotting

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 10:00:00 +0000

I have a mystery that needs solving and I hope you all can help with it. Are these two men the same person?

The two men on the right are the same person, he is my paternal great-grandfather, Simon P Tharp. The man on the left is found in a picture from a circa 1911 Road Construction I have recently come across. I will hold my thoughts until I get some feedback from some of you.

What do you all think?

The two men on the right are my great-grandfather, Simon P Tharp.
The man on the left is the suspected Simon.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Thankful Thursday - Look what I found!! New places to look for records

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 09:00:00 +0000

I don't think we understand how thankful we should be for being able to do genealogical research in such a great time as today! Just when you think you can’t find anything new in research, a new website comes out or you find a new search engine that searches just genealogy sites.

Allow me to back up a little….You might have read in a previous post about how I recently found enough documentation to allow me to make a solid connection to a Banta family through my paternal grandmother’s line. If not go ahead and read it now.....it's ok, I'll wait..............oh you're back great....

There is an 1893 published genealogy on the Banta family a lot of researchers use. Now, I have been researching long enough to know you don’t take ANY printed (or now online) genealogy as gospel. However, I also know an older genealogy CAN be used as a research guide to help you know where to look for sources, thus furthering your research and validating the older published work.

OK with THAT being said, this older genealogy has my Henry Banta (page 165) as being married to Charity Banta (a cousin of his) having 4 children (I'll have to do a different post about this inaccuracy) and then....

"He removed from Mercer County, Kentucky to Hart County thence to Green County in the same state, and afterwards to Illinois, where he died in 1843."1

Well that's helpful…..I think….I mean he narrows it down to Illinois in 1843, but come on Illinois is a BIG state even in the early days. I would love to know who T.M. Banta spoke with when putting his book together that knew this information.

Oh yeah and beside the size of the state, the number of records and tax lists for that year is pretty slim…..But anyway I still kept looking for Ole Henry…..Oh yeah also did Charity (the wife) die in Kentucky before the move? If so, in which of the counties that he migrated through? or did she make it to yettobedeterminedplace in Illinois? All good questions.

So I was using a wonderful new genealogy search engine called Genealogy Gophers where you can search through 80,000 digital genealogy books.....Wow! 80 thousand and not one Facebook find on a recent person when you are looking for a person from the 1840's.....but I digress.

I thought I would test out the new site by entering this long shot on Henry Banta and Illinois. When I do the search with his name and that location, it comes back with the same books that I have found before - none of which help with narrowing down where Henry went in Illinois.

So then I start putting in his children's names with Illinois as a place (you know using the FAN club method)
Albert - nothing helpful,
Lambert - nothing helpful,
Abraham - nothing help......wait a minute what is this?

As you can see the fourth one down is titled "Nauvoo Journal" well that one caught my eye because of the names in the clipping. My Henry's wife - Charity; daughter - Charity; son - Abraham. It was definitely worth clicking on to check out.....I mean after all I am on page 11 in the search results.

I find out that the Nauvoo Journal Vol 1 from 1989 has published an Nov 28, 1843 petition to the United State Congress from the Mormon residents of Hancock County, Illinois. This petition is officially titled, "Memorial of inhabitants of Nauvoo in Illinois, praying redress for injuries to their persons and properties by lawless proceedings of citizens of Missouri."

Wait What! Nauvoo Illinois......but they were just in Hart County Kentucky tax records the year before....what a minute let me look how far away that is maybe it's not that far.....HOLY COW....according to Google maps it is 444 miles (or 145 hours of walking) from Hart County to Nauvoo...

WOW that's a lot of walking!

From this little break through I was able to find a couple more little tidbits that I didn't have before. But all of that is food for another posting.

But to bring this posting full circle....the reason I am writing this is to show even after 122 years (2015-1893) modern technology has allowed us to know where in Illinois Henry and Charity Banta ended up.

But as always it only opens up more questions. Why did they go there? Did they stay there? Did they become Mormons?

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Sources:
1. "A Frisian Family, the Banta Genealogy : descendants of Epke Jacobse, who came from Friesland, Netherlands, to New Amsterdam, February, 1659" by Banta, Theodore Melvin,

Treasure Chest Thursday - Slemmons Album page 24 & 25 revisited

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 06:00:00 +0000

Back in 2010 I was posting from a photo album my aunt had in her possession of family pictures. One of the postings titled Treasure Chest Thursday – Slemmons Album page 24 & 25 showed a picture of the Dripping Springs School my maternal grandfather (Richard S Munday) and his siblings attended in about 1904. It was a good group picture but I had always noticed how light parts of it were and it didn't allow you to see all of the children's faces.

I played around with it a little today and wanted to share the new touched-up version.

While it is really just darkened, darkening it allows the children's faces on the right to be seen better.

As an aside I would be interested if anyone knows any of the other children in this picture. While my great-grandmother listed 11 children as you can see there are way more than that in the picture.

Please let me know if you are related to anyone of the children in the picture.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Matrilineal Monday - How I messed up my GPS

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 18:59:00 +0000

Why am I writing about a Global Positioning System on my genealogy blog? And how did you mess it up, Deb?

OK first things first - I'm not talking about the Global Positioning Systems that some people have in their vehicles.

I'm talking about the Genealogical Proof Standard that the Board for Certification of Genealogists has had in place for several years. More information about it can be found here.

Many times when researching a particular parent to child connection we begin creating a GPS without knowing it. You know the ones where you have a hunch, theory, funny feeling or sneaking suspicion that person A is the child of person B. But you can't find a document proving it. So what do you do? NO - give up is not the answer I was going for! If you're like me you start pulling all of the documents you can get your hands on for those two people.

This is what I had done for Charity, wife of Jesse Lile, the grandfather of my great-grandmother (Annie Elizabeth Lile Shofner). I had found Jesse Lile connected to my great-grandmother Annie Elizabeth Lile in several documents. So I had been able to piece together that she was illegitimate and his granddaughter.

So with this new branch of the family I started getting information about Jesse, his wife and their children. I find them in the 1870 Green County, Kentucky listed as:

Lile, Jesse H - 38 year old White Male Works on Farm born in Kentucky
Charity - 39 year old White Female Keeping House born in Kentucky
Henriahreta -14 year old White Female no occupation born in Indiana
Euphama - 11 year old White Female no occupation born in Indiana
Mary H. - 7 year old White Female no occupation born in Indiana

Wow what a bunch of unusual names. Of the three girls, which I suspect are daughters, two of them have very unusual names for girls of this time frame.

So I follow them backward to the 1860 census where I find them living in Switzerland County, Indiana. This makes sense because the daughters are all listed as being born in Indiana. So I find them as:

Jesse H Lile - 27 year old White Male Farmer born in Kentucky
Charity J - 29 year old White Female no occupation born in Kentucky
Henrietta - 5 year old White Female no occupation born in Indiana
Eupamy - 1 year old White Female no occupation born in Indiana

Here we have them 10 years younger with the same girls as listed in 1870, minus Mary H who has not been born yet.

At this point I was starting to try and find a marriage date and place for them. Well nothing...so I kept looking.

1850 finds Jesse in his parents household living in Hart County, Kentucky. Well maybe they got married there.......oh crap did I say Hart County Kentucky! I did....well that pretty much spells doom on finding a marriage for them. Most of Hart County records were destroyed in a 1927 courthouse fire. Now I know not all of Hart County's records were destroyed, but enough of them were to make finding a marriage record for them very difficult.

So, I start going back over the information I do have to see if I overlooked something that might help. You know the whole Friends, Associates and Neighbors.

Oh, here's something. In the 1860 and 1870 censuses Jesse and Charity are living next door to a Banta family. Pretty cool in itself but what makes this even MORE important is that they are two different Banta families. Hmm, interesting.

In the 1870 Green County Kentucky census I find a William L Banta age 42 and what appears to be his wife and children living next door. Oh look he was born in Kentucky and his wife and children were born in Indiana.

While in the 1860 Switzerland County Indiana census living next door to Jesse and Charity is a Samuel H Banta age 33 and what appears to be his wife, Susan H age 28 both born in Kentucky with Mary E age 8 and Susan J age 5 both born in Indiana.

Well this picture is getting really interesting know. Oh wait what's this: on the other side of Jessie and Charity in 1860 is a Alexander Harper age 68 born in Scotland with a wife named Euphema age 52 born in Kentucky. This CAN'T be a coincidence, can it?

Ok so I go back to the 1850 Hart County Kentucky Census (playing the odds that Charity is living there) and do a search for any person with the name of Charity living in the county. Hmm, I find 5 and 2 of them have the Banta last name, while only one of these two are the age of Jesse's wife.

Well let's look at this Charity Banta's family structure:

Banta, Albert - 47 year old White Male farmer born in Kentucky
Mary - 51 year old White Female no occupation born in Kentucky
Samuel H - 24 year old White Male farmer born in Kentucky
Susan - 19 year old White Female no occupation born in Kentucky
William L - 22 year old White Male no occupation born in Kentucky
Charaty - 19 year old White Female no occupation born in Kentucky
Hanah R. - 11 year old White Female no occupation born in Kentucky
Jackson, Euphama - 39 year old White Female no occupation born in Kentucky

Holy Cow, what a nice little package I have here. Several things jump out at me at once. First both Samuel H and Susan listed here are not children of Albert and Mary. Samuel H is their child, Susan is his wife and they are the next door neighbors of Jesse and Charity in the 1860 Switzerland County Indiana census. Second the William L listed here is the 1870 Green County Kentucky neighbors of Jesse and Charity. Third Euphama.....that's really all that needs to be said about that! I mean how can you not tie this family to my Charity.....I have the Euphama link.

So now I think I have Charity's family......her maiden name is Banta. I was able to prove it (to my satisfaction) using a pretty descent Genealogical Proof Standard. I will get a couple more records that Jesse and Charity generated over their lives.....

his second marriage record, their children's marriage record (hoping it lists their mother's maiden name), Charity's 1898 obituary from the newspaper (big help there - she's listed as Mrs Jesse Lile - no maiden name), his Civil War Pension file (yeah that would be nice to get - it has his second wife listed - maybe it will have his first wife's maiden name.....nope none that I see), his obituary, his will......

yawn yawn, nothing that PROVES Charity's maiden name. Well it's good that I have the proof standard to go by.

Fast forward 5 years (or so) I am now explaining my theory to a distant cousin on the Lile family.

The cousin's email to me (paraphrased) oh, yeah that's good Deb....yeah I see where you're going with this....oh could this be them? I did a google search for Charity Banta and found a marriage record in Ripley County Indiana.
Me....What?

I then look at the link she provided me and wow oh wow it's them getting married in 1855.....I do a little happy dance and then a little more digging and find Euphama Jackson marrying Alexander Harper in Ripley County in 1855. Then I follow Charity's father forward in the census and find him living in.....you guessed it Ripley County Indiana in 1860.

Good times. So all is well with proving Charity's maiden name....I put a descent argument together that she was a Banta...then it was proven by the marriage record. Yeah.....Wait what is this in Jesse's Civil War Pension file (that I've had in my possession for several years)....

"That the soldier was previously married to Charity J Banta January 14, 1855, who died....."

Seriously....are you kidding me? I had it in my records for the last 2 years.....So two documents that messed up my beautiful GPS!

Of course I am writing this as a joke. Me "messing up my GPS" is just another way of saying I should have analyzed the documents I already had in my possession. But I am also excited to know I had a theory and was able to get the documents together to prove it.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Mystery Monday - Beware of those bible pages!

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Mon, 25 May 2015 16:47:00 +0000

As genealogists, we are often overjoyed to find a bible record, because now all of our questions will be answered on a particular family. SO overjoyed we read things that aren't there or worse take the information that is there at face value. Sometimes simple math should tell us something is a miss.

"What did I find?" you ask, well it's a child who wasn't really a child! WHAT????

Okay here goes.

Years ago, I found the bible record of my great-great grandparents, William Easton Shofner and Margret Belle Wright. Among the water stained pages of this bible is a listing titled "children of W E & Marget B Shofner below". Down the left side of the list are the numbers 1 through 10. Starting with number 8 the children are:

Edy E Shofner born october ? 1886

loyd E Shofner born may 27 1888
Charly W Shofner born January 10 1887

The first time I looked at this page, I remember thinking the water damage sure had taken its toll on the dates, but I tried reading them to the best of my ability. So in my genealogy program I put the above 1886, 1888 and 1887 dates. Now I know you're thinking, "but Deb they are out of order!" Yeah, I "see" that....now! Hindsight being 20/20, that should have been my 1st red-flag.

But I still put Charly in my database as a child of William and Margret because I believed the bible.

So then as we always do, I went looking for more information. I sent off for his Civil War pension file to see what goodies IT would show me.

William E Shofner Civil War pension file page dated 1898

Among other goodies in his pension was this page dated May 4 1898 and "signed by William E Shofner him Self"

As it clearly shows William and Margret have 8 living children. #8 being Charley W Shofner.....same as the above bible page......cool

William E Shofner Civil War pension file page dated 1915

Then another page from the same pension file dated 1915:

When I first received the pension file I just went blowing through the pages and took this as another listing of their children.

But NOW of course if we count the children we find....Mariah 1...William H 2.....John H 3....Mary E 4.....Robert W 5.....Crisey B 6.....Miney W 7......Edy E 8......Louyed? E 9.....

Wait...what? ONLY 9 children...... What about good ole Charley W where did he go? Aw how sad OBVIOUSLY his father forgot to list him....Hey you know with sooo many children surely one or two will get lost in the woodwork a time or two.

Now once I actually NOTICED the difference I went relooking at all of the other documents I have on him.....

Most of them did not help with this questions, but this is the one that made the light bulb go off - the 1900 Campbellsville, Taylor County Kentucky census:

William and Margret Shofner in 1900 Taylor County Kentucky

OH YEAH NOW I see Margret has 9 children born to her with 7 of them living!

Of course this is the census record that also sent me off on the search to find out something about the Charles W Greenwell listed as a grandchild which resulted in this posting.

Well, I will not admit how many YEARS it took me to see that the birth date of Charly W Shofner (from the bible record) and the birth date of Charles W Greenwell (as listed on WWI Draft registration card and his tombstone) were the same....Jan 10 1887....thus making me realize that the Charly W listed in the bible record is not in actuality a child.

DUNDUNDUNNNN!

Ok so the questions have to be asked.....Why put Charles/Charly in the bible record as a child in the first place if he is a grandchild? Why then tell the pension bureau in 1898 that he is a child but in 1900 tell the census taker that he is a grandchild? Then in 1915 tell the pension bureau the true list of children?

I know all of these questions will probably never get answered but one can always hope.

Lastly, beware of the bible pages. Sometimes they are too good to be true!

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Who Tells the family? Follow-up

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 01:02:00 +0000

Two years ago I blogged the question, "Who tells the family?" where I asked the question of who tells the family "back home" when a distant family member dies. In that posting I asked, "Did they (the settlers of his estate, his local friends or someone else) put an inquiry into a Kentucky paper to locate the family of Garland Slemmons long ago resident? I don't know, but I would really like to find out."

Well guess what I found!

You guessed it.....I found out how they contacted the family.

Through my local library I have access to ProQuest which has a local newspaper (the Courier-Journal) in it's Historical newspapers collection. These historical newspapers date from 1830 to 1922. When searching in this collection I found my answer to the above question.

In the wanted section of the May 8 1898 issue of the Courier Journal this advertisement ran:

"WANTED -- INFORMATION -- There died in this place a few days since an old gentleman named Garland Slemmons, a native of Kentucky. (I think Hardin County.) He left a very nice little ranch at the edge of town and some money. If his relatives will write me I can give them information regarding the estate. C.M. TAYLOR, Deputy Sheriff Genoa, Nevada."

While my ancestor lived in Metcalfe County Kentucky (in the southern part of the state) this newspaper is from the northern part of the state. So evidently my ancestor (or someone he knew) saw the ad and contacted the Deputy Sheriff.

Now I have that question answered, I should be finished with this guy right? Well no. Because now I want to find the probate and find out more about what did they do with the lot and other "stuff."

So as before one question answered at least two more to answer.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Why am I looking for descendants of Nellie George Collins Chesney?

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 23:59:00 +0000

I love pictures....there isn't a genealogist that I know who doesn't love pictures....However, there is a limit to how many pictures I can have in my house. Over the years I have become the keeper of the family pictures. Pictures from and of my: grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, kids, great-grandparents, etc, etc.

So I have decided to let technology come to my rescue. My Plan?

Scan and back up to the cloud all of the pictures of relatives that are not my direct ancestor
find a descendant of the person(s) in the picture (easier said then done)
get their mailing address
mail the original pictures of their ancestors to them!

They get to enjoy and have original pictures of their ancestors and I get space freed up in my house. WIN! WIN!

Ok now to the reason for this post.....I am looking for descendants of Nellie George Collins Chesney to give them pictures of her and her family.

Why do I have pictures of Nellie and Who exactly was Nellie you ask?

Nellie was a daughter of Robert George and Crisse B Shofner and was born on 1 Feb 1916 in Taylor County, Kentucky. Unfortunately, Crisse died the next day after Nellie was born.

In 1920 she is living with her grandmother, Margret Bell Wright Shofner, and another cousin in Campbellsville, Taylor County, Kentucky. Again unfortunately, Nellie had someone taking care of her die. This time it is her grandmother, Margret in 1922.

So by 1930 she is living with Robert W & Annie E Lile Shofner (her uncle and aunt and my great-grandparents) in Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Nellie and my grandmother (her cousin) were very close in age. Minnie (my grandmother) was born Dec 5 1915 and Nellie was born the next February. So only 2 months separated them. If I had wondered why my grandmother had so many pictures of Nellie I now know.

I wish I had someone like Nellie in my direct line....she was wonderful at writing information on the back of pictures to identify the people in the pictures that she sent to my grandmother.

All of the following information is from the back of about 12 pictures my grandmother had received from Nellie through the years:

Nellie married Melvin Collins and they had Russell Leroy Collins born 1936/7 and Melvin Ray Collins born 1938.

In July 1949 Nellie is living in Jamestown, Kentucky and July 1954 Nellie is living at 703 W Market Street (unknown city). Before July 1957 Nellie marries James Chestney.

Russell L Collins married Dorothy and they had Teresa Jane born 1958/9; Lisa Sue born May 26, 1960; Eric Lindsay born 1962 and Rhonda Lynn born Jan 1964.

And last but not least here is the lovely Nellie George Collins Chestney.

Nellie George Collins in front of her house at 703 W Market St in July 1954

I have looked for "current records" for Nellie and her family. I did find where Melvin Ray Collins died in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas on Nov 29, 2001. His wife, Sue K Bumgarner Collins died in 2004. I have also found parts of her obituary but for privacy will not publish anything that I found on their children and grandchildren. I also found where Russell Leroy Collins probably died in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana in 2006.

If any of you know anyone who is a descendant of Nellie, please let them know that I would LOVE to get them some pictures of their ancestor.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Mystery Monday - Are these the Warders I'm looking for? part 2

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 00:52:00 +0000

Last Monday, I posted the beginning of a search for the Francis and Susan Warder who had written a letter to my 3 great-grandfather, George Munday, in 1815. If you would like to read that posting go ahead I'll wait - click here

OK are you all caught up? Boy you're a fast reader....anyway onward and upward.

Just to recap, we have a Susan Warder, as a head of household in 1830, living in the same county Francis Warder is found in 1820. If this Susan is the widow of Francis and of a similar age as he was, she probably is the 40 to 50 year old female in 1830, thus putting her birth between 1780 and 1790.

I know there are a lot of assumptions, but sometimes you just have to follow a hunch. ;)

I next search the 1840 Ohio Census for a Susan Warder, preferably in Adams County. Unfortunately, I can not find one. Well, are there any other names that look familiar.... yes. There is a Philip M Warder living in Washington Twp., Clinton County, Ohio. {Remember in the letter Francis mentions a Philip as someone he trusts with getting his money}

Well, according to the wiki at FamilySearch.org found here, Clinton County, Ohio was formed from Highland and Warren Counties in 1810. Adams County is on the other side of Highland County, Ohio. According to Google map:

Washington Twp, Clinton County, Ohio is 57.6 miles away from Meigs, Adams County, Ohio. And as you can see this is probably not the route they would have taken. Not too many people from this time-frame would have taken the expressway to move from one county to another.

Anyway, I feel it is close enough for me to look into. Besides will it really hurt to follow this forward. Nay!

1840 Washington Twp., Clinton County, Ohio Census list Philip M Warder with 1 20-30 male and females: 1 10-15, 3 15-20 1 20-30 and 1 50-60. Philip is probably the 20 to 30 year old (born 1810-1820) and if Susan is in the household and the older female she would have been born 1780-1790. Pretty close to the numbers of the people in Susan's household in 1830 Adams County, Ohio.

So Clinton County, Ohio in 1850 who's there? SUSAN!!!!
Green Township, Clinton County, Ohio
Dwelling and Family # 20 has Susan Warder, 63 year old white female born in Virginia with a 32 year old Maria Warder and 30 year old Mahala Warder both females born in Ohio. Also a William A or H Shores living with them, who is 24 years old and born also in Ohio.

This Susan was born in Virginia in 1787, has two females, which could be her daughters, living with her who were born in Ohio in 1818 and 1820 respectively. Thus putting her and her alleged husband in Ohio as early as 1818. Well, it's pretty loose but a picture is sort of starting to form.

Wow.....I know you are wondering, "Is this ALL you found on this family Deb?" Well, no but it will have to wait until next week.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Mystery Monday - Are these the Warders I'm looking for? part 1

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 10:39:00 +0000

In Saturday's post (found here) I covered an 1815 letter written to my 3rd great-grandfather, George Munday, of Prince William County, Virginia by Francis and Susan Warder.

First let me say that I have looked in the book about the Warder family titled, "A history and genealogy of the Warder family in Virginia, Kentucky and Illinois" on Ancestry and can not find this Francis and Susan Warder.

I dug around a little bit on the 'net for Francis and Susan Warder. But because no address, city or state was listed on the letter, I really didn't have an idea on where to start looking.

So I Googled "Francis Warder" 1815 and found among other things "A History of Adams County Ohio"

Clicking on this listing takes you to page 155 of "A History of Adams County, Ohio: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Including Character Sketches of the Prominent Persons Identified with the First Century of the Country's Growth" This page lists a Francis Warder who was the Justice of the Peace for Meigs Township, Adams County, Ohio. He was qualified April 24, 1828 and his term expired in 1831.

Now, with a place to search, I searched the 1820 Meigs Township, Adams County, Ohio Federal Census and found a Francis Warder with males: 3 0-10, 1 45-up & females: 2 0-10 & 1 26-45.

My George Munday was born (the best I can tell) 1780 - 1784. This Francis Warder (if he is the older man in this census) then he would have been born 1775 and before. So now I have a man of a comparable age as my George Munday.

Now I need to see if I can find out this Francis' wife.

When I search the 1830 Meigs Township, Adams County, Ohio Census I don't find a Francis Warder. However, I do find a Susan Warder as a head of household. Her entry is males: 1 10-15, 1 15-20 & females: 2 0-5, 2 5-10, 2 10-15, 1 40-50, 1 70-80.

Is this Susan the wife of the Francis listed above? It's looking like it but I need more evidence.

This is where I will stop for this week.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Sibling Saturday - 1815 Letter from Francis and Susan Warder

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 19:05:00 +0000

Years ago my aunt allowed me to copy a letter that had been handed down in the family. (A lot of my research starts with my aunt having something handed down in the family.)

Anyway, the 1815 letter is from a Francis and Susan Warder to my great-great-great grandfather, George Munday. It is addressed to George while he was living in Haymarket, Prince William County, Virginia. It is a xeroxed copy and in pretty decent shape. Here is how it looks:

Francis and Susan Warder 1815 letter page 1

And the second page looks like this:

Here is the important part, the body of the letter:

Dear Brother & Sister I take this pleasant opportunity to inform you we are all well at present thanks be to god for that blessing hoping these few lines will find you all enjoying the same blessing. It gave us great pleasure to here of your being well; a couple of Susan’s brothers was in that contry this fall Mr Cockerill told them you was all well I thought Anne was taken with the plague the morning I was at your house and never exspected to hear of her being well again to this life. Dear Sire Mr Cockerill sent me word that you had the money ready for me and was afraid to send it by the post. I don’t think there can be any danger in sending it I wish you to send it so as I may get it by Christmas the money I owe here I have got the man to wait until Christmas by giving him great interest you can get Walter and Philip to go to Haymarket with you and go in a room count the money inclosest(?) All of you go to the post office and let them see you give it to the post master he? Them will be liable if the money should not come safe and Philip can gave you a receipt in my name for the same pray don’t fail in starting it immediately no more at present but remain your affectionately friends until death.
November 21st 1815 Francis and Susan Warder

And from the back page:

Dear sir the post master here tels me the safest way is to cut the notes in two and start the one half first I will write you a receipt and send and then you can start the other half so there can be no danger in misscarrage? I am yours Francis Warder

So you see why I chose this letter for the Sibling Saturday post. It mentions right in the letter that George & his wife (who I have yet to positively prove her name) are Francis and Susan's brother and sister. Clear as mud.

Are they really siblings?
If so how?
Why does he close the letter with "remain your affectionately friends until death"? How confusing!
Did Francis marry George's sister? I don't think so since she was not listed in George's father's will. But haven't absolutely ruled this out.
Did George marry Francis' sister? This would make George's wife a Warder. THIS theory I do support very strongly.
Or did sisters (Susan and unnamed George's wife) marry Francis Warder and George Munday? Although from the body of the letter I don't think this is the case. Oh, please don't let this be the case.....PLEASE!!
Or lastly, were they members of the same church (prior to Francis and Susan moving) and are calling each other brother and sister of the church?

Of course there are more questions than the relationship of the writer and receiver that this letter stirs up. Where were Francis and Susan Warder living at the time that they sent this letter?
Are Philip and Walter related to Francis? Since he is trusting them to his money I would bet so. Side-note: I have also found a Walter Warder selling a slave girl to William Munday (this George's father) on 26 Aug 1800 in Prince William County, Virginia and a Philip and Francis Warder witness the transaction. Are these the same men mentioned in this letter? I'm betting on it.
Who is the Anne that Francis last saw "taken with the plague"? Is this the name of George's wife? Or did he have a daughter by that name that did not survive childhood?

So while this letter is an awesome find and I'm glad that we still have it. It does create a lot of questions.

Anyone that knows the answers to ANY of these questions.....please feel free to contact me.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

"Brick wall" comes down and new line to research

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 23:58:00 +0000

How I feel when a "brick wall" comes down and a new line opens up to research!

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Where have I been?

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 15:16:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

Sorry for taking such a long time off from posting. It's not that I haven't thought about it or even had ideas for posts, it was just that.....I didn't feel like it. You know how it goes sometimes, if you ain't feelin' it - you ain't doin' it! So I didn't.

But I think I might be feelin' it again. I have had some major breakthroughs in a couple of my lines that should make for some pretty interesting posts and hope you enjoy them.

If you have stayed subscribed to my little ol' blog during my quiet spell - THANKS for hanging in there with me. It really does mean a lot to me.

I must be off now so that I can start crafting my coming blog posts.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Sunday’s Obituary ~ Waller Munday's death 1909

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 22:35:00 +0000

Here are a couple of obituaries that were glued into the family bible for the same person. Waller Munday was my grandfather's brother who died when he was 20 years old. I took these photos before I had my flip-pal scanner, so - sorry for the blurriness!

*read below and then the second column above*
Here is the bottom half of the above obituary.

From unknown paper - published about 2 Jul 1909:

"Death of Waller Munday.
The death angel visited the home of Mr. and Mrs. James W Munday of Wisdom community on July 2nd, 1909 and claimed for its victim, Waller, a bright and promising young man. He was brother and sister Munday's second boy; one boy and two girls older than he. Waller was born March 13th 1889; died July 2nd 1909.

About May 14, he was taken sick and when the doctors were called they pronounced him in a very bad condition with appendicitis and that an operation would have to be performed. They made arrangements at once for Dr. Schackner of Louisville, to come and perform the operation. The 26th day of May he was operated on and the doctors seemed to think that chances were good for him to **ver, and did improve for several days, but finally it was noticed ? he was growing worse, until the doctor come and broke the news to his friends that there was no earthly chance for him.

It is a sad hour in our lives when we hear such messages, though we know it was not because he did not have the proper attention. He had the very best attention and care. Unfortunately, Waller was away from home when he was taken sick. He was working for his cousin Tom Franklin, near Know Lick, and they with his friends did all that was in human power to do, but God knows best and in his infinite love he deals with his children in the best way.

Waller was a good boy and everyone who knew him loved him. On July 1st, I visited him and broke the the {sic} message to him that he could not live but a few hours and his answer was, I know it, I am trying to prepare for that after reading from Gods word, that will not return void unto him, but will accomplish that whereunto it is sent and prayed time and again.

While singing that good old song, "Jesus Lover of My Soul," he quietly and calmly whispered in a low but a different tone to that ? and said, "I am saved I am ? easy," and from that hour ? was one of the happiest boys I ever saw. He sang two songs clear through, one was "When the roll is called up Yonder, " the other, "There is a light at the River," and he would say to everyone that would come in, "I am so glad to tell you I am saved." It was sad to hear him talk to his brother and sister telling them not put it off as he had. About 4 o'clock at his own request he was received into the church and baptised. He left a bright testimony of Heaven and immortal glory, and his only regret seemed to be that he put off his soul's salvation so long but the last words he said to his father were, "It is peace, sweet peace; I am passing through the pearly gates."

The funeral was largely attended. After the funeral, conducted by the scribe, his remains was interred in the family burying ground near his home. He leaves a father, mother, six brothers and two sisters, with a host of relatives and friends to mourn his death. We can only say your loss is his gain. You can go to him, but he can not come back to you. The lord will comfort you and bless in all your bereavements. J.M.C"

Another clipping about Waller's death. Probably from a different paper, also of unknown date:

"Mr Waller Munday died at the home of Mr. Tom Franklin, near Knob Lick, last Friday after a long illness from peirtonitis. He was operated on about six weeks ago, and was seemingly improving until a few days ago, when he grew worse and died, after intense agony. He was about twenty-two years of age and a young man of fine moral habits. The remains were interred at Wisdom last Saturday afternoon, in the presence of a large concourse of friends and relatives, in the Slemmons burying-ground. The deceased leaves a father, Mr. J. W. Monday, mother, sisters, brothers and a large circle of relatives and friends all over Barren and Metcalfe, who will learn of his death with profound regret."

I find several things interesting in these two clippings:

The first clipping has Waller's exact birth and death dates showing his age was 20 years old. The second one has his approximate age, "about 22 years old." I know that the first obituary has the correct information because of many other sources; such as the family bible record, his death certificate and his tombstone information.
That a doctor from Louisville was "called" to operate on Waller. Even though phone were invented as early as 1873/4, according to Wikipedia, how prevalent were they in this small town and community? I don't know. Would they have really called the doctor on the phone or would they have written? I'm guessing that they would have found a phone in the community and called Louisville for such an important situation.

I have a couple of pictures of Waller that I have posted before. They can be founds here and here.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Posting using my tablet

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 15:15:00 +0000

Several months ago I purchased a Google Nexus 7 for myself as a "being good purchase." I don't normally do that but, it was at a good price so I thought what the heck. Of course, it's been fun playing with all of the apps and games that are available, but my online presence with posting to this blog has suffered. :{

I'm not really sure why it took me so long, but today I realized that Blogger has an app that allows me to post from my tablet. So I downloaded and installed it to take it for a trial run.

This is the first post that I am posting with the app.

Creating this posting is not as fast as creating a post with my computer as I am not use to typing with the small keyboard that pops up at the bottom of the screen, but it does get the job done.

The app allows you to edit the post like in the full web edition that I normally use. It also allows you to attach or take pictures and add them to the post. The picture you see in this posting was taken with the app while creating this post.

Although I am not sure of how or if I am going to be able to position the picture as of yet. As I am typing this post it doesn't as appear as though the app gives me a choice of where I would like to position the picture. That's too bad.

I also noticed that it doesn't allow me to use my automatic signature line that I have in the full version but again it allows me to get my thoughts down while in the mood.

This posting was not supposed to be a review of the app, but just a letting you know that I'm still here and what I had found in the app world that might become useful. So we'll see how often I use the app in the future.

Please let me know if any of you use this app and if you do what do you think.....oh yeah also any tips and tricks that you might have learned while using it.

Until next time,

Deborah

Follow Friday - Artisan Ancestors

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:33:00 +0000

I don't think I have ever done a posting on Follow Friday so I thought I would today.

The other day I was listening to the Genies Down Under podcast on the ride into work when the hostess, Maria, started talking about other genealogy podcasts that she listens to. Two of the ones she talked about, The Genealogy Guys and Digging up your Roots, I am already subscribed to and listen to on a regular basis. However, the third one, Artisan Ancestors, was a new one for me.

So I thought I would try it out and see if I wanted to add it to my ever growing number of podcasts to which I listen.

Well, I am four episodes in and am very impressed.

The podcast is hosted by Jon Kay. The website describes the podcast as:

"Welcome to Artisan Ancestors, the podcast where I explore ways to research and understand the past. Whether you’re a local historian, genealogist or just interested in learning about the everyday creative lives of people and the things they made, this program is for you."

So far, Jon has had 25 episodes and has had a wide range of topics such as: Connecticut Needlework, Appalachian Dulcimers, Catawba Potters as well as having some of our "Genealogy Royalty" in the form of Curt Witcher and Maureen Taylor.

He hasn't had a new episode in more than a year, but I wanted to let everyone know about this podcast, so that you could listen to and enjoy the episodes that he has done so far. I most certainly would like for him to continue with this wonderful endeavor.

Please give him a listen and tell me what you think.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Mystery Monday - Who tells the family?

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 01:32:00 +0000

This question was always there, it just had not shown itself to me until now. What is the question you ask?

Well, before I tell you, let me ask you a question.

A person moves away from their family to the other side of the country, settles down but doesn't get married or have children, and lives the rest of their life in this "new" area. When this person dies, who let's the family know that this person has died? You know, the family that they left behind to move out west, back east or just simply away.

So that question sparked the question that I finally asked myself...Who let my Kentucky ancestor know that his brother had died in Genoa, Nevada?

The answer to this question...I don't know. But someone sure as shooting did!

How do I know that my Kentucky ancestor knew about the death of his Nevada living brother? Well, it's right there in the family bible, written in my ancestor's handwriting and everything.

Sorry for the blurry picture. Garland Slemmons, in the left column, age 74 yr. Died Apr 25, 1898

But Deborah, it doesn't say that Garland died in Nevada, how do you know that?

Excellent question my dear Watson! (can you tell that I watched the last Sherlock Holmes movie last night?)

Anyway, I have Garland's obituary and death record that prove when he died in Genoa, Nevada. But while reading his obituary the above question crossed my mind again:

"Death of Another Pioneer -
Garland Slemmons, better known as "Major Slemmons," died at his home in Genoa last Monday morning about 3 o'clock. Deceased was a native of Kentucky and 75 years of age.

He was a bachelor and a warmhearted old man, a great reader and a life-long Democrat, Well informed and deeply interested in the affairs of the nation, he was always ready to enter into a political disenssion, expressing his views and convictions firmly, earnestly and emphatically. He went into a political debate with the same energy an ordinary man displays in putting out a fire. His speech was earnest, his actions forcible and impressive. He was a searcher after truth and he longed to solve the mystery of things, especially things of a political nature. A good, honest, true-hearted old man was Major.

Mr Slemmons came to California in early days and engaged in placer mining in El Durado county. In 1860 or '61 he came to Genoa and resided here ? from that date.
He leaves no relatives in this section. He said a few days before his death that he had relatives years ago in Kentucky, but that he had not heard from them for years and he did not know whether they were alive yet or not.

He leaves a small amount of property and ?? old house and lot in Genoa.
The funeral took place Tuesday evening at 1 o'clock from the M. E. Church, Rev. George ??. The remains were buried in Genoa cemetery, beside the graves of ? V. Spencer and George ? {two old friends of the deceased.}"
April 29 1898 R.C. newspaper."

Did they (the settlers of his estate, his local friends or someone else) put an inquiry into a Kentucky paper to locate the family of Garland Slemmons long ago resident? I don't know, but I would really like to find out.

How long did it take for them (the Kentucky family) to hear of the death? I don't know, but there was a "hunt" for Kentucky family members, it couldn't have taken to long because Asher (my Kentucky ancestor) died almost two years later on 21 Apr 1900.

Do you have any unexplained cross-country notifications? If so, how were they worded? How long did it take for word to make it back of the death?

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Treasure Chest Thursday -Granny M's Memory Bk pt14

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:00:00 +0000

OK, so I accidentally forgot to write a post the last two weeks, but I promise this week's posting will totally makeup for it. These are the newspaper clippings found between pages 41 and 42 of the memory book that was my grand and great-grand mothers. Sorry for the blurry image I must have moved when I scanned it. :P

The first clipping is midway down the page on the left and tells us this:

"Retired Farmer Dies - Special to the Courier-Journal
Edmonton, Ky., Dec 3 - Robert Dewett Knight, 59 Edmonton retired farmer, died of a hear attach at 4:30 a.m. today at his home after a long illness. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Phoebe Knight; two daughters, Mrs. Bill Cooksey, Edmonton, and Mrs. James Cooksey, Louisville; two brothers, Paul and Rufus Knight, East Fork, and three sisters, Mrs. Jim Shirley and Mrs. Will Shirley, Edmonton, and Miss Sallie M. Knight, Glasgow. Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Butler Funeral home."

Seems like a lot of sisters marrying men with the same last name. Wonder if they were brothers marrying sisters? Anyway, on to the next clipping. It tells us:

"Ex-Farmer Dies at 85 - Special to the Courier-Journal
Greensburg, Ky., Dec 3. - William Dave Young, 85, retired farmer, died this afternoon at his home in the Little Barren community after a short illness. He had served for several years as a deacon of Little Barren Separate Baptist Church.
He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Bird Martin Young; two daughters, Mrs. Hattie Jones, Greensburg, and Mrs. Lucy Houk, Pierce; two sons, Harry Young, Greensburg, and Willie Young, Little Barren; 19 grandchildren, and 33 great-grandchildren.
The funeral will be at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday at Little Barren Church. The body is at Cowherd & Parrott Funeral Home here."

According to the Kentucky Death Index 1911-2000 found at Ancestry.com, William D Young died in Green County, Kentucky on 3 Dec 1956 at the age of 85.

Now to the best clipping:

"Married Three Years, Parents, Find They're Brother, Sister
Hereford, England, Feb. 18 - (AP) - Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey Hughes have discovered after three years of marriage and two children that they are brother and sister. Already separated by the grim knowledge, they are working on an annulment.
The 24-year-old mother told reporters today the tragedy began in 1934 when her parents died and she and her brother, two years older, were sent to an orphanage.
Margaret was soon adopted by a family named Stanham and took their name. As Margaret Stanham she met young Geoffrey Hughes in 1948. Three years later they were married.
Their first child, Robert, is no 2 and their youngest, Michael is five months old.
"Soon after Michael's birth," Margaret said, "a woman told me my real name was Hughes and that Geoffrey is my brother. I went at once to the registrar of births. He looked up the records and to my horror I found that the woman was right.
"Geoffrey and I parted immediately," she added. "He was heartbroken. He was devoted to the children and we were very happy. I do not know where he is now.
"I do not know what to do but even if I have to work night and day I will never be parted from my children.
Registrar W. G. Bacon confirmed Margaret's story. He described the marriage as a "one in a million chance."
Mrs. Hughes said she did not list her antecedents at the time of her marriage because she was an orphan and did not even know her actual name.
Hughes works as a traveling lumberjack. He has held several different jobs since leaving the Royal Air Force.
Stanham died in 1950 and Mrs. Stanham soon afterward. The home Margaret was raised in was an ordinary middle class British family.
The Hereford County Council will hold an inquiry into the case, which is believed to have first reached the public and press through a chatty neighbor.
Another neighbor said last night "a friend" had told her how "very much alike" the Hughes looked."

WOW! What else can you say? I knew I had read something like this in the news no too long ago so I Googled the terms: couple find out they are related. Should be an interesting set of of hits.

Over 1 million hits....WHAT! Now, of course, there are duplicates and other hits that don't really match this search verbatim, but a large number of the hits do belong. THIS. IS. INSANE!

In trying to find out from what year this clipping comes, I turned to our old friend Google and actually found another paper that this article had ran: the Prescott Evening Courier on 18 Feb 1955. If you want to see it, the link is: http://ow.ly/bzcF1

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Treasure Chest Thursday -Granny M's Memory Bk pt13

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

If you've hung with me this long, I'm guessing that the memory book doesn't need much of an introduction, so here goes.

The first clipping on the left reads as follows:

"Eldene Bennett Passes at the age of Sixteen
Earth was saddened, Heaven rejoiced, and Mother was made glad in the early hours of December 23, 1956 when Eldene, 16 year old daughter of Rev. Homer Bennett and the late Blanche Yates Bennett, smiled away her pain, and donned a robe of peacefulness, happiness and rest.
Surviving, besides her father, are five sisters, and four brothers, Sharon, Jimmy, Harold, Donnie, Florence, Betty, and Linda, at home, Odell, of Edmonton, Lois Bennett, and Mrs. J. W. Fudge, of Chicago, Ill.; one grandmother, Mrs. Emma Bennett, three nieces, several uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends whose hearts were saddened because of her going.
Eldene remembers her Creator and gave Him her life at the age of 12, and became a member of the Dripping Spring Baptist Church. She was a member of Metcalfe County High School Junior class, and held in high esteem by all her classmates.
When her spirit took its flight to the unseen world of Heaven, there was left behind, memories that even time itself cannot take away.
Eldene was loved by all who knew her, and the kindness, gentleness, and patience with which she met death were characteristic of the way she lived.
Though her days with those she loved best were suddenly brought to an early end, she will always live in the hearts of those who knew and loved her. And as each of those who remain, follow after her, no doutb{sic}, she will be first to welcome them to her new home.
Pallbearers and flower girls for the funeral were members of the Metcalfe County High Junior Class."

Next clipping looks like it came from the Courier-Journal, a Louisville newspaper.

"Eldene Bennett, 16, Dies at Knob Lick
Edmonton, Ky., Dec 23 - Miss Eldene Bennett, 16, died today at her home on Knob Lick Route 1. She had been ill five months.
Survivors include her father, the Rev. Homer Bennett; six sisters, Mrs. Valeria Fudge, Chicago, and Misses Lois, Florence, Betty, Linda, and Sharon Bennett, all of Knob Lick, and four brothers, Donnie, Harold, and James Bennett, all of Knob Lick, and Odell Bennett, Edmonton.
The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Dripping Springs Church."

The next clipping over states:

"Retired Mail Carrier, William T Kinser, Dies
Edmongton, Ky., Dec. 23 - William T. Kinser, 70, died tonight at his home in Knob Lick. A retired mail carrier, he had taught school and farmed. A daughter, Miss Banks Kinser, Knob Lick, survives.
The funeral will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Knob Lick Church. Burial will be in Hiseville Cemetery."

I'm not sure of the connection between my family and the subject of these clippings, unless my mother or some of her siblings went to school with Eldene's siblings and that Mr Kinser was their mail carrier. I will have to ask my mother the next time I get to talk to her about the connection.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Mappy Monday - Oh the places he's lived!

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000

When I started doing research, my dad was still alive and wanted to help, so he would do what he felt comfortable doing. Some of which were: visiting with relatives and talking to them about the family, asking around for copies of family pictures, and going with his father to old home places to take pictures.

One time after spending the weekend with his father, dad came back home and showed me the map below.

This is a map of Larue County, Kentucky that dad had gotten from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet booth at the Kentucky State Fair.

Dad had consulted with his father and had taken the time to mark all the different places that his parents had lived since their marriage in 1935. The only place that dad left off of this map was the Illinois farm where my grandparents were living when my dad was born in 1938. They lived on that farm until 1941 when they moved back to Larue County to live on the "Spratt farm", as shown on the above map.

The list of names on the map is the name of the owner of the farm from whom my grandparents rented while living and farming on that property. Years later when my grandparents referred to a certain place, they would call the farm "The Ragland place", "The Ragsdell place", etc. Including the Illinois farm, they lived on 12 different farms or house from 1935 until 1958, when they had a house built and "settled down."

The dots on the map have the name of the farm and can be matched with the farms name in the list and that will tell the year(s) they lived there.

I've heard my grandmother talk about the many moves and say she had left beautiful "antiques" behind, because they didn't have enough room in the truck that was moving them.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

NGS 2012 - an inaugural attendee's review

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Sat, 19 May 2012 21:07:00 +0000

One week ago today, I was just getting ready to leave the National Genealogical Society (NGS) Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was my first time at a major conference.

The first day I was little nervous and wasn't sure what to expect, but soon got into the swing of lectures, vendor's hall and finding my way around Cincinnati.

As I have been reading all of the blog posts that people made during and after the conference I will not try and recover everything. But I will add a couple of thoughts that I had and things that happened to me.

Here are some of the things that I took away from the conference:

I have a business website and a personal website. However, I only have cards that have my business information on them. Maybe I should have a small number of personal cards made up that have my personal website and social media information on them. This way I can give the personal cards out to people/colleagues that aren't looking to hire me.
Elizabeth Shown Mills, Dr Thomas Jones and Barbara Vines Little could give a seminar where they just read the phone book out loud and I would attend!
Going from being on the computer all day long, every day to NO computer at all for four days is extremely difficult. Talk about having withdrawals! Blah! Not fun.
I had not realized how much of a disconnect there is for me between the people that I follow on all of the social media sites (Twitter, Google+, Facebook, etc.). It's as if they're "genealogy celebrities." I saw and meet several people that I have followed or heard online for years and was as nervous as I would be if I were meeting Robert Downey, Jr.
The Conference app was great. I had already chosen the lectures I wanted to attend and had a reminder set within the app. So 15 minutes before the chosen lectures a gentle reminder would come up on my IPod to tell me where I needed to be next. Awesome!
Speaking of a genealogy celebrity that I got to meet....I got interviewed by Lisa Louise Cooke for the Genealogy Gems Podcast....what? How did that happen you ask. Well, I was standing at her booth telling her what a huge fan I am and how weird it is to see the people behind the social media contacts when she noticed that this was my first conference. She then pulled her digital recorder "thingy" from her bag and started interviewing me. WHAT!!! I don't really remember what all I said but I do remember asking her after the interview to edit out all of the babbling. So we shall see how it sounds.

So aside from going the long way home because I made a wrong turn and didn't realize it for 15 minutes, will I go to another conference? You bet!

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)

Treasure Chest Thursday - Granny M's Memory Bk pt12

noreply@blogger.com (gensearchdeb) — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:12:00 +0000

Well, I took off last week because of going to the National Genealogical Society Conference in Cincinnati, Oh.

So now, back to the Memory Book that my grandmother & great-grandmother's created. This week's page is an extra sheet of paper that was stuck between two pages.

"Nov 2 - 1st big snow. 15 inches in Glasgow
Oct 29 Earl Munday had operation.
Nov 12, James Earl got married
Nov 14, James Earl & bride came to Eugene's
Nov 15, they came to my house.
Nov 17 I went with them to L-ville
They visited Gilbert's Gordon's & Joseph's
Nov 15, Aunt Gracie went to Texas
Nov 28 snowed again
Nov 29 Dale had chickenpox
Dec 6, I had my hair fix. Dec 7, I had my picture taken,
Dec 9, I went to William & Madolyn with Rev & Mrs Oliver. Dec 16 W. L brought me home."

Well isn't this exciting: Snow, marriage, chickenpox and hair fixing! I don't know how she managed.

Anyhow, now for a little more information on the people. James Earl is James Earl Munday, son of the above named Earl and nephew to my grandmother. Aunt Gracie is really her sister, Gracie DeSpain Towne. Dale is her grandson, Henry Dale Robertson, Jr. Oh yeah and L-ville is Louisville, Kentucky, where Gilbert, Gordon and Joseph all lived at the time.

I can't figure out the year that this happened, but I have the marriage date of James Earl and his wife in some of my records that I don't have in my database yet. :( But I think I remember my mother telling me that James Earl came for a visit (you know it wasn't an everyday occurrence when out of town relatives came for a visit) in the late 60's, so I'll go with that for now.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)