SNGF: Lifespans of My 2nd Great Grandparents (My Average: 68 Years)

Randy Seaver, at Genea-Musings, posted this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge. This week, we are looking at our great, great grandparents and their lifespans.

You can visit Genea-Musings for more specific guidelines, but basically we are looking at the birth, death, and lifespans of our great, great grandparents. I'll start with the statistics...

My 2nd great grandparents statistics:

• Average birth year: 1846 (with 12 of them being born between 1840-1852)
• Range of birth years: 1826 to 1860
• Average death year: 1914
• Range of death years: 1882 to 1938
• Average lifespan: 68
• Range of lifespans: 40 to 99
• Male average lifespan: 67
• Female average lifespan: 70

My 16 great, great grandparents:

• Alexander Stewart (1852-1922), 70 years 
• Catharine J (McClintock) Stewart (1850-1929), 78 years
• Augustus L Merrill (1848-1920), 72 years
• Sarah Jane (Eastwood) Merrill (1848-1923), 75 years
• Carl/Charles Peters (1847-1910), 63 years
• Fredericka (Werther) Peters (1847-1888), 40 years
• Josiah Randolph Coppenbarger (1844-1934), 89 years
• Elizabeth (Bennett) Coppenbarger (1849-1914), 65 year
• Reinhard Kaechle (1844-1900), 55 years
• Lena (Karbach/Koerbach) Kaechle (1848-1938), 90 years
• Franz/Frank Adam (1826-1902), 75 years
• Frances (Holthoefer) Adam (1838-1907), 74 years
• James B Dickson (1840-1902), 62 years
• Eliza (Boyers) Dickson (1842-1882), 40 years
• Reuben Houston Ward (1859-1906), 47 years
• Sallie (Dickson) Ward (1860-1960), 99 year

SNGF: Ancestors or Cousins Born on Your Birth Date

Randy's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge tonight is to see if you have any ancestors or cousins that share your birth date. You can find the 'rules' on his blog, Genea-Musings.

1. What is your birth date? (Not the year... just the month & day)

February 22nd

Robert F Barnett's headstone, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Salt Fork, Grant Co, OK
Image by bobetx1 posted at FindAGrave

2. Do you have anyone in your tree who shares your birth date? (Randy's post shows how to find this from your genealogy program)

There is one person on my tree with my same birth date: Robert F Barnett (1843-1912). He is not a direct ancestor, but he is someone I'd like to research more. He is one of the husbands of Matilda Katharine "Kate" Coppenbarger (1848-1899) who is the daughter of Peter Coppenbarger (1817-1847) & Mary "Polly" Randolph (1818-1885) who were my 3rd great grandparents. Their son, Josiah Randolph Coppenbarger (1844-1934) was my great, great grandfather, and Kate's brother.

I'm going to extend this 'challenge' & see what I know about him & his wife & what I can find out.

WHAT I KNOW:

I have Robert F Barnett's birth & death dates (1843-1912) & place of birth (WV). I don't have recorded where I got this information. I also have him in the 1880 census in Sumner Co, KS with his wife, Kate, and their two children, Lawrence & Luna who were 10 & 8. So, I also have their marriage date & place (1868 in De Witt Co, IL) though, again, no documentation. Robert was Kate's second marriage, so I believe they were together until her death in 1899 in Oklahoma, though I also show she was buried in Wisconsin. (Sadly, again I don't have any documentation!)

WHAT I FOUND TONIGHT:

• Find A Grave entry showing burial in Grant County, Oklahoma and verifying years of birth and death. It also shows Kate buried here, so I don't think she's buried in Wisconsin!
• Found another son, Ray, through census records
• Found Robert was born in Illinois, not West Virginia (several census records)
• Found Robert as a child with his parents & siblings in De Witt Co, IL
• Found the family on the 1875 census which showed daughter's name as Lura, not Luna
• Determined his probable place of death (Grant Co, OK) based on the census of where he was living two years before his death and where he was buried

3. Share!

Here's my post. I found quite a bit in about 30 minutes of work. It's always a good idea to follow this children of your ancestors!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

SNGF: Your 2015 Genealogy Education Plans

It's time for some more Saturday Night Genealogy Fun! Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings hosts this weekly challenge. This week's challenge concerns our 2015 Genealogy Education Plans.

The "Fun" is in two parts this week:

Part 1: Describe your genealogy education plans for 2015

1. The Write Stuff: Build Your Family History Writing Skills with Lisa Alzo

I am currently participating in a 6 week online course called "The Write Stuff" coached by Lisa Alzo. This course is designed to help you write your family stories. I'm guessing it'll be offered several more times this year. We have weekly homework and meet once a week online for an hour.

2. Gen Proof Study Group 37

I am also currently participating in "Gen Proof Study Group 37" which studies Tom Jones' book, Mastering Genealogical Proof. We have weekly homework and meet weekly on Google+ hangouts for discussions besides having discussions throughout the week. I'm sure there will be other sessions offered this year.

3. GRIP - Law School for Genealogists with The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell

I attended GRIP in Pennsylvania last summer for the first time. I am giving myself one week during the summer to travel and GRIP is my choice again this summer, though I'm starting to consider a week in Salt Lake City instead... I've never been! It's a hard choice!

4. Boston University Online Certificate Program

I plan on taking Boston University's 16 week program in the fall. I understand this program will take 20-30 hours of homework per week, so it will be intense!

5. Legacy Family Tree Webinars

I have a subscription and will watch some of the archived and new programs as they become available. These webinars are by many top genealogists and the new webinars are usually offered free for a week! There's a wide variety of topics and a large number of archived webinars avaiable.

6. Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS) Webinars

I live in Texas, but find a subscription to SCGS worth the free webinars. I first joined to watch the Jamboree videos!

7. NGS 2015 Family History Conference Live Streaming

With a daughter still at home, I have limited time to travel. So, I really enjoyed being able to watch some NGS lectures at home last year! This year, they are again offering two tracks to watch at home and I'll be buying them both: The Immigration & Naturalization Process and Methodology Techniques.

8. Extreme Genes and Genealogy Guys podcasts

I really enjoy both of these shows and have started downloading them so I can listen to them either while working around the house or while running errands. I gave some examples of things you can find on "Extreme Genes" on my blog recently.

9. Subscriptions to National Genealogical Society Quarterly magazine and Family Tree magazine

I need to read both of these more faithfully! I might see about switching to the paper edition of NGSQ as I don't really enjoy reading it electronically.

10. Various blogs

I spend several hours a week reading various genealogy blogs which I follow on Bloglovin'.

11. DearMyrtle's Videos

I have just recently watched several of Ol' Myrtle's videos and have found them very useful! One was about creating a graphic for your blog which I used for "Our Stories" and another was about AncestryDNA matches that don't have hints! I also viewed her "G+ - Tweak your profile" video today and updated my Google+ profile! I'm going to keep my eye on what she's doing as she has a lot she can teach me. You can find her videos on her YouTube channel. (P.S. I would LOVE to do her GenLaw Study Group! I hope she does it again maybe this summer... I'm just too busy with my other classes right now!)

Part 2: How much time do you spend on genealogy education? and why?

I spend 20-30 hours a week, perhaps half of my genealogy time, on education at this time. Although I've been doing genealogy for over 15 years, I've come to a new season in my life where I have a lot more time to pursue this passion. I want to do it 'right' and I still have a lot to learn. 

Why? I do hope to become certified within the next 3-5 years, but I don't think I'd do it to take on clients. I am a teacher and could see myself doing some kind of teaching. But, primarily I want to be certified to know I'm researching at a high standard of excellence. 

SNGF: Random Genealogy

Randy Seaver posted his weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Challenge and I'm a few days late, but decided to give it a try! His challenge? Do some random genealogy research and basically report what you started with and what you learned.

I like how Diane at Michigan Family Trails changed it up a bit and went with the first person in her tree and limited it to one hour. So, I've decided to go that route.

My person? Her name is Agnes and she married Cline Quigley.

What I know? She was born in about 1820 in Pennsylvania and had 3 (known) children. I only have the 1880 census which is in Beech Creek, Clinton County, Pennsylvania. It lists 5 members of the family: Agnes (age 60), her husband Cline (age 63) & the 3 children (ages 18 to 25). It also lists an 18 year old servant named Annie Quiggle. (Is she related?) Everyone, including the servant and all parents, were born in Pennsylvania.

And now, an hour of research...

1. "related content" on Ancestry's 1880 census

I found the 1860, 1870 & then 1850 census. I found 5 more children (for a total of 8) and Agnes' middle initial: T. [Note: I now believe this "T" is actually for her maiden name, not her middle name.]

2. Other people researching Agnes on Ancestry

I didn't find anything that related.

3. Mocavo

I found a great article in "History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania" about one of the daughter's of Agnes & Cline. Their daughter, Mary C (one of the 'new' children I just learned about) was born May 21, 1848 in Beech Creek, Clinton County, Pennsylvania. It says she was the daughter of "Hon. Cline, ex-associate judge of Clinton County, Penn., and Agnes (Thompson) Quigley, old settlers of Clinton County, Penn."

So, I have at least a piece of evidence that Agnes' maiden name was Thompson and her husband was an associate judge! Two more pieces of information!

4. Find-A-Grave & BillionGraves

I didn't find anything even though a private tree on Ancestry says they have her burial place through Find-A-Grave.

Death Notice for Mrs. Agnes Quigley, Altoon Tribune, Altoona, Pennsylvania, 22 Apr 1896,
page 7, column 1, digital image newspapers.com, (http://www.newspapers.com) accessed 19 Jan 2015

5. newspapers.com

Yes!! I found a death notice for her! She died in 1896. (I also found a few clippings about either her husband or son I need to explore.)

6. Google

I found a book called "History of the Beech Creek Area of Clinton County Pennsylvania" that also listed Agnes' maiden name as Thompson. This book has a LOT more I need to read!

7. FamilySearch

I didn't find anything.

8. fold3 (for husband, Cline)

I didn't find anything.

CONCLUSION

In less than an hour (about 45 minutes), I uncovered quite a bit of new information using some of my 'go to' searches.

Why should I research this random person from my tree? Agnes was the wife of a grandson of my patriot ancestor, Michael Quigley, who married Frances Catharine Kline/Cline. By researching this couple, I can uncover more information about my direct ancestors, too. Also, it's always a good idea to research 'down' the line! You never know who inherited family photos, a family Bible, or even who might have heard family stories!

Do you have other sites you regularly check that I didn't use?

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

SNGF: Your Ancestor Score for 2015

Randy's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge was posted last night at Genea-Musings. This week's challenge was to find out how many direct ancestors you've found. Here are the rules:

1) Determine how complete your genealogy research is. For background, read Crista Cowan's post Family History All Done? What’s Your Number? and Kris Stewart's What Is Your Genealogy "Score?" For comparison purposes, keep the list to 10 or 11 generations with you as the first person.

2) Create a table similar to Crista's second table, and fill it in however you can (you could create an Ahnentafel (Ancestor Name) list and count the number in each generation, or use some other method). Tell us how you calculated the numbers.

3) Show us your table, and calculate your "Ancestral Score" - what is your percentage of known names to possible names (1,023 for 10 generations).

4) For extra credit (or more SNGF), do more generations and add them to your chart.

5) Post your table, and your "Ancestor Score," on your own blog, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status post or Google+ Stream post.

I had never run an Ahnentafel chart, but it was really easy with RootsMagic. Then, I just counted my ancestors for each generation!

This took longer than it should have as I'd found some amazing church records over a year ago that I'd never added to my tree. In a small village in Germany, I've had ancestors back to the early 1600's! And, someone has put all these people online, but I hadn't added them to my tree.

I do want to stress that I actually got these records for myself and looked through them. Though they are in German, I was able to read quite a bit of it... enough for me to be pretty confident in what this person has shared.

So, here's my chart (which I had difficulty figuring out how to do... I finally made it in Excel & then pasted it into PowerPoint):

So, I have 161 direct ancestors on my family tree! (Well, to the 7x great grandparents level... I also have 8 of my 8x great grandparents! I don't have anything beyond that.)

I think it is interesting that I'm still missing 4 of my 3x great grandparents. I think I'll look at those and see if I can find at least one this year!

SNGF - Make a Surname Christmas Tree

Oops! Somehow I ended up on one of Randy's challenges from last December on Genea-Musings. Oh, well! I'm going to go ahead and post it. It was fun!

So, the challenge was to create a surname genealogy tree and share how you did it. I went to my RootsMagic and created a surname list based on frequency. I then started typing the names in Word while creating a tree shape. I added a star from the 'drawing' tools and then my husband helped me to save it in PowerPoint as I was lost as how to get the image on my blog. Here's the result of some of my most common surnames!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Best Genea-Prize in August 2014

Randy posts a weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge over at Genea-Musings. Tonight's challenge is about your August genealogical "finds." Here are the rules...

1. Did you do some genealogy research during August 2014? Did you find a great record or story pertaining to an ancestor or family member?
2. Tell us about the BEST genea-prize ("record") you found during August 2014. What was it, where did you find it, and how does it help advance your research?
3. Share your genea-prize in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post. 
4. NOTE: If you didn't find one in August, tell us about a recent genea-prize from another month.

So, here goes!

The past 4 or 5 weeks have been incredible for me as far as genealogical finds. But, I decided to chose the newspaper notices for Lena Tremlett's estate as my "Best Genea-Prize in August 2014." I already posted about this prize, but I will add a bit about how I found it and how it helps to advance my genealogical knowledge of my family.

After returning from GRIP in Pennsylvania, I thought I'd try one of the sites that Debbie Mieszala had shared with us in her newspapers class: Chronicling America. I typed in one of my more unusual surnames, Coppenbarger, and came up with only a handful of hits. One of the hits had a long lists of names and I recognized quite a few of them.

Order of Publication, Weekly Graphic, Kirksville, Missouri, 16 Mar 1888,
page 1, column 6, newspapers.com (accessed 06 Sep 2014)

It took some work but I finally realized these notices were concerning the estate of Lena (Randolph) Tremlett, a daughter of William Randolph & Matilda Kearns/Keeran. She didn't have any children, so the land was being distributed between her remaining siblings and the  nieces and nephews of deceased siblings and all of their spouses.

Although I blogged about this 'find' before, I thought I'd include a list of those family members here. The last 6 people I couldn't fit into my tree... UNTIL I was writing this post! (I discovered they were 3 sisters & their spouses - additional children of one of Lena's siblings which I hadn't discovered before.) Now, I have placed all of these people on my tree! Blogging helps!!! And, it's wonderful to have this additional 'proof' that my tree for this family is correct!

Here's the list and how they are related to Lena's parents, William Randolph & Matilda Kearns/Keeran:

• A. J. Randolph (Adoniram Judson) (1839-1895), son of William & Matilda 
• W. H. Randolph (Willoughby Harrison) (1820-1899), son of William & Matilda
• J. H. Randolph (Jehu H) (1828-1900), son of William & Matilda
• Matilda (Randolph) Hukill (1833-1898), daughter of William & Matilda
• Charles B. Hukill, son-in-law of William & Matilda
• Kendall B(rooks) Randolph, granddaughter of William & Matilda through their deceased son, Moses (1834-1862)
• Francis W(ayland) Randolph, grandson of William & Matilda through their deceased son, Moses (1834-1862)
• Joseph M Canary (1848-?), grandson-in-law of William & Matilda through their deceased son, Moses (1834-1862)
• Ella (Randolph) Canary (1858-?), granddaughter of William & Matilda through their deceased son, Moses (1834-1862)
• Tazwell Merrill (abt 1848-?), grandson-in-law of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• Susan (Allsup) Merrill (1850-?), granddaughter of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• William Heckman (1844-?), grandson-in-law of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• Mary (Allsup) Heckman (1852-?), granddaughter of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• Thomas Allsup (abt 1861-?), grandson of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• George N Daughtery, Jr (1839-?), grandson of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Mary "Polly" Randolph (1818-1885)
• Joseph [Josiah] R Coppenbarger (1844-1934), grandson of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• William Coppenbarger (1846-1921), grandson of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• Robert Barnett (1843-1912), grandson-in-law of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• Matilda C (Coppenbarger) Barnett (1848-1899), granddaughter of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• Ulyses G Burton (1865-1949), grandson of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• John [Joseph] Eninger (1855-1950), grandson-in-law of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• Vina [Louvina] (Burton) Eninger (1857-1932), granddaughter of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Lovina "Love" Matilda Randolph (1816-1880)
• Levi T Regan (1842-1933), grandson of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Sarah Randolph (1822-1862)
• William W Regan (1845-?), grandson of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Sarah Randolph (1822-1862)
• Milton R Regan (1860-1928), grandson of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Sarah Randolph (1822-1862)
• Daniel [Daniel] Hunter (1851-?), grandson-in-law of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Sarah Randolph (1822-1862)
• Lena (Regan) Hunter (1852-1943), granddaughter of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Sarah Randolph (1822-1862)
• John Howard (1846-?), grandson-in-law of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Sarah Randolph (1822-1862)
• Martha (Regan) Howard (1850-?), granddaughter of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Sarah Randolph (1822-1862)
• Nathan Foreman (1841-1912), grandson-in-law of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Sarah Randolph (1822-1862)
• Louisa A (Regan) Foreman (1855-1892), granddaughter of William & Matilda through their deceased daughter, Sarah Randolph (1822-1862)

Do we share common ancestors? If so, I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How Many Sarah's LNU are in Your Genealogy Database?

Randy has posted another Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge. This week we are looking at Sarah's in our database with 'last names unknown' or LNU. I'm going to summarize the rules this time:

Basically, search your database and see how many females you have with the first name of "Sarah" where you don't know the last name. Then, do a little research and see if you can discover her maiden name. If you don't have any Sarah's, feel free to use a different first name. Then, post your findings!

So, here goes!

I have two Sarah's, but they are such distant relatives that I decided to chose a different name. So, I'm going with Ann. I found six Ann's and was able to discover the maiden name of one of these... which I'll share at the end.

1. Ann (abt 1762-aft 1809), who married Charles BOOKOUT, is my 5th great grandmother. The only record I have for her is her husband's will from 1809 in Wayne County, Kentucky that lists his wife, Ann, and four children: John, Mary, Benjamin and Joseph.

2. Ann, who married Jno. THOMPSON, is the mother-in-law of my 4th great grandfather, Joseph EASTWOOD (1773-1844), through his first wife. She lived in England in the 1700's.

3. Ann (?-1827), who married Nicholas QUIGLEY (abt 1740 in PA - abt 1810 in Clinton Co, PA) the son of Christian QUIGLEY (see #4), is the wife of my 5th great grand uncle. The only record I have for her is a SAR (Sons of American Revolution) application from 1945. Now that I look at it again, it says her father is Gayen MILLER. So, I need to see if I can verify that her last name is MILLER.

4. Ann, who married Christian QUIGLEY, is my 6th great grandmother.The only record I have for her is also the SAR application from 1945. It says that there were married about 1750. The application says he served directly under General Washington. (His son, Michael QUIGLEY (1748-1804) is the Patriot through which I joined DAR two years ago.)

5. Anna M (abt 1871-?), who married Charles M QUIGLEY, is my second cousin four times removed. I have her in the 1920 and 1930 censuses.

6. Anna/Annie M (1836-bef 1910), who married Adam Close McCLINTOCK, is the wife of my 3rd great grand uncle. I have her in the 1870, 1880 & 1900 censuses in Clinton County, Pennsylvania. Her husband is a widower in the 1910 census. 

Pennsylvania Death Certificate of Anna M (Bickle) McClintock

There are a total of 44 McClintick/McClintock/McClintic's listed on FindAGrave in that cemetery and I'm going to make sure I have them all accounted for! Also, I need to make sure I have all of their death certificates if they died between 1906-1944. "My" Ann is not currently listed, so I will add her.

The Ann I had the most success with was #6. Ancestry showed a hint listing a death record, and it was hers. The informant is her husband, A C McCLINTOCK. It lists her parents as John BICKLE (so, that's her maiden name!) and Catharine DUKES. I also got her birthdate (20 Feb 1838), date of death 07 May 1909), and burial place (Cedar Hill Cemetery, Mackeyville, Clinton County, PA). I then found her parents in the 1860 census when she would've been 22, but she's not with her family. I think it is likely this was a second marriage for her as she was about 30 years old when she married Adam. I couldn't find her parents in 1850.

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: How Many Children/Grandchildren in your Matrilineal Line?

Carrie, over at "Under the Nut Tree Genealogy" participated in an older Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge today. This post, from January 18th of this year, is titled "How Many Children/Grandchildren in Your Matrilineal Line?" I thought I'd participate as I didn't have a blog in January. Here's the challenge:

1. Consider your Matrilineal Line (mother's mothers mother's, etc.) families - the ones from your mother back through her mother all the way back to the first of that matrilineal line in your family group sheets or genealogy database. List the names of these mothers, and their lifespan years.
2. Use your paper charts or genealogy software program to create a Descendants chart (dropline or graphical) that provide the children and their children (i.e., up to the grandchildren of each mother in the surname list).
3. Count how many children they had (with all spouses), and the children of those children in your records and/or database. Add those numbers to the list. See my example below! [Note: Do not count the spouses of the children]
4. What does this list of children and grandchildren tell you about these persons in your matrilineal line? Does this task indicate areas that you need to do more research to fill out families and find potential cousins?
5. Tell us about it in your own blog post, or in a comment to this post, or in a comment on Facebook or Google+.

So, here goes!

Headstone of Lenora Dickson & her husband, Matthew
Posted by Wilda Graves Patterson at FindAGrave

My matrilineal line is (note: I'm not including spouses)

• My mom (still living): 3 children, 2 grandchildren
• My grandmother, Ethel Evelyn (Dickson) Kaechle (1915-2004): 7 children, 13 grandchildren
• Martha Lenora "Nora" (Ward) Dickson (1885-1916): 5 children, 15 grandchildren
• Sallie Harriett (Dickson) Ward (1860-1960): 9 children, 41 grandchildren
• Lenora "Nora" J (Mays) Dickson (1823-1909): 9 children, 30 grandchildren

I decided to skip the spouses & just do the direct line. So, the direct descendants of Lenora (Mays) Dickson in my line are: 111 people! (I hope I counted this right...)

My grandmother was born near Perry County, Tennessee and grew up there. She moved away when she married my grandfather. Her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother were all born and are buried in Perry County.

"Does this indicate any area I need to work on?" Yes! I need to work on the children of Lenora (Mays) Dickson. I have yet to identify her parents, though I've narrowed it down to a few probabilities from the Mays families in the 1830 & 1840 censuses. I see some of these children have hints, so I'm off to explore!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Two Degrees of Separation

Randy has posted his latest Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge on GeneaMusings. This week's challenge is titled "Two Degrees of Separation." Here's the assignment:

1. Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with two degrees of separation? That means "you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor." When was that second ancestor born?
2. Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, in a status line on Facebook or a stream post on Google Plus.

Randy broke his down by line, so I thought I would, too.

1. My STEWART line: I met my grandfather, James Edward STEWART (1910-1972). He would've known his grandparents Augustus L MERRILL (1848-1920) & Sarah Jane (EASTWOOD) MERRILL (1848-1923) as they all lived in Pennsylvania.
2. My PETERS line: I knew my grandmother, Hazel Lucille (PETERS) STEWART (1910-1975). She lived in the same small town as her grandfather, Josiah Randolph COPPENBARGER (1844-1934).
3. My KAECHLE line: I knew my grandfather, Sherman Joseph KAECHLE (1907-1987). His great grandmother, Marya "Mary Ann" (REUTER) KARBACK (1825-1914) lived until he was about 7 years old. He lived in Detroit, Michigan while she lived in Huron, Ohio. They are only 120 miles apart so I am pretty sure they would have met.
4. My DICKSON line: I knew my grandmother, Ethel Evelyn (DICKSON) KAECHLE (1915-2004). She was raised by her grandmother, Sallie Harriet (DICKSON) WARD (1860-1960) who lived to be 99 years old. 

Mary Ann (Reuter) Koerbach/Karbach's death certificate from FamilySearch

So, my 'oldest' family member that I can connect to by two degrees of separation is: Marya "Mary Ann" (Reuter) Karback/Koerback who was born on the 4th of May 4th 1825 in Germany in about 1850. I wrote about Mary Ann in a post titled "Aged Woman Answers Summons."

What I find most interesting about this challenge is this: my grandmother only died in 2004 and probably at least knew about her great grandmother if she didn't actually know her. What could she have told me that I didn't know to ask? It's a great reminder to talk to the oldest living members of our families!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Share Some Elementary School Memories

It's that time of year again - kids are going back to school. In honor of that, Randy's weekly Saturday Night Fun Challenge is to share some elementary school memories. So, here goes!

My official kindergarten photo

I started school very close to home. In fact, Lincoln Elementary was just across the alley from our backyard! I could be in my classroom just minutes after leaving my backyard. I remember my best friend, Misty, having to tie my shoes for me at recess during kindergarten. And I remember hearing the bell one day and heading home... and my mom told me I had to go back to school... it was recess; the day wasn't over yet! I was really embarrassed.

I took speech therapy in kindergarten because I had trouble saying the "r" sound. Me and another classmate got out of class a couple of times a week to work with the therapist. I got to do lots of fun games and crow like a rooster to try to say my "r's"!

We played a game that would probably get kids in trouble now. There was a row of bushes on one side of the school. The girls would gang up and chase a boy and catch him and one of the girls would give him a kiss. Yes, this was kindergarten! Anyway, I would help, but I never kissed the boys. I thought that sounded pretty yucky!

In 2nd grade, my older sister & I went to a new Christian school. It was a very small school with only two rooms. One was for K-2nd and the other was for 3rd-12th. They tested me and ended up skipping me up a grade to 3rd grade. We sat in these cubicles and basically taught ourselves out of these short PACE booklets. We had a flag we'd raise if we needed help & we set weekly goals as to how many pages we'd finish in each subject. When you were done with a section, you went up to this big stand and used a red pen to grade yourself. If you got enough correct, you went on to the next booklet. I loved it! We also got to do speed reading on some kind of computer which was really fun. I don't think this is a great environment for everyone, but I flourished! 

One of the boys who sat next to me, Mitch, was in high school and we would thumb wrestle under our partition. We also had Bible sword drills where a verse reference is said aloud and then we'd race to see who can find it the fastest. I was the youngest, but I won the contest! My prize was a new Bible.

We went back to public school for my next year. I'd finished 3rd grade, but I wanted to be back with my friends. So, I did 3rd grade 'again'. I was really confused with the schwa in reading; I'd never heard of it! But, I read well and ended up having a reading group by myself. This was also the year, I believe, where I got knocked out doing a failed penny drop - where you hang upside down on a bar and someone pulls your arms & you're supposed to flip over and land on your feet. It's not good if you land on your head.

The next year, 4th grade, we went back to a Christian school. It was actually a different school but had many of the same people. My best friend that year was a girl named Julie. One night I spent the night at her house and was in awe at her huge house, her horses, & her basement - it had a cement floor and we were allowed to roller skate on it! I was never much of an athlete, but that year Julie and I competed for 1st & 2nd prize in all of the events at the annual Play Day. A few other highlights were: playing tetherball at recess each day, finding pottery shards in the pile of dirt behind the school from the new building; and the giant snow cave some of the older boys made and we were allowed to crawl through.

For 5th grade, I was back at the school behind our house. This year, my classroom window looked into our backyard. The whole classroom would say 'hi' to my mom when she came outside. On nice days, the windows would be open. This year, my best friend was Shona who had moved next door to me. She would later move away and died our senior year. I wrote about her in a previous post. 

Then there was 6th grade. This was our first big move: from Kansas to Oklahoma. I made a new best friend, Pam, and we spent many hours together between school and church. Our class was out in a prefab, which I felt made us special. Our main teacher , Mr. Irvin, read Michael Crichton's "Congo" aloud to us. It was terrifying! But wonderful! He had a huge dictionary where we'd look up words; he called it "Big Bertha." And, he drove a yellow sports car that seemed so flashy. Sadly, he died several years ago. 

At recess, we'd play a new game to me: four square. If I wasn't playing four square I was hanging out on the monkey bars. I was horrible at P.E., but the teacher was a lot of fun. He had a prosthetic leg and sometimes he'd take it off. One time, some of the kids 'stole' it and he hopped around laughing as he chased them.

This was also the year of my first boyfriend. We 'went together' for a while, and then I found out he was in a basement with another girl and KISSED HER! That was the end of that relationship! Later that year, the girl got attacked by a dog while walking home from school and the tip of her nose was bitten off. Sadly, I've heard she has now passed away, too.

Randy mentioned Safety Patrol. I did that, too! Our job was to help kids cross the streets safely and we got to wear two bright orange straps: one went around our waste and the other across our chest. Between the badges and the responsibility, I felt so important! My friend, Steven, and I were the head guards and worked most days.

I pretty much loved school. I was kind of nerdy and often a teacher's pet. Later on, I'd come to love science. But, in elementary school I think I just enjoyed it all! Well, except for P.E.

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Survey of Genealogical Activities

It's Saturday night and time for Randy's weekly challenge at Genea-Musings. This week's challenge is to discuss some of your genealogical activities. So let's get started!

1. Which genealogy software programs for your computer do you use (e.g., Family Tree Maker, Reunion, GRAMPS, etc.)? I use RootsMagic, though I used Family Tree when I started years ago.
2. Which online family trees have information submitted by you - in either a separate online tree (e.g., Ancestry Member Tree) or a universal (collaborative) online tree (e.g., WikiTree)? I've only submitted to Ancestry.
3. For which subscription genealogy record providers (e.g., Ancestry) do you have a subscription? Ancestry, Mocavo, Newspapers.com, Genealogy Bank, HistoryGeo, FindMyPast (bought credits, not an actual subscription), Fold3
4. Which FREE genealogy record providers (e.g., FamilySearch) do you use regularly? Family Search, FindAGrave, Google
5. How much time do you spend each week doing actual genealogy research online? [Note: not reading, or social networking, but actual searching in a record provider]. Estimate an average number of hours per week. 14 hours per week
6. How much time do you spend each week doing actual genealogy research in a repository (e.g., library, archive, courthouse, etc.)? Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period. 4 hours per week
7. How much time do you spend each week adding information to your genealogy software program (either on your computer or online)? Estimate an average number of hours per week over, say, a one month period. 4 hours per week
8. How much time do you spend each month at a genealogical society meeting, program or event (not a seminar or conference)? Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period. 1 hour per month
9. How much time do you spend each month on genealogy education (e.g., reading books and periodicals, attending seminars, conferences, workshops, webinars, etc.)? Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period. 3-4 hours per month
10. How much time do you spend each week reading, writing and commenting on genealogy blogs, websites, and social media? Estimate an average number of hours per week over, say, a one month period. 4 hours per week

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Ahnentafel Roulette

Today's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge by Randy over at GeneaMusings is to play Ahnentafel Roullete. The 'rules' are as follows...

1. What year was one of your great-grandfathers born? Divide this number by 80 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."
2. Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel" - your software will create this - use the "Ahnentafel List" option, or similar). Who is that person, and what are his/her vital information?
3. Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."

So, here goes!

1. I picked my great grandfather, Emil Wilhelm Peters who was born in 1877. After dividing by 80, I rounded the answer to 23.
2. Person #23 in my tree is my great, great grandmother, Elizabeth Bennett who was born in 1849 in Greene County, Missouri and died in 1914 in Sumner County, Kansas.
3. 3 facts about Elizabeth Bennett: 

Newton County marriage record for Miss Elizabeth Bennett & Josiah R Coppenbarger (image from ancestry.com)

• She married Josiah Randolph Coppenbarger on the 20th of February, 1873 in Newton County, Missouri at "the home of her father", Henry Bennett 
• She had 6 children: 3 sons & 3 daughters 
• She moved from Newton County, Missouri to Sumner County, Kansas within a year or two of getting married (they moved before the 1875 Kansas state census)

Elizabeth Bennett (seated) with husband & her 6 children
Photo posted on FindAGrave by JRS

As always, I uncovered something new while participating in this SNGF post. This time, I uncovered the marriage record for Elizabeth Bennett on Ancestry! I also see that I can order a copy of it, which I'll probably do as the online copy is poor.

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Some Semi-Random Research

Last night's "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" challenge at Genea-Musings involved doing some semi-random research. I wasn't able to do the research last night, but I'm ready now!

Step #1: Go to your family tree database of choice (you know, like RootsMagic, Reunion, Ancestry Member Tree), and determine who the very first person on your list of C surnames is. Or the first person on your list of J surnames. Or P surnames. Or any other name you need to research. Your choice!

I chose the letter "U" and my name was Boyd Ungard.

Step #2: What do you know (or not know) about this person based on your research? It's OK to do more research if you need to - in fact, it's encouraged!

Boyd Ungard was born about 1875 in Pennsylvania and died after 1930. He was married in 1895 in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania to Edith Stewart. They had at least 7 children: 4 daughters & 3 sons including a son named Stewart, evidently from his mother's last name.

Boyd Ungard & Edith Stewart's 1895 marrige record
found at Ancetry

Records I have: 

• 1910, 1920, & 1930 census - all 3 near St Louis, Illinois (which is across the Mississippi from St Louis, Missouri) 
• a Methodist church marriage record stating both the bride & groom were "from Flemington" 
• a 1926 city directory showing his occupation as a laborer and his middle initial as "K" which I had never recorded 

New findings on Ancestry:

• U.S. Social Security Death Index - shows exact birth date (13 Feb 1875) & death facts (Oct 1968 in St Louis, Missouri) - age of 93 
• A listing for a St Louis obituary, though I wasn't able to view a copy of it 
• Several more city directories 
• A baptism as an adult in June of 1894 in the same church (& same month) as his marriage to Edith Stewart 
• A church record (same Methodist church) showing he was received in June of 1894 & later "removed to Pitsburgh" (no date recorded) 
• A church record (same Methodist church) showing his probationary membership starting in November of 1893 & "received into full connection" in June of 1894 

Findings at Mocavo:

• 1940 census - I had to play around with this to find it on Ancestry & found they'd transcribed the last name as "Ungood", not 'Ungard" (I found it by searching for the fairly unusual first name of Stewart with no last name) 
• 1880 census - he is 5 years old & living in same county as wife as a young girl - his 7 year old sister is listed as having scarlet fever - found siblings & parents 
• Methodist baptism record of two siblings listing same parents

front of Body Ungard's WWI draft registration card
found at FamilySearch

Findings at FamilySearch:

• WWI Draft Registration with date of birth! & his middle name & wife's middle name (she's the sister of a direct ancestor)! 

Records I'd still like:

• a copy of the obituary I found 
• probate records 
• 1900 census 
• location of burial 
• names of any other children (there is a 5 year & a 10 year gap between children) 

Step 3: How are you related to this person, and why is s/he in your family tree?

Boyd King Ungard is the husband of my great grand aunt, Edith Virginia Stewart. I try to research the siblings of my direct ancestors, so this was a great bit of research!

Step 4: Share!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My Father's Mother's Paternal Line

I've done a few of Randy Seaver's "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" challenges over at Genea-Musings. This week's challenge is about your father's mother's paternal lines.

1) What was your father's mother's name?

My grandmother's maiden name was Hazel Lucille Peters. At the end of her life, she lived with my aunt & uncle who lived in the same town as I. She had almost white hair and, as a young child, I thought that was just her hair color. So, when I received a doll with white hair, I named her Hazel. She died when I was only 5 and I have just a few memories of her - one of them being of her eating pork skins.

A photo of my grandmother Hazel long before she had white hair
(Photo in possession of my family)

2) What is your father's mother's patrilineal line? That is, her father's father's father's ... back to the most distant male ancestor in that line?
Hazel Lucille Peters was born in 1910 in Comanche County, Oklahoma. Five years before her birth & five years after her family was living in Sumner County, Kansas. So, I wonder why they were in Oklahoma for those years.

Photo of Emil & brother, Will, with their tractor & J.I. Case steam engine threshing machine
(posted by Teri, aka "Twee3", on ancestry.com)

Hazel's father, Emil Wilhelm Peters (1877-1955), was born in Sumner County, Kansas and stayed in that area except for the few years he lived in Comanche County, Oklahoma. He worked as a farmer & did threshing alongside his brother, William.

Charles Peters & his wife Fredericka (Werther) Peters
Photo from Webbe family album in possession of Scott Hawley of Westerville, Ohio
(used with permission)

Emil's father, Charles Peters (1847-1910), was also a farmer. He immigrated from Germany to Pickaway County, Ohio when he was about 11 years old. Shortly after he married in 1871 he moved to Sumner County, Kansas. Like his sons, Emil & Tony, and young granddaughter, Hazel, he was living near Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma in the early 1900's and died there in 1910.

1859 New York Passenger List for "Joach Peters", age 44, and family - traveled "Between decks"
(image from ancestry.com)

Charles' father, Joachim Otto Peters (abt 1815-abt 1894), was also a farmer. He was born in Germany, possibly Gustrow in Mecklenberg, and immigrated with his wife, Henrietta (Bingher), and six children to the United States in the summer of 1859. He lived in Pickaway County, Ohio before migrating to Sumner County, Kansas in the early 1870's. I have not been able to locate any information about this family in Germany.

3) Can you identify male sibling(s) of your father's mother, and any living male descendants from those male sibling(s)? If so, you have a candidate to do a Y-DNA test on that patrilineal line. If not, you may have to find male siblings, and their descendants, of the next generation back, or even further.

My grandmother had two brothers. One married later in life and didn't have any known children. The other had three sons, two of whom I remember from my childhood. I remember one had a grandson that was just a few years older than me. I'll have to ask some older family members to help me fill in this tree and trace these three brothers.

4) Tell us about it in your own blog post, or in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook or Google Plus post.

Clipping from "The Wellington Daily News", 13 November 1902

So, here's my post! It took me a little over two hours to write it as I was doing research as I went along. While doing it, I uncovered some new records! Specifically, some newspaper clippings about Charles Peters and the farm he sold when he moved to Oklahoma. Apparently, the buyer didn't make his second payment and so the farm was to be sold at auction. This is something I want to follow up on!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - A Genea-Scavenger Hunt!

Randy posted tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge over at Genea-Musings. Tonight's challenge is to pick a male relative who isn't a direct relative. Good choices would be a brother of an ancestor or the husband of an ancestor. You're wanting someone whose name probably wouldn't change throughout their life. Also, pick someone who was born between 1800-2000. Then, use FamilySearch to see what records come up. Tell what records you find & if you find anything new.

I chose Edward L Stewart (Aug 1879 in PA - abt 1921 in PA), a sibling to my direct ancestor Andrew McClintock Stewart. Here are the records I found:

1920 Census in Castane, Clinton County, Pennsylvania. He's a farmer, age 40, living with his wife, Pearl, who is 29. There are no children.

1910 Census in Dunnstable, Clinton County, Pennsylvania. He's 30 years old and living with his mother & father & one of their grandsons, Alexander S Lloyd. Alexander is the son of Edward's sister, Sarah, who is still living. I have not found her in the census and am not sure why she doesn't have her son with her.

1900 Census in Bald Eagle Township, Clinton County, Pennsylvania. He's 20 living with his parents & a younger brother & working as a farm laborer. His father is a farmer.

1880 Census in Dunstable, Clinton County, Pennsylvania. He's 9 months old - born in August. He's living with his parents & two older sisters, ages 3 & 6.

Edward L Stewart's front of WWI draft registration card (from FamilySearch)

Edward's WWI Draft Registration Card. This was a new record for me and filled in a lot of blanks including exact date of birth and middle name! It lists his full name as Edward Lawrence Stewart with a date of birth as August 10, 1879. He was of medium build and a slender build.

I'm thrilled to have found some new information and need to search for more family records in the draft registration cards.

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Genea-Selfie

Randy, at Genea-Musings, offers a weekly "Saturday Night Fun" challenge. This is my first challenge, but I thought I'd join in the fun! This week's challenge...take a selfie of yourself and some genealogical item.

My husband's grandfather, who passed away only 11 months ago, served in the Navy Seals as a Seabee. Their slogan: "We build, we fight." During WWII, the Seebees built roads, airstrips, hospitals, housing, bridges, and more. Grandpa built bridges.

About 10 years ago, my sister-in-law took Grandpa's navy photo, ring, Navy patch, and Seabee patch, and created this shadowbox. After his death, these were passed along to my husband. We also have his two Navy yearbooks and the flag that was presented to the family during his military funeral.

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net