An Ancestor's Poem: "Actions Speak Louder Than Words"

I'm busy looking through the small town paper where my family has lived since the early 1870's. I lived there when I was young and have many relatives still in the area. These small papers are full of interesting articles!

One article I found this morning said that my second great grand uncle, or the brother of my second great grandmother, had "entertained those present [at a 'big dinner'] by reciting one of his German poems." Oh, how I wish I could read that poem!

But, then I found one published in the newspaper! (And maybe there are more?) It was published about 6 months before this gathering. How wonderful to actually find one of his poems! And, yes, the family was German, but this poem is in English. I'm not sure if they called his other poem "German" because he was German (this is the generation that immigrated), or if he actually wrote it in German. But, I'm thrilled to have this poem written in English!

Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Arkansas City Daily Traveler, Arkansas City, Kansas, 15 Dec 1908, page 6, column 4;
digital image newspapers.com, (http://www.newspapers.com: accessed 03 Oct  2014)

In preaching 'Peace on earth and to man good will'
While having a pistol in your pocket concealed,
And building fleets and guns with intent to kill,
Is your deceitful sham revealed.
                                - Emil Werther (1854 in Germany - 1942 in Kansas)

Note: This poem could actually be written by Emil's son, Emil Jr (1882-1917), but I think the poems are by the father.

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

Baby Thrown During 1899 Twister

May 31st, 1899. An electrical storm bursts upon the small town of Ashton, Kansas during the late evening hours. Thunder booms and lightning flashes across the sky. A young family probably tries to sleep but the mother and father are kept awake by the show. Then, they hear what sounds like a train coming towards them. They probably crouch together for safety and hold on tight to their baby boy. And then the tornado hits their house.

Image from Wikipedia

The house is torn apart by the twister. It is demolished. The husband is blown 450 feet away and is badly cut on the head. The mother is OK. But, where is baby Floyd? He's only 10 months old! After searching in the dark, they find that he's been thrown by the tornado, too. But, thankfully he isn't injured.

A Small Twister, Arkansas City Daily Traveler, Arkansas City, Kansas, 01 Jun 1899, page 5, column 2;
digital image newspapers.com, (http://www.newspapers.com: accessed 01 Oct  2014)

What a terrifying night for a family! But, I'm sure they were thankful that they all survived the tornado even though they lost their house and possessions.

A Small Twister, Arkansas City Daily Traveler, Arkansas City, Kansas, 01 Jun 1899, page 5, column 2;
digital image newspapers.com, (http://www.newspapers.com: accessed 01 Oct  2014)

This is what happened on May 31st, 1899 to my great, great grandfather's daughter and her family. D. V. Waggoner was married to Mary Ellen "Ella" Coppenbarger, a sister of my great grandmother, Myrtle Mae (Coppenbarger) Peters. Myrtle Mae and their parents, Josiah Randolph Coppenbarger & Elizabeth (Bennett) Coppenbarger were living nearby as were other family members. I wonder when they found out that a tornado had demolished Ella's home and thrown the little baby away from the safety of his mom and dad. What a terrifying event!

Once again, the only reason I found this story is because of a newspaper article I found at newspapers.com. Newspapers can tell us so much about our ancestors and get us past the names, dates and places.

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

Old Yearbooks on Ancestry

It looks like Ancestry has had old yearbooks on their site for awhile, but I think they recently added some new ones including one that is useful to me: Arkansas City High School in Kansas. My grandmother, Hazel Peters, graduated from there in 1928.

Hazel Peters (1910-1975) (married to James Edward Stewart)
Senior Photo - original in possession of family

I don't know what is legal to post from Ancestry, so I'm thankful that Hazel's senior photo is on the possession of my family. (Note: the hair looks odd because it was digitally colored & I changed it back to black & white.) So, I'm not going to post other photos from the book, but I encourage you to look! Here are some interesting things I found in Hazel's yearbook:

• Hazel's senior photo
• A page entitled "Interpretive Reading" that says Hazel tied for 4th place
• A page entitled "The Play: Barry Corners" about the senior class play where "Hazel Peters, as Grace, Pat's (the main character) older sister, haughty and disdainful, lent a decided contrast to the merry Patsy. Hazel was 'in' her part from start to finish and her acting was outstanding." I was thrilled to find out that my grandmother acted as I was in plays in high school and I didn't know my grandmother was, too!
• A photo of the school play, though I'm not sure which one is Hazel. I'm going to take this photo to Kansas next month and see if I can find out!
• The photo of the cheerleaders... they were all guys!
• The photo of the band... they were all guys! (But, the orchestra had females, too!)

I absolutely loved 'reading' through this old yearbook. I've also found them for a few of her cousins and aunts and uncles so I'm going to keep digging!

Have you found your ancestors in these old yearbooks? Did you find anything surprising?

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

Praise for Miracle Drug!

I found the following newspaper advertisement twenty-two times in the Arkansas City Daily Traveler. I guess Eckert (Eckard) Peters (1845- 1915) was sold on this miracle drug! Eckert was a brother of my great, great grandfather, Charles Peters (1847 in Germany - 1910 in Comanche County, Oklahoma). In 1894 they both lived in Sumner County, Kansas which was near the county line of Cowley County, Kansas where Arkansas City ("Ark City") is located.

Lagrippe Remedy, Arkansas City Daily Traveler, Arkansas City, Kansas, 08 Nov 1894, page 3, column 2;
digital image newspapers.com, (http://www.newspapers.com: accessed 20 Sep 2014)

Two years ago I bought a 25-cent bottle of Lagrippe Remedy for coughs and colds and it cured when all others failed. I buy it by the pint now and am never without it. - Eckert Peters, Ashton, Kan." For sale at Simmons' drug store.

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

"One Lovely Blog" Award!

I was pleasantly surprised to receive two nominations today for the "One Lovely Blog" Award! A big thank you to both Carla Lee at Sassygenealogist and Elise Ann Wormuth at Living in the Past for these nominations! My genealogy blog is still quite new and this award means a lot!

Here are the 'rules' for this award:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link to that blog
2. Share seven things about yourself
3. Nominate 15 bloggers you admire (or as many as you can think of!)
4. Contact your bloggers to let them know that you've tagged them for the One Lovely Blog Award

So, again, thanks again to Carla Lee and Elise Ann Wormuth! (See links above.)

7 things about me:

1. I have a degree in Biology Education and worked in a research laboratory as an undergraduate student.
2. I have played the piano since I was very young and was an accompanist both at school and at church.
3. I love to travel and have (so far) visited 9 countries: Ireland, Scotland, Japan, France, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Mexico, & the Bahamas.
4. I started doing genealogy in 1998 when you still had to use a microfilm reader to view the censuses.
5. I just moved from the house we lived in for over 17 years! I've also lived in two other houses for about 10 years each. I don't move around much!
6. I've been married for over 20 years to my high school sweetheart.
7. I'm an avid reader and just finished reading my 60th book of the year.

Nominate 15 bloggers.... So, in no particular order...

1.  Midge Frazel of Granite in My Blood
2.  Michael Lacopo of Hoosier Daddy?
3.  Diane Hall of Michigan Family Trails
4.  Harold Henderson of Midwestern Microhistory
5.  Lorine McGinnis Schulze of The Olive Tree Genealogy
6.  Kenneth R. Marks of The Ancestor Hunt
7.  Elizabeth Handler of From Maine to Kentucky
8.  Jill at Genealogy Certification: My Personal Journey
9.  Karen Blackmore at Karen's Genealogy Oasis
10. Kris Stewart at My Link to the Past
11. Sheri Fenley at The Educated Genealogist
12. Lynn Palermo at The Armchair Genealogist
13. Judy G. Russell at The Legal Genealogist
14. Miriam J. Robbins of Ancestories: The Stories of My Ancestors
15. Debi Austen at Who Knew?

Contact the Bloggers you nominated... I'm heading off to do that now!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Do/Did Your Children Know Their Great-Grandparents?

Randy posted his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Challenge... and it's based on one of my posts! Neat! So, here are the rules:

1) Dana Leeds on the Enthusiastic Genealogist blog asks "Did/Do Your Children Know Any of Their Great-Grandparents?"

2) I thought that would be a great Saturday Night Genealogy Fun question - so please share your response with us in a blog post of your own, in a comment on this blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post.

3) For extra credit, or in case the answer is "No," then please answer the question for yourself, or your parents

Randy, I'm so glad you used my post as a SNGF challenge! Since I already did the challenge for my daughter (& myself), I thought I'd use my husband instead. So, here goes!

"Papa Booger" in middle & "Big Granny" on far right with 3 of their daughters

My husband, like my daughter, knew four of his great-grandparents! And, all of them lived nearby!

1. Thomas Harrison Leeds (1887-1975)
2. Benjamin Harrison Payton (1887-1985)
3. James Vernon Miller, aka "Papa Booger" (1890-1978) & his wife...
4. Leatha Ellen (Moore) Miller, aka "Big Granny" (1896-1981)

We aren't sure where either of the nicknames came from!

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

Do Your Children Know Any of Their Great-Grandparents?

Paula Stuart-Warren posted about the birth of her first great grandchild. Then, she talked about how many great-grandparents her children knew, and how many great-grandparents she knew. That got me thinking about the relationship my daughter has had with four of her great-grandparents. (I only had one great-grandparent living when I was born, but she lived across the country and died when I was less than 2 months old.)

One of my husband's grandmother's died when my daughter was about 14 months old. Sadly, she had an advanced case of Alzheimer's. She kept thinking my baby girl was a baby boy! We only have a few photos of them together. I love this photo!

This is Grandpa H holding my daughter. He turned 80 years old two days after she was born. They first met when she was about 1 month old and I surprised him with this homemade shirt that says "I [heart] my Great Grandpa." He passed away last May in his mid-90's.

And this is my baby girl with Grandpa H's wife, Grandma H. She is still living and we get to see her quite a few times each year. If Grandpa H would have lived until August last year, they would have celebrated 70 years of marriage!

We recently moved and I can't find a photo of my daughter with her other great grandmother - my Grandmother K. We lived far apart, but they got to see each other three times before my grandmother passed away when my daughter was about 3 1/2. I have a lovely 4 generation professional photo taken of the two of them with my mom and myself.

What about you... did you know any of your great grandparents? Or did your children know theirs?

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