Gene Notes

Some random and some not-so-random thoughts on family history.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Sad or Creepy?

Every so often I come across a coincidence (?) that is sad. Or maybe it is creepy? I don't know. My first reaction is sad and then it works its way into creeped out.

The latest in the sad or creepy factor are the deaths of Green Caleb Gay and Pluma Woodworth Gay of Andover, Ashtabula, Ohio. Green died December 28, 1928 of infirmities of age - he was 86. His widow, Pluma died one year later on December 28, 1929 -- of infirmities of age! She was 85.  Both were buried in West Andover, Ohio on December 31st of the years they died.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, December 30, 2011

A Look Back at 2011

I don't know why it is that I am so happy to see the year end. Maybe because it wasn't such a great year over all. My DH and I were each diagnosed with diseases we didn't want to deal with, yet I think the experiences and learning how to deal with our diagnoses has been a wake up call. DH is walking close to if not over 5 miles on a daily basis. I'm eating healthier. I think we both feel a lot better knowing we have somewhat minimal control over our bodies for the time being.

DH's father passed in September. He was 92 years old and was starting to decline at an increased pace.

Our older daughter took a cruise with friends. She loved it. I'm a little jealous. Younger daughter made the move from the Detroit area to Nashville. It's nice to have all four of us in the same state again.

My genealogy database grew by smaller leaps and bounds than usual - adding just over a thousand people with associated sources, places and images. And I finally got all the death records I had lingering in folders added to my database!

I actually did work on older daughter's scrapbook photo album. Now that vacation time is over and the holidays are winding up, I expect to be back in the groove scrapbooking again. This time last year I was planning their cookbooks, a project that actually got done quickly. It's nice to know I don't have to package up anything I make for younger daughter and pop it in the mail or over to UPS. Nope, we can drive it there or have her pick it up on one of her trips here for the weekend.

Younger daughter adopted a cat in May. Her name is Belle and she has spent some time at grammy and grampy's house without younger daughter. Amazingly enough, she really didn't get too excited about the Christmas tree or the decorations. Of course, grammy tried to keep the danglies to a minimum.

What's in store for 2012 besides the 1940 census? Who knows!

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Thriller Thursday - Annie Barr Bunn

Annie Barr Bunn died at the age of 53 in Jefferson township, Shelby county, Missouri as a result of accidental burn with hot water. Contributing to the cause of her death was the fact that she had epilepsy of the grand mal variety. Which meant she had seizures. She died September 10, 1930. She was married to Joseph Bunn and had at least one daughter, Mildred, who married Paul Austin Chinn. 

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Buford & Eckle


December 28, 1892 in  Lexington, Lafayette county, Missouri, Florence Buford, daughter of Legrand Griffin Buford and Ora Ella Chinn were married.  Orra was the daughter of Joseph Garland Chinn and Nannie Shelby. Orra was my first cousin 3 times removed and Legrand was my third cousin 4 times removed.





Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

This is Why I Blog!

I had a great email exchange the other day with a chap in Scotland. It seems that he did a mountain of research on breweries in Scotland and Alloa in Clackmannanshire in particular. I mentioned in a blog post on May 19, 2010 that I was working on the Maitland family and mentioned Charles Maitland of Bass Crest Brewery in Alloa. By the time he was through I had tons of stuff on the family including a transcription from the family bible. This wasn't a different Maitland family, it was my direct line. Well you can imagine, especially if you are a family researcher, that I am just thrilled with my windfall. One of my favorite items is a photo of Bass Crest House, where Charles Maitland lived with his family. And it is still standing and occupied.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, December 26, 2011

This is Fun? Yes!

I've been having quite the time of it, entering death certificates in my database. I started off with about 250, added about a dozen, and am currently down to about 56 left. Yes, I am enjoying it. It sounds crazy, but each death certificate has provided me with a little more detail about the people who were already in my database. And then there are the death certificates I found of people who weren't yet in my database. And the marriages I found as a result, and the next generation found because I am paying attention to the detail.

I am always looking for blog topics, and have found a few and discarded them because I don't want to offend the living. For instance, there is a death record for one relative, a second cousin twice removed, that seems fitting for my Thriller Thursday blog, but since this person left behind a couple of children, I don't want to speculate on the circumstances of her death. Maybe someday.

In the meantime, I will continue to enter the information, research a little further if possible, and blog about it if relevant.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas



Greeting done with My Memories Suite v 3 and "Blue Christmas" from Trixie Scraps.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Charles Webb Becken

Off and on, I've worked on the Webb family, which is my dad's side of the family. And I am always surprised when I find someone who connects recently to the line.  One such person, was Charles Webb Becken. I began corresponding with him in the late 1990's and a little into the 2000's. Chuck was the adopted son of Mary Louise Webb and Albert Charles Becken. In all our emails, when he gave me dates of births and deaths, he never gave me places. Recently, I started looking for death information on this adopted grandparents, Walter Leslie Webb and Mozella "Zella" Hutcheson. Since the Walter and Zella married in Jackson county, Missouri, that is where I started my search. Walter died in 1930, but was not found in Missouri. Nope, I found him in Illinois.  Once I had his death certificate, I found the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 censuses, and had discovered three daughters. But, Mozella was the mother of 5 with 3 living children. One more daughter was found on Family Search's Illinois birth records - Margaret - born in 1892. Since she is not listed on the 1900 census, I presume she died somewhere in that 8 year time frame.

Obituaries for Walter and Zella, who died December 12, 1941 elicited the spouses of the daughters. Frank Herdman, William H. Brady and A. C. Becken. Unfortunately, it did not give the daughter's given name. Just Mrs. Frank Herdman, Mrs. William H. Brady and Mrs. A. C. Becken. Well, I knew Becken was married to the youngest daughter, Mary Louise. Search of the 1930 census gave me Katherine Herdman and Helen Brady.

Search of the Social Security death index gave me Charles Webb Becken, born in 1926 and died December 23, 2007. None of my online indices have pointed me towards a death notice or obituary. I am saddened by that. One thing I should mention about Chuck, is that he surfed the web and sent email with WebTV. While I never met him, I enjoyed our sporadic correspondence. So here is my poor attempt at an obituary for Charles.


     Charles Webb Becken died in Los Gatos, California on December 23, 2007. Born in Illinois on August 2, 1926 he was adopted by Albert Charles and Mary Louise Webb Becken.


     Later in life, Chuck developed an avid interest in genealogy. Especially his own. He was a willing correspondent and sprinkled his family history emails with jokes. He is missed by his audience. He is survived by one daughter ...

As you see, I don't even know where he is buried, so that I could post a memorial on Find-A-Grave. Blogs touch a lot of people, and I hope someone out there has more information for me.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, December 23, 2011

OCFRD ...

Yes, I do have this disease. OCFRD. Obsessive. Compulsive. Family. Research. Disease. And I have it bad. And that is what makes me look for the death certificate online for a seriously removed relative. Or the in-law of a removed relative. For instance, while entering the parents of a seriously removed relative's wife (2nd cousin 3 times removed) from her death certificate, I noticed they listed her mother as Helen unknown. I hate that. So I had to look. I didn't find her maiden name, but I did look. I feel that women are hard enough to trace, mainly because we give up our maiden names. The ultimate insult is to find a death certificate for a woman, and they don't even bother with her first name, they just list her as Mrs. John Smith. And then list her parents as unknown. That just sets my OCFRD off and off I go searching for the answer.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Thriller Thursday - John Loyd Thurman ... Or Is It?

I am transcribing death certificates into my genealogical database and I came across one that piqued my interest: John Loyd Thurman (their spelling) who died in the Greene County, Missouri Jail. 

Why he was in jail, I do not know, but he died of generalized arteriosclerosis, cerebral sclerosis with psychosis and he was malnourished. He was 75 years old.

Okay, I can see why he might get picked up. Again I've not found a newspaper article regarding him. He was the son of John Loyd Thurmond and Martha Kirtley.

Is this something we might call Alzheimer's today? A sad end for the poor man.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Happy Blogoversary to Me!

Wow! Two years ago I started this mostly family history blog. And I've kept it going even though there were times I realllllllly wanted to skip it. But I've stuck with it (every day but Sunday.) Thanks to my 100 followers and the 20 thousand plus hits on my blog. You make me want to get that next topic posted. So Happy Blogoversary to Me!

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wedding Wednesday - Webb & Hutcheson

On December 21, 1883 in Jackson county, Missouri, Walter Leslie Webb, son of William C. Webb & Martha Jones Webb was married to Mozella "Zella" Hutcheson.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

To Err is Human. To Find Anyway is Divine!

I hate errors on vital records. Really hate it. Why? Because then I have to go back and PROVE why my information is right. That can be incredibly time consuming. For instance, yesterday one of the death certificates had the decedent's father's name wrong. I was able to pull census to prove my information is correct, but I hate having to do that.

Then there was the death record for William P. Smith of Agency, Missouri. According to his death certificate, he was born on August 15, 1916 and died October 15, 1916 at the age of 55 years and 2 months. Not possible. Slightly dyslexic person who filled out the form? According to census and calculating the birth date from his age, he was born August 15, 1861. That was a careless mistake. You see it all the time.

Another careless mistake is they will ask the informant for the father and mother's names. They DON'T want the names of the informant's parents, they want the name of the decedent's parents.

And I can't tell you how much time I've wasted over the years looking for a death record in one state only to find out that the person died somewhere else. This happens mostly when you have a burial record but no death certificate. I am sure there might be a future generation who doesn't know that my grandmother died at the Soo in Michigan (that's Saulte St. Marie for all you non-Michiganders) and not in Lexington, Missouri. And no, she wasn't living at the Soo either. My dad's family was on vacation when my grandma became ill. The transportation costs to transport her back to Detroit, have a service there, and then transportation for the whole family - dad, his brother and father - to Lexington, Missouri where she was ultimately buried - must have been astronomical for 1938.

What did I learn from all this? Widen your search. If you don't find a record where you expect to find one, search for the unexpected. It works.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, December 19, 2011

Making Progress

I am AMAZED that I am making any headway on my family database this close to Christmas. I've worked on some Christmas crafts that are gifts (enough said) and wrapped everything. I have one stocking stuffer to get yet, if I can find what I want and now am working on the death certificates I've accumulated over the past year. When I name the files for saving, I name them:  MO-DC William P Smith. If there is more than one William Smith in my database it might read thus: MO-DC William P Smith-Buchanan - for the county. Or I might stick the year on the end. This avoids duplication when I go to add the image to the database. Over the last 3 weeks, I've added about 150 images, mostly death certificates. And I've added about 10 more to the queue. And countless census records and marriage records and one or two birth records.

I've made it up to the last few of the Missouri death records, if I could just stop adding more! Still to go,109 death records that encompass New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Washington, and Ontario, Canada.

I've added 134 new people to my database also. The census records include 554 pages and there are 540 marriage records to add. Those are the ones that will take a while to enter. I cringe every time I add a new census. My goal is to be done with the death records by the end of the year. If I start dipping into the marriages - that will be good.



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Victor Klijewski

Victor Klijewski was a first cousin twice removed to my DH. My hubby's great grandfather, Max Klijewski was a half brother to Victor's father, Leon Klijewski.

I sort of stumbled on this second family of Leon Klijewski not long after Victor died. I don't know if he ever married, had children or grandchildren. I only know that he was born December 21, 1914 in Detroit, Michigan and died December 17, 2001, and his last residence was Livonia, Michigan.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, December 16, 2011

Loriman Samuel Percival Who Are You?

In yesterday's blog post, I indicated I had possibly found a family member while randomly searching on Ancestry in their "Report of the Death of An American Citizen" database recently. I came across a death record for one Loriman Samuel Percival. Curious. While I do have a Loriman Brigham Percival, born in 1884 to Samuel M. Percival & Druscilla Snow Percival*, I only have a census from 1910 that shows Loriman B. Percival married to Inez. Inez proved to be Inez C. Mattison and they were married in 1905 in Washington. After 1910, Loriman B. Percival, or L. B. Percival is difficult to find. In 1910, he is listed as a salesman, but the majority of the articles I find on him list him as an actor. I have looked for a death notice/record of him for some time now, without much luck. I need something to prove that Loriman Samuel Percival is his son.

One more look at the newspapers on Ancestry showed something I hadn't seen before. Could this be the article I hoped to find?


It certainly did prove several things. First, it proved Loriman B. Percival mentioned was the correct Loriman Percival. Even though they got his mother's first name wrong. Dinsilla? Really? Spouse was Viola (Shaw). And his son -- Loriman S. Percival. I love it when things work out they way I think they should! I am so glad I kept looking for this record, because the name kept making me think they were father and son, but I needed the proof.

*Samuel & Druscilla were first cousins.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Thriller Thursday - Loriman Samuel Percival

I always like to browse new or updated databases at Ancestry.com. Recently, I found this tidbit on the left. (Click on image to see a larger image.) It seems that Loriman Samuel Percival was in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941.

Hmm. That's interesting. Maybe I could find an obit with more information. Well, as you can see, I did find Loriman "F." Percival in the Oakland Tribune on Ancestry. All it did though was make me ask more questions, like who are his parents. Oh sure, it shows his mother on the death report, but no mention of a father. Was he related to Loriman Brigham Percival?

Check back tomorrow for the answer to my questions.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Basher & Zimmeth

This couple were my first cousins twice removed. They, therefore, were first cousins to each other. Francis Joseph Basher/Bescher was the son of George Bescher and Marianna Zimmeth and Josephine Zimmeth was the daughter of Michael Zimmeth/Simmet/Simmeth and Catherine Eisenmann. Marianna and Michael, were of course brother and sister and were two of the siblings of my great-grandfather, August Zimmeth.


Frank and Josephine were married December 15, 1887 in Lancaster, Erie, New York.



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Texas Deaths, 1977 - 1986

I feel like I'm using a very slow microfilm reader. Seriously. Family Search now has some death certificates up for Texas from 1977-1979. I had really good results with 1977, so I thought I would get a jump on 1978 Texas deaths.

First, I printed a custom report in RootsMagic that listed the name, death date and location of the people that I know died in Texas in 1978. If and when all these records are indexed, I'll go and search by surname. that always turns up a few winners for me.

In order to search, you need to know the county and the month, at least, when they died. This required looking at some of the indices available online. You would think that one of these indices would have the certificate number listed. Oh no. That would be too easy. Instead you have to locate the year, month and county on Family search and page through. and it isn't even like they tell you that certificate number 12345 - 23456 is Harris county or anything like that. And the month? Well, let's say that several of the groups say Aug-Sept and include June and July too! Weird way of doing things if you ask me. And I am not going to page through Harris county, Texas. It's a huge file. So then I have to make a to-do list item so that I don't forget about searching once these records are indexed.

And I won't even talk about the hour I wasted looking for a record in the wrong year.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, December 12, 2011

Great Review, But ...

Lexington Herald, March 8, 1964:

MRS. WILSON REMINISCES

AN ESCAPE FROM REALITY,

by Hester P. Wilson. Exposition Press, $2.75

Mrs. Wilson is a native of Fayette County and a retired teacher, and "An Escape from Reality" is a little book of recollections of her childhood.

She was born Hester Price
[WRONG] and she grew up at the Price [WRONG] Family farm on the Newtown Pike in a section of the county where many of the old homes and some of the old families remain yet. Her mother was the teacher in the one-room school Hester attended, and Prof. M. A. Cassidy was the county school superintendent, a  dignified educator who later became superintendent of city schools and for whom an elementary school is named.

Mr. Price
[WRONG], a youngster during the Civil War and a staunch Confederate sympathizer, often told Hester tales of the conflict, in which the Southerners were, of course always the heroes, and throughout the book Mrs. Wilson refers to herself not as Hester but as "Rebel." it was not until she was well along in school that she learned that the Civil War, as a matter of fact, had two sides.

Her recollections are fascinating. The Harknesses, Miss Elizabeth Dangerfield, H. Price McGrath, the Peters family, the Keenes all have a place in these reminiscences, as do Castleton, Winton, McGrathiana, Cabell's Dale, Elmendorf and other well known homes and farms.

Change from the one-room schoolhouse, the crossroads store and the horse and buggy to the present day is the theme of "An Escape from Reality," and the author's rich sense of humor and easy style of writing make it an interesting book. - L.B.M.


It's not often you can find a book review for a book a relative wrote. In this case, the book was published in 1964. The review is good, but there is a glaring error. The reviewer, one L.B.M., never bothered to check his/her facts and the author's name.  Her full name was Hester Price Parker Wilson; Parker was her maiden name, not Price. Hester Parker's father was Harvey J. Parker. Hester's mother was Stirling "Price" Kirtley. Yes, she was named for a Confederate General. Price's mother. Susan Anna Chinn died just before Price's 10th birthday. Price's father was Isaac Shelby Kirtley. I have never found a record of his death. After the death of her mother, Price went to live with her aunt & uncle, Joseph & Hester Chinn Trapp.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Sympathy Saturday, Emma Bowman Mize

Emma Bowman was the daughter of Abraham Bowman and Mary Gist Bowman. Abraham and Mary were first cousins.

Somewhere around 1877 - I haven't yet found their marriage record - Emma married Peter Mize. She died December 10, 1930 in Nodaway, Andrew county, Missouri.




Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, December 9, 2011

I Just Love It When ...

I'm working on a project in RootsMagic, and all I can say is that I've knocked about 60 items off my to-do list. You know, it doesn't hurt to review those lists once in a while.

So I am running along working on this to-do list. One of the obituaries I would love to have is an Odessa, Missouri newspaper - at least I think that is what I want. Somewhere in the Lafayette or Saline county area there must be a newspaper with an obituary for Katie Webb DeMoss. She was the daughter of Samuel Webb and Elizabeth McReynolds and she married John P. DeMoss, Jr.  John was the son of John Pool DeMoss and Mary E. Davidson. John DeMoss, Jr was my first cousin 3 times removed, his mother being a sister of my great-great grandmother, Susan Davidson Percival later Holt.

Katie has been in my database for years, I found her accidentally. Born in 1867, she died in 1969. Centenarians have always interested me. So today, I found her parents. Now to connect them to my Webb lines ...

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Thriller Thursday - Martha Stanard Bodley

Martha's death certificate is one of those that makes me wonder what happened exactly. Granted, she was 83 at the time, and lots of elderly people die as a result of broken hips. Martha's cause of death reads as "of fractured right hip, accidentally fell while stepping onto curb." Of course, this death certificate doesn't really indicate whether she died from the fall or much later.  And of course, I can't find a newspaper article that relates what happened. 

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Keen & Southgate

From  Kentucky Reporter, Lexington, Kentucky, Marriage announcement, 20 December 1824, p 3 c4:

Married on Tuesday evening, the 7th inst., by the Rev. Dr. Fishback, William Wright Southgate to Miss Adeliza Keen of this town.

Adeliza Keen was the daughter of  Sanford Keen and Sthreshley or Threshley.



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Missouri Deaths 1834-1910

Yeah, Ancestry is great about posting new databases, but not-so-hot about fixing databases. For instance, I discovered October 16, 2010, that their Missouri Deaths 1834-1910, specifically Jackson county, were missing a lot of images. So I reported it. Not once, not, twice, but every time I came across a missing image.  On November 30, 2011 they updated their database, calling it "new." Finally I got the images I wanted. And knocked 3 more items off the to-do list! 

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, December 5, 2011

Better Check It Again, Santa

 And no, I don't mean your naughty and nice list. I mean that genealogy you found on Ancestry.

As funny as the commercial may seem, it seems too many of us are accepting the information we find on Ancestry.com as fact. Just because it's there, doesn't mean it's true. Whenever I find something that I find questionable about someone on Ancestry, I seek to verify it. You be the judge: Ancestry.com Santa Commercial.



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Horace Grosvenor Craig

From the Lexington Herald, December 5, 1919:

"Horace G. Craig

Word was received in the city Thursday of the death of Horace G. Craig, of Parkville, Mo., formerly well known coal dealer of Lexington. Mr. Craig was 80 years old and died of infirmities of old age. He was a brother-in-law of S. T. Swift, of this city."


Horace Grosvenor Craig was the son of Elijah Wisdom Craig and Almira Grosvenor. He was born December 15, 1835 in Lexington, Kentucky.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, December 2, 2011

Success! At Last

Ever since the Seeking Michigan site went online, I've been looking for death certificates of some of my family in Michigan in the 1900-1910 time frame. I pulled many certificates, but was stumped on George August Zimmeth, my great-uncle George Zimmeth's son. Or one of them. You see, George Zimmeth, Senior and his wife Julia Blust had a total of 12 children born between 1907 and 1918. Only three lived to be adults, most of them died as infants, one died as a three-year-old.


I looked every which way I could and the other night decided to give it one more try, searching instead by the date of 1909 and county of Iosco. I found him indexed as Augut Zinnth, Oct 25, 1909, Tawas, Iosco County. 

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Thriller Thursday - Accidental Shooting of Sidney E. DeLong

From the Lexington Leader, June 23, 1932:

ACCIDENTAL SHOT PROVES FATAL TO SIDNEY E. DELONG

Paint Salesman is Struck by Shot While in Basement of Bank


  Sidney E. DeLong, 49, 720 Sunset drive, paint salesman, died at St. Joseph's hospital at 10:45 o'clock this morning, 45 minutes after an accidental shot struck him in the abdomen while he was in the basement of the First National Bank and Trust Company building at west Main street and Cheapside.

  Mr. DeLong was shot when a pistol Billy Courtney, 17, 229 South Hanover avenue, was handling accidentally discharged. Young Courtney is the son of William H. Courtney, president of the banking company. He had been employed in the bank basement for several days sorting checks, and with Mr. DeLong and John A. Gross, Newtown pike, custodian of the building, had been examining the gun.

  Young Courtney said he thought the gun was unloaded, and had been told it was "on safety."

  Mr. Gross had started to grease the pistol, when Mr. DeLong and the Courtney boy took the weapon for closer examination. Mr. DeLong had gone to the bank to see Mr. Gross about an order of paint.

  Mr. DeLong's wife, Mrs. Nell Wallis DeLong, and two of his brothers, George E. DeLong, Fayette circuit clerk, and John B. DeLong, 522 west Third street, were notified immediately. George DeLong accompanied his brother to the hospital in the ambulance.

  Mr. Gross turned the pistol, a Luger automatic, over to Capt. Thomas P. Hanley, Lieut. J. Howard Wills and Detectives John L. Sellers and Ed Wiseman, who investigated the accident.

  Mr. Gross said he had taken the pistol from his office on the fourth floor to the basement room to clean and grease it. It had one cartridge in the barrel, and the magazine was out.

 The custodian said he had just introduced Mr. DeLong and young Courtney, who had not previously known each other. They had shaken hands, and Mr. DeLong had remarked on Billy's resemblance to his father.

  Mr. Gross turned to get some rags off a shelf, and heard the shot. When he turned Mr. DeLong said, "I'm shot - I'm going to die."

  In his excitement, Mr. Gross exclaimed, "Sid, I told you it was loaded - why did you fool with it?" He said Mr. DeLong shook his head weakly, apparently unable to speak.

  Mr. Gross said it was impossible for him to tell in whose hands the gun was at the time it discharged, since both Mr. DeLong and young Courtney were looking at it  and standing very close together.

  Young Courtney, immediately after the shooting, ran upstairs into the main corridor of the bank into his father's office. His father was in attendance at the Kentucky State Bankers' Association meeting at the Lafayette hotel, and the boy hurried there, where he told his father what had occurred.

  Mr. DeLong was a member of a prominent old Fayette county family. He was a son of Mrs. Etta Berkley DeLong and the late A. A. DeLong. Besides his mother, his is survived by his wife, Mrs. Nell Wallis DeLong; a daughter, Miss Sarah Elizabeth DeLong; a son, Sidney Wallis DeLong; three brothers, George E. DeLong and John B. DeLong, Lexington, and Arthur A. DeLong Jessamine county, and by three sisters, Mrs. Merrit O'Neal, Louisville, and Mrs. H. B. Tucker and Mrs. Francis Fox, both of Lexington.

  Mr. DeLong had been in the paint business in recent years, and before that had been a farmer. He was widely known and highly respected. He was a member of Immanuel Baptist church and was actively interested in church work.
Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Garnett & Graves

I have three lines in Boone County, Kentucky that repeatedly intermarry: Gaines, Garnett and Graves. Not only do they marry each other but they all marry into the Kirtley line too!


Today's marriage is between Caroline Garnett, daughter of Joel & Catherine Gaines Garnett and Oscar Kirtley Graves, son of Joseph & Ann Quarles Kirtley Graves. So not only were Carrie & Oscar husband and wife, but they were second cousins. There is a marriage record image on Ancestry, but I have no idea how they indexed it when the grooms name doesn't even appear to be on the page! 

Carrie and Oscar were married November 30, 1854 in Boone County, Kentucky. After their marriage they migrated to Saline county, Missouri.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Tortoise and the Hare

Remember the old fable about the tortoise and the hare - slow and steady wins the race. Well, that's how I feel about genealogy right now. It is really slow, maybe not steady, but getting there.

I finally finished a project I'm working on for something else and got back to working on entering cemetery data, including pictures, to my database. And of course, most of these have not been entered onto Find-a-grave yet. I decided I will get them in my database first and then go back and submit the records via spreadsheet. Then link the images.

Still on the agenda is finishing the Christmas shopping and doing the decorating. Since we are well into day two of this deluge, outdoor decorating is not going to get done for a while. That's on hold anyway until the guys come to clean the gutters. No point in putting up lights until then.

Somehow it always gets done!

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, November 28, 2011

Digging Out

I'm still digging out after the flurry of "projects" for Christmas and the great Thanksgiving Holiday. I did the usual Turkey, stuffing and green bean casserole with low carb cheesecake for dessert. Younger daughter made the mashed potatoes. Older daughter watched the Lions/Packers game and DH walked. Our newest guest for Thanksgiving this year was our newest grandkitty, Belle. She and her grandpa sure got along well, napping.

Right now, I am prepping for Cyber Monday, since I don't do Black Friday. Did it once. That was enough to last me a long, long time. By the end of this week, my shopping should be done and then it will be time - weather cooperating - to decorate for Christmas, another tradition that I like to keep up. Maybe it will stop raining long enough to haul the decorations into the house from the shed, the lawn guys will clean the leaves out of our eaves and it will be safe to put up the lights.

Maybe when all that is done, I will have some time for ancestor hunting ...

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Dr. Stephen Chism

Dr. Stephen Howard Chism was born December 14, 1815 in Kentucky and died November 26, 1883 in Roseville, Arkansas. His third wife was Corinna Quinn nee Rose who was my first cousin four times removed (through the Percivals.)

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, November 25, 2011

Taking A Deep Breath

Whew! Thanksgiving day is done for another year! I can't believe how much was accomplished beforehand that had no bearing on Thanksgiving. Most of my Christmas shopping is done (I find that quite shocking) and everything that I've brought home is wrapped. The Christmas cards are made, stuffed, addressed, stamped, sorted and ready to go in today's mail.

I spent one day dealing with trying to get an upgrade to my My Memories Suite scrapbook software uploaded. Uh, yeah, if I knew I was going to download at a snail's pace, I would have hooked up to the cable and downloaded it. Now that is done too.

The only time I looked at Ancestry in the last few days was to look at a message board notice. I haven't been over to Family Search in a while either. I did, however, download a couple death records from the Seeking Michigan. Not that I've done anything with them yet. But now that I can take a deep breath, maybe I can get some data entry done.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving Thursday

Since today is Thanksgiving, I've opted not to thrill you with a Thriller Thursday subject, but instead to be thankful for all the blessings I've received this year.

1. Older daughter is NOT scheduled to work Thanksgiving and "Black Friday." That is a small miracle right there as she has always worked either or both in the past. Except for maybe her year with "the cult."

2. Younger daughter now lives an hour away from us rather than 11 hours. This year her trip to our house for Thanksgiving and Christmas will involve an hour drive rather than a plane ride or the above mentioned 11 hour trip.

3. DH and I are actually enjoying good health despite our wake up calls earlier this year.

4. We are thankful for all our family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Meyer & Beckmeier

My great-great grandparents on my mother's side were Henrich "Anton" Meyer and Philomena "Mina" Beckmeier. They were married on November 23, 1850 in Cincinnati, Ohio.



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Pardon Me While I ...

It's that time of year. Pre-Thanksgiving mania is starting. Older daughter's concern with Thanksgiving is the Lions and Packers game. Those of you who don't follow football, that is the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers playing in the traditional Thanksgiving day match. OD has really gotten us all interested in football again. So interested, that I watched the end of the Tennessee Tech-Austin Peay game and watched TTU win their first Ohio Valley Conference title since 1975.

My concern with Thanksgiving, is the food. I am trying to find low-carb alternatives for some traditional family fare. Baking starts tomorrow.

Then of course there are the Christmas cards to address and the Christmas letter to write. The first part is done - it's the second part that is giving me headaches. There are some people that I would dearly like to update on our family, but this year's letter is particularly difficult to write.  Oh and all the cards are sitting on my desk taking up valuable real estate where I would normally pile to-do stuff or to-file stuff. Not that those items aren't on my desk, they are, just covered with piles of addressed, stamped & stuffed envelopes.

Not to mention Christmas shopping. I have actually done some. I really like stuff I make myself for special treats and hope the recipients feel the same. Even the bigger stuff is not so much an issue this year. This year's gift recipients include the new addition to our family, Miss Belle Starr, Younger Daughter's adopted cat. Belle is also coming for Thanksgiving and has become very attached to her grandma, grandpa and auntie!




Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, November 21, 2011

U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865

From Ancestry: This is a collection of Civil War Registrations from 1863-1865. There were four drafts that included 776,000 individuals in that time. The records contain class, congressional district, county, state, residence, name, age on July 1, 1863, race, profession, married status, birthplace, former military service, and remarks.

Now, most of my ancestors were Confederate. A couple glaring exceptions were Dr. Joseph Graves Chinn of Lexington, Kentucky who was a Union sympathizer and a War of 1812 veteran and Alexander Oliphant, of Ray county, Missouri who was also a Union Sympathizer. Obviously Dr. Chinn was too old to even register, and was married, and Alexander Oliphant was 57 at the time of the 1863 draft and married too.

Alexander Maitland, however, was 24 years old in 1863. What surprised me was that he did register for the draft. He was an avowed Confederate sympathizer according to later history. I found no record of his serving, but he was born in Canada West (Toronto). A little more background on Alexander was that his parents lived in Lafayette county, Missouri, on the south side of the Missouri river. In 1860, Alex is enumerated in Ray county, Missouri and in Kansas Territory.

Also enumerated is John Maitland, Alex's younger brother.



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Mary Craig Mitchum


Mary Craig Mitchum was born August 9, 1787, a daughter of Joseph & Sally Wisdom Craig. She was married August 29, 1808 to James Mitchum. She died November 19, 1864 in Woodford county, Kentucky and is buried in Section G, lot 60 in Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, November 18, 2011

U.S. Seamen Protection Certificates, 1792-1868

These certificates were issued to sailors after the Revolutionary war to protect our seamen against impressment by the British. I doubt they were very effective, but one of my relatives had one - by the name of Benjamin Percival, born in Barnstable County, Massachusetts in 1810. Benjamin was a grandson of Benjamin Percival who kept a diary that has become a piece of Cape Cod history.



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Thriller Thursday - Cora Whitney Smith

Cora Whitney Smith was the eldest daughter of Artemus Whitney and Jerusha Percival. She was born in Belchertown, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, July 11, 1859.  She died March 6, 1915 of cancer of the stomach. Her husband, Samuel, predeceased her in 1887 but she was survived by her five children and her sister, Lilla Whitney Hall later Jackson.

It appears that Lilla Whitney Hall Jackson was the only child of Artemus & Jerusha Percival Whitney to have a normal lifespan. She appears in both the 1920 and 1930 census, although she and hubby Arthur have dropped more than 20 years from their ages.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Siekierski & Czaplack

On November 16, 1920, Rozalia (Rose) Jankowiak married  Peter Czaplak in Buffalo, New York. Rose was the daughter of Szczepan (Stephen) Jankowiak and Josephine Siekierski. This information was shared with me by Joan Lussier, a great granddaughter of Stephen & Josephine Siekierski Jankowiak.



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Research Mania

While on our trip last week, we spent a few hours at one local cemetery where I took 63 photos. In the three sections we visited, we found ALL the headstones we were hunting. They have been uploaded, and renamed and are ready for linking.

On our trip to the library, with my 28 page to-do list in hand, I found records on 30 people, made 47 copies (some were very long, others continued to a second page). Said copies have been scanned, grouped and named. One was actually transcribed - look for it in December on Thriller Thursday.

Home again - car unloaded, bags unpacked, laundry done! Sounds like a successful trip to me!

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, November 14, 2011

Ruth Bowsher Smeaton Hessling Stanley Moore Zimmeth Follow-Up

Thanks to PalmsRV's comment on last Saturday's post on Sympathy Saturday for my step-grandma - I now have more information in regards to my step-grandma's first marriage.


Because she was a minor, the actual marriage record is held in the Probate Court, probably in Bay County, but I wouldn't swear to that. As you will see by the included articles, Ruth led quite the life.


PRETTY GIRL SLID DOWN SHEET TO ELOPE; CAUGHT

Detroit, Aug. 2. -- Ruth Smeaton, a pretty little 15-year-old girl, slid down a bed sheet from the windo of her bedroom in Pinconnning, Mich., at 3 a.m. into the arms of her sweetheart Albert Hessling who is already married and is just twice Ruth's age.

The child had been held a prisoner in her own room for six weeks -- ever since her foster father, James Smeaton, learned of the attachment.

And she is still a prisoner. Hessling put her on a train; they left Pinconning about three minutes after Ruth slid down the lifelife. Patrolmen HEss and Dahlow were waiting in Detroit ready to pick little Ruth up.
MARRIED MAN ELOPES WITH GIRL IN 'TEENS

Albert Hessling of Pinconning Accused of Abducting Ruth Smeaton, Aged Fifteen.

Bay city, July 30, -- Albert Hessling of Pinconning, twenty-five years old was arraigned before Justice Michael Byrne of that village Thursday afternoon on a charge of abduction.

An examination was set for Tuesday next. Hessling furnished bail.

He was arrested in Detroit in the company of Ruth Smeaton, fifteen years old, with whom he eloped, it is charged. Hessling said he intended to marry the girl as soon as he got a divorce.


Finally, Ruth got permission from her mother and she and Albert were married.


From the Ann Arbor News:  BAY CITY -- Ruth Smeaton, aged 16, and Albert Hessling, 27, elopers from Pinconning to Detroit, where they were arrested, have been married. It is likely the abduction charges against the groom will be dropped, Hessling having a decree of divorce and the girl's mother then consenting to the marriage.

They had one son, Maynard, and were divorced in 1918. The divorce decree gives their marriage date as August 12, 1914 - obviously wrong. Ruth went on to marry three more men. One of them was already married.  Albert committed suicide October 26, 1922.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Ruth Bowsher Zimmeth

Ruth Zimmeth was my step-grandma, being my grandfather's third wife.  Her name should really read Ruth Ellen Bowsher Smeaton Hessling Stanley Moore Zimmeth. She led such an interesting life and I wish two things:

1. That I had know what I know now about her before she died.
2. That I had the guts to ask her about her life.

My mom knew that Ruth had been married before she married my grandpa, and I think she knew that Ruth had been adopted when she was an infant, and that Ruth had a son.

Ruth was born December 13, 1899 in Standish, Michigan to Nelson Lewis or Lewis Nelson Bowsher and Mary Ellen Sanderson and was the youngest of their five children. The eldest daughter, Mary, died the day after her own birth. The surviving children were Charles, born in 1881 in Ohio, Daisy, born in 1884, also in Ohio and Catherine or Cassy, born in 1888 in Ohio.  So you see that Ruth was 11 years younger than Cassy, 15 years younger than Daisy and 18 years younger than Charles. In 1900, I found an Ellen Bowsher, born in Ohio,  in a Sanitarium in Grand Traverse county. There is no other record of her. In May of 1900, Ruth was adopted by James and Caronline (Phillips) Smeaton in Standish, Michigan. They were age 57 and 52 at the time of Ruth's adoption.

When Ruth was 14, she married Albert Hessling. The marriage produced her son Maynard in 1916 when Ruth was 16. Ruth and Albert divorced in March of 1918 when Ruth was 18. Albert got custody of Maynard. Maynard was actually raised by Albert's sister and brother-in-law.

In June of 1918, Ruth married David Stanley and they divorced on October 9, 1920. They married again November 27, 1920. After that I have no idea what happened to David. I don't know if their marriage ended in divorce or death. I do know that Ruth married Thomas Lloyd Moore on October 28, 1928 in Gaylord, Michigan. There was only one problem with this marriage. He was already married. Ruth divorced him sometime before December of 1944. That was the year she married my grandfather. In 1953, she received an annulment for her marriage to Moore. She and grandpa lived pretty happily after that.

Charles Zimmeth, Ruth's last husband and my grandfather, died June 4, 1979 in Essexville, Michigan. Ruth died November 12, 1990 in Hampton Bay, Michigan.  Ruth always wanted to live to be 100. Her memorial card actually gives her birth year as 1889. Too bad it was wrong. Ruth is buried beside her last husband in St. Michael's Cemetery in Pinconning, Michigan.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, November 11, 2011

Blog Fodder

After attending my niece's wedding last weekend, DH and I headed southward towards home and stopped for a few nights near Lexington, Kentucky. This part of the trip was research. Yay! Monday was spent at the Lexington Cemetery and Tuesday at the Lexington Public Library. I picked up some blog fodder, which is always a good thing. There were only two things on my list of 28 pages at the library that I couldn't find.  No, I didn't look for everything, but selected those I was primarily interested in - some 30 items.  I can hardly wait to check those off my to-do list!

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Thriller Thursday - George M. Whitney

Yes, yet another of the children of Artemus Whitney and Jerusha Percival, George was born September 23, 1861 in Amherst, Massachusetts. He died July 27, 1912 from cerebral degeneration and hemiplegia. His death certificate does not reflect it, but I believe he probably had a stroke. He was survived by his two sisters, Cora and Lilla, and his father.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Bowman & Gay

Florence Bowman, daughter of Henry Clay Bowman and Elizabeth Reed, married Robert Hicks Gay on November 9, 1905 in Fayette county, Kentucky. She was 36 and he was 37.











Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Tombstone Tuesday - The Wickliffe Monument


I have never seen a monument like this and I had to take a picture of it because I can't even explain this.  It is in Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky. Make sure you click on each image. Use your browser's back button to return to this page!


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Sometimes It is Scary!

DH and I are in Kentucky for a couple days of research before heading home to middle Tennessee. Because so many of my dad's line lived in the Lexington, Kentucky area for a while, we picked up a copy of the Herald-Leader. After I waded through the Michael's ads and started to settle in, I asked DH to save me the obituary page, telling him I might find something there.

Well, by now I am sure you know where this is headed. Yes, I found an obituary for a line allied with my Chinn line - David Morton Trapp. Turns out he was my second cousin twice removed. He was the grandson of Joseph Trapp and Hester Chinn. Hester was the youngest daughter of Dr. Joseph Graves Chinn and Barbara Garland Graves, my great-great-great grandparents.

So yes, I've copied and pasted his obituary into my genealogy program, sourced it to the Herald-Leader and will scan the obit when I get home.

Do you check local newspapers when you are traveling?

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Helen French Symon

Helen French Symon was my dad's first cousin. When I first got really interested in the family history, Helen is the one who pointed me in the right direction and shared what she had on the Percival/Maitland/Oliphant families with me. Although I never had a chance to meet her, we did talk on the phone a few times.  I removed her daughter's name from the obituary to protect her privacy.

Friday, November 6, 1992  Kansas City (Missouri) Star

HELEN F. SYMON

Helen F. Symon, 67, Overland Park, died Nov. 5, 1992, at Shawnee Mission Medical Center. Memorial services will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Park Lawn Chapel. The family requests no flowers and suggests contributions to charity. Mrs. Symon was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and lived in Topeka and Columbia before moving to Kansas City in the late 1940s. She was an Avon representative. Earlier she was an assistant manager at the Villa Monterrey Apartments and Townhouses. She received a bachelor's degree in history and English from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1947 and was a member of Delta Gamma. She was a member of the Kansas City Sigmas of Sigma Chi, the Kansas City Young Matrons and the Westport chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a member of the Village Presbyterian Church. Survivors include a daughter, Kansas City, and nieces and nephews.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, November 4, 2011

Priorities

I am writing this Tuesday while prepping for our weekend trip for my niece's wedding, trying to get blogs in the can so to speak before we leave.

Things still left to do:

1. Find a pair of shoes for the wedding. How difficult can it be to find a pair of black heels to wear? Well, I guess totally difficult since I have not yet found a pair. Okay, it has been 3 years since I wore heels. Since retirement, I've worn sandals and tennis shoes. I have one pair of black heels and the last time I wore them I thought I was gonna die. I haven't had a new pair of heels since before 2006. It's time. Now if I could just find a pair. - Well I actually accomplished this. I found a pair of black pumps. I WAS going to buy this pair of black suede half-boots that they had in my size, but the heels were too high and I got a cramp in my calf when I tried to walk in them. Comfort wins!

2. I am still printing out to-do lists. The first one for the Lexington, Kentucky public library is 28 pages long. I rarely get more than a couple pages done. I am specifically going through the list to pick out the ones I want first. One hopefully will be a future Thriller Thursday. The other one is my listing for Lexington Cemetery. This has gotten much smaller over the years, but still needs work. I may even get a chance to take a look at it and see if anyone has posted images for any of the remainders over on Find-A-Grave.

3. I need a card for the wedding.

4. Usual housekeeping stuff needs to be caught up.

5. Packing. Maybe I should remove the price tags from my outfit before I pack it?

6. Hair cut. Fortunately, this will get done this afternoon.

Have I left anything out?

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Thriller Thursday - William G. Whitney Kicked by a Horse

William G. Whitney was the son of Artemus Henry Whitney and Jerusha Sellon Percival. He was also the brother of Harry Whitney, the subject of last week's Thriller Thursday. William was born in Dana, Massachusetts about June 11, 1864 and died March 11, 1901 from internal hemorrhage after being kicked by a horse, in Athol, Massachusetts.  His occupation was teamster. William was 36 years old.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Roberts & Ewald

On November 2, 2007, Amy Roberts & Dan Ewald were married. Amy is a second cousin to my daughters on DH's side. Happy Anniversary Amy & Dan!

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Prepping for Another Trip

DH and I have started preparations for our next trip which is coming up really quickly. This time it is a trip back up to Michigan for the wedding of one of our nieces. This is the third trip up and hopefully on the way back will give us a little time in Lexington, Kentucky.  DH and I have been thinking about where to stay. Maybe Georgetown (better get that Cemetery stuff together for Georgetown Cemetery) or Lexington (to-do list for the Main branch of the Lexington Public Library and the Lexington Cemetery) or maybe just a little south of Lexington.

Here is just a sample of the list I am making for us:

1. Copy of Hotel reservation.
2. Pack research to-do lists.
3. Pack chargers for electronics.
4. Pack road construction information.
5. Camera.
6. Make sure clothes and shoes and accessories for wedding are packed into the car.

That last one is very important. For nephew's wedding in 2004 in Rhode Island/Massachusetts, we made it to mile marker 10 on southbound I-75 in Michigan when we realized our clothes for his wedding were still hanging in the garment bags in the laundry room. We lost two hours on that trip making a run for the house to fetch shoes and clothes!

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, October 31, 2011

Coming Soon

In just over 5 months the 1940 census will be released. It seems like just a few years ago that I was eagerly anticipating the 1930 census. By 1940, both my grandmothers had passed. My dad was living with his father and brother somewhere in Detroit. My mom on the other hand, well, in 1940 I'm not sure where she was living. Her Aunt Rose had also died by this time, and Uncle John went to live with his son and daughter-in-law; mom was either with another relative or living with the Hopkins for whom she worked as an au pair.

What secrets will the 1940 census reveal for you?



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Betty Blancett Kruszka

From the Escanaba Daily Press, October 31, 1992:

Betty M. Kruszka.

Rapid River -- Betty M. Kruszka, 65, of 9897 Co. 513 T Road (P.O. Box 176), Rapid River, died Thursday, October 29, at St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester, Minn, following a brief illness.

She was born Jan 5, 1927, in Cambridge, Ohio, daughter of Frederick Blancett and the former Emma Brown.  She was raised in Cambridge. She had lived in the Detroit area most of her adult life and moved to Rapid River in 1980.

She was employed as a bookkeeper in auto sales most of her working life.  She enjoyed boating and other outdoor activities.

Her husband, Chester, died Feb. 20, 1992.

Survivors include one son, Richard L. Borrusch of Rapid River, and 2 grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held at a later date and will be announced by Skradski Funeral Home, Gladstone.

[Blogger's note:  Betty's husband, Chester, has his name on a marker with his parents in Sacred Heart of Mary Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan. The death date is not filled in, nor is there any mention of Betty.]

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, October 28, 2011

Sometimes The Ideas Come Easy

I'm sure all bloggers struggle at times with blog topics. I know I do, especially for my Thriller Thursday blog because most of the juicy stuff has already been blogged! However, when doing this week's Thriller Thursday I was presented with three more subjects and so I have my Thriller Thursday blog set for the next few weeks.

Sometimes the hardest days to post are those days when I have to blog off the top of my head. My head has been in such a whirl over the last month, I sometimes forget what day it is! Older daughter is heading back from her Caribbean cruise, younger daughter has moved to Nashville, but is still waiting for her belongings to join her there and next weekend we all head to Michigan for the wedding of one of my nieces. Then when we get back (hopefully after a couple days in Lexington, Kentucky for some research) we have the annual Art Prowl. Watch for more info on that on my alter-ego page Generational.

It seems to me that I've probably done less research this year than in many a year. I hope that changes soon!

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Thriller Thursday - Harry A Whitney's Accidental Injury

Every so often you come across a death certificate or record that raises questions. That's what happened when I read the cause of death for Harry A. Whitney who died July 23, 1896 in Athol, Worcester county, Massachusetts. His death record states he died from "shock and intestinal perforation due to accidental injury." But unfortunately the record doesn't elucidate what the accidental injury was. He was a mechanic, however, so it may be possible it was a work related injury.

He was the son of Artemus Henry Whitney and Jerusha Sellon Percival, and was 25 years 11 months and 18 days at the time of his death. Harry was survived by two sisters and two brothers.



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes