I Didn't See That Coming ... Pappy's First Wife

We regularly visit my husband's dear Uncle Donny and Aunt Floss in Pennsylvania and can usually count on their eldest son and his wife, Donny Jr. and Carol, to join us.  On one visit the conversation turned to genealogy and Uncle Donny brought out a few photos. "That's Pappy's first wife." he announced to the group.

I beg your pardon?!?  He explained that his mother was his father's (my husband's grandfather) second wife. None of Pappy's grandchildren, my husband included, knew that he had a first wife, Min, and a daughter, Dorothy, by that marriage.

When I returned home, I looked for additional evidence to support Uncle Donny's proclamation. Indeed, in the 1910 Census, I found Dorothy living with her maternal grandmother just four doors down from Pappy and his second family. Her mother, Min is no where to be found. In addition to finding Dorothy in the census, I located Pappy and Min's marriage license.

My husband and I frequently discuss this family surprise. We even take turns quoting Uncle Donny, "That's Pappy's first wife."  There is no doubt, I didn't see that coming.

Till next time, keep the blue side up ... Lynn 

Flying Cousin

This weekend I combined my two hobbies, flying and genealogy, when my husband Steve and I flew to Richmond, Virginia to visit my second cousin Joe.  Joe is one of many cousins I know only because I'm a genealogist.

A little background.  My parent are both only-children.  That means I have no aunts, no uncles, no first cousins.  Both my mom and dad moved away from home when they graduated from college in the Midwest. Independently they chose jobs located in sunny California and met while they were working for Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica. Later they moved to New Orleans, which I call home. 

How Joe and I are related.  Although both sets of grandparents visited us every year, we were so removed from family that we rarely met any great-aunts/uncles or cousins.  While growing up, I heard stories about my paternal grandfather's brother, Uncle Lawrence, and his wife, Aunt Ragna, in Chicago.  In the 1960s and 1970s it was too expensive for our family of seven to visit so we didn't really know them. 

In the course of my family research, my dad suggested I contact Uncle Lawrence's daughters, Doris and Christine, who still live near Chicago as they may have more family information than he does. His suggestion paid off and eventually we realized a visit was in order.  In 2007 my dad and I went to Chicago for several days and I can't begin to tell you how much fun it was.  My Dad and I along with Doris and Christine and their husbands, Marion and Mike, chased down church records and tombstones. While I was in Chicago, I briefly met Doris and Marion's son Joe, my second cousin.  

Flying to Richmond. My dad emailed to let me know that Joe is temporarily working in Richmond which is 95 miles or 1:50 driving time from my home in Madison, Virginia.  My husband Steve and I decided that instead of driving, we'd fly to the Richmond/Ashland Airport in Hanover County (KOPF) - just 13 miles from Joe's hotel. 

It was such a beautiful day, we took two airplanes.  Steve flew his 1946 Globe Swift and I flew my 1957 Cessna 172.  When we arrived, I took Joe for a sight-seeing flight over King's Dominion Amusement Park. Their 1/3 replica of the Eiffel Tower is so large that it's on the aviation sectional map as a landmark (see chart below).

We lunched at Bass Pro (yes, they have an excellent sea food restaurant) while I grilled Joe about his family to fill in blanks in my database. 

The flight from our home airport, Culpeper County (KCJR) to Hanover County is just over 50 miles - under 30 minutes in the Cessna. Even adding in time to drive to the airport (25 min) and do a pre-flight inspection on the plane (20-30 min), we still saved about a hour (round trip) and significantly increased the joy factor. 

I learned everything I hoped for and Joe surprised me with a few new stories. All in all, a perfect day.

Till next time, keep the blue side up ... Lynn

DNA and a Tombstone Help Break Down a Brick Wall

I have stepped into the world of DNA.  About 3 months ago, my husband's uncle (age 83), (a.k.a. Uncle Donny or Chick) took a Ancestry.com autosomal DNA test.  Yesterday I was alerted to a "new match."  The new match was bernadette*** on ancestry.com

A close DNA Match. Bernadette was reportedly a 3rd or 4th cousin. The closest match so far. The common surname with Uncle Donny is "Beaver."  OK -- I've seen that before, almost as often as Brown and Jones show up.  I've yet to find a Beaver family match.  The Beavers are a brick wall for me.  I've confidently traced back to James Beaver born about 1816 but can't find his parents.  Beaver/Bieber is a very common name among German settlers in Pennsylvania.

Julia Beaver.  So, skeptically I looked at Bernadette's tree.  Burnadette's tree shows her gg-grandmother was Julia Klotz, nee Beaver  b.1812 and died 1887.  She doesn't have much evidence; no place of birth, marriage, or death.  Slowly I read through Julia profile until I get to the last item - and it's a gem.  Julia is buried in Bunker Hill Cemetery, in Franklin Township, Carbon County, PA.  Just last year, my husband and I took photos of James Beaver's tombstone in the same, small cemetery.

Is Julia in other family trees?  Armed with this information I search for other public trees on ancestry.com.  I immediately found a tree with more information, including a photo of Julia's tombstone.  The shot shows enough background that I can identify it as Bunker Hill.  Interestingly, this image is not on findagrave.com.

This second tree list Julia's brother as James Beaver.  It also provides names for their parents. Now we're really getting somewhere even though there's no evidence for the other family names. The image of Julia's tombstone was originally posted by another user and has been saved to three other trees.  I follow the image from tree to tree looking for additional evidence. 

Evidence please! None of the trees provide evidence and one is private.  Next steps - contact the owner of the final tree and hope they will share their tree.  I'll also ask all other users if they have more information than is posted on their tree.  If, like me, their primary tree is in a database on their computer, there may be additional information available.  

Clearly there's more research to be done, but I feel that DNA and the tombstone have knocked down a brick wall -- or at least put a crack in it.

Till next time, keep the blue side up ... Lynn