I Didn't See That Coming ... Szilala, Šilalė, and Chelele

One of my key research projects is to discover where my Lithuanian ancestors came from. OK, yes, they're from Lithuania. But I'd like to narrow it down to a town or village. I'd love to find relatives in Lithuania.

My last name, Dawson, is an Anglicized version of the Lithuanian name Dausinas. The root name is Dausin; the suffix as indicates it is a man's name. Dausinaite is the version an unmarried woman would use, Dausinene would be used by a woman who married a Dausinas.

After years of research I found that my first cousin twice removed, Anton John Dawson (b. 1892) stated on his WWI draft registration that he was born in Szilala, Kuna, Russia.  Of course this was not easy to learn. The version posted on ancestry.com was nearly impossible to read.
 

 I requested a copy from the National Archives and received the following:

Ah, much better. Unfortunately I was unable to find this town on a map of Lithuania so I posted a query on the Lithuanian Genealogy Yahoo Group.  It took no time for this august group to tell me that Szilala is Šilalė, Lithuania.  Š is pronounced Sz.

I spent another year researching distant relatives and found that my Great Great Aunt Ana or Ona Dausinaite's husband Frank Rasckauskas/Raczkowski said he was from Chelele, Russia in his Declaration of Intent to become a citizen. I assessed they were married in Lithuania because I can't find a marriage certificate for them in any of the Chicago Roman Catholic Churches.

These are the only documents I have that provide a Lithuanian hometown.

When I was in Lithuania in 2012, I had dinner with Dalija, a woman I met via her on-line family tree.  We have a common ancestral surname (not Dawson). When I showed her the two documents, she said, " Szilala, Šilalė, and Chelele are the same place." There is no doubt, I didn't see that coming!

It may seem obvious as you read this, but these two documents were among hundreds of documents I had studied. Doh!  I couldn't see that Chelele was a phonetic spelling of Šilalė.  You could have knocked me over with a feather. 

Since then, Dalija and her friend Vaclava found Anton's father's marriage registration and were able to confirm this location.  I still haven't found relatives but I will continue my search.

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

What Did the W Stand For?

My great grandmother, Luanna W. Henderson, was born in 1875 in Strange Creek, Nicholas County, West Virginia.  "Lewie" married my great grandfather, Homer Newton Houghton, at the age of 18 and lived her life on a picturesque if remote farm caring for her 12 children. Despite a trail of indicators that her middle initial was W, I've never learned what it stood for.  

Below are six sources that use "W" as a middle initial.  The only other initial used is H - presumably for her maiden name Henderson (e.g. on her tombstone: Lewie H. Houghton).
 
1.) 1880 Census - Luanna W. age 4, this census is very difficult to read (ancestry.com).  Appears to use "W." as a middle initial.  Also appears to have another letter at the end of Luanna.
2. ) West Virginia reindex of the Marriage Register (typed) uses W. as a middle initial. (http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.aspx)  1893
3.) Daughter Vada Houghton's Tombstone: Vada Daughter of HN and LW Houghton. 1919
4.) Son Murrill Houghton's Tombstone: Murrill son of HN and LW Houghton.  1934
5.) Husband Homer Houghton's WWI Draft Registration: "Lewie W." 1918 (below)
6.) Obituary: Luanna W. Houghton, 1938

  




Family name?  Could the W stand for a family name? My best guess to date is that it's Wilson. Luanna's maternal grandmother was Alcinda Wilson, born in 1823. Also, Luanna has a brother and uncle that use the name Walker as a given name. There are lots of Walker's in the area but  I have not found this family name anywhere in the family tree which only goes back to the 1700s.

I will continue my search.
Till next time, keep the blue side up ... Lynn 

My Boss; My Cousin - Brent

I'm not really well connected to my extended family.  My parent, as mentioned in an earlier blog, were only children.   I have no aunts, no uncles, no first cousins.We were geographically separated from our grandparents and cousins. Most of my siblings left home after college and moved away.  I joined the US Air Force in 1982.

A few years after I retired from the Air Force, I worked for a defense contractor where I was assigned to a project in Charlottesville, Virginia. Brent was the project lead.  Brent had also recently retired from the Air Force.  One Friday we discussed our weekend plans; were were both headed to family reunions in West Virginia. The reunions were in adjoining but different counties.  I thought it would be interesting if I could find someone from Brent's family who married someone from my family.  With a little research, I determined that we were actually 5th cousins! Our common ancestors are our 4th great-grandparents: Robert Henderson (1772 - 1837 from Augusta, Virginia) and Hanna McClung (1780 - 1849 from Bath, Virginia). 

To this day, this is my favorite genealogically discovery.  When Brent and I met, I was immediately drawn to him and his family. We worked in a very tense environment and we knew we could trust each other. No one will convince me that it wasn't because we are family.

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

Cemeteries from the Sky - Culpeper National Cemetery

Last Sunday's flying mission was to take overhead photos of local cemeteries to post on findagrave.com -- one of my favorite sites.  I want to provide photos from a new vantage point and leave a historic record.

First target: Culpeper National Cemetery.  It's a beautiful cemetery in the heart of Virginia. There are many Civil War soldiers and veterans from other wars buried there.

I've scoured the cemetery for relatives.  There's one Houghton (John S.) who might be related.  My mother's Houghton family lived in Culpeper county before the Civil War.  Several of Elijah Houghton's sons, including my 4th g-grandfather Job Houghton, moved to what is now Lewis County, West Virginia between 1820 and 1830. Others remained in Culpeper County.

Here's the pic I posted on findagrave.com. Culpeper National Cemetery is here.

The day was slightly overcast which makes for a better image. It was also a wee bit turbulent, which does not improve the image (definitely not!).  Believe it or not, it's easy to take photos while flying. My straight-tail Cessna 172 is designed to fly straight and level even if I let go of the yoke to take a photo.  It's a big sky out there and if I drift off course a bit, no problem. The photo below is from an earlier flight over Pennsylvania.

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

My First Genealogy Conference

I attended my first genealogy conference this weekend.  One downside - it was on the best flying day we've had yet this year!  While my husband was out flying our Taylorcraft, I was inside.  

Goals:  In January I wrote a set of goals for 2013. One was to attend two genealogy conferences.  This one was at the Family History Center in Charlottesville, VA.  I pre-registered for this free conference so I would feel obligated to go even if the weather was spectacular. 

I almost stopped for a cup of coffee on my way there but, fortunately, decided not to.  As I approached the doors there was a large sign requesting no caffeinated or tobacco products. I wasn't surprised, I just hadn't thought about it.  I have several Mormon friends who will laugh when they read this! Back to the conference ...

Before leaving home, I looked at the agenda. Clearly they were targeting a beginner audience and I looked for presentations that would be of interest to a more advanced audience.  

Here's a review of the presentations I attended:

1. The keynote speaker gave a one hour presentation on the new familysearch.org site that launched a week and a half ago. The screen shots were interesting to see since the site is new but the presentation only scratched the surface.  It showed the new family tree function and that you can up-load photos but didn't cover more challenging topics like using RootsMagic to upload or sync your tree.

The following 3 speakers from the Central Virginia History Researchers (CVHR) discussed the group's research in 20 minute presentations. 

2. Alice Cannon from CVHR was my favorite conference presenter. She told the story of buying Bleak House, a former plantation home in Albemarle County, and the research she's done on the slaves that lived there. In addition to having great information, Alice wove together a great story. CVHR's very interesting website is here.

3. Robert "Bob" Vernon is a co-worker and provided a demonstration of his on-line map of African American land ownership in Albemarle county. The presentation was a bit technical, but his work is truly a gift to the local genealogy community.

4. I also enjoyed Lucia "Cinder" Stanton's discussion about CVHR's project to establish the African-American Families Database. 

5.  In a separate discussion, another CVHR presenter discussed the families at Monticello during the Civil War.  His presentation followed the documentation and the discoveries they lead to.  This format made it a bit difficult to follow. The speaker told the story in the order that he discovered the information.  I've spent a lot of time thinking about this presentation and whether I unknowingly use this very same technique, especially when talking with non-genealogy family members. If I, an experienced researcher, couldn't quite follow it, I should be careful when using this technique. Steve Luxenberg used this technique in the book Annie's Ghost. It was very compelling. OK - so perhaps the lesson is that it can be used -- very carefully. Clearly there's an art to using it correctly.  There's no doubt the Monticello researcher had done a tremendous amount of very valuable work over a 13 year period.

6. After lunch I sat in a class about digital images.  It was so basic I got up and went to a different presentation. I waited until the speaker had turned to face the screen as I didn't want to be discourteous. This was my first conference and I'm not sure if it was "ok" to do this. Unfortunately I'm not the most patient person. I went to a presentation about brick walls.  This one was also very  basic and very generic. There were no examples showing how these techniques had helped the speaker with a breakthrough.  I don't know about other genealogists, but I love a good story. I'd like to recommend, if you're presenting basic information, please consider providing some specific use cases. 

Other classes:  I skipped classes like "Exploring and Using findagrave.com".  The site is so intuitive that unless you bought a computer yesterday morning and started genealogy in the afternoon, I can't see needing a class on it.  Other "computer-morning / genealogy-afternoon" classes were "Using the Federal Census in Genealogy," and "Using Newspapers" in Genealogical Research."

What I'd like to see next year.  I'd love to see the CVHR group take questions and answers about brick walls in Virginia.  They have so much experience with local records they could probably point genealogists in the right direction.

My favorite part of the conference was the people I met.  I ate lunch with Patricia whose husband is Lithuanian and immigrated to the US as a child.  We compared stories about visiting Lithuania and exchanged contact information.  I don't often get to swap stories about Vilnius and this was a treat!

I also spoke with Sharon, the current Regent of my DAR Chapter. Sharon is one of the most interesting people I know and I'd like to get to know her better. Genealogy is one of the primary reasons I joined the DAR and Sharon is a wonderful genealogist and teacher. 

During registration I spoke with Doris, another co-worker. She's been doing genealogy for about 30 years. At work we bonded over findagrave.com. Her family is primarily in Ohio. Talking with other genealogists made the conference worth it.

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

Lawsuit Against the Estate of Lewis B. Krimminger

On familysearch.org I recently found a lawsuit against the administrator and executor of Lewis B. Krimminger's estate. Lewis B. Krimminger b. 1808 is my 4th great-grandfather via his first wife, Laura Coleman.

Lewis B. Krimminger was the guardian for Margaret A. Blackwelder after her father, Wilson Blackwelder, died. Margaret died in 1864, just before turning 18 and less than two years later Lewis died.

The administrator/executor of Lewis' estate included Margaret's assets when they settled his estate. Margaret's brother and sister sued the administrators to get Margaret's portion of their father's estate back.

The lawsuit (found here) and supporting documents are handwritten and difficult to read. My first question was, who is Margaret A. Blackwelder? She doesn't appear to be related. I traced her genealogy to try and find a relationship (no luck) and sort out what happened to her father (in other words, why did she have a guardian?). The latter was a bit challenging because Margaret's widowed mother married her late husband's brother, Martin Blackwelder. Of course as I looked at census records, they didn't provide a handy explanation; it simply appeared as if the husband used two different given names. I jumped to this  conclusion because the wife's surname didn't change when she remarried.

I'm still not sure why Lewis Krimminger was named Margaret's guardian instead of her stepfather Martin Blackwelder. The Krimminger and Blackwelder families are connected by marriage several time (in-laws) but I don't find a direct relationship between Lewis Krimminger and Margaret Blackwelder. Lewis was once the Sheriff of Cabarrus county but that doesn't quite explain it.

When Lewis became Margaret's guardian, his first wife (my ancestor - Laura Coleman) had passed and he was married to Margaret "Vishti"Gilmer.  In 1854, Margaret M. Alexander married Samuel Gilmer when she was 36. He may be her first or second husband.  Margaret may be related to Vishti so I guess I will continue my search.

On a side note, in 1860, Margaret ("Maggie") went to "college." This was really equivalent to a modern high school. Lewis tracked and paid for her expenses out of the money she inherited from her father. Her expenses are all documented, including a train ride to Statesville where she attended Concord Female College (yes, in Statesville, not Concord.) Today it is Mitchell Community College. Here are some of Margaret's expenses:

Boarding - 5 months: $50
Tuition - 5 months: $15 
Instruction in music: $20
Use of piano: $2.50
Three pieces of music: $1.45
4 lbs candles: $1.40

Full link for the lawsuit:

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-22999-9056-30?cc=1911121&wc=M93D-GT2:1395523871

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

The G.A.R. Bible - It's a "goodie!"

I was going through old books and came across a Bible that belongs to my husband.   I've seen this Bible before but it was several years ago before I had done much research on my husband's Pennsylvania Civil War ancestors and relatives.
 
The inscription in the Bible says:

Presented to J. D. Bartolett

Post No. 484 G.A.R.

by Comrade John McKelvey

January 1887.

I found that only the Death page is filled out.  The names are all men and no two have the same surname. Clearly, these are members of The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post 484 who died between 1886 and 1893.

J.D. Bartolett. J.D. Bartolett is not one of my husband's ancestors.  I know, I researched his family tree. Between the Old and New Testaments are pages allotted for Births, Marriages, and Deaths.  I googled "J.D. Bartolett" and learned this is probably John D. Bertolette.  On findagrave.com, I found Joe Nihen's memorial for him.  Joe and I go back several years.  We're on-line genealogy pals, thanks to findagrave.com and Joe's careful documentation of  the graves of Carbon County  Civil War veterans.  According to Joe, Lieutenant Colonel J. D. Bertolette died in 1881 and is buried in Lehighton Cemetery.  

John McKelvy.  Not surprisingly, Joe also created a memorial for John McKelvy.  John served as a private with the 38th Pennsylvania Militia Infantry and is also buried in Lehighton Cemetery.

Daniel Kresge.  Next I studied the list of names.  The only one I recognized is the first name on the list.  Daniel Kresge, died 1886.  My husband's great-great uncle, Francis Rhoads (also - Roth) married Emma Kresge in 1899.  Her father was Daniel Kresge.   

The Men.  I sent photos of the bible and a transcription of the names and dates of death to Joe Nihen.  If possible, he was even more excited by this find than I was.  He used the dates to update his information and begin new research.  He said most of the men are buried in Lehighton or Weissport, Carbon County, PA. He said he found veterans buried in Carbon County that he didn't know about.

I'm not sure how this Bible ended up with my husband's family.  Emma's husband, Francis Rhoads died between 1910 and 1920.  Perhaps she lived with her in-laws for a time and the Bible remained in their home.

Final Resting Place for the Bible.  I'm currently looking for a home for the bible.  Options include the Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA, the Lehigh County Historical Society (which has an excellent library with a regional focus, the Carbon County Library in Jim Thorpe, or possibly the descendents of Daniel Kresge.  I'll take my time researching the best option; meanwhile I'll share digitally with as many people as possible.

As Joe Nihen said, "It's a goodie."  Below is a list of all names in the G.A.R. Post 484 Bible.

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

Daniel Kresge

June 8th 1886

Joseph Trumbower

Nov 28th 1886

Aaron Weidaw

January 9th 1887

Peter Suartwood

October 3rd 1887

Samuel L. Meckes

June 7th 1888

John W. Gilham

September 30th 1888

Albert Schoepe

February 4th 1889

Henry H. Kramer

August 4th 1889

J. R. Dimmick

October 27th 1889

John Brindle

January 15th 1890

J. H. Kline

February 22d 1890

Valentine Newmoyer

June 22d 1890

Charles Langkamerer

August 9th 1891

Kilian Hofeker

May 14th 1892

Frederick P. Sutter

July 28th 1892

Alvin J. Hofford

August 2d 1892

Henry Grow

January 7th 1893

Joseph F. Rex

April 1st 1893

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