Bride & Dog

I'm told that this is a photo of my grandmother, Gillie Mae Hester, on her wedding day, 5 Aug 1917. She married my grandfather Irving Lee Lantz on that date. This photo has always made me wonder if her dog served as her wedding attendant. I used the scratch removal tool to get rid of a crease in this photo. (Actually, there is another arm to the side of the dog, so that was probably her real attendant, her mom, a cousin, or a guest.)

It's amazing to me that my grandmother even met my grandfather. He was quite a bit older than she was. They lived in different parts of the county. My mom tells me that he was delivering mail during that time and that is how they met. It's still difficult to fathom that he, a resident of Aberdeen, was delivering mail to an Amory route which would have been about 20 miles between the two homes. (It's about 16 miles between the two towns.) I guess they drove further to work in those days than one would think.

The marriage lasted for 54 years until my grandfather's death in 1971 at the age of 85. "Nanny" died in 1993 at the age of 96.

Who is Cordeam(u) Merrill?

Today, I was indexing a page from the 1900 census of Carroll, Coos County, New Hampshire. As I was going down the page, I wondered whose household I was indexing because I was over half-way down the page and all of these persons were servants (except for two who appear to be children of servants). Turns out that it is a Cordeam (or Cordeamu) Merrill who is a hotel keeper. I wonder what hotel was so large to employ that many persons around the turn of the century. What is even more interesting is that the next household belonged to the hotel's watchkeeper, and he had several hotel servants residing with him. The Mount Washington Hotel was not built until 1902 so this was not the hotel. Was it Mount Pleasant House? (Better view here.) Would anyone know about which hotel this was or about the Merrill family?

History & Genealogy - Not Mutually Exclusive

Elizabeth Shown Mills pointed out some papers presented at the Midwestern Roots Conference a couple of years ago (in 2005) that are now online at the Indiana Magazine of History Web site. Teresa Baer's topic introduction is there and is entitled "History and Genealogy: Why Not Both? An Introduction to the Panel Discussion." Curt Witcher's "History and Genealogy--Why Not Both?" and Elizabeth Shown Mills' "Bridging the Historic Divide: Family History and 'Academic' History" are also available. All papers are in Microsoft Word format.

British Books Digitization

This is really exciting news coming out of England. More than 100,000 books are being digitized and made available to the public. These are mostly 19th century works whose authors died before 1936. It says they'll be free at British universities, but it doesn't say how or if they'll be marketed to other countries.

New Resource for Researching Kansans

Now, I don't have a huge amount of Kansas ancestry, but my great-great grandfather Levi Lantz (of hula fame) did live there the last couple of years of his life and is buried in the Amish Cemetery in McPherson. The Kansas Memory Project is launching a huge photo project on October 16. I'm including the press release here:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 26, 2007

LARGEST ONLINE COLLECTION OF IMAGES AND DOCUMENTS FROM KANSAS HISTORY TO BE LAUNCHED OCTOBER 16

Former Kansas Governor John Carlin to be on hand at launch event

TOPEKA, KS—The Kansas Historical Society announced that former Kansas Governor John Carlin, who served as Archivist of the United States from 1995-2005, will return to Topeka for the launch of Kansas Memory on October 16. Kansas Memory is the Historical Society’s newest online offering, featuring the largest collection of photographs and manuscripts from Kansas history on the Internet, and can be accessed at kansasmemory.org. Carlin and other state dignitaries will be on hand at the Historical Society, 6425 SW 6th Avenue, for a launch event at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, October 16. The launch coincides with American Archives Month.

Kansas Memory offers unprecedented online access to Kansas history and includes thousands of items from the Kansas Historical Society’s collections of photographs, letters, diaries, and other historic items. Users can browse, search, or share images, and will eventually be able to purchase high-resolution versions online. The “My Memory” section allows users to customize a personal space, save searches, and create scrapbooks of items. Although it would be impossible to add every single item in the Kansas Historical Society’s collection to Kansas Memory, the Historical Society will actively continue to add images as part of its goal to make Kansas history more accessible to everyone. Visitors to the site can listen to dramatic readings in the Kansas Memory podcasts and subscribe to web feeds for the latest content.

Teachers will find the multi-faceted browse feature especially helpful as it includes topics that help meet Kansas and U.S. history standards. Kansas Memory was developed in part with funding from the Information Network of Kansas.

During the month of October, Kansas Press Association member newspapers will have access to a special collection of photos from Kansas Memory for use in their publications. This partnership between the Association and the Kansas Historical Society celebrates National Newspaper Week, October 7-13.

For more information on Kansas Memory, visit kansasmemory.org or call Pat Michaelis, Kansas Historical Society State Archives & Library Director at 785-272-8681, ext. 270.

UPDATE: P.S. - Some of Levi's children and grandchildren remained in Kansas after his death.

Genealogy Book Sale

Now . . . if that doesn't get your attention, I don't know what will! Heritage Books is hosting its "Midnight Madness Sale." The dates are September 28 -- October 5, 2007, and you get at least 20% off your order.

Tired

I apologize for the lack of blogging this week. I'll try to get back with it tomorrow night. It's just been "one of those weeks."

Stitching for Literacy

One of my other hobbies is cross-stitching. Our local needlework shop, One More Stitch (127 N. Daisy St., Morristown, TN) has joined up with Funk & Weber Designs in their Needle and ThREAD: Stitching for Literacy challenge. Basically, the shop is collecting hand-stitched bookmarks for children which will be presented to the Morristown Children's Library on November 12. It's a great idea! I'm sure other needlework shops around the country are also participating, so if you cross-stitch, I encourage you to get involved with this project! By the way, check out Funk & Weber's blog which has some great Alaskan photos as well as other interesting items. Maybe one of these bookmarks will not only inspire children to read, but perhaps it may inspire one of these children to make one of those nice samplers that we genealogists really like to have handed down from our great-great-great grandparents!

African-American Catholics

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Office of African American Catholic Ministries is planning a booklet to help African-Americans with Catholic heritage.

Fred Thompson Related to Elvis

If the old adage that presidential candidates must be related to royalty to win is true, Fred Thompson is in good standing. He's related to the King.

The Cherokee

In the news . . .

A slow, lethal combination of external pressures including warfare, rather than a lack of natural resources, led to the demise of the Cherokee Indians, two new studies suggest.

Read the entire article.

"Imprisoned by Andros"

That phrase caught my attention as I was studying an article (pages 97-103) from a July 1899 (vol. 3, no. 7) issue of The Essex Antiquarian which gave an account of my Andrews line. I found the article entitled "Descendants of John Andrews of Ipswich" through my research membership at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, utilizing their online collections. In this account, the progenitor of this particular branch of Andrews, Lt. John Andrews, born about 1618, is said to have been "imprisoned by Andros." The Andros in question is, of course, Edmund Andros who was governor of the Dominion of New England from 1686-1689. It appears that my Andrews family were among the majority of people with whom he was not popular. I was curious about why he was imprisoned and found the answer in Google books. In The Memorial History of Boston: Including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880 edited by Justin Winsor, vol. II, The Provincial Period, (Boston: Ticknor & Company, 1881), page 10 tells us that the town of Ipswich "had refused in open meeting to comply with the law and to levy the new taxes." John Andrews, along with five other men who were town leaders, were imprisoned under charges of high misdemeanors. It appears they ended up with a rather stiff fine after the trial. A very interesting account of this can also be found by scrolling down to John Andrews' name near the bottom of this Forsythe Family web page.

Levi and Stephen Do the Hula

This was created at JibJab. Janice Brown over at Cow Hampshire has challenged all the Genea-bloggers to show our humor gene. Here's two gentlemen (my great-great grandfathers) from McLean County, Illinois doing the Hula. Stephen Taylor (1814-1881) is the dark-headed one. Levi Lantz (1811-1887), an Amish man, is the other.

If you are having trouble viewing it, try http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/46a8f95380ba919f/46f1c3f93d7f7754

Nathan Dearborn Household in 1820

Betsey Dearborn's father was Deacon Nathan Dearborn. He was one of the early members of the Windsor Baptist Church in Windsor Township, Morgan County, Ohio. In 1820, he can be found right there in Windsor Township with his family. There is one male 26-45 (Nathan); one female 26-45 (wife, Lucy Perkins); one male under 10 (son, Henry Perkins); and two females under 10 (daughters Betsey and Elsina). The Dearborns have one son Samuel Ward Dearborn who was born and died in 1817 according to family members.

Sources: 1820 U.S. census, Windsor Twp., Morgan County, Ohio, p. 74, line 6, Nathan Derborn; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 September 2007); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M33, roll 92.

Robertson, Charles. History of the Windsor Baptist Church. Published online at Morgan County OHGenWeb <http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohmorgan/brick.htm>, accessed 27 Jul 2002. Originally published in History of Morgan County, Ohio (1886), p. 412.

Stearns, Ezra S. Plymouth New Hampshire Families. Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Company, 2001. Orig. pub. as vol. 2 of The History of Plymouth, New Hampshire (Cambridge, Mass., 1906), p. 199.

Filling in the Missing Gaps

Tonight I decided to begin the process of reviewing some of my data on lines going to New England to fill in any missing holes. I discovered that while I had most of the censuses for Stephen Taylor (1814-1881) and his wife Betsey Dearborn (1818-1899) that I was missing the 1840 one, at least out of my database. It is probably sitting in a file in a drawer that I haven't sorted through yet! However, I decided to make a quick check and discovered that while the couple had wed in Morgan County, Ohio on 8 Mar 1837 that they had already moved to McLean County, Illinois by the time of the 1840 census. Stephen is head of a household of three. One male, age 20-30 (obviously Stephen); one female, age 20-30 (obviously Betsey); and one male under 5 (Isaac, their son who was born in 1839 and who died in Memphis during the Civil War). It is interesting to note that Stephen's brothers Daniel and Sylvanus are both on this page as is Elisha Dixon who married a sister of Betsey. I also noted some of the Carlocks for whom the town of Carlock was later named on the page as well as the Denmans, namesakes of the Denman Cemetery where some of the Taylor family is buried.

UPDATE (9/21): I realize that I should specify that Elisha was not married to Betsey's sister in this census. She was married to her first husband Otis Lawrence at the time of the 1850 census. The marriage to Dixon took place in 1864.

Sources: Marriages in Morgan County, Ohio. Vol. A. April 1, 1819-February 4, 1841. s.l.: Morgan County Historical Society, 1983.

1840 U.S. census, McLean County, Illinois, p. 282, line 25, Stephen Taylor; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/; accessed 18 September 2007); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M704, roll 65.

32nd Carnival of Genealogy

The 32nd Carnival of Genealogy is online at Family Oral History Using Digital Tools. This edition's theme is "Family Wartime Stories." I must confess that I was tempted to blog about Hawkeye, Radar, Major Winchester, Klinger, and all the other M*A*S*H gang!

A "Sockumentary" on Immigration

If you haven't watched this, you've got to check it out. (via Randy Seaver)

On a campaign

Terry Thornton is snitty that the word "snitty" is not in the dictionary yet.

Gulf Ordnance Plant

The theme for the mid-September edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is to tell any story about a wartime event or soldier in your family. I've blogged extensively recently about soldiers and the military, so I thought I'd do something a little different. I thought I'd go with the "wartime event" category and discuss what was going on back in the states while the servicemen were in Europe and in the Pacific.



In the little town of Prairie, Monroe County, Mississippi was a plant called the Gulf Ordnance Plant during World War II. Basically, they made bombs which were used in the war. I had several relatives that worked there during the war. It was good employment for the area, and the company transported its employees from all over the area to the plant via bus. My grandfather was among those who rode the bus from Amory to the plant where he maintained the refrigeration. I have a copy of a pay stub of one living person who worked for the plant. The check came from the Proctor & Gamble Corporation.






What really makes my grandfather's service, even in this manner, interesting is that his father, having been a member of the Amish sect, was exempted from Civil War service. His father later married "outside the faith". While my grandfather was certainly old enough to serve during World War I and did in fact register for the draft (at age 32), he was not called upon to serve then. Many of the men who did not go to the war in the Monroe County, Mississippi area served their country by manufacturing the munitions that were used in the war. Many women were also involved in the making of bombs.

Brent Coleman, former police chief of Aberdeen, Mississippi, has written extensively on the Gulf Ordnance Plant. Much of his research was published in a special issue of TomBigbee Country Magazine. (Sorry , I would provide contact information, but their web site's pricing information is outdated, so I'm pretty sure they aren't currently maintaining this site which is full of popups because it is housed on a free site.) [The full citation for this is: Coleman, Brent. The Gulf Ordnance Plant at Prairie (MS), 1942-1945, The Gulf Ordnance Story: A Special edition of TomBigbee Country Magazine. Aberdeen, MS: TomBigbee Country, 2002. ]

A Very Interesting Book

As many of you know, I'm a librarian. As I was cataloging some of our newest additions, I came across a very interesting little book entitled The Walker Sisters of Little Greenbrier by Rose Houk. This is a delightful little full-color book of about 60 pages that talks about the lives of Margaret, Polly, Martha, Nancy, Louisa, and Hettie Walker who lived in the settlement of Little Greenbrier which is inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park today. Some of you may have visited the Little Greenbrier schoolhouse inside the park. It's "chock full" of family photos, family household item photos, and a nice little history of the family that is interesting because it includes stuff from their daily lives and environment. There are even some poems that Louisa wrote included. I may have to purchase my own copy!