On the Road!

This morning before the crack of dawn I will have piled in the car with the hubby and kiddos to start our vacation.  We'll be driving from Killeen, Texas to Greentown, Pennsylvania and stopping along the way to enjoy the journey.  Hopefully we'll make it to Nashville, Tennessee for the first night...or at least Memphis.

The boys will be enjoying practicing their new swimming skills in hotel pools and we'll all enjoy a night of camping under the stars at the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  We'll celebrate America's beginnings at Williamsburg, Virginia and watch the sun rise over the Atlantic at Virginia Beach before heading over to Fredericksburg to learn about the great war that threatened to tear our country apart 150 years ago.

We'll arrive in Pennsylvania sometime on the 14th which means I won't be on the road when the much anticipated release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 comes out!  I have posts scheduled to go out while I'm traveling and I'll certainly be checking in on everyone's blog posts, tweets and any comments you may leave while I'm on the road.  Gotta love technology!

I'll be diving into the county courthouse of my ancestors for the first time as well as tracking down some obituaries and tombstones, and leaving flowers at the ancestors' gravesites.  My oldest seems to be showing a mild interest in genealogy and our family history right now so I hope I can fan those flames!

As always, have fun tending those roots!

Follow Friday - She Just Leaves Me Amazed

Jenn Woods from Climbing My Family Tree: One Branch at a Time has the most wonderful series of Genealogy for Kids!  If you haven't checked out her series and you've got kids or grandkids that you'd like to get interested in genealogy, you really need to head on over to her blog!

Her first in the series "Family Notebooking Page" has an adorable family tree that your kids can fill in.

The second post "Cemetery Scavenger Hunt" has a wonderful scavenger hunt that can occupy their attention whether they've started reading yet or not!  I can't wait to have my boys use these while we are traipsing around cemeteries in Pennsylvania over the next few weeks.

The third "My Ancestor Notebooking Page" which has spaces for the little ones to fill in dates the ancestor lived, where they lived, historical events they lived through and more.  Really puts your ancestor's live into historical perspective for the kids and is sure to get them asking questions!

And the last is "Jobs of My Ancestors" which has boxes for the kids to draw a pictures of various jobs their ancestors had and label them.  I know I'll have to dig deep for this one in educating my kids...Soldier, teacher, farmer, coal miner...that pretty much sums up the majority of our ancestors!  I'd like to see them draw genealogist though! :)


I can't wait to see what Jenn's going to come up with next!

Treasure Chest Thursday - Another Reason I'm Lucky

Last week I showed you two wonderful scrapbooks that were passed onto me from my mother-in-law.  She got them from her mother-in-law.  Some had articles from World War II and I can't believe I let them sit around without scanning them for so long!  Well, another wonderful gift that I had received at the same time from my mother-in-law was a magnetic photo album filled with funeral cards.  This time they were collected by her mother and passed on.

Some are incredibly delicate

I did rescue the cards from the magnetic photo album they were originally in.  It was touch and go there on a few cards as well, but they all remained in pretty good condition.  They are now safely stored in an archival safe album with photo corners so they can be removed and both sides can be viewed.


I have over 200 memorial cards in that photo album.  A treasure.  I know that they were collected for a reason.  Family members?  Friends?  Parishioners?  Historical events?  Most likely they are all of the above and I just need to figure out which ones are connected with my family.  Regardless of which category they fall into, I'll eventually get each one posted.

One of the most unusual memorial cards I have is for President John F. Kennedy.  No doubt all the Catholic churches handed them out when he died being our only Catholic President.  Just as cards for Pope John Paul II were handed out after he passed.  There were millions, I'm sure, but I still get a kick out of the card!


There was some damage done by the magnetic album, but it didn't destroy any of the cards.  It did ruin some of the beautiful artwork on the cards though.  I love looking at the religious artwork on the cards.  I love seeing the cards written in German and trying to see how much I can make out in that old script.  And I love the cards with pictures of the departed on them.

Damage done by the "glue" on magnetic photo albums

Is it odd to like memorial cards?  Perhaps no more than roaming cemeteries and courthouses.  We genealogists are an odd bunch!

Enjoy tending those roots!

Gorgeous artwork.  Who was he and why did he die in a military camp during WWI?  The Great Flu?

UPDATE:  I just had to do some poking around and found several websites on Camp Sherman, Ohio, one of which (aptly named Ohio History Central) reports a large outbreak of the "Spanish Influenza" where many of the Soldiers died.  The time period would be correct as well.  I think I may be ordering a death certificate.  Strangely enough  don't have anyone in my tree that died of the Influenza Outbreak of 1918 (I hate calling it Spanish Influenza since that name is just so inaccurate).  This would be the first person I've discovered that did succumb to the pandemic.

Gorgeous artwork

Wordless Wednesday - Fine Scratches Removed and Edges Repaired

Before

After

Another picture that I scanned from my step-father's (James Trunzo) side of the family.  I really need to identify the people in the pictures that I scanned though!

Tuesday's Tip - Inputting Data on the 1840 U.S. Census

1840 U.S. Federal Census

It's that time again.  Time for another census form!  If you thought that the 1830 census was looking a bit cramped, well creating a one-page spreadsheet for the 1840 census was very challenging, but it's done and legible, even when printed.

The information is getting better.  At least we're asking for pensioners this time and asking about jobs even if it's a generalization of occupations...it's something.  Also, there are questions about education and this group is broken down into various degrees/types of education which is quite nice.  Finally, we've got the old "cannot read and write" block to mark which we're all familiar with other later censuses.

The same discriminatory features still persist in that white people have more age brackets to assign members of the household which is very helpful in narrowing people down or excluding them from our branches.  Slaves and Free Colored People are treated the same as far as there are fewer brackets which gives the researcher a more general view, making things potentially more difficult to narrow down or eliminate erroneous branches in our family trees.  Again, we must take it in historical context.  That's the way of things back then.  I don't have to like it, but I can't change it.

The U.S. Census Bureau acknowledges that the 1840 census closely mirrored that of the 1830 census with some adjustments:

"No population questionnaire was prescribed by the Congress—the design of the questionnaire was left to the discretion of the Secretary of State, and closely followed that used in1830. The law did specify the inquiries to be made of each household."

You can view the "Compendium of Enumeration" as well as the "Census of Pensioners" on their webpage via a .pdf listed as Volume 3 and 4 respectively by clicking here.

On www.1930census.com you can again watch our nation expanding, by viewing a map of the changing states' boundaries, and a timeline-history of that decade.  Sadly, the tab for "Census Questions Asked" and big blank.  Ah well!  You can't have everything!

As always, if you have any trouble viewing or downloading the spreadsheet, just comment or send me an email and I'll see what I can do to fix it.  So far there hasn't been any trouble since the very first sheet I posted.  I'll cross my fingers!

Let me know if there are any mistakes as well.  I'm sure you can imagine my eyes were starting to go crossed by the time I was done with this form!  Corrections and suggestions are always welcome!

To access the form simply click on the image at the top of the page or click on anywhere it says "1840 census."

Good luck and have fun tending those roots!

Military Monday - Central Texas Casualties 2008

Faces of the departed - 2008

Roll Call

 

SGT Phillip Anderson
SPC David J Badie
PVT Charles Y Barnett
SPC Cory J Bertrand
SSG Ronald C Blystone
SPC Seteria L Brown
SGT Douglas J Bull
SPC Donald Burkett
SSGT Chad A Caldwell
SGT David K Cooper
SSG Victor M Cota
SSG Nathan M Cox
PFC Michael R Dinterman
SGT Alejandro A Dominguez
SSG Brandon W Farley
SPC Jorge L Feliz Nieve
CPL Reuben M Fernandex III
SPC Stephen R Fortunato
PVT Jair D Garcia
2LT Michael R Girdano

PFC Joseph F Gonzales
SPC Alex D Gonzalez
PFC Corey L Hicks
PFC Theron V Hobbs
SPC Geoffrey G Johnson
PVT Eugene D Kanakaole
SPC Marques I Knight
PFC Keith Lloyd
SSG Bryant Mackey
CPT Torre Mallard
PFC John Mattox
SSG Kenneth W Mayne
PVT Colman J Meadows III
CPT Michael J Medders
SGT Preston R Medley
SPC Andre D Mitchell
SPC Keisha Morgan
SPC Matthew T Morris

SPC William J Mulvihill
PVT Micahel W Murdock
CPT Michael A Norman
SSG David L Paquet
CPT Andrew R Pearson
SGT John M Penich
SGT Jose Regalado
SSG Kristopher D Rodgers
PFC Tavarus D Setzler
SPC Corey M Shea
SGT Corey Spates
SPC Joel A Taylor
PFC Bryan R Thomas
SGT Shaun Tousha
SPC Ronald J Tucker
SGT Gregory D Unruh
SGT Richard A Vaughn
PFC Joshua E Waltenbaugh
SFC Miguel A Wilson
PVT Vincent C Winston Jr
CPT Robert J Yllescas
SPC James M Yohn

May our Soldiers come home soon.

Sunday's Obituary - Octavia Villers nee Wagner

I've actually got 2 wonderful obituaries for Octavia.  One was sent to me from a cousin that I met through the absolutely wonderful world of message boards (I love those darned boards so very much!).  The other I found during Scanfest last Sunday.

Yes, can you believe that I had the obituary published in Wisconsin for years and didn't know it.  That's why I'm forever grateful that I finally remembered to tune in and do a scan fest.  I knew I had lots to scan, but never seemed to get to it.  This find has certainly motivated me to get down to it and get it done!

So for you long-time readers of my blog (there are one or two of you out there)...you may recall the murder trial of Martin Joseph Villers that I posted on back at the end of 2010.  Well, Octavia was his wife.  She is my husband's great-great grandmother.  I'm posting both obituaries, because they are a bit different and they therefore give slightly different genealogical information.  It also makes for a pretty good comparison.

The Bismarck Tribune

The following is from the Bismarck Tribune, July 1940:

"OCTAVIA VILLERS, AGED CO. PIONEER, PASSED AWAY TODAY

Funeral Services Will Be Held At St. James Church Monday

Mrs. Octavia Villers, aged pioneer resident of Jamestown and Stutsman county, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Mary LaJoie, at 6:30 o'clock this morning.

Mrs. Villers came with her parents to the United States 84 years ago from her native land, Belgium, where she was born December 18, 1842.  The trip was made in a sailboat and took six weeks.  The family went to Rosiere, Wisconsin, near Green Bay.  It was 54 years ago when Mrs. Villers came to Stutsman county to Montpelier.  She came to Jamestown over 30 years ago and for nearly 20 years lived with her daughter, Mrs. Ella Naze and since that time has lived with Mrs. LaJoie.

Mrs. Villers was active until about two years ago.  She was a member of St. James Catholic church.  Surviving are three daughters, Mrs. LaJoie; Mrs. Eli Cayemberg, Pulaski, Wis.; Mrs. Agnes Tardiff, Duluth, Minn.; and a son, Louis Villers, Green Bay, Wisc.; 24 grandchildren; 36 great grandchildren and four great great grandchildren.  Mrs. Naze, a daughter, died several years ago.

Funeral services will be held at St. James Catholic church Monday morning at 9:00 o'clock.  The body is at the Daly Funeral Home.  The family requests that no flowers be sent.  The rosary will be said Sunday night at 8:00 o'clock at the funeral home."

The date is hand-written in as July 5th.  No year is given.  Octavia died in 1940 at the age of 97.  She missed her 98th birthday by 6 months. You can also note that her husband is not mentioned in her obituary at all. Not surprising I guess considering his crimes in the region. He is mentioned in the Wisconsin obituary below.

This obituary was taken from a local Wisconsin newspaper.  It's a clipping, so I'm not sure which one, but I'd be willing to bet it wasn't the Green Bay newspaper.  Perhaps Algoma's newspaper:

"Former Rosiere Woman Dies in North Dakota

Word has been received here of the death of Mrs. Octavia Mary Villers, 98, which occurred Friday morning at the home of her daughters, Mrs. Felix Lajoye, Jamestown, N.D.  She was a former resident of Rosiere.  

Unknown Wisconsin newspaper

Mrs. Eli Cayemberg and Walter Cayemberg, Pulaski; Henry and Wilfred Cayemberg, Manitowoc; Mrs. Russell Anderson, Green Bay, and Hubert Guillette, Anston, attended the services which were held this morning at St. James Catholic church with burial in the church cemetery at Jamestown. 

The deceased was born in Belgium Dec. 22, 1842, and came to America in 1854 with her parents Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Wagner, settling in Rosiere.  She married M. J. Villers in 1864 and lived in Algoma for 10 years before coming to North Dakota 54 years ago. 

Survivors are four children, (Florence) Mrs. Eli Cayemberg, Pulaski; (Mary) Mrs. Felix Lajoye, Jamestown; (Agnes) Mrs. Joseph Tardiff, Duluth, Minn.; and Louis Villers, Green Bay; 46 grandchildren and several great grandchildren.  A daughter, Mrs. Prosper Naze, died four years ago." 

No date on this one, but again, I know when she died.  I this obituary they state that she's 98 years old even though they listed her birth date.  Ah well...math!  It's a small point either way.

This last one is the one that I "found" last weekend, and I'm glad that I did.  I've been scanning obituaries that my husband's paternal grandmother collected and have been wondering how they are going to fit into our family tree, if they will at all.  This last obituary gives some pretty great information on her children.  And you know what?  I recognize some of the names.  Scoreboard!  Naturally, the search isn't over with just this obituary.  They are prone to errors.  After all, they aren't submitted by the deceased.  All second-hand information, which may or may not be accurate.  I mean look at the birth dates.  They were off.  Either by the person submitting the information or the person writing the story.   It does give me a great starting point to continue that research though!