Wedding Wednesday - Seeing Diamonds

Back in November I did a Wedding Wednesday post for Mr. and Mrs. Eli Dart's 50th Anniversary.  As I looked through some clippings this evening I noticed another clipping and it was for their 60th Anniversary.  That's diamonds, baby!

You can read more about Eli and Edith Dart in my previous post here.

"The 60th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Eli Dart, Rt. 3, Luxemburg, will be observed Sunday.  They have one daughter, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren."

Tombstone Tuesday - John Dart

This was one of those tombstones I had a picture of...you know...just in case I make the connection to someone in my tree.  I went to look for a "John Dart" in my tree this evening and do a little research to see if he might fit somewhere, and was delighted to find him right in there already.

Jean Baptiste Dart born July 21, 1813 in Grand-Leez, Namur, Belgium.  Died August 20, 1880 in Wisconsin.

Now if only I had written down the cemetery that I was in years ago when I took the photo.  I swear, I can be scatter-brained sometimes!  Ah well.  It shouldn't be too difficult to retrace my steps.  I'll check on that death certificate too and hope it wasn't left blank.  Either way I'm delighted to realize that I've got Jean  Baptiste's tombstone.  One of the many pieces of information I had filed away that needed to be properly filed away!

"In Memory of John Dart
Died Aug. 20, 1880
Aged 6(7) years"

Rest in Peace, Aunt Lorraine

We lost our Aunt Lorraine Ryan nee Kuehl earlier today.  She was hit head on by a man that was driving with a revoked license, without insurance and was reaching for his cell phone when he crossed the center line and hit her car head on.  Lorraine was not the only one in the car.  Her sister, Alice, was also in the car at the time of the accident, but Lorraine was driving so she took the majority of the impact.  She held on for over two weeks with injuries that I can't begin to comprehend.  She was a strong and caring woman and she will be remembered and loved always.

Wedding Wednesday - Abts-Gadamus... Gesundheit

Sorry, bad joke, but I just couldn't help myself.  I have no idea where these two people fit in my family tree, or even if they do fit in my family tree.  The names are completely foreign to me.  I'll have to do a little more research, but as of now I'm thinking that it was a friend's child or fellow parishioner getting married.

Still, I've always come back to this article for the beauty of the bride-to-be and the hope that her fiancé came home from war in one piece.

As it turns out, he did come home and lived until 1986.  He was apparently the son of Polish immigrants and served in the Army for almost 6 years.  Florence outlived her husband by nearly 2 decades and died in 2003.

"Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Abts, Champion, are announcing the engagement and approaching marriage of their daughter, Florence, above, to Sgt. Stephen J. Gadamus, son of Mrs. Rose Gadamus, 1159 Day street.  The ceremony will take place at 8 o'clock Saturday morning in the chapel at Robinsonville, St. Gadamus is home on furlough after 39 months in the European theater, where he served in Iceland, England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany."

Tombstone Tuesday - Teresa Villers

You can learn a lot from a tombstone...like the year you thought an ancestor was born isn't correct...or at least you find contradictory information.  We all know that just because it's on the tombstone doesn't mean that it's correct (just like it's not necessarily correct in the obituary, the death certificate, etc), but if we look at all of these pieces of information together we can at least establish a date range to work with.

It's so important that we perform a reasonably exhaustive search.  I know so many people that will take one piece of information and consider it gospel and verse, but you could be wrong.  Track down as many records as you can.  It could help you break through that brick wall!

[Thank you to Rob Watson for taking the picture of Teresa Villers' tombstone and posting it on FindAGrave, and thank you for permission to use the image on my blog!]

A Mother's Day Tradition

Our Mother's Day photo for 2012

Just a short post this evening.  After enjoying my Mother's Day relaxing I decided to share a tradition that we started to celebrate each year.

It was probably in 2007 when we started this tradition.  On Mother's Day my hubby takes my picture with my boys.  What a great way to document their growth over the years.  I only wish I started it earlier.  I don't remember what gave me the idea to start this tradition.  I probably read about it in some parenting magazine, but I'm glad that we do it.

Have you started any family traditions?  Do you do something special for Mother's Day?

Sunday's Obituary - Apparently I Need to Work on my Hermans...

In my last post I tried to track down the parents and grandparents for a George Hermans.  Someone obviously a relative since the clipping for his Diamond Anniversary was in a family scrapbook, but I didn't have him in my tree.  Today I look for an obituary and come across one for "Desire Hermans".  I decided to go with it since I'd just done a post on another Hermans and then realized that I don't have Desire in my tree either.

Green Bay Press Gazette

Now, I've mentioned before that I've been editing my tree.  If I don't personally have information on someone in my tree, then I don't put them in.  Of course, not finding George and now, Desire, in my tree isn't a problem.  It just means that since I'm posting about them, then it's the perfect time to do some research and see where/if they belong.  Even though I'm fairly certain that I found out where George belongs, I've still go to do more than a little late-night census work on Ancestry.com.  I've got George and  his parents (and grandparents) on my research calendar and I'll be heading out to do more research very soon at the Wisconsin Historical Society.  Now I'll be adding Desire to my research calendar and see what I can do to fill out this branch of the family tree.  While Desire and George aren't direct line ancestors, it's still important to me to place them if they belong in my tree.

While I dislike the fact that the obituary doesn't mention his daughters first names (yes, I know it was 1956 and all, but I don't have to like it!), it is very convenient that I have an obit for a man that died in 1956.  His marriage record should be waiting for me at the WHS, and he'll be in the US censuses.  I can get some information there and see if he fits anywhere.

The obituary is mighty helpful just by mentioning his brother, George.  Is it the same George that I posted about previously?  Well, after a quick search of the census records, it looks like it might be.  Only time (about a month) will tell.

Something else interesting about the obituary is that his wife's name was Mary Laurent.  Another family surname and I have a Mary Laurent in our tree that was born around 1877.  This happens to be the same age as his Mary Laurent would have been according to census records.  While I didn't have a marriage record in my Hermans file, I did have one in my Laurent file waiting to be entered into my database.  Desire Hermans, son of John B. Hermans and Antoinette Dart, married Mary Laurent, daughter of Phillip and Mary Therese (funny how the record didn't put their surnames, but that's OK because I already had Phillip and Mary Therese Laurent nee Francart in my tree!) on September 13, 1897.  So that part of the family tree crossed branches.

"Hermans Rites Set for Monday
[Hand-dated, Nov 23, 1956]


Special to Press-Gazette

LUXEMBURG, Wis. - Desire Hermans, 85, of Luxemburg, died at 11 a.m. Friday in a Green Bay hospital after in illness of six months.  He had lived in Luxemburg for 20 years.  His wife, the former Mary Laurent, died 33 years ago.

Survivors include four sons, Frank, Henry and Joseph, all of Luxemburg, Rt. 4, and William, Luxemburg; three daughters, Mrs. William Vandervest, Green Bay; Mrs. Harvey Luedtke, Luxemburg, Rt. 2; and Mrs. Arthur Adams, Luxemburg; a brother George Hermans, Luxemburg; 25 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren.

The body is at the McMahon Funeral Home, Luxemburg, where friends may call after 7 o'clock tonight.  The Rosary will be recited at 8 o'clock tonight and Sunday.  Funeral services will be held at 9:30 a.m. Monday in St. Martin Church, Tonet, with burial in the church cemetery."

"Funeral Held Today For Desire Hermans

LUXEMBURG, Wis. - Funeral services were held this morning at St. Martin Church, Tonet, for Desire Hermans, 85, Luxemburg, who died Friday morning at a Green Bay hospital.  Burial was in the church cemetery.

Mr. Hermans, a Luxemburg resident for the past 20 years, was survived by four sons, three daughters, a brother, 25 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren.  His wife, the former, Mary Laurent, preceded him in death 33 years ago.

The McMahon Funeral Home, Luxemburg, was in charge of funeral arrangements."