Week 44: Challenging (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2024 Version)

The theme for Week 44 is "Challenging." Some ancestors are easy to research. Others, not so much. Who has been challenging to research? Another way you could approach the prompt is an ancestor who challenged something in their life.   Check out all the 2024 themes.

Overall, I think Genealogy is Challenging. In fact, it is one of the reasons I like doing Genealogy. I even tell people that if genealogy was easy, then everyone would be doing it.

Don’t get me wrong, there are days that are easy. That I sit in front of my computer, and everything just seems to fall in place. However, the normal day involves, some easy, some difficult and a bunch of challenging aspects to figure out.

Many years ago, an acquaintance of mine, exclaimed with glee “I don’t know why you say Genealogy is hard. Last weekend, I went on the computer and by the end of the night I had traced my family back to the 1700’s”. I looked her straight in the eye and asked, how do you know that is really your family? Did you verify all the information or were you just relying on other people’s trees and hoping they knew what they were doing. She gave me the “deer in the highlights” look.

So here is my disclaimer: if you are a person who just goes from one tree to another, collecting names, stop! Those could be your people, but how do you really know unless you do the work. I will give you some examples.

My husband’s great grandfather is Ernest Kaeding. He was born on Sep 29, 1868 most likely in Germany. He married Lydia Erbrecht in 1902 in Shawano, Wisconsin. They had at least 13 children. I researched all of this from the Shawano County Courthouse. The birth records I did find, would tell me what number child they were and often gave the first names of the other children. 

In 1900, I have him living in Tigerton, Shawano County, Wisconsin. A Single male born Sep 1869, living with his widowed mother and several of his siblings.

However, one of my husband’s cousins has him in 1900, living in Chicago with his widowed father and several of his siblings. His birth date is given as Mar 1877. 

First of all, you can see, these two Ernest’s are not the same age or even close to the same age. Their siblings’ names are quite different too. This cousin has Ernest married twice and have children born around the same time. This cousin not only has my Ernest’s wife but another woman too. My Ernest was married in Shawano in 1902 while their Ernest was married in Hammond, Indiana in 1906. My Ernest stayed in Tigerton, Shawano, Wisconsin while the other Ernest moved from Illinois to Indiana and later to Minnesota. The other Ernest even produced a death record on Sep 18, 1959 in Minnesota. My Ernest also produced a death record on May 2, 1931 in Shawano County when he died in a car accident. 

Moral of this example: Genealogy is Challenging. People have the same name, lived in the same area and was born and married around the same time. However, you have to do the work, follow the leads and determine if these Ernest(s) were two people or one, living a double live. Since Ernest could not die twice, this is clearly two people.

Another example: My husband’s 2nd great-grandfather is Friedrich Theodore Christian Martin Gloede born Nov 12, 1842 in German. Died Jan 3, 1901 in Oshkosh, Winnebago, Wisconsin. His Find a Grave memorial is 109073583. However, the Ancestry Hints that come up for this person refers to Friedrich Carl Heinrich Theodor Gloede born Apr 6, 1843 and died May 2, 1900. His Find A Grave memorial is 80195156. Thus, there are many trees where people have records for both of these men in their tree and claim it is the same person. 

In fact, one of my husband’s cousins has done this. Her tree comes up in the list of hints, showing my husband’s ancestor with his wife and the Sheboygan County man’s grave information. 

Of the 12 hints that Ancestry is giving me, only one, the 1900 US Federal Census for Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin is valid for my husband’s ancestor. Challenging right?

However, when I used the search option, the magnifying glass to the right of my person’s profile page, the list of records is more accurate and appears to be for my person. The first record is the Find a Grave for my husband’s ancestor along with the next six records listed. It’s the eighth record that brings up the Find A Grave for the Sheboygan man. 

Moral of this example: Genealogy is Challenging. We have to look at all the records, see if the information fits what we know about our person. It might mean following the life of a person who isn’t our relative.

Another thing that makes Genealogy Challenging, not everything is found on-line. Let me repeat this, NOT EVERYTHING IS FOUND ON-LINE!  I explained previously how I went to the Shawano Courthouse to look at the actual records. This is because the index that Ancestry offers on-line only goes so far. It was the actual records that told me the order of the children and gave me names of the previous children already born. I found a few stillborn records (deaths only) for children of Ernest Kaeding. After looking up the births, I switched to the death records and found those children who died young or were stillborn. To make things even more challenging, they repeated the names of their deceased children. Thus, if a child died, they didn’t have a problem reusing that child’s name for a future birth. They had an August Gottlieb Kading who had been born and died in 1912. Then in 1918, they had another August Kading who had been born and died. They had two stillborn children that they didn’t name, one from 1915 and another from 1917. 

Remember to have fun and Just Do Genealogy!

Week 42: Full House (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2024 Version)

The theme for Week 42 is "Full House." Builders, homemakers, card players, parents with lots of children... who in your tree does this this theme make you think of? (Remember: There's no wrong way to interpret the theme!) Click here to see all the 2024 themes.

Sometimes a Full House doesn’t necessarily mean how many people, but who the people are. For example, in the 1900 US Census for Nekimi, Winnebago, Wisconsin, my great grandfather, Orville Charles Hiltz is living with his sister and her husband who are living with his sister’s in-laws.

My great grandfather is listed as a boarder, because there is no direct relationship between the head of household and my great grandfather.

However, this census gave me hypothesis that later was proven partially correct. I hypothesis that Orville and Mable’s parents have passed away. Otherwise, why wasn’t Orville living with his parents.

Orville Charles Hiltz was born Jul 28, 1873 in Ripon, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin to Seymour and Wilinia (Booth) Hiltz. He was the first-born child. His sister was born three years later on Dec 3, 1876 in Green Lake County, Wisconsin, a neighboring county of Fond du Lac.

In 1880, these two siblings are living with their parents in Chicago, Cook County Illinois. At this point I was unable to find either parent after 1880. During a later research day, I found a newspaper article stating that Seymour wrote a letter to his sister-in-law inquiring about his wife and children. I previously blogged about the disappearance of Seymour in 2022; Week 26: Identity for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

Anyway, in the article, it stated that Wilina had remarried and later died about 1899. It also stated that Seymour was last seen by the family about 1882. So my hypothesis was partially correct, his mother died. His father had abandoned the family, something that wasn't on my radar at the time.

During another research day, I found a birth certificate for a third child of Seymour and Wilna. Which I blogged about this year’s in Week 40: Least. This unnamed male was born Sep 8, 1883. Therefore, if Seymour is the biological father of said child, then he would had been with the family nine months before the child was born, if the child was a full term baby.

In 1890, Wilina married her second husband George Pansie. Did Orville and Mable go live with their mother and stepfather? In 1895 Mable married William Buehring. Did Orville move into the Buehring home before or after his mother’s death? Wilina and her husband and the parents of William Buehring were all living in the Nekimi, Winnebago County, Wisconsin area. In fact, William’s parents and Wilina and George Pansie are buried in the same cemetery, in nearby graves.

Remember to have fun and Just Do Genealogy!

Week 41: Most (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2024 version)

The theme for Week 41 is "Most." Like last week, this theme can go countless directions! Most number of marriages, most children, "most likely to succeed." Let your imagination run wild! Click here to find out about all of the 2024 prompts.

As genealogists, I think we have those relatives who are the MOST involved to research. I could put MOST in front of a lot of relatives, MOST difficult, MOST confusing, MOST frustrating, MOST hidden, etc… I think you get the idea.

Anyway, I have been proofing a Descendant Book that I am creating on my 3rd great grandparents, Thomas Goodwin and his wife Jane Burns. I have done my first pass through of research, where I start with my 3rd great grandparents and research all their children, then starting with the oldest child, research their children, starting with their oldest child I repeat the process all the way done the line before moving to the next child and working up and down the lines until I think I have found everyone I can find.

I then generated a first draft of the book, using Family Book Creator from my software package of Family Tree Maker. What I am looking for, besides spelling errors, are huge gaps in my research. Missing vital information such as birth and if appropriate death information. I look for marriage information if they were married and divorce information if they remarried and I am missing that information. I also make sure that someone didn’t have any offspring by locating their obituaries if available.  I like to record their Find a Grave record too, thus if they died or probably died (based on birth date) I look for the record.

I am only down to the 3rd generation of a 7-generation book. I was looking at one of my relatives, Lester Mulvaney who was born in 1901 and died in 1982. I had three children for him and one died as an infant and then he had two other daughters. One daughter, Mia Mae Mulvaney died in 1967 and based on her obituary, I knew she had four children, three daughters and one son. Her husband was a Luther Dickerson who I had no information on. Thus my big red flag to do more research.

Based on Mia Mae’s obituary, she died in Marshall, Missouri. Thus, using Ancestry, I decided to look for a Luther Dickerson in Missouri, (fingers were crossed that it wasn’t a too common of a name). The following is what I found and I recorded it in my software program as private research notes:

• Found a Luther Dickerson born 9 Jul 1913 Missouri, died: 29 Jun 1995 Yuba California
• He married Alva Goodwin on 11 May 1932 in Cole Camp, Benton, Missouri, USA (both were under 21 years of age). Dora Sizemore mother of Luther Dickerson 
• 1933, April 26 Prescott, Yavapai County; Arizona - Zona Lee Dickerson birth
• Newspaper article: 17-year-old Mother shoots self, lives | Prescott, Aug 11 (1934) Mrs. Alva Goodwin Dickerson, 17 wife of Luther Dickerson, 22 and mother of three-year-old Zona Lee Dickerson, was in Mercy Hospital tonight, the victim, officers said, of a self-inflected bullet wound. The shooting occurred on the ranch of James E Goodwin, her father, 40 miles from Prescott in the Williamson valley. The young wife shot herself in the left side above her heart with a small rifle, investigators said. At the hospital physicians declared there was no immediate danger. Officers said she gave no motive for her act. The Dickersons were married in Missouri when the girl was only 13 years old.
• 1935, Jun 27 Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona - Fannie Corrine Dickerson birth
• 1939, Jul 11 Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona - Luther J Dickerson birth
• 1940 US Census: Prescott, Yavapai, Arizona - Luther 26, Alva 23, Zona Lee 6, Fanny Corene 4, Luther James 9/12.
• 1955, Oct 12 Saline, Missouri: Luther James Dickerson death (FG 77432239)
• 1955 Oct 13: Youth Fatally Wounds Self at his farm home. Luther Dickerson, Died at Hospital here early today. Luther James Dickerson, 16, fatally shot himself in the head with a rifle Tue night at his home west of Blue Lick and died at 12:10 o’clock, Wednesday morning at Fitzgibbon hospital. Surviving are his mother, Mrs Jackson Maynard, Kentucky; his father Luther Dickerson of home; two sisters, Mrs. Wayne J Clay, Mullins, West Virginia; Mrs. Kenneth Ussery, Marshall; his stepmother, Mrs. Luther Dickerson, and two half-sisters, Cheryl Ann and Michele Marie Dickerson of the home. (Newspaper Article)
• 1966, Aug 2 Carson City, Nevada: Marriage of Alex C Crawford and Alva M Goodwin
• 1975, Jun 13, Alva M Crawford, 58 died in Barstow, San Bernardio, California. Survivors are her husband: Alex C; three daughters' Zona Lee Clay; Connie Wilson and Corine Usery, all of California. (FG 33190138)
• 1982, Mar 12 marriage Watler R White and Fannie C Hack - Clark County, Nevada
• FG 112688691 Fannie C White b: 6 Jun 1935 d: 7 May 2008

Thus, looking at the Newspaper article  (in Bold) from Oct 13, 1955, I see that Luther Dickerson has a different wife than his first wife of Alva Goodwin (no relation to my Goodwin clan). I see that the son, Luther James Dickerson had two half-sisters, Chery Ann and Michele Marie. Could these be the children of my Mia Mae?

Some wide searches on Ancestry, lead me to a name of Michele Marie Davis who died in 2018. My search consisted of entering Michele Marie Dickerson, with an approximate birth date of 1950 in Missouri, I listed her parents and her sister Cheryl Ann. 

I decide to do a google search on Michele Marie Davis and I found an obituary for a Michele Marie Davis, which list her parents as Luther and Mia Mae Dickerson. BINGO, struck gold.

In the obituary it states she is survived by four children and a brother Gary and a sister Cindy. She was preceded in death by a sister, Cheryl Johnson. It doesn’t list any of her half-siblings, but now I have four children names for Mia Mae. 

Now this may seem very straight forward, however, this took me three days before I found the obituary for Michele Marie. I went down a few wrong rabbit holes. With names like Davis and Johnson, I wasn’t sure it was my people until I found Michele’s obituary. 

Cheryl Anne died in 1990 and I found her in the Ancestry, California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 with her mother’s maiden name of Mulvaney and father’s surname of Dickerson listed. This was my only confirmation that this Cheryl Anne was my person. From here, I found her marriage record, which not only listed her date of birth but her husband’s name, date of birth and their marriage name. he died in 1998. HINT: To get the husband's information, I clicked on his name which made him the Primary person of the record and gave his age and birth date.

Remember to have fun and Just Do Genealogy!