Week 40: Cemetery (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2025 Version)

The theme for Week 40 is “Cemetery.” (Honestly, this is one of my favorite themes!) Any memorable trips to an ancestral cemetery? Whose burial place have you searched for, but haven’t found? Any sextons in the family tree? This is their week. Check out all of the 2025 prompts here.

My cemetery story involves the same family. While looking for the possible grave location for my 3rd great grandmother, Harriett Elizabeth Nedry Booth, I found one for a child she had that I didn’t know about. 

After moving back to my home state for my husband’s retirement, I quickly joined the local genealogical society. Okay, it wasn’t quickly, because we moved in 2020 and it was the height of COVID-19 and many organizations had suspended their meetings. So as soon as they were resuming meetings, I joined.

I have accessed the genealogy holdings of the local library for years. However, someone mentioned they had a cemetery book for cemeteries in a nearby town, same county and since it was a huge cemetery and the cemetery that my 3rd great grandmother was buried, according to her death certificate I had the town, not the cemetery name, I decided to look up the book of the three large cemeteries.

I found an entry for an Edson Booth born 1868 and died 1869 and listed as the son of A.H. and H.E. Booth. He was 1 year 5 days per the researchers who recorded the information. 

Harriet married Amos H Booth in 1851. I knew they had three children, Martha, Wilina (my line) and Edwin who was born in Jun 1869. Because Edson was born and died between census records, I made not have ever known. However, Harriet died on Mar 2, 1916 and I decided to revisit the 1900 and the 1910 census, because they do ask how many children a woman had and how many are still living. Did I miss this very important clue?

Sure enough, the 1900 census states she had 4 children and 3 are still living. What a valuable clue I overlooked all these years. Plus, the 1910 census states she had 4 children and 2 are still living.

Another, clue I overlooked because it would have help me realize that my ancestor, Wilina had died before 1910. In my earlier days of research, I did not find her, but her two children were living together. One a married woman was living with her in-laws and her brother (my ancestor) was living with them. I figured something must had happened to the parents to have caused him to live with his sibling and not one of his parents. Actually, Wilina died in 1898 and thus, the reporting numbers on the 1900 census were inaccurate. 

On a side note: last week I wrote about the disappearing Seymour Hiltz, this was Wilina’s first husband and the father of the two children mentioned above.

Even though I still don’t know the exact location of Harriet’s grave, I have some information that I can go to the office of this large cemetery and see if perhaps they have burial records and maybe she is in an unmark grave with her infant son. This clue has help to give me a starting point of which cemetery she might be buried in. I guess I have a little trip in my future. 

Plus, this reminds me to revisit the 1900 and 1910 census records for women who were living during this time period and see if I am missing any possible children. I know that they might not of reported the correct information such as with Harriet in 1900. 

Happy Genealogy Hunting!

Earl I Sponable

Genealogy Bargains in their daily emails was offering a free Diary Research Checklist. A quick start hint was to search online for “diary” AND surname AND town/county.

I thought I would give it a try on one of my ancestor’s surnames so I typed “diary sponable.”

The first hint was for Earl I. Sponable papers, 1928-1968: Earl was a chemist, Chief Engineer and Director of research for Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporations and it’s subsidiaries, 1926-1962. 

This hint intrigued me and I proceeded to see if I have Earl in my tree, however, I did not. 

Next, I did a google search on Earl I Sponable and I found an IMDb record that stated he was born on September 18, 1895 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director known for Ben Bernie and His Orchestra (1928), The Dead March (1937) and The First World War (1934). He was married to Marie B Whalen and Maria. He died on November 16, 1977 in Lake Placid, New York, USA.

Since this biography did not list who his parents were, I decided to do a basic search on Ancestry with the above information. 

The Ancestry hints lead me to Earl’s Find A Grave memorial and from there, I following the male parent line up until there was no more links. It ended with Philip Harmon Sponable and his wife Anna Nancy Duesler and I had those two people in my tree. 

My Sponable line goes back to Johannes Spanknable my revolutionary patriot. Earl is the 3rd great grandson of Johannes while I am the 6th great granddaughter of Johannes. 

Earl and his wife Marie B Whalen only had one daughter Catherine and his line ends with her.  

I found a Academy Award page that states that Earl won two Academy awards, one in 1953 – Scientific or Technical Award and the other in 1961 – Scientific or Technical Award. 

What surprises will you find when trying out a quick start hint?

Week 39: Disappeared (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2025 Version)

The theme for Week 39 is “Disappeared.” All of us have someone on our family tree who seems to have just disappeared. This is a good week to write about them. (Who knows – maybe writing about them will help you spot some gaps in your research and give you ideas on new places to look!) Check out all of the 2025 prompts here.

First, let me apologize for not writing much this year. My writing last year was therapeutic because it was a rough one for me personally. This year I have been working on other genealogy projects. Anyway…

Whenever the topic of Disappeared or Lost comes up with my genealogy, I always go to my 2nd great-grandfather Seymour Hiltz.  Seymour was born about 1850 to Lawrence Hilts and his wife Nancy (possibly another branch of the Hilts/z family). He married Wilina Booth in 1872 in Ripon, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin. They had three known children, Orville Charles my ancestor, his younger sister Mabel and a younger unnamed brother. I only found this brother’s birth record and I guess he is another example of disappeared.

Sometime after 1880, Seymour seems to have disappeared from the family. I have a newspaper article from 1903 where he wrote a letter to his sister-in-law inquiring about his wife and children. He asked for a quick reply but the reply that was sent was returned undeliverable and unopened. He seemed to disappear again.

My nephew recently found some information about Seymour from 1885 where he was arraigned at the Lewis County Circuit Court (Missouri) and charged with the alleged rape of a 15-year-old. The jury reached a verdict of guilty based on the circumstantial evidence and the direct testimony of eyewitnesses. Seymour’s sentencing occurred on September 23, 1885 (140 years ago). The jury voted 10 to 2 to execute Seymour by hanging but it required a unanimous vote and instead was sentenced to 21 years at the State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri. 

His penitentiary records give a description of Seymour (spelled in the records as Seymore). He was 34 years old and a cook, he was 5 ft and 1 ¾” tall (he is shorter than me). Foot length is 9 ½. His hair is blonde and he has blue eyes with dark complexion. He does have a mustache. He listed no religion and he can read and write and was never imprisoned before. He listed himself a Widower (which is not true because Wilina is alive) with 3 children. He has a long aquiline nose, a small scar on the index finger of his left hand (faint), long scar inside left wrist and a small mole above the navel.

Within one month of Seymour’s sentence, the mother of the young girl made a confession that Seymour was innocent and she was made to testified by the father of the young girl. The father compelled his daughter to prosecute the suit and by ways of threats, prevented the mother and daughter from acknowledging Seymour’s innocence of the crime of rape at the trial.

Seymour’s attorneys appealed to Governor John Sappington Marmaduke to pardon Seymour on the grounds of a mistaken verdict. However, this did not happen until 4 years later when the new Governor, David R Francis, issued the pardon for Seymour’s exoneration and freedom on April 5, 1889. 

The authors of the article noted that Seymour appeared in a physical wreck and even though he was treated well at the prison, his declining health was a result of his mental troubles due to being innocent. The authors described Seymour as a free, generous and affable and quite intelligent individual and they wished him the best. 

Seymour returned to his original trade as a Cooper. A cooper was a skilled artisan who made and repaired wooden barrels, casks, buckets and vats. On May 8, 1890, while trimming hoop poles, he made a deep cut to his knee and was taken home to receive medical attention. Luckily, it was found that he did not have a “dangerous” wound. This was the last article of Seymour in Canton that the website could detect.