Week 17: War (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2024 Version)

The theme for Week 17 is "War." One would be hard pressed to find someone whose family history was not touched by war. This week, consider someone in your family tree who was affected by war, whether as a soldier or a civilian. Click here to see all the 2024 prompts.

As the song goes, WAR, what is it good for, NOTHING. Actually, from a genealogy perspective, it can produce lots of genealogical records.

It was from Civil War pension files, that I was able to get more information about two of my ancestors. In fact, one of those ancestors gave testimony for the other’s pension. One was the son-in-law of the other, thus, it confirmed what my female’s maiden name was. These pension files shed light on what happened to my ancestor(s) during the war and afterwards.

I even found out that my female ancestor started collecting a death benefit on her “not so dead” husband. He was living in a Veterans Home in one state and she was living in the neighboring state. When he reached the age to start collecting a disability benefit, they found out she was collecting. They only gave her a slap on the hand, and just stopped paying her. It doesn’t appear they made her pay back any benefits. And then when he did die, she started collecting again. 

I have found other ancestors and relatives in draft card registrations. Even though they didn’t actually get drafted, they filled out a card. These cards sometimes give physical descriptions of my relative, along with their birth date and place, where they are living and who their “next of kin” might have been. I found a few who were married at the time of the draft that I never knew had married. 

If your relative did serve, perhaps a family member requested one of those special headstones for your relative. That generated another document, where it will give a birth and death date, a burial location and even date of service. My mother’s first husband died while she was married to him and the card has my mother’s signature on it. I just noticed that it was placed on the grave on the day my mother gave birth to my brother. She had just found out she was pregnant with her sixth child when her husband died from a tragic work-related accident.  

Don’t forget to explore the military paperwork that is associated with War.

Remember Just Do Genealogy!

Week 30: In the News (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2023 Version)

The theme for Week 30 is "In the News." Have you found an ancestor in the newspaper? (I sure hope so -- newspapers are wonderful resources!) Another possibility for this theme is to consider what historical/newsworthy events an ancestor witnessed or would have read about in the newspaper. Click here to check out all of the themes for 2023!

I remember the days when I used to sit in the library, scrolling through microfilm on a reader, meticulously flipping through page after page, all in the hope of finding some mention of a relative. Thankfully, in today's digital age, many old newspapers have been digitized and made available online. With just a few keystrokes, you can input a search term, a date, and a location, and like magic, you are presented with options. Admittedly, the technology isn't always flawless, but it does serve as a fantastic starting point. Nevertheless, not all newspapers have been digitized, and there might still be instances where a trip to the library is in my future.

For me, one of the most significant uses of newspapers is searching for obituaries. They often contain valuable information about family members, such as the names of spouses, parents, siblings, and children. Another delightful discovery is stumbling upon engagement or marriage announcements, which often provide details about the parents of the couple and even the names of their siblings. Additionally, finding birth announcements that include both parents' names is like uncovering a hidden gem. However, the true treasures lie in stumbling upon your relatives' names in other significant events.

I have a particularly poignant memory surrounding my mother's first husband, Quentin McAbee. He tragically passed away in a work-related accident, falling 540 feet from a skyscraper in the Chicago area. His story made the front page, and it was heart-wrenching for my mother, especially since she had just discovered she was pregnant with their sixth child. She had to raise her children without her life partner by her side. I later discovered that my mother had filed a lawsuit seeking damages for herself and the children. Although I never found an article that listed the outcome of the lawsuit, I do know that she was awarded some compensation, and each of the children received a trust in their name on their 18th birthday.

While searching for more information on this tragic event, I stumbled upon another accident that Quentin had been involved in during World War II. This bus accident had almost slipped from my memory until I stumbled upon the old newspaper articles. Initially, I had been told that Quentin rescued some people during the accident, but the truth was far different.

Quentin himself had suffered severe injuries in the bus accident, and when I think about how fortunate he was to survive it, I can't help but feel grateful. If he hadn't made it through, my siblings wouldn't exist, and it leads me to contemplate the "butterfly effect" of how our lives are interconnected. My mother's second husband, my father, was introduced to her through her sister's husband. If she hadn't married Quentin and become a widow, who knows if she would have ever crossed paths with my father. It's truly astounding to think about the chain of events that led to my existence.

Now, let's take a look at the news article that appeared in Quentin's local newspaper about that fateful night. Green Bay Press-Gazette; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Tuesday, November 18, 1941, Page 7.

Remember to have fun and Just Do Genealogy! 

Week 12: Membership (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

It isn't unusual to find our ancestors as members of a group, such as churches, school alumni, veterans’ organizations, or fraternal societies. Have you found an ancestor who was as member of a group? Or maybe you've made a discovery by being a member of a genealogical or historical society. Write about it this week! Feel free to post your links and stories in the comments. Click here to check out all the themes for 2023.

Several years ago, I gave a program to my genealogy society on Fraternal Societies. You might be able to find family members who belong to these societies based on symbols you may find on their gravestones.

Odd Fellows Tombstone example

One Fraternal organization that piqued my interest was “The Maccabees”. This is because my half siblings are McAbee(s). Their surname is McAbee, they are not members of the Fraternal organization. In doing their research, I have found their name spelled many ways through the years including the spelling of Maccabee.

The Maccabee’s started as the Knights of the Maccabees and was formed in 1878 in London, Ontario, Canada. Most active in the U.S. state of Michigan and proved low-cost insurance to members. It provided other final-expense related benefits such as society cemeteries. They were founded by members of the Order of Foresters. The group grew rapidly in Canada and several US States, reaching 10,000 members by 1880. 

Knight Of The Maccabee's Grave Marker

In 1911 the organization changed its name from the Knights of the Maccabees to simply the Maccabees. The Maccabees became a mutual life insurance company effective 1961, though they kept some fraternal features. In 1962 the group changed its name to the Maccabees Mutual Life Insurance Company. In the 1990’s the organization was demutualized and sold to the Royal Insurance Group and operated under the name Royal Maccabees Life Insurance Company. In 1999, the Royal Maccabees was sold by its parent company, Royal & Sun Alliance Financial Services to Swiss Re which merged it into its subsidiary, Reassure America Life Insurance Company. 

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

Week 7: Landed (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

The Week 7 theme is "Landed." There are many meanings of landed: to have arrived at a destination, to have been delivered, to own real property, to be part of the "landed gentry." So many ways you can go with this week's theme! Click here to check out all the themes for 2022.

I have decided to jump from my ancestors to my older half-siblings ancestor(s). Their father passed when my oldest brother was about 8 years old. My niece, my oldest brother’s daughter and I were going through his papers because she is handling the estate of her father. My brother, Tim McAbee lost his battle with cancer on October 24, 2021.

Among the stuff, I found a few genealogical papers. My brother like looking at his genealogy, however never was bitten by the bug. One of the pages looks like something my mother wrote. Another page was written by my deceased older sister, Maureen McAbee Wienke. She lost her battle with breast cancer on April 9, 1998. Another page, a family group sheet, appears to be sent from a Joe McAbee who lived in Gillette, Wyoming. I don’t know if Joe was asking for information from my brother. Finally there was a typed page from the “Commemorative Biographical Record of the Fox River Valley” published in 1895. Thus I have decided to type those two pages, because it explains how my half siblings ancestors landed in Wisconsin, our home state.

My Mother's handwriting

My sister's handwriting,
I cut off the picture since it listed living people's birth dates.

JOHN L McAbee, one of the well-known successful agriculturists of Lawrence Township, is a native of Brown County, born November 1, 1842, in Fort Howard, son of Lambert McAbee, an early president of the county.

Lambert McAbee was born, about 1816, in Detroit, Mich., of French and Scotch extraction, and was a member of one of the early families of this section of Michigan. In an early day he came to Green Bay, Wis., to trade with the Indians, with whose language he was quite familiar, and this business, in which he was very successful, was his principal vocation.  In about 1840, he married, in Green Bay, Miss Sophia La Vigue, who was born in that city in 1820, daughter of John La Vigue, a native of Canada, of French extraction. John La Vigue came to Green Bay in early manhood, and there married Elizabeth Huldrick, who was born in Fort Howard, daughter of Peter Huldrick, a native of Germany, who came to the United States about the beginning of the present century, arriving at Fort Howard with the first English troops that ever landed there.

To Lambert and Sophia McAbee were born five children, namely: John L., whose name introduced this memoir; Catherine, Mrs. Augustus Gerarden of Outagamie County, Wis., Mary, unmarried, of Lawrence Township; Angeline, deceased; and Josephine, unmarried, of Lawrence township. In the spring of 1850, the father of this family died, and was buried in Allousez cemetery, and the widow was thus left with five small children, our subject, the eldest, being not yet eight years of age. The family at that time were living on a small piece of land along the Fox River, which Mr. McAbee had purchased of the Government; but they were defrauded of this, and the only home left to them was an old sugar-house on Section 22, Lawrence Township, where Mr. McAbee had operated a sugar-camp. Never having been intended for a dwelling-house, it was but a rude construction, without even a floor; but with the assistance of willing and kind-hearted neighbors it was improved and made habitable, and here they lived until 1861, when a substantial log house was erected, which is yet standing. They squatted eighty acres of land, which they subsequently purchased from the Fox River Land Company at $1.25 per acre, selling the only horse they had to pay for it. But one path led to or from their location, and that was a “winter road” leading to the Fox River, at a point one mile from Little Kaukauna. The first space cleared on the land was planted in corn and potatoes, and each year, as the land improved and the children grew old enough to help, the farm became more and more productive, till it yielded them a comfortable support.

John L McAbee was about nineteen years old at the breaking out of the Civil War, and like may young men, longed to take part in the suppression of the Rebellion. Accordingly, in December 1861, he enlisted in Company K Seventeenth Wis., V. I., being sent to Madison, Wis., whence, after a short stay at Camp Randall, he was sent to Camp Benton, St. Louis, and thence to Tennessee, arriving at Shiloh shortly after the engagement of that place. He participated in the fight oat Corinth (his first battle) and next in the engagement at Holly Springs, from there going to Memphis, where in January 1863, he was discharged on account of illness, the result of a cold he had contacted at Madison, Wis., Mr. McAbee returned to his home in Brown County, Wis., and after recuperating his health re-enlisted, in January 1864, this time in Company F., Fourteenth Wis., V. I., proceeding with the command to Vicksburg., Miss., and thence to Eastport. He took part in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain and in the march to Atlanta, participating in seventeen engagements around that city, and after its fall he was among those who returned to Nashville with Hood. From Nashville they were conveyed by transports to New Orleans, near where they camped for three weeks, on Dauphin Island. He was in the engagement that followed at Spanish Fort, and in the land forces around Mobile, and at the time of Lee’s surrender was on the march to Montgomery, Ala. Mr. McAbee was mustered out of the service at Mobile and on October 29, 1865 received an honorable discharged at Madison, Wis.; during his long term of service he was never injured.

Immediately after receiving his discharged our subject returned to Brown County, and November 14, 1865 he was united in marriage with Miss Abigail Garity, who was born October 7, 1848 in Milwaukee, Wis. She was the daughter of George and Abigail (Childs) Garity, natives, respectively, of Ireland and new York state, who came in an early day to Milwaukee, and subsequently, to Kaukauna, Outagamie County, where they were residing at the time of Mrs. McAbee’s marriage. Mr. Garity was at one time an extensive landowner in Outagamie County, where he ranked among the leading men of his section. He died in Kaukauna, and his widow now makes her home in Wausau, Wis.

After his marriage, Mr. McAbee built a log home on his present farm, and here he and his family resided until the erection of the pleasant home they now occupy. They have had children as follows: Angeline, deceased  in infancy, Amos and Lambert, at home; Genevea, Mrs. James Sullivan, of Lawrence Township; Martha, deceased when two years old; James, at home; Sophie, a well-educated young lady, who has held a teacher’s certificate since her fifteenth year; Henry, deceased in infancy; Henry, living at home; Mary, deceased in infancy; Gertrude, at home; Ellen, deceased in infancy, and Louis and Maggie, at home. Mr. McAbee has ninety-two acres, of excellent farm land, all of which he himself has taken from its primitive state. He has been successful in his chosen vocation and deserves great credit for what he has accomplished, especially as it is all the result of his own efforts. By reading and observation he has acquired a good practical education, in spite of his lack of early literary training. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and has served his township as supervisor, at present holding the position of health officer, and for fourteen consecutive years he has been school director. He was selected to act as jury man three times, and served each time. In religious connection he and his wife are members of St. Paul’s Catholic Church at Wrightstown.