Happy Accidents

Today I had planned to do other people's research.  In an attempt to do a little "cemetery stomping" (as my mom and I like to call it), my mom & I took Mookie & Baby to the Burlingame cemetery to take some pictures that were requested on www.findagrave.com - one of my favorite sites.  I picked Burlingame for 3 reasons: 1) it had the highest # of unanswered photo requests from that site 2) I wanted to scout out the Civil War veterans there and check on the possibilities for going there for an adventure I'm planning with our homeschool coop this summer (more on that later) & 3) a bunch of my husband's family was there and even if the photo requests didn't pan out, I could take digital pics of the family stones and post those on Find A Grave.
  It was way too cold to walk the cemetery with the little ones, so we mostly did a drive by and found a few of the requests, and looked at a few Civil War vets along the way.  We ended by taking the family pics.  As I surveyed the familiar stones, I noticed something I had forgotten, that grandpa John Wagner was a G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) vet.  That family has perplexed me for years.  I started with sketchy info on them, and since they moved around from NY, to Canada, to PA, finally settling in KS I didn't know where to start to find their state of origin so I gave up on extending further into the past for a while.  However, this summer I am planning on leading a bunch of our homeschoolers to help in something the Kansas State Historical Society is calling it's Sleeping Heroes project, where they document where Civil War veterans throughout the state are buried.  I have picked out a few cemeteries I would like to work on and selected a veteran from each that I will have researched to give some fun background to the kids so they can see what history can lie beneath the Company, Regiment & State and dates we'll be gathering.  I have already had success with finding that one marched with Sherman through Georgia, and another fought at the Battle of Wilson's Creek (the 1st major battle west of the Mississippi). So, when I saw grandpa Wagner, I knew I needed to revisit my efforts and make him my man for that cemetery!  I had no idea where that would lead me!
  When I attacked Ancestry.com at home, I found a pension record for him, narrowed down by the fact that he filed in Kansas, was from Pennsylvania, and applied for it himself, since he died not too long before his wife.

Ok, I had a starting place.  Then I Googled the 84th Pennsylvania Infantry and found a John Wagoner listed.  Now, the 84th Co. F was from Lycoming County but I was still in the dark as to being for sure that was him.  I was missing Grandpa John in the 1860 census so I looked him up there in that year and BINGO!  There he was with Grandma Susan and their 3 kids, so this was the correct John Wagoner!  The cool thing was that the info the Google search came up with was that he was captured at the battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863 - so much more yet to learn!!
  But wait!  There's more!  After he returned from his own expedition with Grandpa Duck & Daddy, I was sharing with Bubby what we had found.  He was anxious to find more (I love that my almost 9 year old loves this stuff!).  So, I did another Ancestry search and found the marriage record for Grandpa John and Grandma Susan!  But apparently Lycoming County, Pennsylvania records during this period are wonderfully detailed because it listed both of their parents!

  So a day of not planning to work on any genealogy of my own, turned into the biggest breakthrough I've had in a long time.  Wow!

Rules of Research

Always answer your phone!
The phone rings at 7:45 this morning, I'm in the middle of making breakfast before we head out to homeschool co-op at 8:45.  I almost don't answer, but the inclusion of an actual person's name on the caller id with the unknown area code intrigues me.  I answer.  The gal asks if she has the right person & then says she's trying to find out more about my ggg-grandfather Ebenezer Tanner's 2nd wife. Hold the phone!!

A picture of Ebenezer Tanner that always hung in our living room.

Never, ever give up on genealogy forum posts!
This gal had found a post I made on GenForum 13 years ago in 1998.  She was so excited to find a reference to her gr-grandma's maiden name, she took a shot in the dark, Googled my name & called the number she found.  People's e-mails change, but if someone has sheer determination,  they will track you down.  I don't use forums much anymore, some of that comes from lack of available time, but I am even more convinced of their usefulness after today:)
Always cite your references!
Early on in my research, it seemed like a mad dash to find all there was to find, after all there were a ton of blank spaces on that family tree!  In my rush, I was very lax in writing sources down.  So when this gal asked me today how I knew her gr-grandma's maiden name, I couldn't tell her for certain.  Hopefully I have it written in my notes somewhere.  Sourcing things is becoming increasingly important in this age of information.  People take a quick glance at a source & take it as their own without much thought as to the accuracy of the item.  I have seen many a family tree on-line clouded with mis-information.  It only helps you in the long run to keep track of where you got that nugget of info.  You never know when you'll be asked to prove something, even at 7:45 on a busy morning:)

Traditions

  At our church's Sunday evening services, people like to tease the elders, who lead the services, about their repetitive choices for hymns.  The good thing about this though is by now I can sing many of the verses by heart.  So on Sunday when my eyes were wandering while I was singing, they lingered on the large cross at the front of the sanctuary and I was reminded of my youth.  I grew up attending a Methodist church whose building was nearly 100 years old.  Before I was old enough to focus on the sermon (and even after I was), you could catch me staring at the huge stained glass windows wondering what went thru the minds of those Biblical characters, counting the water-stains on the ceiling, & pretty much memorizing every inch of that sanctuary:)  The building oozed history and tradition.  I miss the smallness of the congregation (average about 80), the doxology we sang every week, the pomp & circumstance, & those old hymns we sang.  I think that's why I enjoy the traditional evening service we attend now.

The church of my childhood

 As a contrast, our present church's morning service is contemporary, draws about 400 or more each Sunday, and is in a modern building.  The old me would never have thought to leave my traditions behind, but I love where we are now.   For instance, the music (a mix of current & old standards) is led by an amazing praise band, complete with guitars, piano, drums with the occasional trumpet, sax, & even harmonica.  I remember being a teenager and visiting a church like that and being at awe at the novelty of it.  The structure of the service, while mostly set involves no pomp & circumstance, but flows casually.  One of our kids' favorite part to observe is when the communion trays are brought out & they can watch the firefly-like reflections on the ceiling.  I have seen both worlds & have enjoyed both for different reasons.  I don't think I would choose one over the other, because really, the traditions aren't the important part:)

Lefty

Last year, my little girl announced, "Mom, Daddy and I are twins".  Of course my reply was "Why is that?".  She very matter-of-factly answered "We both use our left hands".  She is constantly looking for a connection for her left-handedness.  Late last year after finding out her great-grandma was left-handed, she asked "Mom, did she like vanilla ice cream?".  Not knowing exactly where she was going with that I answered "No, but your Great-Granddad Murray did", which was followed by her response of "what kind of ice cream did Grandma Doris like?" and Mommy's lightbulb went on in her head.  So we called up Aunt Karen and found out it was Butter Brickle, which didn't solve her ice cream problem, but satisfied it for the short term.  Every once in a while it will crop up and I'll explain to her how special she is because of it and who she shares that trait with and she'll smile that sweet smile and look at me with those big eyes and absolutely melt my heart:)

Fun Among the Trees

While running errands, if it's a nice day I always try to indulge the kiddos with an outing to a playground, or something outdoors. Today we went to the arboretum in Lawrence.  The funny thing is the last time we went, it was pre-Spring too, so we have never walked it's lovely grounds when the trees are leaved out.  The kids don't mind though, and today was no exception:)
 There were water features to float leaf boats down,

 Cute statuaries,

And of course fighting over who would push baby brother around:)

A Tale of Two Ladies

Every child has a family member or hero they strive to emulate when they're growing up.  Mine was always two of my great-grandmothers.

Mary Elizabeth Clem Gentry

Mabel "June" Tanner Mauzey

 Both were, to me, very beautiful.  Not that appearance has ever been very important to me, but it would thrill me when my Mom would say "your Grandma June would have loved your long brown hair", or someone would tell me that I had nice blue eyes like my Dad (who got his eyes in part from Grandma Mary, because both his parents had brown). 
  Both were exceptional at handiwork and creating beautiful things.  Grandma Mary quilted, embroidered and created cutwork as well as being a great baker.  She even baked cakes for a living after my great-grandpa died.  Grandma June excelled in those areas too and entered her creations constantly in county fairs.

Grandma June and pictures she made out of postage stamps

Some of my family produces beautiful embroidery, cross-stitch and quilting too.  While I would love to be able to do that, I have neither the patience or desire to except to try my hand at it occasionally.  I do think back on the time my Grandma Murray taught me how to embroider my first tea towel and said that my stitches were small and even like her mom's, and that was good enough for me:)
  Neither of them was just a girly girl either.  Grandma June enjoyed fishing with her father and brothers, something I'm sure she picked up as a result of losing her mother at a young age.  Grandma Mary was a great shot with a gun.  My dad said that she could pick a snake out of a tree with just one shot!
  Both were also kind, gentle, and proper Christian women.  All attributes to strive for. 
Now Grandma Mary died long before I was even thought of and Grandma June died when I was just two years old, but they have both had profound influences on my life just by the tales I was told about them.  I am so thankful for their examples and hope to pass on their good influences to my own children.  So whenever we drive through LeRoy, KS I point out the house where Grandma Mary lived to the kids, or when they ask me where I got my wedding ring, I proudly tell them, "that belonged to your Great-Great-Grandma June, and she would have loved you very much" :).

In Pursuit of History

Today our family celebrated the life and passing of one of our own.  My great-aunt Elsie, almost 102, passed away this week.  She was a wonderful and kind woman.  I didn't really truly get to know her though until I started doing genealogy (which I think if you are doing true family history research, you should not only be finding out about your deceased ancestors you know nothing about, but also drawing close to those that are still alive).  Aunt Elsie and I would sit and talk at length about family both past and present.  She took my mom & I out to see cemeteries with long forgotten relatives.  She invited distant cousins over so we could chat about those same relatives and pour over pictures of the same.  She would also chat about her daughter and her family whom she loved dearly.  It was always a blessing to go and visit, or to receive a letter from her which she would send regularly and I would try so hard to answer even though I was (& still am awful at it).    Even though I hadn't seen her recently, I still missed her and loved her dearly. 
  After the graveside services, I had to look up some relatives...

   My gr-gr grandparents Schaede are buried just in the next row.  Aunt Elsie told me that when she was little she used to pretend that she had an earache just so Grandpa J.G. would blow pipe smoke in her ear to cure it:) 
  After eating lunch with my folks, we headed out for one more adventure.  My hubby likes to research the Civilian Conservation Corps in Kansas so we headed south to just outside of Yates Center to the Woodson Fishing Lake where Camp Fegan was around 1934-5.  It was a family adventure.  While my husband took pictures of the dam, the kids found shells on the shore...

and then helped Daddy try to find building foundations from the camp.  Bubby was totally excited to find, by himself, the CCC flagpole.

What a glorious day of good weather, reconnecting with family, and exploring:)