My Tree in the Forest

Week 48 Overlooked

“We don’t always see something the first time it comes across our path. This week, consider a relative whom you didn’t pay much attention to when you first discovered him/her… or someone who was overlooked during their life. You could also explore a discovery you made using a resource or clue you previously overlooked. Feel free to post your links and stories in the comments.” prompt by Amy Johnson Crow for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

I was hoping to find something new about my third great grandfather, Robert Guy. He was married to Mary Craig. Mary was born in 1783 in Cardross, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. I know who Mary’s parents are because her sister, Elizabeth also married into our family. Their parents George Walter Craig and Janet Ferguson hold two spots in my tree.

The yellow line shows Mary Craig and Elizabeth Craig connected to their parents George Walter Craig and Janet Ferguson. I am confident in this connection in my tree. The red line shows Elizabeth and her husband Nicol Kirkwood as the parents of George Kirkwood. The blue line connects Mary and her husband Robert Guy as the parents of Helen Guy married to George Kirkwood. I am confident in this connection too. Helen and George are the parents of Walter Guy Kirkwood who was definitely my great grandfather. I am sure Mary’s husband was Robert Guy but I am not sure I have the correct Robert Guy.

I did find most of the birth records for Robert and Mary’s children and they have Robert Guy and Mary Craig as the parents. I haven’t been able to find death certificates for either Robert or Mary. I found their marriage record in 1808. The first child I have for them was born in 1809 and the last I have was born in 1825. So their deaths happened after 1825.

I found a DNA connection to the descendents of Isabella Guy, one of the daughter’s of Robert and Mary. So, I think I am on the right track. Isabella married Thomas Keith and they moved first to Canada and then to Michigan. I also have DNA connections to siblings of Walter Guy Kirkwood, my great grandfather. His sister Elizabeth and brother George have descendants with a DNA connection to me. I believe they remained in Scotland but haven’t looked into it much yet.

One possiblity I have for Robert Guy means he was quite a bit older than Mary Craig and he was previously married. I found a Robert Guy married to Catherine Davie in 1795. I have five children for them ranging from 1796-1804. Their youngest was named Catherine. I found an 1841 Census (which is the earliest Census available) with Robert and Mary Guy and Catherine. The Census is in Cardross where all of Robert and Mary’s children were born and they were married. The Census says Robert is 75, Mary is 60 and Catherine is 30. I have found ages on Census’ to be flexible so these would mostly fit with what I have uncovered. If this is the correct family it means Robert and Mary both died after 1841. I still have not been able to find either of their death records.

I did find a baptism for a Robert Guy in 1757. His parents would be Robert Guy and Janet Smith. This could fit with the two marriages but it would make Robert 38 for his first marriage which doesn’t seem likely but is possible.

Many times I find as parents age they tend to go and live with one of their children. Janet (Ferguson) Craig is living with Nicol Kirkwood and Elizabeth (Craig) Kirkwood in 1841. Mary (Craig) Guy and Robert Guy’s daughter named Helen is living with them as well as George Kirkwood who becomes her husband. So, I need to keep researching the other siblings to find out if either Mary and/or Robert are living with one of them in 1841.

I wish I could say I had uncovered something big here but such is the hunt for ancestors. Sometimes you strike gold and sometimes you get a rock. Hoping you are able to find your ancestors with ease. I also hope it wasn’t too rambling of a story today. Sometimes just writing it all down makes it clear. Not the case this time though. I will keep looking.

Week 47 Wrong Side of the Law

“Scoundrels. Ne’er-do-wells. Criminals. Every family has them. This week, explore someone like that in your family tree. Feel free to post your links and stories in the comments.” prompt by Amy Johnson Crow for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

Do I have scoundrels in my tree? I honestly have not found anyone I would consider a scoundrel let alone a criminal. I know I still have lots of relatives to find, but so far they are pretty average. What a bummer! I have a boring family!

Sure we have our share of traffic tickets and accidents, and other small events. Those are just life and day to day living. I guess I’m not disappointed that I haven’t found a criminal yet.

I did find a relative who ‘borrowed’ a bike, of course he was only 7 at the time. Yes it was in the newspaper! He was later in life praised for his good deeds and honored for his military service. Luckily his crime spree ended young.

I was just reading an article about ‘kids tend to follow in their parents footsteps.’ This is clearly not always the case but we do seem to have a heavy lean in my family to mathmaticians and medical fields. We also have many musical, theatrical members. Quite a few creative people. If you put us together I’m sure we could come up with some ideas for creative crimes and work out all the logistics and take care of anyone who was injured during the crime. But, the planning is as far as it would go because there are also many sarcastic, humorous members in my family. They would have fun figuring out the perfect crime and go home and laugh about it.

No specific family members to add here, just your run of the mill ordinary family living our lives to the best of our abilities. Ask me this again in a year and maybe my answer will be different. You just never know when you might uncover that one relative.

Week 46 Tombstones

“Cemeteries are near and dear to many of us. Whose tombstone stands out to you? Was it something on the tombstone, the effort to find it, or who was buried there that makes it special to you? Feel free to post your links and stories in the comments below.” prompt by Amy Johnson Crow for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

Hazel W Hoyer (1895-1897) and Clyde E. Hoyer (1897-1898)

This gravestone is in Linwood Park Cemetery in Boone, Iowa. It says Hazel W dau of E & M Hoyer 7 Aug 1895 — 7 Nov 1897 —Clyde E son of E & M Hoyer 2 Oct 1897 — 9 Sep 1898. I have Edward and Margaret Hoyer in my tree. Margaret was my first cousin twice removed. Margaret’s parents were from Scotland, her mother is the sister of my great grandmother. Margaret was also born in Scotland.

I immediately assumed the E & M Hoyer were Edward and Margaret Hoyer. It made sense because I knew they were married and the initial’s were right. But, not everything in genealogy makes sense or at least not in the way you would expect. On the otherside of this same stone, I found this.

May wife of Ed Hoyer 31 July 1875 — 6 Mar 1900

I was confused now wondering if their were two Ed Hoyer’s in Boone at this time. Did Margaret sometimes go by the nickname May? I didn’t yet have a lot of information for Margaret or Edward. I knew I would have to go home and do some further research. We took pictures of this stone and also found these near by.

Margaret Hoyer 23 Jan 1877 — 21 Oct 1941

When I returned home from our trip to 4 different cemeteries in Iowa, I had hundreds of photos to add to my family in the appropriate places. The majority I knew who they were and which relative I needed to attach them to on my tree. I have slowly been researching the few I wasn’t sure who they belonged to in my family. May, Hazel and Clyde fell into the second category. This prompt made me go back and take another look.

Margaret and Edward were married in 1901. This led me to suspect Edward had been married before and May was his first wife. So the two children were most likely those of May and Edward. I did find an Ed Hoyer married a Verna May Butler in 1894. This marriage happened in Carbon, Wyoming though which had me wondering if this was the same Ed Hoyer. I am still researching this and have sent a couple of messages to other people who have these families in their tree. I know the coal miners in my family at times ended up in Wyoming to mine coal there. So, I was wondering about the occupation of Edward.

1900 U.S. Census Boone, Iowa Edward Hoyer

I found Edward in the 1900 U.S. Census in Boone, Iowa living with his grandparents. Their last name is Pilcher, so I am guessing at this point they may have been his mom’s parents. Edward was born in Iowa and both of his parents were born in Ohio. It says he was born in Feb 1866 which is the same as the information I had already. He is 34 and I think it says Wd or widowed. So now I know he was married previously. Edward’s grandfather is a farmer and it says Edward was doing something on the farm as well. The most interesting part of this Census is the person directly below Edward. Maggie Crowe is a servant in the household. Maggie’s birthdate is Jan 1877 and she is from Scotland as well as both of her parents. Maggie is 23, single and arrived in America in 1880. This is definitely my relative.

Elizabeth (Robertson) Crowe and Margaret (Crowe) Hoyer, mother and daughter

In researching Edward’s family a little it appears his mom died when Edward was only 3 years old. It doesn’t appear that Edward’s dad remarried and he ends up living in Wyoming at the end of his life. I am guessing Edward’s grandparents may have helped raise him and the connection to a marriage in Wyoming for Edward is possible through his dad. I still have more research to do but I think I am on the right track.

The question remains, why did two children and their mother all die at such a young age? There were many diseases at the time that could have caused their deaths. Small pox, diptheria, scarlet fever and tuberculosis are all possibilities in Iowa during this time period. When I saw this tombstone it broke my heart that their parents lost two babies in such a short time. Realizing their mother also died soon after only added to the pain this family endured. May was only 25 when she died.

Edward and Margaret had two children before Edward passed away in 1910.

This is one of the tombstones that stood out to me in my cemetery travels. Too many died too young. There were others that stood out as well but this one had some mystery attached to it as well because I didn’t know who they were. I will probably find more in the future because cemeteries are a part of genealogical research.

Week 45 Ghost Story

“Any haunted houses in the family or an ancestor who is supposed to be haunting one? Let your imagination run with this one! Feel free to post your links and stories in the comments.” prompt by Amy Johnson Crow for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

Neither myself nor my husband could think of any ghost stories or haunted houses in our families. Not to say there aren’t any but no one told us if there were. I decided to go with our heritage and see if there are any memorable ghost stories from the countries of our origin. Of course there are plenty from each, now to narrow it down.

Some of my books about ghost stories and horror. Ghost stories have appealed to me for a long time.

I love the Icelandic tradition of everyone getting a book on Christmas Eve. It is called Jolabokaflod or “Christmas book flood,” you unwrap your book and snuggle up with some chocolate and your family to read around the fire. I make sure everyone gets a new book each year, on Christmas Eve, since I learned about this tradition.

This is the book I gave myself last year for Jolabokaflod. It is not a ghost story but is a very good story.

The Icelandic Sagas are a great place to start. Believe it or not they are manna for genealogists. They were written about life in Iceland beginning in the 9th Century. The accurate descriptions were so well written many can trace their family history all the way back to these times. The Sagas give descriptions of what Iceland was like when it was first discovered, catastrophic events such as volcanic eruptions and glacier floods. Of course there may be a bit of embellishment as well but the main premise is based on truth. They have tales of extraordinary people and many are about the women of Iceland. There are of course tales of witchcraft and ghosts. You can be part of Jolabokaflod and learn about Iceland and get your ghost stories all at once. They were of course originallly written in Icelandic but are now available in multiple languages.

Both my husband and myself have roots in Germany. In searching for German ghost stories maybe the most famous inspired the writing of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. She was summering on the shores of Lake Geneva with quite a few inspirational people. The weather was bad that summer so they spent a great deal of time inside. Lord Byron suggested they each try to write a supernatural tale. The book they were all reading at the time was called Fantasmagoriana, a german book of ghost stories. I have never read Fantasmagoriana but I have read Frankenstein and Dracula, which has inspiration from The Vampyre which was written from this challenge.

According to the latest DNA update on Ancestry my ethnicity results say I am 32% Irish. I discovered a podcast called “Chilling irish Ghost Stories” on Amazon music. I listened to the first one and in the first half she tells a true Irish ghost story. In the second half of her podcast she tells a ghost story of her own. Listen if you dare! If you want to continue along the lines of the Icelandic Sagas here are three ghost stories from medieval Ireland. Here are Irish ghost stories brought to you by the Emerald Isles. It even includes a map so you can see which of these stories occured where your ancestors lived.

Last but not least I will include some Scottish ghost stories. My ethnicity results say Scotland is at 39%. If you are lucky enough to take a trip, Scotland Trip Advisor recommends a ghost tour in Edinburgh. There are actually a variety of haunted tours day or night, walking or bus, you chose which one appeals to you the most. We did a haunted graveyard tour in Boston a number of years ago that was a lot of fun, so I think I would like this.

The Scotsman has an article about 10 of Scotland’s spookiest forgotten ghost stories. They are about specific places in Scotland under the care of the National Trust for Scotland. They take care of Scotland’s historic buildings and locations. If you are a member you can visit their locations free of charge.

I do have a few other countries I could add but the ones I mentioned above make up the majority of both of our ethnic backgrounds. It would be interesting to have a few ghost stories in my own family. So gather your family and friends and see which stories inspire you to write your own ghost stories.

Week 44 Shadows

“There are some ancestors who seem to hide in darkness, whose stories are hard to tease out. There are also people who “live in the shadow” of someone else. This week, shine some light on one of those ancestors. Feel free to post your links and stories in the comments.” prompt by Amy Johnson Crow for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

I think the women in my and my husband’s family are often hiding in the shadows. My husband’s great grandmother is one of the shadows I am having trouble bringing into the light. His grandmother was Bertha Hartje (1900-1994). This fact I am sure is true. Maybe if I write it all down for this post it will be a little more clear. I began looking in North Dakota as we knew Bertha had lived in ND for as long as my husband’s family could remember. This was one of the first records I found.

North Dakota, Territorial and State Censuses, 1885, 1915, 1925

Please note how Mrs Abraham was added to the Census in 1915. Mrs T? who does that? This is how women become shadows in genealogy. At the time I first found this I didn’t know the rule, if they are listed last on the page always look at the next page. I went back later and found this.

It may seem irrelevant now as Herman has a different last name but it will make more sense later. The man listed below Herman was a worker on their farm. I kept looking and found the 1910 Census which thankfully gave me more information. Mrs Theodore Abraham now has a name! Emma A! She was born in Wisconsin. Emma is 40 years old, she’s been married 10 years and has had 7 children, 4 are still living.

“United States Census, 1910,” database with images, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLG8-P4F : accessed 10 December 2022), Emma A Abrahm in household of Theoeder Abrahm, Lodema, Pembina, North Dakota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 142, sheet 13B, family 41, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1145; FHL microfilm 1,375,158.

I was able to find the marriage for Theodore Abraham and Emma A. They were married 22 Nov 1899 in Pembina County, North Dakota. On the wedding certificate Emma’s last name is Kettner. Does the name Kettner ring any bells. Some times it will say on the marriage information if it is a first or second marriage, I wasn’t able to find any further information. Since Emma is 29 and may have a five year old son named Herman, I am guessing she was previously married to someone with the last name of Kettner or Kittner.

marriage certificate of Theodore Abraham and Emma Kettner

So, I still don’t know Emma’s maiden name at this point.

I discovered that loss was to come again into Emma’s life. Her daughter Celia must have died soon after the 1910 Census. We found her gravestone when we went to North Dakota last summer. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to lose one child let alone 4. My heart breaks for this family. Celia was only 5 years old.

I already showed you the 1915 Census so now we are up to 1920. Theodore is 53, Emma is 48, Bertha is 19 and William is 13. Herman Kettner is now the head of his own household at 25. He is the next one on the Census. Herman and Theodore are both farmers.

“United States Census, 1920”, database with images, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MC88-ZMG : 3 February 2021), Emma H Abraham in entry for Theodore Abraham, 1920.

Theodore died 25 Nov 1923 according to Find A Grave. He is buried in Grand Forks, ND in Calvary Cemetery. We didn’t make it to that Cemetery on our trip but someone else has added a photo on Find A Grave. Writing these posts helps me realize gaps in my research. I hadn’t requested Theodore or Emma’s death certificates yet. Just sent for them!

In 1925 54 year old Emma Abraham is living with 18 year old William Abraham. Bertha has married and moved out on her own. I tried mapping their home in 1930. Emma and William are in a house in Grand Rapids. It looks like that house was probably torn down and is now a duplex. Emma is 59 and William is 23 and it looks like William does something with the radio. We both think it might say radio music. I’ll have to try to find out more about that.

Year: 1930; Census Place: Grand Forks, Grand Forks, North Dakota; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0020; FHL microfilm: 2341469

William gets married in in 1934 to Emily Heller. He has a son in 1936. Emma passes away in 1939 in Grand Forks, North Dakota. So we just traveled through the entire life of Emma without knowing her maiden name.

Good news though, I did find her name. Several of her children’s death certificates have her name including Herman Kettner. Herman’s father was also named Herman Kettner and his mother was Emma Sommer. I’ve been searching for a marriage for Herman (the father) and Emma but so far no luck. Bertha Abraham’s father was Theodore Abraham and her mother was Emma Sommer. Emma’s own death certificate says her father was Albert Sommer and her mother was Marie Kettner!

So now it is on to Wisconsin for further research. I find it interesting that Herman has the same last name as Emma’s mom. I do think I may have found her parents in Wisconsin, but not positive yet. My husband has some DNA matches with a couple of people through that family so I guess I am on the right track. It’s so nice to be able to bring Emma out of the shadows and learn her name.

We found a tombstone for Emma Abraham when we were in North Dakota last summer. The date of her death is correct but the birth is 20 years later than my Emma. I thought she would be buried in Grand Forks like her husband but according to her death certificate she was buried in St Thomas Cemetery. We took this photo in St Thomas Cemetery. This is where we found the stone for Celia, Emma’s 5 year old daughter, so maybe she wanted to be buried near her. Do you think it could be off by that many years? So even though the birth date is off by 20 years I think this is Emma’s tombstone.

Here is hoping you don’t have many relatives who are hiding in the shadows but if you do may you find them with ease and lot’s of documents.

Week 43 Organize

“Organizing can refer to papers, files, etc., but it can also refer to people. Did your ancestor belong to any organizations? Did your ancestor organize any activities? Feel free to post your stories and links in the comments.” prompt from Amy Johnson Crow for week 43.

My genealogy shelves behind my computer.

I have to freely admit I am probably the last person you would ask for organization tips. I am much better than I used to be but I still have a lot of work to do. Stress in life can make it difficult to think clearly. Not thinking clearly can make organizing chaotic. I was under a great deal of stress for many years. Chronic pain is no joke. But, I am trying to rebound now and pull myself back together.

I try to do as much as possible on the computer because you don’t want to attempt to read my handwriting. An essential tremor has made digital notes a necessity. I’m looking into using voice notes as sometimes now I accidently hit keys twice while I am keyboarding. I may be an old dog but I can learn new tricks.

Switching to One Drive will be helpful for me so I can work on my laptop with my feet up when my lymphedema is a problem. I can work on the computer at other times and my record organization should be the same. Combining the two has had some glitches as the organization from one to the other was slightly different which resulted in multiple folders for some individuals. I am working on straightening all of that out now.

I am not completely happy with how I have the computer folders so looking at doing some tweaking here and there. I found this video that I may look at incorporating some of the tips. I like how they use meta data to keep track of sources. Maybe that is something most people already do but it was new to me.

If you google genealogy organization you will find more tips and classes and books than you could ever use in your lifetime. I think really it has to be what works best for you and how your brain works. We truly are each unique and come with our own restrictions and abilities.

Etsy has so many fun products for genealogists, I was just looking through some of them. There are a ton of templates for creating books! I have started making pages for my family books but not sure I am completely happy with them so I may look at some of these instead.

Organizing my genealogy is very fluid. Life changes and new items come into my possession. I have to decide how to best preserve each of these items. At the same time I need to think long term and what will happen to these things when I am no longer here. One thing we have all learned the last few years is, life can change in the blink of an eye. So many people are left dealing with households from their parents or grandparents and feeling overwhelmed. I don’t want to leave that burden as my legacy.

These are my tips from behind my pile of things to be scanned and folders to be organized. Hopefully some day soon I will be able to see over the top. Top tip has to be always have a back up drive!

Week 42 Lost

“As family historians, we deal with a lot of things that are lost or on the verge of it… memories, records, people… This week, you could explore something that has been lost or the experience of losing something. Feel free to post your links and stories in the comments.” prompt from Amy Johnson Crow for Week 42.

So many choices to write about for this prompt with burned down courthouses, burned down military records, flooding resulting in lost photos, losing touch with family branches who move. I decided to write about lost tombstones in cemeteries. A few years ago my husband and I took a trip through parts of Iowa visiting living relatives and visiting the dead in memorium. I wanted photos of their gravesites with tombstones to add to my records and I wanted to honor their memories.

Smith family relatives in Linwood Park Cemetery. Alice Marion (Kirkwood) Tonsfeldt (1915-2006) is the great grandchild of Ira Smith (1831-1920) Ira’s tombstone is the taller stone of the three in the background. Ira’s wife, Anna (Slater) Smith (1839-1913) is on his left, on his right is Marc Noris Smith (1904-1905) who is a grandchild of Ira. Next to my aunt and uncle (the Tonsfeldt’s) is Harold Smith (1902-1913) who is also a grandchild of Ira.

The first one we stopped at was Linwood Park Cemetery in Boone, Iowa. I was very impressed with their online maps and how well they keep the cemetery. It is a large cemetery so the online mapping was super helpful. I found all I was looking for plus some I hadn’t realized were buried in this cemetery. I learned to always look at the surrounding stones because my relatives were often buried next to other distant relatives. My great great grandfather is buried next to one of his grandchildren. My aunt and uncle are buried nearby and next to them is another grandchild of my great great grandfather.

Kate Shelley exhibit at Boone County Historical Society. Kate lived in Moingona, Iowa at the same time my great great grandfather lived there. If you don’t know Kate’s story you can find it here.

We also stopped at the history museum in Boone on this trip. Well worth a stop if you have the time.

The Sacred Heart Cemetery in Boone is where my parents and my dad’s parents are buried. My grandparents had twins who died at birth and they are also buried in this cemetery. This is another well kept cemetery.

Bernard Cook(1895-1959) and Frieda(Siepmann) Cook (1898-1972) , my grandparents in Sacred Heart Cemetery, Boone, Iowa

There are many other small cemeteries in and around Boone. I have relatives buried in several of them, so I guess we will make another trip sometime in the future.

Swan Cemetery a Pioneer Cemetery, Swan, Iowa, Jasper County.

The next stop was Swan Cemetery. It was more or less out in the middle of nowhere on a gravel road. It was very close to where my Slater family lived. Thomas Slater (1802-1875) was my third great grandfather. He is buried in Swan Cemetery. It isn’t very large, they had this nice listing so we knew we were at the right place.

Here is Thomas Slater’s stone, it is starting to get covered in mildew or whatever it is that grows on these old stones. I wish we had the time to clean these but felt good that we actually made the trip to find all of the relatives. I know the cleaning has to be done carefully so as not to damage the stone. You can find directions here if you are interested in cleaning the stones of your relatives. His stone is in a very nice location.

Thomas Slater gravestone in Swan Cemetery

Swan Cemetery is beautiful and tranquil.

Thomas’ wife Mary (Mark) Slater (1805-1880) moved to live with her daughter after the death of her husband so she is buried in Abingdon Cemetery. This was another small cemetery. I found an index online. Mary is listed and it doesn’t say she doesn’t have a stone but we were unable to find her stone. There was no map available for this cemetery that I could find, I contacted several local and county sources but never heard back from any of them. It may be because of the pandemic my question was lost in the chaos of people not working, so I will try again now as many places have reopened.

We walked the entire cemetery several times. Many of the stones in this cemetery are crumbled and or wiped clean of any information that was engraved originally so it is difficult to tell who is buried where. This is where the information lost comes into play on this post. It made me a little sad to see this destruction.

A number of stones were almost completely sunk into the ground. Others were broken into several pieces.

Many were unreadable and some of the inscriptions were completely gone.

We did find this one, but with no dates and no reference, and it was off by itself, so it was difficult to know who was buried here.

We found Mary’s daughter, who was also named Mary (1836-1915) buried with her husband (William P. Johnson) and their daughter, Clara I. (Johnson) McCreery. I think Clara had six children and we saw quite a few McCreery’s in the cemetery so these may have been Clara’s children.

Mary (Slater) Johnson and William Johnson

Clara (Johnson) McCreery and Harvey McCreery

It is another beautiful, peaceful cemetery and was well groomed. Without some type of map and many unreadable stones it is difficult to know where your ancestors might be buried.

Abingdon Cemetery is in a beautiful place at the edge of Abingdon.

The final stop on that trip was in Tipton, Iowa at St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery. We picked up some helpers along the way and added three sisters and two brother in laws to the group combing the cemetery for our relatives. It is a small very well groomed, very well maintained cemetery. Finding all of our Siepmann relatives here was easy with all of the help.

I wasn’t able to find information online but I contacted the church associated with the cemetery and they gave me the phone number of the man who maintains the grounds and keeps the records. He was such a sweet man. He told me I shouldn’t have any problem finding the stones I was looking for but if I did just give him a call and he would come out and help us! Such commitment to helping is commendable.

Siepmann family stone in St Mary’s Cemetery, Tipton Iowa

We found even more Siepmann’s than I had expected here. Frederick William Siepmann (1860-1920) and Catherine (White) Siepmann (1860-1950), my great grandparents are buried in this cemetery. At least four of their children are buried here as well as Catherine’s mother Margaret (Dalton) White (1825-1924). There are a number of Lang’s buried in this cemetery. F.W. Siepmann’s mother was a Lang so this is reminding me that I was planning to see if any of them might be connected.

Margaret (Dalton) White in St Mary’s Cemetery, Tipton, Iowa

This ends our tour around a few of Iowa’s Cemeteries. Finding the cemeteries out in the country had us spotting out of the way cemeteries everywhere we went for awhile. It’s amazing to me how many tiny cemeteries there are all over the country. I hope when you go looking you are able to find clean, easy to read stones where ever you go.

Headed home again, driving out of St Mary’s Cemetery in Tipton, Iowa

Week 41 Passed Down

“We can pass down lots of things: stories, clothes, special items. What is something that has been passed down to you or that you’ve passed down to someone else? Feel free to post your links and stories in the comments below.” prompt by Lisa Johnson Crowe for week 41.

Helen Kirkwood Cook’s sewing machine. I learned how to sew on this machine.

My mom, Helen (Kirkwood) Cook, didn’t have many spare minutes in her life as far as I remember. For her leisure time she liked to read, crochet, knit and sew. She was a master at crochet. Occasionally she would knit too, but she would shut herself in her room for that so she wouldn’t be interupted and lose where she was in the pattern. I consulted with my sisters about this post and their memories are different than mine. My sisters remember our mom sewing often and making most of their clothes as well as some for herself. That’s the difference between being one of the first born or one of the last. Different family dynamics can make memories diverse. My sisters helped me find some pictures that were examples of mom sewing and crochet work.

I am in front the second from the right. This was my favorite outfit my mom made for me, it had pockets!
Jean, John, Dad, Judy, Mom, Jo and Jim in back, Jeff, Julie and me in front.

I remember matching outfits she sewed for my younger sister and myself. They were pedal pushers, I thought I would need to explain what pedal pushers were but I guess (from a google search) some people still call them that name. I loved the outfit because she added pockets to the top. The pockets were made out of the same fabric as the bottoms, a bright colored stripe. I always wanted pockets in everything. My mom called me pockets for awhile. My sister, Judy, who was second in line remembered mom making matching outfits for her and Jean, the third in the family.

Judy and Jean are in matching dresses made by mom, Helen Cook.

Jean in one of the matching dresses at Aunt Mary’s farm.

Here is Judy in another dress made by mom. I am lucky to have sisters who help me look through photos for a specific theme.

Here are a couple of group shots. All of the girls may have mom made dresses in these two photos. I don’t know if she ever made clothes for the guys in the family. You would think we always wore dresses when you see the pictures. My sister said dad always took the pictures and he was pretty much only home on Sunday, so we were dressed up for church.

One of our many stair step photos, Jo, Jim, Jean, Judy and John.

Jean, Judy, Jo and Jeff in back row, Julie and myself in the front.

My sister Jo found this next photo. It has my mom in a dress she made for herself and it has Jo in a dress Jo made. Competition for the sewing machine was fierce with four sisters and my mom all wanting to sew. Those old Singer’s can work hard. Jo said mom helped her learn a lot about sewing when she first started to sew.

Dad and Jeff in back, Mom and Jo in middle and Julie in the front.

My younger sister found a few more photos for me by going through old home movies and taking screen shots. I have to dig out my video of our home movies because I’m not remembering many of the photos she sent. Here are a few that we thought included Helen Kirkwood Cook’s sewing skills.

Jean, Jeff and Jo. Brings back memories of making leaf houses.

I learned the very basics of sewing in 4H. I found my mom to not have much patience when it came to teaching so most of what I learned was self taught until later in life when I took some classes here and there. I think she may have been a little tired of teaching the basics by the time I was learning. My mom had some sewing/craft magazines and I poured over those. I made these two pictures from one of those magazines.

Can you tell it was the 70’s? I made them for a present for my mom and dad. I kind of liked them even if they are primitive.

I also made some of my clothes. I wasn’t great at picking fabric always but I enjoyed sewing. This is a dress I made. Very bright seventies style fabric. Flower Power!

Rehearsal dinner, my mom, four sisters and my niece who was the flower girl.
Julie, Mom, Judy and Colleen, Jean, me and Jo

I am the second one on the right. I made the dress and short jacket I am wearing. I was proud of this one, it was the most complicated one I had made yet. Invisible zipper, lined jacket and I liked the fabric!

My husband gave me my own sewing machine for our first anniversary. It was a top of the line Kenmore and I loved it. I used that machine for 24 years. On our 25th Anniversary I moved to a Bernina. My mom and her sewing machine inspired me to continue to sew throughout my life. A short time before she passed away she gifted the machine to me. So full circle I have used it occasionally again. I had to replace the cord and clean it up a little because she hadn’t used it in years. Very excited to have this piece of my childhood back in my life.

Later I also was gifted my mom’s button box. I remember sorting buttons when I was young into many different groupings by color, size, what they were made out of, any category I could think of. I guess I am still sorting buttons because here are my buttons today. I have a dozen different size jars.

I had to include some of mom’s crochet work because she really could make almost anything with a crochet hook. She made a baby blanket for each of my kids that I just love. It’s such a cute pattern. I never have been able to figure out how to crochet.

She started making Christmas stockings for each grandchild. Her sister helped her when she got to the heel because that was a tricky spot for my mom. Her sister passed away and mom developed macular degeneration and arthritis so not everyone got one of them. They were a true work of love and art.

Christmas stocking by Helen Kirkwood Cook

Jo also had a photo of a little plate with a crocheted edge that mom made. Jo puts it out for Christmas each year with a little candle on the plate. It is another little treasured memory of our mom.

crochet edge Christmas plate by Helen Cook

I used my sewing inspiration from my mom and her sister to create many things over the years, some successfully, some not so much. Most of all I used it to have fun and learn new skills one project at a time. I made many things for my home, for my kids for my husband and for myself. When my kids were older I learned about art quilting and began some new adventures with those skills. I started a blog, kind of like a diary for myself so I could look back and see what I had learned along the way. That was my first attempt at writing a blog and I had ups and downs with that skill too. All and all it was a fun journey. Here is the post I made when I first inherited my mom’s sewing machine. Funny I used the same photo of my pedal pushers and I really had to look to find it for this post.

Have you had something passed down to you that inspired you throughout your life? Do you have something to give to someone else in your life? Is there something you wish you had but it disappeared? Maybe you were passed down some experiences that stick with you and help you in your own life story.

Week 40 Preservation

“Think for a moment about all of the records you’ve used in your family history research and what it took to preserve them. What are you thankful that was preserved (or what do you wish had been preserved)? What are you working to preserve?” prompt from Amy Johnson Crow for Week 40.

I have to say thank you to the government entities who carefully keep Census, Birth, Marriage and Death records and Military Information. Those are the skeleton of all my research. These records are the support system for any other details, mementos, articles etc. I am able to find. Whoever started preserving newspapers online was a genious. What a gift for future generations to be able to glimpse life back in the time our ancestors lived. I have found so many helpful tiny articles in the social news of the day.

I’m still not quite sure what the Endymion Club was? Endymion was a poem by John Keats so I am assuming it is a connection to this but not sure how.

I love all the photos my ancestors have left behind. I wish I had more because I am greedy like that. At the same time I feel very fortunate we have as many as we do. I don’t have any of my Koch family at all. They are the ones I would like to come across some where, some day. My Smith family was the best with photos, especially my grandaunt Mary whose photo album I treasure. I have all the photos scanned, individually and whole pages but I know I need to do something to preserve the photos as well. They are glued to the pages of the book which will eventually destroy the pictures. I am trying to scan everything I need to scan first and than I will go back and figure out what I need to do for preservation of the old photos.

These are the photos I picked for my ‘more than one’ Ancestry wall

We just got a new computer, at the same time we were dividing it up for each user. Somehow my ancestor folders ended up with double sets and they are a mess. I’m trying to straighten them out and make sure everything is labeled appropriately. I am not computer literate at all so this is a time sucking task. I’ll be glad when that is straightened out again. Keeping all of my computer records by family makes it much easier to find what I need for my posts and if someone asks me a question. Although they are much more likely to ask my sister because she can just remember everything.

Computers! The bane and the blessing of my existance.

I started a family group on Facebook because other people had done that for their families so they could work on family history together. They made it sound so fun to have people who would help them solve all the different family mysteries. It is nice to have a place where we can connect for important events. I found out one of my cousins has our grandfathers miners cap and street car conductor hat! She shared a photo, I think it is so amazing that these are preserved. thanks for sharing the photos Jeanette!

The tree I use the most is on Ancestry. I have it backed up to Family Tree Maker so I won’t lose it. My password is written down for my kids so they can take over my account some day if they want. I am trying to make notebooks for at least direct ancestors. I have more to do with this. So much to preserve like this snippet of my dad’s handwriting and an example of his mathematical mind.

I have a few yearbooks. My dad’s from Loyola, my mom’s from high school and my husband’s dads book from the ship he was on in the Navy during WWII. Trying not to handle these any more than I need to. I made scans of the important pages from each book.

I have a few articles of clothing. I want to make this dress of my mom’s into Christmas ornaments but I can’t seem to sew and do ancestry at the same time. The plan is one for myself and one for each of my brothers and sisters.

This is from a Grandma Remember’s book. I scanned all the pages and leave the book alone for the most part.
Noreen Thorfinnson Hartje Timian

Trying to add family recipes with photos into the computer. This is Icelandic brown bread.

Photos of our family traditions are being added when I can. I made one like this just after we were married and my kids grew up counting the days until Christmas. My daughter asked for one for her house recently. This is the new one I made for her.

I recieved this platter when my mom passed away. I think it is from my great grandparents. I have had it on a very high shelf but am rethinking that. I think it would be good to use for Thanksgiving and or Christmas at least. I want to enjoy and remember what we have.

Once my scanning is complete and my computer organized I plan to go back and do more preservation. I like Cyndi’s List for ideas on how to do this and what I will need. She has compiled masses of links for anything you might want to look up relating to genealogy, including preservation. Always a great resource.

I have a lot of work yet to do with preserving what I have and deciding what I need to keep and what I can just scan and let go. The letting go part is hard for me but trying to remember my kid’s won’t want everything. I like to be able to share what I have with any relatives who are interested. What treasures do you have? Have you found any preservation techniques that are helpful?

Week 39 Road Trip

“I love a good road trip! Have you ever taken an ancestral road trip? What did you discover? Maybe you have stories of an ancestor who took to the open road. Share the stories this week! Feel free to share your links and stories in the comments.” prompt from Amy Johnson Crow for Week 39.

Last summer I talked my husband into traveling back to his roots in North Dakota. We timed our trip to coincide with the Icelandic Festival that happens every August the Deuce. I had never been but had heard about it many times. We watched the parade, ate some food and bought a few mementos. We stopped at the beautiful little church. It is the oldest Icelandic church in North America, built in 1884 and remains an important part of the Icelandic community. My husband’s parents had their wedding reception at Vikur church. His great grandfather is supposed to be buried in this cemetery. We couldn’t find a stone for him, but they believe he is buried there. He was Thorfinnur Johannesson (1838-1900).

plaque on the big stone in Vikur Cemetery

I took a few photos during the parade. Mostly I watched the cute kids who were deciding which candies were worth picking up. It was a candy parade.

I had to take a photo of this one, might be a relative, grandma was a Bjornson.

There were even representatives from Iceland!

We spent a great deal of our time wandering around cemeteries looking for relatives we knew and a few we didn’t realize we knew. Yes that is possible.

We found my husbands grandmother, Bertha, buried with one of her sons and his wife.

We found his uncle, we weren’t sure where he was buried because he died in Canada.

Close by we found his aunt who we also didn’t know where she was buried, she died in California.

We drove around and he reminisced about his childhood as he pointed out his school, the different places people lived, the farm they lived on for a number of years, his grandmothers trailer, his dad’s bar, places he had adventures. In this picture my husband is standing where his childhood home was and remembering his dad planting that tree in their front yard.

Memories of childhood, all of the homes on this street were torn down.

On the last day we were there we discovered the Pembina County Historical Museum. The very nice woman working in the museum knew my husband was a Hartje just by looking at him. I’d have to go back and look up the connection but her husband and mine are somehow connected. She helped me quickly find a few interesting things in the building. If I have a chance I would definitely go back to look for more and maybe get better pictures of what I saw.

Hein Hartje and Rebecke Schuett were my husband’s 2nd great grandparents, this was a great surprise.

Thorfinnur Johanneson was my husband’s great grandfather, this tells the story of them coming to America.

There were a number of maps, This one has both Thorfinnson and Bjornson properties.

The majority of our time was spent in the cemeteries. I told him if the last name was Hartje, take a picture because I could figure out the relationship once we got back home. The Hartje families tended to be large. I have figured out all but about five, still working on those.

Rebecke Shuett Hartje Henke was the wife of Hein Hartje and remarried Andrew Henke

Hein Hartje is buried in southern Minnesota. The cemetery where he is buried or my Koch family in Wisconsin will probably be our next relative trip. The year before we hopped around cemeteries in Iowa to find many of my relatives. Trips like this give me a whole new perspective in the lives of my relatives. I know when we found my 3rd great grandfathers grave in a tiny cemetery way out in the middle of fields in Iowa, it made me wonder if they had been along the same drive. It was still a gravel road and I think must have been close to their farm, it gave me chills.

Have you taken a road trip to help with your genealogical research? Where would you like to go? I want to go to Scotland one day and Iceland. Hopefully it will happen.