It’s Saturday night!   Time for some more Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Randy Seaver!  He wants us to tell him about our genealogy “Happy Dances!”

Sounds like Happy Dance Party fun to me!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Happy Dance, Ah-ha Moments or Genea-gasms!

Hey, it’s Saturday Night (again), time for some Genealogy Fun! Your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to: 1) Think of any number of genealogy events or moments that make you have a genealogy happy dance, an ah-ha moment, or a genea-gasm. 2) Tell us about them in a blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a comment on Facebook.

I didn’t even know there was a Corson book!

Here we go! I just did  a Happy Dance this past week.  When I was doing a few minutes research on my own father, I found he was listed in the  Corson Family Book!

I didn’t even know there was a Corson book!  I love family history books, especially the kind that adds in some tidbits about the people, like what their occupation was, and if they served in the Civil, Revolutionary, War of 1812, Spanish-American War, etc, etc..

I love a ‘peek through the window’ of their lives…

And while I just love filling in the blanks on ancestral charts, I love it even more when I find a newspaper clipping, story, or a family history that gives me a peek ‘though the window’ into their lives.

Corson was the maiden name of my Dad’s grandmother, Margaret “Maggie” Corson McGinnis. And this is a line I’ve just simply not researched much at all, so this may be a fantastic springboard for further research.

Most of my “Happy Dances” haven’t been posted about yet, but that sounds like a fun course of future action!

More Happy Dances…

The Day the Genealogy Serendipity Angels Smiled… is one of those moments when you really believe in Genealogy Angels.  The day I called the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center, hoping to learn a bit about our family history, and connected with a real, live, living cousin.  It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Oh, be still my heart!  This might not be quite good enough to do a Happy Dance, but almost!  I was doing research on Ancestry.com on my father.  I hadn’t done that because I knew who my father was, where he was born, where he died, that he had heart disease, and where he is buried.

So I hadn’t done census research on him. Big mistake!  I did the census research, and learned that in the 1930 census, shortly before he and mom married, he was living with another family as their farm worker.  That wasn’t surprising news.

But the next thing that popped up on Ancestry was a “Corson” family book that stated that it listed my father, his siblings, and his parents, etc.

That’s where the Happy Dance comes in.

The book is titled “Three hundred years with the Corson families in America” by Orville Corson, Middletown, OH., 1939 (2v). V2: 161, 205

Now, all I need to do is beg, borrow, or maybe even purchase this book at Higginson Book Company, and I’ll have a springboard to research my Great-Grandmother Margaret “Maggie” Corson McGinnis, mother of my Grandma Maud McGinnis Stocking, and their ancestors. (I’ve already called my favorite local librarian!)

And if I’m really lucky, there may just be a few glimpses into their personal lives, occupations, and military service  in this book, giving me numerous clues to where to research and flesh out who they were.  Woo Hoo!

Yeah, maybe this is enough for a “Happy Dance”!

Kenneth Jones, son of Evan & May Breneman Jones, Kingman (KS) H. S.

Here is a photograph of my mom’s cousin, Kenneth Jones, son of Evan and May Breneman Jones, in front of the high school at Kingman, Kansas.

Kenneth and his wife Lois had five children and lived in Duluth, Minnesota on Morris Thomas Road.

Kenneth’s mother, May Breneman Jones Willey lived with them for awhile, and then went into a nursing home called Nopemming (sp?).

Kenneth, Lois, and my great-aunt May have all passed away, and sad to say, we have lost touch with their children, and though I’ve tried to locate them, the last name of Jones is making that difficult.

We visited them several times when I was growing up, and I have very fond memories of horse-back riding at the neighbors, picking wild strawberries, and going agate hunting along one of the many lakes with Kenneth and his family.

Kenneth’s father, Evan Jones, is buried in the Osborne Cemetery, Sumner County, Kansas, near Mayfield.

William Arthur Smith - Smith Cemetery, Temple Hill area, Barren Co, KY

I photographed this child’s stone in a small Smith Family Cemetery in the Temple Hill area in Barren County, KY. (the same cemetery as this Tombstone Tuesday post).

William Arthur Smith photograph - Barren County, KY

On the Stone:

William Arthur
son of
M. H. & B. C.
SMITH
July 27, 1910
Nov 2, 1915

Taking the photograph, and looking at the stone, I had to wonder, who was this handsome little five-year-old boy so obviously loved by his parents?

How did he die?  Was it one of the many illnesses that were fatal in that era, and are so treatable now?   Did he fall from a horse?  Was he a “blue baby” a  heart defect that is so treatable now, but eventually killed it’s victims even in the 1940’s?

I did do a little quick research to try to learn who his parent’s were, and if they were related to ‘my’ Smith’s, but that question wasn’t easily answered.

So, on another day when I have more time I will set out and hope to solve at least some of these mysteries.

RELATED POSTS:

Tombstone Tuesday: Lute and Sabina Smith Ruby’s parents.

J. Thomas and Nancy A. (Smith) Harrison down the road a few miles in the Caney Fork Baptist Church cemetery. They may (or may not) be related.

Warner LaRue Jones Tombstone. Warner was born in Kentucky to Willis and Martha Ellen Smith Jones.

George W. Smith & wife Lucy’s Tombstone

The Day the Serendipity Genealogy Angels Smiled

This Valentine’s Day after you stuff, lick, and stamp your Valentine’s cards and drop them in the mail, don’t forget to rummage through your drawers, boxes, and attics for those old Valentines you’ve saved.

If you are a packrat (or lucky enough to have a packrat ancestor) you may find several old Valentine’s with hidden clues to your family’s history.

Old Valentine’s may contain clues…

One of Virginia Downing’s favorite genealogy classes to teach is Valentine and old letter research.

According to Downing, Education Chairman for Wichita Genealogical Society,old Valentine’s may contain clues to births, deaths, marriages, and more.

“You can find addresses of where people lived,” said Downing, “and dates on the envelopes.”

Downing bought a collection of postcards at an antique shop and said she was able to connect the dots between several members of a family even though she did not personally know them.  Downing read the postcards, checked addresses of senders and recipients and paid particular attention to the notes written inside and the way the cards were signed.

Checking addresses may yield surprising results…

Knowing where your ancestor lived at a given time allows you to do further research in area newspapers, libraries, and other town records, so checking those addresses may yield important clues for further research.

According to Ancestry.com, return addresses that don’t match the postmark location may mean the town was too small to have its own post office or your ancestor may have been on vacation or visiting relatives.

Besides learning the location of family residences, Downing said the notes or letters included often contain clues about family relationships, occupations, and daily life.  “A lot of times they may sign the card “‘Aunt Vita’ or ‘your cousin,’” Downing said. “If Aunt Vita mentions in the letter that ‘Uncle John is out feeding the cattle’ you have clues to the family’s occupation as well.”

Downing said some collectors can tell the date of a Valentine without seeing a postmark. “Some people can look and say that was an early 1900 or that was a 1930’s Valentine.” Downing said, adding that if you aren’t one of those people a little research at your library may help you narrow down the dates.

Take one more trip through your keepsake boxes…

According to Ancestry Daily News, even though you may think you have all the family information out of your own cards, one more trip through those keepsake boxes may reveal facts you forgot, photographs you missed, and memories worth preserving for future generations.

The popularity of e-mail may mean your descendants won’t have as many letters to find when they go searching through your old boxes and files according to Ancestry Daily News, so after you check out those old Valentines, be sure and save them for your genealogist descendants to find.

Best Picture – Deciding which photograph I liked best in 2009 was extremely difficult!

Was it the  photograph of new-found cousin Nancy and my husband looking over the Glasgow, KY cemetery?  Or was it the  photo of my brother Gary with his street rod?   In the end, I chose the photograph of my Great-grandma Margaret “Maggie” Corson McGinnis holding little baby me on her 100th birthday.

Not everyone has a great-grandmother who lives to be 100, so this is a special photograph, and I’m glad my parents captured the moment on film.

Best Screen Play – I’m not sure that any of my stories would make a great screen play -  unless it would be the part of the Christmas Gifts story that involves myself and my two oldest nephews playing Cowboys and Indians in the pasture on our stick horses!   Even my patient collie dog Lassie wasn’t safe if we had a lasso!

I’d have to cast John Wayne as my dad.   First, I always thought there was a resemblance, and second, my dad had that same kind of confidence that the Duke projected on film.

My mom, well, she might be a cross of Maureen O’Hara and the Beav’s mom, June Cleaver, though she never wore dresses, pearls, and heels everyday,  those were church clothes.

Because she worked in the field she was more likely to be in jeans, flannel shirts, and maybe even overalls.

And the casting for  my nephews and I, well, lets just say “The Little Rascals” would be the best cast for us…

Best Documentary – My blog post about the Burchfiel Cemetery, the church and the church history connected with it holds a special place in my heart.

Best Biography – This post about my brother, Gary “Sox” Stocking is probably my favorite biography.  It doesn’t tell when he was born, nor whom he was born to, but it does capture just a bit of the essence of who he was, what kind of man he was, and you get an idea of why other street rodder friends came from three states in their street rods to honor him one last time.

Best Comedy – The funniest thing that I blogged about in 2009 was when we crazy high school kids used to drag main singing the top hit at the time “Hey There Little Red Riding Hood” at the top of our lungs!

It was fun then, and it gives me a chuckle now to remember it…

It’s fun to follow folks on Twitter, and for the past several months, I’ve been following fellow Kansas girl, country singer Martina McBride (@martinamcbride on Twitter) and what more appropriate day to share her “Valentine” song with you!

May you have a special Valentine’s Day!

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and I didn’t realize just how much fun I’d had or how much time had flown past until I received the following Congratulatory e-mail from National Federation of Press Women on Friday.

It was my Ten Year Anniversary!  What a nice reminder:

SUBJECT: NFPW MILESTONE CONGRATS!

Fri, February 12, 2010 1:57:27 PM

February 12, 2010

Dear Sherry,

CONGRATULATIONS!

As a member of the National Federation of Press Women, you have reached the 10-year Milestone in your membership.

Your name will be in the 2010 NFPW Chicago Conference Program recognizing your 10 years of membership

Our thanks from the entire membership for your support of this wonderful organization through your dedicated membership.

Information about the conference in Chicago is forthcoming, and I hope you will be attending the entire event. As anyone knows who has attended a conference, they quickly become addictive. Not only for the information gained, but the priceless friendship and memories as well.

Again, my congratulations to you. I hope you will join us for the informative workshops, the inspiration gained, and the never-ending fellowship and fun that fills every conference.

Cordially,

Barb Micek, NFPW Historian

And it’s by such little choices that lives are changed…

Just a little over ten years ago, shortly after I graduated from Kansas State University’s distance learning program with a bachelor’s degree in Arts & Sciences, (emphasis on home economics taken in the late 1960’s) and history (taken in the 1990’s), I took a writing class at Wichita State University.

Seeing a flyer on the bulletin board for a writing group, I went to the meeting.  Would we like a mentor?

Well, yes, of course!

And it’s by such little choices that lives are changed.  I was assigned Beth Bower, editor of a newspaper that I’m ashamed to say I can’t recall the name of right now.  I went to meet Beth, we hit it off, and she asked me to write an article about my genealogy hobby.

So I did.

One thing led to another…

Shortly after that, Beth called and told me that she was leaving that newspaper to go to the Wichita Eagle, Special Publications Division,  and before I could get sad about not doing any more writing for her, she said “Give me a little time, (to get settled into her new job) and I think I can get you some work.”

Beth encouraged me to join the local and state chapters of Press Women, now  Wichita Professional Communicators and Kansas Professional Communicators. It was excellent advice.

One thing led to another and genealogy continued to grow in popularity, and that’s how my column “The Family Tree” that ran in “Active Life” and now in “Healthy Living” came to be.  And now I’ve been writing about genealogy in the Wichita Eagle for ten years also.

Thanks to Beth’s encouragement, advice, (and excellent editing) I’ve won state awards and national honorable mentions.   Woo Hoo!

Thank you, Beth!

Time does fly when you are having fun!

I just love this photo of my Uncle Daryl Jones, Sr, my mom’s older brother.

Daryl Jones, Sr. and his Horse Golden River

Here he is, all dressed up to go somewhere and he and his friend, whoever he (or she!)  might have been, stopped to take pictures.  I’m so glad that he had his camera with him that day.

I imagine his grandchildren and great-grandchildren don’t think about their grandfather as a dashing young man riding a beautiful and feisty horse.  My mother says that Golden River was a very spirited and beautiful horse, and that her parents didn’t want her to ride her.

So, of course she did.

Related posts:

Daryl Jones, Sr (friend of Sherman Rerick) Tombstone

Daryl Jones – Photograph with his Parents & some siblings

Daryl Jones – Fishing photo & story

I ’stumbled across’ this tombstone when I was taking photographs of stones at the Milan Cemetery, Sumner County, Milan, Kansas, on Highway 160, about 15 miles (give or take a bit) west of Wellington.

Willshier S. Hawley, buried at Milan Cemetery, Milan, Kansas

On the Stone:

HAWLEY
Willshier S. Hawley
Oct 3, 1826
June 7, 1922
Co. A. 52nd Ind.  Vol. Inf.

I just knew he had to be ‘family.’

Never mind the fact that it said that he was in the Indiana Volunteer Infantry, I was so excited, I just knew he had to be some of my Kentucky family.

After all, my Jones great-grandmother had been a Smith, and her mother had been a Hawley.  Families often migrate together, and I just knew this man was going to be some of my Kentucky born and bred kinfolk.  All I had to do was prove it.

So, I hopped on-line to do census research, and found that ‘my’ Willshier/Willshire had moved around some.  And also that most likely, some of the Willshier’s that I found weren’t ‘mine.’

Before heading off to the census, I checked out the National Park Websites Civil War Soldier’s info.  No surprise there, what was on the tombstone was the same as the National Park info.

Next I went to Ancestry.com to find Willshier on the census. Ancestry turned up a family tree, and after doing some checking, this is ‘my’ Willshier Hawley, and it checks out fairly good with the Census record.

Family Tree:

Willshier Sanford Hawley

married Catherine Thornburg on 19 Apr 1849 in Wabash County, Indiana
Children:
Melissa C Hawley
Rebecca Hawley
Seraphina Mabel Hawley
Francis Marion Hawley
Mary L Hawley
Annie L Hawley

Censuses:

1860 Census
1860 Census, Place: Pleasant, Wabash, Indiana; Roll M653_304; Page 36; Image 36
W. S. Hawley  age 33
Catharine Hawley  age 26
Malisa C Hawley  age 10
Rebecca Hawley  age 4
Francis M Hawley  age 1

1900 Census
1900 Census, Place: Clay, Hendricks, Indiana; Roll T623_376; Page: 17A
Willshier Hawley  age 73
Mary L Hawley  age 32
Bessie Hinkle  age 8

1910 Census
1900 Census, Place: Parsons, Alfalfa, Oklahoma; Roll T624_1242; Page: 9B
Silas J. Rerick  age 59
Mallisa C. Rarick  age 60
Martha E. Rarick  age 19
Willshier Hawley  age 83
Mary L Hawley  age 43

(When I wondered why Willshier was living with the Rericks, I referred back to the family tree, which said that Melissa/Mallisa had married Silas J. Rarick/Rerick.   Aha moment.)

1915 Kansas State Census

E.V. Rerick  age 38
Precilla Rerick  age 34
Marie Rerick  age 8
Sherman Rerick  age 6
Ruth Terick  age 2
M C Rerick  age 64
Vergil Dumieg  age 33

Now we’re getting to names that I recognize. Sherman Rerick, just a child in 1915, was a good friend and went horse-back riding with my Uncle Daryl Jones, Sr.

To do just a little more checking on Willshier’s family, I went to the online Milan Cemetery list of burials/tombstones, and found the following:

Silas J. Rerick died         8 Nov 1912
Malissie C Rerick died  20 Mar 1927
Ernest Vernon Rerick    Died in 1949

And according to the website, Willshier Hawley’s lot owner is a Rerick.

There are several other Rericks, and most likely, they are related to Silas and Mallisa, perhaps even their children and grandchildren.  ( A little before this point, I knew that Willshier wasn’t my family, so I’ve not pursued more census to learn what Silas and Malissa’s children’s names were.)

Is Willshier Sanford Hawley one of “my” Hawley’s?

No.   I won’t be doing a “happy dance” today, because going back through my own Hawley tree info, and comparing it with the on-line tree, there aren’t any links to tie them together for well past my own great-grandmother.

Perhaps, several generations past my great-grandmother, there is a link, but at this point, I’m switching my focus elsewhere and concluding that Willshier didn’t follow my family members here, but rather his own children, particulary his daughter Mallisa and her husband.

Another ‘dead end’ but an interesting one.  I’m going to put together the information that I’ve found the past couple of days, and donate it to the Sumner County Genealogy and History Center for the Hawley’s and the Rericks should they come searching!

Related Posts:

Daryl Jones, Sr (friend of Sherman Rerick) Tombstone

Daryl Jones – Photograph with his Parents & some siblings

Daryl Jones – Fishing photo & story