What is Memorial Day?

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

Every year when Memorial Day comes around it is amazing to see how many people do not truly understand the significance of the day. Most commonly they seem to think it is the time to thank all veterans and/or those currently serving in the military. In fact, it is a day to mourn and remember all the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the armed forces of our country.

That distinction made me wonder about whether my 3rd great-grandfather Andrew Hungler should be honored on Memorial Day? Andrew enlisted in the US Navy in August of 1864, where he served as quartermaster on the USS Milwaukee. The ship supported the Union forces during the Mobile Campaign as they attacked the Confederate fortifications defending the city of Mobile, Alabama in early 1865. On 28 March 1865 the Milwaukee struck a mine and later sank. All of her crew members were rescued by the USS Kickapoo.

However Andrew came home from the war later that year as a cripple. The cause was listed as rheumatism, which they said he contracted on the ship. There are extensive medical records of Civil War soldiers, and they show over 160,000 cases of acute rheumatism, and acute rheumatic fever was known to be the main cause. Heart damage from this disease is common, and indeed Andrew succumbed to heart failure in 1869. He had been bedridden from the time he came home from the war.

So my question is, on Memorial Day do we honor our military men and women who died as a result of their time in the service? It seems to me that we should as in Andrew's case he would not have gotten rheumatic fever had he not been on a ship during the war. But the answer is no - Memorial Day is only for those who died during their service. I'll honor his memory on Veteran's Day instead.

Covidities - or My Covid Activities

 As we move through our 8th month of restrictions due to Covid, I have looked for additional ways to fill my time. I have made many jars of jam, sewn more than my fair share of masks, baked new types of bread, worked on my photography, pickleball and kayaking skills, and hiked many mountains in the area. But last week I tried something totally new and out of my comfort zone - a watercolor class.

fall leaves

We have many talented people in our community, many of them artists. While I do feel that I have an artistic side, it comes out in my photography, writing and quilting. I have never been confident with drawing or painting, and so I hesitated to sign up for the beginner watercolor class offered by one of the art teachers here. But Jim really wanted to take it so I thought, what the heck, this might be something we could enjoy together.

Due to Covid, the class size is small and it was only Jim and me at our table in the meeting room. We were to bring a leaf to class for our first project. Thankfully, we only had to trace it on the paper instead of drawing it freehand. But first we learned about wet versus dry painting, and how to blend our paints to get the color we want. It was fun, and I didn't think my leaf turned out too bad!

leaf watercolor

Eager to try something else while the class was fresh in my mind, I looked for inspiration online. I found a beautiful tree that I decided to use as a starting point. This one I had to create on my own as I had nothing to trace, so that was more of a challenge for me. I made a couple of mistakes, and found our how unforgiving watercolor paints can be. But overall, I am very happy with the end result. A cousin said that she sees the world's family tree in the painting. As a genealogist, no comment could have pleased me more.

I also created a painter's mark for myself, which appears on the bottom corner of the tree painting, as I didn't really think the KW I used on my leaf looked very cool. I absolutely love what I came up with, and will use it on all my future works. We have three more classes (one per month) so I know I'll have at least three more paintings - ha!

watercolor tree

Family Ties

Cincinnati

Last weekend was the annual Crusham family reunion in Cincinnati, and my sister and I drove over as we try not to miss the opportunity to see so many of our favorite aunts and cousins in one spot. We arrived on Thursday in time to meet a couple of cousins on my dad's side of the family for dinner. Our aunt and one other cousin could not come due to the fact that the cousin's daughter-in-law was in the hospital, and they were helping to care for the young children in the household.

Friday we had the chance to have my mom's remaining two sisters to ourselves when we took them out to lunch. At ages 95 and 90, every moment we get to spend with them is precious, and we knew that at the reunion we would have little alone time with them. It was wonderful to catch up on what everyone had been up to since we last met.

The next morning I met up with one of my cousins downtown so that we could go to City Flea, an upscale outdoor flea market, and then down to the riverfront. There has been incredible development along the river over the years, and I hadn't seen any of it. The weather was perfect, so we were able to stroll along the pathways and take in all the changes. St. Louis could learn a lot from Cincinnati, as the area was vibrant and filled with people enjoying all it had to offer.

Smale Riverfront Park

Margie, Loraine, Betty
& me

Saturday night we had about 40 people show up for the reunion, which is held in the back room of Price Hill Chili. Everyone orders what they want to eat and drink, and pays their own bill. It works out great. We have had the same waitress every year, and she does a superb job of keeping things straight. I'm not quite sure how she pulls it off. This year we had some additional guests as a new (to me) 2nd cousin reached out after she found my blog online. In the past I had written about the history of the Crusham family, and she found the blog while doing some genealogy research. She wanted to know if I would be willing to talk with her, and I told her I was coming to Cincinnati for the reunion. I invited her family, explaining that I had interviewed her mother and aunt a few years ago as they had grown up in my great-grandparent's home. She passed the word along to her siblings, and she, her sister, along with the sister's son and granddaughter, and their mother were able to come to the gathering. They brought some old photos along, and it was great to meet with people from a different family line. We share the same great-grandparents, so our grandparents were siblings. I'll be eager to follow up with them down the road.

Sunday four of us went to an Asian restaurant for dim sum, which I had enjoyed when I was there in August. My sister had never been, so I thought she would like to try it. It is such a great place, and fortunately my sister agreed. That night a different group of us went out for dinner. As I have said in the past, I feel like all I ever do is eat my way through Cincinnati. But what a way to go!

Monday we took off for home, despite the dreary forecast. I don't mind driving in the rain as long as the weather is not threatening. I did get off the highway at one point because it was raining so hard that visibility was poor. We waited it out at a gas station, and the rest of the drive was uneventful.

I'm so grateful that we have the opportunity to see everyone, even if it is just once a year. The memories will carry me through until the next time.

Kissing Cousins

My cousins in Cincinnati are absolutely the best, even if I feel like I eat my way through the city every time I go there. The family that I stayed with this visit always help me to push the envelope in terms of my palate. Friday night we went to Gomez Salsa, where they offer unique Mexican specialties such as their signature Turtle Shells. I had a burrito that could have fed at least two people. From there were went to the old fashioned ice cream parlor, Algamesis Bro's, which has been in business since 1908. It is no surprise, as the ice cream is delicious!

Gomez Salsa and Algamesis Bro's

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the house, and then my cousin and I went to the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati. What a fun find! It is located in 20,000 square feet of an old factory building, and covers more than a century of American signage. There are early, pre-electric signs adorned in gold leaf, some of the earliest electric signs, examples of beautiful art-deco neon signs, and modern plastic-faced signs. We were really enjoying ourselves except for the group of four families who had 12 kids in total. Those kids were out of control, running, yelling and climbing on the exhibits. Not only were the parents paying no attention, no one from the museum stopped the shenanigans either. When they finally left, the noise level dropped dramatically, and my cousin breathed a sigh of relief. I told her jokingly not to worry, they would show up at the next place we went. Ha, ha...or so I thought.

American Sign Museum

From there we went down to the riverfront as there has been a lot of development since the last time I walked in the area. Because it was 97 degrees and incredibly humid, we mostly did a drive by. But I can't wait to spend more time there when I go back in October. We hit Findlay Market next to pick up some dog food for their dog, and were debating whether to grab a bite to eat. We walked around to see if there were any tables available, and we heard a bunch of kids yelling and screaming. Guess who? Yep, our favorite families from the museum. We busted out laughing!

Margie, me and Betty

Margie and Marie

That afternoon there was a surprise party for my Aunt Margie, who turned 95 the previous day. She is my mom's younger sister, and one of two children still living from the family of eight kids. Her sister Betty turned 90 last month. Margie's sister-in-law Marie from her husband's side of the family will be 96 in September, and she is a hoot. All three of these women are a constant source of inspiration as they are active and living on their own. There are some incredible genes in these families, that is for sure. I believe there were around 40 people at the party, and we had a lot of fun and laughs.

Sunday another cousin met us for brunch at a dim sum restaurant. This was my first experience with this style of dining, and I really liked it. It was fun to hear the wait staff explain each dish as they brought it by, and then say yes or no to trying it. For me it was a good way to try various dishes that I would not have ordered on my own for fear of not liking it.

Then that evening we met yet another set of cousins for supper. There are always so many people I want to see when I go back to Cincinnati, that it is hard to fit everyone in. Fortunately there is a family reunion in October so my next visit I can see a slew of people in one spot.

Skyline Chili

Leaving Cincinnati the next morning, I stopped at a Kroger store to stock up on goetta. And in Kentucky I spied a Skyline Chili sign. As it was 11:00, I just had to stop for a taste of Skyline before I headed home since the Empress Chili I had while staying in Alexandria did not do it for me. As I said, I eat my way through Cincinnati when I visit there. Good thing it is only twice a year!

Looking for Hightowers

Last Wednesday I drove to Kentucky to look for my illusive Hightower family records. Just to break up the trip, I stopped in La Grange, Kentucky, which is just north of Louisville. I had seen the town listed on the website Roadside America. This website, by the way, is great if you are going on a road trip and want to stop and see oddities or attractions along the way. In fact, I use it to find interesting things to see around my own city. You enter the state where you will be traveling, and a list of attractions pops up. You can also look at a map view so you can see what is along your route.

La Grange, KY

La Grange has the distinction of being one of only a couple towns in the U.S. where trains come right down Main Street. So if you hear that train a comin', you better get the heck out of the way! La Grange is a pretty little place, and it was nice to get out and stretch my legs. But sadly, none of the 20 plus trains that pass through daily chose the time I was there to make an appearance.

Melbourne, KY

My final destination was Alexandria, where I would be visiting the Campbell County Historical Society as well as the Campbell County Clerk's office. I stayed at an AirBNB for two nights in nearby Melbourne. Of course I had to take a picture of the sign. Who gets to visit Melbourne twice in two months?

I found a great little diner in Alexandria for breakfast on Thursday morning, thanks to Yelp. TripAdvisor totally let me down this time. It showed no places to eat in Alexandria. The Spare Time Grill was just what I was looking for so I could get my goetta fix. I passed the time talking to the owner and his daughter while waiting for the historical society to open at 10:00.

Spare Time Grill

Campbell County Historical Society

At 10:00 on the dot I was on the front steps of the old Campbell County Courthouse. I believe that it was constructed in the 1840s, but was heavily remodeled in 1928. It is still an impressive building, nonetheless. On the second floor lies the collection of the Campbell County Historical and Genealogical Society.

There was one volunteer in the building, and she was extremely helpful. Many of their records are online, and I had searched their site extensively before coming on the trip. But family files and some church files are not online, so I looked through those. She helped me brainstorm other areas that I might look, and probably most importantly indicated what records would and would not be located at the other Campbell County Courthouse in Newport (yes, Campbell County has two courthouses, just to make things even more difficult and confusing), as well as the holdings of the Campbell County Library in Newport. She saved me a lot of time looking for genealogy love in all the wrong places.

county clerk's office

Unfortunately, I found nothing new in their archives, and she sent me on my way to the county clerk's office. Though mostly used for licensing cars and drivers, this office also has old documents such as marriage bonds, deeds, wills, etc. It's a rare situation in that you are allowed to pull the books off the shelves and look through them. As the shelving area was right across from the license renewal desk, there were interesting conversations for me to listen to as I looked through the materials. I will say that the staff was much more friendly and helpful than any of the license offices I have had to go into around here.  While I found deed information for the man who may or may not be my 4 times great-grandfather as well as some other Hightowers who may or may not be brothers of my 3 times great-grandfather Thompson Hightower, there was nothing to tie them all together definitively. I took scans of all the deeds just in case.

I did find the original the original marriage bond that was posted for Thompson Hightower and Elizabeth Hopper. Marriage bonds were popular in the 1700s and early 1800s. It was essentially a declaration of an intent to marry. The groom-to-be would go to the courthouse with a bondsman, typically the father or brother of the bride-to-be, and posted a bond indicating his intention to marry. No money was paid at the time of the posting, but if the marriage did not occur then the would-be groom would pay the amount stated on the bond, in this case 50 pounds.

Marriage Bond

The Campbell County bonds had been indexed and that index appears online, so I knew the substance of the document. The bondsman in this case was J.P. Piner, an uncle of Elizabeth's, with whom she had lived from the age of 6. I had assumed (and you know what they say about assuming) that her parents were deceased. I do not know their names, so I have no idea if Piner was her mother's brother, or he could have been a brother-in-law to either of Elizabeth's parents. But when I saw the original document, there was a hand-written note that stated Elizabeth's "father is willing that a marriage license might be issued..." Her father was alive in 1838! For whatever reason, he had not been able to care for Elizabeth since she was about 6. Maybe his wife was ill or deceased, or maybe he was simply too poor to take care of her. Either way, it gives me another clue in looking for her father. Too bad they didn't list his name.

The next morning I bid my AirBNB adieu and drove north to Newport. Here I found The World Peace Bell, one of more than 20 peace bells located around the world. It was the world's largest free swinging bell from 2000-2006. It weighs 66,000 pounds, is 12 feet in diameter and 12 feet high. I found out about it through the above-mentioned Roadside America. It was pretty impressive to see, though I did not hear it ring while I was in the area.

World Peace Bell

After I grabbed a quick lunch in Newport, I went to the Campbell County Library, which had little genealogical information, and then headed over to Covington. The Kenton County Library has a lot of good stuff, but I have spent quite a bit of time there in the past. This visit I was focused on seeing if I could find out anything about the Baptist churches that were in the area in 1838 as I had found that Thompson Hightower and Elizabeth Hopper were married by a Baptist minister. Unfortunately the Baptists are not as organized as the Catholics, so I struck out there as well. It was time to get the heck out of dodge, and so I traveled across the river to Cincinnati, where I spent the rest of the weekend with my cousins and aunts. More on that in the next post.

A Hunting I Will Go

Thompson's Civil War unit

There is one ancestor that is hiding so far behind a brick wall that the brick wall has a wall. Thompson Hightower is my three times great-grandfather on my dad's side of family tree. I have created a solid, documented trail from myself to him, but his ancestry remains elusive. There are numerous family trees on ancestry.com that indicate his father is George Hightower, Jr. and his mother, Frances Ann Hall. The problem is that none of the trees has one piece of evidence to back up that connection. I can place both Thompson and George in Cambell County Kentucky at the same time, but that is it. George's family is extremely well-documented back to the early 1700s in Virginia. If I can ever prove the relationship between Thompson and George, I will have quite a robust tree. Not to mention the ability to become a member of the DAR as well as numerous other prestigious associations.

The problem is that Thompson had the audacity to be born around 1815, long before Kentucky kept birth records. He compounded the problem by dying in 1866 before death records were recorded in Kentucky. He was of age when he married in 1838, so no parent's names are listed on the marriage license, and he left no will. George also died intestate, and research in Adams County, Ilinois where he died offered no clues regarding his children.

A week at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, despite the assistance of the highly qualified staff there, yielded no new information on Thompson. So my Hail Mary is a trip to Alexandria, Kentucky this week. When Thompson was born the area was all Campbell County, so records before 1840 are in the courthouse in Alexandria. Or they might be in a second county seat in Newport. In 1840 the area where Thompson lived became Kenton County, so records after that date are located in the courthouse in Covington. Or are they in a second county seat in Independence? It is all very confusing, and I have my work cut out for me.

My game plan is to first start at the Campbell County Historical and Genealogical Society, conveniently located in the old courthouse in Alexandria. They have limited hours, so I need to be there when they open at 10:00 on Thursday. In addition to looking at their collection, I feel like they will be able to direct me on what records are held at the various courthouses so I'm not wasting time at the wrong place.

Thursday and Friday I'll do research in the area, and will be staying at an AirBNB in Melbourne, Kentucky. I'll need to take a selfie with the sign since I was just in Melbourne, Australia in May. The cottage where I am staying is located on 20 acres. Apparently mountain lions have been spotted on the property! Maybe I can get a picture of one without being eaten.

Betty, Margie & me

Friday afternoon I will head north to Cincinnati to spend the weekend with my cousins. My mom's sister turns 95 on Friday, and she doesn't know that I am coming over. I'll also see her sister, who turned 90 last month. I can't wait to see them - they're the best! The picture on the left is of the three of us two years ago. I always have a great time in the city where I was born, and hopefully I'll have a genealogy find to celebrate in addition to a milestone birthday.

That's Just the Nature of Things

My sister and I were finally able to get together for lunch recently. She has been pretty sick for a couple of months, so I was glad that she was feeling well enough to meet. We went to our favorite pizza parlor in Pacific, Missouri as that is close to being a halfway point for us to drive. The pizza was great, as was the company. After we ate I enjoyed taking photographs in the area.

Pacific, Missouri

It has been incredibly beautiful around here, despite the severe storms that have come along with early, high temperatures. We have been getting out whenever we can to enjoy the weather. Shaw Nature Reserve is lovely year round, but spring brings out the daffodils and bluebells, among other things. We took a five mile hike into the back of the reserve, and had the place to ourselves, except for the ten deer that we came upon. Ten! It was amazing, for sure. But the stinkers were running through the woods so I was unable to capture a picture of them.

Shaw Nature Reserve

Saturday I attended the annual Family History Conference put on each spring by the St. Louis Genealogical Society. Their conferences are always great, and I was particularly excited for this year's event. One of the main speakers was Cyndi Ingle, creator of Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet. The site holds a categorized index of more than 335,000 online resources, including my website on researching house history. Not only is she a wealth of knowledge, she is also a wonderful speaker. Also on the program was Jan Alpert, who was offering up tips on using DNA in genealogy. This was of particular interest to me, and not just because I have had my own DNA analysis done. I also had my father-in-law tested, and his results were puzzling to all of us. The ethnicity breakdown for him showed 50% Great Britain, 26% Scandinavia, and 24% Europe West. As I have researched his family back to the early 1800s and found nothing on either side of his family but Germans, the 50% Great Britain makes no sense. For that high of a percentage you would expect that one of his parents was English and that is certainly not the case.

Once I studied the map that you can find when digging deeper into the test results, it sort of began to make sense. Their designation for Great Britain dips way down into parts of France, Belgium, and Germany. As his ancestors are from northwest Germany, I can see where that statistic is coming from. But why in the world do they include that part of the world in their Great Britain designation? It certainly is not the most helpful thing to do.

I spoke with a couple of people who are knowledgeable about DNA at the meeting, and they suggested that I have my father-in-law retested with a different company. I may eventually do that, but I also found out that for $19 I can upload his test results to one of the other testing companies so that I can gain access to their reporting systems. So I will probably start with that and see what happens. I want to have my husband tested as well, since my mother-in-law and one of my sister-in-laws have been tested. It will be fun to compare all of them.

While I was sad to be sitting inside a conference center all day on Saturday as it was a beautiful day, Jim and I got out for a nice walk at Francis Park on Sunday. We have been busy getting ready for an epic adventure, so it was nice to take a break from planning and get outside.

Bob Cassilly's sculptures at Francis Park

Genealogy Road Trip

Recently I drove to Covington, Kentucky to do some research on my dad's side of the family. I found a relatively inexpensive hotel nearby in Florence, and spent the night there so that I could get an early start at the Kenton County Public Library the next morning. I have mentioned before, I believe, that my three times great-grandfather is Thompson Hightower. I am confident in the paper trail that leads from me to him, but I have been unable to prove who his parents are. I believe them to be George Hightower, Jr. and Frances Ann (Hall) Hightower. Proving it is another story altogether.

Thompson was born around 1815 in Campbell County, Kentucky. This is well before birth certificates were required by the state. He died of cholera in 1866, which is before death certificates were required. Further complicating the record situation is the fact that Campbell County was divided in 1840, with the Covington area becoming Kenton County. So documentation on the Hightower family may exist in either Campbell County or Kenton County. And another twist is that Kenton County has two courthouses - one in Covington and one in Independence so records could be in either or both places. Lucky me...

George and Frances were in Campbell County along with their children from 1800 until the late 1830s, when several members of the family moved to Adams County, Illinois. A few of the children stayed in Campbell County. George, of course, was not kind enough to leave behind a will when he died in 1845. How tidy it would have been had he mentioned his wife and all his children in a will. The only inkling I have that Thompson is his son is on findagrave.com, where a picture of George's headstone resides along with a brief biography listing all his children including Thompson. The biography was written by a volunteer from Adams County, who has since died himself. I have no way of knowing where he came by the information he put on the website.

Hightower Family File

At the Kenton County Public Library I asked to see a file folder they had on the Hightower family. I couldn't help but wonder if the file would hold the key to my family tree. The first thing I noticed is that the file was pretty thin. Not good. Inside I found two letters from people seeking information on the Hightower family, along with the responses from the librarian. There was no new information for me, but if I end up finding a connection between Thompson and George, these two letter writers are my cousins.

The three librarians in the history and genealogy department were extremely kind and helpful. But despite their (and my) best efforts, we did not find a definitive link between Thompson and George. The department head said that she is sure they are all family, but the exact relationship remains unknown. I pulled all of their books on Campbell and Kenton Counties and looked at the indexes for references to Hightowers. And I did find some citations that I didn't already have, so the time spent there was not wasted. But I have to think about my next step now. I could go to any or all of those courthouses next time I go to Cincinnati to see relatives, but the fact of the matter is that while I might find a land record or something else that refers to Thompson, George was long gone so there would be nothing on him. I might be better served talking to some folks in Adams County, Illinois to see if they have something on George that I might have missed.

Linden Grove Cemetery

After I left the library, I drove to the Linden Grove Cemetery where Thompson is buried. The librarian told me that Thompson does not have a headstone (or it is illegible) because volunteers have indexed all the stones in the cemetery. Because he died in 1866, the records are poor. They know he is buried there in the same grave as his daughter, but they cannot tell me exactly where. But I wanted to see the cemetery nonetheless. Some of the plots have fabulous views of downtown Cincinnati. I guess you could say that have a permanent room with a view.

After the cemetery I went to Devou Park in Covington. Within this park is the area where Thompson Hightower and other men of the Home Guard (militia called into service by an act of the Kentucky legislature) erected batteries to help protect Cincinnati from a Confederate attack in 1862. There were 60 men in Captain Leonard's Company, the unit in which Thompson served. I did not hike back into the wilderness where remains of the battery are still visible, but I certainly enjoyed the view of the Cincinnati skyline from the overlook in the park. It was a thrill to think that Thompson had once walked the same ground that I was on. It was nearing the end of the day, but I would love to go back and visit the museum in the park when I have more time.

Cincinnati skyline

The rest of the weekend I spent visiting with relatives. I stayed with my cousin and her daughter, and we always have so much fun together. They take me to unique places to eat, and we always hit the Findlay Market downtown to do some shopping. This time I picked up some wonderful spearmint tea at a local tea shop, and we bought fresh bread, pasta and sauce to make for dinner one night. We also saw the butterfly exhibit at the Krohn Conservatory, enjoyed beer tasting in an old church that has been converted to a brew house, had breakfast with my mom's two remaining siblings, and dinner with several other cousins. As usual, I feel like I ate my way through Cincinnati. But what memories we created!

A Grave Situation

Sunset Memorial Park & Mausoleum

It is no secret that I like to take photographs in cemeteries. I love to look at the workmanship of the headstones, and find myself wondering about the people buried beneath them. Cemeteries are often so peaceful and quite beautiful. Did you know that cemeteries were the first public parks? As fewer people are choosing to be buried in the traditional fashion, cemeteries today are finding unique ways to bring visitors back through their gates. For example, Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis offers Beer Baron Tours, where a guided tour leads you to all the brewery heads who are buried in their cemetery.

As a genealogist, I am so appreciative of the volunteers who contribute photographs of cemeteries and headstones to the websites findagrave.com and billiongraves.com. I have been able to locate the gravesites of many of our relatives through them. So I don't know why it never occurred to me to volunteer to take photos at cemeteries in the St. Louis area. Visitors to the above-mentioned websites can put in requests, providing as much information as they have on the deceased, and volunteers can then "claim" the request. You then have two weeks to post the photos or list a problem if the stone cannot be located.

Last weekend I decided to claim a few graves at Sunset Memorial Park and Mausoleum, as well as one at Father Dickson Cemetery. For the graves at Sunset, I had the section numbers as well as the lot numbers for each of the requests, so I was not anticipating any problems with locating the stones. That was a grave assumption on my part. This cemetery has no other identifying markers within each section, so there was no way to know where grave 304 was located within Section 1, for example. Unfortunately the office was not open, despite the posted Saturday hours. Unless I wanted to walk the entire section looking at the names on each headstone, I realized that this would be a futile effort on a 90 plus degree day.

From there I headed on over to Father Dickson Cemetery in Sappington. This historic cemetery was opened in 1903 as a final resting place for African Americans. Due to segregation, African Americans were not allowed to be buried in any of the existing cemeteries in St. Louis. The cemetery represents 167 years of history, with the last burial taking place in the 1990s. After falling into disrepair, the cemetery is now cared for by a dedicated group of volunteers who are working to restore the 13-acre tract of land. Fortunately one of these volunteers was on-site when I arrived, as I did not know the section or grave number of the man I was researching. I had his birth and death dates (and knew that he had been murdered!), but not where he was buried. The volunteer provided me with a very interesting overview of the history of the cemetery, and then told me that he has the record book for the cemetery at his house. I later emailed him the information about the man I was searching for, and unfortunately I learned that there was no headstone for this individual. However, the volunteer did provide me with details such as the fact that the man had died in City Hospital #2, the date of burial and the exact location of the grave itself. As a genealogist, all the little bits of information help to paint a picture of your ancestor's lives. So at least I could pass all this along to his descendant even if I couldn't provide her with a photo of a headstone.

The moral of the story is to only accept assignments when the location of the burial plot is provided, and where the cemetery has a map so that I stand a fighting chance of being able to find the grave.

National Genealogical Society's Family History Conference

Family History Conference

Last week the annual Family History Conference was held at the convention center in St. Charles, Missouri. I attended my first conference last year in Richmond, Virginia and found it to be a worthwhile investment of my time. This year I was a volunteer as well, since the St. Louis Genealogical Society was the host. On Monday we had an orientation of our duties, and then stuffed around 2,500 canvas bags for the attendees. Tuesday I worked the registration table, and it was fun to see where all the people were from. I even met a couple from Australia! The rest of my volunteer activities for the week involved being a room monitor. That was simply checking to make sure everyone entering a room had a name tag, making sure that the speaker had everything he or she needed, and looking for trash and anything left in the room at the end of the presentation. We were assigned to talks we already planned on attending, so I didn't have to miss anything I wanted to hear. It was a fun job, actually!

Vickie, Sherry & me

While I didn't enjoy the drive to and from St. Charles each day, everything else about the conference was exceptional. The facility was perfect and the staff was very responsive, the sessions I attended were informative, and the exhibition hall was filled with good stuff. Best of all, four of the people I went to Germany with, along with our fearless leader, were here as well. I enjoyed hanging out with Sherry and Vickie from Manhattan, Kansas. It was nice to have people to share lunch with as I normally don't know anyone at these conferences. Plus I could have a drink with them at 5:00 when the sessions ended to let the traffic die down before driving home. It is hard to believe that it has been nearly two years since we traveled together. We just picked up right where we left off, as if the two years had not gone by. I am hoping to be able to go to the family history library in Independence, Missouri at some point down the road to meet up with them again. Friends don't let friends research alone!

Sherry, Bob, Karen,
me & Vickie

The conference was a big success, and the St. Louis Genealogical Society has reason to be proud. It was a wonderful opportunity to show off the assets of the society, as well as our whole community.

Finding the Family in My Family Tree

Family History Library

Last week I spent six days in Salt Lake City, home to the Family History Library. As the largest genealogical library in the world, the Family History Library is a dream vacation for genealogists. While many of their microfilms can be loaned to local Family History Centers, the vast array of books held by the library do not circulate. While I traveled by myself, I met up with a small group put together by Family Tree Tours, the same company I traveled with to Germany and Switzerland in the fall of 2013. This was the first time that Kathy Wurth put together this type of a trip, so our group was small - only seven of us altogether, including one couple that I had met on the Germany trip. It was fun to see them again, and reminisce about our past travels. The other three ladies in Salt Lake City were very nice, and I enjoyed eating breakfast and/or dinner with them.

Jim had a meeting in Salt Lake City many years ago, and I accompanied him. While he was in his sessions, I spent several days in the library, so this was actually my second trip there. With advancements in technology, things had changed quite a bit. Many of the films have been scanned for the computers, or at least indexed. I believe all of their compact discs can now be reviewed on computers in the library. That certainly helps expedite the research. While some of their books have been digitized, the vast majority have not. So I spent much of my time looking through their book collections. As an example, I found one of Jim's families in a genealogy book on the Rauch family. The Rauch name does not in the tree that I have put together so far, but apparently one of the Rauch daughters married into the Woerdehoff family, and so a few pages in this book were dedicated to Conrad Woerdehoff. A couple of Woerdehoff sisters married two Wolterman brothers, so I am eager to read more about Conrad. The reference in this book is something I just would not be able to find online anywhere.

My main goal on this trip was to find a definite connection between Thompson Hightower, my three times great-grandfather, and the man I believe to be his father. Online family trees state that his father was George Hightower, Junior, but they give no documentation to support that contention. They all seem to rely on a posting at findagrave.com, where the information for George Hightower, Junior lists his children, including Thompson. The woman made the posting has disabled her email address, so I cannot contact her to see where she came up with her data. There are no birth or death certificates available in Kentucky for the time period when Thompson was born and died. However, on a small success note, I did find Thompson's burial date and location in a book of cemeteries in Kenton county. I knew that he had died prior to 1870 as I could not find him in the census record for that year or later. So at least I now know that he died in August of 1866. His marriage information does not include the names of his parents. His reported father died in Ursa, Illinois and left no will or probate records, so that was a dead-end (pardon the pun) as well. If I can find a positive connection, which is looking slim at this point, the rest of the Hightower family from George, Junior on back is very well documented as they were early pioneers in Virginia in the 1600s. Back at the library, however, it was time to move on.

I next tried to find the ship passenger list for my Kubler family, who emigrated from Switzerland around 1854. I know the approximate year because I saw the paperwork in Switzerland where Josef Kubler paid taxes to the Swiss government in 1854 because he was going to leave the country with his family. He would have left with his family that year or the next year at the latest. His death notice stated that he entered the country through the port of New Orleans. As he died fairly young and his wife would have been the one reporting the information for the death notice, I am fairly confident that New Orleans is correct. Having said that, I looked through all of the New Orleans passengers lists for those years using every possible way of spelling Kubler that I could imagine. I even looked through the "C"s and "Q"s as wild cards. I did not find this family of five. I then moved on to Michael Crusham, my mom's grandfather. On his application for naturalization, he stated that he arrived from Ireland in 1879 at the age of 21. I could not find any information on him either. Strike 3.

James Duffy & Catherine Gorman

Late in the week I switched gears and began looking for someone in my mother-in-law's family. She has often wondered where her Duffy family came from in Ireland. With a name like James Duffy, you might as well be looking for John Smith in the U.S. However, I knew that James Duffy had married Catherine Gorman on April 14, 1856 in Quebec. The library had a book of marriages from St. Paul's Church where they had gotten married. And lo and behold, the book listed not only where James and Catherine were from (Tipperary, Ireland), but the names of both of their parents as well. So I took her back one more generation in her tree. I am not going to lie, I got a little tear in my eye at the discovery!

Overall, it was a good week with some fun people, and I am glad I went on the trip. The weather was absolutely beautiful, with spring a full three weeks or so ahead of St. Louis. There was no rain and temperatures were in the 60s or 70s the entire time I was there.

The Temple & spring flowers

The temple & flowering trees

I wish I had done some things differently before heading to Salt Lake City, and I will be writing a separate post of my suggestions for preparing for and using the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Family History Writing Challenge 2015

Things may be a little quiet here as I am participating in the Family History Writing Challenge 2015. For 28 days I will be blogging a story on my Write Formation site. I am actually not writing about one of my ancestors, but instead will be telling the tale of John Murdoch who, after so many years of research, feels like one of my family members. There probably is not enough interest in him for me to produce a book, but this way his story will see the light of day. I hope you will stop by and check it out!

Family Gatherings

Recently my sister and I traveled to Cincinnati to visit with relatives. My mom has two sisters who are still living, and my dad has one sister who is still alive. We drove over on a Thursday, and stayed with our cousin and his wife, who graciously put us up (or perhaps I should say put up with us) whenever we come over if they are in town. They also know that our first meal when we hit town has to be Skyline Chili. On Friday a small group of us got together for lunch, and a couple more relatives joined us for dinner.

Holtman's Donut Shop

Saturday morning one of my cousins picked me up to head to downtown Cincinnati. We began the morning at Holtman's Donut Shop, seen recently on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Donut Wars. Gina insisted that the Maple Bacon Donut was going to "change my world". She pre-ordered several as that is one of the donuts that they regularly run out of in the morning. After a short wait in line, which passed quickly with the entertainment of watching the staff make donuts, I selected a half dozen donuts to take back to my hosts since they had never come to this donut shop before. After Gina got her order, we walked down the street to a coffee and wine bar (the donut shop has limited seating and NO hot tea!?!) to order drinks and enjoy a donut. Oh, my! I am not sure if my world was changed, but my tummy was really happy to start the day with this special donut.

Maple Bacon donut

The City Flea

We then walked over to The City Flea, a "curated, urban flea market". While there were a few vendors who sold items you would expect to see at a flea market, most of the booths offered jewely, photography, scarves and other clothing items and some specialty items such as homemade chocolates. Food trucks surrounded the area on one side in case shoppers needed something to eat or drink. It was a fun and festive environment, and I picked up a few items for myself. I probably should have been thinking about Christmas gifts, but instead I was thinking about myself. (Except for the chocolate, which I brought home and shared with my husband.)

hot dogs from Senate

After walking and shopping we had worked up an appetite for lunch. (If it seems as if I eat my way through Cincinnati, that is probably because I do.) This time we chose Senate, purveyors of gourmet hot dogs, which also has made an appearance on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I ordered the Trailer Park and she got the special of the day, and we split them along with some fries. Everything was delicious!

It was time to do more walking after feasting on the dogs and fries, so we walked around the area looking at the murals. Part of a project dedicated to creating a mural in each of Cincinnati's 52 neighborhoods, there are now 90 murals that have been completed. We saw a small sampling of them, but I know what I would be doing if I lived in the area!

Cincinnati wall murals

Crusham family reunion

From there we drove to Price Hill Chili (to eat more, of course!) where my Crusham relatives were gathering for a small reunion. We ended up with more than 40 people, which was a great turnout. We captured most of them in this photo.

Sunday my sister and I met with Aunt Gloria, my dad's sister, and her 3 children at a restaurant in Newport, Kentucky. It has been several years since we had seen them, so it was nice to catch up. I was also able to fill them in on my trip to Switzerland last fall, where I met many Kubler relatives that we had not known about prior to my trip.

Monday found us on the road back home, after a quick stop at Kroger to pick up Skyline Chili and goetta to tide us over until our next trip east. It was a great trip!

Walking in an Ancestor's Footprints

Claudia & me

Last week the great-granddaughter of Claude Morton, the man who built my house, stopped by to see me. She lives in California and was driving cross-country with a friend to deliver a car to her daughter on the east coast. She had contacted me because she wanted to take a photo of herself with the house, and to meet me as well. We have been emailing back and forth ever since she mailed me an old photo of my house along with the plans from a 1902 issue of Ladies Home Journal. (For more about that, check out this post on my house research blog.)

It was so much fun to show her around, pointing out the parts of the house that would have been the same when her grandmother Jessie (who was two at the time the home was built) was growing up. When we went upstairs, Claudia wondered aloud which bedroom might have belonged to her grandmother. And she smiled as she pictured Jessie running up and down the same hallway we were standing in. I knew exactly how she felt, as I had experienced the same thing when I visited the home in Germany last fall that was built by my ancestors in 1717. It is hard to describe what it is like to walk in an ancestor's footprints, but I will never forget the thrill. I may still have goosebumps from it!

While researching my house back in 2007, I met with Claudia's second cousin in Chicago to scan some photos and documents that she had. Claudia has never met Holly, so I showed her all items I had about her Morton family. She was amazed by what I have in my possession. I told her I also have her family tree in my genealogy program so I can keep track of who is who. I may not have Morton blood running through my veins, but they are my family nonetheless!

The Morton family circa 1913

Richmond, Virginia

Currently I am in Richmond for the National Genealogical Society annual conference. Jim came with me for the first part of the trip, and we flew out here last Friday. Our son and daughter-in-law also joined us last weekend, so we stayed at a Residence Inn booking one of their two bedroom suites. It was nice to have a place to gather in the evenings and as we were planning our day. On Saturday morning we drove to the Malvern Hill Battlefield, where three different wars had been fought, the most recent being a seven day battle during the Civil War. I was interested in Malvern Hill because the property was once owned by Richard Cocke, possibly my 9th great-grandfather. He left the land to his son Thomas, who built a house there in the mid to late 1600's. I had read that there were some still some remains of the home on the grounds. We drove around the area, but never did see remnants of the house.

We did find the Malvern Hill National Battlefield Cemetery, however. Unfortunately the office there was closed, because they probably could have given me more information on the family and the house.

Malvern Hill Battlefield Cemetery

We decided to head over to the American Civil War Museum at Tredegar to see if they could shed any light on Malvern Hill. When I approached the desk and explained what I was looking for, they suggested I go upstairs and talk to Ranger Mike. At the top of the steps I asked the man behind the counter if he was Mike, and he said no but perhaps he could help me. I told him I was looking for information about Malvern Hill because I believe I am descended from the Cocke family. He looked surprised, and said, "Well, then we are cousins because I am a descendant as well!" How about that? As we talked about names in the tree, it became obvious that we are referring to the same family. Ranger Mike joined us and told us what he knows about the Cocke family. The house remains are on private land, so that is why we couldn't find them.

Maymont Mansion

On Sunday after breakfast we drove to the Maymont Estate. Located on 100 acres, this Richmond area mansion was given to the city by James and Sallie Dooley upon their deaths. James was an Irish immigrant who made his fortune rebuilding the railroads after the destruction of the Civil War. In addition to the beautiful house, there are numerous gardens, a nature center, a children's farm and wildlife exhibits. And it is all free, with a suggested donation of $5 per person for a tour of the house. Amazing!

 

Sallie Dooley's bedroom

Maymont gardens

 

Maymont waterfall

 

Maymont Japanese garden

After the garden tour, the kids had to take off to head home and get ready for work the next day, so Jim and I grabbed lunch and then drove into downtown Richmond in the hopes of seeing some of the sites there. Unfortunately, there was a huge bike race going on and we got caught up in traffic like I haven't seen before. Over 400 cyclists were here for the US National Collegiate Road National Championships, and we could not seem to get away from the road closures and back ups. We decided to bail on the idea of touring that day, and we headed back out of town towards our hotel. It was a great two days otherwise!