110th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 110th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on:

"Autumn Weddings! It's been 4 years since the topic of weddings was covered here in the Carnival of Genealogy so we're overdue for a little romance, I'd say! And in keeping with the season, we're going to feature weddings that took place in the autumn months of September, October, or November. So write up an article about a couple on your family tree that were married in autumn and submit it to the 111th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy! The deadline for submissions is November 1st."

Enjoy!

14th Edition of the Smile For The Camera Carnival Posted!

The 14th edition of the Smile For the Camera has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on "they WORKED hard for the family. The professions of our ancestors are almost as interesting as the people themselves. Some of our ancestors worked very hard; they took in laundry, worked the land, raised many children, or went to school and became professionals. Photographs of them working are called occupational photographs and are rather hard to find." Enjoy!

Wedding Belles: A Beautiful Wedding Picture

As you may or may not remember, I wrote about the Henry's in my family that had married women from Canada last year, and a few weeks ago, I found this photograph of one of the Henry's weddings at my grandma's house. This photograph happens to be of the marriage of Henry Klippel to his second wife, Mary Oman, and was taken in Cleveland, Ohio in 1908. Isn't this a beautiful photograph? I am amazed at the quality of this old photograph, and as soon as I saw the picture, I fell in love with it. To me, this picture is very special, and I cannot get over how beautiful it is. I hope you enjoy this photograph as well. Enjoy!

13th Edition of the Smile For The Camera Carnival Posted!

The 13th edition of the Smile For the Camera Carnival has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on

"Wedding Belles. Historically, couples married in the month of June to
honor Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage. Others did it to time conception so
births wouldn't interfere with harvest work. And brides in the 15th century
chose to marry in June because it coincided with their "annual bath" - that's
right - ensuring a relatively sweet-smelling honeymoon. Show us a photograph of
a wedding, a wedding party, a bride, a groom, the reception, or even the
honeymoon."

Enjoy!

How Many Times Have My Ancestors Been Married?

I just happened to notice Randy's post on the most married person, and I thought I would do a similar post, only I would be doing this post on my ancestors. So, how many times have my ancestors been married?

Well, so far, the most times one of my ancestors has been married is three times. I've had a few ancestors who have been married twice (One, of which I have written about before.), but this ancestor was married more than that. For all I know is that he had been married at least three times. His first marriage only lasted about two months before his wife died, and then he didn't apparently remarry until eight years later. His second marriage lasted about nineteen years, and he again out-lived his wife. As for the third marriage, I have not been able to figure where or when he married his third wife. In fact, I don't know what happened to her. From family stories, it sounds as though she walked out on him, and his children apparently didn't care what happened to her. (It's a long story.)

So, how many ancestors do you have that have been married more than once, and how many times were they married?

The 161 Meme

I'd like to say that I was tagged for this meme, even though I haven't been put on a list. I read Terry Thornton's blog earlier, and he tagged everyone who read his blog to do this meme. Therefore, I'm going to post for this meme.

For this meme, I am supposed to go to the 161st page in a book I am reading, and then post the sixth sentence of this book. I am always reading, and at the moment, I am reading several books. I won't list sentences from every book that I am reading because I am reading way too many at the moment. So, I'll just choose one book.

One of the books I am reading is Carol McD. Wallace's All Dressed in White: The Irresistible Rise of the American Wedding. Here is the sixth sentence:

"Sometimes a movie had a broader effect on fashion - Sabrina from 1954 popularized a shallow scooped neckline called the 'Sabrina neck' that was popular on wedding gowns throughout the mid-1950s."

Obviously, this sentence is part of a paragraph on how movies influenced the design of wedding dresses.

Now I have to tag five other people. So here are the five people that I am tagging:

• Craig Manson of GeneaBlogie
• Lisa of Small-leaved Shamrock
• Miriam of AnceStories
• Pat of A Journey into the Past
• Renee of Renee's Genealogy Blog

So, now I encourage those I just tagged to do the same. Enjoy!

I Am My Own - Well Not Quite ....

Earlier today, Randy Seaver posted about songs on genealogy, and one of the songs mentioned was "I am my own grandpa." Randy's post reminded me of an ancestor who participated in a situation similar to the situation described in the song and I decided to write about it.

My ancestor, Jacob Detwiler, was married twice. He first married my ancestor, Barbara Housholder/Householder on 8 December 1836 in Pennsylvania. They had at least six children who lived to adulthood. By the 1870 Census, Jacob and Barbara were living on their own, as their children had all been married by then. By October of 1871, Barbara had died. I was not able to determine when she died exactly from her grave marker, even though it appears as though there might once have been a date of death on the stone. The cemetery transcription for Riverside Cemetery suggests that she died on 25 April 1871, but since there isn't a death registration for her, I have to find some other record that would indicate when she died. I have not yet checked with the Sexton of the cemetery to see if there are any records on her burial. It may be possible that I'll find more information on her and what the cause of death was.

How do I know that Barbara was dead by October of 1871? Jacob remarried that month, to a much younger woman. On the 24th of October 1871, Jacob married Alwilda Arnold in South Bend, Indiana. Although I have not been able to find any church records that give birth dates for Jacob, Barbara or Alwilda, census records do indicate when they might have been born. Barbara was born either before or about 1810. Jacob was born about 1815, and Alwilda appears to have been born about 1850, give or take a couple of years. The most shocking instance for me about Jacob's second marriage is that Alwilda was almost the same age as Jacob's youngest daughter. In other words, Jacob was old enough to be Alwilda's father. The newspaper articles listed that both Jacob and Alwilda were residents of Three Rivers before they got married in South Bend.

I wonder, though, why they married in Indiana. I realize that the Saint Joseph River runs through Three Rivers and South Bend. It may be that Alwilda had family there, but one has to wonder how Jacob's grown children felt about his remarriage or how the community might have felt about the marriage. If Barbara did die in April of 1871, Jacob remarried within six months. To me, remarrying within six months of the death of a spouse seems too early. As far as I know, Jacob did not have any young children living in his household, and all of his children were grown by 1871. Is it possible that either Jacob's children or his neighbors were against him remarrying because his wife had been dead for only a short amount of time? Did Jacob and Alwilda get married in Indiana instead of Michigan as a result of possible disapproval? At the moment, I don't know what Jacob's faith was because he and Alwilda and several of his children were married by a Justice of Peace, so I don't know if there are any records that might indicate why he chose Indiana.

Jacob and Alwilda would have at least one son, Charles, who lived to adulthood, and they may have had another son who died at the age of one. There is a death record in the Saint Joseph County, Michigan County Clerk's office for a Casey E. Detwiler who was born in Indiana. The problem is that the mother is listed as Emma. It could be a mistake for Alwilda's name since the marriage record gave her first name as Elwilda. I have not found any other Jacob Detwiler's in the Southwestern Michigan and Northwestern Indiana area who would have been old enough to have been the child's father. It is always possible that this child is another couple's child. Whether or not Jacob and Alwilda had one or two children, the birth of Charles probably confused later descendants of his relationship to other Detwilers in the area. As I mentioned before, all of Jacob's older children were married and had children. Jacob was already a grandfather before Charles was born, and Charles' birth would automatically make him an uncle to the children of his older half-siblings. I can only wonder how confusing it might have been to be one of Jacob's grandchildren; several of Jacob's grandchildren would be older than their own uncle.

Jacob Detwiler died on 21 December 1879 in Saint Joseph County, Michigan. I have not yet found his probate file, but it is always possible that I missed it while looking for other probate files.
__________________________________________________________________

Sources

(I don't have my sources with me, but I have tried to list as much of my sources as I can remember.)

• "Married." Huntingdon Gazette, December 28, 1836, page 3, http://www.accesspadigital.org/ajunc/ajunc.htm
• Household of Jacob Detwiler. 1850 U. S. Federal Census, Walker Township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. (Note Detwiler for this family is spelled Ditwiler in this census.)
• Household of Jacob Detwiler. 1860 U. S. Federal Census, Lockport Township, Saint Joseph County, Michigan. (Detwiler is spelled Detweiler in this census.)
• Household of Jacob Detwiler. 1870 U. S. Federal Census, Lockport Township, Saint Joseph County, Michigan.
• Saint Joseph County Genealogical Society, "Riverside Cemetery," in Cemeteries of Saint Joseph County, vol. 4.
• Saint Joseph County, Indiana Marriages, Saint Joseph County Clerk, book 6, page 391. (Note: Detwiler is spelled Detwilder and Alwilda's name is given is Elwilda.
• Saint Joseph Valley Register and National Union, (no date or page number. These newspaper articles and the marriage record above were kindly looked up for me at the beginning of this year.)
• Household of Alwilda Detwiler. 1880 U. S. Federal Census, Lockport Township, Saint Joseph County, Michigan.
• "Death record of Casey E. Detwiler," Saint Joseph County, Michigan death records, book one, page 59.
• "Death record of Jacob Detweler," Saint Joseph County, Michigan death records, book one, page 122. (Note: Jacob's last name is spelled Detweler in this record.)

Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The Carnival of Genealogy has been posted on Jasia's Creative Gene. The next topic has to do with Halloween. Enjoy!

Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The Carnival of Genealogy was posted earlier today. You can read it here, at Susan Kitchen's blog.

I did not submit an article this time, primarily for several reasons. I've been busy with school work and thus, I have not had much time to write long posts. In addition, I primarily only have the basic details for most of my ancestor's war stories; there are still many holes in the details and facts in those stories. I still have more research to do. Plus, I'm a little hesitant to post stories in light of the recent Ancestry.com controversy. I'm still erring on the side of the caution.

Anyhow, the next Carnival of Genealogy topic is on weddings. Hopefully, I'll be able to contribute an article.

Speaking of weddings, a book you might want to read is All Dressed in White: The Irresistible Rise of the American Wedding by Carol McD. Wallace (New York: Penguin Books, 2004). I have not yet finished the book, but this book deals with history of weddings. In short, it is book on an aspect of U. S. social history.