If You Get A Strange E-mail From Me ...

If anyone has received a strange email from me, I apologize. My yahoo e-mail account was hacked earlier today. At the moment, I guess I'll have to ask people to not contact me through my yahoo email. I have changed my password, but I do not know what else I need to do.  Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

Happy Father's Day!

I just want to wish everyone a happy and safe Father's Day. Enjoy!

Looking For My German Ancestors, Part 9

In my previous post in the "Looking For My German Ancestors," I had promised to continue writing about my Kees ancestors and relatives in Cleveland, Ohio. I will continue to write about the Kees family in Cleveland, and hopefully, I will finally begin writing about their ancestors in Germany and Strasbourg in future posts.

As you may or may not remember from previous parts of the series (6 and 7), Anna, her parents and siblings resided in Cleveland, Ohio from about 1870 to 1876. (I think they lived in Cleveland before 1870, based upon Anna's brother's (Henry) birthplace and year in the 1870 census, but I have yet to corroborate my suspicions with primary documents. Sometime time between and 1876 and 1880, Anna's family moved to Saginaw, except for her older brother, Adolph. He apparently chose to remain living in Cleveland.) Besides Anna's immediate family, Anna's uncle, William Kees, also lived, married and raised a family in Cleveland. William applied for citizenship, and became a citizen of the United States in 1871.

In April of 1877, Adolph Kees, the father of William and Emilia (Anna's mother) immigrated to the United States with a few family members, Jettchen Kees, Johann(a? I believe the person to be female.) Joeslin and Marie Joeslin. From the woman (no relation) who had sent me information on William and Emilia Kees, I learned that Jettchen was a nickname for Henrietta. Since I knew that Adolph had a daughter named Henrietta, this Jettchen could be his daughter, although my contact also noted that the Jettchen could be a daughter-in-law as well. (I suspect that the Jettchen may have been Adolph's daughter, and I will explain why I think that a little later.) The Johann(a) Joeslin, I also believe to be another daughter of Adolph, since I knew from the sources I had that Adolph had a daughter named Anna who had married a Joeslin, and I suspect that the Marie Joeslin was Johanna's daughter. In June of that year, the Cuyahoga County Recorder's Office recorded the sale of land between William Kees and a Henrietta Cunz. As mentioned previously, Adolph had a daughter named Henrietta, and Henrietta married a Jacob Cunz. While I can not definitely say that the Henrietta Cunz that William Kees sold land to was William's sister, I suspect that there is a connection. Marriage records for Cuyahoga County indicate that about a year later, a Henrietta Cunz married a Fred Voelker, but unfortunately, the marriage record did not record the names of the parents of the bride or groom. So, I cannot rule out yet if this Henrietta Cunz is related or not.

By 1880, I believe Johanna and Marie had returned to Germany, while Adolph and Henrietta/Jettchen, remained in the U.S. In the census of that year, Adolph Kees is listed as residing in Germany a few houses away from William Kees and his family while a Fred and Henrietta Voelker are listed as residing in Detroit, Michigan.  Two years later, Adolph Kees passed away in Cleveland, but I do not know yet where he is buried. While the Cuyahoga County Archives has records on Adolph's death, the archives apparently does not have a probate file for him. (I had made a request for  a search a few years ago in case there had been a probate file created after Adolph's death.) In the early 1890s, Emilia died, and a Saginaw newspaper article indicated that her body was taken to Cleveland for burial. (Since only Emilia's children were listed, I think it is safe to assume that Emilia's husband, Fred had already died.) If I can find out where Emilia was buried in Cleveland, I may be able to figure out where her husband and father are buried. During that same decade, I believe Fred and Henrietta Voelker died, possibly in Ohio if FamilySearch's Deaths and Burial database is accurate. While the death year listed for a Henrietta Voelker in the database fits with the birth year information I have for Adolph's daughter, Henrietta, the names given for this Henrietta Voelker's parents do not match. In addition the parents' last name is given as Voelker, so I do not know if I am looking at the wrong person, or if there is an error in the database.  There is a probate record listed in an index for Cuyahoga County probate records for a Henrietta Voelker, but unfortunately, the probate file does not appear to have been added to the Ohio Probate database yet. I will probably have to order the file from the Cuyahoga County Archives to see if there is a connection between my ancestors and this Henrietta Voelker. If I am able to confirm or disprove the connection, I will post on it in a future post.

In my next post, I will continue my discussion on my Kees and Klippel ancestors; however, instead of writing about my findings on these ancestors in the United States, I will start writing about what I have uncovered in German records. Stay tuned, and enjoy!

And Another Mini-Breakthrough into the Research on my Oswalt Ancestors ...

Before I get back to posting on my findings of my newly-found Oswalt ancestors, I want to mention another breakthrough I had in solving a small mystery with my more established Oswalt ancestors. A few years ago, I posted on my difficulty in locating the marriage record for ancestor's third marriage, and I briefly described what I knew about John's third wife. Up until this year, I had not been successful in locating the record for John's third marriage primarily because I had concentrated my search for the record in Michigan, with an occasionally glance into Indiana. More specifically, I had only searched FamilySearch's databases for Michigan and Indiana  marriage since I knew John resided in Michigan during the period that the marriage would have taken place and lived only one county north of the border with Indiana. I had not considered searching the Ohio Marriages database even though I knew from census records that John's third wife was from Ohio .

So, when FamilySearch updated the Ohio County Marriages database earlier this year, I decided to search for my ancestor's third marriage on the random chance that he married in Ohio, and surprisingly, I found the marriage record recorded in Warren County, Ohio. Apparently, John's last wife was from Warren County, and since I had not been able to find her in the census records before, I did not know where she was from in Ohio. Unfortunately, the marriage record did not indicated where the marriage had taken place, although I suspect it may have been in Warren County since the minister officiating at the ceremony resided in the county. I will have to search the newspapers in Warren County for a marriage notice, though, to confirm my suspicions.  The lesson here is that if a bride and groom are from two different states, one should always search for the marriage record in both states no matter how unlikely it might seem that the marriage occurred in one of those states. I had always believed that John's last marriage occurred in Michigan since he resided in Michigan and his first two marriages had occurred in that state, and I had been unable to find this marriage before because I had dismissed looking for the marriage in Ohio as being improbable.

Of course, now I have more questions and a new mystery to solve. How did John meet his new wife, since Warren County, Ohio is nowhere near where John and his children resided in Michigan? Where were John's children staying while John remarried? Did John and his children temporarily live in Ohio at one point? From what my grandfather's aunt told my grandfather, the marriage came as a surprise to the children, and John just showed up his new wife one day. I had always assumed that the marriage had occurred in Michigan as a result of this tradition. I might never know the answer to those questions, although I hope I find some a newspaper article on the marriage that provides a hint or clue to those questions. If I ever find a marriage notice, I will post an update. Stay tuned ...

And Another Update on the Research Into My Oswalt Ancestors ...

A few days ago, I promised that I would post another update on the progress I made on my Oswalt ancestors. Instead  of posting more information on Adam Oswalt (died 1837-1838), the father of Benjamin Oswalt (died 1861), I will write about the findings I made on a few of the grandchildren of Adam Oswalt (died 1837-1838) which includes my Civil War ancestor, Adam Oswalt.

As you may remember, I wrote a series of articles a few years ago that explored whether or not the Civil War veterans, Adam Oswalt, Benjamin Oswalt and William Oswalt, were brothers. At that time, I only had indirect evidence to conclude that the three men were brothers; however, I can now definitely state that they are brothers. How? Well, I ordered two additional Civil War Pension files earlier this year.

Previously, I had only ordered Adam and Benjamin Oswalt's Pension files, and those files did not indicate whether or not the two men had a connection. (I should quickly note that Benjamin's Pension file was actually a Widow's Pension as his widow filed for a pension file after his death.) So, when I decided to order additional Pension files this year, I chose to order William's Pension file (or Widow's Pension, to be more accurate) and the Widow's Pension file for one of Adam's Detwiler brother-in-laws. (I will discuss the Detwiler Pension file in a future post.)

From the testimony of William's widow, Eliza, I learned that William, Benjamin and Adam were indeed brothers as I suspected, and confirmed that the men had a sister named Margaret who lived in Michigan. Besides confirming relationships, the file also listed the names of William and Eliza's children and Eliza's children of a later marriage, gave the date and location of William and Eliza's marriage, and provided an explanation of why I could not find a record of that marriage. Apparently, William and Eliza's marriage was not recorded in the county. Although Michigan law required that marriage notices be placed in two newspapers in the county where the marriage occurred, I haven't yet found a notice. I will need to do a more in-depth search of the newspaper records of Saint Joseph County, Michigan.

So, as one can see from the above information, Civil War Pension files could contain a great amount of detail on the lives and families of Civil War Veterans. Unfortunately, the file does not answer all the questions I have about these Oswalts, especially when it comes to the maiden name of William, Benjamin and Adam's mother. In a future post, I will discuss my efforts so far to answer additional questions on my Oswalt ancestors. Enjoy!

Genealogy Blogs I Have Recently Added

I had not added any genealogy blogs to the list I keep in a long time, and earlier today, I seven more blogs. A few of the blogs I learned about from GeneaBloggers and Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea-Blogs Series, and for the other blogs, I either learned about them through a couple of these new genealogy blogs.

The blogs I have added are:

• Barking Up the Wrong Tree
• Bushwhacking Genealogy
• DNAeXplained
• The French Genealogy Blog
• Southwest Michigan Genealogy & Local History
• The Legal Genealogist

I will add more genealogy blogs as I learn about them, and probably will remove those blogs that have been inactive for over a year. If you have any suggestions for any blogs on genealogy or history, please feel free to leave a comment with a link to the blog, and I will add them to the list. Enjoy!

An Ancestor Found: An Update On The Research Into My Oswalt Acestors

As I mentioned previously, I worked on my genealogy when I had some free time, and I will briefly discuss some of the findings I made for one branch.  Interestingly, I had not expected to make any progress on my Oswalt ancestors this past year, but that is what happened!

At the end of June 2012, FamilySearch put images of the probate records for many of Pennsylvania's counties online. Some of Huntingdon County's Will Books and Orphan's Court records were included in this database, and that July, I decided to look through these images to see if I could uncover any new information on my Huntingdon County ancestors. Previously, I had only examined the Will Books for Oswalt/Oswald surnames and examined the Orphan Court Records for my ancestor, Benjamin Oswalt/d by ordering the microfilmed records held by the Family History Library. As you may remember from a previous post, Benjamin's probate records did not mention the names of his heirs apart from his wife, Mary, and son, John. I re-looked at the probate records for Benjamin again, but I did not uncover anything that I had not found before. After that disappointment, I decided to look at the probate and orphan court records for an Adam Oswalt/Oswald who had died in Huntingdon County in the late-1830s. Previously, I had only examined the notation in the Will Book, which only mentioned the names of the court-appointed administrators of Adam's estate; however, when I decided to see if the Orphan Court had any additional probate records, I uncovered a mini-goldmine of information. Previously, I had dismissed the idea of examining the Orphan Court records for Adam because I had not obtained any new information from the records on Benjamin's probate.

I had always suspected from an examination of the 1820 and 1830 censuses and tax records for Huntingdon County that his Adam Oswalt and my ancestor, Benjamin, were related in some way, possibly as father and son; however, I had not been able to confirm my suspicion. The Orphan Court records confirmed my suspicion, and also gave the names of Benjamin's living siblings and Adam's widow, who I presume to Benjamin's mother.

From the Orphan Court records, I learned that Adam Oswald had owned land in Hopewell Township, and that he had at least seven children. Adam apparently either died in 1837 or 1838, and his children sold their father's land. Adam's widow, Mary, probably died around 1848, as five of Adam's children did not receive their shares of the land sale until that year, and the delay probably had to do with Mary's dower's right  in her husband's land. (Of course, I need to check the laws for that period to make sure that my assumption is correct.)

So far, the known children (in no particular order of age) of Adam Oswalt (d. 1837-1838) and Mary ? are:

• Benjamin Oswalt (d. 1861) - eldest son (I do not know who Adam and Mary's firstborn is yet.)
• Eve Oswalt wife of William States
• Adam Oswalt - youngest son (He lived in Blair County.)
• Margaret Oswalt wife of Jonathan Rough
• Catherine Oswalt wife of John Fry
• Elizabeth Oswalt widow of Jonathan Snyder
• Mary Oswalt wife of Samuel Weight (sic) 

Since looking at the probate records, I've made some more progress, but I will write about those findings in another post. If you have any additional information on this family, questions or comments please feel free to leave a comment or contact me at jess_history at yahoo dot com. Thanks!

It Has Been Awhile ...

I haven't posted in a long time (nearly a year, actually), but I haven't abandoned this blog. I have been very with school  over the past few years, but I did occasionally find some time to do a little genealogy research. Over the past year, I've made a little progress on my ancestry, and I will be posting future articles on my findings. Enjoy, and stay tuned for future posts!

Coming Soon: Future Posts

Although I haven't posted anything for months, I still plan on continuing this blog. I probably will not be able to post as often as I did in past years, but I hope to publish a few articles over the next few months.

Some possible article topics will be:

• A continuation of the "Looking for My German Ancestors" series
• Additional columns in the "Genealogy and History Thoughts" Series
• Additional editions of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy

Depending upon how much time I have, I may post articles on other topics. Are there any topics you would like to see me cover on this blog? Please feel free to leave comments with your thoughts and suggestions. Thanks!

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!

Happy Labor Day!

I just want to wish everyone a happy and safe Labor Day. Enjoy!

109th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 109th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on

"What tree best represents your family’s history? Is your family most like a towering redwood, weeping willow, or a stately oak? Maybe you think of your family more like a brightly lit Christmas tree or a tropical palm. Whatever your choice, write it up and tells us why and submit your article by the deadline of October 1st."

Enjoy!

Looking For Hosts, 2011 and 2012

I am looking for hosts for future editions of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, and I still have a few months available for 2011:

• September
• October
• November
• December

Or, if anyone is interested in next year, 2012, I can open up those editions for hosting as well. The months available for 2012 are:

• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

If anyone is interested in hosting a month, I can be reached at jess_history at yahoo dot com. Thanks in advance.

Looking For Hosts - Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy

Since I will be beginning another semester of school, I am looking for genealogy bloggers who would be willing to host an upcoming edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy. The available editions are:

• September
• October
• November
• December

If you are interested in hosting an edition, please contact me at jess_history at yahoo dot com. Thanks!

Deadline for 32nd edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy changed!

I completely forgot to post reminders for the submission deadline for the upcoming edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, so I've decided to extend the deadline for the edition. The new deadline is August 21st, and the edition will be posted on August 28th. You can submit your article here.

Update: I forgot to mention the topic. (I'm sorry about that.) The topic will be on personal research, experiences and tips.

July/August Edition of the Shades of the Departed Magazine Posted!

The July/August edition of the Shades of the Departed Magazine has been posted! You can read it here. Enjoy!

Another Shipwreck Found in Lake Ontario ...

I just happened to notice an article on Yahoo about another shipwreck found in Lake Ontario. You can read the article here. Enjoy!

Searching For Joseph Stout's Parents, Part One - What I Know So Far

Earlier this week I promised to write a post about my speculations on who were Joseph Stout's parents. At the moment, I do not have any documentation to link my ancestor to the couple, but I hope that by writing this post, I might receive some advice or help in linking my ancestor to the suspected couple. The best way to start this post is to list what I know about Joseph Stout. So, here is what I know about my ancestor:

• Joseph Stout was born sometime between 1803 and 1806, most likely in 1805, in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. (Joseph's son Reuben stated, in his biography, that Joseph was born in 1800 in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, but census records suggest a later date. His death records states that he was about 70 years old at his age of death.)
  
• Joseph Stout married Susan Kelley in Northampton County, Pennsylvania on 3 March 1829. (See here for my post on their marriage information.)
• Joseph and Susan would have seven children. Six of their children would outlive them.
  
• By 1850, Joseph Stout had moved his family to Saint Joseph County, Michigan. Reuben claims in his biography that the family moved to Michigan around 1846, but I have yet to confirm or disprove Reuben's claim. An examination of tax records for Saint Joseph County, Michigan should indicate when the Stouts moved to the county.
• In 1858, Joseph Stout bought a farm in Florence Township, Saint Joseph County, Michigan. Two years later, in the 1860 census, Joseph Stout and his family are listed as living in Florence Township. (This census as puts a letter G in front of Joseph's name. This is the only time I have come across the G in primary sources so far in my research.)
  
• In 1864, Joseph Stout sold the farm to his son, Peter.
  
• In 1865, Joseph Stout was taxed by the federal government for the amount of peppermint oil he produced or sold. (The tax suggests he was still in charge of the farm even though he had sold it to his son.)
  
• In the 1870 census, Joseph Stout is still living in Florence Township, but now, he is listed as a retired farmer. His household is directly below Peter's household on the census, and that suggests to me that he lived nearby Peter's family.)
• Joseph Stout died on 11 February 1875 in Florence Township, and is buried in Calhoun Cemetery in Florence Township. Susan dies later that month, on the 25th, and is buried near him. (Reuben incorrectly states in his biography that they died in February of 1872, but contemporary records, such as their death records and Joseph's probate packet, give their death year as 1875. Joseph and Susan share a tombstone since they died the same month. The tombstone gives his death date as the 9th of February, but I eventually found his death record in the Saint Joseph County death records which listed the date as the 11th. I had difficulty finding his and Susan's deaths since they were incorrectly indexed in the county and state indexes. A look at the actual county death records clearly showed the last name to be Stout and not Stant or Stent as was listed in the indexes.)

As you can see, I do not know a lot about Joseph Stout. I know when he died, where he lived in Michigan, who he married, and that he came from Northampton County, Pennsylvania. I know that he was engaged in farming (at least in Michigan), but outside of these facts, I do not know much more about Joseph other than what is in Reuben's biography. Reuben claims that he father worked as a gunsmith in Northampton County, but I do not have any proof yet outside of Reuben's biography. Reuben also claims that Joseph and his family lived in Centre County, Pennsylvania, but I have not been able to confirm Reuben's statement. I have been unable to locate Joseph Stout and his family in the 1840 census. (I should also state that I am slightly wary of the information in Reuben's biography because Reuben was incorrect on some of the dates of deaths he gave for his parents and wife.)

So, who do I suspect are Joseph's parents? I believe his parents may be Peter Stout/Staut and Eva Hoch. Why? Well, besides knowing that my ancestor, Joseph Stout, came from Northampton County, Pennsylvania where Peter and Eva Stout resided in the earlier 1800s, a couple of published genealogies and online family trees list a Joseph Stout born in 1805 to Peter and Eva. (As I stated earlier, my ancestor was born close to that time period of Peter and Eva's son.) Unfortunately, none of the books or online trees actually provide any primary sources, so I am still speculating. According to these genealogies the Stout that lived in Northampton County originated from the Palatinate region of what is now Germany. Interestingly, oral traditions passed down in my family claim that my Stout ancestors were German, and although, an oral tradition is not enough proof to link my ancestor to Peter and Eva.

So, far I haven't been able to find any primary sources in Michigan to link my Joseph with the Joseph of Peter and Eva (Hoch) Stout. All I have to connect them are online family trees. As for sources in Pennsylvania, I haven't had very much time to order microfilms to further my research or find the original marriage record for Joseph and Susan (Kelley) Stout. Does anyone have an documentation linking my Joseph to Peter and Eva Stout, or any suggestions as to where I should direct my research? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

Does Anyone Study History Anymore? - Or, Why Studying History is Important ...

Well, the question is supposed to be rhetorical, but sometimes I just want to shake my head when I read articles on supposed shocking finds in history. Within the past couple of weeks, I just read an article online about an archaeological finding. (I realize the article is a couple of weeks old now, but I'm only commenting on it now since I finally have some time to write about it now.) I'm apologizing now, in advance, because my thoughts about this article will probably turn into a rant.

The Geneanet.org blog posted a link to an article about DNA testing on the ancestry of the British peoples. (Well, to be more accurate, the findings really only pertain to those who have English ancestry.) The article, through the examination of DNA, concludes that about 50 percent of English people have Germanic (The article says German, but Germanic would be more correct as I'll explain in a moment.) ancestry, and that the finding was a surprise to the researchers. Shocking? Well, not quite, if one examines a history book on the United Kingdom, he or she would learn about invasions of the British Isles that occurred in the past. In the early Middle Ages, England was invaded by the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, and these tribes pushed the native Britons into what are now present-day Wales and Cornwall. A couple of centuries after the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons, as the Germanic tribes have become called in textbooks, the Vikings (who also came from Germanic tribes) raided and eventually settled in England and other places in the United Kingdom.

The information I presented in the above paragraph shows that the article's purported findings are not new. Any general history of the United Kingdom would mention the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings and describe effects of the invasions. The only thing that is remotely new in the article would be the use of DNA testing, and the testing only confirms what is already known. For someone to suggest or claim otherwise would be false.

So, why am I frustrated? Well, if someone is going to claim in an article that a historical discovery has been made, he or she should examine the historical literature first. The author of the article implies that this is a new discovery which is false. An examination of a general history of England or the United Kingdom would have noted the invasions. Sometimes I just wonder in frustration: Does anyone study or care about history?

So, what do you think? As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.

31st Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy

Welcome to the 31st edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy! The topic for this edition is carousel, and includes articles that originally been submitted to other editions that never occurred as a result of time constraints that prevented me from posting editions more frequently. (I am sorry for the delays.) So, here are the articles:

First, we have an article from Romeo Vitelli of Providentia. In "The Kaspar Hauser Mystery (Part 1)," he writes about the mysterious case of Kaspar Hauser, a boy who had mysterious and unknown origins.


Last, but not least, we have an article from Greta Koehl of Greta's Genealogy Blog. In "Advent Calender Day 24: Christmas Eve - Holy Supper," she describes her family's tradition of celebrating Holy Supper on Christmas Eve.

Well, that is it for this edition. The topic for the next edition will be on Personal Research, Research Experiences, and Tips, and the edition will be hosted here. The deadline for submissions will be August 14th, and the edition will be posted on August 19th. You can submit your entry here. Enjoy!