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Archive for March, 2009

Each Saturday evening, Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings posts Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – a little game for all the geneabloggers. Unfortunately due to my recent schedule I haven’t been able to play as often as I’d like. But when I saw this post on Your Paternal Grandmother’s Patrileneal Line”, I couldn’t resist. So what if I’m a couple days late!

What was your father’s mother’s maiden name?
My paternal grandmother was Ella Maria HOUSE.  She was born June 22, 1882 and died on July 3, 1946 in Coshocton, Ohio.

What was your father’s mother’s father’s name?
Ella’s father was James Emory HOUSE.  I wrote a biography that you can find here.  He was born May 2, 1842 and died October 1, 1924 in Coshocton, Ohio.

What is your father’s mother’s father’s patrilineal line? That is, his father’s father’s father’s … back to the most distant male ancestor in that line?
The father of James Emory HOUSE was Florus Allen House born January 5, 1813 in New York and died June 25, 1891 in Coshocton, Ohio.

The father of Florus was Allen HOUSE born June 13, 1791 in Hartford County, Connecticut and died September 1, 1845 in Milford, Michigan.

Allen’s father was Lazarus HOUSE born April 14, 1748 and died after 1817 in Hartford County, Connecticut.

Lazarus’ father was William HOUSE born September 9, 1713 and died March 20, 1788 in Hartford County, Connecticut.

William’s father was also William HOUSE born abt. 1684 and died in 1742 in Hartford County, Connecticut.

William’s father was another William HOUSE born in 1642 and died 1703/1704 in Hartford County, Connecticut.  He may have been born either in Connecticut or England.  It is thought that he traveled from England to America as a crewmember on board ship.  Very little is documented about this man.

William’s father was John HOUSE (HOWSE) born about 1610 in Somersetshire, England and died in 1644 in Connecticut.  This informaton is still speculation and has never been documented.

Can you identify male sibling(s) of your father’s mother, and any living male descendants from those male sibling(s)? If so, you have a candidate to do a Y-DNA test on that patrilineal line. If not, you may have to find male siblings, and their descendants, of the next generation back, or even further.
Ella had six brothers and one half-brother (through her father). 

Her half-brother, Edward HOUSE had one son, Waldo, who died in 1966.  Waldo has two sons – still believed to be living – Richard and Donald and Donald has one son – Dan.

Ella’s oldest full brother, Florus (named after his grandfather), had 3 sons.  It is believed there are still several male descendents still living.

Brother, John, had one son who died in 1983.  I don’t know if he had any male descendents.

Brother, Alford Elmer, died at age 4.

Brother, James, had two sons – Raymond and Wilbur.  The latter died at age 1.  I have no further information on Raymond.

Brother, Charles, died at age 12 in a farming accident.

Brother, Alva Lester (see Part One and Part Two of his biography), had three sons.  Arthur died at age 2 months from pneumonia.  His last child, an unnamed male, was stillborn.  His fourth child, Jarold, had four sons – all presumed to still be living.  Jarold died in 1980.

The conclusion is that there are still several males to do a Y-DNA test on – however, I’ve never actually met any of these men so the odds of the test being done are slim to none!

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Malissa Goul was born in 1832 in Champaign County, Ohio.  She was the granddaughter of the immigrant, Adam Goul, born in Germany, and his wife, Elizabeth Lutz, born in Pennsylvania.  Malissa’s father, John, was Adam and Elizabeth’s oldest son.  Her mother was Martha McManaway.  And she was my maternal 2nd great-grandmother. 

This woman intrigued me especially when I found out that her oldest son, James Oakland Goul (called “Oaki” or “Okie”) had the same last name as she did.  Was her first husband also a “Goul”?  Was he born after the husband died and she gave him her maiden name?  What was the story?

My mother told me that the family story was that she had him out of wedlock.  Delving into family history, I realized that wasn’t as uncommon as I thought.  I’ve found many couples who were married shortly before a child was born or after a child was born and sometimes not at all. malissa_blazer

The photos I have of Malissa and her son were some of the first “old” pictures I acquired.  Her funeral book was the first memorial record I was given.  So I’ve attempted to learn all I can about this woman who became the mother of my maternal grandfather’s mom (Katie Blazer Johnson).

The biggest question I wanted answered was who was Okie’s father?  I found an entry in the Madison County, Indiana Marriage record transcripts for Okie.  He was married on February 1, 1900 to Eliza Jones.  Okie listed his age at the next birthday as 43 and his father’s name as James M. Goul.  Okay – I had a name.  But who was this man?  Was he a distant relative?  I had much more to research. 

 In the 1850 Census of Union Township, Champaign County, Ohio, I found the John and Martha Goul household.  Included in the household were their children – Eveline, Mary Ann, Malissa, Ruth, William J., John W. – and two boarders – Thomas Dillons, age 28, a laborer born in Ohio and James Goul, age 28, a grocer born in Virginia.

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Could this James Goul – a grocer – and 10 years older than Malissa have been the father of her oldest son?  I believe he was.  And furthermore, I believe he is also the James Goul who married Hannah Harbert, daughter of Thomas Harbert III and Elizabeth Huston; sister of Josiah Harbert who married Malissa’s oldest sister, Martha Jane Goul.  James had married Hannah before Malissa became pregnant with Okie, and he and Hannah had already had one son, William Andrew.  Soon after Malissa became pregnant, the family moved to Madison County, Indiana, and James and Hannah moved away from Champaign County, Ohio to Missouri.  I don’t believe father and son ever had a parent-child relationship. 

I’ll never know if Malissa pined for James or if it was just an affair of convenience.  She didn’t have her mother to confide in as Martha died in December 1855. 

Further digging has led me to believe that Okie’s father, James, was the grandson of Adam and Elizabeth Goul – the first cousin of Malissa and nephew of her father, John.  In Adam’s will, written December 4, 1843 (2 years before his death), he named his surviving wife (Elizabeth), children (Mary – eldest daughter; John – eldest son; Christian – second son; Henry – son), and grandchildren (Mary, Andrew and James). 

Malissa had her child, Okie, and by 1859 married Franklin Blazer.  The couple went on to have two sons, John Franklin and Wesley, and three daughters, Martha, Katie and Rachel.  Unfortunately, the couple did not have a long and happy marriage.  Franklin died in August 1869 leaving Malissa to raise 6 young children alone.  She never remarried.

Malissa died on March 7, 1907 in Pendleton, Madison County, Indiana.  Her funeral was held at the Clayte Sells Chapel and burial was in Fall Creek Cemetery. 

I hope Malissa rests in peace for she had a very hard life.

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Which is where I’ve been for the last week!  As I was “googling” and searching for some information, I decided that some more “clean-up” of my gedcom was in order.  Or more precisely – better documentation.  Since I was doing research on the Goul (and for all of those not in the know – it rhymes with Owl!) line of my tree, that is where I focused my work. 

I don’t have subscriptions to any of the online “pay” genealogy sites, so thought I’d work with what I could.  I started on HeritageQuest – which I can access from home thanks to my local library.  I wanted to find every single census record I could that included a member of the Goul family in order to “source” it in my family file. 

While doing so, I ran across “extra” Goul folks so added them into the family file as non-related people just in case.  The documentation took quite a bit of time.  Not only did I add the information on where everyone was in the Census records but the Series, Roll and page numbers. 

After I finished with HeritageQuest, I went to FamilySearch labs and entered information I found from there.  Then on to Rootsweb family trees and the Social Security Death Index.  Then I did a Google search to see what “distant” cousins had entered. 

In the middle of all of this, I received an email from a distant cousin – one who had posted some queries awhile back to one of the message boards.  We wrote back and forth and she mentioned that she had some things to mail to me.  I received the package on Saturday and it was a rather large package with quite a few family group sheets, copies of letters she had received from another distant cousin (who has since passed away).  One of the letters was actually a letter written to this other cousin that he had sent to her, and you’ll never believe who the author of that letter was – my grandfather!  Talk about the “circle of genealogy”!  This is the second time a cousin has sent me copies of letters my grandfather had written to other people. 

My week’s worth of work has been very productive and successful. I’ve been able to attach some of those non-related people to my line.

Even though I’ve used every combination of spellings to find the Goul family in the census, I’m not quite done.  I’ve located them under the variations of Coul, Gowl, Gaul, Gowell, and Goule.  But I’m sure there’s more!

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Last summer I found a large quantity of postcards that had once been in my grandfather’s collection which my mother had put away.  I brought them back home with me.  Most of them showed scenes of World War I or buildings in Europe.  Most were black & white.  A few, however, were tinted.  The following three postcards show (what appears to be the same) soldier and young woman “pining” for each other.

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“Cette lettre contient
mes plus tendres
baisers!”

“Find in this Letter
my sweetest
Kisses!”

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“Ton image cherie
est constante
a mes yeux!”

“I always have
in my Eyes your
beloved Face!”

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“I’m thinking of you”

On the bottom right of the first two are: DIX  975.  The bottom left of the last one is: FURIA 2071.

Apparently, these cards were made in Paris, but with the American Flag in the third one, leads me to believe they were American Patriotic cards produced for the Americans fighting in France to send home to their sweethearts.

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Born on March 5th:

  1. Mercy WEBSTER – 1781 – Connecticut. Daughter of John Webster and Elizabeth House.  3rd Cousin 5 times removed.
  2. Susannah ROUDEBUSH – 1793 – York, Pennsylvania.  Daughter of Jacob Roudebush and Anna Rickstacker.  4th Gr-Grandmother.
  3. Peter B. BUSHONG – 1836 – Logan County, Ohio.  Son of John Bushong Jr. and Rachel Van Vooris.  3rd Cousin 5 times removed.  Samuel Colt manufactures the 1st pistol, a 34 Caliber “Texas” model.
  4. Cyrus Nathan NICHOLSON – 1862.  Son of Perry Nicholson and Dinah Coddington.  5th Cousin 3 times removed.  Union troops under the command of Brig. General Wright occupy Fernandida, Florida.
  5. William Lloyd AMORE – 1882 – Coshocton County, Ohio.  Son of William Henry Amore and Mary Angelina Werts.  Paternal Grandfather.
  6. Henry PETERSON – 1886 – Henry County, Ohio.  Son of Elias Peterson and Harriett Mary House.  4th Cousin once removed.
  7. Viola WILSON – 1887 – Thomas County, Kansas.  Daughter of Charles Bennet Wilson and Clarissa Nicholson.  6th Cousin twice removed.
  8. Marjorie Alice SOWERS – 1922 – Hamilton County, Indiana.  Daughter of Frank Sowers and Effie Wiles.  Wife of 4th Cousin once removed.  Berlin shows the premiere of “Nosferatu”.

Died on March 5th:

  1. John Flavel HOUSE – 1869 – Hartford County, Connecticut. Born May 1798.  Son of Matthew House and Lois Hubbard.  1st cousin 5 times removed.
  2. John S. RUEBUSH – 1914.  Born Oct. 1844. Son of George Ruebush and Mary Catherine Moyers. 3rd Cousin 4 times removed.
  3. Mary Jane WERTS – 1917 – Lucas County, Iowa.  Born Mar. 1835.  Daughter of George Peter Werts and Margaret Maple. 2nd Great-grandaunt.  Victor Records released first jazz recording on that label.
  4. Virginia “Jennie” MAPHIS – 1933 – Shenandoah County, Virginia. Born June 1845.  Daughter of  Joseph and Mariah Maphis. Wife of 2nd Cousin 5 times removed.   The Nazi party in Germany wins the majority in Parliament.
  5. Frances Elaine HUFFMAN – 1943.  Born Aug. 1909.  Daughter of William Emmet Huffman and Elizabeth Catherine Link.  5th Cousin twice removed.  Royal Air Force bombs Essen, Germany and there are anti-fascist strikes in Italy.
  6. George Harold STERN – 1950 – Washington.  Born Nov. 1911.  Son of George Earl Stern and Susie Irene Woodworth.  2nd Cousin once removed.
  7. Anna Elizabeth BUSHONG – 1966.  Born Apr. 1880.  Daughter of Andrew Jackson Bushong and Amanda Fultz.  4th Cousin 3 times removed.  The United States performs a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.

Married on March 5th:

  1. Zenus NICHOLSON and Mary FISHER – 1838.  Zenus – son of Jonathan Loveland Nicholson and Elizabeth Swingle.  4th Cousin 4 times removed.
  2. Samuel W. FELLER and Martha Ann BUSHONG – 1857.  Martha – daughter of Henry M. Bushong and Mary Ann Wendel.  2nd Cousin 5 times removed.

**Historic events from Scope Systems Anyday in History.

Boston Massacre: In 1770 British sentries who were guarding the Boston Customs House shot into a crowd and killed three people and injured eight. 
(Source: Library of Congress – Today in History)

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Found in my grandfather’s postcard collection.  Scene of “La Porte Rivotte” in Besancon, France.

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The 11th Edition of Smile for the Camera is “Brothers and Sisters”. “Were they battling brothers, shy little sisters, or was it brother & sister against the world?”

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Mom (Mary), Glen and Genevieve

My mom was the third child born to Glen and Vesta (Wilt) Johnson.  Glen Jr. was the oldest, born in 1917, and Genevieve born in 1920.  The siblings had a baby sister born very premature in 1927 and who died at 6 weeks.   Mom always felt that her parents considered her brother the “golden boy” of the family and that he could do no wrong.  He was, after all, the oldest child and only son.  Mom and Aunt Genevieve were battling sisters.  One story I’ve heard is that when Mom had to wash the dishes, Aunt Genevieve would dry them but put them back in the “mix” to be washed.  When the two sisters got into it, my grandmother would sit them in chairs back to back and tell them they couldn’t touch each other or talk to each other.  And they they all got older, married, and had their own families.

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 Mom, John & Genevieve, Glen & Mary

This was probably one of the last photos taken of the siblings together before my Aunt Genevieve passed away in 1958.  My parents had been stationed in Japan since 1957 so Mom hadn’t seen her sister in at least a year.  As adults, the siblings visited each other for holidays and spent quite a bit of time together.  My mom and her brother grew very close especially after my grandparents passed away in the early 1980s.  Unfortunately, Mom lost her brother in June 2001 – just two months before she lost her only son.

 myfamily

My sister, me, my brother

As the youngest of a family of three children, I felt more like an “only” child since my siblings were older than me.  My brother had been married 9 months by the time I was born and my sister was in high school.  A few years later she would be married and go on to have two children – who were more like siblings to me than my nephew and niece.  How I envied my brother and sister!  They had been able to live in Japan – not once, but twice!  They had gotten to grow up with our first cousins!  They had gotten to learn how to fly a plane!  What I didn’t learn until much later was how they envied me.  I got to live in the same house growing up, go to the same school, keep the friends I made and of course – have a swimming pool in the backyard!  My brother became the male figure in my life after my parents’ marriage ended.  How I did not like my brother telling me what to do!  My sister tried to be a sister but it was awful hard splitting loyalties between a young sister and her own two children.  She tried to mother me when I was an older teen but even that was difficult for her to do.  She wasn’t sure if she should be a sister, mother, friend or what.  We had many rocky moments in my early adulthood.  Even though we worked in the same area of the same building for the same company, it was very rare that we actually were “friends”.  It wasn’t until my first marriage ended that I realized what a treasure I had in my siblings.  Unfortunately my brother was several hundred miles away but my sister was still close.  We became much closer than we ever had.  Then she moved out of state – just when we’d “found” each other again and settled into a friendship.  Luckily as technology grew and we both became email “junkies” – there was hardly a day that didn’t go by that we didn’t email each other.  When she moved back to the area in the mid-90s, I’d spend hours sitting with her at her table just talking about everything and nothing.  We learned so much about each other that we hadn’t known before.  Once again she moved away but we remained close through email and ocassional phone calls.  The day she showed up at my house in March 2005 and told me they were moving back to North Texas, I think I cried continuously – out of joy – for days.  Even now it brings tears to my eyes.  I’m so lucky to have been blessed with such a beautiful, inspiring, and unique sister – who also happens to be my best friend.

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my brother – Jim

This was one of the last pictures I took of my brother – Thanksgiving 1998 – at our dad’s house.  Jim had moved away from our “hometown” area over a year before so he was even further away.  It was wonderful for both of us to share a holiday together with our dad.  Little did I realize that this would be one of the last times I saw Jim.  As I became older, he and I settled into a comfortable sibling relationship.  He was always one of the first ones to call me on my birthday.  Always quick with a joke or one of his “tricks”.  I could count on him to make me smile or laugh.  There was no laughing in August 2001 as he was deathly ill with pancreatic cancer.  There would be no more birthday phone calls, no more jokes, no more “tricks”, no more hearing him call me “sis”.  Now my sister and I have taken that mantle.  I don’t think we ever called each other “Sis” until after our brother departed this life.  I think that is our tribute to him and our hope that someday we can hear him call us that again. 

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My four kids were pretty close in age.  The oldest girls were 23 months apart, the next two were 19 months apart and then the last two were a little less than 5 years apart.  Traveling was always an adventure – especially after the youngest no longer needed to be in a car seat.  I had to be very careful who sat with whom and where the dog would end up as well!  The youngest and 2nd youngest shared a room and due to their ages being almost 7 years apart, they grew close.  However, they had their fair share of disputes.  They were like the Odd Couple – one meticulous – the other not!  The older three would play games together leaving the youngest one out.  They would all yell “He/She is touching/looking at me!”  Then they grew up.

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And became FRIENDS!  After a rocky start at young adulthood and their relationships with one another, I start smiling when I think of the brother finding out what a great oldest sister he had or the youngest and oldest sharing confidences or the fact that they call and email each other more than they do me!  I remember the day a long time ago I told them that someday they would be friends and the looks they all gave me!  

Three generations of “battling siblings” all turned into relationships of Best Friends Forever.  What a wonderful family legacy that is!

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To spend time searching for ancestors is to time-travel, in a sense. I find that as I find information pertaining to a g-g-grandparent or their siblings and the locales of their residences, I also learn more about the era in which they spent their life. To see the dress of the time period or read about their occupations and hardships is to spend time in the early 1900’s or late 1800’s or even further back.

However, there are still surnames that I’m anxious to locate in the censuses, cemeteries, or ancestral photos. These include:

JOHNSON – Jacob Johnson (3rd g-grandfather) born 1787 in New Jersey. Moved to Brown County, Ohio by 1816. Married Ann Shields (daughter of William and Mary Shields) in 1816. They were living in Rush County, Indiana by the 1850 Census. Jacob was reportedly of a family of 6 brothers. I’ve yet to locate his parents – I mean how many Johnson’s could there be, really?

WILT – Jonathan Wilt (3rd g-grandfather) born about 1800 in Virginia (probably) married Catherine Hollinger probably before 1827 in Virginia. There are reports that Jonathan’s father was Peter WILT – but I have no documentation.

HOLLINGER – Looking for Catherine Hollinger’s parents (see WILT above).

NASH – Alexander Nash (also 3rd g-grandfather) born about 1808 in Pennsylvania married Elsy (or Elcie) – maiden name is reported to be Wininger – probably before 1837 in Pennsylvania. Elsy was born about 1812 in Pennsylvania. Alexander and Elsy have been located in 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 Censuses living in Henry County, Indiana. They had the following children: Christena (my 2nd g-grandmother), Sarah, Alexander, Catherine, Elsy, Nancy and Mary Adelaide.

WININGER – Parents of Elsy (see NASH above).

AMORE – William Amore (my 2nd g-grandfather) was born in February 1828 reportedly in Albany County, NY. He listed on the 1880 census that his father was born in England and his mother in NY. This is not the Italian pronounciation with the stress on the “e” (like amor-ay) – but A (rhymes with “hay”) – more. Or if it was the British pronounciation – could have been a (rhymes with “hah”) mor.

REED – My 2nd g-grandmother (married to William AMORE) was Charlotte Reed IMONS. I have reason to believe that she was married prior to William to a man named William H. Irwins in Coshocton County, Ohio. Charlotte was born in 1828 reportedly in Ohio. William and Charlotte’s youngest child was named Zachariah. Therefore, I believe Charlotte could have been the daughter of a Zachariah Reed found in the 1850 Census of Coshocton County. Would like to find documentation of this and Zachariah’s wife’s name.

LEWIS – Julia Ann Lewis (my 2nd gr-grandmother) was born in December 1815 in Ohio. She married Florus Allen House probably before 1838 probably in Michigan. They spent most of their married life in Coshocton County, Ohio. Florus was the son of Allen House and Editha Bigelow. Looking for Julia’s parents.

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The topic for the 66th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is “Nobody’s Fool”. I’ve been so tied up with many activities lately (unfortunately one included a friend’s memorial service) – so I haven’t had the chance to write an article. However, the person I think of when I hear the words, “Common Sense”, is my mom.

I’ve written a couple posts about her that you can read here (“What a Bunch of Hooey”) and here (“On the Spot Education”).

Mom is my “common sense” warrior! If she thinks it’s a bunch of – well – “hooey” – she probably won’t even let you finish your sentence!

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