Those Places Thursday – Bethlehem Grange Hall

 

The Bethlehem Grange Hall in Coshocton County, Ohio about 1968 during the Amore – Baker Reunion. This is the building where we – descendents of Henry and Annie Amore – would all gather. There would be plenty of food – it was always pot luck – and conversation. I’m sure at some point there was the “business” end of it – electing the officers for the next year to put together the next reunion, keep track of the funds, and plan any “entertainment.” The two men in the photo above are my Uncle Paul and my dad (wearing the hat and camera). Behind my dad it appears to be a child who is in the middle of a game of horseshoes!

The July 28, 1968 issue of the Coshocton Tribune reported:  “The Amore-Baker reunion was held Saturday, July 20, at Bethlehem Grange Hall with 70 in attendance. The oldest member of the family present was Rev. I. Amore, Coshocton, who is 91 and the youngest was five-month-old Lucinda Lee, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Yeater, Nashville, Ohio.”

 

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Bigelow Branch

My third great-grandfather, Allen House (b. June 13, 1791 d. Sep 1, 1845) married Editha Bigelow (b. Apr 19, 1791 d. Oct 20, 1865) on June 15, 1812 in Middlesex County, Connecticut.  They had five children: Florus Allen (my 2nd great-grandfather), Nelson W., Amasa G., Eli H., and Abigail. Allen was enumerated in the 1820 Census as living in Jerusalem, Ontario, New York. The household included 4 free white males under the age of 10, 1 free white male between 10-44, and 1 free white female between 10-44. By the 1830 Census, Allen was living in Ovid, Seneca, New York with a household that included: 1 free white male ages 5-9; 3 white males 10-14; 2 free white males 15-19; and 1 free white male 30-39. It also included 1 free white female 5-9 and 1 free white female ages 30-39. Since that makes two more males and one more female, the couple either had other children or relatives/roomers living with them.

Editha Bigelow was the daughter of Eli Bigelow and Anna Freeman. Eli was born on May 29, 1756 in Colchester, Connecticut and died March 22, 1836 in Brookfield, Vermont. On Find a Grave, Eli is listed as buried in Mount Parnassus Burying Ground in East Haddam, Middlesex County, Connecticut.

Eli was the son of Amasa Bigelow and Jemima Strong who married the end of December 1754 in New London, Connecticut.

The Bigelow family stretches back reportedly to Ralph of O Baugley in England. According to the Bigelow Family Site, (webmaster is Rob Bigelow of New York), the immigrant ancestor is John Biglo.

If you want to see if you are a member of this prominent New England family, please go to the Bigelow Family Site (link above). There are many links to information concerning the Bigelow family including published genealogies.

(Bigelow Coat of Arms image is from the Bigelow Family Site – no copyright infringement intended).

(Sources for most of the names and dates for this post came from The Bigelow Society, the Bigelow Family Site; copyright 2009 Bigelow Society, Inc).

(Census information obtained from the 1820 and 1830 United States Censuses on Heritage Quest; digital images).

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(Not Quite) Wordless Wednesday

George and Jo Littrell

(original photo in possession of Wendy Littrell, Address for private use)

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Treasure Chest Thursday – Items from a Box (Part 3)

Driver’s Training Certificate

During my scanning “marathon” a couple of weeks ago, I found this amongst other photos and papers that were in a box that belonged to my brother. This is his certificate from Driver’s Training School, 6000th Transportation Squadron at Fuchu Air Station in Japan. He completed this training on February 22, 1958 at the age of 18 years old. I don’t know the length of this course – whether it was a few weeks or longer (I’m hoping my sister will comment if she knows how long it was!).

 

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(Not Quite) Wordless Wednesday – Sisters Talking

Marie and Gertrude Amore

sisters, talking

my paternal aunts

Coshocton, Ohio

(original and digital photo owned by Wendy Littrell)

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Finds in the 1940 Census

When the 1940 U.S. Census was released in digital form earlier this year, I used the 1930 Enumeration District converter by Steve Morse to begin locating grandparents and my parents. As each state was indexed in entirety, it became much easier to find relatives. Now that Ancestry has the complete 50 state index (and Familysearch is not too far behind), I wanted to see how many of my aunts and uncles I was able to find.

The verdict: all but two out of 8!

My paternal grandparents, Loyd and Ella Amore, are empty-nesters living at 1236 Vine in Tuscarawas Township in Coshocton County, Ohio. (I had previously written about this find at Census Saturday – 1940 Census Finds). Of their seven children, I located my dad and 4 of his siblings. My dad was stationed at Patterson Field (now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) outside of Dayton, Ohio living in the Enlisted Men Barracks. His oldest sister, Gertrude, and her husband, Walter Shackelford, along with their two children resided at 611 Larzelere in Zanesville, Ohio.

611 Larzelere Ave.
Zanesville, Ohio
Source: Trulia, Neohrex

My dad’s other sister, Marie, and her husband Robert Werkley, are lodgers in a household at Morristown in Morris County, New Jersey. Both are involved in the Salvation Army.  His brother, Paul, is living in Plymouth, Wayne County, Michigan and his other brother, Bervil, is living with his wife and family, in Jackson Township, Coshocton, Ohio.

I am still looking for my dad’s other two brothers – (William) Gail Amore and Norman Edgar Amore.

My maternal grandparents, Glen and Vesta Johnson, as well as my mother, Mary, were enumerated in Fairfield (present day Fairborn), Greene County, Ohio, living at 40 Ohio Street.

40 Ohio St, Fairborn, Ohio (house on right)
Source: Trulia, @2012 Google

Besides my grandparents and mother, occupants also include my uncle – Glen Roy Jr., and my newborn brother, Jim. My grandparents had a family of lodgers living there – the Theodore Fern family.

My mother’s sister, Genevieve, was found as a nursing student at Miami Valley Hospital located at 134 Apple Street in Dayton, Ohio.

Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton, Ohio
Source: Esco Communications

The next people on the 1940 U.S. Census who I want to find are the siblings and their children of both sets of grandparents. I’ve already made a pretty good dent in that list.

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Mobile Monday – Kindle Fire

For Christmas last year my wonderful husband gave me a Kindle Fire which I have put to very good use!  I knew that I could access the web, play games and read books on it but little did I realize that there were some pretty good apps as well.

One of those was Ancestry – I have synced the Fire so all of the trees that I’ve uploaded to Ancestry are visible. Another app that took awhile for it to be available was for WordPress. Since this blog is on that platform, I can now blog “on the go” or from the comfort of the couch! 

During RootsTech 2012 earlier this year, I attended some of the live streaming sessions, scanned Twitter, and read blogs from those who attended in person. Several made reference to a program called Evernote. I had to check it out, and boy, am I sure glad I did!  I have it on my Kindle Fire and my desktop so I can “share” files on both.

Another app that I have gotten a lot of use out of is Adobe. I can email genealogy reports, biographies, and downloaded google books to my Kindle email address and then open in Adobe as a .pdf file. Wow! It’s available for me to read at any time at any place. 

Yesterday, I noticed a new app for another social media site that’s gained more and more in popularity – Pinterest! Yes, you read that right so if you have not grabbed that app yet – go do so! I was able to access Pinterest via the web on Kindle but it just didn’t “flow” in a readable manner. With the app installed, the website looks just like it does on my desktop! If I find a photo of a place my relatives, family or ancestors lived, I can “pin” it instead of trying to remember to do it from the desktop at a later time.

I hope Familysearch comes out with an App for the Kindle Fire too!  Especially to transcribe records! 

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Tombstone Tuesday – Anna B Sheild

My grandfather took this picture of friend, Mary Lou Sowers, at the gravestone of Anna B Sheild, wife of W.H. Sheild. It was at the family cemetery at Moore House, Yorktown, Virginia. Even though the surname is familiar – these are not the Shield’s who married into my Johnson family. I believe one of the reasons this photo was taken is because of the incorrect date etched into the gravestone of February 30 – the last time I checked, February never had 30 days!

For more information about Moore House, please refer to Moore House – Yorktown National Battlefield (or just google it!).

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Treasure Chest Thursday – Items from a Box (Part 2)

 

In my previous post from last Thursday, Treasure Chest Thursday – Items from a Box (Part 1), I wrote about a picture I found in one of the many small boxes of photos and ephemera I have. Today, I’m pulling out one of my grandmother’s grade cards!

Vesta Wilt was born on May 7, 1898 in Noblesville, Hamilton County, Indiana. By the time she was in 7th grade in 1911, her parents had divorced. Her mother and her aunt’s widower had married and were living in Anderson in Madison County, Indiana. She attended Anderson Public Schools and the principal was Eva DeBruler. When she started school in September of 1911, she was in “B” Class of grade 7. In the second semester, she was in “A” Class of grade 7 and by the end of the school year, she was promoted to the “B” Class of grade 8. Her mother signed “M. Clawson” for each month of the two terms of the school year except for the last – May.

My grandmother received A’s, B+’s, and B’s  in all of her subjects (Conduct, Reading, Writing, Spelling, Arithmetic, Language, Geography, Sewing, and History). Grammar was crossed out and Sewing was written in. She took one month of Music during her first term, and she only missed one day during the first month of school.

Stay tuned for more Items from a Box!

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Funeral Card Friday – My Aunt

  

I never got to meet my mom’s older sister. She passed away three and a half years before I was born. Genevieve Vesta Johnson was born on June 9, 1920 in Anderson, Indiana. She married John F. Steffen in May 1942. My aunt was a nurse – a profession that her granddaughter and great-granddaughter also chose – women she never got to meet. Aunt Genevieve died on Friday, May 2, 1958 in Dayton, Ohio. Her funeral was held at St. Anthony’s in Dayton. She was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Kettering, Ohio. She was survived by her two young daughters and son as well as her husband, her parents, a brother (my Uncle Glen) and her sister (my mom) along with two nieces and two nephews. She was always remembered and spoken of very often.

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