SNGF – My Sarahs

Randy Seaver, of Genea-Musings posts a challenge each Saturday for the geneablogger community. Tonight’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun is to post those in my family tree named Sarah LNU (Last Name Unknown). If for some reason, there isn’t any Sarah LNU people in the tree, I’m to use “Mary LNU” or something else. However, I have many Sarahs without a surname. I typically use the word “Unknown” in place of a surname if I don’t know what it is. Very rarely do I leave that blank or use LNU.

1. Sarah born 1704 in Switzerland married Christian Kuntzi born about 1764. For a marriage date, I have a span of 1693-1741 but I’m sure they were probably married before my ancestor Joseph Kuntzi was born in 1724 in Switzerland. Sarah died in 1789 and his buried in the Kinsey cemetery in Berks county, Pennsylvania. Sarah is my 7th great-grandmother.

2. Sarah born and died unknown married Moses Fritter. His birth and death date is also unknown. The only child I am aware of is Susannah Fritter born in Stafford, Virginia in 1787. Susannah was the foster mother for my great-grandmother and was married to Evan Ogan.

3. Sarah born in England and married on 22 February 1612/13 in England to William Eddye, who was my 10th great-grandfather. Sarah was his second wife and not my ancestor. He was born about 1560 in Bristol, Somerset, England.

I have many more but they are all wife of half-brother of fourth cousin three times removed or something like that. I especially want to find out what Christian Kuntzi’s wife’s maiden name was as she is in my direct line.

I did a Google search but didn’t have any luck coming up with even a possible maiden name. All documents call her Sarah, wife of Christian Kuntzi. I did locate her memorial on Find a Grave so I now have a grave site and a date of death. I would suspect that there may be baptismal records in Switzerland and perhaps a family Bible that might have Sarah’s maiden name. Another avenue to explore would be to check the list of passengers on the ship when they immigrated to America and church records to determine if there are similar surnames to indicate Sarah’s family traveled with them.

Thanks, Randy, as I wouldn’t have thought about going through some of my LNU ancestors to see if anything is updated.

(Image courtesy of people-clipart.com)

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Cousins Abound – SNGF

Today’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings is to write about our number of cousins. My maternal grandparents, Glen R. Johnson and Vesta C. Wilt, had four children. Their youngest, Lois Evelyn Johnson, died within months of her birth. Their remaining son and two daughters produced a total of eight children – which included my two siblings and me. My five first cousins had a total of nine kids, and they are my first cousins once removed. My paternal grandparents, Lloyd W. Amore and Ella M. House, had eight children. Their youngest – a daughter – was stillborn leaving my dad as the youngest. There were a total of eleven grandkids and two step-grandchildren. Not including my brother, sister and I, that meant I had ten first cousins (including my uncle’s two step-step-sons on my dad’s side. My paternal first cousins had a total of 26 kids who are my first cousins once removed. Total number of my first cousins = 15. First cousins once removed = 35.

My great-grandparents on my mom’s side includes: John L. Johnson and Katie J. Blazer and Joseph N. Wilt and Martha J. Stern. John and Katie had three biological children (Letis, Glen and Mary) and a foster daughter (Eva). Letis died in his twenties and was never married and did not have children. Mary died before reaching the age of two. Eva had a son and later in life she had a daughter whom she put up for adoption. Her son had two daughters and the daughter had two sons. Joe and Martha had four son’s (Clarence, John, Jesse and Clifford) and two daughters (Nellie and Vesta). Jesse and Nellie were the only siblings of my grandmother to have children. Nellie had two and Jesse had four. Nellie’s son had three children and her daughter had three. Jesse’s oldest son (Fred) had three daughters and his youngest daughter (Joan) had four. That means the number of second cousins on my maternal side totals 17. I am not sure how many children those second cousins produced.

My paternal grandparents both had so many siblings who in turn had many children and grandchildren that I’m not sure just how many there are but it is a large number!

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SNGF – Ancestor Fun

Each Saturday evening, Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings challeges other geneabloggers to participate in Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. Tonight, the theme is Ancestor Fun. The mission (should we choose to accept it!) is to pick a great-grandfather, divide his birth year by 100 and round up to the next number. Then, go to the ancestor on the ahnentafel list and find the ancestor with that number and give three facts about that person.

I chose my maternal great-grandfather, Joseph Napolean Wilt (father of my maternal grandmother), who was born in 1869. After dividing his birth year by 100 and getting 18.69, I rounded up to 19.  I use Family Tree 2011 as my genealogy program. I am the home person so I clicked on Publish at the top, then under “Charts and Reports” I clicked on Genealogy Reports. I chose the Ahnentafel Report. After the report came up, I scrolled to number 19 to see which ancestor I would write about. It was my 2nd great-grandmother, Louisa Bookless.

The line from me to her is as follows: my dad, his dad (Lloyd William Amore), Lloyd’s mother (Mary Angelina Werts Amore), “Annie’s” mother was Lousia Bookless. She was born to David Bookless and Mary Cartmell on April 13, 1834 in Muskingum county, Ohio. She married William Washington Werts (my 2nd great-grandfather) on August 24, 1852 in Coshocton county, Ohio.  I found the marriage entry on FamilySearch.org in the database – “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994” and downloaded the digital image. Louisa married a second time after William died to John Simon on April 28, 1861 in Coshocton county, Ohio. Louisa died of “apoplexy” on July 26, 1912 in Coshocton, Ohio and was buried in St. Paul’s Cemetery in Coshocton.

Three facts about Louisa Bookless:

1. Most of the documents I have found concerning Louisa, has her maiden name spelled “Buckless” – especially census records.
2. Louisa’s parents died when she was young, so she is found living with relatives in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. In 1850, Louisa and her older brother, William, are living in the James Rice household in Franklin Twp, Coshocton county, Ohio. I have not discovered if he was related to Louisa. In the 1860 census, Louisa is living with her late husband’s sister, Susannah (Werts) Shirer and her husband, Quincy.  The two children she had borne while married to William Werts were living in other households which seems to indicate that Louisa did not have any means of supporting her children and needed to rely on family for support.
3. Louisa’s first husband – my 2nd great-grandfather, passed away five years after they were married. Their oldest child, George Wesley Werts, was born five months after their wedding and my great-grandmother came along two years later. Four years after William’s death, Louisa and John Simon married.  They became parents of a daughter (Sarah Ellen Simon) three years after they married.  I did not realize my great-grandmother had a half-sister until I kept coming back to the census listing her in the same household as Louisa and John as their daughter. When I checked the newspaper account for a reunion held at my great-grandparents, I discovered that Ellen’s family came to that reunion.

Louisa’s Death Certificate

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SNGF – Your Family and Genealogy

I’m a couple days late on responding to Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post at Genea-Musings. The questions posed were how the family reacts to genealogy interests; do they listen to stories; and funny stories to share about another family member’s interest in genealogy.

Amore: On the paternal side of my family, there have been several that have delved into genealogy including: my grandfather’s brother, Zade (Isaiah), and my great-uncle Rollo’s great-grandson, Rick. Two people who helped me quite a bit when I was starting out in 1999-2000 were my cousin, Bill Jr., and my cousin, Sharon Brittigan.

House: Along the maternal line of my dad’s family, besides my cousin, Bill Amore, Jr., (see above), a few of the House cousins were also compiling information and sharing it with me. My dad’s uncle, Alva Lester House, helped by sending a letter to my dad’s oldest sister with some family information.

Johnson: On the maternal side of my family, there have been a whole host of relatives and cousins who did quite a bit of research.  The closest to me was my grandfather, Glen R. Johnson, Sr. He sent letters and information to others in the family – who have in turn (many, many years later) shared it with me!  My distant Johnson cousins, Virginia, Ruth and Alice, and myself have formed a 4-person research “team” when it comes to the Johnson family.  Virginia has been the biggest researcher though!  I wouldn’t be very far with out her help!

Wilt: This is my maternal grandmother’s family line.  Several of her cousins had trod the genealogy path so as the information trickled down to their descendants, it was shared with me (and my research shared with them).

Goul/Blazer: My grandfather’s maternal lines – again my grandfather had some of the information written down in notes and letters.

Stern: Before I was very old, at least one Stern relative was already deep into research – Virginia (Stern) Ruark. Now, her daughter, Marvel, has taken up the mantle, and between she and several others, we do quite a bit of information sharing and assisting.

My husband’s side has been researched by his sister – with help from other cousins and relatives – long before Census records were digitized and put online!

Of my four children, only my son has taken on a position as a family history researcher. He has spent several years researching the paternal side of his family and connecting with family and other distant relatives.  When I need to share stories, I usually tell him because he seems to appreciate it more than the others (the rest just roll their eyes at me!).  However, if I want to share a scandal, everyone is all ears!

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Best 2009 Genea-Moment(s)!

I’m a day late on a Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post (thanks for the topic, Randy Seaver, of Genea-Musings!).

Several of my Best of 2009 moments came from items that fell into my lap so to speak.  After my mother passed away, I found many documents and photos that I hadn’t been looking for, but was very excited to find. 

1. My maternal grandparents’ framed Marriage Certificate, my maternal grandmother’s parents’ marriage certificate and their parents’ marriage certificates!
2. Birth Certificates for my mother and her siblings and my maternal grandparents.
3. My maternal grandparents’ wills (I’d seen these when they had passed away but now have the actual documents and all the letters and court papers through probate.)
4. Very Large Portraits of Ancestors.
5. Address books that gave me some clues about family residences and my grandparents’ friends.

Looking back on my posts in 2009, I’ve picked a few that I consider my “best”:

1. January 24 – Meeting Julia. I was able to learn a little more about my paternal grandmother’s sister via this biography.
2. February 18 – Additional Research Techniques. I highlighted how researching a book on Coshocton marriages enabled me to put some pieces to a family puzzle together.
3. March 2 – Childhood Enemies – Adult BFFs written for the 11th Edition of Smile for the Camera.
4. September 30 – The Box, part one of a 2 part post that concluded with the October 1st post –  The Calendar. This was one of the items I found at the bottom of a trunk at my mom’s house and told the intimate story of my “baby” aunt’s brief life from my grandmother’s perspective.
5. October 17 – Mingling of Families and Murder. This post was very challenging as I tired to untangle how two sides of my family were forever entwined.

I also realized just how helpful others can be.  Not only did a lady take pictures of headstones for me via Find A Grave, but she did some research at her local library and sent me some news clippings.  I also connected with a distant Goul cousin who mailed some very valuable family history information.

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457 and Counting!

I’m a day late with Saturday Night Genealogy Fun that Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings posted last night.  The challenge was to list the number of descendents of one of the four sets of great-grandparents, how many are living or deceased, and how many we’ve met.

Reunion of the Amore – Werts Family 1924

My paternal great-grandparents, William Henry Amore (“Henry”) and Mary Angelina Werts (Annie) have over 457 descendents!  They had:

• Children: 7 (Clemmie, Zade, Rollo, Clarence, Lloyd – my grandfather, Bert, and Roy) – all deceased

Back: Bert, Rollo, Zade, Clarence, Lloyd
Front: Roy, Henry, Annie, Clemmie

• Grandchildren: 36 (Clemmie – 4, Zade – 1, Rollo – 3, Clarence – 2, Lloyd – 8, Bert – 5, Roy -13); Deceased: 30

Gene (my dad), Paul, Bervil, Ella (my grandmother), Gail, Norman, Lloyd (my grandfather), Gertrude, Marie

• Great-grandchildren: 122 (26 Known – Deceased
• 2^nd great-grandchildren: 166 (10 Known – Deceased)
• 3^rd great-grandchildren: 113
• 4^th great-grandchildren: 13

I’ve met: 

• Five of the children (my grandfather’s four brothers) – Clarence, Roy, Zade, Rollo, & Bert.  My grandfather and his sister were both deceased by the time I was born.
• Some of the children of my grandfather’s siblings and their grandchildren – but I was young so I don’t remember names.
• Almost all of my grandfather’s descendents – my dad’s siblings and their children (my first cousins) – who due to the wide age range – are much older than me.  Some of my first cousins’ grandchildren I’ve never met.

 I’ve had the good fortune to meet one 1^st cousin I didn’t know I had a couple of years ago and continue to correspond with her via Facebook and email.  Some of the distant Amore relatives have also contacted me via email or by phone after receiving a query letter from me several years ago.  I feel very blessed that we continue our familial relationship even if it is through email or Facebook.

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Thrilling Moments in My Genealogy Research

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings, who took an idea from Leland Metzler of Genealogy Blog, posted his Saturday Night Fun yesterday and it is about Satisfying Genealogy Moments.

The most thrilling parts of researching my ancestry are hearing and/or finding distant cousins – especially those whom I didn’t even know existed.  Case in point – a child put up for adoption by a great-aunt, an uncle’s child that no one ever knew about, children of a woman I thought had lived as a nun her entire life (but didn’t!), and descendents of my maternal great-grandmother’s sister!  Not only have I connected with these people, but we shared information and still email each other.

Another exciting aspect of digging into my roots is when I find documentation and proof of a relationship.  Family lore and stories are one thing but to see an actual document that proves those stories is a “stand up and cheer” moment!  I’ve had many of those over the course of the last 10 years.

Hopefully I will make contact with more distant relatives and uncover much more documentation as I continue my quest!

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Ahnentafel Roulette – #22

Randy Seaver (who is lacking a good internet connection now – he’s having to pay a horrible price for just a little bit of connection time) has still posted the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Ahnentafel Roulette on his blog, Genea-Musings.

1. How old is my father: 88

2. Divide that number by 4: 22

3. The person on my Ahnentafel chart that is #22 is: Evan Ogan (my note: Oh, of all the people!!!)

4. Three facts about that person:

1. Evan, born 1785 in Culpepper County, Virginia, is the foster father of my paternal g-grandmother, Frances V. (Ogan) House. 
2. He married Susannah Fritter in 1807.
3. He is found living in Rich Hill, Muskingum County, Ohio in the 1850 Census; in Spencer, Guernsey County, Ohio in the 1860 Census; living with his son, Lot, in Meigs Twp, Muskingum County, Ohio in the 1870 Census.
4. Evan died when he was 88 (abt. 1879) at the home of his youngest son in Meigs Twp, Muskingum County, Ohio (presumably that son was Lot) – cause of death was paralysis (according to his obituary).

So I listed 4 facts.  My great-grandmother, Frances Ogan, lived with Evan and Susannah since the 1850 Census – she was listed as Frances Foster.  I may never know whether or not Frances was related to them, if they knew her parents, or if the family lore is accurate: that she was left on a doorstep.

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