tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54349248037327233222024-03-04T22:25:11.371-08:00centralpagenealogistKaty Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-25222488541601440392014-02-11T14:56:00.000-08:002014-02-11T14:56:03.422-08:00Kohl Family of Henderson Kentucky<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1U8I8uavwc_n9eduX5FgfouTKoCxKfWe03ni5z6e27hx1zhue3KuRREzPZTdyK1mtTFsemhqUyAgZknfOjnvoxRz1htIBVMTABOPEOZ669ZWTlwwec0Ysq35vJhqpgveHx9lIE4bM1Y/s1600/kohls_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1U8I8uavwc_n9eduX5FgfouTKoCxKfWe03ni5z6e27hx1zhue3KuRREzPZTdyK1mtTFsemhqUyAgZknfOjnvoxRz1htIBVMTABOPEOZ669ZWTlwwec0Ysq35vJhqpgveHx9lIE4bM1Y/s1600/kohls_edited-1.jpg" height="486" width="640" /></a></div>
I love old photographs and this one has a lot going on to love. My great grandfather is the lad in the back row with his elbow on his mother's chair. I laugh when I see this photograph because his hair style reminds me of the show "The Munsters." This is the 1890s and photography still took some time there is some motion blur on his sister's hand where she moved it in the front row. The top knots on the sisters in the back row are pretty divine too. The musical instruments and the home setting give the photo great ambiance, as does Hector's dashing son-in-law in the middle row.Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-28978897670996605582013-12-23T16:57:00.001-08:002013-12-23T16:58:16.791-08:00Roanoke CSA Reunion<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-YKTNqfdbj4MMOeE64-Puvzw4OPHYt79prq4zCTzR_WF3jq0tG9NOy1xn4SDIfPBxDd1M9HkhWsrJ09-A5b2-JE76Np5SztRgS0GTFQtA_ygNp7yLLwvm68cJlHdnH9VGSL2xBcmpPss/s1600/csareunionroanoke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-YKTNqfdbj4MMOeE64-Puvzw4OPHYt79prq4zCTzR_WF3jq0tG9NOy1xn4SDIfPBxDd1M9HkhWsrJ09-A5b2-JE76Np5SztRgS0GTFQtA_ygNp7yLLwvm68cJlHdnH9VGSL2xBcmpPss/s640/csareunionroanoke.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bottom photographic studio label reads: Davis, Roanoke, VA<br />
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Ironically, I sit here blogging while drinking a red wine called "Rebel Red" from a Gettysburg, PA winery that someone gave to me as a gift. I live close to the famed battlefield that changed the course of the war 150 years ago. Gettysburg was filled with sesquicentennial celebrations this summer. Living close to the battlefield I attended quite a few of the events. One can only imagine the horrors these veterans saw during those years.</div>
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The 150th anniversary of the end of the war won't arrive until 2015. They considered the Civil War to be the War of Northern Aggression. They fought, they survived, and here they stand in a country united next to the Stars and Stripes. If they could do this, our modern day political infighting would seem to be small stakes squabbles.</div>
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<br />Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-5809709813713543602013-06-14T06:17:00.000-07:002013-06-14T06:24:02.979-07:00Grand Reunion Gettysburg: 1913<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGJimiAnK9pmLfrtB4uSOVDsp10Q0XeXOELUA6btNmt6h5FEgtM9bEl66dklhVCEoZt_gWpQcu8KVgrhU_SfpJzc_7SBHRUPnMCrCj7oDM6ZCLNngzlI1MKFk5CNgG8dVhWkkse48DBU/s1600/grreunroanoke.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGJimiAnK9pmLfrtB4uSOVDsp10Q0XeXOELUA6btNmt6h5FEgtM9bEl66dklhVCEoZt_gWpQcu8KVgrhU_SfpJzc_7SBHRUPnMCrCj7oDM6ZCLNngzlI1MKFk5CNgG8dVhWkkse48DBU/s640/grreunroanoke.png" width="640" /></a></div>
While searching for accounts of Roanoke area Confederate soldiers who attended the Grand Reunion, 50 years after that fateful battle, I came across this great image. I still continue to look for lists of those in attendance to see if my great great great grandfather (who was alive in 1913) chose to return for the reunion. He survived Pickett's Charge and was captured at the angle in Gettysburg. He survived imprisonment and returned to Craig County, Virginia.<br />
<br />Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-77162704383693460222013-06-13T20:09:00.000-07:002013-06-13T20:09:23.961-07:00Amherst Civil War Veterans Reunion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1MLd21SuOo-ijCfkrCdc7t9pErdwsk4p7mOvnsEHho3_M-wNpi0gsild00n27ijwunfmQ2hsXbb93du5MXZuKvYozczXaQChI9ZhMO-19CRtPEUc7PvyuiFEcYvnEXxbo3o1f0inc7R4/s1600/amherstcivilwarreunion1_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1MLd21SuOo-ijCfkrCdc7t9pErdwsk4p7mOvnsEHho3_M-wNpi0gsild00n27ijwunfmQ2hsXbb93du5MXZuKvYozczXaQChI9ZhMO-19CRtPEUc7PvyuiFEcYvnEXxbo3o1f0inc7R4/s640/amherstcivilwarreunion1_edited-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
This is a photograph of an original image at the Amherst County Historical Society of a reunion of Civil War Veterans of Amherst County, Virginia.Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-30758506335861054232012-12-22T08:46:00.000-08:002012-12-22T09:20:21.010-08:00Good ObituariesHow morbid! Can there be such thing as a good obituary? I didn't think so until I started researching genealogy. We all have to die. Once we accept that, then we can appreciate a good summary of our lives. Genealogy is easier; as it doesn't deal with our own mortality, but our predecessors. If everyone has to go sometime, why not appreciate a good summary of one's life.<br />
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My extended Carper relations from Craig County, Virginia were eulogized properly and cited as an excellent example of such writing. These were simple people living in the country, who worked hard every day of their lives just to get by in life. The "Stars and Stripes" the newspaper that serves the military overseas, on 14 October 1985 (p. 18) published the following:<br />
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<br />Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-5471407605739025402012-10-18T07:11:00.001-07:002012-10-18T16:44:02.685-07:00Virginia Law and Murder in the FamilyWhen family history contributes to the current definition of murder in Virginia state law my interest is piqued. I remember my shock that my sweet, all loving great grandmother could be bitter towards anyone. Her bitterness was directed at the murderer of her grandfather, Joseph Creed Carter in Amherst, Virginia. As I researched the murder of her grandfather I discovered that his murder is still cited in case law to this day.<br />
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In the recent past, <u>The Washington and Lee Law Review,</u> cited his murderer repeatedly.The review discusses the difference between first and second degree murder in Virginia. His murderer, Frederick McDaniel, was sentenced to hang for his fatal assault on my gr-gr-gr-grandfather. On appeal he won a new trial as the Commonwealth of Virginia Supreme Court in a vote of 3-2 decided it was second degree murder not first degree murder. First degree murder requires premeditation, and the Court of Appeals decided that "the killer may form intent to kill at the moment of killing." (<u>Washington and Lee Law Review</u>, vol 40, issue 1, article 20, p. 345). Joseph Creed Carter's murderer received a new trial (since apparently he didn't bring the stick to the property, nor spend enough time contemplating his assault--- showing premeditation required for first degree murder) and was subsequently sentenced to eighteen years in prison on the lesser charge of murder in the second degree. </div>
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Frederick McDaniel avoided death. Joseph Creed Carter was bludgeoned over the head on his own property after letting the murderer borrow his team of horses and wagon. Nice guys finish last? Or sins of the father being revisited upon his son? (Frederick McDaniel was the son of an ex-slave. Joseph (known as Creed) Carter's father was a slave owner.) This was the Reconstructionist South and tensions were at a fevered pitch. The altercation was fueled by alcohol (both parties having imbibed) and racial tension. McDaniel called Carter "a liar", not something a fellow who fought in the War of Northern Aggression was going to take lightly coming from a negro.</div>
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McDaniel (the negro) had returned the horses and wagon, but failed to feed them according to Sallie Carter, Joseph's wife. When he (Carter) heard this and saw the man (McDaniel) walking by, Carter approached the perimeter of his property while his pregnant wife stood on the porch. The modern day equivalent is of course, borrowing someone's car and failing to refill the tank, even though in this case the gas (feed) was in the barn (of the lender).Verna (my lovely great grandmother)'s grandmother watched in horror as her husband (the lender of the horses) was "brained" by a large stick that McDaniel used to strike Carter over the head repeatedly.</div>
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Poor Sallie! She was left with a child on the way, and seven other children ranging in ages from five to fourteen. Hard times had already fallen on the family, and the farm had been getting smaller to pay off debts to neighbors. Verna's mother was eleven years old at the time of her father (Joseph Creed Carter)'s death. She would marry at a young age (16) and lessen the burden of another mouth for Sallie to feed by starting her own family. </div>
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Sallie did not remarry and she was the head of the household maintaining the small family farm when the census was taken in 1900. Sallie lived until 1915, and the story of her husband's death was family lore. I have a letter in which my great grandmother, Verna did document her recollections of the family lore to one of her daughters.</div>
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I read the case law pertaining to my relation's murder with great interest-- as his murder affected my great grandmother, who I knew and loved. In the near future I will be obtaining copies of the court documents that lead to the legal decision that differentiates first and second degree murder in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is an interesting, albeit sad tale of murder in the second degree following a sad part of American history.<br />
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---<b>McDaniel v. The Commonwealth (77 Va, 281) Murder: First degree-second degree</b></div>
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Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-39307584161412569212012-09-11T12:48:00.004-07:002012-09-11T12:48:51.908-07:00Carper Family of Craig County, Virginia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvHYxeeiyd8UB-0yxsU2hfaWROYGIz5no_07yV4yJ9v_y5RCwZ4m7pJeKsCBn5n4peG41K89fdmaM1VTKdycTQFEAeo2rhwWJM73nHGxC8FVOgQg-szHZyyKvi9mCgPkerpR6vJEKEuI/s1600/youngestoscarfamily+copy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvHYxeeiyd8UB-0yxsU2hfaWROYGIz5no_07yV4yJ9v_y5RCwZ4m7pJeKsCBn5n4peG41K89fdmaM1VTKdycTQFEAeo2rhwWJM73nHGxC8FVOgQg-szHZyyKvi9mCgPkerpR6vJEKEuI/s320/youngestoscarfamily+copy2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Circa 1915, this photo of a Craig County, Virginia farming family might have been taken to celebrate a wedding. Note, the flowers and the hairpiece on the woman on the far right. The patriarch of the family, seated, is Oscar Washington Carper. Oscar and his wife Amanda had eleven children together.<div>
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Oscar was a survivor of the third, and bloodiest day at the Battle of Gettysburg. He served with the 28th Virginia Regiment, Company C. He was captured at "The Angle" following General Pickett's ill-fated charge. He was paroled February 16, 1865 and returned to Craig County where he then married Amanda Leffel on 11 July 1866.<br /><br /></div>
Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-45856173086802553952012-09-05T09:18:00.000-07:002012-09-27T10:46:45.250-07:00McKenzies of Avilton, MD<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVb92l2IADbxO9zxBVfyiZ1E_jBwAoSLta-qzC8oRxKha-Qw1HNQI0ORQhMun4zIoVBG4Riws_iOdV0o5fPioLoXWBVSFeVZazLHY2bY7siQNHgjLsnx9WFQqAGQQW41huxEbZweiTUXk/s1600/Copy+%25282%2529+of+photo+75.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVb92l2IADbxO9zxBVfyiZ1E_jBwAoSLta-qzC8oRxKha-Qw1HNQI0ORQhMun4zIoVBG4Riws_iOdV0o5fPioLoXWBVSFeVZazLHY2bY7siQNHgjLsnx9WFQqAGQQW41huxEbZweiTUXk/s320/Copy+%25282%2529+of+photo+75.jpg" width="212" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVb92l2IADbxO9zxBVfyiZ1E_jBwAoSLta-qzC8oRxKha-Qw1HNQI0ORQhMun4zIoVBG4Riws_iOdV0o5fPioLoXWBVSFeVZazLHY2bY7siQNHgjLsnx9WFQqAGQQW41huxEbZweiTUXk/s1600/Copy+(2)+of+photo+75.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVb92l2IADbxO9zxBVfyiZ1E_jBwAoSLta-qzC8oRxKha-Qw1HNQI0ORQhMun4zIoVBG4Riws_iOdV0o5fPioLoXWBVSFeVZazLHY2bY7siQNHgjLsnx9WFQqAGQQW41huxEbZweiTUXk/s640/Copy+(2)+of+photo+75.jpg" width="0" /></a>A treasured photograph from my cousin's collection, this is Charles and Ellen McKenzie of Avilton, Maryland. Together they had twelve children. Not all would survive childhood, indeed even the teen years were fraught with danger (in the coal mines and they lost a son in a mining accident.) She died at the young age of just 35, a month after giving birth to her last child from peritonitis resulting from a gallbladder attack. She left behind children ranging from 1 month to 17 years of age. Charles, "Barney" as his friends called him, did as his wife begged him on her death bed, and kept the children together. No easy feat for a widower in those days I am sure.</div>
<br />Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-18991766857794632602012-05-04T13:15:00.000-07:002012-05-04T13:16:02.368-07:00The Stuck Family of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKIqXLDEaQjr5gWWzp6TMiitY88831VxDaYV03JBi8EoWfLPs5qutDze8eS7TgYI29UphDJWrUuK0kY_B1hfOPFvkJ7nrfpS1G5mQ0XxzfS_jSZP7mjXsUDQsIHliZb4PUXysvvWLDOs4/s1600/stuckring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKIqXLDEaQjr5gWWzp6TMiitY88831VxDaYV03JBi8EoWfLPs5qutDze8eS7TgYI29UphDJWrUuK0kY_B1hfOPFvkJ7nrfpS1G5mQ0XxzfS_jSZP7mjXsUDQsIHliZb4PUXysvvWLDOs4/s640/stuckring.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
<br />Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-91236281976907468002012-05-03T16:10:00.000-07:002012-10-18T16:46:14.620-07:00Siitting in the wheel barrow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioyLcFcqWMheVepTJzVN20hUHPPOpmUYpQrCO1ILG3NMbfJXtez5bXBctD6iQ0q3siKjdgdz2izZfX8eNv37dQk3KcwN3LWMv3o50q4d15XU14RUz6OGQrDAUtMj9zxQqWWdZRGH5hBAE/s1600/andrewsfarmsepia_edited-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioyLcFcqWMheVepTJzVN20hUHPPOpmUYpQrCO1ILG3NMbfJXtez5bXBctD6iQ0q3siKjdgdz2izZfX8eNv37dQk3KcwN3LWMv3o50q4d15XU14RUz6OGQrDAUtMj9zxQqWWdZRGH5hBAE/s640/andrewsfarmsepia_edited-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
The above photograph is of my maternal great grandmother, Verna Andrews Kohl and her father John Edward Andrews. At the time this photograph was taken Verna was working in a haberdashery in Roanoke, Virginia-- where she would meet her husband. Here, she is visiting her father at their family farm in Amherst County, Virginia.<br />
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I love the rural setting in this photograph, the mountains can be seen at the left in the distance. (As well as assorted outbuildings, and certainly an outhouse.) Both of Verna's beautiful daughters bore a strong resemblance to this photograph of their mother.<br />
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They are seated in a wheelbarrow, just to make the picture more rural and fun!Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-40494259479188230692012-04-26T20:45:00.000-07:002012-05-04T13:32:23.705-07:00An Inheritance of Faith<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz-lgJZUCVTkaZjeX_q0inbw8CkmNcmBOE1UqPTyabJfxVoXVHSflRTBVonys1I7pleTJXweBs8moTm2bGhCttoOre-W6f1v3Bsqnv_Mt0FPjwax71rMc_QgG9VXgDRF4BgW_njmSCsO0/s1600/stannframed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz-lgJZUCVTkaZjeX_q0inbw8CkmNcmBOE1UqPTyabJfxVoXVHSflRTBVonys1I7pleTJXweBs8moTm2bGhCttoOre-W6f1v3Bsqnv_Mt0FPjwax71rMc_QgG9VXgDRF4BgW_njmSCsO0/s320/stannframed.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
St. Ann's Mission Church in Avilton, Maryland was the spiritual home of many of my ancestors. It is set in the Appalachian Mountains and this area was first settled by my paternal grandmother's family. My grandmother remembered many trips from Somerset County to Avilton, Maryland in her youth. She had a large number of extended family that predominated the parish. In fact, with rare exception, the entire cemetery is in some way or another a relation! The McKenzie family was one of the first Catholic families in Western Maryland, and the history of the church reads as a history of this family and the Garlitz family (the other main Catholic family in this rugged country. The two families intermarried at length.)<br />
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Her family, the McKenzies of Avilton, Maryland left Garrett County Maryland after the death of Margaret Ellen McKenzie in 1910. "Elle" McKenzie was the mother of twelve children before her death at the age of just 35. Her husband, Charles Lazora B. (Blocher?) McKenzie moved to Somerset County, Pennsylvania and sold the Avilton farm. The family crossed state and county lines readily. Charles would reside in Somerset, PA but die at his daughter's home in West Virginia, and be buried at St. Ann's Cemetery. Certainly a challenge from a genealogist's standpoint: his death certificate is found in WVA, his will in Pennsylvania, and his burial records in Maryland.<br />
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Many of the descendants of this pioneering Catholic family remain active in the Catholic church to this day. Truly, an inheritance of faith! May God bless the future generations as they scatter all across the USA. A long way from this tiny outpost of Catholicism, but never too far from Him.<br />
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<br />Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-88692551845688281722011-11-27T16:55:00.001-08:002011-11-27T17:08:09.906-08:00Gone but not Forgotten<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rgEMi55pDnDAZRjn2TPEctC8G4wQeIJb6wrZLTDl7uxsDkeAfzeC2xSzxHn3CZJ9GiqWrN12ilCQ1hzVisk8BHJJkH3TYxzRBvrNfnDih5QYMfXud_xNJWIm1tpxW1MUSAXtpevsn6g/s1600/favgran.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rgEMi55pDnDAZRjn2TPEctC8G4wQeIJb6wrZLTDl7uxsDkeAfzeC2xSzxHn3CZJ9GiqWrN12ilCQ1hzVisk8BHJJkH3TYxzRBvrNfnDih5QYMfXud_xNJWIm1tpxW1MUSAXtpevsn6g/s320/favgran.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679844256981130226" /></a>This is my favorite picture of my grandmother<div>and my daughter. Three years ago today she passed at the age of 92. </div><div><br /></div><div>In this photograph she is well</div><div>into her eighties and still an incredibly active</div><div>and dynamic woman. It was this day that my beautiful daughter with the innocence of childhood looked up at her great grandmother and said "I didn't know an old woman could be SO pretty." Kids, you can't censor what comes out of their mouths. There were times when my grandmother considered being called old an insult, and she tried her hardest</div><div>not to act old. But on this occasion she seemed to </div><div>enjoy the sentiment. We enjoyed her company tremendously and think of her particularly today.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-31240268694414589532011-11-13T14:26:00.001-08:002011-11-13T14:47:04.659-08:00CSI Civil War Style<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEAyj5IUSBfIGA8ubwjqe15LQ3A4c5pJRyQ4lgASJVmyH3bq3WbRq0-tvN_2jJszUGMxNlaj2zhO39iW1xONp9bXqMro-e9gAoMf9UgNj6SoFrw47rXt2ipUYWORm_U5vjU7sf7UNebWk/s1600/boardreview4.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 233px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEAyj5IUSBfIGA8ubwjqe15LQ3A4c5pJRyQ4lgASJVmyH3bq3WbRq0-tvN_2jJszUGMxNlaj2zhO39iW1xONp9bXqMro-e9gAoMf9UgNj6SoFrw47rXt2ipUYWORm_U5vjU7sf7UNebWk/s320/boardreview4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674614368905530722" /></a><br /><br /><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhamDzO7tGduvOnzeHaCepq9L5mkVC512Hv9-5yCJ_4Holu3_sCJJzKhbqaAjsDdBQ0S9_8bRhRN-gbIoKK3y0VrCW6wlUR1QKi_RJi0yJ8yU3Dlq2WN_L0BPyMQq0A3LrdVpWFFp8BsUM/s320/boardreview1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674613600693701842" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 320px; " /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Qc31efYP8wIe_yasOVSVuNRWn9_zTlXFUDVUbQ8ed9S1RIm_6z1-tn7s7takwAcuffNthe-XtQZv4sKVvE63cE5v7v3CGCFC_0BoPWluRaZDFT98tKXmbFy_o331VIboHMSN1aDilaw/s1600/boardreview3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 233px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Qc31efYP8wIe_yasOVSVuNRWn9_zTlXFUDVUbQ8ed9S1RIm_6z1-tn7s7takwAcuffNthe-XtQZv4sKVvE63cE5v7v3CGCFC_0BoPWluRaZDFT98tKXmbFy_o331VIboHMSN1aDilaw/s320/boardreview3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674614042278616754" /></a><br /><br /><br />Long before there were televisions and crime scene investigators, the US government was engaged in such investigations. I am fascinated by the civil war pension file of my husband's ancestor, Jacob Stuck. His pension<br />file reads like an episode of CSI as the investigator post-humously attempted to recreate Jacob Stuck's love life and death.<div><br /></div><div>Jacob Stuck was married three times, never divorced. He lived in central Pennsylvania </div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 233px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0VPPCpudunHpTePk350kokSX9dRyhHveHRMpm5cdn0gtWQhXCXftps7r6W9FyTUVzkdtkOlJ-Rt47HE4kEsFsDuBaZFYBVq-PtBejTyGL_x7f8SRNcl3_1dAI4QuDUPTo4NxH85l_PiA/s320/boardreview2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674613702234342994" /><div>primarily with the exception of an intriguing trip out West. He served in the Civil War for the Union in D Company 74th Pennsylvania Infantry. He survived the war, applied for an invalid pension, and died in 1894. The pension file investigates who is his rightful widow: wife #2 Sarah Miller, mother of two of his children, who subsequently married John Foust, or wife #3 Sophia Wagner with whom he had eleven children.</div><div><br /></div><div>His third wife with whom he had eleven children was his most prolific genetic legacy. It is for these Stuck descendants and for my husband's line that I finally digitize this pension file. Attached is the first half of the summary of the legal investigator's conclusions on this interesting case.</div><div><br /></div></div>Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-52947113169573083222011-09-04T17:54:00.000-07:002011-11-27T17:25:20.558-08:00Victorian Verna<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwCsDETOHzDd-ULLSxxgTOaLxFrionPhYcSSMOCn5ZZnTUkuMcVqJx7tQtX_k5B9awmyNcBOUluEX1rLIxDc8-y4lIn8DrXbf6Pq4aMNrJsFTA1Yug27KQDcOAiFoMhN8KQL2R_iJX-84/s1600/vernaandrews.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 247px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwCsDETOHzDd-ULLSxxgTOaLxFrionPhYcSSMOCn5ZZnTUkuMcVqJx7tQtX_k5B9awmyNcBOUluEX1rLIxDc8-y4lIn8DrXbf6Pq4aMNrJsFTA1Yug27KQDcOAiFoMhN8KQL2R_iJX-84/s320/vernaandrews.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5648672668530498018" /></a>I love photography, and particularly old photographs. This Victorian styled photograph was taken about 1910 in Roanoke, Virginia of my great grandmother, Verna Andrews Kohl.<div><br /></div><div>Verna's mother died when she was just 13 years old and she moved to Roanoke from Amherst, Virginia to live with her aunt, Anna Laura Magann Hogan. She worked in a clothing retail store where she would meet her husband. </div><div><br /></div><div>I love the puffed sleeves, the Victorian heart necklace, the chatelaine on her left shoulder and her divine hairstyle of the period. She looks sort of wistful but is very attractively posed on a bench of the period.</div><div><br /></div><div>She would live the rest of her life (excepting her elder, more infirm years) in Roanoke, Virginia. A truly gentle woman who was a loving mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. </div>Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-23583665510436571012011-09-03T15:47:00.000-07:002012-05-04T14:03:42.101-07:00Road Trips- 52 Weeks of Personal History and Genealogy<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Week 36: <strong>Road Trips</strong>. Describe a family road trip from your childhood. Where did you go and why? Who was in the car? How did you pass the time?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Oh, the memories of the station wagon with the fake wood trim down the side. An iconic vehicle packed full of all of our essentials for the next month or two. Being an Army brat, we moved frequently and one packed up whatever one would need until the moving truck would arrive at our next destination.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Once all the belongings were crammed into the car it was time to shoe horn the children into the vehicle. Of course this was in the days before air conditioned vehicles, so the tighter the car got packed the hotter the vehicle became. The miles went by slowly, needless to say ,moving from the East Coast to the state of Kansas. Two 12 hour days of closeness designed to test the most even of tempers.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Being a one car family, as most families were in those days, there was no wiggle room. Parents in the front, three kids in the back with suitcases in the floor wells. All right, now for the coup de grace, cram the 100 pound Labrador Retriever in ON TOP of the kids and away we went! Of course the dog would scramble across the outstretched bare legs of the kids wearing shorts-- to see out one window, and then back across all those legs to look out the other window. (A dog always is convinced the other window has the best view.) Oh, the life of a military family on the move in the 1970s! </span></div>Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-31462132636915678112011-08-16T08:38:00.000-07:002011-08-16T08:45:39.253-07:00Free Genealogy ResourcesThis week I had great success with two free resources, public libraries and facebook. Once you identify where a family member died, you can contact that local public library. Some of them have genealogy departments or reference librarians that will pull an old obituary for you free of charge. It worked for me! You have to love your tax paying dollars and hard working local librarians working so hard for you, it is heartwarming, isn't it? And it is as easy to do as sending an email to that particular library. I have had a librarian find a source for me that identified my great great grandfather's murderer after I spent years looking through records unsuccessfully. Librarians are wonderful resource people<div>
<br /></div><div>Secondly, facebook. This social networking media is not as easy to use at was once for genealogy. Now that they don''t list where a person is from it is harder to determine if some person is the said person you are looking to contact. Scrolling through their list of friends for other family surnames and maiden names can help you to determine if this is the contact for whom you are looking. When "friend requesting" that person be sure to identify yourself and your purpose for contacting them if they will not recognize your own surname.</div>Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-8872422781901881632011-07-18T10:51:00.000-07:002011-07-18T11:04:00.968-07:00John George Hess, Revolutionary War Patriot<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgim_N7Y3VoMQMh1_z0l_OY-LARcgJYKYQxt4iqUKgZFT0ovHzem3n8Tw4FjpT-whelYjwRmVHhHAC_bzdNhfqswORBg2xFSrZ6FnS8nLVl8bfYwWkPlMzgxKg6z1_mWSGcaJYJcHKOdBo/s1600/revolutionarywarsoldier1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 287px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgim_N7Y3VoMQMh1_z0l_OY-LARcgJYKYQxt4iqUKgZFT0ovHzem3n8Tw4FjpT-whelYjwRmVHhHAC_bzdNhfqswORBg2xFSrZ6FnS8nLVl8bfYwWkPlMzgxKg6z1_mWSGcaJYJcHKOdBo/s320/revolutionarywarsoldier1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630751691811882738" /></a>On the 4th of July 2011, I finally found the lead that I needed to learn more about my Revolutionary War Ancestor, John Hess. I had previously combed the DAR records and Lebanon Historical Society records without success. I knew my ancestor was a dyer who was a patriot buried in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.<div><br /></div><div>An old application from the 1950s had a "John George Hess" buried in Lebanon, PA. I was familiar with the Daughters of the American Revolution but not the companion organization for men. How sexist of me!</div><div><br /></div><div>Since that time I have learned more of his birth (orphaned within 2 weeks of his birth), his service (several stints starting as a replacement for others) and his family, life and death.</div><div><br /></div><div>What a wonderful celebration of Independence Day weekend 2011! Thank you, John George Hess and to all your fellow comrades in arms for helping to establish this fine country we are so blessed in which to live.</div>Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-59965125457019606402011-04-22T16:26:00.000-07:002012-03-16T18:59:58.506-07:00Life is Short<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRlovSfRl10pS5Y2KhfgfrcR1iqKfG1NRvaPJxNCDFCkcCBWhrjwE3etqnvwcpWQa-BmmABS8734bLRqBuqIph_TjeN4JbgyYWli24mhtqF1iH9GL2tvV8A9APTORk7ZAeKhq-V0LbLQg/s1600/mckenziefamfarm1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598555539324316418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRlovSfRl10pS5Y2KhfgfrcR1iqKfG1NRvaPJxNCDFCkcCBWhrjwE3etqnvwcpWQa-BmmABS8734bLRqBuqIph_TjeN4JbgyYWli24mhtqF1iH9GL2tvV8A9APTORk7ZAeKhq-V0LbLQg/s320/mckenziefamfarm1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 241px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
A couple of weeks ago I hit genealogical paydirt. I had been corresponding with some McKenzie family cousins and someone gave me an address of a fellow in his seventies who remembered my great grandparents well. He and I shared several emails, although he apologized for the brevity of the correspondence since he wasn't feeling well. He shared an address of another cousin with me who sent me some wonderful old family photographs.<br />
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I went to thank the old fellow and his email address bounced back as inactive. I googled him and discovered he had died just weeks after he had shared with me. He was emailing and sharing family history information just weeks before in spite of feeling poorly. If I had waited longer to contact him I never would have received the address of the caretaker of the family photographs. Life is short, the longer you procrastinate on the old fashioned chores, such as writing an old fashioned letter, (which prompted this initial exchange) the more chance you take that the link you are seeking will have passed, quite literally.</div>
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<br /></div>Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5434924803732723322.post-85167021916089420922009-12-30T17:52:00.000-08:002009-12-30T18:05:50.700-08:00First trip to Ireland to research genealogy<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWoWt-5u48Jyl3E5a6Pa4Lq7tP9zata76IZ-vxKriKultPBUj1-Ocj9JQT_jfvlZ7rXH3S00xAW3OeuJ1WccviD7xmJ85VSjuyVsoRQ4YES2eO2uumhbFDufXhrZZ73II8pV59koiMfE/s1600-h/faleytelegraphobit.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 247px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421215614407448674" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWoWt-5u48Jyl3E5a6Pa4Lq7tP9zata76IZ-vxKriKultPBUj1-Ocj9JQT_jfvlZ7rXH3S00xAW3OeuJ1WccviD7xmJ85VSjuyVsoRQ4YES2eO2uumhbFDufXhrZZ73II8pV59koiMfE/s320/faleytelegraphobit.jpg" /></a><br /><div>This is my first ever blog entry. I found an old obituary on an Irish ancestor and after a lot of research determined that the Klonbrowa referred to in the obituary was Clonbroney, a small Roman Catholic parish in the County Longford, Ireland.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>I was delighted to stay at a bed and breakfast in Longford County and drive through the land of my ancestors. It was quite the experience with the very narrow roads and driving on the other side of the road. Even with the GPS unit I was having a tremendously difficult time finding the chapel. I pulled over and asked a kindly farmer who proceeded to stop what he was doing, get in his car and drive 15 minutes out of his way to show me where it was located. He was probably half an hour late for dinner because of his kindness to a stranger, but I never would have found it without his assistance.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>The hospitality of the Longford community was amazing. I spent a lot of time in the county library and arrived home to find someone had relayed my research interest to someone who went around the area and photographed all the tombstones of Faley/Fealey/Feley folks who had died in Clonbroney. The owner of the B&B, the librarians, the farmer, all wonderfully kind people who made my genealogical journey so very pleasant. I strongly encourage anyone thinking of visiting Ireland, to do so. The people are the friendliest you will ever meet.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Longford is a rural community that is off the beaten tourist path. A well kept secret as far as I am concerned. It is close to the Famine Museum which I did not have the time to visit. But, no worries, I will be back someday.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Katy Wechhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14516407540624316208noreply@blogger.com6