Alphabetical Ancestors W

W is for these Surnames…

Wachtel

Dale W Watchtel was born 1939 OH. He married Carol Ann Jolliff, daughter of Glenn R & Helen V Jolliff. They had one son.

Waldo

C Prentice Waldo [b 1853 OH] married Emma Wolf [1863 OH – 1933 OH], daughter of John Franklin & Carol Orwig Wolf. Prentice & Emma had four children: Lydia, Winfred, Wayland & Blake. In 1900 Prentice was a butcher in Medina County, OH. In 1920 he was a farmer in the same location.

Warner

Golda Mae Warner [1902 OH – 1982 OH] married Eslie Guy Mark [1890 OH – 1972 OH]. They were married in 1922. Eslie Guy served in World War I. They had three sons: Guy, Glenn & Dana. Son, Guy, was killed in World War II. In 1920 Eslie Guy was a trapper. In 1930 he was a laborer at odd jobs.

Weissberg/Weisberg

Morris & Rose Weissberg came from Austria with their son, Frank Samuel Weissberg [1878 Austria – 1940 NY]. Frank married Florence Gartner in 1907 NY City. Soon after they moved to Buffalo, NY where Frank was a tailor & furrier. He & Florence had two sons: Milton and Francis. Milton was a lawyer. Florence was my grand aunt.

Wilson

Thomas Clarence Wilson [1888 MS – 1974] married Euna Clarabelle Fortenberry [b 1894]. They had 11 children: Thelma, Alton, Clarence, Edna, Arnell, Evelyn, Thomas, Walter, Juanita, Everett & Elvera. In 1920 they lived in LA where Thomas worked at an oil refinery.

Wolf/Wolff/Wolfe

My paternal grandmother’s family reaches back to the Wolf family in Germany. The family moved to Pennsylvania and later to Ohio. Johannes Peter & Susanna Wolf were my 7^th great grandparents. Their son, Johan Jacob Wolf was b 1694 in Germany. He married Anna Barbara Orth. They had eleven children. Their son, Johann Jonas Wolf [1739 PA – 1787 PA] married Appollonia Dick c 1761. They had ten children. The Wolf family quickly expanded in the USA. They were farmers & soldiers in our wars.

Other ‘W’ surnames in my tree: Waddell, Wadford, Wagener, Wager, Waggner, Wagner, Whitaker, Wieland, Wireman, Wise, Wood, Woods, Wortman, Wright & Wynn.

Thanksgiving Thanks to Fellow Bloggers

I am thankful for the year round support & 

inspiration from my fellow bloggers.  

Here are a few of my ‘favorite pages’. Do you have favorites you’d like to thank? Thank them on your blog & leave a link in the comments here. I love to discover new blogs!


I have even more favorites [not all would fit here]. Check my Blog List for more extra special blogs!

F      (Carolina) Family Roots, Charles Purvis. Charlie & I are distant cousins who met through our blogs & then met during a trip I took to North Carolina. I am always impressed with the long list of sources he lists with his findings. Charlie has given me many tips for NC research.

A      A Light that Shines Again by Lisa, a delightful blog about Irish heritage; reading this blog is like taking a trip across the Atlantic to those beautiful green shores.

V      Virginia based Wendy who writes Jollett, Etc., the friendliest blog anywhere. I have not yet met Wendy [maybe on a future trip to visit my daughter in VA] but feel that she is a pal.

O      ‘On a flesh and bone foundation’: An Irish History, Jennifer. Just starting to trace Irish roots or looking for a new avenue for research? This is the place to go. There are many links here you will enjoy.

R      Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings gives up tips, techniques & genealogy news. An active blog with lots to share. Want to keep in touch with the latest genealogy happenings? Visit this blog.

I        Irish Genealogy: Help! The Faery Folk Hid my Ancestors! by Deborah Large Fox, who has some great Irish tips & the latest in Irish genealogy news.

T      The Family Curator, Denise Levenick, aids us in preserving & sharing our family treasures. We all have bits from the past that we’d like to preserve for the future.

E      Explorations in Connecticut Genealogy, Bryna O’Sullivan. I have roots in CT and Bryna has taken the time to give me many great research tips. She knows the best places to search!

P      Prince William County Genealogy, Carolyn writes about this Virginia County, its history & genealogy insights. If you have links to this area as I do you or you plan to visit the area should stop by this blog.

A      Ancestors Live Here by Leslie Ann. This is a lovely blog documenting Leslie’s research into her family’s past.

G      Geneabloggers, Thomas MacEntee, who links us all together to help and inspire each other! A huge Thanks to Thomas!

E      Exploring Almost Forgotten Gravesites in Ohio. A blog I have recently discovered & plan to read often to expand my OH roots information.

S       Sepia Saturday, Alan Burnett and Kat Mortensen, who provide a place to share unique photos. A blog that makes history friendly & fun.

Related Posts:

• Follow Friday - Explorations in Connecticut Genealogy
• Travel Tuesday - Derby, CT Preperations
• Thankful Thursday - My Family

Sepia Saturday - Where were you?

Image from GCS graduation announcement 1971

50 years ago I was a little girl in elementary school, Germantown Central School, NY. Every Friday afternoon most of the classes in school had ‘free time’. They could play board games, read books or draw. I was never a part of that because the Catholic children boarded a school bus and rode to the center of town to the Church of the Resurrection for religious instruction.

There was a building next to the church with classrooms upstairs. Carmelite nuns from a nearby convent came and taught us about our religion. They were beautifully serene women who taught us with soft voices. On November 22, 1963 we were with the nuns learning about the saints and reciting our prayers. The lessons had ended and we were noisily lining up to go downstairs and back onto the bus. Unexpectedly, our parish priest came up the stairs, raised his hand for silence and told us that our president, our country’s first Catholic president, was dead. Stunned, we all knelt down and he led us in prayer.

Our little town was far from Dallas and Washington, DC and we were not in fear for our own lives. But we were all shocked that someone would kill our much loved young, handsome president. Our mother and her mother who had been delighted when the Irish Catholic president was elected followed the news closely. There were days of watching television and reading the newspapers for every bit of information.

Fifty years have passed and the world has changed in many ways but it sometimes feels like that day was the beginning of those changes. On 11 September 2011 I was the teacher in the classroom when the world shifted again.

JFK Birthplace, Boston MA

Visit Sepia Saturday for more postings.

Tranquil Tombstone Tuesday - A Mountain Monument

This monument

Erected by filial affection

To the memory of

Our dear father

David Henderson

Who accidentally lost

His life on this spot

3 September 1845

The monument was brought to the site in the winter by sled.

It is located beside Calamity Brook, south of Flowed Lands in the Adirondack Mountains.

Read more about Henderson.

My husband has hiked the 46 high peaks of the Adirondack Mountains, NY.

This photo is from one of his recent hikes.

Genealogy Travel: - Louisiana - Part 1 - Research Help Wanted

Dear Fellow Genealogists,

I am looking for tips on libraries, archives, cemeteries or historical societies in Louisiana. Early next month I will be going to New Orleans with my husband. While he attends a conference I hope to search out my Louisiana ancestors, especially these:

• Jacob Alford 1761 NC – 1824 Washington, LA             4x great grandfather
• Jessie Alexander Brumfield 1838 LA – c1910               2nd great grandfather
• Nathaniel Brumfield 1813 LA – c 1850 LA                    3rd great grandfather 
• Charlotte Temple (Ott) Brumfield 1815 LA – 1895       3rd great grandmother 
• Jacob Ott III 1774 SC – 1836 Washington, LA               4th great grandfather 
• Wyatt Smith 1809 LA- 1894 MS                                  3rd great grandfather

I will have a Friday, Saturday & Sunday for research. Many places will be closed, I think, on the weekend so I may have only one day. If you have visited any libraries, archives or cemeteries in the area I’d like to know which ones are the best to visit. I will have limited time and would like to find locations with family & area histories, parish records, cemetery listings, etc. I hope to look at books and records that I cannot find on the internet.

I am considering visiting the Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge. Has anyone used these archives for genealogy research?

The internet has some information on libraries & archives but I’d love to get tips from someone who has actually done hands on research in the area. Thanks, in advance, for your tips! Colleen

Related Posts:

• Travel Tuesday - Louisiana - Part 2 - The State Archives
• Travel Tuesday - Louisiana - Part 3 - The Franklinton Library

Honoring Veterans’ Day

‘The Great War’, now called World War I, ended with an 

armistice, or end of hostilities

Hubert A Brown

between the Allied Nations & Germany  on the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month of 1918. In the following years it was known as Armistice Day.

In 1921 the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was established by Congress with a ceremony on November 11. In 1938 Armistice Day became a legal holiday dedicated to the cause of world peace. The day honored World War I veterans.

Unfortunately, we know that The Great War was not our last world war. World War II and the Korean War followed. In 1954 Congress changed the day to Veterans’ Day and it became a day to honor all veterans.

My family includes these World War I soldiers:

•  Peter Brady 1891 Ireland – 1951 NJ
•  Thomas Joseph Brady 1896 NJ – 1986 MD
•  Hubert Allen Brown 1894 MS – 1971 MS, Private US Army
•  Harry Lewis Creasy 1891 OH – 1950
•  Ernest S Gruissy b 1893 TX
•  Charles Forest Mark 1892 OH – 1967 OH
•  Eslie Guy Mark 1890 OH – 1972 OH
•  Elmer Ritter b 1887 OH
•  Frederick Isaac Ritter 1893 OH – 1975 OH

A great book to help you research your World War I hero is:

Schaeffer, Christina K. The Great War: A Guide to the Service Records of All the World's Fighting Men and Volunteers. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1998.

The first part of this book includes research tips; what to expect to find in various records; and a time line of the war. The second part "takes the combatants, country by country, and describes each country's initial involvement in the war, the military records (and naval, if applicable), and, to the greatest extent possible, where they are located." The third part of the book "describes casualties, records for prisoners of war (POWs), and a table showing where to locate a geographic place-name before and after the war." The appendix includes a glossary of abbreviations, Internet addresses and a select bibliography. 

Anyone have another resource for World War I research? If you want to share, just leave a comment.

Today a big thank you goes out to all our veterans who have sacrificed much to guarantee our freedoms!

Read more about Veterans’ Day: The History of Veterans’ Day

Read more about my family’s Soldiers: Soldiers

Related Posts:

• Veterans' Day 11 - 11- 11
• Revolutionary War Soldiers
• 150th Anniversary of the Civil War
• A Future Treasure?

Alphabetical Ancestors - U & V

When I began my alphabetical ancestors I wanted to give all my surnames some fresh air. I don’t have enough information about some distant relatives to have them as a focus of a blog post. However, there might be someone out there who knows more and I’d like to hear from them. I am approaching the end of the alphabet. My ‘U’ & ‘V’ names are limited and my information on them is limited. Here is what I know.

U & V is for these Surnames… 

Uberoth

Maria Uberoth married Johannes Keck [b 1772 PA]. Their son was George Keck [1800 – 1865]. Maria was my 6^th cousin, once removed. Having written this I have shared everything I know about Maria.

Ulman

Lemuel W Ulman married Edith Edna Ritter [1881 OH – 1947]. Edith was the daughter of John William Ritter & Ruth Ann Scott. Their daughter was Martha May Ulman [b 1906].

Ulsh

Andrew Ulsh married Maria Barbara Ritter [1788 PA – 1828]. Maria was the daughter of Johannes Ritter Sr & Maria Elisabeth Keck. Andrew was the husband of my 4^th great grand aunt.

Valente

Anthony Valente married Fay Brigandi [b 1811 Sicily]. They were married 1935 in New York City. They had three children: Arlene, Anthony & Nancy. They are in my husband’s family tree.

Valenti

Angela Valenti [c 1876 Sicily – c 1934 NY] married Carmen Brigandi [c 1881 Sicily – after 1947]. They were married in Sicily. They had six children: Grazia, Carlo, Jospeh, Fay, Antionette & Anthony. These people are related to my husband’s mother.

Van Zile

Ralph Van Zile was the son of Suzie B (Mark) Van Zile [1887 OH – 1947]. Suzie was the daughter of David Mark & Mary Ann Clason. Ralph was my second cousin, twice removed.

Von Ludwig

Julia Elizabeth von Ludwig [b c 1906 MS] was the daughter of Oscar William von Ludwig & Mary C Smith. Julia married Frank Paul Benson. Their children were Mary & Michael.

Other ‘V’ surnames in my tree: Van Dyke, Van Houten, Varado, Vashon, Voelker, Voghall, Voll, Vozella, & Vrabec

Vintage Photograph: Brumfield

Jesse Kelly Brumfield, 1 March 1807 SC – 25 July 1884

and

Hannah Youngblood, b c 1807 GA

In 1850 & 1860 they were in Pike, MS. In 1870 & 1880 they were in Amite, MS.

A big thanks goes out to Thad Brumfield who recently contacted me through my website,

Our Leaves & Branches,

And sent me this terrific picture!

Tranquil Tombstone Tuesday - William D Ritter

William D Ritter

Born 24 July 1822

 Died 30 October 1874 

Served in the Civil War

I have several William Ritters hiding in the branches of my family trees. I am not sure which one this is. I'd like to be able to connect him up correctly. Please let me know if you know more about William.

Cemetery: Rittersville, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Related Posts:

Rittersville, Pennsylvania

Rittersville Revisited

Rittersville Cemetery

Census Sunday – William Brady & family

In searching for information about William Brady, b c 1848 Cavan, Ireland, son of Thomas Brady & Catherine Gibney I found the following…

1880 US Census, CT, New Haven, Derby, Birmingham; SD 1, ED 66, Sheet 8

William Brady, 35 b Ireland, works in rolling mill

Bridget, wife, 30 b Ireland, keeping house

Mary, daughter, 7 b Ireland, at school

Katie, daughter, 1 b CT

Note: Looks like family came to USA between the births of their daughters.

1900 US Census, CT, New Haven, Derby; SD 26, ED 304, Sheet 6

210 Hawkins Street. William Brady, 55 b Ireland; Boarder with the Callaghan family

Note: William & his wife are living on the same street but in different homes.

1900 US Census, CT, New Haven, Derby; SD 26, ED 304, Sheet 5

157 Hawkins Street. Bridget Brady, head, 50 b Ireland; mother of 9/6 living

Mary E, 23 b July 1876 CT

Catherine, 21 b May 1879 CT; packer in mill

Bridget, 18 b Dec 1881 CT; weaver in silk mill

Annie, 17 b Apr 1883 CT; weaver in silk mill

Helen, 14 b May 1886 CT; at school

Eugene, 12 b Mar 1888 CT; at school

Ellen Smith, niece, 31, b May 1869

Owen Smith, nephew, 28 b Nov 1871

Patrick McCabe, niece, 19 b Mar 1881

1910 US Census, CT, New Haven, Derby; Ed 334 Sheet 9A

William Brady, 64 b Ireland

Bridget, wife, 57 b Ireland

Bridget, daughter, 27 b CT

Note: This report is very hard to read.