A New Cousin Found Me!

Recently I received an email from a New Cousin!

Carole wrote, “Colleen, your blog is wonderful!!  Augustus Ceaser Gruissy is also my Great Grandfather.” She had read my blog and, saw my connection to the Gruissy family and explained her relationship to the family.

Augustus Ceaser Gruissy is our common 2^nd great grandfather.

Augustus Ceaser Gruissy

16 May 1840 OH – 8 Dec 1915 OH

Son of Christian Gruissy & Mary Grorisclauss

Augustus Ceaser Gruissy

Photo courtesy of Carole Morrison Moser

Our great grandfather married three times.

1.     He married Mary Everett on 21 February 1861 in Wayne Co., OH. They had four daughters. Carole’s family line descends from Augustus & Mary and their daughter Margaret Jane Gruissy Morrison. We believed Augustus & Mary were divorced. 

2.     He married Esther Barbara Wolf on 6 Dec 1868 in Stark Co., OH. They had five children. Three died young and two daughters grew to adulthood. My line descends from Augustus & Esther and their daughter, Nancy Regina Gruissy Mark.  Esther died 11 August 1906.

3.     He married Ellen J. Stoner 8 January 1908. She had been twice widowed before the marriage. They had no children together. Family stories say she heard that Augustus was going to leave her out of his will & she killed him with an axe. A great story that we have not proved.

Mary Ann Everett Gruissy

Photo courtesy of Carole Morrison Moser

Since our initial email Carole & I have been sending messages back & forth. We each have photos and information that the other does not have. We also have some photos that are the same. 

Joining in on the excitement of expanding our family’s history is another cousin who contacted me a few years ago. Sharon is also a descendant of Augustus & Mary Everett and their daughter Margaret Jane Gruissy Morrison. Carole and Sharon did not know each other before our recent discoveries. Now, the three of us are having a wonderful time learning about each other & about our family.

This has inspired me to look again at my research & to update my knowledge. I will be writing about the Gruissy family in several blog posts. Of course, this will intrude on my current research of my Brown branches but it is a fun intrusion and I am often pulled in various directions at the same time.

Augustus Ceaser Gruissy & Esther Barbara Wolf Gruissy

Photo courtesy of Carole Morrison Moser

By the way, if you have a copy of 'The Mark Family Story' be warned that we are altering the Gruissy Chapter with this exchange of information. Perhaps there will have to be a revised edition. ha!