Back In the Saddle Again

The itch to write has been bugging me for too, too long. So here I am once again blogging about my family history research after a break of over 3 years.. Plus it's my 200th post, so why not? 

The biggest news recently is that my WikiTree profile of my great-grandfather William Frederick Ogden (mapapa) was awarded "Gold Standard: Genealogically Complete and Peer Reviewed." Yay for me! His profile was one that I did for the Profile Improvement Project in WikiTree. (A great and rewarding experience. Highly recommend.) I chose him for that project because I didn't feel I had enough info on him. Now I obviously have more than enough. 

I still have profiles for my paternal grandparents and my other 7 great-grandparents that are ready for Gold Standard review. I've gotten some feedback on a couple of them. It appears that the best thing for me to do is join the monthly "Go for Gold" challenge on WikiTree, submit one for the month, and see if I can get one profile accepted each month. 

Here the other family history projects I have on my plate right now:

• Application for Certificate of Canadian Citizenship. My great-grandfather William Ogden (see above) was born in Ontario. His parents were born in New Brunswick and Ontario. His paternal grandparents were born in New Brunswick. His other ancestors were born in Scotland or were Loyalists who moved to New Brunswick after the revolution. I think 5 ancestors born in Canada should be enough to qualify me.

•  Everard Huigen's (papapapa) military records. I recently discovered a Dutch military record for my 2xgreat-grandfather. I had no idea he had served. This opens up a whole new chapter in his life for me. I posted the record to the Dutch Genealogy Facebook Group and was rewarded with 2 more military records of his and some explanation of what they say in Dutch. He was drafted and served from 1846 to 1851 in the Artillery and Horse Artillery. I think I will need to hire someone to transcribe and translate the records for me. I also want to find out if there are more military records for him.
• Resolve duplicate WikiTree profiles. During the last WikiTree Connect-a-Thon, I came across duplicate profiles for a pair of my 3xgreat-grandparents in WikiTree: Johann Toemmes and Maria Schmitt (papapamapa and papapamama). I need to determine all the sources for these two from my records and from the duplicate profiles and merge them into a single, well sourced pair of profiles.
•  Photos. After my brother's death two years ago, I took possession of his photo collection and my parents' collection, which he had.There is a lot to do on thousands of these photos. Some are duplicates, triplicates, and beyond, Some I have already scanned and processed. Some have when, who, and where on them; others do not. It is very overwhelming and hard to figure out an efficient process for working through them.

If all that seems like a lot, I agree. Overwhelming at times.

I also have many stories to share about my ancestors and I created this blog for that purpose. Here are some of those that I'd like to get around to posting:

•  My great-grandfather who was hit over the head with a bottle at a 4th of July party
• The same great-grandfather whose house burnt down
• My Dutch 3xg-grandfather who served in  the French National Guard during the Napoleonic Wars
•  My 2xg-grandfather who fell to his death off of a bridge down to the river 30' below
• My 11xg-grandfather who lived in Haworth, Yorkshire, England 300 years before the Bronte family
•  The Orphan Train adoption of my dad's Uncle Charlie
• My parents' first date

Please let me know if any of those stories sound like something you'd like to know more about.  

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 17 "DNA"

 I have done a previous post on how DNA may have helped verify a relationship in my family tree. But for this prompt I want to look at how far back I can verify my various branches thanks to having DNA matches that also link back to those branches through paper trails. 

• I match an aunt, first cousins, and children and grandchildren of first cousins that verify my link to my four grandparents. 
• I match my parents' first cousins, my second cousins and their children that verify my links to my eight great-grandparents.
• I match third cousins and their children and grandchildren that verify my links to all sixteen of my great-great-grandparents.
• I match fourth cousins and their children and grandchildren that verify my links to 14 of my thirty-two great-great-great-grandparents:
• Toemmes/Schmitt2
• Schmitt1/Peters
• Kennedy/Noland
• Ogden/Morrell
• Gibbon/Davidson
• Nilsson/Persdotter
• Strayer/Schaeffer

And that's as far back as I've gotten. As I reviewed these matches, I became confused about whether some of these cousins are mislabeled. I think I may some "removed" levels to remove and some to add. I really  need to add these matches to my Ancestry tree and let Ancestry work out the relationships. Yay, more tasks for my genealogy to-do list.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 16 "Should Be a Movie"

I think that a good screenplay could be developed around the life of my 2xgreat-grandmoteher Anna Helena (Schmitt) Fitzler.

In May of 1858, at the age of 24, she set sail from Antwerp, Belgium on the ship "Charles Cooper." Sailing with her were her future sister-in-law Anna Christina Fitzler and Anna Christina's 5-year-old son Wimar. They landed in New York City on 25 June 1858.

The Charles Cooper

Two weeks later at St. Patrick Catholic Church in LaSalle, Illinois, Anna Helena married Johann Wimar "Wymer" Fitzler in a joint ceremony with Anna Christina Fitzler and Johann Schloesser, most likely the father of Wimar, who became Wimar Schloesser. 

St. Patrick Catholic Church, LaSalle, IL

Anna Helena and her husband settled in Marshall County, Illinois, near the town of Henry, where her two brothers, Peter and Michael were already living. 

Wymer bought a farm in Hopewell Township. Over the years he was forced to take out several mortgages on it. His lack of success may have been a result of alcoholism The progression of the disease and its effects on those around the alcoholic always make for good drama in a film.

On 13 October 1885, Wymer fell to his death from the bridge over the Illinois River outside of Henry. He was returning home after a couple of days in Henry, where he spent at least the last day drinking. 

The climax of the film would be when the authorities come to her door to tell her about her husband's death Anyone who has ever cared about an alcoholic has imagined what that would feel like. I wonder what she felt? Grief. Anger. Relief. Shame. Guilt.  

There was probably an element of guilt since she quickly moved her family to Knox County, Nebraska where she had two married daughters living. She died there many years later in 1904. According to one of her obituaries, she was "known universally as Grandma Fitzler" and had a "kindly nature."

Her life may have been a rocky road, but I think she had a smooth ending. At least I hope she did.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 15 "Solitude"

It was hard to think of an ancestor that I associated with this week's theme of solitude. After some thought I have decided to write about one of my Irish immigrant 2xgreat-grandmothers: Hanora (Collins) Wallace Kennedy (my pamamama). She immigrated from Ireland in 1852 or 1853 with a husband and an infant daughter. After the birth of their second daughter, her husband presumably died. She was left alone in a foreign country with two daughters under the age of two. That sure feels like solitude to me. 

According to her grave marker, Hanora was born on 25 March 1830 in Glenbrohane Parish, County Limerick, Ireland. She married John Wallace in Ireland in about 1850. On 1 August 1852, their daughter Ellen "Nellie" Wallace was born somewhere in Ireland. Sometime between her birth and the birth of their next daughter the family came to the United States. On 31 May 1853, Hanora "Nora" Wallace was born, probably near Beloit, Wisconsin.

I assume that John Wallace died sometime in 1852 or 1853, because on 10 November 1854, Hanora married John Kennedy at Old St. Mary's catholic Church in Chicago, Illinois. I have no idea how or where they met. Shortly before the marriage John Kennedy had acquired land in Clinton County, Iowa, where the newlyweds soon settled. They went on to have four children together--the first born 9 September 1855. 

Hanora died on 24 November 1888. She was only 58 years old. Her daughter Julia, who had become a nun died three years before her. 

Hanora sure packed a lot into her brief life. I hope she found enough happiness to offset all the losses she experienced and that any traces of solitude disappeared with her second marriage and their life together raising children and farming in Clinton County.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 14 "Begins with a vowel"

 Emery and Esther Ogden were my maternal grandparents. Two given names and a shared surname that all begin with a vowel. That seems like a good choice for this prompt.

Emery Ogden about 1929

Emery was born 9 September 1896 in Union County, South Dakota, probably in Spink Township. That's where his parents were living when they got married on 25 January of that year. (and yes, I've done the math and know what that means.) He grew up on his parents' farms in Charles Mix County, South Dakota. On 27 August 1918 he enlisted in the Army. He served as a Cook in Camp Funston in Kansas. After less than four months of service, he was discharged after the end of World War I and returned home to South Dakota. He worked at various job in various places in southern South Dakota. By 1929 he had a car dealership in Rushville, Sheridan County, Nebraska. That was where he met Esther Johnson. 

Esther (Johnson) Ogden about 1920

Esther was born 23 February 1902 in Milan, Rock Island County, Illinois. Her parents moved first to Wayne County in north-east Nebraska and then to Sheridan County. Just before her final year of high school they moved their family to Henning, Otter Tail County, Minnesota. It was on a trip back to Sheridan County to visit cousins that she met Emery. 

They were married on 19 March 1929 at Morse Methodist Church in Rushville by the Reverend Robert L. Embree. After the wedding they lived in Gordon, Sheridan County, Nebraska. 

Over the course of  their marriage they lived in various places in northwest Nebraska and southwest South Dakota, including Rushville, Gordon, White Clay, Pine Ridge, and Martin. Emery ran stores, had a dairy farm for a while; he did whatever he could to support the family through the Great Depression. 

Altogether they had eight children:

1. Ardis Ogden (1930-1930)
2. Shirley Ogden (1931-2014) (my mom)
3. Living Ogden
4. Living Ogden
5. William Johnson Ogden (1938-1988)
6. Living Ogden
7. Living Ogden
8. Living Ogden

 In the summer of 1974, Esther had severe problems with anxiety and Emery had a small stroke that went undiagnosed during the confusion. They spent the next ten years in various nursing homes and elder care facilities in Rapid City, SD, where their oldest daughter, my mom lived. 

Esther died on 24 March 1984 in Rapid. Emery died two weeks later on 8 April 1984 in Martin, SD. They were 82 and 87 when they died. They are buried in Fairview Cemetery, Rushville, NE. 

Grave marker for Esther and Emery Ogden.

If you'd like to know more about them, you can check out their Wikitree profiles at Ogden-5084 and Johnson-111916.