Sunday, December 27, 2009

Have Irishman...Need family - Is this him?




I was given this photo by Sally J. Conlin who believes it to be either Martin John Conlin (1828-1896), the Irishman in a previous post, or his son Michael Conlin (1866-1936). I am thrilled to have the photo regardless of who it is. It would be especially nice to know for sure though! It may be possible to narrow down the date if I focus on the photographer J.C. Gardner.

I found a Johnson C Gardner in the 1900 and 1910 Brookfield, Linn County, Missouri census' with the occupation of a photographer born in Pennsylvania about 1844. His wife was Elizabeth born 1850 in Pennsylvania. I did not find Johnson in the 1880 census, however there was a Steven C Gardner born in Pennsylvania about 1844 with photography as an occupation. His wife was listed as Elizabeth born in 1850 in Pennsylvania.

With the time-line information on the photographer, it is possible that the photograph could be of either Martin or Michael. I was hoping to rule out one or the other, but that doesn't appear to be the case here. More research to do!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Have Irishman...Need family

Martin John Conlin walked the earth for 68 years, 46 of those were in the United States. The first 22 years were in Roscommon Ireland and it is information from those years that I seek.

I have a Declaration of Naturalization and a marriage record that places Martin in Cuyahoga County Ohio from about 1852 to 1856. I have census records that place Martin in Mexico, Audrain County, Missouri in 1860. The remainder of Martins life is spent in Linn County Missouri where he rests today in St. Michael's Cemetery in Brookfield.

The Last Will & Testament of Martin gives little information, everything is left to his wife, Ellen McGowan, whom he married in 1856 in Cleveland, Ohio. Martin's obituary states that he was one of the oldest residents of Brookfield and that he worked for the railroad. In all the accumulated documents and family stories passed down, there is no mention of Martin's family in Roscommon. There is no mention of parents, brothers or sisters. Without a family to tie him to how do I find the right Martin Conlin born in December 1828 in Roscommon Ireland?

My first step will be to search for other possible records that may have been created during Martin's life in the United States. Church records, land records and his Declaration of Intent to become a US citizen are first on my list to search. The next items that may shed some light are documents of Martin's descendants. Martin had three sons and one daughter, John, Thomas, Michael and Mary Ellen. While I have some information on each, there is still more to be found.

I have an Irishman and I would like to reconnect him to his family.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Blog Caroling - Celebrate Me Home

Following footnoteMaven's lead, here is my blog caroling post.

Merry Christmas!


Celebrate Me Home by Kenny Loggins

Home for the holidays
I believe I've missed each and every face
Come on and play my music
Let's turn on every love light in the place

It's time I found myself
Totally surrounded in your circles
Whoa, my friends

Please, celebrate me home
Give me a number,
Please, celebrate me home
Play me one more song
That I'll always remember
And I can recall
Whenever I find myself all alone
I can sing me home

Uneasy highway
Travelin where the Westerly winds can fly
Somebody tried to tell me
But the men forgot to tell me why

I gotta count on being gone
Come on woman, come on daddy
Be what you want from me
I'm this strong I'll be weak

Please, celebrate me home
Give me a number
Please, celebrate me home
Play me one more song
That I'll always remember
I can recall
Whenever I find myself too all alone
I can make believe I've never gone
I never know where I belong
Sing me home

Please, celebrate me home
Give me a number
Please, celebrate me home
Play me one more song

Celebrate, Celebrate
Celebrate, Celebrate
Celebrate, Celebrate
Celebrate me home

Please, celebrate me home
Please, celebrate me home
Well I'm finally here
But I'm bound to roam
Come on celebrate me home
Well I'm finally here
But I'm bound to roam
Come on celebrate me home
Well I'm finally here
But I'm bound to roam
Come on celebrate me home
Please, celebrate me home
Please, celebrate me home
Please, celebrate me home
Please, celebrate me home

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Tombstone Tuesday Willis



Calvin M Willis husband to Sarah L. Merys
B: Nov 16, 1875
D: June 2, 1956
Mount Mariah, Kansas City, MO

At the center of the stone the image appears to be a hand holding a brick. Surrounding that image are the words Branch No. 30 Kansas City MO.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Randy Seaver from Genea-Musings has assigned another fun genealogy task!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to find which celebrities that have the same facial features that you (or someone else you choose) have. Here are the directions:

1) Go to http://www.myheritage.com/ - you don't have to be a registered member to use this feature. Click on the "Celebrities and Fun" tab.

2) Click on the "Celebrity Collage" tab, and then on the "Create my Collage" button.

3) Upload a photograph with your face (or another person's face) to the site (the face must be at least 100 x 100 pixels) and click on the "Run face recognition" button.

4) Select a collage template, and the faces (up to 8) to go into the collage template. Click on "Next" and "Preview" your template, which should bring up the template for you to review. You could click on "Save" and it would go off to your selected social networking site.

5) Figure out how to show your collage on your blog or social network site (I have my own process defined below).

6) Tell us which celebrities that you (or your selected person) look alike - write your own blog post, make a comment to this post or on Facebook.

7) Think about how you could use something like this as a Christmas gift.




I've posted my collage on Facebook as well as this blog. I know 3 of the 5 celebrities I "supposedly" look like! What I think would be interesting is how many different celebrities I can be compared to by using different photos of myself. Another interesting twist is to see what is the highest percentage match someone receives. With 72% being my highest now, I have room for improvement! I'm not sure I would not use this as a Christmas gift but I can see it being fun to add to Christmas cards!

Thanks Randy, this was fun to play with!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Weather Report - A change of temperature



A change of temperature was in store for these two ladies. Wyoudia Emery, my father's step-sister and Katherine Allen, my mother's sister, are pictured together here. I am unsure of the year or exact location. However, I believe it to be around 1950 in Clifton Springs, New York.

I have several photographs that state on the back "taken before leaving for New York". That move would have been from Arkansas, around Shirley in Van Buren County. I remember the story to be that the family moved to New York to get jobs on some type of pipeline. They stayed several years then all moved back to Missouri.

The snow must have been a novelty for these Arkansas natives as most of the photos labeled as being in New York include snow.

Surname Saturday BAUDERMANN (New Jersey, Germany)

Leonard BAUDERMANN was born in Baden, Germany in 1840 according to the 1870 Federal census. I have Leonard's arrival to the US with his family in 1852 at the Port of New York. The ship's passenger list for the British Bark Anna Morka lists an 11 year old Leonard with his parents Wendelin and Appolonia HEMMER and siblings Michael, Mathilda, Maria, Julianna and Appolonia.

In the 1870 Federal census Leonard is listed as a butcher with his first wife Magdelina Theresia HELLINGER and 3 of their 9 children! After Magdelina's death, Leonard married Maria Carolina LUCKING and had an additional 6 children!

The North American Vital Records Index shows the BAUDERMANN children were christened in either the St. Mary's Catholic Church in Newark, Essex, New Jersey or in St. Augustine Catholic Church in Newark, Essex, New Jersey.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Monday, November 16, 2009

Vacation in New Orleans

Husband and I are spending a few days in New Orleans. I hope to be back with some great cemetery photos! We will also be visiting the National WW II Museum.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Kreative Blogger Award


I am so excited and thankful to Karen at Ancestor Soup for my nomination. It is very rewarding to know someone besides myself is reading my blog. Keeping company with so many other great bloggers is also very satisfying.

To continue the pay-it-forward aspect of this award, I must tell you seven things about myself and then add my nominations for the Kreative Blogger Award.

1. I've never considered myself a writer, I talk a LOT better than I write!

2. The genealogy blogging community is surprisingly close. The other bloggers
are friendly and helpful. Thank you for patiently answering my questions!

3. In the past five years I have visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake
City two times! Can you say awesome!?!

4. I love genealogy conferences! I have attended one national and one state
conference. Nothing will jump-start your research like several hundred other
people with the same interest as you in the one location.

5. Genealogy podcast hosts are some real gems! Don't worry guys I'm not
a stalker but I am addicted to listening!

6. Blogging, tweeting and posting on Facebook are big distractions from my
research.

and lastly...

7. My name is Jenna and I lack citations! I have entries in my genealogy database program that do not have source citations! A truly beginners mistake that I am working to correct!

Now to continue with the spirit of this award. I would like to submit nominations for the following blogs to receive the Kreative Blogger Award!

My Ancestors and Me

Kick-Ass Genealogy

Family Tree Writer

Lessons From My Ancestors

blylines

Life From The Roots

The Genealogy Gals

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Friday, November 13, 2009

Honoring Our Heroes David Emery



United States Army 36th Infantry 3rd Armoured Division

Date of Enlistment: Oct 2, 1943
Date of Death: Oct 17, 1944
Buried: Henri-Chapelle, Belgium

Awards: Purple Heart

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Honoring our Heroes Veteran's Day 2009





Sadly, I never asked my Dad about his time in the Army during WW II. I knew he was in the Army Signal Corps and spent his time overseas but I wasn't even sure where. After his passing I found his letter of discharge from the Army and that did provide me with valuable information. In addition to the standard facts of birth date, location, place of enlistment and place of separation, I focused in on a couple of areas of the form. One being the permanent address listed


Veterans_Day_Carol_Vanderman_1005th_Signal_Corps


Amhurst, Nebraska. This is very odd as after 1930 I did not know that anyone from my Dad's family was left in Nebraska. My Dad was discharged from the Army in 1945. That is an item I will have to do more research on. The next area that answered many of my questions is the sections for Battles and Campaigns. This is where I found out my Dad had spent his time in Africa, Italy and France!

I was curious to know more and wrote to the National Personnel Center and included a copy of my Dad's discharge papers. I requested detailed service records. The letter I received was a little disappointing. The National Personnel Center didn't even have his discharge papers due to the fire there in 1973, however, they were glad I had provided them with a copy! The letter went onto say they had forwarded my letter to a division of the Army, but I should not expect any better results. They were wrong!

Veterans_Day_Carol_Vanderman


Three months later I received an envelope from the Department of the Army. Enclosed were copies of historical data on the 1005th Signal Company. While there was no reference to specific individuals it was an overview of the movements of the 1005th. A particular entry caught my eye as it mentioned the 1005th Signal Co is entitled to battle honors from the Tunisia campaign. As I read further I found two similar entries. This was exciting but after going through all of the Dad's boxes again I did not find any type of medals. I shouldn't have spent the time looking for them. About two weeks later a box arrived from the Department of the Army containing reissued medals that my father had received!

  • The Good Conduct Medal
  • Victory Medal, World War II
  • European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Honoring Our Heroes Howard Vanderman



Date of Enlistment: May 11, 1942
Date of Discharge: Feb 23, 1946

Army of the United States
246th Army Air Forces Base Unit, Pratt, Kansas

Military occupation specialty: Airplane and Engine Mechanic, Army Air Force Gunnery Instructor, Carbine Sharpshooter

Monday, November 9, 2009

Honoring Our Heroes Carol Vanderman



Date of Enlistment: April 25, 1942
Date of Discharge: Sept 14, 1945

United States Army 1005th Signal Company

Battles and Campaigns: Tunisia, Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Northern Apennines, Rhineland, Po Valley

Friday, November 6, 2009

Touchdown Tales - Friday Night at the High School Stadium

Thoughts of Friday night football games bring back great memories! My son played while I stalked the sidelines taking photos. I was usually too excited or nervous to ever sit in the stands.



Senior night was a bittersweet highlight at the end of the season. As the seniors were honored it began to dawn on them that this is it. The days of playing under the Friday night lights were at an end.






The boys have now gone on to college, the military and employment careers. I sure do miss the high school games, they were always so exciting! Thanks for some great memories!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Getting Organized Genealogy Style Day 7

Today's organization has revolved around this blog. I've spent time tweaking a few of the options Blogger provides such as the number of posts that show on a page as well as the layout for labels and archives. I've also played around with the feature that allows you to schedule when a post is published. I've not used that in the past and now realize what a convenience it will be. I need to do more work on my links and photos to ensure that each open in a new window rather than navigating the visitor away from my site. That requires minor HTML code that I am now learning.

The Genealogy & Family History Blogger's Almanac, created by The Family Curator, has proven inspirational to me. I like the seasonally inspired blogging prompts and the overall monthly theme. The idea to schedule posts in the future is covered in the Almanac and finally a light bulb came on for me in that respect! I feel more organized now and look forward to planning my future posts for November!

Now back to scanning photos. I have my maternal Grandfather's photo album and need to preserve the photos!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Getting Organized Genealogy Style Day 6


A task on Dear Myrtle's organization checklist includes scanning in all those photos tossed into a box. I have started on this item and have scanned 250 photos so far. After scanning, the goal is to name and organize the photos by family groups. That will be the most time consuming aspect of this task for sure!

During the scanning process (several hours so far) several questions have arisen. Why do Wyouida Emery and Howard Vanderman have such a strong resemblance to each other when she was an adopted sister? Why does Viola Vanderman's photo album, spanning many years, have photos of her adopted children and no photos of her natural children?

I have also begun to believe that all the photos I thought were of my grandmother may actually be of my great-grandmother also. I hope as I continue this process I find more photos with information on the back that may make things clearer.

I am including a photo I found just because it's a fun photo. There is no writing on the back, but I believe this photo is from the Emery or Evingham lines.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Birthday Tribute



Edith Irene Allen
October 15, 1926 - July 20, 2001

Mother of 9 and wife for 56 years!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Getting Organized Genealogy Style Day 5

At this rate, Dear Myrtle and her monthly checklists, are going to leave me in the dust!! Although I didn't start the January checklist until August, I could be more focused and diligent with this process.

At this point, I have all loose documents filed in 3 ring binders. I chose to file alphabetically with direct ancestors name on a colored tab, all collateral names have a white tab. Before I continue, I will review all documents that I have. As a beginner I was saving everything I came across whether it actually pertained to the individual or not. I have many items that may potentially be of value but I need to take a second look at everything.

I have high hopes for this review process. Some of the items I found nine years ago when I first started genealogy. At that time I really didn't know what I was looking at or for! I will use this opportunity to fully extract the information and analyze the clues it may give me.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Susan Allen is missing in 1920







Susan Hart Allan/Allen has been a challenge to work on. I have evidence, although, not to the proof standard that she is my 2nd Great Grandmother. Part of my evidence is a recurring address: 3429 Flora Avenue in Kansas City MO. In 1910 and 1930 I can find a Susan Allen enumerated at this address. I also have my Great Grandfather's WWI Draft card (1918) listing Susan Allen at 3429 Flora Avenue in Kansas City MO as his nearest relative. My Great Grandfather's death certificate lists a Suelda Hart as his mother. Lastly I have a death certificate for Susan Hart Allen at 3429 Flora. While I continue to try to nail down this relationship I'm curious as to where Susan was in 1920. When I pull up the 1920 census for 3429 Flora an unknown family is living there. Is it odd that Susan would live there move away and then move back to the same house 20 years later?

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Scottsdale Arizona Sept 2009






I am back home from a week's business trip in Scottsdale. I hope to get back to my research in the next day or two.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Getting organized genealogy style Day 4

It has been a few "days" between my Day 3 and Day 4 posts but such is life!! I purchased more supplies to continue working on Dear Myrtle's January organization checklist. I now have plenty of sheet protectors and tabbed dividers. However, I did not purchase enough 3 ring binders, but I can still get started.

After going through the checklist, multiple times, I decided it would be best for me to tweak the system to meet my needs. I put all surnames, direct and collateral, in binders alphabetically. I then created a separate notebook to file just my family group sheets. In that folder I did separate out direct and collateral lines.

I still have filing to complete before I get to the item on the checklist that I believe will be the most challenging...reconciling what I have on paper with electronic copies and data input into my Legacy database. Whew...not looking forward to that right now! I do feel a small sense of accomplishment, which I believe is what Dear Myrtle's checklist is all about. Organizing in small doses will still get you where you need to be.

Tomorrow I am going to the Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri to attend a class on Wills and Probate records. I hope to be bringing home more documents to file!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Bittersweet Journey of a Child's School Days

Smile for the Camera 17th Edition




It has been a bittersweet journey from the first day of school until the first day of college. Along the way we have had four years of soccer games, six years of basketball games, eight years of baseball games and nine years of football games!! There have been interesting, and not so interesting, field trips, school plays, musicals and too many fundraisers to even think about! Some years were more challenging than others but we made it through them all.



The proud moments greatly outweigh the sad and the good moments overcome the bad. But it's in those bittersweet moments that you realize your child is growing up.

Love ya Cody! Good luck and GO BEARCATS!!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun On Sunday

I never get these challenges in on Saturday night, they are becoming a Sunday ritual. This week Randy Seaver of the Genea-Musings blog presented the challenge to list all of the ancestors we have met and include information about them. Randy was able to list eight ancestors and assumed that was on the low side. It will be interesting to see the highest number of ancestors that are posted. I am on the low end of the low end with only having met three of my ancestors!

Carol Ryan Vanderman (Baudermann) 1922-2001 born in New Jersey, died in Missouri

Edith Irene Allen 1926-2001 born in Missouri, died in Missouri

Gladys Irene Merys Allen 1903-1995 born in Kansas, died in Missouri

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Treasure Chest Thursday




This is a page from the photo album that was my Grandpa Allens. While I am thrilled to have the photo album and thrilled there are names of who is in the photo...it is sad that the names are on the front of the photos!! Please do not write on the front of photos!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun On Sunday!

Below is my response to the Genea-Musings blogs Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge.

I started my genealogy research in 2001 with one goal in mind...find my paternal grandfather. I have done that and picked up a couple of great-grandfathers along the way! My current goal is to fully document as many generations as I can with evidence supporting my pedigree. I hope I have another 30-40 years to work towards this goal, but one just never knows. My parents both died in their mid 70's, I hope I have that and more.

My research has come in bits and pieces. I tend to spend more time on genealogy in the winter months. Research time also has revolved around family demands such as school activities and sports. My son leaves for college in 12 days! No more football games, baseball games or Booster Club meetings! I anticipate having more time to not only research, but expand my knowledge in genealogy by attending more classes and seminars.

Getting organized genealogy style Day 3

The next item on the January checklist that I do not have a check mark for is to: Make four basic categories and sort all the loose papers, documents and photos into one of those categories. I did modify the categories to suit my research style. I have five categories, I can't do without a "miscellaneous" category!

Next item is to replace any missing or lost office supplies. I am in good shape with folders, labels, etc. However, to the lady who bought my 3-ring binders during the city-wide garage sale August 1st...you are going to need to bring those back for a refund! What was I thinking selling those????

I am now into week two of Dear Myrtle's checklist for January. Create a surname notebook for each major surname. Time to visit Office Max for more 3-ring binders!

GHLL Weekly Updates

Updates have been posted to surnames, domestic resources, foreign resources and miscellaneous pages.

GENEALOGY/HISTORY LINKS LIBRARY

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Getting organized genealogy style Day 2

I printed off (yes waste of paper in this digital age but I am still old school about some things) Dear Myrtle's Jan - April 2009 Organization Checklists. I've went through each month and checked off the items that I have already done and highlighted those that are still to do. Guess what...I have more highlights than check marks! Not surprising, but I'm not at a concerned point yet either. Many of the to-dos include making purchases of various supplies, which I may or may not do depending on cash flow. I may choose to improvise with the supplies I currently have, which will add more check marks quickly!

Now it's time to go back through the checklists and focus on the highlighted items!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Getting organized genealogy style

Ah the dreaded task of organizing the unorganized! I will say that I do not have a huge pile of unattended documents, notes or photos laying on a desk or table somewhere. Everything is SOMEPLACE! Documents are either filed in a three-ring binder, or in a file folder to be reviewed. Most, 90%, of my documents are scanned but only about 50% of my photos.

Before I start patting myself on the back though, I still have to remember there is no set organization to my genealogy material. If a researcher contacted me on a common family line I may get lucky and find that I have the data input into my genealogy software and an electronic copy of the document attached to the ancestor in question. What are the odds of me being this lucky? I wouldn't bet the farm!

I've found several online sources to assist with getting things in order, even a couple of videos are on YouTube. However, I've decided I like the checklists I found on Dear Myrtle's blog. She has a month by month checklist (started in January and I'm what 8 months behind?) that is broken down into weekly tasks. I like that! Rather than facing a large project and trying to make sense of it in one fell swoop, Myrtle breaks it down into manageable pieces.

That is my goal each week to work on a task as suggested! We will see how far I get and how quickly!