Daddy 1913-1982

World War II  --  circa 1943

1968  --  Receiving Driver of the Year award from Daniel Bryant, President of Bekins Van Lines

By then, Daddy had been with Bekins for about 32 years.  He quit driving later that year, after 3 million accident-free miles.  But, he continued in other capacities for a total over 40 years.

He had known the Bekins' and also had genuine respect for Mr. Bryant.




 

1948  --  the two of us,

a personal treasure, for obvious reasons
I miss you, Daddy.

Mabel York: No Longer Unknown!

One of my blog posts from a few months ago included a photo of Lila Hegwer and Mabel York (and I've copied it again towards the end of this post).  I didn't discuss Mabel at all in the earlier post, assuming she was simply a friend of Lila's and no relation to my family at all.  But, in preparing photos to take to the Southern California Genealogy Society's Jamboree [2] last week, I came across a photo I didn't know I had:

 As you can see, this photo is clearly annotated that Mabel is a cousin to Ben Hegwer, my grandfather.  That was a big surprise!  So, just now, I went to my database to be sure that I have no YORKs, and found that I cannot count on my memory for much of anything anymore!  Yes, I have Mabel York and a fair amount of info on her!  And, I've had that information since at least January 2008.

Actually, Mabel and Ben are first cousins, once removed.  Mabel was one of at least 3 children of Clara Hegwer and a Mr. York.  Clara was one of the children of Henry Hegwer and his first wife, Katherenah Hornberger.  Mabel was born January 1892 in Colorado [1].

If my conclusions are correct for both girls, Lila would be Mabel's aunt, but is only about 4 months older than Mabel.  If we look at both photos side-by-side, do you agree that Mabel is the young lady on the right of the duo?

Lila Hegwer & Mabel York

Mabel York

I have no record of Mabel after the 1910 census.  Again, as you can see, the undated annotation says that she was deceased at the time of the annotation.  I hope there is a descendent of Henry Hegwer who can supply more info.

CONCLUSIONS
It's nice to know who the people in the photos are and how they fit in.  I hope that someone more closely related to Lila and Mabel than I will see and enjoy these photos!

Who knows what else I have in my files?  I must get better organized....

It's a real blow to, yet again, see that my memory is not what it once was....  I am going to have to make it a rule to ALWAYS check the database, no matter what my first impulse may be on whether or not I have a name on file. 

SOURCE and a Disclaimer/Comment

[1]  1910 US Census: Dist 96, Ward 8, Denver, Denver, Colorado

[2]  The featured photo of Mabel was scanned for me last weekend at Jamboree by ancestry.com during their  "free high-speed scanning" event.  Conference attendees (no ancestry subscription required) could make an online reservation before the conference, and then at the conference, select a specific time during the day of their reservation.  Images would be scanned into a complimentary USB drive carrying the ancestry.com logo.  The early info had included how to prepare and organize images for scanning and had said that they usually can do about 25 images in a person's time slot.  Hoping that most people would not take up ancestry.com's offer and there would be additonal time slots available, I took 87 images with me.  I was wrong about there being any extra time slots available, but it still turned out well that I had taken the extra images along!

What fun!  There were 3 scanning stations going.  The young man who did mine was very charming and very efficient.  Other than one newspaper page, my images were all simple photos organized just the way they had instructed.  He was able to do all 87 images in my 15-minute slot!  You will be seeing lots more of them here!  Thank you for this service and the USB drive, ancestry.com!  I do appreciate it.

I am an ancestry subscriber.  I do not receive any other special consideration from them.  I have never posted any photos at ancestry.com and do not have any intentions of doing so.

Treasure from the TO-FILE Pile: Western Antique Power Associates

Yesterday, working my way down, I hit 3 copies of the 2009 newsletter of the  Western Antique Power Associates.  I had received them last October when we attended a local community fair and WAPA was one of the exhibitors.  I took these two photos of some of the equipment they had on exhibit.  The blur in the photo above shows that the engine was working with the wheel spinning!   When they set up working machines, they sell corn meal that was ground by an antique right there in front of you!

Their homepage has a link to the newsletter and the April 2008 newsletter is online.  My copies of the 2009 newsletters are either a 4- or 6-page, glossy, heavy stock publication.  Each of my issues included lovely color photos of their working antiques and older black & white historic photos.  Some of the machines included a fully restored John Deere model E tractor, Desjarden's engine, Bouris' Caterpillar, and an M. Lytle & Son cylinder (circa 1900) on a Gibbs, Russel & Company bed (circa 1860s) from the oilfields of Western Pennsylvania.

I'm not a totally dedicated power fan and don't know specifically what I've photographed, but I loved re-reading these 3 issues yesterday and I loved looking at these working antiques on display.  I know my dad would have absolutely loved them, too.  I bet he would have joined their group!  I've decided I don't have the room to archive the newsletter, but at least I've published this blog about them!

First Friday Folder: Catlin, Baldwin, & the 1704 Deerfield Raid

 I took this photo of the Old Deerfield Cemetery in 2004.  I only wish I had been more careful and had taken far more photos.  I just remember that so many of the stones were seemingly impossible to read.  There are many good shots with transcriptions at other websites; here's an especially good one by "Cyndy."

This month's First Friday Folder was selected because I found TCasteel's  Tangled Trees blog.  I have already forgotten how I recently stumbled on it (probably something from a Geneablogger), but it gave me new info to add to this folder, so here we are!

8th Great-Grandparents John Catlin and Mary Baldwin

John Catlin was born 1643, possibly in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, the son of John Catlin and Isabella Ward [1].  He was killed 29 February 1704 [2] during the Deerfield, Hampshire (now Franklin county), Massachusetts raid.

Mary Baldwin was probably baptized 23 June 1644 in Milford, Hartford, Connecticut, daughter of Joseph Baldwin and his wife Hannah (Whitlocke) [3].  Mary died 9 April 1704 [2], at least in part from the trauma and stress of the death and abduction of so many of her family in the raid.

They were married 23 September 1662 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut [1].  Their children were John, Mary, Elizabeth, Hannah, Esther, Sarah, Joseph, and possibly 3 others.

What the Folder Needed

The most fun was adding printouts of a blog post from TCasteel on Mary and another about John, and adding the info to my database.   I knew there was a monument honoring John Catlin's status as the first school teacher in Newark, New Jersey, but I had never seen it.  TCasteel posted a photo and transcription!  It's so nice to finally have a photo of the monument!  Thank you, Tangled Trees!

The database family group sheet was from 2004 and my old software, so I printed out a new one.  There were about 6 things in the folder to discard: old undocumented website printouts, a 26 Nov 2004 Los Angeles Times article (p. A33) about George Catlin (not my line), old handwritten family group sheets from before I had a computer database, and so on.  I am forcing myself to be less compulsive and not hoard everything: I am NOT responsible for archiving the world!  I also made a new folder and family group sheet for John's parents.

Of course, reviewing the folder led to a bit of new research.  TCasteel had slightly different info than I do for some of the details and, as new genealogy cousins, we are in the process of analyzing it all.  It's so exciting!  I did find an article from New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGR), today, that is new to me [4].  It fits well with a comment Gary Boyd Roberts made to me that 'John Whitlock' is not the father of the Hannah who married Joseph Baldwin.  So, I have just removed 'John Whitlock' as Hannah's father in my database. 

I see that, yet again, my sources for some of the BMD data are not what they should be: mostly compiled genealogies.  I also see that I have only 7 children listed for John and Mary and it appears that there may be 10.  I will definitely look at that issue first!

Great Resources on the 1704 Deerfield Raid

I admit that I had never heard of the "Deerfield Massacre" before I learned of my relationship to the Catlin family.  I remember asking myself why had all these people died on the same day....  This post is not the place to go into details, but the following book, magazine, and website are filled with info about the 1704 raid on Deerfield:

Evan Haefeli & Kevin Sweeney, Captors and Captives: The 1704 French and Indian Raid on Deerfield.  Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2003.  This book is very thorough and well written while remaining enjoyable reading. The endnotes, appendices and bibliography are excellent.

Historic Deerfield.  A nice website and a great place to visit.  There is a general newsletter and a group for descendants. 

Historic Deerfield Magazine.  Vol 4 (1), Spring 2004  .  The magazine is published by Historic Deerfield, Inc., and this issue is still available through their online museum store.  The description there says 64pp, but my copy is only 40pp.  The whole issue was dedicated to the raid, given that it was the 300th anniversary.  I especially like the article by Philip Zea, which includes a map and photos by Allison Williams Bell from along the trail the captives were forced along north into Canada.  Since the photos were taken about the same time of the year, it gives a much better idea of what the captives faced than when I was there in late summer.

Conclusions
I feel a good bit of closure now having seen at least a photo of the Catlin monument in New Jersey.  And, I have a new cousin!

This was my third First Friday Folder, and I think that's a good thing.  But, I am now 3 for 3 at finding family group sheets with sources that are far less than what they should be.  Yuck!  These three folders are now in better shape than they were, but I shudder at the thought of what else is lurking in that file cabinet!

Sources & Disclaimer
I receive no special consideration from any of the companys or groups mentioned here.  I purchased my copies of the Deerfield book and magazine.  I am a member of NEHGS.  Photo by MHD.

[1] George Sheldon, George.  History of Deerfield, Massachusetts (2 volumes).  Greenfield, Massachusetts: Press of EA Hal & Co.,1895. (available at Heritage Quest Online)

[2]Thomas W. Baldwin (comp.). Vital Records of Deerfield, Massachusetts to the Year 1850. Boston: 1920.  p. 271. (available at both HeritageQuest & Ancestry.com)

[3] Eugenie Fellows, "How One Descendant of Baldwin, Catlin and Ward Became a Canadian." Connecticut Nutmegger, 30:370.  [May 2014 update: better sources are a) "Ancestry of the Children of Robert Croll Stevens and Jane Eleanor (Knauss) Stevens," vols. 4 &6, by Robert Croll Stevens; and 2) Connecticut VR to 1870 {Barbour Collection} at NEHGS--Milford p. 12]...year only for Mary's baptism.

[4] David Kendall Martin, "Joseph2 Baldwin, Jr. of Milford, Connecticut, and Hadley, Massachusetts." NEHGR, 156:103-111.  Joseph of the title is a brother of my Mary Baldwin.  A good deal of info and some exciting leads on other sources to pursue about his parents is included!

Great Census Problem Swap

Do you have someone you can't find in the census?  I do!  Wanna swap problems?

Ordinarily I'm very, very good at finding people in the US censuses and I have found many problem listings for other people.  But, I still have a few of my own Census Problems!  I think new perspectives might help, so I'm starting "The Great Census Problem Swap!" 

We can swap problems for a while and see where it takes us all.  I'll give info on one of my problems.  If you care to spend some time on my problem, just post one of YOUR census problems as a comment and I will work on yours!  I promise to give it my best shot!  

Clara Eveline (Davidson) Porter in the 1900 US Census?
In 1900, Clara was probably recently widowed, her father had just died, and her only daughter had been married in the past year. Clara should be 50-52 years old and probably with her 16-year-old son, L. Willis.  How far could she have gotten?  

Clara was born 24 Jun 1848 in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont, daughter of Titus Davison and Hannah Bascom.  Clara appears to have always used the spelling DAVIDSON, while Titus consistently used DAVISON.  She married Celim Homer Porter 22 Mar 1870 in Colchester, Chittenden, Vermont. 

I have Clara in all of the following censuses:

• 1850 & 1860 in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont with her parents
• 1870 in Colchester, Chittenden, Vermont with Celim and his parents
• 1880 in Woods, Chippewa, Minnesota with SA (Celim), and sons George, Frank, and William (who I believe is also called Roy G.).
• 1910 & 1920 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California with son L Willis

But I cannot find her or son L Willis anywhere in the 1900 census.

Daughter Cora May Porter was born 16 December 1881 in Kerkhoven, Swift, Minnesota and son L (Leslie?) Willis Porter was born 28 Mar 1884 in Big Stone, Grant, South Dakota Territory.  However, Willis's birthdate is from a Delayed Birth Certificate filed many years later.  

I believe her husband Celim died 23 March 1898 in Grant, South Dakota, but I only have a family note to that effect.  I do have formal sources for a 1906 probate in Vermont with no mention of a date or place of his death. Clara's father, Titus, died 22 May 1900, in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont. 

Other family in the 1900 census
Son George C. is in St. Anthony precinct, Franklin County, Idaho with his family.  Daughter Cora is in Big Stone Twp, Grant, South Dakota with her new husband.  There is a Frank Porter, 24, single, butcher, living along in Fort Pierre Stanley, South Dakota, but I don't know for sure if this is Clara's son.  There is a Roy G., 23, born Iowa, in the 8th ward, Omaha, Douglas, but I don't know for sure if this is Clara's son.

Two of Clara's three remaining siblings are still in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont for the 1900 census.  The third, Willis A. Davison, is unaccounted for; I think he had left Vermont. 

Possibilities?
At some point, Clara acquired a farm in what is now Bottineau County, North Dakota; the legend is that she won it in a poker game.  There are also family legends that Porterville in California got its name from the family and that son L Willis was a cowboy in Texas before coming to California.  (His first wife was born in Texas.  Their only child was born in 1913 in Los Angeles.)  

Finding Clara or her son L Willis in the 1900 census will probably not give me any earth-shattering new info.  It will just fill in some missing info.

Who is your biggest census problem?  If you care to share, I'll be glad to give it a try!  Have a great day!

Great Resource: Los Angeles City Directories

My biggest problem in tackling the "To Do" piles is that even just one brief item to check out in a newsletter can keep me busy all afternoon! This week, it was one tiny, little article in the May 2010 Questing Heirs Genealogy Society's Newsletter [1] reporting that the Los Angeles Public Library had added the 1923 edition of the LA City Directory to their digital collection.

I have made the trip to the Los Angeles Public Library in downtown LA a few times; their genealogy collection is quite good. I have used the cumbersome microfilm copies of the directories to track approximate arrivals in and movement around Los Angeles for my Hegwer, Porter, and Keating lines. But I had no idea that any of the directories are online! Wow! And anyone can access them from home: no library card required! (Of course, if you do have a card, there are lots of other databases you can also access.) Note that this is the library of the City of Los Angeles; the Los Angeles County library system is a completely different entity [2].

Access the directories at http://www.lapl.org/resources/en/.  [Personally, I cannot find a way to easily get to this link from their home page!]   Select the link to the 'Los Angeles City and Street Directories.'  Once you get there, the search engine for the site is super easy. Of course, just to test it, I put in my names and found some new-to-me info!

This image is from p. 1082 of the 1942 Los Angeles City Directory.  Leonard Benjamin HEGWER was one of Great-Uncle Henry Hegwer's children with his second wife, Flora Wallace. A meterman with the city power company, Leonard appears in the 1929, 1936, 1938, 1939, and 1942 Los Angeles directories, each time at a different address! Interestingly, the listings also vary by who else is recorded with him:

1929 -- alone

1936 -- Louise I.

1938 -- Louise T.

1939 -- alone

1942 -- Dollie

The 2 listings where Leonard is listed without another name don't bother me; I know there are many instances where the directories do not show spouses. My records show that a marriage license was issued in Los Angeles for him and Louise Isabelle Ferguson in 1924, but I don't know if 'Dollie' is Louise.

Genealogy lessons for today

• The newsletters from local genealogy societies can have all sorts of wonderful goodies in them.
• Freely accessible digital collections at libraries are rapidly growing.
• Working on the ToDo pile can create more to do!
• Leonard is very collateral for me, so I probably won't spend any more time on his marriage(s?), but it does remind me that new info can turn up when you least expect it.

Line of Descent

Carl Benjamin Hegwer = Maria Rosina Ilgner

Henry Hegwer = Flora Wallace (his second marriage)

Leonard Benjamin Hegwer = Louise Ferguson and/or ????

Disclaimer & Notes

I do not receive any special consideration from any of the entities mentioned in this blog post.  I have a library card for both libraries mentioned and I am a Questing Heirs member.  For the directory image, first I saved and printed the page I wanted.  Then I took a digital photo of a portion of the page and cropped it.

[1] Questing Heirs Genealogical Society meets in Long Beach, California. Both their monthly newsletter and monthly meetings are always very interesting.  Past issues of the newsletters are available to anyone at the website.

[2] A library card from the Los Angeles County Library is free to temporary or permanent county residents.  I can access Heritage Quest from home and use my local branch for inter-library loans for lots of genealogy sources! 

Two Different Ideas from One Blog Post

I follow Arlene Eakle's blogs since she has a lot of interest in the MidWest, Kentucky, and good research in general.  Her new blog post, "American Mobility Declines in the 21st Century," gave me two new ideas!  

First, she talked about mobility in this country, citing a 2008 statistic from USA Today: 57% of Americans reported that they have never lived outside the state in which they were born.  Very interesting!

If I look at my pedigree chart from me back through my great-great-grandparents, I have a total of 25 individuals.  Only 8 of them lived solely in one state (or county of England): me, Mom, and 6 of my great-great-grandparents: one in Missouri, 2 who spent their lives in Vermont, and 3 who stayed in Yorkshire.  That's only 32%.  If I'd stopped calculating at the great-grandparent level, it's only 13%! And, that's assuming I never move out-of-state....

Secondly, Arlene finished the post with links to 3 new state memory websites:  Virginia, West Virginia, & Kansas.  Of course, I quickly linked to Kansas Memory, which was created by the Kansas State Historical Society.  There are lots and lots of goodies there, including a blog for the site.

Clicking on Chase County on the state map, led me to 71 items, all of which were interesting in one way or another.  Most of it was too recent to directly pertain to my direct line, but one of the items is a copy of the 1901 ten-page plat book for Chase County!  Each page is fully viewable/savable.  Here is a part of Twp 18S Range 7E:

I didn't see any HEGWERs in the book, but here are some closely related FINKs and BOENITZ/BENNETTs.  Other pages have FREYs, DRUMMONDS, and UMBERGERs.  All in all, it is super interesting to see where these cousins were living in relationship to each other.

A great big 'Thank You!' to the Kansas Historical Society for such a great website!  Thank you, Arlene, for such a thought-provoking blog post.

First Friday Folder: Joshua Lassell & Mary Burnap

This is the second in (hopefully) a habit of regularly picking a folder that I have not seen for a while and giving it a once over.  I thought last month's folder cleaning went well!  With any luck, this process will eventually lead to either more room in the file drawer &/or better plans on what to do next!

Seventh-Great-Grandparents Joshua Lassell and Mary Burnap

Both Joshua and Mary were descendants  of Great Migration immigrants.  Joshua was born 18 February 1688/1689 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and died 11 April 1767 in Kent, Litchfield, Connecticut.  Mary was born 6 January 1686/1687 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts, and died before 1740, probably in Connceticut.  They were married 14 Dec 1714 in Windham, Windham, Connecticut.

I picked this particular folder because I haven't worked on these lines for a while but had a nagging feeling that something was pending, and I was right!  Organizing the contents of this folder was easy since there were only 2 items in it about Joshua and Mary, but there were several things for Mary's ancestors.  I had verified her lines, but had not made the folders and had just stuck info in with Joshua & Mary.

So, I made 5 new folders and printed out new family group sheets for everyone.  I saw that while I had cited it for his ancestors, I had neglected to site one of the main sources for the LASSELL line in any of Joshua's events:  Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis [1].  A three volume set, this book is considered to be a reliable source for early New England information.  I was led to its Lassell info by Hollick's New Englanders in the 1600s [2], which is a wonderful index to recent, quality research.  I've had the book for 3 years now, and still haven't finished following up all the excellent citations it gives.

As for a plan for further research, there are no big controversies around this couple.  The only big thing I'm missing is death information for Mary (and I will keep an eye out for it), but if greater greater minds than I have not found it yet, I will put it toward the bottom of the research list.

While filing the new folders for BURNAP ancestors, I saw that I had not yet removed the folders for the  Martha Swift line, which I believe is NOT part of my ancestry.  So, in removing Swift, Hatch, Wing, Dillinham, etc., this FirstFridayFolder effort still resulted in having more room in the file drawer even though I added 5 folders!  Hurray!

Conclusions 

There are still many early New Englanders with entries in Hollick for me to find, read, and synthesize.  What I really need is a plan to more efficiently use my time!

It's only 2 months old, but First Friday Folder is working for me so far.  I feel a sense of accomplishment from today's efforts! 

Surname Line of Descent:  Mary Burnap

Thomas Burnap = Johanna Norrys  (my 14th-great-grandparents)

Thomas Burnap = Alice Cramphorne

Thomas Burnap = unknown

Tobert Burnap = Ann/Agnes Miller

Robert Burnap = Ann

John Burnap = Mary Rice

Mary Burnap = Joshua Lassell

Surname Line of Descent: John Lazell

John Lazell = Elizabeth Gates (my 9th-great-grandparents)

Thomas Lassell = Mary Allen

Joshua Lassell = Mary Burnap

Isaac Lasell = Bethiah Woodward

Abigail Lasell = Joseph Palmer

Zenas Palmer = Lydia Marshall

Lydia Palmer = David Bascom

Hannah Field Bascom = Titus Davison

Clara Eveline Davidson = Celim Homer Porter

L Willis Porter (my grandfather)

References

[1] Walter Goodwin Davis, Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966): A Reprinting, in Alphabetical Order by Surname, of the Sixteen Multi-Ancestor Compendia (Three volumes).  Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1996. The Lassell entry is in Vol. 2, pp. 412-415+.

[2]  Martin E. Hollick, New Englanders in the 1600s: A Guide to Genealogical Research Published Between 1980 and 2005.  Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2006.

Disclaimers

I receive no special consideration from these publishers.  I bought my own copy of Hollick; I access Davis at a local Regional Family History Center.