My daughter is taking a year-long geography course this year. Last week she was learning about the “pushes” and “pulls” that cause people to migrate or move. Sometimes people move because something disagreeable or unacceptable occurs and they are trying to get away from it. While other times the pull of something desirable in another place causes them to migrate. Although I have yet to find any evidence that they won any land, I believe some of my family members moved to Oklahoma for the 1901 Land Lottery. (I know they were in Lawton by early 1903.) Free land? That’s...
I’m busy looking through the small town paper where my family has lived since the early 1870s. I lived there when I was young and have many relatives still in the area. These small papers are full of interesting articles! One article I found this morning said that my second great grand uncle, or the brother of my second great grandmother, had “entertained those present [at a ‘big dinner’] by reciting one of his German poems.” Oh, how I wish I could read that poem! But, then I found one published in the newspaper! (And maybe there are more?) It...
May 31st, 1899. An electrical storm bursts upon the small town of Ashton, Kansas during the late evening hours. Thunder booms and lightning flashes across the sky. A young family probably tries to sleep but the mother and father are kept awake by the show. Then, they hear what sounds like a train coming towards them. They probably crouch together for safety and hold on tight to their baby boy. And then the tornado hits their house. Image from Wikipedia The house is torn apart by the twister. It is demolished. The husband is blown 450 feet away and is...
It looks like Ancestry has had old yearbooks on their site for awhile, but I think they recently added some new ones including one that is useful to me: Arkansas City High School in Kansas. My grandmother, Hazel Peters, graduated from there in 1928. Hazel Peters (1910-1975) (married to James Edward Stewart) Senior Photo – original in possession of family I don’t know what is legal to post from Ancestry, so I’m thankful that Hazel’s senior photo is on the possession of my family. (Note: the hair looks odd because it was digitally colored & I changed it back to...
I found the following newspaper advertisement twenty-two times in the Arkansas City Daily Traveler. I guess Eckert (Eckard) Peters (1845- 1915) was sold on this miracle drug! Eckert was a brother of my great, great grandfather, Charles Peters (1847 in Germany – 1910 in Comanche County, Oklahoma). In 1894 they both lived in Sumner County, Kansas which was near the county line of Cowley County, Kansas where Arkansas City (“Ark City”) is located. Lagrippe Remedy, Arkansas City Daily Traveler, Arkansas City, Kansas, 08 Nov 1894, page 3, column 2; digital image newspapers.com, (http://www.newspapers.com: accessed 20 Sep 2014) Two years ago...
Today’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge by Randy over at GeneaMusings is to play Ahnentafel Roullete. The ‘rules’ are as follows… What year was one of your great-grandfathers born? Divide this number by 80 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your “roulette number.” Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an “ahnentafel” – your software will create this – use the “Ahnentafel List” option, or similar). Who is that person, and what are his/her vital...
Lorine at Olive Tree Genealogy offers a weekly challenge to share some of our own memories. Her weekly themes are a great way to preserve our own stories. Last week’s challenge was to share about your first loss. I had three grandparents who died during my childhood, but the first two happened when I was very young and the third one was a grandfather I barely knew. What really stood out was the death of my best childhood friend, Shona. Her mom married the man who lived next door and she became my neighbor. I still remember how we...
I’ve done a few of Randy Seaver’s “Saturday Night Genealogy Fun” challenges over at Genea-Musings. This week’s challenge is about your father’s mother’s paternal lines. 1) What was your father’s mother’s name? My grandmother’s maiden name was Hazel Lucille Peters. At the end of her life, she lived with my aunt & uncle who lived in the same town as I. She had almost white hair and, as a young child, I thought that was just her hair color. So, when I received a doll with white hair, I named her Hazel. She died when I was only 5 and...
I am catching up with the Sharing Memories prompts found at Olive Tree Genealogy. Week 1 was titled “Kindergarten Days.” My Kindergarten Photo This is my ‘official’ kindergarten photo. My sister and brother both have similar ones.When I went to my mom’s last weekend to scan photos, I was specifically looking for this photo to blog about kindergarten. I thought it was my ‘first day of kindergarten’ picture. But, it’s really more like an official kindergarten photo. My sister and brother both have similar photos. The writing on the back is not my mom’s, but someone from the school. The...
Olive Tree Genealogy offers weekly prompts, called Sharing Memories, to “help all genealogists with writing up memories of our ancestors and our childhood.” Her prompts actually encouraged me to travel home this past weekend so I could copy some of my mother’s photos! I scanned about 200 of them, but I still have a LOT more to do. This week’s prompt is “Broken Bones & Other Accidents.” I immediately thought of an accident I had when I was about seven years old. And, I’m excited that I have a photo of my resulting injury… because of the scans I just...
