S. P. Coppenbarger death, The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois, 23 Aug 1893, page 4, column 2; digital image newspapers.com, (http://www.newspapers.com: accessed 07 Oct 2014) Of course we expect to find death records of our relatives. But, this is the kind of death you don’t want to find. Sylvester Perry Coppenbarger (1839 in De Witt Co, IL – 1893 in OK) was my 1st cousin four times removed. His grandfather, Jacob Coppenbarger Senior (1769 in Wythe Co, VA – 1841 in De Witt Co, IL), was my fourth great grandfather. Sadly, “S. P.” evidently died at the age of 53 by an...
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...
Let’s face it, when we research our family histories we don’t know what we’ll uncover. And, when you get beyond the names, dates, and places, you might find some incredible stories. You might find stories of an ancestor who was a war hero or someone who abandoned his friends. You might find true love and Christian sacrifice, or someone who disappeared and is later found with another wife and additional children. You might find a Civil War nurse or a prostitute. And, you just might find a murderer. I did. I’ve made multiple posts now about the brother of my...
If you’ve been following my blog, you’ve probably read my last two posts about my great, great grandmother’s brother, Ephraim, who killed his sister’s abusive husband, Nathan L Buchanan. (The posts are “A Reason for Murder” & “Sister to Asylum; Brother to Jail.”) One of the newspaper articles I shared explains that Bennett was moved to a different county’s jail “to escape the vengeance of a mob which was supposed to be organized for the purpose of lynching him.” (In case you haven’t read the other articles and the family story that was passed down, Nathan L Buchanan was abusing his...
As I mentioned yesterday in “A Reason for Murder“, I had spent hours trying to find another newspaper article about my great, great grandmother’s brother, Ephraim Bennett, murdering his brother-in-law, Nathan L Buchannan, in 1893. As I concluded the post, I went back to newspapers.com and tried again. And, this time I got a hit! I don’t know if I tried different search terms or not. I narrowed it to “Missouri” newspapers and set the year to 1893. And then I searched for “Bennett” and “murdered.” Anyway, I have a lot more information now! A Terrible Crime, The Springfield Democrat,...
The day I discovered my great, great grandmother’s brother, Ephraim Bennett (abt 1841-?), had been convicted of 2nd degree murder, I hoped it was for a ‘good’ reason. I had recently watched two episodes of “Who Do You Think You Are?” Cynthia Nixon had discovered her female ancestor had killed her abusive husband after he told her she wouldn’t see another sunset. Maybe she could have ran away with her two young children or gotten to safety in some other way, but this was better than Jesse Taylor’s discovery that his ancestor probably killed his aunt over an inheritance! About...
Randy posts a weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge over at Genea-Musings. Tonight’s challenge is about your August genealogical “finds.” Here are the rules… Did you do some genealogy research during August 2014? Did you find a great record or story pertaining to an ancestor or family member? Tell us about the BEST genea-prize (“record”) you found during August 2014. What was it, where did you find it, and how does it help advance your research? Share your genea-prize in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post. NOTE: If you...
As genealogists, we come across some really interesting items that don’t directly relate to our family tree. I decided to start a series called “Not My Family” Friday where I can share some of these amazing finds. If you’d like to join along, please post a link to your post! I’d love to see what you’ve found! I’ve written four previous posts about the “notorious Brawdy family” which was our class project at GRIP this summer. We uncovered some amazing newspaper articles! Family members were accused of larceny, assault, running a “bawdy” house (brothel), and even murder! The article I’m...
As genealogists, we come across some really interesting items that don’t directly relate to our family tree. I decided to start a series called “Not My Family” Friday where I can share some of these amazing finds. If you’d like to join along, please post a link to your post! I’d love to see what you’ve found! Here’s a really disgusting series of articles about a man who repeatedly threw up snakes! (I found this while looking for my Longwell family in Pennsylvania, though I don’t see a connection for this man to my tree.) “Two Snakes in His Stomach”,...
This is a series of posts about the startling discoveries we made at GRIP (July 2014) in the Intermediate Genealogy class. Our head instructor, Paula Stuart-Warren, chose a random Pittsburgh will for us to research and see what we could uncover about the family. She had no idea of the amazing stories we would find.. Here’s another newspaper clipping about the ‘notorious Brawdy family’ from the Penn State University Libraries online collection. “Pittsburgh Daily Gazette and Advertiser,” March 2, 1868. Another Brawdy [?ease] Case – A Man Robbed of $200 and Severely Beaten We have but little sympathy for the...
