As I prepared for my genealogy road trip to Kansas, I wanted to organize my paperwork so I could share it with my relatives. I have thought a lot about going digital, but I am a very visual person and find that I work better with actual papers. But, how should I organize them? My filing system I decided to use hanging files, rather than notebooks, because it was both faster and cheaper. Also, I liked how tidy it looked. My filing system I created a hanging file for each couple who were my direct ancestors. And, I color coded...
I had a wonderful trip back to my childhood home in southern Kansas last weekend. My family has lived in the area (Cowley & Sumner Counties) since about 1870. My grand aunt, Beulah (Peters) Brewer, got me started in genealogy back in 1998 and, when she passed away in 2009, my aunt and uncle inherited boxes and boxes of her research. They are also the ones who have collected many family photos and other family heirlooms over the years. So, I was in genealogy paradise! It was incredible! A friend of the family, Cheryl, is a retired librarian who has...
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 recently made an unusual find. It’s a census record for a family I believe our my relatives. Of course, that isn’t unusual. But, what is unusual is the name of where they were living. They were living in a place called Pee Pee! After seeing this unusual town name, I immediately searched the internet to find out how the town got its name. According to Ohio History Central, it was named after Peter Patrick, an early resident of the area. I wonder if this was his nickname? What about your family… did they come from any unusual places? Do we...
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...
Randy has posted his latest Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge on GeneaMusings. This week’s challenge is titled “Two Degrees of Separation.” Here’s the assignment: Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with two degrees of separation? That means “you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor.” When was that second ancestor born? Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, in a status line on Facebook or a stream post on Google Plus. Randy broke his down by line, so I thought I would, too....
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...
Lisa Louise Cooke has taught me many genealogy methods & tricks online for the past year or so. Yesterday, I got to listen to her in person! I told her how much I appreciated all that she does. And, we posed for a quick photo! Meeting Lisa Louise Cooke from Genealogy Gems (at Houston Genealogical Forum’s meeting on May 1, 2014) Lisa was giving three lectures at the Houston Genealogical Forum. She has recently moved to Texas, so I hope we get to see even more of her! Her first lecture was about newspapers. I have a membership to newspapers.com and...
