Past Forward

Another Obit

2008-02-15T10:48:00.000-05:00

In looking around the web, I found that the wonderful folks in Trego County, Kansas have been expanding their online functionality for those of us with connections to the area. (Either they've expanded them, or I was completely blind when I last visited the site looking at cemetery records. I suppose either is possible!) They now have an obituary page, where local obituaries can be posted. I sent them my transcriptions of Jacob Houck DEATRICH's obituaries and in double-checking my transcriptions found the obituary for his wife in my files. It's from the Collyer Advance:

OBITUARY – MRS. DEATRICH

Martha Jane Deatrich was born November 8, 1845 at St. Thomas, Franklin county, Pennsylvania and died at her home at Collyer November 19, 1924, aged 79 years and 11 days.

She was married to Lieut. J. H. Deatrich August 6, 1861 and removed to Wilson, Kansas, immediately after the close of the Civil War, where they homesteaded and pioneered. To this union nine children were born, seven girls and two boys.

The family moved to Collyer in 1894, where her continuous residence was until the time of her death. J. H. Deatrich died January 17, 1916 and the surviving direct members of the family at this time are Mrs. J. C. Brown, Springfield Mo., Mrs. Fay Hickman, Norfolk, Nebr., Mrs. Myrtle Keesee, Hugo, Okla., Van H. Deatrich, Ft. Smith, Ark and J. S. Deatrich, of Collyer, Kansas, besides twenty grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

The funeral service was held at the Collyer home conducted by the Rev. W. E. Scott, of WaKeeney, and under the direction of the Myerly Undertaking also of WaKeeney and the remains were placed beside those of her husband in the Collyer Cemetery. No greater demonstration of love and esteem for this departed relative and friend could be shown than in the long concourse of people in the funeral procession to the cemetery.

Mrs. Deatrich was a real mother. Her life was consecrated to those dear to her. Her courage never failed and her patience was inexhaustive. She spoke kindly of everybody and pleasantly to everybody and that is the reason everyone loved her.

Her home was a hospitable one, always open and appreciated. Never tiring in her efforts for comforting others. She will be greatly missed in the community in which she has so long lived. She will be mouned by those near and dear but there is the consolation of the resurrection when all will be reunited and peace will be theirs.

The family express their kindly feeling to those who assisted and for all offerings during this, their supreme sacrifice. –Collyer Advance.

The "Eyes" Have It

2007-09-11T15:44:00.000-04:00

In reading my grandfather's enlistment papers for WWII, I've finally discovered from whom I got my grey eyes. The paperwork says: "Hair: brown, Eyes: gray." Cool... I'm not such an anomaly after all! (Except that, 14 years after a two-year stay in England, I still spell grey with an 'e.')

Miss Marple, Eat Your Heart Out!

2007-09-05T23:19:00.000-04:00

My great-grandfather, Fred Burgess HICKMAN, was killed in a small town in Colorado, almost 70 years ago. Our knowledge of this was based only upon a letter written by my grandfather to his mother and sister, about a week after the funeral. We've never had any proof.

Using this newfangled method of working directly back from myself (yes, really! I was jumping around amongst the generations and branches like a three-year-old hyped up on birthday cake), I decided it was time to do a bit of sleuthing about my great-grandpa's death.

Rootsweb's Cemetery Project is always a good starting point. My Grandpa's letter indicated that he'd traveled to Colorado for the funeral, so obviously, his father had been buried there. (He was visiting family when he was killed.) Volunteers from all over the place are constantly surveying cemeteries in their areas and posting transcriptions of the inhabitants, sometimes even relaying inscriptions and (rarely) photographs! I checked the city cemetery in the town where the death supposedly occurred, and I found an entry with his name - Fred B. Hickman, with a burial dated one year, almost to the day, before I'd calculated his death date. Hmmm...could Grandpa have gotten the date wrong on the letter? Could the date on the stone be wrong? Anything's possible, right?

HICKMAN, FRED B. N/A 4/2/38 2 215 4 County burial

That's what the contributor shows for the grave in question. I sent a letter to the county registrar asking for any information we had. The words "County burial" gave me hope that their might be some records on the county level, at least confirming the date and cause of death, and perhaps mentioning any next-of-kin that may have been present. Less than a week later, I received an email back, confirming that her records match the grave information I'd found. She also gave me a number to call for someone that might have the records. I have that on my to-do list for this week, right after calling the dentist to postpone my next appointment, and before the trip to the recycling center. Everyday life and genealogy have to mix somehow.

The Genealogy Sourcebook

2007-08-24T19:55:00.000-04:00

I stopped by the library yesterday and gathered as many of the how-to genealogy books as I could carry. I grabbed one off the stack yesterday, and it's going to be the first genealogy book I buy.

The Genealogy Sourcebook, by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack (McGraw-Hill, 1998) is everything you could ask for in a beginner's guide. She covers basic definitions, organizational methods (They're great! She has a follow-up book dedicated to this subject.), and gives a lengthy explanation of types of sources available to genealogists. Although a lot of the information is basic, it never feels as though the author talks down to the reader, as often happens in beginning how-to books. She also includes several short case studies, to share her thought process in discovering information on specific ancestors. Lastly, she recommends many books and publications that are invaluable to anyone jumping into genealogy.

If there is one fault with the book, it's the lack of technological advice. Having been a genealogist for so many years, the author decided that entering her gathered information (literally thousands of people) would be too time-consuming. While I agree with her assessment of her own situation, I encourage budding genealogists to research the many software options available. I've used Family Tree Maker in the past, although I'm not currently using anything beyond Ancestry.com. I may in the future, but it's not in the budget at the moment, and, frankly, I'm enjoying the process of writing it all out with my mechanical pencil. Knowing my addiction to my laptop, it will all be computerized soon enough.

So, yesterday evening and today, I designed my own Pedigree Chart and Family Group Sheet. I combined several forms I found online, but my main goal was to create a space on the Family Group Sheet for Sources.

My light-bulb moment in reading this morning was the author's suggestion to start with yourself - on your own nuclear family's Group Sheet - and source yourself! Don't just put down what you know, because you know it. Get your birth certificate. Copy down the information verbatim. Write up a source note on your own birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc. Start with the easiest person in your family tree - you. So, although I'm interested in all these past generations, I've taken her advice to heart. I printed out my newly-designed charts and started from scratch today. For the first time since beginning my journey into genealogy, I feel like I'm approaching it in a manner that makes sense.

The Draft Mystery cont.

2007-08-24T19:27:00.001-04:00

I talked to Daddy today about his grandfather's Draft Card inconsistency. He expressed surprise at the difference. He remembers clearly, after David Roy's death, people remarking that he had been one of the few men they knew who lived a truly Christian life. This raises even more questions about those birth dates...

There are numerous possibilities, and we'll probaby never know exactly what happened. Maybe the Family Bible was obtained later than I thought, and Della entered dates many years after the fact, not recalling correctly. Perhaps, in his youth, Great-Grandpa made a decision based on love and fear (his or his young wife's - I know how I would feel if my husband were called up). After all, as my husband said, you are remembered for the man you became, not the man you were.

Mistake or deliberate, it doesn't really matter, and we'll likely never know for sure, but it's an interesting puzzle to ponder. At the same time, it reminds me that I need to start gathering oral history from both sides of the family. Unfortunately, nearly everyone of my grandparents' generation is gone on my side of the family. It's time to pump (gently, don't worry!) my parents for memories that we can pass down to our kids. And we are lucky enough to still have both of my husband's grandmothers, as well as numerous great-aunts and -uncles.

Draft Fibbing?

2007-08-23T15:46:00.001-04:00

David Roy COCHRANE was my great-grandfather (paternal grandmother's father). I had a birthday for him of 28 Sep 1889, per his WWI Draft Card. Several days ago, I ran across a listing online for him, with a birth year of 1892. I brushed that off, going, of course, with his own affidavit, as the draft card has his own signature.

Today, I was digging through Mom's files and found a slim stack of papers my Aunt had sent to her regarding Dad's side of the family. I brought them home and found several photocopied pages from an old family bible. I can only assume that the bible was a wedding gift for Edward Cochrane and Della ADAMS, as their marriage is listed on the main "Holy Matrimony" page. Their firstborn son was David Roy, and Della listed his birth date as 28 Sep 1892. Well, that's strange.

So, I began putting David's siblings into Ancestry.com. I'm searching for 1900 and 1910 Census records for the family and figured, the more names the better. David's next sibling was Oscar Orval Cochrane, b. 3 Dec 1893. What pops up for him but a WWI Draft Card, DOB 3 Dec 1890.

Hmmm....three years' difference for Orval. Three years' difference for David. And both cards claim exemption from the draft on these grounds: "wife and child." Could the brothers have conspired to make themselves three years older for the draft and therefore avoid being put into battle? It's possible, although the National Archives state that Selective Service Draft Registration at that point (5 Jun 1917) was for all men ages 21 - 31. Were men over age 25 less likely to be sent to war? Definitely something worth researching.

Obit Lit, Part II

2007-08-22T21:42:00.000-04:00

Jacob Houck Deatrich – Obituary from a newspaper in Trego County, Kansas

Part of the copy I have is completely faded. Unreadable sections are noted as: [missing]

ANSWERED THE LAST ROLL CALL

On Monday, January 17th, Jacob H. Deatrich died at his home in Collyer after a long and painful illness caused by cancer of the mouth and throat.

He was born March 18, 1843 at St. Thomas, Franklin county, Penn. On August 7, 1862, he was married to Miss Martha J. Haulman at St. Thomas.

In 1873 they came to Kansas and settled on a homestead in Ellsworth county, near Wilson.

Soon after he entered into the railway service of the Union Pacific in which he continued until about six years ago, relieved on account of age limit and pensioned by the company. He served thirty-seven years and received a medal for efficiency and never missed a pay day.

He also had a splendid war record enlisting at St. Thomas, Penn., for four years and was first lieutenant of twentieth Pennsylvania calvary and was honorably discharged as a commissioned officer, captain of same company.

In 1893 he moved from Ellsworth county to Collyer where he resided until the time of his death. He accumulated quite extensive farm property in Trego county.

Jake Deatrich as he was best known to most of our readers was a man possessed of many fine qualities. He was of a large and liberal nature and was liked by every one. Kindness of heart was the attribute which won him a host of warm friends. He was a kind and loving husband and indulgent father [missing] he lived so long [they?] mourn his loss.

On Friday afternoon, January 21st the funeral was held at Collyer and [missing] of the largest in the history of the town. Great banks of flowers were sent by sympathizing friends and lodges. Rev. Dodge of Sharon Springs preached at the Masonic funeral sermon being assisted in the services by Masonic orders from out of town. The following orders attended the funeral: G. A. R. Post of Ellis; A. F. & A. M. , Ellsworth; Council and Shrine, Salina; Chapter, Knight Templar, Consistory and Wa-Keeney lodge A. F. & A. M.

Besides the widow the members of the family survive: Mrs. Carrie Glass, Collyer, Kan.; Mrs. Anna Brown, Springfield, Mo.; Mrs. Kittie Thomas, Collyer; Jacob Deatrich, jr., [missing]; Mrs. Myrtle Kessee, Hugo [missing] Van H. Deatrich, Hugo, Okla.; Mrs. Faye Hickman, Collyer; Jack Staples, Van Staples, sons of Ella [missing], deceased. Non-resident [missing] who were present at the [missing] were: J. C. Brown, Springfield, Mo.; Harry Kessee, Hugo, Okla.; [missing] Limbert, Will Smith, Wil[missing] Kan.; Will Deatrich and Mrs. [missing], Chapman, Kansas.

The body was followed to the Collyer cemetery by a very large procession of sympathizing friends.

The World with friends extends sincere sympathy to the bereaved family in this hour of sorrow
_______________________________

CARD OF THANKS

To all the friends and neighbors whose sympathy and services were so [missing] tendered during the sickness [missing] our layed one also for the beautiful floral [missing] we desire to extend our heartfelt thanks.

MRS. JACOB DEATRICH AND FAMILY

Obituaries as Literature

2007-08-22T21:12:00.000-04:00

I'm amazed at the beauty of old obituaries. I have two for my great-great grandfather, Jacob Houck DEATRICH (18 Mar 1843 - 17 Jan 1916). The first is from a paper in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, where he was born. These are too wonderful not to share.

At 2:30 p. m. Monday, January 17, at his home in Collyer, Trego County, Kansas, Captain Jacob H. Deatrich died, after a lingering illness in his 76th year. Capt. Deatrich is well remembered by many as a Saint Thomas boy, a son of Samuel Deatrich (many years deceased) and who was reared along the pine clad hills of Back Creek.

The military spirit which was early infused into the life of the St. Thomas youth was heightened by the music of fife and drum as it echoed along the wall of the North mountain and young Deatrich was one of the first to respond to the call for troops in 1861 for the war of the rebellion. Leaving his plow stand [sic] in the furrowed field, he first enlisted and served his time with Col. Elder in the 126th Pa. Regt., after which he again enlisted and served in the 20th Pa. cavalry with such conspicuous gallantry that his comrades presented him with a beautifully engraved sword. After the civil war, with his wife and family he moved to Kansas, first settling at Wilson, Ellsworth county, where he became an employee of the North Pacific railroad company. Later he moved to Trego county, where still working for the railroad company he acquired a whole section of land on which his home town of Collyer was latterly built.

Capt. Deatrich is survived by his wife, Martha, and several sons and daughters, his wife being a sister of Squire Van T. Haulman of Chambersburg. A sister and other numerous relatives reside in this county.

Capt. Jacob H. Deatrich, cousin also named Jacob Deatrich, resides in Kansas. The latter was a member of Capt. Hez. Easton’s famous battery, and who, when Easton was killed in the bloody battle of Gaines’ Mill Deatrich rode Easton’s horse from the field. All the other gray horses of the battery were killed by the charging foe.

The friends of Capt. Jacob H. Deatrich, by this notice will learn that his funeral took place from his home at Collyer, Kansas, Friday, January 21, at one o’clock. Interment in the cemetery of that place, whither he had sent and erected a large granite memorial marker a few years ago from a Chambersburg sculptor for his family burial plot.

There upon his last camping ground
The veteran’s silent tent is spread;
Memorial marks of valiant service
Is the record of the honored dead.

Collateral Ancestry

2007-08-22T17:45:00.000-04:00

I have an original handwritten letter to my great-grandmother Faye Faye, from Dessie MCFERREN. It appears to be in response to a request for information on the DEATRICH side of the family. Transcription follows, relevant portions in blue.

Chapman Kans.

March 17 1968

Sorry this did not mailed before [sic]

Dear Faye,
I was very glad for your letter and to hear you are able to be going – even if we have slowed down. I too cant [sic] work as fast as I used to. But do if I have time. And I cant [sic] hurry. Just a little too old for that. I was born Aug 15 1881 so I am a few years old [sic] than you. I have one boy. Toms [sic] son He is a senior in high school. Has been with me all four years doing the school days. He is very good to me. I think I told you our family when I wrote you and Faye I am sorry I cant find any records of the Detrichs. I thot [sic] mother had a book I have hunted but a box of books that I have not looked into as I cant get it down in closet. In my little house I sure miss my big home & rooms. But I am going to have some one [sic] help me get it down & look there. I may not have a record but will look & try to find it. In mothers family there was Frank. Samuel, Sarah mother William Simon, Gher. Lettie John Jennie – Humphry. Fanny & Dessie all Detrich. Jacob grandfather Detrich. Lewis & grandmother Elizabeth. Will Detrich wife A Laura – children Leslie Ernest & Johnm. John lives here in town & is the only boy living.

Tuesday this letter did not get mailed but here it comes late. I will take it down & mail it this A.M. Hope all are well (over

Hope all are well and I will try and do better next time. But please write I do get lonesome. Love to all.
Dessie McFerren

[new handwriting – assuming Faye Faye’s]

For Billy
Give this to Billy. I am going to write to her again and find out what her mother and Dad were to my Father. Maybe when she goes through the box we will Know. I dont know if he can get anything out of this I cant.
I notice she dont [sic] spell our name the same.

*Billy is my dad...or was. I don't think anyone's called him Billy in decades. LOL I got the letter from Mom's and his files.

*Underlining is copied directly from the original letter.

*It's possible that "Jacob" was meant to be written next to "Jennie," rather than "Detrich." It's squeezed in and sort of falls between the two lines on which those names are written.

Unfortunately, I don't think Faye Faye ever heard from Dessie again. According to the SSDI, Dessie passed away in October of 1968, seven months after writing this letter.

From the context of the letter, I gather that Deatrich/Detrich was Dessie's mother's maiden name. I'm hoping someone with information on the DEATRICH/DETRICH/MCFERREN connection will come across this and be able to shed some light on it.

K.I.S.S.

2007-08-22T13:45:00.000-04:00

Sometimes it's easy to forget that there's often a simpler approach to things. I've gotten so caught up in searching through censuses and indexes, I forgot about the simple things in searching. Like Google. (Now, in my defense, when I was last "into" genealogy 4-6 years ago, Googling names didn't bring me much luck.)

So, last night, I was frustrated at an apparent standstill on my husband's side of the family. A friend, not genealogy-related, IM'd me about another subject, and in my frustration, I asked her, "So, tell me who William O. CARR's parents were!" After a few seconds, and a couple of silly answers, she responded,"Henry Wiltz Carr and Mary DeWeese." It took me a moment to realize that she wasn't kidding. She'd Googled "William O Carr" Floyd County and had gotten the answer instantly. Let's see...that makes two "Duh" moments for Aimee yesterday. (See my previous post about Martha Haulman. I'm a smart woman, really. I realize this blog is not yet promoting that fact. Note to self: Post something witty, ASAP.)

Google. I love Google. I use it dozens of times a day. Yet, I hadn't put any of my ancestors into it. Sigh.

So, I don't have any source material or verification on Henry Carr and Mary DeWeese, but I have a nice starting point now, including the email address of the person who posted that information. Thanks, j. ;)

Thank you, Your Honor

2007-08-22T13:15:00.000-04:00

Ethel Faye DEATRICH (Faye Faye - she hated her given name!) was my paternal great-grandmother. I never knew her, but she left a valuable gift with my parents: a typewritten page of her memories of her parents' families (her aunts, uncles, etc.). Her mother was Martha Jane HAULMAN (8 Nov 1845 - 19 Nov 1924). We had no further information on the Haulmans of St. Thomas, Pennsylvania. I had searched for Martha Jane on the 1860 Census, and the closest I could find was an M. HOLMAN, appropriate age, female, as a domestic servant to the CLIM family. After that find, I'd taken a break and moved onto another branch of the family.

Yesterday, I was reviewing Faye Faye's page, looking for anything I might have forgotten to put into my records. The last line of the page reads, "Mother's brother Van Haulman was a judge for years in Chambersburg, Penn." For some reason, I had never done anything with this information. I suspect I glossed over it in confusion, because one of Martha's sons (Faye Faye's brother) was named Van Haulman Deatrich. Well, duh. He was obviously named after his uncle, right?

Sure enough, when I put Van Haulman into my Ancestry.com tree, he popped up immediately on the 1880, 1900 and 1910 Censuses, with the correct occupations. I also found his wife, some children, and a couple of granddaughters. (Hello, cousins!) This is where I got excited, because I knew if I could find him as a child, I'd have Martha's parentage. I did find him, as Vantries Holman, on the 1860 Census. However, Martha, who was four years older than he, wasn't there, and his parents were listed as D.B. and M.A. Not enough to go on. I knew, however, from the 1900 Census, that he was born in January of 1850, so he should show up there, as well. And that spelling - Holman - combined with Martha's conspicuous absence at the age of 14 - lent weight to my theory of her being the Clims' servant.

This is where it took me a while. I finally found an entry for Vantrica HOLLMAN, a male infant, in 1850. In looking at the scanned page, the original entry was Vantries, but it was mistranscribed. His parents were David and Mary (correct initials!), and Martha was there, too, with the correct age. Success!

So, to my 3rd great grandparents, David and Mary, welcome to the family!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes on the Haulman last name:

1850 Census: Hollman
1860 Census: Holman
1880 Census and beyond: Haulman...for both Van and David, in different households.

There are several possibilities here: Census-takers spelled phonetically. Haulman was adopted as a spelling by the family in the late 19th century. The family didn't actually have an "accepted" spelling (which I gather happened often enough back then). I'm leaning toward mistakes on the census-takers' parts, but of course, that's just a guess.

Bringing the Past Forward

2007-08-22T08:48:00.000-04:00

I suppose it's time to put my genealogy research out there for the world to see. I can spend hours, days, weeks sitting at Ancestry.com, poring over census files, but I'm never going to be able to dig deeply without networking. So, the plunge is taken.

I have split up genealogical research with my Mom - she has her side of the family; I have Dad's. I'm also working on my husband's family. So, surnames I'm working on, and this is completely off the top of my head, include:

Hickman (my maiden name)
Cochrane
Deatrich
Renfro
Haulman
Adams
Sawyer
Cottner

And on my husband's side:

Woolwine
Ronk
Hess
Perdue
Townsend
Carr
Grace
Link

And that, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned as I document my journey into the past and pull it forward to share. In the genealogy world, I'm just a baby. As I learn more, I hope I'll have some breakthroughs, and I'll be sure to share them here.

~Aimee