A generation gone...

On Monday, December 15th my last grandparent passed away. William Atkinson Shepard, jr. He was 94 years old. Only few weeks short of being 95.

Bill, as he was known by family, was the son of William Atkinson Shepard, sr. and Rachel Hays. He was born in Ohio spending his formative years there and first saw my future grandmother, Lois Shaw, while sitting in church one day.

He joined the US Army Air Corps (which eventually became the United States Air Force), on June 12, 1942 during World War II.

Bill and Lois had 5 children. The first, William Gerald, didn't live but a day after being born. Lawrence Alan died in a car accident in 1978 after being hit by a driver who fell asleep at the wheel.

I am sorry that I didn't know my grandparents better, but travel and distance made it difficult. My favorite memory of my grandfather is his stories, he was a great story teller, certainly not a skill I inherited. He would open the trunk in the attic of their house on Sugar Hill in Maine and pull out stories of Brer Rabbit and that briar patch and read them to me and my brother and sister.

Like my grandmother he donated his body to science.

I can't really find the words to memorialize my grandfather with, but I do have pictures. So here are a few of my favorites. Starting with Bill and Lois looking so young, starting their life out together.

 

Grandfather and Grandmother with Sue and Ken, the eldest two.

This is grandfather in Korea.

My favorite picture of me and my grandfather, this would have been about 1963.

Lazy genealogists...

A cool tree you can find at: http://www.bespokecustomgifts.com/personalized-gifts/Type-of-Gift/Artwork/diy-peacock-family-tree-personalized.

A lot has changed in the 15 years I have been pursuing our family's history. Many resources are easier to find and access, digitization of records has improved greatly, and more people than ever have jumped on the genealogy bandwagon.

Don't get me wrong, it's great that all these folks want to research their family's history, and I want to encourage anyone who is interested to dip their toe in the water. But the problem is the majority of these newbies seem to think all they have to do is copy the data from one person's tree to their own and violà they are done. Sorry, but true genealogy is actually hard work. But work that us true genealogist really enjoy.

The only reason I bring this up is, first I find it extremely annoying to see more and more of these trees online and second, this is lazy genealogy for which I have no patience or respect.

Case in point. I am trying to prove that Thomas R. Stackpole, my 3x great grandfather on my Shepard side, is indeed the son of Richard and Margaret Stackpole. To do this I have been researching land records for Harrison and Marion Counties in Virginia/West Virginia where Richard and Margaret were living during a certain time period. I was hoping to find land records related to Richard and Thomas that might connect them. Well I didn't, but I did find a land record from 1852 showing Richard and Margaret selling their property which was located on the Teverbaugh River in Marion County, but they were living in Tyler County at the time the deed was created. The 1850 census shows them living in Marion County. (This census also has a son Thomas living with them, but the age doesn't quite match, so I have never been sure that this was my Thomas.) So sometime between 1850 and 1852 the Richard Stackpole family picked up and moved to Tyler County.

Thomas Stackpole married Lydia Lemasters in Tyler County in 1851, a daughter, Dorcas, who had been listed in the 1850 census record, also married in 1851, to a Christopher Sees.

In 1854 in Marion County, John Stackpole is selling land he inherited to a Richard Stackpole, jr. Neither of these two persons are as of yet connected to Richard, sr., but the fact that one of them is a junior and the property being sold is on Teverbaugh River in Marion County, and John lived in Tyler County, makes a strong argument that Richard, sr. is indeed their father and he had died by 1854. The 1860 census appears to meld these different bit of data together even closer. Margaret is living with Dorcas and Richard is no where to be found. A few pages away in this same census we find John Stackpole, Dallas LeMasters(my 2x great gramps), whose daughter Lydia married Thomas, Thomas Stackpole and other Lemasters families, all related. Putting all these bits together is making for a very strong argument. But, there is still more work to do, only now all in Tyler County.

What has all this got to do with lazy genealogy? Well, I am working hard on the research to try to make the connection and will continue to do so until I am satisfied with the results whatever they may be. All of the trees that I keep finding online for Richard and Margaret have merely copied someone else's tree, and all have the same exact incorrect information, which includes his death, with no apparent effort to actually do the research themselves. Lazy. Not only lazy, but these trees make for a useless resource for helping others with their research.

This is just one example. I don't have the time or the energy to list all the others.

Birthdays...

In all the research I have done on my ancestors I have only run into one who shares the same October 31st birthday as me, Clayton Webb, my 4x great grandfather on my mother's maternal side, born in 1779. The only other ancestor who comes close is my paternal grandfather Clarence John, he was born the 29th.

General Clayton Web has been written about by our Shaw relatives in their ancestor books and in the Riggs book put out by Alvy Ray Smith a few years ago, and I don't really want to give a synopsis of his life - at least not at this time. I though I would just share his will, which I acquired earlier this year, and found a little different from the usual wills I have read from our ancestors:

Last Will and Testament of Clayton Webb
Filed April 22, 1850
Re-Recorded Vol. 1 Page 335

Be it remembered that I Clayton Webb of the County of Hamilton and State of Ohio being in the fifty third year of my age in perfect health and of sound mind and memory do make and publish this my last will and testament (any other I have not made)

1st I direct that my beloved wife Jane have the sole direction as to the place and manner in which my body shall be interred

2nd I direct that all my lawful debts should I leave any at the time of my decease be punctually paid, after which

3rd I give and bequeath all my estate both real and personal amounting by estimation to five thousand dollars to my beloved wife Jane, believing her fully as capable of acting with judgment and impartiality in the distribution thereof among our children as I am or would be should I survive her, I am led to this step from the following reasons --

1st I have full confidence and ever have had in her fidelity economy industry judgment and affection for our children
2nd It has been by her exertions as well as mine by laboring hard for thirty two years that we have acquired what little property we have, and I have always thought it a hardship where both have equally strove to obtain an independence so necessary in the decline of life that any distinction should be made on the death of either --
3rd From long experience in settling up estates and making divisions among the heirs I am led to believe that generally speaking there is not that ardent and lasting affection in children towards parents, that parents have towards their children. How often have I seen families of children go by the ears in presence of their widowed mother before the corpse had scarcely time to rest in the grave. How often have I seen mothers wheedled out of the small pittance allowed them by law and turned out of doors by unfeeling children; and although I now apprehend no such conduct from my children, I think it my absolute duty to remove the temptation.
4th I further will that should my wife Jane after my decease think proper to intermarry with any person (which I think very impobable) the person so intermarrying with shall have no control over nor inherit any part or parcel of the property herein bequeathed, and should there be any law or usage that would make such person’s claim paramount to this my last will and testament whereby he might inherit possess or control for any period of time the property herein bequeathed then this my last will and testament to be null and void to all intents and purposes

I also request my son-in-law John Magill to advise with and assist his mother-in-law in all matters and difficulties that may arise or grow out of the execution in this instrument of writing --

To the care and protection of his mother I comit our little son John now about ten years old the only one of our children who is not of age--

Written with my own hand without cosultation. In witness whrereof I Clayton Webb the testator have herunto set my hand and seal this eleventh day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty two.

Signed sealed and acknowleged
in presence of us who have
subscribed in presence of each
other

J H Gerard
J M ?han [can’t read signature, too light on photocopy]
Henry Debott

Clayton Webb ss1

I was amused by his point in his 3rd reason for giving his wife Jane the power of monetary distribution. But I was especially please by the respect he had for, and the power he was willing to give to, his wife with no prejudice whatsoever regarding her sex. A very 21st century man.

Clayton died April 8, 1850 in Hamilton County, Ohio. After many years of faithful service to his country as a soldier, judge, county commissioner, and member of the Ohio legislature as Senator and Representative.

Building Clayton was conducting Ohio State business in, as a Senator and Representative in the 1820s.

Brother in arms...

Mary (Schaal) and Augustus C. Johns, (I believe this
 photo was taken at their home in Minnesota),
early 1900s.

My g-g-grandfather Fredrick William John had a younger brother Augustus, (who went by the surname Johns after he arrived in America). He was also a soldier in the Civil War. In fact he enlisted August 13, 1862 with Company F of the 21st Wisconsin Infantry, under the command of Col. B. J. Sweet. He was living in Oakfield, Dodge County, Wisconsin at the time. His brother F.W. didn't join up until several years later.

Augustus, a cooper by trade, had only been in America a year when he met and then married Maria Schaal in Dodge County in 1856. When war broke out in 1861, according to his wife Maria, Augustus enlisted because of their deep belief in the inherent evilness of slavery. She recalls his leaving:

"We had just built us a 5 room cottage but the upstairs was still un-plastered. My husband left me with this cottage, a cow, a few chickens, and three children, the eldest a little over four years old. My husband was so afraid he would miss the train, that was to take him to war, that he sat up all the previous night!"

Not only was she now alone to take care of the homestead, but she was three months pregnant at the time.

The 21st organized itself in Oshkosh to start its journey to the front. They arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio, by way of Chicago and Indianapolis, on September 13, 1862 about noon. As the enemy forces were marching upon Cincinnati and Louisville, they were ordered to report to Gen. Wallace at Covington, Kentucky, so they quickly crossed the Ohio river, at which time they were assigned to the 3rd division of Gen.Wallaces Corps and proceeded to take positions in the trenches. The 21st was at that time 960 strong.

On their arrival at Cincinnati, Col. Sweet reported to Gov. Solomon of Wisconsin that "everything in the way of equipping the men seems to be in a state of uncertainty and confusion. We have no tents. They cannot give us any here."

In fact, the 21st was organized so quickly that the men hadn't even had time to practice drills in their rush to the battlefield. And they had no tents, no clothes, no guns. While the Union Army was in a hurry to recruit men to fight the war, they didn't seem to be well prepared to arm and supply them. It was a good thing they brought their own rations, otherwise they wouldn't have been eating either.

The next morning the 21st was going to be sent to the front two miles away. Col. Sweet was hoping that they would have a few moments to drill the men "and teach them the whole art of war."

After arriving at Covington's front, they spent their time changing positions twice over the next few days and sitting around in the trenches. On the 17th were then ordered to report to Louisville, Kentucky. They were to report to General Sheridan, who was commanding the Army of the Ohio. They remained in the area until October 1st. The men were marched to the trenches at 3:00 every morning and stayed until 6 am, changing position from one side of the city to another over the course of their stay. It was at this time that they finally obtained tents and were now thoroughly equipped for field duty. However, because of the constant marches, trench duty, the company paperwork and organization of the regiment, they had only been drilled three or four times.

Their assignment now was to the 28th Brigade commanded by Col. John Starkweather, part of Rousseau's Division.

On October 1 they proceeded to march to route out the rebel army from the state of Kentucky. Eight days of intense heat and very little running water. at the end of which they engaged in the Battle of Chaplin Hills. They arrived at the battlefield about 4:00 in the afternoon on the 8th of Oct where they were immediately ordered to take position in a cornfield at the extreme left of the line of battle, a battle which was in the midst of action and had been for some time. General Jackson's Division was in the immediate front of their position. Many of the 21st were shot down while getting into position, the bullets passing through the front and hitting whomever was behind. Because of the Jackson line in front of them they were unable to fire back at the enemy, unless they wanted to decimate their own troops. Eventually, as the battle progressed, the 21st was facing the enemy line and fired, it was "only when overpowered by superior numbers" did the regiment commense its retreat behind a new line of battle.

After this battle over the next month they marched to Lebanon, Kentucky, and then on to Bowling Green. From Bowling Green they headed to Mitchellsville Station, Tennessee, then on to Nashville, at which time they set up camp. Then on December 26th they marched with the army in its advance upon the rebels who were at Murfreesboro 30 miles from Nashville.

On December 30th while the army was taking position at Stones River the brigade of which the 21st regiment was a part was positioned on the extreme left flank covering the Jefferson Pike. At 7:00 in the morning, as the brigade train was approaching, it was attacked from the rear by Wheeler's Confederate cavalry which consisted of about 3500 men. The Union regiment lay in two lines nearest to the point of attack and immediately proceeded double quick by the left flank down the road past the train to drive the revels from the line, but not before twenty one of the wagons were driven off and set on fire. The 21st at once formed line on the side of the road for protection of the trains which passed on. Wheeler's cavalry charged upon the regiment but was unable to dislodge them and fell back out of musket range. The Union army was finally able to place some battery in a convenient enough spot to cause the rebels to retreat in haste and confusion. But, not before they were able to take 64 sick men, teamsters, and conveyances from the brigade train. One of those men captured was Augustus.

Augustus was, at this point, being listed in the rolls as "prisoner at Jefferson on 30th of December 1862" until September of 1863, at which time he finally shows up as "in the hospital at Stevenson, Alabama." It appears that he was a prisoner at least through May of 1863. The records do not indicate when he was released, nor when he entered the hospital, but at least by September he is now free from imprisonment with the rebels and recovering in a hospital. It is possible that he was part of a prisoner exchange between the two armies as there is no indication that he was ever in a particular prison during the war.

Augustus continued his service with the Union Army until he was mustered out at the end of the war.
The following excerpts are from Maria's interview:

"And news of big battles came. My husband was in Murphysboro, Chattanooga, Atlanta, and marched with Sheridan eastward to the sea. We had always written each other once a week, but now all news of Sherman's army ceased and I heard nothing from my husband for weeks. When a letter came from my husband, I used to put it under my pillow and pray to the Father not to let my babes become orphans as I had been. When I nursed my baby, the hot tears rolled down my cheeks and my baby looked up as if she wondered why I wept.

My husband drew $13 a month as a soldier. Of this he kept $3 for his own use, and sent me $10 every month. Also, he washed shirts for the other soldiers who did not like to do such work, and who did not save their money. These shirts would get full of vermin and had to be washed in boiling water. My husband got 10 cents for each shirt he washed. All that he earned this way, he saved up and sent me a $50 gold bond and a gold ring that he purchased with these savings. He wrote that the food the soldiers got was not good. "I get only cow tail to eat", he said. So I sent him a box of food once, but the freight on it was $9, which I found hard to pay.

Still with Sherman, my husband marched to Washington, and was mustered out. He came home by way of Milwaukee, where he bought a cheap linen duster to protect his cloths. The night I expected him, I never went to bed. When he got in at the station, he started right for our cottage, and the neighbors said his feet never touched the ground, because he flew to his family. He was neatly shaved and clean --- cleanest of the whole company that returned. I had just lain down when the train pulled in, and the children ran in to say, "There is a soldier coming." A moment after that, my husband came in with the children clinging to him. My little 2 year old, Flora, who had never seen him, was clinging to him, too! Then, for the one time in my life, I fainted!!!"

Marie never mentions Augustus' capture in her memoirs.

During the month of travel to the battle that would imprison Augustus, he also served as a Provost Guard, these were the military police of the Union Army during this particular war. On the field they were also the security detachment for Division and Corps Headquarters. They protected Headquarter's units, provided men to guard captured Confederates on their way to the rear, and provided security against Confederate guerrillas and raiders. In Augustus's case he was probably handpicked by his CO as a temporary measure to fill in a spot as needed. The position was a well respected one by the Union troops.

Cherry pickin'...

Fred Hamm

Because I knew so little about my great grandfather Fred Hamm, I have spend an inordinate amount of time over the years trying to figure him out. In the course of my search into the details of his life I have filled in quite a few gaps. My latest foray in this endeavor was trying to learning a little about his life in his last years.

Fred is buried in Bailey’s Harbor, Door County, Wisconsin. According to one of his obituaries he had been working at Martin Orchards before his illness. This was the, if not one of the, largest cherry orchards in the world. The cherries were definitely world renowned in the early to mid 1900s. Martin Orchards is located about 4 miles outside of Sturgeon Bay and covers over 700 acres, (or at least did in the early part of the 1900s). Fred had been in Door County for about 11 years before his death, maybe he had answered one of these ads that was placed in the local paper:

While Fred was working at the orchard in the mid 1940s World War II broke out, and after the US became involved German prisoners of war started arriving in Wisconsin. One of the places they were sent was Martin Orchards.

Here is a picture of prisoners arriving at the train depot in Sturgeon Bay. They were going to be harvesting cherries, apples, and potatoes and helping out with other field work. Apparently the POWs picked a little over half a million pails of cherries in Door County during their stay. 

I wonder what Fred thought about these Germans and if he ever spoke with them.

Dale and I took a trip up to Bailey's Harbor a few years ago in the hopes of finding Fred's grave, but we had no luck. It appears that there is no headstone for him at the cemetery.

Life in motion...

I was going through my video files recently and thought to myself, "Jen, why are you keeping all these videos and not doing anything with them?" So Self and I decided to post them all on my flickr account, for everyone to enjoy or not. After all they are homemade videos the curse of family gatherings where everyone groans "Not again!!"

The videos are all pretty short no longer than 3 minutes, as that is the time constraint anyway at flickr. There is one of my niece, when very young, backyard entertainment, Obama's visit, parents, and others.

So have fun. Meanwhile, I am still working on trying to get more interesting items into this blog, but research isn't panning out, or I have hit a road block or two.

By the way the user name is bumanns. Enjoy!

Patience is a virtue...

Although I have to admit, I am not a virtuous person. In this case the patience I have lacked hasn't mitigated the length of time is has taken to finally find a photograph of one of my ancestors. A photograph I have been looking forward to seeing for the last 15 years.

This is what patience looks like

This folks is a picture of Hartley Shepard. And a big hug and thanks goes out to my cousin Doug Shepard for sending this to me.

He also send me a picture of two other Shepard family members. One is of a daughter-in-law, the other is James Shepard who was 20 years younger than his brother Elza, my ancestor.

You will notice that the background in the above two pictures is the same. Here's some interesting pictures to see:

These are unlabeled pictures in our own collection. I believe that the couple on the right is William Buchanan and his wife Margaret Mobley, Jane Buchanan's parents. Jane married Elza Shepard. I have no idea who the other gentlemen is.

The following unlabeled family images are also daguerreotypes, possibly taken around the same time. The gentleman sitting in the chair looks a lot like James Shepard in the picture above:

I have to say this post was a long time coming. Thanks again Doug and thanks to your Aunt too.

Looking over the family tree...

This morning I was looking over my family tree chart to get a feel for how it was looking these days,  (and I must say, my efforts have filled it out pretty well in the last few years), when I realized that my great great grandparents Elza Shepard and Jane Buchanan were second cousins. Susan Smith, who married Hartley Shepard, was the daughter of Catharine Atkinson, William A. Buchanan was the son of Rebecca Atkinson, sister of Catharine. Susan's son Elza married William's daughter Jane.

That also means we descend from James Atkinson and Margaret Brown twice. Not an unusual occurrence at all, but one I just realized.

Elza Shepard and Jane Buchanan, 2nd cousins, my great great grandparents on my maternal size. They are sitting on chairs that are on an incline. Hilly country in West Virginia.

Interesting records you can find...

Sylvester Bumann is my deceased father-in-law. He passed away at the relatively young age of 29 in 1958. Because he was in the Air Force for 4 years he was eligible for a military headstone. Here is the application that was filled out to acquire one:

For those trying to find information on a relative's military background, a document like this is an excellent resource. It gives his exact dates of service, his branch, company, regiment, etc. along with other vital information.

As I knew nothing about what an 'Installation Squadron' was I looked online and this was the best information I could find:

Engineering and Installations's roots can be traced as far back as 1901 when the Army Signal Corps sent Lt. Billy Mitchell to string 1400 miles of telegraph cable across Alaska. In 1938, the Army Airways Communication System (AACS) was organized and was assigned directly under the Army Air Forces in 1943, which became part of the new US Air Force upon its creation in 1947. The USAF distributed the personnel and functions into five Installation and Maintenance Squadrons. Throughout the 1950s, the USAF was in its infancy and much of its infrastructure was still being converted from WWII era Army Air Corps Flying Fields into Air Force Bases.

So I believe that Sylvester was helping to modernize the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada at the time of his service, as that is where the 3595th was stationed at that time. His background and knowledge of electronics is what put him there.

So to the Bumann Clan, enjoy!

It's always the quiet ones part two...

Emil Hamm, youngest son of George and Amelia Hamm

On the 14th of January, 1910, Emil G. Hamm plead guilty to the crime of abusing a female child under the age of sixteen. On January 26th he was brought before the Grand Jury in Duluth and convicted by Judge Hughes. He was sentenced to the St. Cloud Reformatory for 1-7 years.

Emil's case file indicates he left home at the age of 19 to better himself. According to his own account he went to Harvard, North Dakota for about 4 weeks and then came back home. Next he taught at the school in Whittlesey, Wisconsin for about a year and by the late spring of 1907 he had moved to Duluth, Minnesota. Other accounts in the record indicate he was actually employed at at least one other town in Minnesota before he appears in Duluth.

He was living at 213 1/2 Third Ave. in a boarding house run by Mary E. Chisholm. Also living in the boarding house was a young girl by the name of Martha Tohantele, she had been fostered by Mrs. Chisholm.

It was in December of 1909 that Martha was found to be pregnant, at the age of 14. Emil was the father.

He was arrested and thrown into the hoosegow. At the hearing his lawyer put forth the following argument:

“Your Honor, this appears to me to be a very unfortunate case for this man, and he has expressed to me a desire to plead guilty and throw himself on the mercy of the Court. He has stated that he had no opportunity to communicate with the girl and the complaining witness in this case; that he desire to do the manly thing if it is possible to do so. He has stated to me that he was willing to take care of this child and to marry the girl if possible, and, if possible, before he would serve any sentence that might be passed upon him. It seems to me this man's record is dry clear; that it is a case where it wold be very proper for the Court to exercise mercy and give the man a chance to redeem the wrong which he has done. I believe he would like to state his intentions to the Court in the matter in his own words. I have nothing more to say at this time."

The prosecuting attorney's statement:

“ As counsel has said, this is a very unfortunate case; it is unfortunate both for the defendant and for his victim. He is a rather prepossessing young man and evidently must have some good qualities about him or he would not be engaged in a mercantile establishment like Marshall-Wells.
    He was rooming up here at a place where this young girl stops. The people there had sort of taken her, adopted her or taken her in. I don’t know as they had ever legally adopted her but they had taken her into their home, Mrs. Chisholm, a widow lady, who lives there with her son.
    This girl is only 14 years and 6 months old and is not of the highest order of intelligence. This young man roomed there and I understand that for about four months he has been having illicit intercourse with her, which resulted in pregnancy, and unless something happens to her, she will, in the due course of time, give birth to a child. I think that is her condition. I think it was her condition that first enabled the people to discover the situation.
    He is 22 years old age; old enough to have known better, and under those circumstances it does not appeal very strongly to me for the court to apply any great degree of leniency to this man. I think the girl and the woman ought to be respected and if people do not know enough and have not got control enough over their passions to keep them within proper and reasonable limits, that the law out to set them an example so that those things will note recurr too frequently.
    As to his marrying her and making such degree of reparations as is within his power, that is something, with which, of course, I have nothing to do. I do not know what is best but I do not think that the Court ought to allow any desire or inclination upon the part of the defendant to interfere with swift and remedial justice.”

Emil's attorney asked for probation as he had no previous record. The judge asked Emil if he had anything to say before sentence:

“I wish to say that if I had a chance I would marry the girl and save her from disgrace and save the child from disgrace and give it a name. If not now, I wish to say that I will do the same thing after I serve my sentence; I will marry the child in any case; whether before or after. I would like to have a chance to do it before so as to save the girl and save the child.”

The pleas of Emil and his attorney didn't sway the Judge:

“Under the statute for the offense to which you have entered a plea of guilty you could be punished by prisonment into the penitentiary for the period of seven years. There is not very much in this case to warrant the court in exercising leniency with you. You see[m] to be a young man that has had opportunities; you have had a high school course and was graduated there from; you have taught school and held positions on the fire department and have been with the Marshall-Wells Hardware Company. You cannot plead ignorance as an excuse for your offense. You had such an upbringing that you ought to and undoubtedly did know better.
    The court possibly ought to give you a penitentiary sentence. it appears, however, that this is your first offense so I will not do so. You understand, of course, that after you serve the sentence imposed upon you, that if you again transfers that there is nothing for you but the penitentiary. Possibly you should have that now.
    Your offer to make amends comes a little too late. If you wanted to marry the girl you had an opportunity of waiting until she arrived at that legal age where you could. This is one of the crimes that merits punishment and the one who commits it should be punished.”

St. Cloud Reformatory, Minnesota

During Emil's stay at St. Cloud, the Superintendant was writing to various acquaintances and previous employers of Emil's to gather evidence for his parole hearing. In these papers was a letter to the Catholic School in Graceville, Minnesota, a town Emil was working in before he settled in Duluth. Apparently he had been found to be in correspondence with a young lady of 17 by the name of Alice Keefie, he was promising to marry her, telling her he loved her, she was writing back the same. It was recommended that the correspondence be stopped, and it appears that it was, as there are no more letters related to the matter. Which begs the question of just how 'innocent' was he?

The majority of replies to his character appeared to be positive, although his last place of employment wasn't satisfied with his work and was going to be firing him before he was incarcerated. Otherwise he was an all around good guy. Except for his unfortunate affinity for young girls.

Letter from George Hamm to the Superintendant regarding  his son's character:

Mrs. Chisholm also had her chance to vent her feelings on the matter, (this letter is typed exactly as seen):

“Duluth MN April 9, 1910

Dear Sir in reply to yours of the 4 all i can say is he cirtenely ronged my little girl she will be 15 year the 2 of July she was a little girl i tuck out of the home to be a mother to her but he runed her he was a snake in the grass to think he lived rite in my house and ceped this up for i dont no how long i tuck him for a gentel man but he is a very bad man or he never would have runed that child now poor little girl tha tuck her a way from me and now i cant hear from her to no if ? or good to the poor child if she had a father he would shote him you think what you would do if it was youre daughter he never would tell truth i don’t think and he was very good at ?? to have other yong men drink with him and his associates i can’t tell you nothing but only he had 4 or 5 girls and told them all he loved them and wanted to marri them”

As to Martha, a group of women in the area raised about $100 dollars to send her to an orphanage, which then sent her to the Maternity Hospital in Winnipeg, Canada. A facility run by nuns. I have been unable, as yet, to find out what happened to Martha and the child, which was due in June of 1910.

While in prison he was evaluated by a doctor several times over the course of his stay. The overall consensus was he was mild mannered, general character good, although his morals had declined in the last year or two, his only vices being he smoked tobacco and he had an unfortunate penchant for brothels. His mother would have been proud.

He was released on parole December 17 of the same year and by July 6, 1911 he was discharge or released from his sentence. Part of his parole agreement was he had to go live with his mother. I am not sure if he actually did that, as his monthly report to his parole office showed him working at the Merchant Hotel in St. Paul checking meals in the kitchen and then working as a night watchman.

He was sending $5.00 a month for support to Martha. He indicated in the records that he wished to find Martha and marry her and take care of the child. At this time do not no if any of that occurred. I can find no evidence that Martha ever existed in any official records, most likely because of her age.

The Maternity Hospital where she was sent is still in operation, under a different mandate and name, but I am hoping that they will still have records of her.

By 1913 or 1914 Emil was married to Rebecca Perusse and living in Duluth. He had three children with her.

It's always the quiet ones...

It happened when I was doing a search for Fred Hamm in the Duluth papers. A headline that always popped up during previous searches that I would vaguely notice and then promptly ignore.

Search entry result from genealogybank.com.

This time, for some reason, I payed more attention to it. So I clicked to read the entire article.

Then my brain started to slowly process what I was reading and it turned into one of those OMG, no this can't be, moments where I couldn’t believe my eyes. Emil G. Hamm. Wasn’t my great uncle Emil’s middle name Gustav? So I did a quick check of my database and sure enough, yes Emil’s middle name was Gustav.

Hmmm. 1910. I decided to check the census record:

And I quickly found him. As an inmate of the state reformatory. The age is right, the birth place is right, his parents birthplace is right. Yep! No doubt about it this is my Emil.

And we all thought he was the quiet, no trouble son.

...more to come.

Picture proof...

Margaret Mobley married William Buchanan in Monroe County, Ohio about 1850. The reason I know her parent’s names is because, fortunately, they are listed on her death record in Jackson County, West Virginia, William and Sarah Mabley, now the last name is mangled, but that is nothing new in genealogical research. I used the parents names in a search of Ohio marriages because that is where Margaret and William lived before they moved to West Virginia, and found one for a William Mobley and Sarah Millison for 10 November 1825, in Belmont County, Ohio. This record fits nicely with Margaret’s birth which is about 1833.

The finding of this marriage record was pretty compelling, so I decided to pursue this line of research.

Like a large majority of genealogists my research tends to focus on our direct ancestors. In my case, I move on to siblings when I have run out of sources that will help me move further back, or forward depending on your point of view. In Margaret Mobley’s case I had no idea who her siblings were. One of the reasons is because only the 1850 census shows her parents, William and Sarah, with any of their likely children named. In this case the child is Silas about 12 or 13 years of age.

Well, it looks like Silas was my next victim. I decided to look at other genealogists family trees that include William and Sarah Mobley at ancestry.com and found one interesting entry. They had Silas listed, as a son of the same parents as Margaret, who married Rebecca Buchanan. Interesting coincidence, as William Buchanan had a sister named Rebecca. One of the daughters of Silas was named Sarah, and she is entered as having married a Bloom. Very interesting.

'Why is this very interesting?' you ask with baited breath. Because, I have a photograph in our family photo collection of a Sarah Mobley Bloom who married William, and it was addressed on the back to Jane Buchanan, who would be her cousin.

William Bloom, a handsome devil isn't he, and his wife Sarah Mobley Bloom. She died young in her 30s or 40s I believe.

Gotcha! Proceed with celebratory fist bump. So without any actual documented proof, both the family tree entry I found and this picture pretty much confirm my theory of the parents of Margaret being William Mobley and Sarah Millison. I feel quite confident in proceeding with this line of inquiry. So it is off to the Millisons of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

A mystery possibly solved…

I don’t know if I can say enough times how important land records are in genealogical research.

Case in point.

I have been slowly transcribing the digital images I took of land records from my last trip to SLC. I am currently working on land deeds from Monroe County, Ohio. The surnames I am interested in are SMITH, MOBLY, MILLISON, BUCHANAN, and ATKINSON.

Monroe County, Ohio map 

Joseph Smith and his wife Catherine were the parents of Susannah who married Hartley Shepard. Rebecca Atkinson married William Buchanan.

I have never known the name of Catherine’s parents, it has never been stated in any of my research. However, it is possible that I have found it out.

One of the land records I transcribed for Joseph and his wife, spelled Katherine in this particular deed, indicated a tract or parcel in Section 7 of Township 4, Range 4, I believe it was the SW 1/4. Okay. Cool. I marked the position on my hard copy. Then, a while later, I am transcribing a land record for William Buchanan and Rebecca his wife, remember she is an Atkinson by birth. The tract or parcel described is the exact same one described in Joseph and Katherine’s deed, the Buchanan’s had acquired the property through the decease of Rebecca’s father James Atkinson. Both couples were selling the land to the same person, John Adams.

The property was described as some type of inheritance in Joseph’s deed, but James’ name wasn’t mentioned.

The only reason I could see for the property description to be the same, was if Katherine was a daughter of James and had inherited her portion of the estate. And if that isn’t interesting enough, there is a Jeremiah Smith who married an Atkinson girl living in the same area, and involved in land transactions related to the same Atkinson family.

My belief is that Jeremiah and Joseph are SMITH brothers, who married ATKINSON sisters. Of course, it is possible that I am wrong and Joseph is somehow related to James Atkinson, but I have my doubts, because he would have to be a pretty close relative to be inheriting part of the estate, when there are children and a wife getting their portions also.

Well, that’s my theory so far.

A hell of a haul…

My great grandfather, Fred Hamm, had many wives and relationships, in fact I am sure there are some we know nothing about. His second and third wives were both named Emma, although he didn’t marry his third wife until many years after they had been living together. He divorced his second wife in 1918, so the article below could be about his second wife Emma Steinbach Fischer, or his third girlfriend/wife Emma Paugel Hamm. They were all still in International Falls, Minnesota at the time this incident occurred.

Duluth News Tribune, 4/15/1920, vol. 51, issue 335, page 1.

I don’t know what would have been worse, the illness or the trip to the hospital. This just makes me very thankful for our modern conveniences.

Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie...

We have a couple of pictures in our family of my grandfather, Clarence John, that are a pretty classic American theme:

Clarence John, sometime between 1916-1928 in Wisconsin.

He is clearly wearing a Chicago White Sox uniform. Family rumor had it he played for a farm team for a short while. Unfortunately, I can find no record of Clarence playing for a farm team or for the White Sox. I checked with the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is possible he played for a local team that took on the name of the White Sox. Although I find that idea, passed on to me by an acquaintance, not very likely.

He does look cute in his uniform though.

On the same theme here is a Shepard relative with his baseball team, this one is in West Virginia:

One of the Shepard boys with his ball team, he is front row second from left. It could be my great-grandfather William Shepard, Sr., but I would have to confer with Mother about that.

A work in progress...

When I arrived in Salt Lake City on the 31st of last month, I still had about two hours of research time I could indulge in at the library before it closed at 5:00pm.

I decided to just look at the bygdebøk for Amund's side of the family, as I can't seem to get the book inter-library loaned at home. I spent the first half hour just trying to make heads or tails of the information and where I needed to start to find Amund himself.

Then, finally found him.

Now I could start working my way backwards, of course I also only had about an hour left to research. Here is his entry, [this digital image has been annotated by me for my own reference]:

Notice that his name in this publication is spelled Oddmund. I believe the church record of his birth has a similar spelling.

Unfortunately over the week that I was in SLC I only had short spurts of time I could spend looking through the book, so I never actually finished my research on Amund, but I was able to go back to the 1600s in several line's as I could for Jorgina's family.

Looks like I will have to go to the Madison Norwegian research center. I hear they are great.

Google maps has a 'live' view of the area of Norway that Amund lived so I am including two shots of each side of the road where Amunds' family came from. After looking at these images I can imagine the appeal of living in Duluth for Amund, and working on the docks, he had water in his veins.

I have indicated 'Here' on the map to show the side of the fjord/inlet where Amund's family came from, they lived up and down this waterway.

Fred's sibs...

I had a humorous and slightly embarrassing email from Freiderike this week - as she informed me she wasn't a guy! I knew I should have been a better student of German, I would have realized the 'e' at the end of her name was significant.

But all is better now and the confusion is cleared up. The 'lady' who has been so kind as to assist me in my Isserstedt research sent me records for 4 of Fred's brothers and sisters, which may be all he had.

They were:

1. Johann Heinrich Isserstedt, 1812?
2. Carl Friedrich Gottlieb Isserstedt, 1812? (died 3 June 1897) 
3. Marie Sophia Isserstedt, 1816
4. Johanna Maria Christiana Isserstedt, 1824?

Here are the images. Can you figure out which one is which?

Talk about snail mail...

In September of last year I sent a letter to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, Vermont regarding a marriage between a Samuel Johnson and Elizabeth Fox. The reason for the request was I wanted to find out if this Samuel was a brother of Almyra Johnson Brooks.

Well, nine months later I finally got a response. Samuel Johnson was the son of John Johnson and Margaret Fing. So, no he is not Almyra's brother. Now he has been relegated to a possible cousin.

Great, this means I have to add another line of research to my Johnson quest, hopefully it won't lead to another brick wall.

Back to my old tricks...

Well, it has been almost a week since I came back from my exhausting trip to Salt Lake City. When Mary told me she took about 40 pictures of documents during her research, I just blinked and said "Really, I think I took about 400". I was close, 448. That's just with my camera, that doesn't count the 30 or more I took with my iPhone.

I have pretty much recovered, although not from the weather shock. I really miss my 80 degree days.

Over the next few weeks I will be posting a few items from my trip, but it is going to take me a while to assess the haul. As of right now I am not quite sure if I have anything of significance, as I don't have time to read the material, just find and photograph it.

But, I do have something to share that wasn't from my trip.

Friederike, my new German acquaintance, has sent me something even better than Friederick Karl Isserstedt's birth record, he has found his parent's marriage record.

This is the marriage record of Fred Isserstedt's parents.

They were married in St. Michael's Church in Hassleben, Germany.

"The 16th of October [1811] bachelor Mister Johann Heinrich Isserstedt ?? citizen and linen weaver of this town, [son of] Mister Johann Carl Isserstedt ?? citizen and linen weaver of this town ??  born in marriage [meaning legitimate], with Magdaline Regine Gross, [daughter of] Johann Nicolaus Gross ?? citizen and neighbor of this town, oldest born in marriage ?? ?? of this town, were married."

The question marks are items that Friedrike was unable to translate or transcribe. He also sent me the records of all the siblings, or at least the ones from the church records, I do not know if there were more. I will post those next week.

Now thanks to Friedrike's help I have gone back two generations, although I am missing the women's names from the marriage record. Of course. I am extremely grateful for Friedrike's help, otherwise I would probably never have gotten these records, as they have not been filmed by the Family History Library. Friedrike tells me that he does this to help other genealogists who have relatives from Hessleben, as that is where one of his ancestors also came from, his RAGK.

Family and travel...

As I am heading out to Salt Lake City for my annual research trip tomorrow, I thought today's post would be most appropriate. It is about family and travel. Hence the title.

Frieda Isserstedt, born 1882.

Frieda Isserstedt is my 1st cousin 3 times removed. Or to be less confusing, she is the daughter of my gg grandmother Amelia Isserstedt Hamm's brother, Fritz. I hope that helps. She was a graduate of the University of Chicago and was a teacher. From all accounts a very much respected one too. According to her students no one could stump her on a historical event date.

In 1929 Frieda decided to take a European tour.

This article is from the Sheboygan Press.

That sounds like quite a trip, she never visited the family's hometown, but it looks like she might not have had time.

Here is the Olympic, the ship she sailed home on:

A postcard version of the ship. As you can see it is a White Star Line ship, the same as the Titanic, and no, the ship made it home just fine.

This is the passenger list for the Olympic, Frieda is number 8 on the list.

My trip won't be as exotic. But I do hope to have a good time. At least the restaurants are usually excellent. I can't wait to head to my favorite sushi stop, way better than anything we get here.

I won't be posting anything next week. Unless I have a really big find, but I have my doubts about that. So until the next post, stay cool. Aloha.

Another generation...

I had a surprising email waiting for me this last weekend. It was a notification from ancestry.com that someone had left a messsage for me with my account. As it has been quite a while since anyone has contacted me through Ancestry I was eager to see what it was about.

A gentleman from Germany was asking me if I was still interested in information on my Isserstedts in Hassleben, Germany. My first thought was, 'hell yeah!'

Friedrike is German and has been helping out folks with ancestors from Hassleben, because he has an ancestor from there. He has photographed all the pages from the St. Michael's church books and sends them out to folks who are in need of copies. As the Mormon Church hasn't microfilmed any of these church records, this was an excellent opportunity to get those church records.

Unfortunately, the book earlier than 1798 was burned in a fire and the one between 1824ish and 1843 was stolen, but as least there was one record he could send me:

Whole page of church book with Friedrich Carl Isserstedt entry.

Close up of Fred's church entry, 1822, p231

Here Friedrich, my German acquaintance, translated the information so I would be sure to know what it means.

The translation (with a few grammatical corrections to read easier):

5. Friedrich Karl, Mister Johann Heinrich Isserstedt and his wife Magdalene Regina (born Grosse) 4th child, was born the 26th of February [1822] and baptized the 3rd of March through his godfathers 1. Johann Felix Mälzer Chirurgus = doctor 2. Adelgunde Sophie Grimmer wife of Johann Nicol Grimmer in Werningshausen [is a small town some miles north of Hassleben].

In case you haven't figured it out by now this is Fred Isserstedt's birth record from Germany. According to the church record Fred had three siblings and I am hoping to get their names. I don't know if I will be able to find out much more on his parents as the church books needed are missing. Not having done much research with records still in Germany, it will be interesting to see if I will be able to find anything else about the family.