If you have never been to my blog before, welcome! This is where I share my genealogy discoveries and some helpful tips as well. If you have some time, take a few minutes and check out some of the entries I have made about family. Genealogy has become my passion. I love playing detective, trying to solve mysteries and put the pieces together. I've found I have a real knack for it. Let me share some discoveries I've made over the past year.
Starting with my 3rd great grandma, Maggie Helfrich. That name probably sounds familiar to some of you. She is traced up on Grandma Ruth Wheeler's side. I've had a hard time trying to find more information about her as she came from Tennessee; born during the Civil War. This year brought great discoveries. I was able to locate her divorce record from her first husband, Logan Dennis, and her marriage record to her second husband, Jacob Helfrich. In the divorce record, I came across some very shocking news about her relationship to her daughter Oma Mae. If you would like to read about it, click here: The Search for Maggie Molten continues. Through all this though, I have not been able to trace back any farther than Maggie. I may need to actually take a trip to the Archives in Nashville, Tennessee to see if I can find anything.
As I stated above, we moved into our new house end of last year. One thing this house has is a dedicated Laundry Room. I was beyond ecstatic. I decided to dedicate that Laundry Room to Grandma & Grandpa Wheeler. Mom told me the story that they met while working together at White Line Laundry located on Chippewa. I loved the story as it related to my own with my husband. We met while working together at a bookstore 17 years ago. To read the story about While Line Laundry and to see the decorations, click here: White Line Laundry.
I hope you are enjoying the stories so far. My journey through genealogy research has not only taken me through the United States, but overseas as well. With some help from some Facebook groups I am a member of, I was able to trace Grandma Ruth Wheeler's Ilg Family back into Germany for a few more generations. I have copies of the original church records written in German. Those were fun to read haha! Google Translate became my friend. I'm familiar with many French and German words, but reading the old writing was difficult. But I was able to go back to my 5th Great Grandfather & Grandmother from Seitingen, Tuttlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Read the story here: The Ilg's have been located.
I know it seems like I've only researched my side of the family this year, but I promise you I've been researching Mark's as well. In the past, a lot of time has been spent on finding his family. Here is a video I made about that research.
One big discovery I made this past year on Mark's family was he had family that came from Silverton, Colorado! We lived in Delta, Colorado for a few years and had even visited Silverton before we knew he had family that lived there and was buried there. Talk about small world! Read about this story here: Relatives in Silverton, Colorado?!
And the final family member I have been researching has been the most interesting of the year. This year marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. I remembered we had a family member that fought and died in World War I, so I dedicated some time to getting to know him and all about his sacrifice. William Ilg is the brother of Great Grandpa Joseph Ilg (Grandma Ruth Wheeler's father). He died three days before the end of World War I. That fact alone caused me to want to find out more. Read his story here: William Ilg, the gone but not forgotten Uncle. I am not done researching him yet. There is still something I need to try to finish. It's a surprise!
Like I said, this blog was started to share my journey through Genealogy. I've taken a few research trips over the years and have taken lots of photos. It's hard to share all of them through the blog itself so something else that I decided to do was to create my own YouTube Channel. I take the photos and videos I capture, and create small interesting videos to share. It really brings everything to life. As time goes on, I am hoping to take more trips, and once I do I will be making and uploading more videos. I will also be uploading family videos so they are preserved for years to come. Please take some time and visit my YouTube Channel & take a second to subscribe so you don't miss any uploads.
I know I've shared quite a bit of information with you. If anyone has any questions about the research I have done, or wants copies, or anything, please let me know. I am happy to share all my research with you, my family. My family is also your family. Love you all and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!
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