Spooky Family Story Time - Happy Halloween 🎃

Happy Halloween! It's Spooky Family Story Time. Gather around the fire as I share with you a spooky story of my own that has been passed down through the years by my grandma. Got your snacks?

This happened years ago, but still within my lifetime. After my great-grandpa Joseph Ilg passed away, my great-grandma Honey moved in with my grandma Ruth Wheeler (her only daughter) and Grandpa Les Wheeler. Honey apparently was interested in the afterlife and making contact with the other side. She would tell my grandma that after she died, she would try to make contact. My grandma didn't believe in that stuff and said to her that she wouldn't acknowledge her if she did try to make contact.

Great-Grandma Honey and Me
1982-1983

Honey, Grandma, Uncle Les, and His family
late 1970s

A few years later, Honey passed away on March 5, 1983. She had been living at the Masonic Home of Missouri in St. Louis. She was cremated a few days later, and her ashes were scattered in The Big River, which is connected to the Meramec River near Eureka, Missouri. The same place where Honey's husband's ashes were scattered (and where grandpa Les' ashes would also be scattered later on as well).

The Sound of Footsteps...

Sometime later, Grandma started hearing noises in her house. She said they sounded like footsteps. And not just any footsteps. They sounded like Honey's footsteps. If you have lived with someone for a while, you begin to recognize the sounds of certain people's footsteps. And Grandma was sure it was Honey's footsteps walking down the hallway to the bedroom. She began to hear them nightly after she would go to bed. But Grandma was true to her word. She didn't want to interact with whoever was walking down the hallway, even if it was her mom. So she began to close her bedroom door at night to signal that she didn't want to be bothered and wanted whatever or whoever it was to go away. Sometime later, Grandma stopped hearing the footsteps. And they never returned. My mom was kind of upset cause she DID want to have contact with Honey, but Grandma wouldn't allow it. 

I was only one year old, so I don't have any memories of this. Mom told me about it later when I got older. Grandma stayed in that same house until she went into a nursing home around 2013. I tried to make contact when I was a kid, but never experienced what my Grandma experienced. 

My Grandma and my child
To the right in the hallway leading to the bedrooms
The hallway where Grandma heard the footsteps
April 2005

So what do you think? Do you think it was my Great-Grandma trying to make contact? Have you ever experienced anything like this? Share some of your spooky family stories in the comments. 

Happy Halloween!👻

OTD - Anniversary of Jakob & Magdalena Ilg

     A new feature on Ancestry has made it easier to celebrate the events in our ancestors' lives. On your home page, if you scroll down, you will find sections labeled "Upcoming Birthdays", "In Remembrance", and "Upcoming Anniversaries". And based on the information you have in your tree, they list your ancestors under these categories. This is so much easier for sure. I had originally started a database to keep track of special events in my ancestors' lives. My database goes a little further into the events in their lives than Ancestry, but this is still amazingly helpful.

    So today, we are celebrating the Anniversary of my 3rd Great-Grandparents, Jakob Chilian (Kilian) Ilg and Magdalena Schreiber. They were married 168 years ago (1855) in Seitingen, Tuttlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. I first learned about them from my Grandma Ruth Wheeler's special date book that was passed down to her. This little book has been a treasure trove of information, helping me to trace back to my 3rd Great-Grandparents. See photo below.

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Family Date Book - Date Unknown

Ruth Wheeler Collection

Close up shot of Family Date Book - Date Unknown

Mentions the parents of Frank Jakob Ilg

Ruth Wheeler Collection

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    Let me tell you how I came to know the date they were married. While this date book at least gave me the names of my 3rd Great-Grandparents, it did not provide information about their marriage, and the records to prove their births and marriage were in Germany. At the time I started researching, these records were not available on Ancestry or Family Search (but they are now available). So I joined a Facebook group to help aid in my research. They turned me onto a website that could help me, based on the location information I had for my ancestors: Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg.

    Unfortunately, the website was in German. At the time, I didn't have an auto-translate feature on my computer to translate the website. And the records were also written in German (of course I knew that). So this was going to be fun. Time to pull up an English-German dictionary and get to work.  There also wasn't a search feature for the names in these records, so since I didn't have anything to go on but names, I started with the birth record of Franz Jakob and worked backward looking for children of Jakob Ilg and Magdalena Schreiber. Once I stopped seeing entries for children, I estimated when their marriage must have been, then began paging through the marriage entries looking for Jakob and Magdalena. And lo and behold, I found them! It was a little tricky though. I will explain why in a minute. But here is their marriage information recorded in the ledger. 

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Marriage Register

Jakob Kilian Ilg & Magdalena Schreiber

6 Feb 1855

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    During their marriage, they would have ten children, including my 2nd Great-Grandfather, Franz Jakob Ilg. I wrote about him briefly in Pauline Ilg's story. Not all their children would live to adulthood. I was able to trace the births of these children (and sometimes deaths) thanks to the baptismal registers. As I said, this was how I estimated their marriage year. Although, there were a few surprises.

    First, I found a child born to Magdalena who carried her last name. In her register, it was written that she was "illegitimate". But Jakob was listed as the father. Ooooh... She was born in 1849, so that gave me a place to start. I worked backward to the next child that was born in 1855. That child was NOT listed as "illegitimate" so they were married in between 1849 and 1855. I was struggling to find their entry until I looked more deeply in 1855. Katharina was born February 26, 1855, so I was looking back in 1854. Nope, they were married just weeks before Katharina was born. Double Ooooh!! 

    Well, at least I found their marriage register. And thanks to that, I was able to trace back another generation. I continued working on that site tracing as far back as I could go, which was a couple of generations. I even took some notes on what the headings were on the pages so I could understand what was being recorded. I was really proud of myself for locating these records. I was still new to researching when I located this record. It took a lot of time and effort, but it was so worth it. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of Jakob and Magdalena but I'm glad to have what I do have. 

So Happy Anniversary to my 3rd Great-Grandparents!

1950 Census - Reviewing names on Family Search

     The 1950 Census has been available now for 21 days. After the excitement of finding ancestors on the NARA site, the focus has now been on indexing and reviewing names. It's amazing how fast this is all going. Thanks to the new software being used by NARA and Ancestry, names are being indexed faster than previous census records. And especially thanks to all the volunteers who are reviewing all the data over on FamilySearch.org. They have been working around the clock to complete this project. You can help too!

How Do You Do It?
    I've dabbled a little bit in helping review names on FamilySearch.org, but yesterday I jumped right in and went crazy reviewing names. You see, Missouri became available yesterday! Yay!! While I have found pretty much everyone on my list, there were some I hadn't found yet. So I dove right in.

1950 Census Community Project

Reviewing Names & Indexing

FamilySearch.org

    As you can see they are coming along fairly nicely. You can choose which state you want to work on either from the drop-down menu or the map. After that, you a box comes up giving you a couple of options. As of right now, the only choice available for Missouri is "Review Names" at the bottom. Once the indexing process gets a little further, other options will be made available. See the images below. Utah is further along in the indexing process so they have more options available.

1950 Census Community Project
Review the Census in Missouri
FamilySearch.og

1950 Census Community Project
Review the Census in Utah
FamilySearch.org

    Since the only option available is "Review Names" that's what I clicked on. And it brought up another box that gives you the options of either searching for specific surnames or just diving into the state. I did both. First I started with the surnames in my family. I wanted to review my family names and I wanted to see if any missing family members popped up.

1950 Census Community Project
Review Individual Names
FamilySearch.org

    When I searched for the surnames in my family, many pages were brought up that were NOT my family, but that's ok. I was happy to review the similar names and help other families. I was pretty impressed it picked up hard to recognize surnames like "ILG". If not written correctly, it could resemble other words. 

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Read my blog post:

52 Ancestors: How Do You Spell That?

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    Searching the surname "ILG" brought up my great-grandparents Joseph and Margaret Ilg in St. Louis, Missouri. I had already located their census page on the NARA site with the help of the SteveMorse.org site. But I was so happy to be able to review the name and identify that it was correct.
    I was able to continue to review the page they were on if I wanted. A continued search of the surname "ILG" brought up other people with that same last night, but no other families like I thought it would. That either means one of two things: 1) The surname wasn't recognized as being "ILG" or 2) The other "ILG" families were already reviewed. Which works for me. We are all working together to help each other and get this project done faster. You can see below what it looks like to review names.

    

1950 Census Community Project
Reviewing Names
FamilySearch.org

    Right now, they are only reviewing first names and surnames on the census for Missouri. If it matches, you click match. If it's incorrect, you can edit it. If you are unsure (and that's ok) then click unsure. Better to be honest than to be incorrect. There are other options to choose from such as if there are other words besides names or if something has been scratched out or other anomalies. I have not worked with the other options available to other states yet such as reviewing groups, but when I do, I will write another blog post.
    There are still some bugs to be worked out in the system so be patient. If you have any questions or want to know about updates to the project, click the link below.

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1950 US Census Project:

Updates, More Information, and FAQ

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    As of this date, Missouri is at 2% for reviewing names. But I know that won't last for long. I will be contributing more as will so many other volunteers. Maybe I will come across some more surprises. Check out a couple I have already found.

Surprises
    As I said above, there are still some family members I have not found yet for various reasons. So I'm waiting for the indexing process to be complete. While waiting, I searched for their surnames for reviewing. I came up with a couple of surprises but not the ones I was expecting.

    First, I searched for the "Rickards" surname to see what would come up. I did bring up my father-in-law and his parents, which I had already found. So I verified their names while I was there. But there was one person missing from that census, which I knew would be. My father-in-law's brother, Keith Rickards. Due to some complications during birth, he was born with severe mental disabilities. He was at home for a few years, as shown in the 1940 Census and in some photographs I have from my father-in-law. But he was not with them on the 1950 Census. As I said, I already knew he wouldn't be.
    I was informed years ago that Keith had spent most of his life in a special facility for his mental disabilities. He thrived well as far as I understood. Lilly, his mom, worked at the facility in the gift shop. According to a newspaper article, Keithie (as his mom would call him) lived at Bellefontaine Rehabilitation Center. I wrote about him for the 52 Ancestors prompt: Bachelor Uncle.

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Read about Keith here

52 Ancestors: Bachelor Uncle

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    Even though I knew the name of the Facility, there was no way for me to track it down in the 1950 Census. And I learned why while I was reviewing names. While searching for "Rickards" surnames, a page popped up with a whole bunch of unrelated names in alphabetical order. And there he was, right on that page. I scrolled to the top and noticed the name of the facility was not the same as what I had. It's possible they changed the name sometime in the years he had lived there.

1950 Census Community Project
Reviewing Names
FamilySearch.org

    The name of the facility was St. Louis State Training School in St. Ferdinand, St. Louis, Missouri. Oh, I feel some more research is going to happen soon and another blog post going more in-depth. That is if I find more information. So I was excited to find this surprise. But this wasn't the only one.

    While still reviewing "Rickards" surnames, I came across a name I recognized: Len Rickards. I know that name because he contacted me a few years ago. We are distant cousins on my husband's side. I didn't realize he would appear on this census! So I downloaded a copy of the census and emailed it to him. Can't wait to hear back from him.

    Going from my hubby's family to my family, I searched for the surname "Strawhun" to see what would come up. My Grandma Fuchs' brother and his family popped up! Wilbert Strawhun was a fireman in Rock Hill, Missouri for years and I hadn't located him yet on the 1950 census. So that was a fun surprise. I continued searching but no other Strawhuns showed up.

I know as the days go on, I will find more surprises popping up as names get indexed. What surprises have you found? Are you helping index? Who are you hoping to find once the index is complete? 

Week 15: How Do You Spell That?

     I can't tell you how many times my last name has been misspelled in my life. Both married and maiden! Most of the time people don't even ask "How Do You Spell That?" but just assume they know. I've made it a habit of spelling my maiden name every time someone asks for it to hopefully eliminate any confusion. Yeah, that still doesn't always work.
    As we do genealogy research, we will constantly come across surnames that were spelled in many different ways. Either because it was misheard, or the family was illiterate and couldn't spell to begin with. When I first started, I stuck with the belief if it wasn't spelled it was supposed to be, they weren't family. Yeah, that didn't get me far in my research. I've since learned that I have to be flexible with the spelling and prove the family connection by other means. So these are some of the most commonly misspelled surnames in my family.

Fuchs

    My maiden name is Fuchs. It is of German origin and is usually pronounced like "fyooks"; although I grew up pronouncing it a different way: "fyoosh". I have no idea why we did that or how it got started, but it must have at least come from my Great-grandfather, Michael Fuchs because my grandpa, George Fuchs and all his siblings all pronounce it that way. Anytime I had a new teacher at school, I had to correct how they pronounced it. So much fun! But that isn't even half the problem.

1940 US Fed Census
Fuchs Family
Ancestry.com

    Do you see how it is spelled? It is too closely related to another word that is considered a cuss word. Oh yeah, this was grand growing up with a whole bunch of adolescent kids. One time a classmate got a hold of one of my papers and changed the 'h' to a 'k' (which is not hard to do) and then turned it in. So when it was time for the papers to be handed out, another student was reading out the names and said that word. Oh boy... I had to explain to the teacher I did not do that. And even showed them that the pencil mark on the page was different than my writing. That's just one example.
    Let me tell you, I have friends from high school that STILL don't know how to spell my maiden name. It usually ends up with extra letters or sometimes they drop the 's' on the end. I always felt like I was cursed. Once I started researching German records, I was curious to see how the spelling had changed if any. And it really didn't. Once I got into the records, I saw the surname "Fuchs" everywhere! And spelled like we spell it! But that still doesn't help me today when I meet someone new and I tell them my maiden name. 

Rickards

    I thought when I would get married my troubles would be over. Boy was I fooled. I think I have more trouble with this surname than my maiden name. Everyone always immediately thinks it's supposed to be Richards. I usually tell people it's Richards except with a 'k'. I have to admit even I had trouble when I first met my husband.
    Unlike with Fuchs, Rickards has been misspelled for YEARS. I've lost track of how many variations I have come across in my research. These are just some examples: Rickard, Ricard, Records, Rickert, Ricketts, and of course, Richards. It is unclear how the original was spelled, but research has suggested the original was Rickard. The family came from England, but I haven't traced the family back there myself. 

1850 US Fed Census Records Family Ancestry.com	1920 US Fed Census Richards Family Ancestry.com

Ilg (ILG)

    Now this surname threw me for a loop when mom first told me about it. I was like, um, what did you say? Haha! The 'i' in the surname makes a short i sound, like igloo. This is my grandma's maiden name. I had never heard of this name before and for sure never met anyone with this surname. This family line has been my most researched.

1930 US Fed Census
Ilk Family
Ancestry.com

    The family came from Germany in the mid to late 1800s. I've traced the family pretty far back in Germany and like Fuchs, Ilg was always spelled the same. But pronouncing it I believe is a little different. I think the 'g' makes more of a 'k' sound which makes sense why I've seen the surname spelled with a 'k'. I've seen it spelled Ilck and even Ilk, which is why I couldn't find the family easily in the 1930 census. It's also been spelled Illg, Illig, Ilges, Llg, Elk, and more. when I go looking for them in the City Directories, I have to check under all these spellings. 

    While I've run into other surnames that have been misspelled before, these are the top ones I've dealt with. It's best to include variations of spellings you've come across for the surnames in your tree for anyone who reviews your research or for your own personal notes. 

So, what surnames have you come across in your research that has been constantly misspelled? 

1950 Census - Who Have You Found?

     Everyone is all abuzz over the release of the 1950 US Federal Census. Many of us were up late waiting for the midnight release. I joined Amy Johnson Crow for a release party on YouTube. We were visiting with friends and preparing for the moment the Census was released on the National Archives website. When it finally hit, we all scattered and went searching. Almost like an Easter Egg hunt. You can watch the video below.

Mom, Dad, and Their Parents

    That first night, I only planned on looking up my parents since I had to get up early the next morning for a doctor's appointment. Mom's family, I was able to find them right away thanks to the Enumeration District. I knew where they were living when the census came through so that helped a great deal. 

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Gravois - 95-279
National Archives
Wheeler Family

    Mom has given me the information that she was told. She was only a month old when the census came through. Later that year they moved to another location, but that was after the census came through. I wrote about them in previous posts here:

Using Photos to Help Find Addresses

Who Do You Hope To Find?

    Now, Dad's family was more tricky. They were moving around a lot during this time, so there were a couple of places they could have been, and I only had addresses for two of them. While Dad was still alive, he had told me about the places they lived. He had an impeccable memory. The first two places were in Kirkwood that my grandpa built. I had addresses for them and looked them up right away. Nope, they weren't there. Next came the places I DIDN'T have addresses for. Only some details.
    Dad told me after Kirkwood they lived temporarily in Arnold. First at a Gas Station that my Papa was trying to acquire and then at Bridge Inn that doubled as a cafe and Inn. Dad said Papa ran the business while Grandma was the cook for the cafe. Dad said they lived either above the cafe or in one of the buildings on the property. But he couldn't remember where the Bridge Inn was exactly located. I had planned on taking him for a drive around the area to see if that would spark some memory, but he had passed away before I could do that.
    Unfortunately, the deal fell through at Bridge Inn for some reason, dad couldn't remember why, although he was just a kid. Now at this point they were homeless. They ended up moving to their clubhouse on the Meramec River near Eureka. That was yet another location they would have been living when the Census came through. And this was also another location I had no address for. So this was going to be tricky.

    Like I said, I tried Kirkwood first but they weren't there. So the next part was searching in Arnold which was in Jefferson County. I had no address or location of where to look, so I was going to have to rely on the preliminary index that was created from the National Archives. Oh, and am I glad they had that. I did a search in Jefferson County for my Papa's name and it came up. I couldn't believe it! Based on the information given, my Papa was a Cafe Operator and Grandma was a cook. Just like my dad told me. So this must have been for the Bridge Inn. I have now been pouring over maps to try to find the exact location of where the Bridge Inn was located. I know I will be working with my Aunt on this, who was also alive at this time and on the census. So you know I will be writing more about this later.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Rock Township - 50-34
National Archives
Fuchs Family

Great-Grandparents

    I had three sets of Great-Grandparents and one Great-Grandma to look up in this census. Not to mention my husband's family, which we will discuss later.

• Nellie Fuchs
• Robert & Louise Strawhun
• James Benjamin & Pearl Wheeler
• Joseph & Margaret Ilg

    I had addresses listed from all of them, but only one set was questionable. Nellie along with Robert & Louise lived at the same address in Kirkwood for years before and after the 1950 Census so that was an easy find. Joseph & Margaret were living at their location with their daughter (My grandma) before she married my grandpa, and according to records were still living at this address after 1950. But while I had the address, the street couldn't be located on the Census map, so it was a little tricky tracking down that information. But there were right where they were supposed to be.
    The only set I have not found is James Benjamin & Pearl. I had a couple of addresses for them based on sources I had, but they were not living at those addresses; other people were living there. I did a search for them, but St. Louis is a huge area, so that didn't narrow anything down. I know at some point, James Benjamin was put into a nursing home, but don't know when. So they are going to have to wait until the index is more complete.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Kirkwood - 95-75
National Archives
Fuchs Family

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Kirkwood - 95-84
National Archives
Strawhun Family

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, St. Louis - 95-315A
National Archives
Ilg Family

Other Family Members

    Not only did I have Great-Grandparents, I had some 2nd Great-Grandparents to find on my Maternal Grandmother's line. Oma Mae Caldwell and her ex-husband, Edward Buer. Oma lived in her mother's old house, so she was easy to find. But Edward and his new wife, Alice were a little more difficult to track down. Their address was just outside of town limits, so it was hit or miss for the Enumeration District. But they were located.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, St. Louis - 96-791
National Archives
Caldwell Family

1950 US Fed Census
Illinois, Will County - 99-112
National Archives
Buer Family

    One family I still have not found in the census is my 2nd Great Aunt, Ruth Kelley and her husband James Howard. I knew this was going to be my most difficult couple. James Howard Kelley worked as an architect, at least that's what I was told, and he traveled around a lot. He lived in Missouri, Illinois, Washington and even Alaska. Mom told me she remembered him sending her a little Eskimo doll from their when she was little. It was also rumored that he helped design the Seattle Space Needle. Since they moved a lot, it is unknown where they were living in 1950 when the census came through. So they will have to wait until the indexes are complete then hopefully I will be able to track them down.

Mark's Family

    Not only did I look up my own family, but I also looked up my hubby's family. I'm the one who has done the research on his family so why wouldn't I? I found both his parents and grandparents easily at the addresses I had for them. This is the first year for both of our parents to be on the census. It was neat to see what Mark's grandfather did for a living.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, St. Louis - 96-1494
National Archives
Rickards Family

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Kirkwood - 95-362
National Archives
Swope Family

    Moving back another generation, one set of Great-Grandparents had lived in the same location and were easy to locate, but the other two were a little tricky. Rev. Hudson Taylor & Sadie McGrew lived in Breckenridge, Missouri, but I had no address for them. Breckenridge was a small town with only two Enumeration Districts and, luckily, they were on the first district. Found them fairly quickly. Rev. McGrew was retired at this point and they were enjoying time with each other and visiting family. Thanks to the census I learned they lived on Maple. Sadly, Rev. McGrew passed away later that year.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Breckenridge - 13-1
National Archives
McGrew Family

    The only other Great-Grandparent that was living at this time was Mary Alice Swope. She lived on a farm in rural Clinton County, Missouri. She was a little difficult to track down. Their family lived on the farm for many generations & later, her children lived nearby as well. Mary Swope's husband passed away in 1935, but she still lived on their farm in 1940 with two of her daughters, Ethel & Irene. They were right next to one of her sons, James, and his family.
    Now for the 1950 census, they were not next to each other. It probably has to do with the enumerators and which farms they visited in the order they did. Enumeration District lines appeared to be the same as in 1940 so that had nothing to do with it. Whatever the case, thanks to maps, I was able to locate where they should be on the 1950 Census. I explained this in more depth in another blog post: Maps of Clinton County - How Galen & Pearl Met. This time on the census, Irene was the head of the household and her mother, Mary, and sister, Ethel, lived with her. But their brother, James, was not listed in this Enumeration District. Is it possible they moved? Unsure at this time. It will require a bit more research. I do know we will be making another trip up to Clinton County maybe this summer. The good news is I found them on the census.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Lafayette - 25-13
National Archives
Swope Family

   Spreading wide now in Mark's family tree, two ancestors I was excited to find were Ruth & Scottie Rickards. Ruth moved to Iowa from Illinois sometime in the 1920s and after their father died, Scottie moved in with her. Scottie has been a curious ancestor for a while. I wrote about him in a blog post for the 52 Ancestors Challenge: Week 4 - Curious. As you read in the post, there was a lot unknown about him. I've been putting together some information about him as I learn it. The most recent I wrote about in two Friday Finds posts. Westminster College and Update on Scottie Rickards.
    So I was looking forward to seeing the 1950 Census to try to get an idea of when his condition started. I found their address in a 1950 City Directory, so finding them wasn't hard. But I got my answer by looking at the census. Scottie was listed as Unable to Work. So whatever happened, it happened before he moved and sometime after college. Interesting. Another piece of the puzzle is found.

1950 US Fed Census
Iowa, Des Moines - 102-29
National Archives
Rickards Family

    The last ancestor I wanted to find on Mark's side is a living 1st cousin, once removed. I've been in contact with her and her family for a few years now. I got their address directly from her, so I knew it was correct. But finding the Enumeration District was tough. I had to go through a couple of different maps to find it. Read about it here: What If I Can't Find a Street? But I did find the Enumeration District and I did find the ancestor. 

1950 US Fed Census
Texas, Houston/South Side - 101-5
National Archives
Rickards Family

    These are not all the people I looked up in the 1950 census, but the main ones. I did look up ancestors for friends and just for personal fun. Having the Enumeration Districts beforehand really did help locate our ancestors in the 1950 Census. There were only a few times I had to use the preliminary index on the National Archives site. And I am grateful for it as I wouldn't have found my Dad without it. Now that I have found the census pages, it's time to analyze them more closely for clues and information.

    I will also be helping index the census as time goes on. You can help index now on the National Archives site and you can help on Ancestry & Family Search but only on the states they currently have available. I put in for a notification when Missouri is ready to be indexed. 

Who Have You Found??

Week: 14: Check It Out! I wrote a biography

     March was a rough month for me, so I took a break from writing for the 52 Ancestors challenge. But I'm starting back up now with this week's prompt "Check It Out!" It seemed perfect for the announcement I had to make. You see, I've been laid up with a pinched nerve in my back for a month now. So in order to keep myself from going crazy, I worked on editing a biography I wrote about my 2nd Great Grandma, Pauline Ilg.

Cover of my Biography

    Shutterfly was running a special on their site last week. So I went to work on editing the book on their site. I've gotten books from their before and have loved the quality. I know I could have went with an actual book publishing site, but I decided on Shutterfly. And they did not disappoint.

    I wrote this biography in a series of five blog posts back in 2020. I shared them leading up to the anniversary of the death of Pauline. Below are all five blog posts that I turned into five chapters for the bioraphy.

Chapter 1: http://auntiejenstrees.blogspot.com/2020/03/pauline-ilg-brave-courageous-part-1.html

Chapter 2: http://auntiejenstrees.blogspot.com/2020/03/pauline-ilg-brave-courageous-part-2.html

Chapter 3: http://auntiejenstrees.blogspot.com/2020/03/pauline-ilg-brave-courageous-part-3.html

Chapter 4: http://auntiejenstrees.blogspot.com/2020/03/pauline-ilg-brave-courageous-part-4.html

Chapter 5: http://auntiejenstrees.blogspot.com/2020/03/pauline-ilg-brave-courageous-part-5.html

So here is the finished biography.
Check it out!!

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A post shared by Auntie Jen (@auntiejen82)

 

    I am so proud of this book. It looks amazing. The quality is just beautiful. As you can see, I ordered two copies to have on hand. When Shutterfly runs another special, I will order more copies for family members.

    I do hope to write more biographies of other family members and turn them into books. Who will I write about next? You will just have to wait and Check It Out later!

1950 Census - Who Do You Hope To Find?

Who do you hope to find in the 1950 Census? A question asked frequently among the genealogy community. I don't know about you, but I have a list of people I am hoping to find. Some will answer some questions, others are just people I want to find.

There are a couple of family members that could be somewhat troublesome to find until the index gets released. Mostly because they moved around quite a bit. I have a few possible leads, but they may not pan out.

One specific lead that could be helpful is Pictures. My Grandma and Dad had a lot of pictures in their collection. I've been going through them for years dividing them up by year, location, family, etc. These pictures give clues about where my family could have been living during specific times of their lives. And based on these pictures, I can narrow down that location to hopefully find the Enumeration District Map so I can locate them on the 1950 Census.

Here are some pictures of family members I hope to find on the 1950 Census

Ilg, Buer, Cash, Kelley Family 
July 1955
Carmel, Indiana?

    This photo was taken in July 1955 possibly in Carmel, Indiana. Great grand Aunt Ruth and her husband, Howard are going to be a little difficult to locate for the 1950 Census because they moved around quite a bit for his job. He was an architect. I have found them in St. Louis, Missouri;  Joliet, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; and Carmel, Indiana, where they retired to eventually. My mom told me stories about visiting them in Indiana. This photo is one of those times family visited Aunt Ruth and Uncle Howard. Starting in the back row from left to right, there is Oma Mae Caldwell (2nd Great-grandma), Robert Edward Cash (son of Herbert & Alyce), Howard James Kelley (Great-Grand Uncle), Joseph Melchoir Ilg (Great-grandpa), and Herbert Arthur Cash (Husband of Alyce). In the front row from left to right, we have Margaret "Honey" Ilg (Great-grandma), Ruth Helen Kelley (Great-Grand Aunt), Edward Elmer Buer (2nd Great-grandpa), and Alyce(daughter of Edward & second wife, not pictured).

    Edward Buer (2nd Great-grandpa) was married to Oma before they divorced in 1913. He then married Alice Boyer (unknown maiden name). Alice is not pictured with family because she died in December 1950. But she will be on the 1950 Census. When Alice died, they were living in Joliet, Illinois according to the 1950 City Directory. So that's where they will be found in the 1950 Census. I do know that after Alice died, Edward moved in with Aunt Ruth and Uncle Howard. He died in 1967 in Carmel, Indiana. So in this photo, he was more than likely living with them. 

    Mom said she remembers Uncle Howard Kelley traveling to so many places for his work. Seattle, Texas, Illinois, and even Alaska. Mom remembers receiving a souvenir from him when she was little; a little Eskimo doll. So it's possible Aunt Ruth and Uncle Howard may be living somewhere completely different by the 1950 Census. He supposedly even traveled to different countries. Oh boy... But one thing we do know is they were in Carmel, Indiana by 1955. We hope... See how much information you can glean from one picture?

    This picture was taken sometime in the '50s. This is my Grandma Ruth Wheeler, Uncle Jerry Valdes, Uncle Les Wheeler, Mom Maggie Wheeler, and Uncle Howard Wheeler. Mom was born in 1950. I might have some photos from when my mom was little, but I haven't gone through all my grandma's photos yet. This picture was more than likely taken in High Ridge, Missouri at their house.

    This is where mom's memory comes into play. Mom said they moved to High Ridge when she was about six months old. She was born in March so that would mean they moved around September. The Census was taken in April. So mom would have been born for the Census. What's helpful is I have Mom's birth certificate and it has their address listed. That will help me find them in the 1950 Census. Everyone in this photo, except for Uncle Howard (who was born in 1951), will be on that census. 

More Photos to come!

Friday Finds of the Week

     Thinking of starting a new segment called Friday Finds of the Week where I share with you what I found during the week. This could be anything from newspaper clippings, to documents, photos, interesting facts, etc. Sometimes I find just random little things that aren't interesting enough to write a whole blog post about, but it's still important to my research. So I think combining them into one blog post a week will be much better. So let's get started!

1. Great Grandma Louis Strawhun Death Certificate



Click to Enlarge

This is the biggest find of the week. The Missouri State Archives had digitized the 1971 Death Certificate Collection and had put them out for Volunteers to digitize. They just finished them in record time this week, so I was able to look for my Great Grandma Louise Strawhun's Death Certificate. I wasn't looking for anything specific with this certificate, but I was just happy to have it in my files now. I got my Great Grandpa Robert Strawhun's Death Certificate last year. Every year, the Missouri State Archives releases another Year Collection, so next year I will be looking for my Great-Grandpa Joseph Ilg's Death Certificate. Watch my YouTube Short Here.


2. Westminster College Yearbook for Scott Rickards
This was the second most exciting find of the week. I wrote a blog post about Grand Uncle Scott Rickards, who has been an enigma ever since I learned about him. Between his Graduation and his Death there are many questions that have gone unanswered. In the process of writing that blog post, my husband pointed out something that I had missed. In his obituary, it stated he attended Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. I couldn't believe I missed that detail. So I contacted the Alumni at Westminster College asking for some assistance. To my surprise, they found his record and the yearbook he appeared in.


He attended this college for only one year. Another curious fact. Why only one year? There is no answer unfortunately at this time. But I am grateful for this little find. Along with this page of the yearbook, there were others he appeared in. He apparently was a member of the Jabberwokies (a Dramatic Society), the Highlander Fraternity, and the Philologic Society. Pictures were included.



Click buttons to view pictures

3. Newspaper Articles
For Christmas, my mom got me a subscription to Newspapers.com. So I've been utilizing it as much as possible. Searching for obits, marriage announcements, random articles, historical information, and much more. These are some of the articles I recently came across. They don't contain any new information, but I'm glad to have these articles in my collection now.

Obituary for Mary B. Hilke nee Schulling
2 Nov 1940
St. Louis Star and Times
St. Louis, Missouri

Casualty List - William Ilg
20 Dec 1918
St. Louis Star and Times
St. Louis, Missouri

I've found quite a few articles announcing the death of William Ilg. They all pretty much state the same thing. "KIA - William Ilg, 223 East Courtois Street"

Burial Permit - Pauline Baumgartner nee Kimmerle
26 Mar 1924
St. Louis Star and Times
St. Louis, Missouri

Burial Permit - Lucy Pearl Wheeler
8 Feb 1867
St. Louis Post Dispatch
St. Louis, Missouri

That's all I have to share this week. I also found some random clippings for extending family and for some friends for their family. One thing I'm working on is preparing for the release of the 1950 census. Reading blogs, watching videos, and going over my notes. I don't have anything else specifically that I am working on, but I always tend to find something. So check back next week for another update!