I am behind with my posts because we were traveling. A nice visit to Montreal and Quebec City definitely got in the way of writing. The theme for week 35 was “School Days,” and I am focusing on Johann Jacob Elsässer, who was my 4th great-grandfather and a teacher. He was also the father of…
Thomas and Adam Whipple – Here a Cow, There a Swine: An Investigation into Non-population Schedules of the U.S. Censuses – 52 Ancestors 2015 #34
This week Nancy Johnson Crow suggested that we investigate our ancestors in the non-population schedules of the U.S. federal census as our theme for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. I have to admit that it is getting harder and harder to find ancestors who meet the theme. I have done most of my male ancestors…
Nettie Walton – A Documented Idiot – 52 Ancestors 2015 #33
This week’s optional theme for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is “Defective, Dependent, & Delinquent.” Amy Johnson Crow describes the theme this way: In 1880, there was a special census schedule for “Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes” — the blind, deaf, paupers, homeless children, prisoners, insane, and idiotic. Do you have someone in your family…
Henry Schatz – Easy to Know You – 52 Ancestors 2015 #31
This week the theme for 52 Ancestors is “Easy.” Finally, here is a chance to tell a story that isn’t about the challenges of research. I picked someone that I find likeable and that is because my dad always made him seem likeable. Henry Schatz was my father’s maternal grandfather, so I already knew a…
Anton Stephan – Following Bunches of Hunches – 52 Ancestors 2015 #30
This week the optional theme for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is “Challenging.” I guess that is one of the things that I enjoy about genealogy – the challenges. Truly, it wouldn’t be any fun for me if the ancestor quest didn’t include endless mysteries to be solved. Sometimes family history is intuitive and, even,…
Franz (François) de la Marche – The Dance Master – 52 Ancestors 2015 #29 (Updated)
In 2015 I wrote about my search for Augusta Gustave Catharina de la Marche, my 7th great-grandmother. She was born is Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, on 26 April 1658. When I finally located the original baptism record through the online holdings of Les Archives Départementales du Bas-Rhin, it named her father as Franz de la Marche, dance…
Johann Georg Gottlob Maier – Road Trips – 52 Ancestors 2015 #28
I am posting a bit late this week. I have done pretty well so far this year. I think this is the first post that I’ve fallen behind on. It seems the most difficult stories to write are the ones for which there is either not enough information, or too much information. In this case…
John Campbell – Finding the Family Patriot – 53 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2015 #27
I wonder how many men fought for American independence whose ancestors could not prove their active service. In February 2014, I wrote about my husband’s side of the family. John Campbell’s wife, Mary Jackson Campbell, struggled for nearly nine years trying to receive a widow’s pension of an old Revolutionary soldier. (See “Mary Jackson Campbell…
James Burton Evans – A Murder Story Halfway Told – 52 Ancestors 2015 #26
This is the halfway point for the 2015 edition of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. I am proud that I have kept up with my posts so far this year. I did have a little help from guest bloggers Gary Barlow and Ingemar Nåsell and for that I offer them a big “thank you!” Since…
Christopher Whipple (Wippel) – Had a Farm – 52 Ancestors 2015 #25
Christopher Wippel was my fourth great-grandfather and he was a brother of Johann Wippel, who was also my fourth great-grandfather. Yes, you have correctly deduced that my third great-grandparents, Charles (Carl) and Catharine Wippel were first cousins. Christoph Wippel was born 2 December 1802 in Bobenheim Roxheim, Ludwigshafen Am Rhein, Rhineland Pfalz, Germany. His older…