Category Archives: Genealogy

Surname Saturday and the 1940 Census meet!

As many of you know I have been part of the large team that is busy indexing the 1940 Census. I indexed  a few pages in the Oregon census. There I ran across who I thought might be a cousin, but I had no information on this man and so I moved on.

In the past week or so a cousin of mine was working on part of the KAYE family that went from Ontario Canada to Wisconsin moving further west to Washington State then some of the descendants of Abel were found in, you guessed it, Oregon. Trying to pin down where Claude and John C. Kaye are located  in Oregon. Dave sent me some information that put one man in Clackamas Oregon and one in Milwaukie Oregon. I didn’t have a clue if these were counties or cities so I did a search at Family Search and I found Claude in Clackamas Co. on you guessed it the page that I had indexed earlier. The enumeration district was only a voting precinct so I still didn’t know what town. Using the road that he is listed on and doing a search on that road alone, I found a road that runs out of  Oregon City by the name of S. Redland Road. A dear friend of mine that lives in that area of Oregon said that was a major road in that area and that I was closing in on Claude.

I need to do so more digging and I am hoping I will find Claude’s final resting place and that of John’s as well.

Had I not been helping with the census, maybe that little piece might still be undone. There are thousands typing there little fingers off at The 1940 Census Community Project. What a feeling of accomplishment to bring up a page you know you transcribed.

Please remember this below outline, is work in progress and has not all been proven. Please take it  as a guide line and not the gospel truth.

This is a short outline of the Abel Kaye family:

Descendants of Abel Kaye

1-Abel Kaye b. 25 Aug 1838, Yorkshire, England, d. 16 Nov 1916, Ridgefield,
Washington, USA. (Clark Co)
+Eliza Wilson m. Bef 1874( I have more on this marriage, but it has not been put into my gen program yet.)
+Mary A. Kent b. Oct 1852, Wisconsin, m. 29 Mar 1874, Dunn, Wisconsin, d. 3
Aug 1932, Chehalis, Lewis, Washington
2-Sidney Kaye b. 17 Sep 1883, Dunn Co. Wisconsin, d. 7 Jul 1948, Marion,
Oregon
+Lula Louise Mattatall b. 20 Dec 1892, McPherson, South Dakota, m. 26 Jan
1914
3-Keith Kaye b. 19 Jul 1920, Ridgefield, Washington, USA. (Clark Co)
2-/Child Kaye/ b. Cir 1875, Tiffany, Dunn, Wisconsin, d. Bef 1900
2-Lillie Alice Kaye b. 29 Mar 1877, Tiffany, Dunn, Wisconsin, d. Feb 1970,
Molalla, Clackamas, Oregon
+Thomas Elmer Stratton b. 7 Sep 1873, Menominee, Dunn, Wisconsin, m. 24
Sep 1895, Dunn, Wisconsin, d. 16 May 1929, Enterprise,, Okanogan,
Washington
3-Albert James Stratton b. 22 Feb 1896, Menominee, Dunn, Wisconsin, d.
29 Sep 1963, Vallejo, Solano, California
3-Ralph Kaye Stratton b. 9 Jul 1898, Dunn, Wisconsin, d. 1 Sep 1961,
Clatsop, Oregon
2-Claude Kaye b. 7 Jun 1880, Tiffany, Dunn, Wisconsin, d. 23 Oct 1945,
Clackamas, Oregon
+Frances Yost b. 16 Apr 1884, Pennsylvania, m. 22 Aug 1907, Farmington,
Davis, Utah
+Anna H. Bridwell b. Aug 1877, Ohio, m. 19 Feb 1924, Multnomah, Oregon,
d. 16 Apr 1943, Multnomah, Oregon
+Jennie E. Cook b. 25 May 1880, Lyons, Ionia, Michigan, m. 10 Jul 1931,
Oregon, d. 17 Jun 1950, Orange, California, par. Seth B. /Cook/ and Annie
Elizabeth Bastione
2-Estella Kaye b. 23 Sep 1886, Tiffany, Dunn, Wisconsin, d. 21 Aug 1934,
La Center, Clark, Washington
+Emil Johnson b. 6 Apr 1882, Willmar, Kandiyohi, Minnesota, m. Cir 1905,
Washington, d. 8 Apr 1952, La Center, Clark, Washington
2-Harriet Irene Kaye b. Oct 1891, Tiffany, Dunn, Wisconsin, d. 21 Sep
1944, Vancouver, Washington
+Winfred F. Babler b. 19 Sep 1879, Monroe, Green, Wisconsin, m. 26 Feb
1916, Multnomah, Oregon, d. 9 Dec 1956, Brush Prairie, Clark, Washington

Looking at the dates and places, I am wondering if the family just might have traveled the Oregon Trail or at least part of it on their way to Washington. Hummmmmm something more to look into!

Happy Hunting!

 

 

A Week of Genealogy-A Goodbye, A New Beginning, and a Re-connect

This past week has been an adventure in life to say the least.

We received the phone call that none one wants to get on April 26, 2012 that one of my mothers younger brothers had passed from this life from a short illness. Although for those involved I am sure it was a very long and hard experience and my heart does go out to them with love.

 Chester Niles Terrill Sr. was born on 8 February 1943 in Cleveland Ohio. He is the second son of Walter I. and Arleen L. Beach Terrill. Chester grew up in Kirtland Ohio and attended Kirtland Sr. High School and graduated from there in 1961. He then joined the United States Navy. He served honorably from 1966 to 1971.

The stats are just part of this mans life. I am proud and blessed to call Chester my uncle. I can tell so many stories, but a few that really stand out in my memory. I remember the ride he took me on in his Vet………vrooooooommm, I think that was the only time (snicker) I ever went over 90! Half scared to death and yet so excited that I was going that fast and in a vet with my Uncle!

OH and there was time when we were living with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Chester was still at home and I was small. The family had tried and tried to get me to tie my shoes, I think they knew I could do it, but just didn’t want to. Uncle Chester was working in the basement, one needed to wear shoes down there, and I had bugged him to let me come down stairs with him. He came up stairs and made a bargain with me. If I would tie my shoes before he got down stairs I could come down with him. I remember the challenge and I remember getting my shoes tied and I remember  getting to spend time with my uncle down stairs, but what I don’t recall is what my mother told me, I had my shoes tied before he even got to the landing going to the basement. I guess they were right I knew how to tie my shoes I just didn’t want to.

There are many more memories, that will keep me company when I think of Uncle Chester. He was laid to rest on May 1, 2012 in Kinsman Ohio. He will indeed be missed.

David and Jessica's WeddingOn May 5 finds us again in North East Ohio, this time in Geneva on the Lake, Ashtabula Co. For a much happier occasion.
The marriage of my cousin David M. Terrill  (second son of Chester and Sheila Terrill) and his lovely fiancé Jessica Thompson.  It was a wonderful time spent with family and friends. They picked a wonderful venue for a wedding. They ceremony was on the Lake Erie water front at the Geneva Lodge. It was a beautiful sunny spring day, although it was rather blustery, the white caps made it seem as if they were at the ocean front.

The reception was great and a good time was had by all.

I wish them a life full of joy, happiness and most of all the courage to stick to each other even when the times are hard and they don’t see a way out. There is always something better after the storm and to share it together makes them stronger as a couple.  Congratulations and God Bless you both!

With all of this traveling back and forth, living in SE Michigan as I do, and thinking about family we thought we needed to do a bit of genealogy too. So Mom and I decided we needed to get photos of her great grandfathers home in Geneva Ohio. We were told that it still stood, but no one knew were exactly it was in Geneva, just that it is rumored to still be standing. At the wedding we were thinking, that we probably would not find it and it would just be to daunting of a task to drive the streets of Geneva trying to find it. Mom does have a photo and remembered what it looked like, but things have changed in Geneva much in the last 100 yrs. So we kind of gave up and went to bed, figuring the only trip we would take was to the cemetery where her parents and my dads parents are buried to get photos of their stones.  I woke up about 5:30 am and thought well silly if you find them in the census it should have a street name! So that morning we checked out ancestry.com to find grandpa Wesley Beach. We found him in the 1900 Census, another road block, we couldn’t read the street it was all black :(. So we got directions to the street prior to theirs on the census. When we got to town, we turned on Main Street and then we were to turn on Chestnut Street, and guess what we found on Chestnut Street!

Carriage House
Wesley L. Beach Home Geneva, Ohio

Mom said STOP that is it! So we stopped and talked to a couple working on their yard across the street. Then the woman of this house came out to find out what was going on. She told us that her home was actually the Carriage House from the big house two doors down that was moved from the back of the property and converted into a house in 1929. I don’t know if it remained part of the property at that time or  as a new lot and home. So this is where grandpa kept his carriage(s) and horses. So now with new excitement we walked down the street to check out the larger house that was the homestead.  Mom checked it out and said it looked very much like the photo that she had with the family on the porch, but that this one now did not have the ginger bread on the eaves and it is side and the porch was now covered.Wesley Lake Beach Home

To the right is the picture of the front of the house, I have checked into the stats for this house. It is now a multi residential dwelling with four bedrooms and two baths and over 2,000 sq feet. It a beautiful home and it looks like it has been well-loved and taken care of.  How fun it would be to own an ancestral home such as this!  What a thrill it was to stand where family once lived and raised a family.  To sense the closeness of family one never knew.

This indeed was a week of family some sad and some very much fun!

Mom and I in front of Grandpa Wesley's Home Geneva Ohio

Happy Hunting!

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy Week 18 Notable weather and my reactions!

Well now this is an interesting subject, seeing that at one time I thought about being a meteorologist. Move over Mike Bettes! OH wait, maybe that wouldn’t work out so very well. I have this over powering fear of tornadoes and at one time thunderstorms. Where this fear comes from I truly can’t say, it seems that it has always been with me. My Mom thinks that it might be because of a very strong storm in Az that we weathered  that put down 4 or 5 bolts of lighting into the alley out side of the bedroom that her and I were in. It might be, but I don’t really recall, and that could be an sign that she is correct.

Even with this fear I find myself stuck to the tv when bad weather is impending, unless it is here and you’ll find I am the first one to the basement, hall, bedroom, bathroom, where ever the safe place is in the house that I am in at that moment, the storms draw me!  Why, I have no clue unless it is my way of trying to reconcile myself to them and to fear them less. Maybe it is me trying to overcome being so terrified by understanding more about them.

I know 20 years ago I would be a basket case even at the mention of Tornado watch, even if the sun was shinning, I knew there was a tornado out there somewhere with my name on it! Oh, wait did I mention 20 years ago I lived in a mobile home! We’ve all seen what a tornado or even just high winds can do to a mobile home, it isn’t pretty. While we were living in the mobile home we had a safe place to go, it was the Jr. High school which was south and west of us and I always thought well isn’t that nice driving right into the storm. For most of the storms here come from the west! Verying from to SW to NW. One time we went there and the door was locked and we all stood outside, wasn’t that safe! From then on we went to Jim’s Mom’s house which was at least due east and we would be either driving with or out of the storm. That all stopped the day we were driving to her house and saw a funnel cloud not more then a mile to the north of us.  I know that they tell you to leave your mobile and home and I in my heart of hearts know you should and I would not encourage anyone to stay if they have shelter, but at that point we just stayed home prayed and we were always spared the brunt of the storms. That is not to say a few good winds didn’t take out a few screen doors or some siding.

When it was storming at night I was always the first one up and the last one to go back to bed, mind you it was just the kids and I.   Jim could sleep though WWIII ! He unlike me, is the fellow who runs outside to see if he can see the tornado! Thank you I will stay in my nice warm, maybe safe home.

I now live in a nice big brick ranch and I can actually sleep through thunderstorms. Surprisingly even after lightning hit the tree outside my bedroom window a few years back (about 30 ft from the window) talk about going from snoring and standing in one move! I was able to lay back down with little trouble getting back to sleep. Okay, yeah I had to wait for my heart to settle, but that was more from sheer alarm. Thunder at 60 feet is loud to say the least and to be in a deep sleep to boot ya my heart was racing!

Maybe understanding things, takes some of the fear away! I think in my case it has…although when clouds start spinning, I go running still! But there is a lot less panic and more resolve.

What is your storm story? Does your family have storm stories to share!

Happy Hunting!

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy #17 DID we have pets!?

Through the years many animals have graced my life and allowed me  to be friend them.

My very first best friend was a border collie named Tippy.  I don’t really recall him other than pictures that family members have.  He was my grandparents dog (family dog).  Mom told me that anytime we would leave the house or come visit. Tippy had to come over and wash my face, smell me and make sure I was okay and all in one piece.  I am not sure how he handled me walking, probably as graciously as he handled not being the center of attention anymore. Babies do that to dogs, the poor things!

The first animal that I recall was a black and white dog, that was a stray. I don’t recall if I gave it a name but he/she was a friendly dog ( of course Mom warned me not to bother strays)  we made a place for the dog to sleep in the garage. I can’t recall what happened to it. I am not sure if we took it to the pound or if it just stopped coming around.

Along about 1972 Mom brought home a lil black momma cat. We named her Geraldine, I dare  you to figure out how she got her name..”the devil made us do it!” She was a sweet heart of a cat. We would share ice cream cones and such. Yeah I know some of you are thinking yuk! Yah know when you’re a kid you don’t much think about the fact that she cleans herself with that tongue. Next came her kittens and her grandkittens, Boogles and Ned. Oh did I mention they were all of them black cats. They crossed our paths often and I would say nothing bad, other than those things that natural happen in life, happened to us while we were in their company. They both were great cats with amazing personalities. Ned I think was the one with the most quirks of the bunch. He was totally my sisters cat,well okay she was his human,  by that time I had  married and  living in my home.

By this time I had gained a dog in lawher name was Princess and she was my husbands dog. She was a wonderful little cocker/collie mix. The vet told the family that she would never have pups. Heck what do doctors and vets know anyway! Not much for when she was seven years old a she became a Mommy for the first time. Three pretty little pups, I am not sure where they all went, but I do recall one pretty little brown/black/white young lady that we had for awhile and her name was Mandy. Mandy taught her Mom how to get out under the fence (such a bright child!) and we would find them sitting on our front porch when we got home from work….well she then again met up with a male friend and was with pup again. We then decided that she needed to be fixed. So much for the advice of the vet!  She lived to be 18 yrs old, and was a wonderful member of our family for many years.

Wow this list is getting big and I am not even near done! When Princess was about 17 or so, hubbie thought that the kids needed a dog of their own to take care of and I am sure he knew Princess would not be around much longer. So the “Easter Bunny” adopted a six month old pure bread Basset Hound that the kids and mom names Buster Brown The Ugly Hound and that is the way it was put on his official papers! Buster or Buzz for short were his nicknames. He was a great dog, loved the kids and was protective of anything that entered his yard. The neighbor kids would come over and play in the back yard and he would let anyone in, but if you were not to leave with his little friends! If you were a stranger you were allowed into the yard and not out. You were now his!
He was with us for about 10 years and we lost him to what I think might have been cancer. That was about 1998.

Oh wait I forgot two guinea pigs!  Their names were Goofy and Chocolate and belonged to my oldest daughter along with a bunny named Ihop.

The next critter to adopt us was a wee little yellow kitten.  On a cold fall evening we heard a pitiful sound in the front yard, thinking it was some-kind of injured bird or wild animal. It certainly didn’t sound like a kitten, but there she was and when I opened the front door she made herself at home and has been here ever since. Her name Shadow and her names comes from the fact, she loved to chase shadows as a kitten. Shadow has been with us for about 8 years now and attached herself to our youngest daughter. Now that she is away at school, Shadow, who we almost lost because she grieved herself sick when her girl left, has become my best buddy.

Shadow has this thing for socks or any loose cloth on the floor, she gathers them up in piles maybe I should have named her socks 😀

 

 

We’ve had a few scorpions and few fish tanks full of fish. Our son at the moment has a  bearded lizard named Lizzy and the last addition to our home is a

dog. His name is Tanner. He is Daddy dog and the biggest baby and heart breaker that has ever been in this home. Tanner is now a 3-year-old Pug, Beagle mix and  called Puggles. He is smart little fellow.

Animals can be a great addition to any family.  Our pets have  been wee little blessings and wonderful little friends.

I can’t say if there will be any more little friends, but I am guessing with out track record there will many more little critter roaming our hall ways.

 

 

Oh Where Oh Where can my Nana be in 1940?

The question posed was; Have you found your family in the 1940 Census?

Indeed, I found my mother and her parents and two sibling in the 1940 Census.
I thought the task of finding them would be daunting,this family lived in Cleveland Ohio, but Mom recalled what street they lived on in Cleveland. Which made for a quick and easy find!

Before talking to Mom I thought this would be a task that just might take forever so, I started looking for my Dad and his parents where I thought they belonged. I picked them first because I figured how many folks could live in Newark, Licking County Ohio the population has got to be  less then that of Cleveland! How is that what you think the task is going to be easy, isn’t. In this house long ago we have decided not to say that word, when you do it only means things will be difficult at best. I guess I haven’t learned yet!

I have now looked through all Licking County. No grandparents, oh I did find her sister and her husband Uncle Tommy and Aunt Flossie, right where I thought they would be. I talked to Mom and said she believed that I might find them in Willoughby Ohio as she thought they might have lived there before they lived in Kirtland (which I have looked through too). I have only looked through a few Enumeration Districts in Willoughby. I have not found them yet. So I need to make a phone call and see if my Dad recalls where they lived in Willoughby, he would have been 3 in 1940 and I am not sure if he will recall, but it sure is worth a shot!

I was lucky indeed to find that my Grandparents in Cleveland actually ended up on the line that contained the supplemental question. In this case it was Grandpa Terrill. The extra questions asked included the birth place of your mother and father, what is your normal occupation. They also asked four questions about military service, which grandpa did not answer. Another grouping of questions pertained to social security. The information that he gave were things we already knew.  He was a chemist and his parents were born in Ohio and Pennsylvania and that he did have a social security number. Had it been another member of the family there might have been new information that we may not have known.

I would encourage those who to help index the 1940, it will make it some easier to search and the more folks that index the sooner you and others will be able to find their family easier. Visit 1940 Census Community Project and sign up. It is really very easy and you can do as much or as little as you like, there is no pressure to make a quota.

In the mean time

Happy Hunting!