Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Thanks Randy!  This was really fun.

Treasure Chest Thursday - The Journey of Cabinet 1940 - 2005

I first knew this cabinet when it lived in the kitchen of my parents first apartment in Chicago. At the time it was built in to a wall of cabinets and was covered with many coats of white enamel paint.  We eventually moved to other apartments and then to a house in the suburbs.  

Fortunately, my Uncle Tom owned the apartment building and when it was sold in the mid-1960's we were offered the chance to take what we wanted from the building.  We took the cabinet and moved it to our little 4 room apartment where my husband,  Dave, worked very hard to remove the white enamel.  He thought there were at least 32 coats of paint!  Finally it was revealed that the cabinet was solid oak.  After it was stained, it took a place of honor in every residence we occupied.  I moved with us from house to house in Illinois and finally to Florida.  With every move we prayed that nothing would happen to the stained glass door.  

After about 15 years in Florida,  Dave decided it was time to pass in on to our son David.  He did some major repair work on the top, and one side and then re-stained it.  Once again it was moved.  This time it was back to Illinois where it is under the care of David. 

.

Alice Connery (aka Sr Marie Camilla, OP)

circa 1904 Chicago, IL

Tombstone Tuesday - Garnett Ferguson

Garnett Ferguson
daughter of Murl and Naomi Ferguson
Mount Cemetery, Jasper County, Illinois

Madness Monday - Hiding Henrietta

I knew she existed.  She was my grandmother!  I knew when and where she was born.  Her parents were Hermann and Eva (Schmitz) Burbach.  Henrietta was born in 1888, the sixth child.  The family lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Given all these known facts, it should have been easy to document Henrietta and her family.  Let me list the ways it drove me to madness.

Henrietta was born August 23, 1888 but her birth record does not appear in the Wisconsin births on ancestry.com.  Since the 1890 census is basically unusable, I decided to concentrate on documenting Henrietta in the 1900 census.  That's the only one where she would appear as Henrietta Burbach, since she was married in 1907.

Hermann Burbach died in 1896 and Eva married Charlie Mueller in 1898.   Given these facts I began searching the 1900 census   There was no entry for Henrietta, so I began looking for Charlie (Charly, Charles, Chas, C) Mueller (Meuller, Muller, Miller) or any other variations I could think of trying.  I tried using the age range of 45 - 55 years old since Eva was born in 1858.  No luck and I couldn't find Eva either.

Finally, I went to Heritage Quest using my library's subscription and used their search because I could search on first name and age only.  She was listed as Hennietta Mueller stepdaughter of Charley Mueller with the birth year of 1886.  Going back and re-checking the Wisconsin Births 1820-1907, still does not yield a record for Henrietta.  I accept the 1900 census listing of Henrietta Mueller as being the correct person because her mother and brothers appear in the same household.  I'm not concerned about the birth year variations since these changes are common for a multitude of reasons.  I'm just glad that Henrietta is no longer hidden.

Sentimental Sunday - Stacy's Tavern, My First Apartment

Stacy's Tavern, Glen Ellen, Du Page, IL.

This was my first apartment!  Imagine my surprise to discover that it is now on the National Register of Historic Places.  The other day I was following a genealogy lead that led me to the web pages for Lombard, Du Page, Illinois.  While there, I saw a reference to Stacy's Tavern and followed the thread.  A firend and I shared the first floor apartment in the early 1960s.  My room was on the left side of the building.  When we lived there I knew it had been a stage coach stop but not that Abraham Lincoln slept there.  I only lived there for about a year but I still have fond memories of the place.  For more information on Stacy's Tavern just check out google or wikipedia.

Friday Findings - Discovering the Details

I am changing Follow Friday to Friday Findings so I can share some of my search processes in the hope that it will help someone else in their efforts. Leopold is a very unusual name Swedish name so I thought tracking my husbands great-grandfather and his wife would be an easy task.  Not so much.

Leopold Peterson and Caroline Neilson appear in the 1880 census as a married couple living in Chicago with their 3 children, Annie, John, and Frank.  According to the census, Leopold and Caroline had both been born in  Sweden and immigrated 1870 and 1871 respectively.  Daughter Annie was born in Massachusetts in 1875.  In 1892, on the Chicago voters registration, Leopold indicated that his naturalization papers were filed in Boston.

As I searched for more information,  it became apparent that the answers were in Massachusetts, probably Boston.  I looked for Leopold and/or Caroline in the 1870 census without much hope since they had said their arrival was in 1870 and 1871.  Next I ordered the Massachusetts Marriage records for 1872 and 1873 from the Family History Center.  I selected those years based on both the immigration dates and the birth of Annie in Massachusetts.  I found the marriage record of Leopold and Caroline in the LDS film # 1433032.  They were married 11 Aug 1873 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts.  According to the record, Leopold was a 22 year old cabinet maker and Caroline was 26.  Leopold's parents were Peter and Anna, Caroline,s parents were Neils and Kare, Rev. George S Noyer officiated.  After searching the Boston City directories for 1872/73, I found that Rev Noyes was associated with the the Bethel Church at North Square in Boston.  It was a Methodist Episcopal Church organized in 1828.

I have found Caroline's birth record and her parents but I am still looking for Leopold's birth and parents.  Finding the parents first names at least tells me that they followed the standard Scandinavian naming practices.  Now how do I find Peter and Anna the parents of Leopold?  Any suggestions out there?

Wordless Wednesday - Alice Fleming Connery

 
Alice Fleming Connery 

Wordless Wednesday - Michael Joseph Connery 1888

Michael Joseph Connery

1888

Tombstone Tuesday - Ferguson Family

The tombstone of my husband's maternal great-grandparents John and Stella "Dolly" Ferguson in Mound Cemetary, Jasper County, Illinois.