Pall bearers

     In my opinion, the selection of pall bearers for a funeral is an interesting insight of a person's life. The pall bearers for my great grandmother, Estella Smith, were her grandsons and grandsons-in-law. For Grandma's descendants, it might be helpful to introduce those family members.

    Three of her four grandsons were given this honor. Bill Grisso, John Grisso, and Donald Grisso were the sons of Estella's oldest daughter, Nina Smith Grisso. The fourth grandson, Marvin, was a career Navy man. I would guess he was probably far away at the time.

    Nina's daughter, Mary, was married to Vern Wright, who served as another pall bearer. Nina gave the most grandchildren to Estella, but she had two other special granddaughters. 

    Jean Stevens Johnson was the daughter of Ardea Smith Stevens, fourth child of Estella. Jean's husband, Beryl Johnson also served as pall bearer.

    Jess Phelps is probably the mystery grandson-in-law for some of my cousins.  Jess was married to Marilyn Smith Phelps. Her father was Merroll Smith, Estella's second child. Merroll preceded his mother, Estella, in death by approximately 10 years.

     I wish I could insert a picture of Jess Phelps here, but I don't have one in my winter home. Instead, I will use another family picture that features his future wife, Marilyn, Grandma Estella Smith, and Estella's two sons, Dale and Merroll. Merroll is the father of Marilyn.  Dale served many years in the Navy.

                           Dale, Marilyn, Estella, Merroll

Menehunes Strike Again.

     Recently, I discovered that a post from last fall Strangers on the Road appeared in the email notices for Cousins. I must have pushed the wrong button again. However, the post does not show up on my dashboard where I control the format, sizing, links, and many other functions associated with my blog, Cousins. It is a bit of a mystery.

     I blame the Menehunes.

     So, if you are wondering about that post. Menehunes strike again is all I can say.

58 years ago

 

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

ESTELLA M. SMITH

 

Born March 21, 1876, Scranton, Iowa

 

Entered into Rest

March 14, 1959, Jefferson, Iowa

 

Funeral Services

Church of Christ, Scranton, Iowa

Tuesday, March 17, 1959, 2:00 p.m.

 

Words of Comfort by

Robert D. Stacy, Minister

 

Organist, Mrs. Robert D. Stacy

Soloist, John Hanneman

 

Hymn Selections

"In the Garden"  "The Old Rugged Cross"

 

Flowers in Care of

Mrs. H. Hutchison      Mrs. J.L. MacDonald

Mrs. John Lawrence   Mrs. Lloyd Wampler

 

Casket Bearers

John  Grisso    Beryl Johnson

Bill Grisso           Jess Phelps

Vern Wright    Donald Grisso

 

Interment

Scranton Cemetery. Scranton, Iowa

 

 

-Courtesy of Huffman Funeral Home-

 

March 5, 2015-March 5, 2017

Two years. Yes, I have been blogging on Cousins for two years. It is my 2nd blogiversary. In the past few months my posts have become fewer. This is only because life occasionally gets in the way. Crazy things like pneumonia, meniscus surgery, travel, shoulder crap. Then there are the fun things like French, assorted classes, bridge, book club, Zentangle, lunch with friends, out of state company. I am blessed with a busy and fun life.

My goal for the year 2017 was to review my genealogical lines. So far I have only touched on my mother's, mother's, mother's, father's line, the Vorhies family. This is the largest Dutch family in the United States. The patriarch of the Vorhies came to these shores in 1660. Go to the site, www.vanvorhies.org for additional information.  In fact, imagine discovering that my across the street neighbor is my 9th cousin once removed.

I hope all my readers have learned the "once removed" meaning by now. The child of your first cousin is your first cousin once removed. He/she is one more generation removed from the common grandparent. The children of first cousins are second cousins. They are evenly descended from the common grandparents. In this case, the common grandparents are their great grandparents.

Over the past two years, I have shared information on the Smith, Withrow, Swartzel, Grisso, Olmsted, Siglin, Wright, Borden, and DeHart lines to name a few on my side. My husband's line sports the names Tolsdorf, Augustus, Reeder, Marsh, Phillips, Beier.

Some of my favorite discoveries which led to Cousins posts have been finding the graves of my great great grandparents George and Mary Smith in Tucumcari, New Mexico. ( Mom's side) On Dad's side we found the grave of great great grandfather George DeHart in Dalhart, Texas and Almost found the birthplace of his daughter, my great grandmother Emma Susan DeHart Borden, in West Virginia.

On my husband's side I had fun making discoveries and blogging about the Phillips branch. My son enjoyed these discoveries having been stationed in the same area as his 5th great grandfather had been only about 235 years earlier.

Both of our lines go far back into American history.

Only one line is recent. And by recent, I mean 1892. My husband's grandfather, his first wife and two children came from the port of Bremen, Germany on the ship Oldenburg. They arrived in May of 1892 in Baltimore. Frank and Matilda were married in the Ukraine. Their baby, Elsie, was born in Kiev, Russia just before immigrating. This is a very, very interesting family who settled in Oklahoma. Grandpa Frank participated in the Cherokee Land Rush in 1893. From his three wives, he had nine children and one step-son. There are many known stories of this family after 1892. However, prior to immigration, my brick wall stands. I have a lead or two. What a thrill it would be to learn about the Tolsdorf family in the old country.

Mondays With Mary has been another feature of this blog. Occasionally on Mondays, I share the writings of my mother's calendar which she kept faithfully from 1966-2003. It is a great way to learn about a way of  life which is already a thing of the past.

In two years, I have published 265 posts. My stats report shows 14,510 views from many different countries.     

Thank you to my devoted readers. You keep me going when I get bogged down. So, here we go into year three.

Ready?