That Same Old House

It has been over a month since my last post. I guess the time has come. The following post was written back then as well. However, I had some format problems so just abandoned the blog. I checked my stats and this blog has been viewed 19,999 times. Maybe if I get this post published, I can go over the top. One of my format problems had to do with the information on the last two photos. The first one is me with my Aunt Bonnie in approximately 1946. The second is my cousin, Sue, and I in the early to mid-fifties. I included it to show the house must have eventually been painted.

The last blog The House I Grew Up In is a post I have wanted to write for a long time. It is a house with so much family history. As I said before, it was a brand new house in 1910 for my Great-Grandmother, Estella Smith. While sorting old pictures, I found a few more that I want to share. 

Pictured below:

Grandpa Bert Grisso, Vern Wright, John Grisso
Donald Grisso, Marvin Grisso, Grandma Nina Grisso, Mary Grisso Wright.


Grandpa Bert Grisso, Grandma Nina Grisso, Vern Wright, Mary Wright, John Grisso

Donald Grisso, Marvin Grisso

This photo is labeled 1944.  This is before I was born, but where my mom and dad lived. Notice the old house. It certainly needs paint.




This is probably the summer of 1946. The house looks the same.

Aunt Bonnie and Margie

Margie and Susie

Sometime around 1953-1955

It looks like the house was finally painted.



The House I Grew Up In

I grew up on the sixty as we called it. Actually, I only lived there until I was in the ninth grade. My great-grandmother, Estella Smith, owned the farm and my dad farmed the sixty as well as her other two farms. However, in March of 1959 she died and all of her property was sold.  This house had been built new for her as a young bride. I never really thought about it until I started working on the family stories. There are so many extended family pictures taken in that yard from when my parents moved there in the spring of 1941.  But, I would like to know more about the very early years. After the farm was sold in 1959, numerous families lived there including one of my very dear high school friends. The house was torn down in the fall of 2002.

As I said, there are so many pictures which were taken in that yard. Some with the porch open, some with it after it was enclosed. Sometimes it looks really rough and other times, it looks like it got a little paint.

This is a picture from 1959. It is fun to also recognize my Grandma Grisso's blue 1954 chevy in the photo.



2002

Just before the house was torn down.



 I was thrilled to find the following picture in a pile of photos.



This photo has to be closer to when the house was first built (1910). Could that be Great- Grandpa Hiram Smith with his three oldest kids. Even though his stance makes me think of my Grandpa Grisso, I think it must be Hiram, Nina, Merroll, and Neva. I could be wrong.



 



Favorite Name #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Mary, Sarah, Emma, Elizabeth, Anne

Thomas, John, William, James

I think I must like traditional names.  Even though these are all names from my own family. There are those quirky ones too.

Mentioned before in this blog is Royal. He is my 2nd great grandfather. See his story here. Suicide of Early Settler.
 
Then there is my aunt who was named Darlene Doll. Evidently, she was a darling doll.

Both of my grandmothers were named Nina.  One was Nina Lorene and the other Nina Frances. Thus, the name runs rampant in their descendants.  My grandfather also had similar names. One was Bert and the other was Albert. I can only think of one son of Albert who carried his name but none on the other side. I guess the grandma's names were a little more popular than the grandpa's names.

Someday, I hope to do a little "who was named for whom" study. The few I know are fun.  For example, my great aunt, Ardea Agnes Smith Stevens, must have been given her grandmother Mary Agnes Ford Smith's middle name.  Hiram Smith, the father of Ardea, lived to see his grandson, John Hiram Grisso, named for him. John carried both of his grandfather's names. John Martin Grisso and Hiram Lee Smith.

Sometimes when doing research I want to scream.  Please, no more Georges or Williams on my mom's side. Dad's side has more Ebenezers than I want to deal with.  Obviously, the 1000 baby name books were far in the future. Of course, it was a  privilege to be honored with having a baby named for you.

When I was eleven, I had that honor. My aunt and uncle had a little girl who they named Mary Margaret. Mary for my mother and Margaret for me. I know because they told me that. The fact that the baby's mother's name was Margaret made no difference to me. At age 70+, I accept the baby carried not just my mother's name, Mary, but also her own mother's name, Margaret.

In the Census

The first few prompts for #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks seemed to just write themselves. Not this one. In fact, I am now behind. Oh, well.

Census records are interesting. From census records I have accepted that many errors exist in records.   This becomes clear when I found my Grandpa Bert’s name spelled “Burt” in one of the first census records I read. However, I did enjoy learning the various occupations Grandpa had held. He supported family of eight working from one job to another. The times were hard.

In the first census record  for Bert Roscoe Grisso, he is four years old.  The family consisted of:

John M. Grisso         age 33
Laura A.                     age 27
Burt                        age 4
Gertrude                 age 2
John Crick               age 23

Don't you wonder who John Crick might be?

A little further investigations in the census records lists John Crick as a servant and white.  He also is listed as farm labor and John Martin as a farmer.  I always heard Grandpa John Martin was a teacher. In a later census (1920) he is listed as a dry goods salesman. However, his daughter, Gertrude, is listed as a teacher.

Yes, there are many things to learn from the census reports. All one needs is time to do the research.

A Favorite Photo

     This is the 2nd week for #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. This week's challenge is a favorite photo. The only thing wrong with this theme is deciding what to pick. I love the photo of Great Grandma Estella Smith and her father, John M. Vorhies, in the sleigh in 1939.  However, I might have already shown that one a couple of times. For sure, it can be seen here: Christmas 25, 2017.      
      I thought about a photo of my husband and me at his Military Commissioning Ceremony. He was the honor graduate of the class and telling a little more about that could be fun for future generations to read. I wouldn't even be concerned about publishing our picture because it is so old that no one would recognize us.
      However, I am focusing on a photo that I ran across a few years ago which surprised me.  It is a picture of my Grandpa Bert Grisso, and he is holding a toddler. The toddler is, Joe Johnson, my second cousin. Everyone was obviously at Great Grandma Smith's house. Joe was the grandson of Ardea, my grandmother's sister.  This photo is special because I came across it sometime after Joe passed away at the very young age of 58 in 2011. It was touching to see him with my grandfather. And I think his sisters would enjoy seeing it.
      This was not a grandfather who I ever thought of as gentle enough or had the desire to hold a toddler. By the look on his face, I was wrong. Or maybe Joe just brought out the best in him.

Start

Amy Johnson Crow is a well known genealogy blogger. A few years ago I discovered late in the year that she does a challenge to genealogy bloggers called “ 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks”. She has renewed that challenge for 2018. Because my blogging has slowed down, I decided this might be a good way for me to refocus. If you are interested in seeing her site, you can find it here. www.AmyJohnsonCrow.com.

 
What does “start” mean to me. I have shared at different times who my inspirations have been for genealogy. Who do I credit with getting me started? There are actually several.

Great Grandma Estella Smith
     She was my mother’s, mother’s, mother. I spent a great deal of my childhood with her. My dad farmed her land, and I had occasion to spend massive amounts of time in her presence.  She lived at the edge of town in a home that was new in the teens of the twentieth century. The house is still standing and looking quite good for being over 100 years old.
      Grandma told me stories about her aunts and an uncle who died from consumption in the 1880’s and 1890’s. These stories were my first catalyst for genealogy exploration.

Grandpa Bert Grisso
     This Grandpa is my mother’s father. I never realized until one warm summer day in 1971, that I had never had a direct conversation with him. Usually we gathered for family events, Sunday dinners, holidays, etc. Grandpa talked to the men. The ladies and kids hung out in the kitchen catching up on news and putting the finishing touches on the meal. On this particular day, I had my mom drop me off at Grandpa and Grandma’s house with my toddler and baby to visit with Grandma. However, she wasn’t home. Consequently Grandpa had to talk to me. It was a fabulous event. He told me the history of the Grisso family coming to America from Italy. I wanted to know more. When I finally got into genealogy, it was the Grisso line which interested me the most. One of the first things I learned was about family lore.  Sometimes there is just a kernel of fact in the stories we are told. The arrival of the first Grisso was far longer ago than I was lead to believe. The family is not from Italy and there are a few other details that didn’t pan out. However, the quest for Grisso information was started that afternoon. I give my Grandpa Grisso credit for starting me down this road. I have come to see why he was so proud of his name.

Aunt Bonnie
     On my dad’s side, my Aunt Bonnie, his sister, did a lot of the leg work for the DeHart branch of her mother’s family.  In 1988, she and her husband did a genealogy road trip from Oregon to West Virginia in search of the DeHart property. In the summer of 2016, my husband and I tried to find the same spot, but due to car trouble and time restraints, we  didn’t quite make it.

Aunt Cheryl     My go-to person on my Dad’s side has been my Aunt Cheryl. She was a great researcher and helped debunk several family legends. It is with such sadness that my research buddy, Cheryl, joined these other genealogy enthusiasts on Christmas Day, 2017.

R.I.P. Cheryl, and thanks for all you did. I love you.
   

A Mystery to Solve

Sometimes, especially when I am tired and just sitting around relaxing, I grab my ipad and surf around a little in Ancestry blogs, in on-line research sites and just read random genealogy articles here and there.  I have no plan other than to fill time avoiding whatever task I should be doing.  Obviously, I am following none of the advice I have learned in good genealogy research.

This is the accidental way I found the ship manifest of the May 1892 arrival of the ship, Oldenburg, into Baltimore from Bremen, Germany with my husband's grandfather, his first wife and two children listed.  This was a fabulous discovery which ran contrary to family lore.

Now, I have made another fluke discovery.  I have not been working on my blog for several reasons. (O.K. here come the excuses.)  I declared in August that Cousins was going on hiatus.  It was not my intention to be absent for so long.  Several trips, both large and small, as well as some health issues have interrupted the flow of stimulating prose authored by yours truly.  Or I could simply comfess that the dog ate my homework.

So, what might this discovery be?

One of the genealogy blogs I read, even when I am not writing, is called Empty Branches on the Family Tree.  Its author is Linda Stuffelbean, and I don't think the dog ever ate her homework.  She inspires me.

While surfing around randomly one day with no goal in mind, I read one of her posts in which she was discussing the move of a family in her husband's ancestry from Northampton, Pennsylvania to Botetourt County, Virginia. I vaguely remember my Grisso research shows the Grisso family in that area.  I started wondering if it was the same time period and if so what if some of our ancestors knew some of the ancestors current genealogist follow.  Populations were much smaller back then.  I thought it might be a fun exercise to compare dates and speculate about these possible encounters.

Before any of that happened, I read on in Linda's post and was amazingly surprised at a name that appeared in her research.  The name was Polly Gresso whose father was Mathias Gresso of Botetourt County, Virginia. Polly had married a Mr. Martin Miller.

Now I have an ancestor named Polly Grisso, daughter of Mathias Grisso of Botetourt County, Virginia who married a Mr. Martin Miller.  It must be a spelling error from Grisso to Gresso. There couldn't be another family with a Polly and Mathias who married Martin Miller, could there?

Now I have a project and a mystery to solve. 
Stay tuned.

Little Grissos

One never knows what one might find looking through old family photos.

 

 

It is that time of year

     It is that time of year again.  It is that time of year again when my passions clash. It is that time of year again when I have no time for anything but gardening.

    I thought I might post a picture or two of my spring garden, but not much is blooming yet and the flowers I bought yesterday are still waiting to go into the soil.

    So, guess what! It rained last night. Now I interrupt my gardening to sort papers and maybe write a post. I was quickly inspired when I ran across an old newspaper from 2006.  Obviously, I saved it for some reason. I quickly found a small blurp in the 60 years ago column from A Glance Into the Past. Of course, this article is from 72 years now.

     Mr. and Mrs. Bert Grisso and sons sold their farm in Moody, MO, and have returned to Scranton where they will make their home.  Mr. Grisso has taken the job as manager of the rendering plant at Jefferson.

     Those sons would have been Marvin and Donald. I don't know anything about their farm. The place where they lived in the 60's was different.  Several of us cousins have visited their 60's home in the heart of the Ozarks.

   

Handsome Guy

Indeed, this is a good looking man. I am guessing he is a relative, but who?  I found his picture in a formal folder in a box with other Grisso information.  So, I think he is from  the family of  my mother's father, Bert Grisso. Could he be one of my Grandpa Bert's uncles? He had many uncles.

Here we have another mystery to solve. We did find out who Carrie Plath was. We did find out that Nelle Fredrickson lived to adulthood. Something about this mystery makes me wonder if we will ever know.

Friday Fun

Deciding what a blog entry topic is going to be can be challenging or easy. It is easy if one is writing about an event which takes place over several days. For example, it was easy writing from my aunt's journal in 1988. It was also easy and fun to discover and visit the Grisso mansion which needed several sessions to get the whole story told. I loved writing about my 3rd great grandmother, Sarah Jane Swartzel Withrow. There is still so much to share about the Wrights, Grissos, Tolsdorfs, Augustus and other various branches.
      Sometimes when the publish button is pushed on a post my first thought is "now what?" This was the case today. Sometimes as soon as the "now what" thought bubble forms in my mind, I am given the answer unexpectedly. Such is the case this week. The same day I published the last Wordless Wendesday, the mail came. In the mail was the local Scranton Jounal. And in the newspaper was a picture from the past of some very cute little boys. They were called the Sox and the picture was from 1956.  Even though the picture is not as clear as one would hope, those little faces are still recognizable. Read the names carefully and you will see how it belongs in my blog, a blog which I hope one day will be read by my grandchildren and their children too.

W.E. Grisso (Part 2)

It was a stroke of genius, when I realized I could just copy the pages about "Doc" Grisso from the biographical sketch in The Grisso Family book. Or so I thought.

 

Well, I guess I got the cart before the horse as the old cliché goes. The copy of these pages is rather difficult to read. For that I apologize. I will continue to include the copied page for those who might have a magnifying glass and the curiosity to read the actual document. Otherwise, I will summarize the parts I found interesting.

"Doc" Grisso attended teachers' college, taught for a few years, and then attended medical school.  He was given a certificate to practice medicine around 1903.

After his medical school graduation, he was asked by neighbors, who were moving to Indian Territory, to drive a wagon for them.  He decided to do so, and with three hundred dollars in his pocket (all of it borrowed) drove the wagon to Holdenville in Indian Territory.

He moved on to Tidmore and practiced medicine there.  More often than not he would accept as payment for medical services most anything. He accepted cotton, corn, hay, cattle, pigs, etc.

He opened "The Seminole Drugstore" with Mr. John McGheehee.
The store carried general merchandise as well as drugs and medicines. Again, he found that most people could not pay cash for medical services or supplies. His barter system was such that his manner of transacting business gave him the reputation of being honest and fair.  This was especially important for establishing a good relationship with the Indians who lived in the area.

The last paragraph is about his personal life. His first son, Walker Dixon Grisso, has the distinction of being the first white child born in Seminole, Oklahoma.

Never fear. There is more to come.

Seminole, Oklahoma

Grisso Story Continued...

The Oklahoma spring tornadoes did not keep us from arriving in Seminole, Oklahoma on our travels a month ago. Although, it was a bit dicey. I know I would not want to live there. We have tornadoes in our home state, but those in Oklahoma seemed much scarier. We were glued to the weather broadcast on the T.V. for four hours, but we slept safely and enjoyed our short tour of Seminole.

Our first stop was the library where indeed there was a copy of The Grisso Family book. What a shock! It was huge! It has obviously been used often over the years because it is coming apart and not in the best shape. I had to take a picture of it because I never guessed it was such a tome.

I spent a couple of hours reading and copying a few pages to add to what I have. We rode around Seminole looking for Grisso Avenue. It is a lovely boulevard winding itself through the park.

 The next day we went to visit the Grisso Mansion. And yes, William Edward "Doc" Grisso was a second cousin once removed to our grandfather, Bert Grisso. They were both born in Fulton County, Arkansas and descended from Jacob Kittinger Grisso of Virginia.


William Edward "Doc" Grisso was the son of Jacob Grisso (1834-1883). Jacob's father, Madison (1807-1870), was the son of Jacob Kittinger Grisso (1772-1844).

This chart might be clearer.


                                     Jacob Kittinger Grisso

      
George W. Grisso          Madison      ----        brothers
William Madson            Jacob           ----        first cousins
John Martin                    William Edward "Doc" Grisso  ----2nd c.
Bert Roscoe                    Second cousin of "Doc" Grisso once removed from common ancestor Jacob Kittinger Grisso

Mary & siblings             Second cousin 2 times removed

Margie & 1st cousins     Second cousin 3 times removed


George, Madison, and James were the three brothers who settled
in northern Arkansas in the mid 1800 having left their parental home in Virginia. They migrated first to Tennessee and then on to Fulton, County Arkansas.

Now that we have established the relationship, we will learn a little more about the mansion and Doc Grisso.

Stay tuned.

March 5, 2016- Blogiversary

I have learned while surfing around in the Blogsphere that bloggers often make mention of their blogiversary - which is the day their blog started.

Thus, I would like to announce that today is my 1st blogiversary. My first published post was on March 5, 2015 and is titled Getting Started.  Recently, Blogger added a new feature called Featured Blog. It can be found on the right hand side of the screen. Readers can go there to re-read this first post if interested. Those who receive email posts may not be able to see this feature. I hope you will take some time to check out the blog itself (www.margietolsdorf.blogspot.com)  and view this feature along with the others I will be mentioning. This first feature blog is the very first writing I posted one year ago. I will be changing this feature blog from time to time, but I will alert you when that happens. 

After a year, I have created a jumble of posts about my dad's family, my mom's family, my husband's family, my travels, my treasures, my photos, my mom's calendar, etc., etc. The jumble just keeps twisting and turning. Of course, one can go to the blog archive on the right hand side of the screen and find any one of the past year's 170 posts. Too much work for most casual readers. Some future family genealogist might dig through it all, but most readers are not going to do that.

I have tried to find a way to help readers find a particular reading that has to do with their surname or other interest. I thought I had found it when I created the Index Page. Have you ever tried it? The Index Page is a tab at the top of the blog. The tabs are Home, Photo Album, About Me, and Index Page. The Photo Album has been neglected, but the Index Page is full of information. It is a stationary page that just sits there unlike regular posts which pile up one on top of another somewhat like placing one piece of paper on top of another.

The second feature on the right of the screen is called Search Cousins.

Again, I believe these can only be seen from the actual blog. The right hand column is cut off when reading a post in email.

Call me a slow learner, but as I am goofing around, I realize what a great feature this is. Suppose you are a cousin on my husband's mother's side of the family. A post about the Bordens, my father's maternal side, is not of much interest to you. But by using the Search Blog window, one can insert Reeder and the posts with that name will come up.  This along with the index should get you to your surname of choice whether it be Augustus, Wright, Tolsdorf, Grisso, DeHart, Phillips, etc. Information on these surnames is not equal at this time. Genealogy is a slow process.

The next features show:

Geneabloggers- This takes the reader to an online community created by Thomas MacEntee. My Cousins blog is listed in this community under Genealogy Blog Roll.

Translate - I am happy that I included this feature since I have had responses from places like Spain, Poland, Ukraine, etc.

Follow by Email - I believe this is a feature used by several of my regular readers. It makes my ramblings easily accessible and readers don't have to remember to go to the site.

Between the featured posts, search blog window, and blog archives, you should be able to consolidate the posts that feature your particular branch of your particular tree.

Blog Archive This is where my almost 170 blog entries are stacked one on top of the other like a pile of papers. The last dated entry is always the one on top.

(Click on colored words to go directly to the example)

I continue to learn new features on the Blogger Platform and to try different ways to present our families' stories to whomever might be interested. Often I share part of my mother's diary calendars on Mondays With Mary. Wednesday is a good day for a short post featuring a photo like this one from last week. And even though this is a genealogy blog, it is my blog to post items of interest to share  and also leave a little of myself on these pages for my grandchildren to know me better.

Thank you to all my readers on this -  my first blogiversary.  I hope you will stick around for another year.  Thanks for reading.

News to me!

You know my goal is to share the family stories, facts, and details I already know.  However, yesterday I stumbled upon a couple interesting pieces of information that were new to me and that I wish to share. Discovering new family details is exciting for a family historian.

Since I was already in the area, I decided to stop by our local genealogy library and look at the index of  Greene County deaths. I wanted to confirm the death date of Myrtice Avril Smith, the 5th child of Hiram and Stella Smith. Sure enough, she died May 19, 1913 as her gravestone says. Out of curiosity, I decided to go to the Court House to further check some facts on this death. The cause of death was listed as pneumonia and whooping cough. She was 4 months and 19 days and had been sick for five weeks. I also found an error in the record. It says she was buried in Glidden. This is not so. She is buried in The Scranton Township Cemetery next to her parents.  Of course, in reality they are buried next to her. Stella's parents, John M and Ginevra Vorhies, both of her brothers, Eugene and LeRoy and families are all buried in close proximity. After all the years I have visited these graves, I never realized little Myrtice was the first internment in this grouping. ( The Withrows are in another section. Aurilla would have been the very first family internment.

As long as I was at the courthouse and had found these huge books of records so fascinating, I decided to look up a couple other death notes.  What could I learn about Bert and Nina's first born child Lena?   She was born on October 31 and died the same day. Interestingly enough, she was also buried October 31. The record shows that the baby was premature, only seven months developed. Now the really interesting question. There is a column in these records that lists the funeral home/mortuary involved. In this column the words "none called" is recorded. Now what does this mean? I know where Lena and her brother, who also did not survive infancy, are buried. Who dug the hole? Was there some sort of box used or not? I am so curious about this.

Lastly, I discovered something that really surprised me, and I think it is an important piece of information for all my female cousins in this familial line to know.  Great Great Grandmother Ginevra Withrow Vorhies' cause of death was carcinoma of the uterus.

Ginevra Mary "Neva" Smith Walker (1909-1975)

Great Aunt Neva was the third child born to Hiram and Estella Smith. She was born in Scranton Township in Greene County, Iowa on February 18, 1909.   Recently, I wrote about the second child, Merroll.  Some family members might wonder why I haven't written about, Nina, the first child. Nina was my grandmother, and I have lots to tell about her. I decided I would introduce her siblings first. When I write about Neva and Bert one should know they were my great aunt and uncle. I always just called them aunt and uncle and will continue the title in this post.

One of my first memories of Aunt Neva was in great-grandma Smith's house. She and her husband, Bert, lived in Illinois and had come for a family visit. She immediately hugged me, folding me into her arms, and almost smothering me in her fur coat. It is that fuzzy black coat that must have made the memory so vivid because I was very young. As an adult, I learned more about why they had moved to Illinois.  For several years, Bert, farmed Estella's ( great-grandma Smith) farm. Evidently, things weren't going so well and he was terminated. I understand there was family fall out as one might expect. There are other family skeletons linked to this aunt and uncle but for now let's just let them rest.

Uncle Bert and Aunt Neva never had children. I always felt like they considered my mom as their daughter and in turn, I was like a granddaughter. These realizations affected me strongly as a kid. I was very young when I determined that as a grown-up, I wanted my own family. I wanted children and grandchildren of my own. As special as we were to her, we belonged to her sister.

Bert and Neva drove my mom to the hospital when I was born. The story goes that there was a bad snowstorm. Dad had to stay behind to milk the cows but came later. I have always loved snow and believe the excitement of the occasion coursed its way  through mom's umbilical cord and reached me as an unborn child. O.K. Laugh if you must, but I actually did a study on this once.

Neva wanted Mom to name me Sarah Jane. This did not happen but through my study of my third great-grandmother Sarah Jane Swartzel Withrow, I feel like I have become very close to her.  It would have been an honor.  Aunt Neva also gave me a necklace that she always wore. I believe it belonged to her grandmother, Ginevra for whom she was named. (She is wearing it in the picture at the end of this page)

Aunt Neva's birthday was 3 days before mine. She wanted me to be born on her birthday, but instead I was born on John's birthday, February 21. John was brother to my mother and they were Aunt Neva's niece and nephew. When I was eleven John's first child was born. Oh, how I hoped the new baby would be born on February 21. Well, the new baby made Aunt Neva very happy because she arrived on February 18. On February 18, 2008 another family member was born. This time the baby born on Aunt Neva's birthday in 1956 was thrilled to welcome into the world her own first grandchild. Aunt Neva's wish came true a couple of times.

I have many, many memories of Aunt Neva.  I am not sure when they moved back to Greene County from Illinois.  Uncle John said she was his favorite cook in the family. When I was in high school, I would stay at Bert and Neva's house if Mom and Dad went somewhere overnight. In fact, I was staying with them when I was dropped off from a New Year's Night party that to this day is a momentous anniversary. (First date with the guy who would become my husband several years later)

Aunt Neva died in July of 1975 just two weeks after the husband of her sister, Nina. Of course, that was my grandfather, Bert Grisso, of whom I am speaking. I thought how hard it must be to lose a husband and then a sister so close together.



Neva and Bert Walker

The Family Grows and Grows

     My side of the family tree and that of my first and second cousins, is through the daughter of Sarah Jane and Joseph Withrow.
Their daughter, Ginevra, was their second born, first married, and last to pass away.  Ginevra was born in Butler county, Ohio, on March 5, 1855.  She moved with her parents to Iowa in 1866.  (I learned this date from her father's obituary. Before I just knew it was between 1860 and 1868 based on census reports and the birth of her sister,  Viola Emma.)  Clues, Clues, Clues. See why this genealogy "stuff" is such fun, but I digress.
     Ginevra married John Mac Vorhies May 27, 1875 in the Jasper county area. They moved with Ginevra's parents and siblings to Greene County in 1876.  They had three children as I have mentioned before. Estella Mae born March 21, 1876; Eugene on October 8, 1877, and Leroy on October 2, 1879.   In time I might tell some of what I know about these offshoot branches but for now I am working on direct line descendants and ancestors.
       I want to share a family portrait that I think is priceless. The copy is not the greatest on this blog. Also, I made the photo large enough to get some idea of faces so the photo extend over the edge of the writing field. Just another one of those technology tricks I have yet to learn. Although, I admit I have seen this on many other blogs.

 So, who are these people and why do we care? 
       Our existence is a result of them. Let's honor them with just a little of our time and attention.

     Seated in the center of the portrait is Sarah Jane Swartzel Withrow, who started this family along with her husband, of course. She is about 79 here.  Seated to her left is a large woman in a white blouse with a black neck bow. This is Grandma Ginevra, her daughter. Her approximate age is 58. Her husband, John Mac is behind her to one side and their oldest child, Estella, is on John Mac's right.  I guess their ages to be about 63 and 37 respectively. To Estella's right is her husband, Hiram Smith approximately 46 years old, and their four children who are circled around Grandma Sarah Jane Withrow.  The oldest is Nina about age 11, then Merroll about age, 10.  The little one to Sarah Jane's left is Neva about age 3 and to her right little Ardea about 2.
      The families of Eugene are seated to the right of Grandma Withrow  and Leroy's family is to the left. I know the identity of all in the photo except for the older couple next to Eugene.  (If anyone would like me to expand on these family, I will be glad to share what I know. Let me know.)
      I do not know the exact date of this photo but Viola, baby of Carrie and Eugene, was born in 1912. I am guessing ages based on this.
     My first cousins and I branch from Nina. My second cousins branch from Ardea and Merroll. Great Aunt Neva never had children. After this family photo was taken three more children were born to Estella and Hiram. I do not believe there are any descendants from these children.


      

Anna Josephine and Ginevra

     Unlike five of the seven children born to Sarah and Joseph, two of their daughters lived long lives.  Anna Josephine and Ginevra both lived into their 60's. They married, raised families, and shared the care of their aged mother, Sarah.  I have read in some of the Jefferson historical papers about visits Sarah made to her granddaughters in Jefferson.  These are strangers to me.  The mother of those granddaughters was Anna Josephine. 
     Anna Josephine married Willam Cromwell and raised seven children just like her parents.  I have not done much research on this branch of the family.  In time, I will turn my attention to this branch if one of my third or fourth cousins or anyone else is interested. 
     What I have discovered is that the youngest daughter of Anna and William was born in 1899 and was named Beatrice Ruth. She  married Norval Pound and they had three children.
Alan (1917)
Victor (1921)
Mignon (1922)

     Oh, have my third and fourth cousins perked up their ears?

     When I was a kid, one of my best friends was Margo Pound.  We knew we were distantly related but no one seemed to know exactly how.  Now I know!  Sarah Jane is her 2nd great grandmother and my 3rd great grandmother. We share a common ancestor.  We are third cousins once removed. I am one generation farther removed from our common ancestors, Sarah and Joseph Withrow. 
     Everyone with me? What is this illusive once removed term? We are not of the same generation.  How can this be? We are only one month apart in age.  Let me explain.
     Anna's daughter, Beatrice, was the youngest of Anna's children.  While the daughter of her sister, Ginevra, was the oldest of Ginevra's children. Ginevra's daughter, Estella, and Beatrice, first cousin to Estella, were almost 20 years apart in age. Already the generations are off.
     I tried explaining descendants in paragraph form but it became a little confusing. So, here is a chart which might help.

                                            Sarah( mother)

   Anna Josephine          (sisters)          Ginevra
      Beatrice              (first cousins)         Estella
         Alan/Victor      (second cousins)        Nina&siblings
            Jane/Margo/Vic/etc. (3rd cousins)     Mary&siblings
              Michelle, Mike, Todd, Jane's girls (4th) Margie

Because I am one more generation removed from Sarah Jane, I am a third cousin once removed of my friend, Margo, her siblings, and her first cousins.

     Here is my paragraph. You might want to skip it or muddle through to see if your head spins or you might find it clarifying.

     Beatrice and Estella were the grandchildren of Sarah Jane and Joseph.  They were first cousins. Beatrice's children and Estella's children were great-grandchildren to Sarah Jane and Joseph. So, Sarah was great grandmother to Alan Pound, Victor Pound, my grandmother Nina Smith Grisso, and many others. Alan and Victor were second cousins to my grandmother, Nina, and her siblings.  The children of Alan and his brother, Victor, are third cousins to Nina's children one of whom is my mother, Mary. The generations are not aligned. So this is where the once, twice, etc. times removed comes in. Margo is my mother's third cousin and my third cousin once removed. Her children are my fourth cousins. (Got that Michelle, Mike, and Todd)
     So, there you have it. My third and fourth cousins share a common ancestor with me. We have all descended from Sarah Jane Swartzel Withrow and her husband, Joseph.
     My first and second cousins branch off with Ginevra and John Mac Vorhies.  There is much more to come with them.
     

May I introduce...

Sarah Jane Swartzel Withrow
1834-1922

     This is the story as I know it of my 3rd great grandmother, Sarah Jane Swartzel Withrow.  If you are descended from one of my mom's siblings, one of Grandma Nina's siblings, one of Great Grandma Smith's siblings or her mother, Ginevra's siblings,  Sarah Jane is our common grandparent. You are my first, second, third, or fourth cousin.  I actually know who a couple of these fourth cousins are. Imagine their surprise when they discover this.

     Sarah Jane Swartzel was born in Montgomery County, Ohio in 1834 and is buried in the Scranton Township cemetery near Scranton, Iowa.  Many, many of her descendants are buried there as well.  The vague idea of an ancestor becomes real when I can actually take flowers to her grave. And I want her story to be told.

     In 1853, at age 19, Sarah Jane married Joseph Withrow in Ohio.  They had a total of seven children.  Only three of these children had families of their own.  Obviously, I am descended from one of these three.

     The first four of their children were born in Ohio. Mary Kate (1854), Ginevra (1855), Anna Josephine (1857), Aurilla Rosella (1859) moved with their parents to Indiana and then on to Jasper County, Iowa sometime between 1860 and 1868.  We know this because the 1860 census locates the family in Ohio. In 1868, Viola Emma was born in Jasper County, Iowa.  Followed by Joseph A. Jr. in 1874.  By 1879, the family was living in Greene County, Iowa where Sarah Jane ( named after her mom I assume) was born on 26 August 1879.

     Grandma Sarah outlived not only her husband but also 6 of her 7 children.  Her one remaining child (age 67) died only a few months after Sarah Jane. In my opinion, Grandma Sarah Jane Swartzel Withrow had a lot of sorrow in her 88 years.

    

    

    
  

Dedication

     Well, here I go.  But where will I start?  There are Grissos and Smiths, Wrights and Bordens, Augustus and DeHarts, Tolsdorfs and Beiers.  There are Grossmans and Vorhies, Kerins and Reeders.  You get the idea.

      I am starting with the Smith, Vorhies, Withrow line, and I am dedicating these first entries to two family members we lost in January of 2015.  First is my mother's brother, John Hiram Grisso (1924-2015). I was born on his 21st birthday on February 21, 1945 while he was serving in the Atlantic during WWII. This connection made him very special to me.  I felt his absence profoundly this year on our birthday.

     My second dedication is to his first cousin, Jean Stevens Johnson (1929-2015).  In genealogy terms, she is my first cousin once removed. She and my mother were first cousins. On January 2, I called Jean with the news of John's passing.  We had a sad but lively conversation.  I spoke of my discovery of the grave of the parents of my Great Grandpa Hiram Lee Smith's parents in Tucumcari, New Mexico far from our Midwest roots.  George Smith (1842-1932) and Mary Smith (1847-1924) were great grandparents of Jean and John.

     Jean was my go to person for family memories and fact checking.  As happens too often, our best resources are gone too soon.  Jean died four days after her cousin, John,  and two days after our conversation.

     My life is richer because of these two family members.