Those Collaterals (siblings, etc. of direct line)

My whole purpose with writing this blog is to record and share with my cousins what I know about our family's ancestors. It is a way of organizing the papers, pictures, pedigree charts, and assorted slips of paper that came from my mother, the saver of everything. And in the case of genealogy, how glad I am that she did.

Growing up where my mother's family had lived for generations, I was very familiar with my maternal collaterals. My great grandmother's brother and sister-in-law lived close by. Their daughter, my first cousin twice removed, is the source of much of the Vorhies genealogy.

I thought I knew about my dad's side. He was born in Lake City where my great grandmother Emma Borden lived when I was young. She had a couple of sisters, Great Great Aunt Mae and Great Great Aunt Alice. They were the children of George J. DeHart. He seemed to be quite a prominent member of that community. He left Iowa and moved to Texas with his second wife and daughter ( GGrandma Emma Susan DeHart Borden's  half sister). I have written about George Jackson DeHart and found his grave in Dalhart, Texas a year or two ago. There is quite a lot of research already done on the DeHart side. The needed information for membership in Daughter's of the American Revolution traces back to Abraham DeHart. This is not new information.

So where am I going with this, you might ask. I mentioned in my Easter 2016 that I had recently received (on loan) some of my aunt's genealogy papers. I am just starting to look at them. The very first paper I read is a photocopy of the obituary of William Calahill  DeHart. I have come across that name when doing DeHart research but I would need to do a little more to confirm what I think. I think he is George Jackson DeHart's brother. And he lived in Lake City.
 
Who Knew? More collaterals in Lake City to explore.

The same thing has happened on Dad's side. I have mentioned in  Cousins  I knew very little about the origins of my Great Grandmother, Jennie Emily Olmstead Wright. After some late night obsessive explorations, I have found her parents. I learned that they along with Jennie's younger siblings  moved from Illinois to Sac City, Iowa.  This was about the time Jennie and her new husband, Charles Howard Wright, settled in that same community.

Who knew?

I am still amazed at the geographical closeness of these collaterals. Lake City and Sac City, both, had more ancestors and collaterals than I realized.

Thanks to my Aunt Bonnie, I now have more information on the DeHarts, the Wrights, and the Olmsteads.

My Aunt Bonnie and me.
She is so pretty, and I have a stupid curl on top of my head.

I imagine the  furtherest thing from her mind was that I would be picking up her genealogy research about 65+ years after this photo was taken.

Happy Anniversary - December 16

My parents were married December 16, 1941. So if Mom hadn't died 12 years ago and Dad hadn't died almost 6 years ago, they could celebrate their 74th wedding anniversary this year.  They did almost make it to 62 years. Mom died just a couple of weeks before we could have had this celebration.

However, they did celebrate 25, 40, 50, and 60 with parties. In my current cleaning and sorting mood, I uncovered congratulatory cards from December 1981- their 40th anniversary. Of course, mom kept them. Of course, I kept them. All my family is asking "Why." So I have thrown out a few. It was nice to read familiar names of friends that were prominent in their lives at the time. Many of those names belong to the deceased now as well as do Mom and Dad. Some of the cards contained nice letters which I think could be shared on this genealogy blog at some point in the future.  Don't we wish we had old letters of other ancestors. It won't be long before these old letters are ancient. I am saving parts of some cards for my signature project. ( just a little teaser).

What do I know about my parents marriage? I understand they were married in the Methodist Parsonage in Scranton, Iowa. My mother's mother, Nina Grisso, was their witness.  The date was December 16, 1941 just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Mom shared that she had been to Cedar Rapids, Iowa with her Aunt Ardea and Uncle Steve that day. They had probably gone for the week-end due to the distance. Cedar Rapids is where mom's uncle and Ardea's brother, Merroll lived.  They were on their way home when they heard the news. She had purchased her wedding blouse on this trip.

A couple of dozen years ago as we were driving through the tiny burg of Farlin, Iowa. Mom pointed out a house that she said they stayed in after they were married. I have no idea if this was a day, a week, or longer. I also know they spent time living with Mom's parents and 5 other siblings across the road from where they started farming. The farm they were to live on would not be available until March 1. This was an established date when renters vacated and a new tenant occupied  the farm they were to work the next growing season. March 1 gave them some time to get settled and work the ground before time to put in the crop. The farm was owned by Estella Vorhies Smith, my mother's grandmother. She inherited the farm from her father, John MacVorhies. This farm was part of the original homestead purchased by Joseph Withrow, my 3x great-grandfather.

Vern and Mary
December 16, 1941

Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary

Mom's and Dad's rental farm 1942-1959
"The Sixty"
(where it all began)

The farm they bought in 1969.
(Still in the family)

Doris' Memories Continued

Last week I spoke of my mother-in-law, Doris, who we recently laid to rest after a full 97 years of life. This post can be reviewed at Friday's Feature-Doris. She had started writing some memories and had started with her very first memory of when her brother was born.

Today's memories are about starting school.
********************
Then I remember my first day of school.  We had gone to the State Fair with much planning & scheduling chores & someone to do them.  My Grandparents Reeder, Aunt Jenny & Uncle Dick White had rented a big tent for the week-end. And my folks too. We walked to the fair from the campgrounds each day- sometimes came back to fix lunch & rest.

Then on Sunday afternoon Mom & Dad got ready to go home - chore time & I had school the next day & dad discovered he had lost the car key!  A security person on horseback came & they took the part that holds the key & took it uptown to a locksmith & came back & put it back together so we made it home.

I remember what I wore that 1st day. I rode the bus and someone showed me where the 1st grade room was.  There was a mixed 1st & 2nd grade as well as a 1st grade.  My teacher was watching for me & made sure I had a desk in her room. She married my Uncle Gerald so she knew who I was.

The school bus I first remember was a motor bus & there was a horse drawn one the 1st year or so.
I was in school it was driven by a senior in H.S. & would keep it and take care of the horses at his home at nite & would drive back in the morning.

The inside of the buses had long seats along the sides & a bench down the length in center. My first bus driver was Jack Cameron who was a family man - one daughter was in my class.

The 1st car I remember was a 4 door ford with side curtains which you had to button on in bad weather even a rain storm!  It seemed to take a lot of maintenance before a Sunday trip or especially a picnic. My mom would be busy fixing lunch to take on this picnic-fried chicken, which had to be caught & killed (by Dad) & he always had to go to town to have the oil checked or the tires, etc.  Mom would fix baked beans, pie, deviled eggs etc.
******************************************************
I knew she loved picnics because she said her family went on lots of picnics.

I enjoyed reading about the horse drawn school bus that was driven by a H.S. senior and that he took the horse to his home to take care of the horse.

And she remembered what she wore on her first day of school over 90 years ago.  I have no idea what I wore to school on my first day.

What caught your attention?

Mistakes

I hate it when I make mistakes. However, on the positive side, when I make one of these mistakes, I get blog feedback. I love blog feedback. So far the mistakes I have made aren't because I don't know the correct information. I honestly don't know why I made the last one.  In my blog Under the Walnut Tree. I spoke about my great grandmother (Emma Borden) when I meant to be talking about her daughter, my grandmother (Nina Frances Borden Wright). I have made the correction.

Grandma Nina Wright's first great-grandchild was born on her 69th birthday. I wrote about that when I wished my daughter, that great-grandchild, happy birthday on September 19.

So, with the correction made, I am ready to go on.  Today's post was going to be titled Wordless Wednesday, November 4, 2015. Then, of course, I would post a cool picture. It is scanned and ready to go. Didn't work. So, then I thought about just a blank page. 

When opened there would be nothing there. Wordless, you know. Maybe not such a great idea. In other words, as previously mentioned, I am having technology issues. Still unresolved. I thought I had a lead on the problem. A recent update to a new improved platform seems to be a contender for the culprit causing 
my frustration. I inquired at a local computer shop, but found no satisfaction there. It was a huge mistake going there!


Another mistake I am probably making is hopping from ancestral line to ancestral line. If I have cousins following my blog and I jump to another line (not related to them) will I lose their interest? 

It only stands to reason that I would follow one line at a time. However, I once learned in a seminar that I do not organize sequentially.  I am a global organizer. This means all over the place. I guess we have the answer. I will be hopping. Don't forget a particular ancestral line can be found together in the Index Page at the top of this blog.

Under the Walnut Tree

I was always very familiar with my maternal grandmother's siblings. (Nina Smith Grisso) Since these were the children of my great grandmother (Estella Smith) with whom I spent my childhood, it is only natural that I either knew them first hand or heard many, many stories about them. My maternal grandfather's siblings (Bert Grisso) were not as familiar, but I could always name them. On my dad's side, my maternal grandmother was Nina. It was easy to remember her siblings because she was an only child...like me. She went on to have eight children...unlike me. I always was certain this was not a family tradition I planned to carry on. The family I could never keep straight was my paternal grandfather's siblings.
(Albert Wright) Only in recent years have I been able to make much sense of these five children of Charles and Jenni Wright. I have discovered numerous second cousins from this branch and even am Facebook friends with some of them. The Wright side of my family is my projected topic for next winter.

I mention all of this because I have noticed my own kids get my aunts and uncles confused just like I did my dad's aunts and uncles. Searching 4th great grandparents and beyond is fascinating to me, but I think I also should try to help my kids and my grandchildren understand some of the memories I have This might help them a little. Granted, these stories seem too new for genealogy posts and yet what could be a better forum. After all, Cousins is also for them.

My dad was the oldest of eight kids. I knew them all well. The first of dad's siblings to pass away was my Uncle Al in 1994.  Do not confuse Uncle Al Wright with Uncle Al Tubra who was married to Dad's sister, my Aunt Bonnie. This Uncle Al was named Albert Wright Jr. after his father. I always thought it odd that it was the second son to be named for the father.

Albert Wright Jr. married Norma Seely. They had three children, my first cousins. These cousins, like all of my cousins, were younger than me. A few days ago I received word that Aunt Norma died on Oct. 23. She had been a resident of Idaho for decades and had recently moved to Oregon where she could be better cared for by one of her daughters.

Anyway, my fondest memories of Uncle Al and Aunt Norma were when they lived under our walnut tree. The walnut tree was next to the garage on our farm (The Sixty). They lived in a trailer house under the tree. I have no idea how long they lived there. Their oldest child was a new baby so I loved to go see her. I think I was only about five or six. I remember Aunt Norma using the wringer washing machine on our porch and making crass remarks about big bossomed women and wringer washing machines. It was a bit much for my innocent little ears. They moved west eventually and I only saw them when they came for family visits. Maybe I didn't know them as well as I think, but my parents always spoke lovingly about them. I knew they were special.  For me, I have wonderful childhood memories of them when they lived under the walnut tree in our yard.

Rest In Peace,  Aunt Norma.

Where to Next?

My writing break from Cousins is making it hard to figure out where to begin again. I enjoyed prewriting several posts which were published while I was gone on my trip.  I was able to anticipate my upcoming adventure as well as cover my days away. It was a good plan. We had been assured of Wifi connections in all the hotels across Sicily and Southern Italy. Well, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Publishing a blog would have been a nightmare. The trip was fantastic, and I could go on and on about it. However, this is not a travel blog, but a family history/genealogy blog. Give me some time, and I will undoubtedly figure out a way to weave the trip into my blog.

As I stated before, upon arrival in Rome, I received the sad news of my mother-in-law's death. She had been doing genealogy years ago and was a great resource for me. I had even written about this fact in the post Another Limb.

So, the funeral is over. The siblings and families have departed. Now what? I thought about sharing her obituary. I thought about writing about her, but this loss has left me genealogically unenthused.

Then, I received word that the mother of my cousin's husband passed away. So, it is off to another funeral.  This year of 2015 has taken its toll. I have written about some, but there are others that I have not mentioned on my blog like my best friend's 50 year old daughter or my eighth grade teacher as well as a few local residents who I have known all my life. It has just been too many. However, maybe this is one of the stages of life that as a younger person its existence never crosses your mind. It is not a welcome experience, but one that gets your attention again and shakes you up. Once again you vow: I will enjoy today. Tomorrow many not come my way.

As family historian, I deal with those birthdate, death dates, and as much of a life as I can discover in what we call the dash. Death dates are easier when they are so many years ago not yesterday or last week, or last month or in the year 2015.

And I will post my mother-in-law's the obituary, but not today. Today I want to share a verse shared on Facebook by a special cousin.  It was from www.starbrightangels.org.


A limb has fallen from the family tree.
I keep hearing a voice that says, "Grieve not for me
Remember the best times, the laughter, the song.
The good life I lived while I was strong.
Continue my heritage, I am counting on you.
Keep smiling and surely the sun will shine through.
My mind is at ease, my soul is at rest.
Remembering all, how I truly was blessed.
Continue traditions, no matter how small.
Go on with your life, don't worry about falls.
I miss you all dearly, so keep up your chin.
Until the day comes we're together again."

Monday With Margie

At this point in my adventure, I will have visited a family farm in the countryside of Sicily.  I grew up on a farm as did many of my ancestors. However, we didn't make ricotta cheese. We stuck to corn and soybeans. Sometimes there were fields of oats and hay. 
 
Our next stop was a medieval palace where a countess welcomed us.  I don't think there is a chance of connecting genealogically with the nobility of Sicily. So, I left my pedigree charts at home. 

I have learned about the Valley of the Temples ruins. It is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world

 

and modern day Agrigento, Sicily used to be the Greek city of Akragas. In its glory days, it was one of the most important and most culturally-advanced Greek cities in the Mediterranean.

Now I find that interesting!

 

Not only is it interesting, but now I don't even need to go to Greece. More time for genealogy.

 

 

 

School Reunion

The school I attended, my mother and her siblings attended, my great aunts and uncles attended, my husband attended, his siblings attended, their mother and uncle attended closed a number of years ago. The old three story brick structure has been razed, but the new gym (dedicated in 1953) is now a community center. Many community members have worked hard to update the facility and to especially have everything in pristeen shape for the 2015 Scranton All School Reunion. Since 1965 this event has occurred. I have never missed even one.

This year I had the opportunity to work in the memorabilia room. It was the vocational agriculture room when I was in school. It is filled with the large class pictures which used to line the upstairs hallways. I always loved looking at those composites when I was a student to see my mom, her siblings, and so many faces that I knew in our little town but didn't exactly look quite so young anymore. Every five years at this gathering those faces age a little more. And some of those faces are no longer with us.  But, we remember.

By helping in the memorabilia room, I had the opportunity to help people locate their own family members. I met a man that knew my mother and told me how she lived down the road from him when they were kids.  He pointed out to me one of her classmates that had died in WWII and who had been a beau of his sister. His sister was a generation older than me, but someone I had always known. However, the story was new.

I talked with a woman who said she was good friends in high school with my aunt. My aunt died about ten years ago after several years of living in a nursing home with dementia. But, there in the academic setting with those pictures, letter jackets and school annuals, she was young and vibrant in this woman's memory.

Seeing my classmates from the class of '63 and those up and down the years is delightful since we were such a small school. Anyone in high school from when we were freshman to when we were seniors could have been some of one's closest pals.

And then everyone's brothers and sisters come. It is simply a family reunion of those related by blood and those related by memories. I saw my four very favorite second cousins and hugged my third cousin once removed who just takes my word for it that my genealogy research is correct and that we are related.

It is always over too soon, but every five years we get a more little tired from the hoopla. Still, our next All School Reunion is scheduled for June 20, 2020. I want to say that I can't wait, but at this age I really don't want to wish anymore years away.  I guess I just need to say I hope everyone enjoys the daily blessings of the next five years and reports back in 2020.

My second cousins and me

Useless Information

O.K. it is time for Useless Facts and other Related Information

I attended a genealogy conference this year on my 70th birthday. What a way to spend the day! Probably only those with a similar interest could find this a remotely great way to celebrate the day. I even won the door prize of a free admission to next year's conference. I find that almost spooky! (there were about 250 people there) Anyway, the point...we received a handout by William Dollarhide called "Dollarhides' Genealogy Rules".  I would like to share a few of my favorites. I also hope I have made the correct sourcing credits. I don't want to end up in genealogy jail.

When visiting a funeral home, wear old clothes, no make-up, and look like you have about a week to live.  The funeral director will give you anything you ask for if he thinks you may be a customer soon.

When you contact your home state's vital statistics office and ask if they are "online" and they respond, "on what?" you may have a problem.

Always interview brothers and sisters together in the same room.  Since they can't agree on anything about the family tree, it makes for great fun to see who throws the first punch.

The application for a death certificate you want insists that you provide the maiden name of the deceased's mother, which is exactly what you don't know and is the reason you are trying to get the death certificate in the first place.

Your ancestor will be featured in the county history because he was the first prisoner in the new jail.

The roll of microfilm you need for county research is the only roll in the drawer that was sent out for repair earlier that day.

In spite of MTV, computer games, or skate boards, there is always a chance that your grandchildren will learn how to read someday.
( This one certainly does not apply to my five grandchildren, who are all exceptional readers. Now if I can only get them interested in family history)

A first cousin, once removed, may not return.

And my personal favorite

I'm crazy about genealogy, but not necessarily yours.

Interrupting this program

Here we are descending the family branch of Hiram and Estella Smith to highlight their children. You have met Merroll, Neva, Ardea, and Myrtice. The three remaining children are Nina, the oldest, Dale and Leah, the two youngest.  Their posts will come, but for now I have some more organizing, researching, and some traveling to do. So, I am interrupting this program to bring you some random thoughts and a post on a famous relative. Watch for these amazing features coming soon. :-)

Since I seem to be in the "teasing" mood, I need to tell you about a treasure trove I am about to come upon.  I received a letter from a friend of my grandmother's first cousin. Are you with me? My grandmother's first cousin was into genealogy and much of the information on the Vorhies side came from this first cousin three times removed. She passed away several years ago leaving no descendants. She had one brother but he died in the 1930's.

The friend who wrote to me has a couple of boxes of letters, documents, scrapbooks, etc. that she has kept that belonged to this cousin. This is such a lucky break. I can hardly contain myself.

More to come on this to be sure.

Myrtice Averil Smith (1913-1913)

From different genealogy classes I have taken, I have learned to question long spaces between children.  There is an expected closeness between Neva and Ardea.  Neva and Ardea were only about 20 months apart in age.  Hiram and Stella's first child, Nina, and her next sibling, Merroll, were only about 17 months apart.  These are the usual spacings in families of the time.  However, from Merroll to Neva, approximately eight years elapsed. I am unaware of any miscarriages and am not sure I would ever be able to find this out.

Hiram and Stella did lose one child. Her name was Myrtice Averil. She was born January 1, 1913 on their 13th anniversary.  She died seven days later on January 7, 1913. When I was first sharing some of my genealogy records a few years ago, I had an uncle who said he never realized he had another aunt.  I have a paper called a Cradle Call from the Scranton Church of Christ in which the Smiths were very active. I have seen the thank you note in an old newspaper written by Hiram thanking the community for their kindness at the time of the loss of their baby. Myrtice is buried right next to Hiram and Stella in the Scranton Cemetery. 

t



At some later date, I will review this record for clarity. This record is not currently with me but in storage at another site.

Attention: Has anyone caught my error?  I have a terrific live-in proof reader, and he brought it to my attention.   Leave me a note if you see the mistake I have made.  I will admit to it and try to find the correct information.

Ardea Agnes Smith Stevens (1910-1998)

Again, I am referring to a great aunt but one I called Aunt Ardee.  She was born approximately 20 months after her sister, Neva.  In my growing up years, she lived across the road from great grandma Smith's house. She had beautiful flowers in her yard and harvested bowls full of strawberries from her garden. I was quite afraid of her garden because she said she often saw snakes there.  I loved going to her house because she was so fun loving. She was grandmother to my second cousins. I was always a little jealous. She was so cool.

Ardee was married to Uncle Steve. His name was really Clarence Stevens and he had piles of Reader's Digest Condensed books in his living room.  They had two children, James Robert and Dorothy Jean, but lost their son in 1935 to pneumonia when he was only seven years old. As a kid I remember my mother telling me that another family named Stevens (no relation) lost a child to the same malady.  This families' son was name Gene Stevens. So there was confusion in the community when Steve and Ardee lost their Jimmie. Some people thought they had lost both children.  Their daughter's name was Jean Stevens.

While looking through the Jefferson Newspaper archives, I found a piece about Jean coming home from the hospital.  It was in The Jefferson Herald on January 24, 1935. It was a Thursday.
     "Jeanne [sic] Stevens was brought home from St. Anthony hospital at Carroll on Wednesday afternoon slowly recovering in health.  Her brother, Jimmie, who was seriously ill for more than a week of pneumonia, died early Saturday morning at the home of his grandmother, Mrs. H. L. Smith.  The funeral services were held Monday at 3:30."

     I did not know that Jimmie had died in G Grandma Smith's house or that Jean was in the hospital at the time. What profound sadness for young parents.

     While looking for more clues about the other Stevens' family loss, I happened upon an article that I can not believe had ever been told to me. It seems that the Calvin Stevens family (the not related one, but friends of my parents) after having lost their five year old son, Gene, in 1935 also lost their seven year old daughter.  She died in October of that year from complications resulting from an illness early in the year which was thought to be scarlet fever.  Sorry about the interrupting paragraph in my Ardea post, I am just overwhelmed with this new knowledge.

When my great grandma Stella Smith died in 1959, there was a sale of her household goods. As loving and generous as she was, not all of her children took after her.  There was controversy as can happen when numerous siblings are involved. So, to keep everything fair, no one was to take anything. Everything would be sold on the household sale. If a family member wanted something, they could purchase it. Grandma always sat in a rocking chair and since she was a little heavy, the rockers were slightly flat on the bottom. I had spent so much time with her, and she was usually in that chair that I decided I wanted my dad to buy it for me. Somehow, Aunt Ardee found this out and said to my dad. "If Margie wants that rocker, she can have it". I don't know if it is true or not but I was always lead to believe that the only item not sold of Grandma Smith's was that rocker.  You can see why I thought Aunt Ardee was the greatest.

Ardea, Steve, Jean

I would like to do more on Aunt Ardee, but I would need some help from her granddaughters. What do you think, girls?




Back to Aunt Anna

     Anna Josephine Withrow Cromwell would be my great, great, great aunt. She was born at Farmersville, Ohio on Friday, January 16, 1857, and died in her home in Scranton, Iowa on Friday, July 16, 1920.  I wrote about her in the post Anna Josephine and  Ginevra.
     According to her obituary, she moved as a small child with her parents to Indiana before moving to Jasper County, Iowa. In the spring of 1876, they came to Greene County, Iowa,  settling on a farm southwest of Scranton, where she resided until her marriage to William J. Cromwell on October 3, 1876.
     I have some problems with this obituary. I corrected the date when the family moved to Greene County. The obituary said 1875. It was February 1876.  I had never heard or found anything about the family moving to Indiana from Ohio. However, this is very logical, and I accept it as the case.  Then, there is the matter of the wedding date. Was it October 3 or was it October 2? Look carefully at the Marriage Certificate at the end of this page. 
     I encourage you to read all of Anna Josephine's obituary at http://www.jefferson.advantage-preservation.com. It can be found in The Jefferson Bee, July 20, 1920.  I especially found the listing of her pall bearers interesting. It states that they were all soldier boys to whom she had written during the late war.
     The issue for July 14 tells of two daughters coming to assist in her care and that her condition was causing much anxiety among her relatives and many friends. 
      She sounds like she was a wonderful woman.
       

Dear Cousins and my other followers ( I know of at least one :-)

      Well, I hope you have begun to realize that these ancestors are more than birth and death dates. They had full lives just like you and me.  If you could spend some time with one of them, who would you choose?  What would you ask them?

     I would ask Joseph Withrow if he owned land in Jasper County before coming to Greene County. I would ask him to tell me more of his family from Ohio. I know his father was Samuel and a little more. I know where Sanuel's grave is in Ohio, and hope I can visit there someday. 

     I would ask Sarah Jane about her Swartzel family. For a while, I was on the wrong track but now due to another found paper written about her sister's death, I think I have the correct information.  I would also tell her that my great aunt Neva wanted my mom to name me Sarah Jane when I was born. Neva was a little annoyed with mom because she did not abide by her aunt's wishes. As I have gotten to know Sarah Jane in my research, learned a little of her story, and feel I have connected with her, I would have been honored to share her name. 

     I would ask Mary Kate where her grave is.

     I would ask Ginevra just which spelling of her name is correct.
 
     I would ask Anna Josephine to tell me about her seven children and their descendants.  Did she and her sister, Ginevra, spend much time together after they started and raised their own families?

     I would ask Aurilla how she got her nickname Rilley and what happened to her baby. Did she grow up and is her name Nellie Frederick?

     I would ask Viola Emma if she knew she had a great niece named Viola.  The son, Eugene, of Viola Emma's sister, Ginevra, named his baby Viola.  Here is a clarification for all the visual readers:
Ginevra     sister to Viola Emma
   Eugene   son of Ginevra
      Viola   daughter of Eugene

     Viola, the great niece of Viola Emma, was also a family historian.  Many of my documents, information, and knowledge of the Vorhies family came from Viola.  As I have said before, who knows what relative with pick up the genealogy pieces and move the information forward. Viola was a first cousin of my grandmother, Nina, which makes her my first cousin twice removed. I am two more generations removed from our common ancestor, Ginevra.

      I would ask Sarah Jane if she liked her nickname Sadie. 

      I would ask Joseph Jr. if he worked the farm with his father and uncle, J.M. Vorhies. Did he have a girl friend?  What did he do when he was younger?

     So many questions. So little time.
    

    



    

A Great Resource

     As a kid, I thought our small-town newspaper was so boring.  The "news" might be that so and so enjoyed Sunday dinner with such and such.  Any gathering, excursion even to the next town, out of state visitors and so on might find its way to the newspaper.  How happy I am now that I am piecing together ancestor and other relatives stories to have this newspaper resource.  Suddenly, I am glad I am from a small town instead of one of those big fancy cities where our family might have been anonymous.

     A few years ago, a project was undertaken to have the newspapers of the county seat, Jefferson, Iowa digitized.  What a treasure trove.  Anyone can access these records by going on line to www.jefferson.lib.ia.us.  Scroll to the bottom of the first page, look under Library Links to find  Free access to Jefferson Newspapers Online 1866-2013  or go to  http://jefferson.advantage-preservation.com. Type a name in the search box and have fun discovering what our family members and ancestors were up to many years ago.


   

Meet Sarah's family

    

     In November of 1875, John Mac and his father-in-law, Joseph Withrow, went to Greene County, Iowa,  and made a purchase of 160 acres of land.  In February of 1876, the family all moved to the new homestead leaving Mary Kate behind buried somewhere I have yet to discover. Sarah, Joseph, 5 children, and married daughter Ginevra, now eight months pregnant with her first child, and son-in-law, J.M. Vorhies, undoubtedly traveled together.
     Estella Mae Vorhies was the first born child of Ginevra and John Mac Vorhies, and the first grandchild of Sarah and Joseph Withrow. She was the first of our family born in Greene County, Iowa, and she was my great grandmother. Can you imagine the trek in 1876?  Did they move then because rivers would be frozen? Can you imagine being pregnant on the trip? Was great grandma born in the wagon when they got there? There couldn't have been time to build a house or was there? Did they even have a wagon?

     I will have more to say on the land when I write about the grandfathers. For now, I want to introduce Sarah and Joseph's children.

    As is the case in large families, the older children of the second generation might be older than the youngest children of the first generation.  Such was the situation with the Withrow and Vorhies family, Estella (1876) and her brother, Eugene (1877), were actually older than the last child of their grandparents. Joseph and Sarah's youngest child named Sarah Jane (26 Aug 1879) was born just a month or so before Ginevra and John Mac Vorhies's last child, Leroy (2 Oct 1879).

    So, Sarah and daughter, Ginevra, were busy having babies those first few years in Greene County.  What were the other kids doing?

    Anna Josephine was about 19 when the family moved to Greene County and Aurilla was 17. Wedding bells were probably in their futures. Yes,  Anna Josephine married William Cromwell 3 October 1876 according to her obituary. Anna Josephine will have her own post later.

    The 1880 census shows Joseph to now be 49 and his wife, Sarah Jane, to be 46.  The only children still at home were Viola Emma age 12, Joseph Jr. age 5 and baby Sarah Jane.  Joseph's occupation is listed as farmer.  Viola Emma and Joseph Jr. are list as "going to school".  Their school was in the southeast corner of Section 16 in Greene County. 

     Their oldest living daughter, Ginvera, is now 25 and John Mac, her husband, is 29.  Their children, Estella, Eugene, and Leroy are ages 4, 3, and 6 months old.

     Anna is now married to William Cromwell but their first child has not yet been born.

     Aurilla at age 20 is married to Mat Frederick. 

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.