Who's Birthday is it?

Every family has stories.  Some are true and some are Urban Legend.  Today I will focus on my own personal Urban Legend.

When I was growing up, in the back dark corner of my parents closet sat a small locked grey metal box.  In this box were all the important papers.  I knew that because I had heard my parents discuss the fact that in the case of fire the metal box with the papers was to be carried out of the house.

I had watched them unlock the box and retrieve documents and re-lock the box and place it back in its place in the closet.  I was fascinated with that box.  It held secrets that I longed to look at and hold in my hands.  At some point for almost as long as I have memory, I believed that in that box were my adoption papers!

I knew I was adopted, even though if you look at photos and my birth certificate you know that I am not.  I am the blood child of my parents.  Please do not confuse me with the facts, I know that I am adopted!

My parents have been busy having old home movies digitalized.  So many memories!  One or two events are fairly consistent.  Christmas celebrations are big and so are birthdays.  And there my friends is the rub.  There are NO videos of my birthday.

Joe's Birthday

Helen's Birthday

Each time I get my email with the new batch of videos I eagerly look for my birthday celebration.  Today's batch almost had me faked out.  There I was and there was the cake and then Dad panned the celebration.  It was NOT my birthday.  Being the mature adult that I am, I called them to ask, "Is it because I am adopted?"  Laughter on the other end of the phone.  They were expecting my call.  Neither of them have an explanation of why my birthdays are absent.

It really doesn't matter.  What is in the video is a rare glimpse into young parents, my parents doing very loving things with not only me but my siblings and family and friends.  Even though there is no audio I can hear with the ear of my heart..."Do you like it?"
"Yes, Mommy! It just what I wanted."
"Do you like your gift, Daddy?"
"Yes, Cindy it is just what I wanted."

Hands reach out to help cut a birthday cake, to open a gift,  to hand a cake plate, to read a card, etc

There really is no need for a video of my birthday.  I can see it all with eyes of my heart.
"Now blow out the candles and make a wish...."

Cindy~

Yikes!

Well, it certainly has been a good long while since I blogged.  I fell off the horse so to speak.  It isn't that I don't have any ideas, I just can't seem to get my fingers to the keyboard.

Way back in May I made a trip to Salt Lake City on the hunt for my great grand father on the Smith side. I took my Mom and Dad.  Mom has an amazing memory and Dad is a good researcher.

The Temple in Salt Lake City, UT

We have been caught up in the search about who are the parents for my grandfather, George E. Smith.  We were confident that his father's name is James A. Smith.  For over a year we believed, perhaps because we wanted to, that his mother's name was Margaret Allen Smith.  Oh, that would have been sweet indeed!

Not a mention of George E. Smith

We had a cemetery in Wisconsin that had both of the above buried there along with many of the Smith family.  It made sense if you were willing to not look at the glaring missteps and failure of the facts to add up.  I could trace that group of Smiths for generations.  All the way back to Scotland.  And then it happened...I read his death certificate again.

Death Certificate

I believe that there is a difference between looking at a document and reading that document.  There it was, Mother's name, drum roll please, Louise unknown.  Louise, not Margaret with all those lovely connections.  Maybe the person giving the information didn't know and made it up or got confused oh well, you get the picture.  I am sure that George's daughter, Regina knew what she was talking about.  For all I know she had met the woman.  I will never know as Regina is gone as is most of my mother's family on the Smith side.

I must admit that at first we were disappointed. Then it dawned on us that we had indeed made a great find.  Stop looking up that dead horses ass.  Move on, put those strangers away and start looking in new and different places.  I admit that I will miss them and all their delightful stories.  But they are NOT my Smiths.  If they are yours then you truly have a wonderful group of ancestors.

~Cindy

The Surname is Smith

George E. Smith

I must admit that I am fascinated and frustrated with the Smith branch of the family.  I just can not figure out who my great grandfather is!  There are times that I think that my grandfather was in the Witness Protection Program.  He is like smoke.

George Elbert Smith was born 14 June 1875 in Viroqua, Wisconsin.  Died 5 Dec 1955 in Winner, South Dakota.

I am able to find nuggets of information, but they only beg more questions.  I believe that I have found him in several Federal Census, but when your name is George Smith and I believe that his fathers name is James A. Smith it is hard to be sure.

To complicate the issue there are several Public Trees on Ancestry.com which list a James A. Smith as the father of George E. Smith.  Great!  As you dig deeper you find that some trees list the James as James Andrew Smith and some as James Arthur Smith.  Most have James Married to Margaret Allen.  But the Death Certificate for George lists his mother as Louise, not Margaret.

Some have George's mother and spouse as Margaret Mae Fox.  That would be difficult.  Siblings abound.

• Armilda Smith born about 1867 WI
• Caroline E Smith born about 1869 WI
• Charles S Smith born about 1870 WI

If (and that is a big IF)  Armilda Smith is George's sister then I can trace her easily.  I know who she married and have several sources.  I also have in my possession a complete list of all the Smith's buried in the Viola Cemetery which is close to where George was born.

I should be happy right?  No, I can not prove that this is George's father and mother.  NO birth certificate, not baptismal certificate, not newspaper article, nada.  I do have his marriage license for his second marriage.

George and Sarah

George is a complicated man. I know that he was married twice at least.  I know that he was the same age as my mother's grandfather!  Talk about an age difference.  He had in essence two families.  I believe that his first wife's name was Amelia.  I have a census that lists George, Amelia and their two children.  I have a census that lists George with his new wife and children.  I even have a census that shows the first wife, Amelia living and their son living in the same house in 1920.  (The son disappears after that.  Go figure)

My plan now is to go to Salt Lake City to the Family Search Library to look at a book that they have on Wisconsin and hope that there is something that will help me separate the strands.

Wish me Luck!

I went to the Alamo...again

The Alamo

 I have been to the Alamo on several occasions and have always thought that I was related to James Butler Bonham.  Thru some research and several kind individuals I am now able to prove that indeed James Butler Bonham is my 4th cousin 6x removed.

James Butler Bonham

Now that I know we are related I decided that it was time to go back to the Alamo with different eyes.   It was different to me.   A shrine to Texas Heroes and to someone that I was related to: even distantly.  I looked at the walls of the mission and could see the men and women that sacrificed their lives there and wondered how it was that so many are still drawn to the Alamo.

I think that we are drawn because it is the story of men who against all odds stood and died because of what they believed in. The other side of the coin is that it can be looked at as another example of taking something that really wasn't ours.  I can see both sides of the battle.  In my heart, they were heroes.  James Bonham rode back to the battle that he believed in and it cost him his life.

Monty, the volunteer at the desk was very knowledgeable and only because my husband told him that I was related to hero of the Alamo, I was invited to sign the descendents book!  Monty told me that I was to closest thing to royalty that Texas had.  It made me chuckle a little to think that because of some DNA I now could be counted as Texas Royalty!

 

 He left South Carolina and joined Travis in Texas. Born in the same place, boyhood friends, they died together in battle.

 

 

 

James Butler Bonham

Probably the most warmly regarded of the Alamo defenders, James Butler Bonham's life before he came to Texas had already been colored by his dedication to defending the rights and honor of himself and others. He became committed to the Texan cause by October 1835, and the following month he helped to organize the Mobile Greys.

Bonham arrived in Texas in November. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Texan cavalry on December 20. Unattached to a specific unit, Bonham came to San Antonio January 19, 1836. He soon became active in the garrison's political life, running unsuccessfully for delegate to the 1836 convention.

The Old Oak at the Alamo

On February 16, 1836, Col. William B. Travis sent Bonham to seek aid for the army at San Antonio. He returned to the besieged city on March 3, making his way through enemy lines, and bringing news from Robert M. Williamson that relief efforts were underway. He died defending the Alamo March 6, 1836, possibly manning one of the cannons in the interior of the Alamo chapel. 1

1. From the Texas State Library and Archives Commission

And They Gathered....

People have been gathering since the beginning of time.  We gather for various reasons; safety, companionship, love, births, weddings, deaths, etc.

This month we gathered for our Mom's 80th birthday!  All her children drove or flew in.  We came in to celebrate her milestone and to see each other.  There are a lot of miles that separate us from each other and we use family milestones to see each other.

 We are a LOUD group and as we age it is exhausting.  How do you do everything in a weekend?  We try very hard.  We tell stories.  We catch up.  We laugh and we touch each other.  We cook together. We play games and yes, we managed to get in some sight seeing!

As the family historian it was an opportunity to share what I have learned about out family.  Mom set the stage by having old papers, certificates and report cards sorted and ready to be mailed to each of her children.  She didn't know we were coming.

So the stage was set and ready for discussion of our ancestors.  I got to pull out my techie side and used my iPad and the Apple TV to show photos of grandparents, aunts, uncles and great grandparents.  We all got to talk about them and were delighted to find physical characteristics of ourselves in the people on the screen.  Mom and Dad told stories and we got the glimmer of them as people and not just our parents.  It was one of the many highlights for me.

As much as I enjoy digging up the dead, it was better to spend time with the living!

Happy Birthday!

Lesson: Don't get so lost in the past that you forget that you are making memories with the living.  Make them good ones.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

It is that time of year when we can get misty eyed over the smallest of things.  We can get tired and over extend ourselves all in the name of having the best Christmas ever.

My ancestors had Christmas in small homes, sod homes, boats, churches, forts, foreign lands, battlefields, & places that I do not even know about.  Wherever they celebrated I believe that their minds may have wandered to those that were no longer with them.

Today as I prepare for Christmas I am blessed to have my parents still with me.  I am also blessed to have my sister and her family close enough to join in celebration.  Tho, my children and grandchild for the most part are far away, they will be close to me as I remember them this Christmas.

There is nothing like the look on a child's face when they receive the gift that they have been longing for and it is there under the tree.  It matters not the size of the tree or the number of gifts.  It is that look of joy that we wait for on Christmas morning.

My Dad and his Mother Christmas Day

As you look for your heart's desire under the tree remember that it is not the boxes, papers and bows...it is the small baby laying in the creche that truly brings our heart's desire.

Veteran Ancestors

It is hard to know the heart and mind of another individual.  It is harder still to understand the reason that they made the decision that they did.  So many of my ancestors were military men.  As I read about their lives some were famous and others not so much and I wonder did they join the military for patriotism, honor, duty, or as a means of income.

I am sure that my earlier ancestors were not in in for the income.  In fact, being in the military is not the way to make a lot of money, unless of course you write a book and a movie is made.  Some just seem destined to fall in line and become part of the history that is America's Military men and women.  For some the idea is what drove them.  For some it was a way to escape and see distant lands.  For some it was what you did.  Some were caught up in world events.  World events that took over what they wanted to do.  Uncle Sam had other ideas.

It is easy to forget that the earliest veterans were in the eyes of others traitors and not patriots.  They raised their fists against what they considered tyranny and helped to build a new nation.  How horrific it must have been to see brother fight brother across the blue and grey line.  Can we understand the fear of being a dough-boy or a GI?  How did they survive the years of separation and the horrors of World Wars? How lonely it must have been standing guard in Korea in the winter or laying in the rice paddies of Viet Nam. 

Now the desert of the Middle East and the War on Terror are making new veterans.  Each war is different as each veteran is different.  Each serves his or her country, the reason known to them alone.  On this Veteran's Day take a moment to remember those that came before and are serving still.  It is because of them that we are FREE.

Robert Marion Smith

Phil Young

George Richard Smith

Jessie Osborne

Arthur Bonham

Gerald Joseph Bonham

Elias Babcock

Milledge Luke Bonham

Romulus Calhoun Bonham

To Those Who Served: Remembered and Forgotten

I Have NOT been Counted

As someone who combs the census records looking for my ancestors it has come to my attention that I have NOT been counted for awhile.

It has not been on purpose that I have gone missing...it was just that I lived outside the box for a little over a decade.

Living on a sailboat in the Western Caribbean and only returning to the States for a couple of weeks a year has left me a little hard to find if you only look for me in a census.

If you really wanted to find me you can.  I am on facebook, twitter, google+, and I blog.  So I am out there.  I also can be found in passport applications.

As I checked in and out of Guatemala last week I wondered what was to become of the those pieces of paper that every country had me fill out.  Would anyone digitize them? Would they fall behind some desk only to be swept up and thrown away at the end of the day?  Would they be able to read my horrible handwriting?

What will my descendents think when I do not turn up in the usual places?  Will I be someone's "Brick Wall"?

Oh, and do not bother for looking for me in the 1950 Census.  You won't find me there either!

~ Cindy

Sister Blanche and the 1940 Census

I called my Mom today just to chat.  I love that I can do that.

  We are working on our family history together.  I showed her how to search the 1940 Census and she now has my Dad helping her look for people.  We both get involved in the stories about people we don't even know.  How did they get there?  Why did they have so many people living under one roof?  But I digress.

Mom decided to go back through Murphysboro, Ill because she thought she may have forgotten to look for a family member.  This time she stumbled upon  Sister Blanche.  Mom said when she saw the name all her memories of Sister Blanche came rushing back.

Sister Blanche crocheted two shawls.  One she gave to my grandmother and one to my mother.  Sister Blanche was also there when my mother was pregnant with me and was very concerned because a coffin was placed outside my mother's window.  Worse yet, my mother was going to be there when they opened the coffin so they could see how much decay had happened to the body.  Sister Blanche would not stay and she was convinced that I would be marked because of this experience.  (That is still up for debate) 

Now before you jump to conclusions and think that my mother was involved in grave robbing let me explain.  My grandfather took care of the cemetery.  That means that he dug graves, mowed it and did all the things one does in a cemetery.  Death was just part of life.  So when they had the opportunity to move a coffin from one cemetery to another and with the Funeral Director there they decided that they would open the coffin.  Nothing morbid, just curiosity.

Back to Sister Blanche.  As my Mom was telling me her memories I wondered who else was there to still tell stories about Sister Blanche?  Not many I am sure.

My Mom shared Sister Blanche with me and I want to share Sister Blanche with you.  You see all the names on that census that we glide over in our hurry to find our ancestor have stories.  Stories that may never be told.  Stories that like the ink on the paper are fading from memory.

I turned out pretty okay Sister Blanche.  Thanks for caring about me all those years ago.

1940 Census and George E. Smith

I am thrilled to announce that George E. Smith and family are in the 1940 census.

There they are at the bottom.  They are living in a rural area.  Mary Lou is deceased at this time so it is only George, Sarah, George Jr, Robert, Leona (my Mom) and Thomas at home.  It is a snapshot of life.

George E is a carpenter and owns a shop.  I can only assume that Sarah is a homemaker.  Nothing is listed.  George Jr is an attendant in a Lumberyard and Robert is in the CCC.  Leona is in school and Thomas only being 2 years of age is a toddler.

George E. is 64 years old and Sarah is 39.  I bring this up as I know that my grandfather, George E. was the same age as my Mother's Grandfather!

Little did any of them know that on April 4, 1940 when Harold J. Harford knocked on the door that I would with such anticipation wait for the 1940 Census to be released. 

I am older than my Grandma, Sarah and younger than my Grandfather, George.  I can only imagine what it must have been like for them living on the plains of South Dakota during the depression.  I have heard stories and still it is hard to imagine.

Now Grandpa I just need to figure out who your parents are, that is still a mystery.

Elias Babcock My 3rd Great Grandfather

Elias Babcock 1817 - 1880

 Elias is on my Maternal side.

Elias moved to Kansas in 1861 and filed a claim in Chetopa Township, Wilson County, Kansas. He built a fort of sand rock and timbers on the southern edge of Chetopa Township to ward off the Osage Indians, but did not succeed. He returned to Illinois and enlisted in the Union Army, Company K 1st Brigade Illinois 107th light artillery. While in the army, fighting in Kentucky, Elais became seriously ill. He wrote a personal letter to President Lincoln asking to be discharged. The President turned the letter over to the Surgeon General of the U.S. He reviewed the case and examined Elias and determined he was not fit to fighting; but was fit for ambulance corp. work. Consequently Elias was not discharged until the end of the war in 1865.

After he was discharged, Elias and his family returned to the original claim in Chetopa Township. They arrived on November 30, 1865, but were again run out by Indians. They returned in the fall of 1866. Elias was the first homesteader to stake claim in Chetopa Township, Kansas. He was a farmer and carpenter by trade.

Elias and Laura were the parents of 6 children; William, Ezra, Samuel, Sarah, Mary, & Joseph. Five of his children homesteaded next to his property. William and Samuel to the north, Sarah (Babcock) Osburn and Mary K. (Babcock) Kilgore across the road west and Ezra one-half mile west, where the Babcock fort was constructed. Part of the fort remains to this day.

Elias died March 26, 1880 and wife Laura Keziah died October 19, 1894. Both are buried in Harrison Cemetery, one mile north of their original homestead location. The cemetery is located on land donated by Elias' son William Henry Babcock. Five of the six children are also buried at Harrison Cemetery in Wilson County, Kansas.

 Transcription of: (Spelling not corrected)

Letter to the President Lincoln of the United States from Elias Babcock, Jan 7, 1864
Dear sir-

I volunteered in the 107th Illinois some where about between the 10th or 15th of August 1862. Thomas Snell was our Col. C. McComas our Leut. Col. They picked often with Snell for some minor offence at Louisville, Kentucky, who was very good to his men but no military man. J.J. Kelly then became our Col. Some time in last June they put us on a force march for some two weeks which has destroyed my health. Had chronic diareah before I started. I was then transfered to the 7th Illinois Battery under John H. CAlvin as Captain, then put in the Munfordville Hospital 3 weeks for medicical attention. Then we was taken to Glasgow, Kentucky from Glasgow to KNoxville, Tennessee. Got there the first day of September (1863). Took medicine nearly all the time, but was forced to go with the battery. Some time in the ambulance and sometimes on horse back. The Captain went home to recruit, left us with little ammunition. Shot that all away at rebels at Bean Station, then was ordered to Knoxville, Tennessee. Whether for winter quarters or not I don't know. Sent to General Hospital No. 4 Ward 7. I have lost the use of myself, so that I can rarely get about. Taken so much medicine that I am so absent minded that I hardly know what I am about. Have been a dead expense to the government about ever since I was 46 years old, the 4th of last September (1863). Supposing that if I was fit for the service that it was my duty to serve my country and if I could not stand it at all would discharge me, but it seems as if that discharging is played out here to die here in the absence of my family is a great deal to bare. I have no disposition for anything more than the wellfare of my country. If this letter does no good, surley it will do no harm. I have lived where Piatt County is ever since December 6th of 1835. I have a wife and five children at home 3 and a half miles east of Monticello. It seems as if this is a rather rash step, but a drowning man will catch a straw. I hardley ever expect I will hear from this again, no doubt, but I have forever lost my health here in the Army. Besides my poor family is to be supported I ________ afraid that they will come to want. I will say that (General) Burnsides gave the rebels a good grubbing here. Certain the rebels are some where 25 or 30 miles east of here. They fitting every day probably without much advantage to either side. Food and forage hard to get. Hardly a half supply can't be had. General Grant came here the 31st of December and started to the front the first of January. I will say that while we was in Kentucky, that rations was twice ot thrice as large as now in this hospital and that many times as good we have neither bunks, hospital blankets. Breakfasts at 1 o'clock and with scarcely any fair, this seems strange but never the less it is and the half is told.

Direct your letter to Elias Babcock, Knoxville General Hospital No 4 Ward 7. E. Babcock to Abraham Lincoln of USA. I am your cencere friend and ever will be and was in 1860. If I should get a line from you I shall be very thankful indeed.

Just a little something for President's Day.

Can I find a Bonham in the Phone Book?

Growing up in the military we moved around a lot.  One of the first things I did when we arrived in our new town was to look in the phone book to see if there were Bonhams.  It was unusually to find one unless we were in Texas.

I came to believe that there were not a lot of Bonhams out there.  Boy, was I wrong!  It appears that there are tons of Bonhams all across the United States.  There are some in Europe too, but I can't even get my head around that fact.

I grew up think that I was a Yankee.  Turns out that was wrong also.  We come from proud Southerners.  The truth...my ancestors are Southerners.  I am a product of the Mid-West.

 I am trying to get my head around the fact that during the Civil War two brother ancestors fought on the opposite side and never spoke to each other for the rest of their lives.

Romulas Calhoun Bonham

George E Smith

George E Smith is my maternal Grandfather.  I really do not remember him and now I can't find him.

George E Smith

He is, what in the genealogy world is referred to as a "Brick Wall".  I have pieces of information, but I just can't put everything together.  I think that I have a first name for a first wife.  I know the names of his children from his first wife. (Perhaps, the 1940 Census will help)

Margaret Wilson & George Smith

I know some of the places that he lived and where he was born and where he died.  I even know where he was supposedly buried, though the cemetery no longer exists.

I have a couple of photos of him and I have the stories that my Mom tells me about him, though he was gone much of her life.  He was a carpenter and it appears that he traveled and worked were he could find it.  It was during the depression.

George Smith

I hope to find out more about you.  I am persistent.