Surprises! You Bet!

I've been working on my Genealogy for about 10 years now. Meaning that I had always heard the stories, seen some pictures, knew basic outlines of the family tree but started pulling it all together into a document about 10 years ago. I thought I had a lot of it figured out-

                                                              BOY was I mistaken!

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow and this 52 weeks of Ancestors, I have delved a little more deeply into the 'brush' and I have had my share of surprises- especially today!

                                  Let me 'splain~

My own Grandmother Laura Gloeckler Regester was sort of the family 'historian'; knowing who came from where and who married who. She was a saver of the best order. Clippings, cards, scrapbooks, photographs and the like. My sweet Grandmother started me on my journey with several had written genealogical style letters. Grandma Laura passed away in 1985. I gathered a lot of her stuff together and it languished in my garage. I'd go out and rummage through it sometimes, looking for pictures or what not, but I never delved too deeply.

FAST FORWARD to 2018. My husband and I retired to the country, I packed up the photos and ephemera and brought it to the new home. I can't bear to put any of it into storage because I am afraid it will be ruined by critters, damp mold or water, so it is stacked in boxes in all my closets and in my office.

TODAY- It is pouring rain- thunder and wind make it unpleasant to go out into the garden, so I decided to take the time to do some photo scans into the computer. I went through a few small boxes, scanned some photos and moved to the next box. It was one of Grandma's. An old battered turkey box, with a pretty older box inside.

 I open it and see a vintage notebook from the Santa Fe Railroad. One of Grandpa's I supposed, since he spent 40 years of his life as a Santa Fe man.

 I open the little note book and SURPRISE ! Grandpa's writing jumps out at me. I squint and read...
It is my 2X Great Grandfathers name- the name I have been searching for.
Under it are his wife's name, my Great Grandmothers name and surname and SURPRISE again- her long lost middle name and guess what! SURPRISE- it is the same as mine! Barbara!

It also has a list of children and when they were born. SURPRISE! I've never seen this list and only knew for certain of one other child. AND SURPRISE- an ANCHOR NAME jumps out at me!

I catch my breath. I can't believe it.

I delve further into the box.

I find pictures of my mother as a child. Her brothers as babies, Grandmothers whole family in small black and white KODAK photos and no surprise- my grandmother has written the names and years on the back of all of them.

Then I find my Great Grandfathers and Great Grandmothers wedding portrait. And a list of dates and names for them and their children.

And then I find photos of my 3X Great Grandfather and mothers Portraits.

WHY HAVEN'T I EVER SEEN THIS BOX BEFORE! ??

I am floored. To have had all this and to never have known! How easily I could have thrown it all away in my move . ( But of course I never throw anything with documents or photos away- even if they aren't mine!)


So this is the UNIVERSE telling me to keep searching and never to throw ANYTHING away!


Surprise! I never will! 

Down the Rabbit Hole

                             In the Library- or as I like to refer to it- Down the Rabbit Hole.

Do you ever get into a store, filled with wonderful things, and your mind goes blank? You can't focus on the one thing that brought you there? You get excited by all the POSSIBILITIES!?

Asking for a friend... no, that won't work here.

Yea. Me too.

The Library has been and always shall be that place for me.

The helpful ladies and gentlemen at the desk can usually steer me in the correct direction, namely the resource desk. You can access all kinds of records, from the whole United States if you want to.

I want to- but it intimidates me on a HUGE level. Then I end up in the Historical Romance.... eh... I mean Non Fiction... stacks and that is that.

But I have found another place nearly as wonderful and I am sure many of you have already utilized it in your own quests.

The Mormon Church: or as they refer to it now- Latter Day Saints ( LDS) .

My Great Aunt Ruth Brendt in an angel costume.

Say what you want about the Saints, but their records are amazing.  Most larger LDS chapters have a Family History Center, (FHC). It is chock full of amazing records.

LDS Church, Salt Lake City

     They can give one on one service to patrons ( you don't have to be a LDS member to use it).

     They provide access to genealogical records via the internet- such as Ancestry, Family Search,  and other sites that you may have to pay for with a  membership fee - at FHC you can access them  for free.

They provide classes for researching too, ( depending on the Church location).

There are aver 4700 FHC in the country. To find one near you go to FamilySearch.org and click on Find a Family History Center, enter your country, state or place on the map and it shows you the closest FHC to that address.

I was able to order a rare book, have it sent to the local FHC and read it there. I was able to trace a lot of my McIntire history as well as my Cockrum history through that book. I found the book via the WIKI link site.

For me, because my attention span is sometimes like that of a black Crow in a room full of shiny objects, having a dedicated Library of just genealogy is a godsend. It narrows my focus, and provides me with people to turn to for questions and advice.

Oh the places I have yet to go!

Me and my baby sister on our pet burro, Cha Cha 1961

Unusual names and Anchor People

As I work my way through my genealogy tree, I have found some unusual names. I call these my  'Anchors'.

Thural D Berry age 7

For me, Anchors are the ones that have names so unusual it is easy to find them in records and other family trees. They stand out like a beacon in a census or a newspaper article, on a gravestone or in a diary. In a sea of Williams. Johns and Alice's, Anchors are a welcome relief.

If you have a common surname, you are praying for Anchors.

My surname is Berry. Pretty common, especially in the Ozarks and in Tennessee and Kentucky. There were lots of Berry's because they were having lots of children.  The Families lived deep in the woods, on the Current River, in the Ozarks and throughout the south. The settlements were remote and small; there weren't too many opportunities for selecting a mate. In other words, our gene pool was mighty shallow! Often a family of brothers married a family of sisters.
In my family if a brother died, another brother married his wife and took care of her children. Of course then they usually had more children. So the ol' family tree has some pretty twisted up branches and a lot of confusion.

My first Anchor in the Berry Family tree is Pridgen Berry. Born to Samuel Berry and Elizabeth Ann Melton, May 15, 1856. The path from myself to Pridgen is very straight forward,It's easy to keep his name straight in my mind and in my tree. But for cousins of mine, the path is a little more convoluted.
You see, Samuel and his brothers joined the Confederate Army. Sam died in the Battle of Franklin, November 1864,in Tennessee and Isaac was captured and sent to a Prisoner of War camp. As we know from previous posts, Isaac was allowed to leave once he swore not to take up arms against the Union ever again. Family legend has it that Isaac walked away from the POW camp, and never contacted his family again. Of course with the internet, we are now able to find him, but that isn't the story I'm telling.
Samuel was gone to war, but his younger brother, James Anderson Berry stayed home to help the family survive. Samuel and Elizabeth were married in May 1854. Their first daughter was born in 1854, but I don't know which month. Pridgen was born in 1856, and Isabella the 2nd daughter was born in 1859. Clementine, 3rd daughter was born in 1861, while Samuel was away at war. She was raised by Fereba Jane Benton Berry~ Samuel's son's Pridgen's wife's 2nd cousin. ( Fereba is another Anchor).
Now Samuel died November 1864. And Elizabeth married his brother James Anderson Berry very soon after and had a son, who she named James A Berry on Christmas Day 1864. She had 8 more children by James Anderson. Her last child was born in 1876. And to top it all off, she also cared for a step son- Henry Berry- born in 1839 to her 2nd husband James Anderson and his (?)Cousin Polly Holland.

Confused yet? I have a large piece of paper with my family tree filled in. I'm sure there are better ways- but I had to write the names all down, connected by lines and arrows. Notes decorate the margins. I still get confused!

You can see how glad I was that I come from Pridgens line!  I always had wondered about the strangeness of that name. When I finally had time to research the female side of the Berry family I found out.

Thural D Berry and William 'Cort' Berry. Circa 1954

Elizabeth's mother was Margaret Vester" Little Cloud" Benton, born in 1810 in Tennessee. ( Another Anchor), her mother was Lucy ( or Levy) Pridgen, born in 1746, Edgecomb, North Carolina. So to my delight I found it to be a family name.

Other Anchors are Mourning, Morning Star, Thural (my father- still don't know where that came from!) Henry Clay 'Au Nuk Ka Tah', and Judge Henry Clay. A lot of the men were named for revered Commanders in the Civil War or famous Political figures. The women had more sedate names, but Makhindra and Melvina do stand out from the rest.

So we can see that even though our current generation of baby makers are naming their children things like, ABCD, and Blanket, it is in no way a 20th or 21st Century trend.

And had I thought of it, I might have christened my children with names that would have made them Anchors too.

But perhaps Virginia and Amelia are just 'old fashioned' enough to qualify!

Challenge

I have a tendency to think of challenges as huge obstacles to overcome.

But of course, a challenge can be as small as a single step.
Websters calls it,1) 'To demand an explanation or justification" 2) "to question the truth of"

That is an AHA! moment if ever I heard one!
As I have gone on to research various branches of my tree I have tapped into such sites as Ancestry, Find a Grave, Family Search, My Heritage and some others. And on more than one occasion I have climbed up into the branches of the wrong tree!

How can that be? Isn't this information verified?
Tricky question, that.
I think it is to some extent, verified. But if your information is wrong and you add it to your site believing it is RIGHT, then you have done us all a grave dis service.

 My first 'challenge' is to justify, to make the truth known, and not add unverified information to the tree.

Louisa B Theis. Undoubtedly the saddest portrait I've ever seen

The 2nd puzzle, ( I hesitate to call it a challenge) is my Great Great Grandmother  Louisa B Theis.
She is buried next to my Grandfather, I've been visiting her grave since I was born. She was one of the first people I have tried to research. She remains shrouded in mystery and sadness.

Born Feb 25,1844 , the country of her birth is still unknown to me. I catch up to her in 1872 or 1873 in Columbus, Ohio. Miss Louisa B Theiss worked for the Ohio State School for the Blind as a seamstress. She made $18.00 a month. I am fairly certain that she was an immigrant, but from where? There were several Theis Families in Columbus at the time, and I do not know Louisa's fathers first name. In fact his last name might even be an anglicized version of Theissen or something similar.


I can only imagine what the Civil War years were like for her living in Columbus Ohio, if indeed that is where she lived. There was a Civil War Confederate Prisoner of War camp in Columbus early in the War. If the captured soldiers swore never to return to their Companies and fight, they could walk around the town. Did Louisa meet a Rebel Prisoner?Was she afraid? Since all of the eligible men and boys were off fighting the war, I am sure there were very few Romantic possibilities for her as a young woman. My 2X Great Grandfather was a Policeman somewhere in Franklin County, but I do not know what year, or even which city. Another Challenge for me to puzzle over.

William Wallace Regester. My 2X great Grandfather.

Louisa was considered quite old when she married my 2xGreat Grandfather William Regester in Franklin, Ohio July 13, 1875. They both would have been 31 years old. He had already served as a Private, Company B, 113 Regiment, Ohio Voluntary Infantry. In August, 1862, age 18 he joined the Army. He mustered out July 6, 1865.

Albert Wallace Regester,aged 16. Taken in Antioch California.

Albert Wallace Regester, age 20. Taken in San Francisco Ca 1899

Their first child was my Great Grandfather Albert Wallace Regester, born in Franklin Co. Ohio in 1879.

Rebica Regester, age 6 months

The second child was a daughter, Rebica (Rebecca?) born 1882. Unfortunately Rebica died a year later in April, 1883 of Brain Fever ( Meningitis). William died in Sept 1884 of Tuberculosis contracted while he was serving in the Army. So at age 40, Louisa was a widow with a young son to care for.
I lose track of Louisa then, not knowing when or how or why she traveled West to California.But the top photo of my Great Grandfather Albert has the stamp of a photographer in Antioch, California. That photo was taken when he was 16 years old, so they must have come before 1895. I find her again near Albany, California,running a boarding house around the turn of the Century.
I know that she died in Contra Costa County and is buried in a family plot in Antioch California. Her son Albert, and Albert's son Wallace - my Grandfather- lay now beside her.

Albert Wallace Regester, taken 1933. He died in 1938 near Antioch, California.

Albert Wallace "Wally" Regester, my Grandfather. Taken about 1933

I've always tried to Challenge myself to find my ancestors using the internet and family letters, as well as free sites. But Louisa always remains just beyond my reach.

She is the first one I wanted to research and she has been the most difficult, the most challenging and will ultimately be the biggest reward, should I succeed in laying out her story.

Ancestry- here I come.