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

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. 

First~ Getting started

52 Ancestors

I am creating a new blog for a special challenge. The challenge is to take 52 ideas about my ancestors, week by week and add them, after the year ends, to my genealogy pages. Sounds simple enough, but of course it won't be.
Oh I'll begin just fine, but then the weather will get warm and I will want to be outside and in the garden or on my horse- so giving myself this blog also gives me permission to take a few minutes out of each WEEK and write to the weeks prompts.

Wish me luck!

The first prompt is -- FIRST.

Everyone needs to begin somewhere, and the 'go to' first would of course be myself. Ego, Id, self, etc. BUT I am going to begin with the first time I thought about my past, my genealogy.
It would have to be me, under the kitchen table listening to my parents and grandparents telling family stories. Stories of each of their sister, uncles, relatives, grandmothers and grandfathers. I listened with rapt attention, but because I wasn't suppose to be in the room ( little pictures have big ears) I had to sit quietly and not ask questions.
Not ask questions about why my two Great Aunts have wildly different names from the ones they were born with. Not ask questions about where their mother had been. Not ask questions about why Great Uncle Isaac walked away from the Civil war battlefield and was never seen again. Not ask questions about the coffin in the ice house, the run away team through the grape vineyard, my grandfather living in a box to finish high school, or why my grandmother was on her own at age 14.

I have been searching for these answers for a very long time, and only now are some of those questions being answered after searching, slogging, picking my way through many, many pages of documents.
How much easier it would have been to be able to just ask Granny about her father and mother. Or ask Grandfather about his runaway mother.
The first questions would have begun with, " Why?"
Why did they marry?
Why did they Divorce?
Why did Great Grandmother Die?
Why didn't anyone go looking for Isacc?
The question of why begs to be answered with feelings; and feelings are lost among the papers of the past. No one can delve the mind of a long dead relative, one can only speculate. I suppose that is why it is at the end of the long list of questions you are suppose to ask to tell any story.
Who, What, When, Where and WHY.

If anyone reading this blog is involved in the 52 Week Challenge, or is just interested in genealogy, let that be the first question that you ask any living relatives. Let that be the driving question as you write your missives to future generations.
Why you fell in love.
Why you got a divorce.
 Why you moved across the country, the continent, the town.
Tell us the only thing we cannot endeavor to answer correctly for ourselves.
It may be painful, or shameful or thrilling to you, but in a few years our children's children will want to know. They will need to understand.
Let that be your legacy to them.