From Axer to Ziegler

We decided to take a Mid-Week Getaway this week and decided to drive to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. Having never been there, we thought it would be a nice drive, something new to see, and a chance to stay in a Historic B & B in West Virginia.

Well, we had time to kill before check-in time and took a detour up to Sharpsburg where my Grove family called home!  All I knew for certain was that Catharine Staley Grove was buried in “The Reformed Cemetery” in Sharpsburg.  Do you think anybody knew where that was??  Even the Librarian had to call some body to ask!  . . . and the town ain’t that big, folks!! The Librarian got directions to 3 different cemeteries. . . . kinda. . . and we took it from there.  Don’t you know that the next block over from the Library, directly behind the restaurant we had lunch in (where the waitress had never heard of it) was the cemetery!  Unbelievable!!!

Now according to the sign, this cemetery has been there awhile and the townfolk should know where it is!  We found it on the first go-around!  . . . . and wouldn’t you know, continuing with tradition, Jim found my ancestors’ headstones?  Who cares?  They were found!!!

Jacob and Catharine Staley Grove

Jacob’s even has a plaque directly in front of his headstone commemorating his Revolutionary War service.  Life is good!

Tomorrow we’ll go the Veterans Cemetery in Winchester.  It’s so nice to have such an accommodating husband. . . . . . I won’t even complain when he finds the next headstone!!

Sincerest apologies to the townfolk who do know where this cemetery is! I guess we just didn’t ask the right people!!!

wonder how on earth I did it before all those records were on the internet? . . . . and exactly how did my great-grandmother get all the information she did in the early 1900′s? It wasn’t all from Family Bibles!

Dad, taken in Washington DC abt 1925

My father died on 18 September 1990 exactly 2 weeks after his 75th birthday. We had all gathered in my home for the birthday celebration, not even realizing that we were celebrating his life and bidding him farewell at the same time! It was a happy occasion.

Two days later my parents left California on a trip to the East Coast. They went to Williamsburg, VA, where Dad became ill, and then up to Washington DC where they were to fly home. Dad was born in Washington DC, so, with Mother driving, they took a trip around the city, with Dad pointing out houses he had lived in, and where vacant lots had been that he had played in as a child. They went up to Maryland where they stayed with my aunt and Dad went through papers that he wanted her to ship to him. Family Bibles, newspaper clippings, old letters and pictures, lots of pictures, he wanted them all! The next morning he died . . . . . eerily on the 100th anniversary of his grandparents wedding ~ the grandparents who had raised him and the grandparents who wanted to adopt him! Dad went home to die.

Dad and Me, Fallbrook, California about 1979

When the box arrived from Maryland, Mother brought it to my home and said ~ and I quote ~ ” Your might as well have these.  You are probably the only person who would be interested in this junk.”

Mother knows best! I have been fascinated with it. I have been overwhelmed by it at times, and most of all, I have been passionate about it!

• I have gone from PAF in DOS on a very antiquated computer to PAF 5.something on several computers around the house.
  

• I have gone from 3 generations to over 10 generations in several lines.

• I have gone from just names to names and their stories, thanks to those wonderful sites that post historical newspapers!

• But best of all, I’ve gone from a passion of collecting names to a passion of making sure that the names I collect are real people and they are my real people. . . . . and most of all that they are correctly documented as MY real people!

Where will the internet take me in the next 10 years?? I can hardly wait to find out!

This was the last gift my father ever gave me.  I miss him so.

No posts this month equals no new discoveries?  Not The Case! The Opposite is True.  Too many discoveries to take time to post a blog!

Let’s start with my Kleiss family!  I’m so excited, I’m finally getting close to figuring out all the assorted John Ps, Georges and Philips!  Not there yet, but getting close!  Thanks to an Auditor’s report for one of Johan Philip’s daughters!  . . . . . .and I found Philippina’s entire family!  It was right there in front of my eyes.  Know why it had not been found before?  How about an entirely different spelling of her married surname???  Unbelievable!  I’ve spent a great deal of time organizing my information on this family, and you would not believe what a difference it has made in helping to tie people together!My volunteering has taken up a good portion of my time this month ~ and all related to Genealogy, of course!  I’ve also been busy indexing records for the Family Search website.  So far, I’ve indexed census records for Alabama, and Death records for Chicago and Seattle.  I think I’ve done census records for other states, too, but I can’t remember which ones!  It’s great knowing that I’m helping to get those records up there and running for others!  I’ve also had a slug of requests for obituaries from Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK.com) this month!  . . . . and not to be forgotten are my Fridays (and once a month Saturdays) at the Lancaster County Historical Society. I don’t get my research done, but I do whatever I can do to help in the Library!  It’s a win-win situation.  I get to help others and I get to learn what collections they have in the back.  It’s a wonderful day for Linda.

Last week I got to meet another “cousin” and his wife.  Bruce Carvell and his wife, Peggy, stopped by for a couple of hours on their way to her father’s in NJ from St. Louis, MO.  He went through my books of information on the Carvell clan and put stickies on the pages he wanted copies of and they were back on the road!  I’ve made most of the copies and hopefully, they’ll be there when they get home!  It’s nice putting a face with a name ~ and they were such a delightful couple!  What’s there not to like about Peggy?? . . . and they brought a lovely bouquet of flowers and shared some delicious plums with us!

I’ve also found the Carvell/Winkleman family.  I thought they died as soon as they got married!  Not so, they moved to Ohio!  Another family added to the database!

I’m still working on the John Axer mess!  The two MD soldiers?  I think we’re dealing with just one man with 3 different wifes!  The PA one and the NY one match, but there are two wifes alive at the same time with no divorce papers found for the PA one!  . . . . and the MD one?  He was the one getting the pension that belonged to the one in NY according to the pension file!  What gives here?

Now to get back at it!

If you know what you are looking for, the information is there and readily available! My Kleiss line is finally yielding some information, and it doesn’t necessarily agree with the information that’s “out there!”

Maria, 6th child of Philip and Elizabeth Kleiss married and moved to Harrisburg where she died.  I’ve had that information for some time, thanks to a newspaper blurb announcing her marriage that I found about a year ago.  Recently, I found the notice of her estate settlement while scanning a Lancaster newspaper online, just looking for information of anybody in any line in my database!  It mentioned the fact that she had died in Harrisburg but the estate settlement was in Lancaster.  Two brother-in-laws were administrators of her estate.  Bingo! That was the right Anna Maria!

Last Friday, on my regular volunteer day, I got a copy of the Administrator’s account and VOILA! It mentioned her living sisters and their married names, her deceased brothers and sisters and their descendants!  It even listed married names for the female descendants!  It several cases, it listed the husband’s names!

This information has helped in sorting out the various Georges and Philips in a very confusing Kleiss line where George and Philip were very common names!  (and why couldn’t that Kleiss family be a little more original in their names, anyway??)

do have all the details on this, so if this is your line and information you are interested in, please contact me.  I am always willing to share and exchange information.  I do not put it all out there, however, since it often ends up on other’s web pages as other’s own work, and I’ve never had an opportunity to meet other family members!

Children of Johann Philip and Elizabeth Auxer Kleiss

(Birth order according to Auditor’s Report with the exception of Philip, Jr. who is not mentioned, of course)

• George
• Philippina
• John
• Elizabeth
• Catharine
• Anna Maria
• Susanna
• Philip, Jr.


Thank goodness for boredom and the inability to sleep and most of all thank goodness for all those societies and agencies who put those wonderful newspapers online for all of us Family History junkies!

It just goes to show you that it is persistence that brings the luck that befalls a researcher!