We Called Her “Grandma Forgetful”

My entry for the 50th COG, dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease, is a tribute to one of the sweetest, caring and most talented women in my life.  She is still in my life since I have pictures of her, postcards from her, and many, many items she created at one point in her life.  I have notes attached to various items in her handwriting, noting “This is for Linda from Grandma Nellie.”  I treasure each thing I have from her and write this in loving memory of her.

Nellie Viola Niess Sherman was my father’s mother.  She had been born into Washington DC society, with “a silver spoon in her mouth” as the saying goes and was throughout his life, My great-grandfather’s pride and joy.  She could do no wrong in his estimation and wanted for nothing.

Nellie V. Niess as a young girl, early 1900's

She was a talented lady and had been an Art Teacher in the Washington DC school system in her early life.   She crocheted and sewed beautifully.  I am the proud caretaker of several of her tablecloths, dresses and a variety of other linens.  Several pieces of her artwork hang on my wall today.

She married in 1914 and by 1921 had three sons who she raised into successful men.  She was the grandmother of seven and the great-grandmother of the same number.  Her father and her husband both died in 1948, months apart.  After their deaths, she traveled and finally settled in San Francisco, a city she had lived in earlier.

My memories of her start in the 2nd grade.  She came to visit us when we were living in Hawaii.  I had met her briefly before that, but I was too young to remember.  On this visit she shared my bedroom and took time to teach me to crochet.  She always reminded me to write down my memories.  I never did, and of course, regret that today.  The picture below was taken on the visit that I don’t remember.  My mother is on the left, she is in the middle and my mother’s mother, Bertha Lindgren is on the right.  Wish I’d been in the picture!

Mother, Grandma Nellie, Grandmother Lindgren, Hawaii

I remember visiting her in the 1950′s and early 1960′s.   I loved her tiny apartment with a Murphy Bed and a view of the city from her corner windows.  Memories of her kitchette with cheery curtains and a matching tablecloth pop up in my mind every now and then.  The excitement of that cosmopolitan city in mid-century was something I always looked forward to.

Her visits to our home were a highlight in my life.    She was a sweet, caring person and I miss the person she was.

Probably taken in the late 1920's. From my great-grandfather's collection

As the 1950′s turned into the 1960′s, Grandma Nellie’s memory became somewhat distorted.  She had crocheted an afghan for my wedding and I had written the obligatory thank you note.  Five months later she chastised me in a letter for not writing a thank you note.  (I still have the afghan!) Not too long after that she gave her TV to her newspaper boy.

Dad decided to take a trip to San Francisco to see what was going on.  She had gone from bad to worse and money was stuffed in books, her name was written in ballpoint pen on family heirlooms and initials scratched on silver plates and dishes. . . . . “so nobody would steal them like they did her Television set.”

It was time to move her closer to us.  Dad found a little cottage for her and the move was made.  After she took a walk and the police called him at work because she was lost, it was decided the cottage was not the best move and perhaps an establishment with around the clock care would be the better option.

We would go visit her and pick her up and bring her to our home.  We took her for rides and she thought she was in the Rocky Mountains when she was on the way to the beach in Southern California.  She told me about her daddy bringing her a handerchief she was holding.  It was actually a paper napkin from our picnic.

Taken by my father of his mother, 1950, Kailua, Hawaii,

Towards the end of her life we would visit her without my father.  He did not want to remember his mother that way.  She was strapped in a wheelchair so she wouldn’t fall out and didn’t remember us.  I would go anyway. She seemed to light up when she saw me coming with my toddler.  Perhaps it reminded her of something in her past.  We never knew.

On April 30, 1976, Grandma Forgetful joined her beloved Papa and Mother.

Grandma Nellie had died years earlier.

 

He voted the right ticket, no matter at what inconvenience!

My great-grandfather, Edwin A. Niess, was a life-long Republican.  He never voted anything but the straight Republican ticket and the fact that he even voted in a National Election tells a lot about him.

You see, he lived and worked in Washington D.C., you know, where the license plate says “Taxation Without Representation.” Can’t vote there.  So where did he vote?  The upright citizen that he was?  Well, he voted in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. . . . as a citizen of Harrisburg!

Edwin Alonzo Niess, 1867 - 1948

Since Edwin saved literally every scrap of paper he either received or wrote, I know a lot about  him.  I think I’ve written about that before.  He even kept carbon copies of letters he typed to family members and before he had a typewriter, he transcribed each letter he had written!  I have copies of some of those from the 1890′s.

In 1899, he was applying for a job as a Postal Inspector, which was a political appointment at that time.  According to a letter he transcribed that was written to Hon J.L. Bristow, Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, “. . . Furthermore, he is a faithful Republican and attends every election and votes the right ticket, no matter at what inconvenience or expense.”  The letter had started “Mr. Edwin A. Niess is a legal resident of Harrisburg, Pa., who is now a clerk in the War Department. . . “

Another letter of recommendation he had transcribed (no date) states”. . . he is well known as a man of excellent reputation and good habits and as a regular voter of the straight Republican ticket.”  This particular letter was sent to Hon. Charles Emory Smith, Post Master General.

The last letter to the Post Master General was sent on letterhead from the House of Representatives in Washington, and stated almost word for word what the first letter said.  It was dated in October of 1899 and the first one was dated in December of the same year.  Whether he sent out a sample letter for them to submit or not, I do not know.  I just think it’s strange that they used almost identical terminology!

The letters must have worked, since he did get the job.  According to an “Official Statement” (resume’) in file, he was appointed P.O. Inspector on 26 July 1900 at $1200 per annum and $4 per diem.

Also in his papers are letters he wrote to his nephew in Harrisburg.  His nephew would pay his “County Tax” for him and Edwin would use Bob’s address so he could vote.

One of the more interesting letters in the collection is one from his sister, Katie written April 13, 1936.  She, of course, lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as did the rest of Edwin’s family.  It seems every letter he saved had one thing or another to do with voting, politics or an election!  This one’s excerpt is as follows:

“. . . I forgot I do not owe you a letter and would not be writing if it was not to tell you about election.  (I guess you did write to me to find out about election.)  Well you are to (sic) late for the spring election, and you must be registered and must come up here for that.  We all registered last fall, now we need not register any more unless we move, only must go to vote and I am sick of hearing politics.”

Love the last statement!  Just proves the more things change, the more they remain the same!

My favorite letter in the bunch and the last letter I will bore you with, came from his nephew Bob.  It was dated 26 September 1947 and I will transcribe the first part of it here:

“Please believe me, I have been very busy lately.  Not because of the fire business but Political.
We are having a very hard election campaign for all offices which leads out of the primaries for Mayor.  The defeated canidate John E. Peters, went over with the Dem. Party and now we have an ugly campaign on our hands.
Uncle Edwin, if it is possible be sure to come up on election day Nov 4. because one Rep. good vote will mean very much this time.  Only sickness will I excuse you this time.”

If he made it to Harrisburg on November 4th, it was probably the last election he voted in.  Edwin Alonzo Niess died on 18 April 1948 in Washington D.C. Through his vast collection of newspaper clippings, pictures, letters and books, I know him like I know no other of my ancestors.

. . .and my great Repubican ancestor would be so dissappointed to know that his great-granddaughter is today a registered Democrat!

 

 

Wordless Wednesday and a Wedding Party

 

My grandmother, Nellie Viola Niess and her wedding party for her marriage to William Francis Sherman on September 16, 1914 Washington DC.

 

I’ve Gone about as Far as I Can Go in my Treasure Hunt

This was a hard project to get started on!  My Treasure Chest had so many different things to go through ~ letters, pictures, books and various treasures saved by the family for many, many years. . . . and in several instances, over 100 years!

About two weeks ago I started separating things into piles by family names.  From these piles, I decided how I was going to file everything and what I was going to scan, copy or dispose of.  Turns out, I disposed of nothing, nada, zip!

A week ago, I started scanning pictures.  I had to replace my computer and with a new operating system, had to buy a new scanner. I scanned 84 pictures (according to family name) that day, and set up a new filing system for these treasures.  I have everything in a new box, organized and ready to finish.  File folders have been created w/red dots meaning completed and green dots “to be done.”  Treasures are wrapped and labeled with a note inside of each one as to what it is, who it belonged to, and the date.

Although I still haven’t finished my project, I have an excellent start on it and it should be done by New Years!

What did I find that I consider a treasure?  Several things ~ and it depends on your definition of “treasure!”

1.  I found an envelope labeled “Edwin’s hair.”  I forgot about this!  This baby hair belonged to my grandmother’s brother, and my great-grandmother had put it in an envelope in 1905!  I have DNA over 100 years old!

2.  I have a letter written by my father to his grandfather where he talks about me as a toddler and how I get “more beautiful every day!”  Love that letter!

3. I found my great-grandfather’s “oration” from High School in 1888. He was in the top 5 of his class at Harrisburg High School and as such gave an oration at Graduation. He actually, kept a copy of this speech from 1888 in his papers, and I have it. I had seen it before but I guess, it just didn’t register as to exactly what it was. He must have been pretty proud of it.

4. I found a poem my great-grandfather wrote for my grandmother when she was a little girl. My great-grandmother would take the children out of the city (Washington DC) every summer, vacationing either in Maryland or in Maine. Since my grandmother was “Daddy’s Girl” she was very spoiled by him, up until the time of his death!

5.  But the Crown Jewels I found are shown below. My great-grandfather, Edwin A. Niess, was a Past Master of St. John’s Masonic Lodge in Washington DC. He is 2nd from the left in the front row.  Look carefully at the large pin/badge on his lapel and then check out the one under this picture.

When you turn this over, the following words are engraved on it:

Presented to
Past Master
Edwin A. Niess
By
St. John’s Lodge
FAAM
July 14, 1897
Washington D.C.

Now where this is gold plated or not is yet to be determined.  It appears to be, but I’ve not taken it to a jeweler to verify it.  I think the one with a higher intrinsic value (yes, I have two of them!) would be the one below. (although intrinsic value means nothing, it’s the family value that means everything!)

The back of this one says:

Edwin A. Niess
By R.A.A. No 2
Washington D.C.
Jan. 22, 1914

They are both in their original cases, but the case for the second one is very fragile.  I am delighted to have been chosen to be the curator of the Family Collection!  These will be passed on from generation to generation, and I was the one who documented  and preserved the collection.

How blessed am I?

 

Newspaper Archives; my favorite reading!

I love Newspaper archives. Not only do I search for ancestors in them, I read them issue by issue, just to get a feel for the time. And what wonderful results that can yield!

With newspapers now readily available online I can read newspapers anytime day or night.  Sites like Genealogy Bank, Ancestry.com, ProQuest, Footnote, Libraries, Historical Societies, Colleges and Archives; all are to be commended for putting these invaluable resources out there for researchers around the world.

It was while I was just going through old newspapers online, that I finally jumped over the brickwall that was my great-greatgrandfather, John Niess.

One evening I was putting in variants of my grandmother’s maiden name and came across a familiar name, and then the date jumped out at me!  According to my great-great-grandmother’s obituary, her husband had “preceded her in death nineteen years before.”  Since she died in 1905 and the date of the newspaper I was looking at was July of 1886, it was a strong probability, that my John Niess, was the person mentioned in this little blurb.

This deserved to be looked into a little further, so the next morning, I walked on down to the library for a look at the local newspaper’s microfilm.  I almost jumped up from the viewer and did a “grateful dance” around the microfilm viewer!  (Key word in that sentence is “almost!”) I had finally found his death date!  That little blurb from a Philadelphia newspaper led me to this article in a Lancaster newspaper:

DEATH ON THE RAIL
An Old Man struck By a Locomotive and Killed at Mountville
John Neiss, a man aged seventy-seven, was struck and killed by extra engine west, No. 374, of the Pennsylvania railroad, at the east end of the village of Mountville, this forenoon.  The property on which the deceased lived is situated along and extended back to the deep cut through which the railroad passes.  Between 10 and 11 o’clock a. m. his wife sent him out to empty some potato parlings down the railroad embankment.  The bucket containing them fell out of his hand and rolled down upon the track.  He went after the vessel, and while standing on the track was struck by the engine.  He was not mangled, but died in less than a half hour after he was struck.  Coroner Honaman was notified, and he left this city at 2 o’clock for Mountville to hold an inquest.
The deceased had resided in Mountville for some years, and besides a wife leaves several grown children.  One of them, a daughter, lives at home.  Neiss was crippled in one of his arms and was a laborer.

The more expanded version helped to verify that this was indeed, my great-greatgrandfather.  It was just one more fact I learned about his life, thanks to the newspapers online and on microfilm.

Had it not been for those wonderful sites that post newspapers, I would have never found this!  I had been searching for his death date for years.

John Niess, you should have let that bucket lay!

 

Our Family’s Crowning Glory!

It runs in the family!  Some are finicky about their hair, others their hats. . . .and some neither!  It started long ago . . .

The Ephraim Niess family was probably on a picnic.  They lived in the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and did own property that somebody farmed for them.  My great-grandfather, Edwin, is the oldest boy in the middle of the picture.  Since he was born in 1867, the picture had to have been taken after 1873 or so.  This family loved their hats!

My grandmother, Bertha Emma von Breyman graduated from high school on June 18, 1913 in the morning.  She was 16 years old and the first in her family to graduate from high school.  That afternoon, she and Henry A.W. Lindgren went down to the City Hall in Sacramento and were married.  Their honeymoon was to the Pan Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.  This picture was taken there.  Her hat looks overpowering for such a young girl.  His looks great on him.

Ninety five years later, the Lindgrens great-great granddaughter graduated from High School in the windy Tehachapi Pass in California.  She did not get married the same day and she did not wear a hat.  But her crowning glory did blow in the breeze!

Hallie’s grandparents cover the hair (what little they have of it!) and their hats served a purpose.  It was December and we were on the observation deck of the Empire State Building.  We needed to wear those wool hats!

We always did try to keep with the styles.  Sometimes we succeeded, sometimes we didn’t.

 

My Genealogy Disaster Box would be Overflowing!

Remember the book “The Five People you meet in Heaven” by Mitch Album?  Well, these are “The Ten Things I Would Take in Case of a Disaster.”

• My father, William F. Sherman, was born in September of 1915.  His great-grandparents, Ephraim and Catharine Niess traveled from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Washington DC to see him and for Ephraim to attend a GAR convention.  Catharine brought along this Carriage Robe she had woven for her first great grandchild.  Two months later Ephraim was dead.   Would I ever display the robe in it’s fragile condition?  Never!  Would I rescue it in case of a disaster?  You bet I would!  Item number one in my box.

Carriage Blanket woven by Catharine Auxer Niess circa 1915

• I would also rescue the linen tablecloth Catharine wove from hemp grown on her either her father’s or grandfather’s farm.  This tablecloth is a piece of linen that was from the shroud she had woven for her own burial!  . . . and I have it!  Is it precious?  Yes, it was touched by my great-great-great-grandfather, my great-great-grandmother, her son, my great-grandfather, my grandmother, my father and on to me!  WoW!  At least seven generations have seen this in one stage or another!  My grand mother had it hemmed by her friend Petra Ramirez before 1930. The handwork is phenomenal.  Item number 2 for my disaster box.

Linen woven from flax from my ancestor

• Item number three is actually four items.  In my possession are four family Bibles.
  • The oldest one belonged to my sixth great grandmother, Susannah Bischoff Leader.  The date of 1839 is written in this one.  Read my blog on “Susannah’s Bible.”
  • The next oldest one belonged to my great-great grandfather, Rev. Jeremiah Mark Carvell, PhD.  He was a pastor in the Church of God and died in 1894 at the age of 51.  He carefully entered all the births and deaths of his young children and wife in the pages of this Bible and it even contains a pressed flower, presumably from the funeral of my great-great grandmother.
  • The third Bible belonged to Jeremiah’s daughter, Carrie Virginia Carvell Niess first and my grandmother, Nellie Viola Niess Sherman, secondly.  It is a King James version and I love it. They have both written in it, and now I have it.
  • The Stienstra family Bible is the fourth one in my collection.  Jim gave it to his parents many years ago and all of the family information is filled out on the pages provided.  It includes a handwritten sheet in Dutch that takes the family back eight generations in Friesland.
  

  Open Bible, Carvell; Next one Stienstra, small Bible on Top, Susannahs and other is Niess/Sherman Bible

• My box would also contain my great grandfather’s yearbooks from Law School.  Edwin Alonzo Niess attended Columbian University (Now George Washington University) in Washington DC and graduated in 1895 with a degree in Law.  He had two year books from the same year and one is virtually untouched.  The second one , interestingly enough, has copies of his classmates obituaries either taped over their class pictures or placed on the same page with the picture.  Item number four.

The Columbian, 1895, Edwin A. Niess

The page with Edwin A. Niess with newspaper clippings

• Item number five should be my laptop because it has pictures, stories and most importantly my database on it.  I use it daily and it gets more use than my desktop computer.  I would put this at the top of the box because it would be the first thing I would remove.

• Photos! Photos of my ancestors, photos of me as a child, photos of my children and grandchildren.  This would include a photo album I inherited that belonged to my great-grandmother’s sister, Rosa Gantt Hamilton, and one that belonged to my father.  I love these albums.  Item number six.

Rosa Gantt Hamilton's Photo Album

Front Page of the Album ~ Beautiful, huh??

My favorite picture from the album. Unknown woman with lovely bangs!

• My grandfather, Henry A.W. Lindgren, was an ironworker and I have a beautiful stool that he made.  This has to go in my box! Number seven in my Genealogy Disaster Box.  In addition to the dust, do you see the holes around the edge of the stool?  At one time there was a cushion that was threaded on this stool.  I feel blessed just to have the stool ~ even if the cushion is missing!

Stool made by Henry A.W. Lindgren

• Item number eight are two school books, each belonging to different sides of the family.

• The oldest book is from 1878 and the one my great-grandfather, Edwin A. Niess had.  It starts with an essay he wrote “How I spent the Summer Vacation of 1878.”  One hundred and thirty years to the date later, his great-granddaughter is actually touching the page he wrote on as a child.  Goose bump time!  One page in this book contains a sheet titled “Book Account beginning Sept. 1883″ and lists the books he purchased (including Othello, King Lear) the date, and how much he paid (6 cents for Othello on Oct. 15 when he was 16.)  This is a great chronicle of his early education.

Edwin Niess & Henry Lindgren

• The other book belonged to my grandfather, Henry Lindgren.  This book is from 1894, and he has signed his name Henry Lindgreen, since this was the name that the family came through Ellis Island with.  It was changed back through the court system in the 1920′s, although the use of the correct name was assumed earlier.  His book starts out with the words to the song “Columbia the Gem of the Ocean.”  He was nine years old in 1894 and every page in this book is full.

• The ninth item in the box are all of my father’s passports and his discharge from the service.  They are connections to the places he traveled and when he did.  The discharge is in a leather folder.

Dad's Passports and Army Discharge

• For the tenth item, I would add my great-grandparents wedding book.  What makes this special is the fact that my great-great-grandfather married them!  He filled out the certificate in the book and is one of many signatures of his I have in my collection.  The date of 18 September 1890 is exactly 100 years before my father’s death date.  I treasure this book!

Edwin Alonzo and Carrie Virginia Carvell Niess's Wedding Book

Marrriage Certificate signed by Jeremiah Mark Carvell

My list could go on and on, but my box is not big enough.  Hopefully, I’d have time to grab another box and fill that one, too! Not only would be a shame if I had to leave anything behind but it would be a tragedy.

I am caretaker of too many family heirlooms.

 

Catharine is always in mourning

If you read Catharine’s diary, the theme is established.  It is full of family, friends and neighbors either close to death or dying.  She seems to be obsessed with unhappiness.

Catharine Auxer Niess in mourning

This picture seems to be a theme in her life. Catharine is the one on the right. I believe the woman on the left may be her eldest sister, Anna Maria Lehman, since this picture was taken about the time Anna Maria’s husband died in 1912. Catharine’s husband died three years later, and she probably wore the same outfit. I have the head covering in my collection. The border on this scarf matches the border in the previous collection, over the years the ends have become either frayed or torn, but it is the same scarf.

Catharine's scarf in Linda's home

Catharine was born in the Elizabethtown area of Lancaster County on 19th April 1844 to Philip and Maria (Leader) Auxer.  At the age of 15 she is found working as a domestic in the household of Christian Graybill in East Donegal Township.  Five years later she is married to Ephraim Niess.

By the 1870 census, she had two children and the family lived in Harrisburg. What the census doesn’t tell you is that she had already lost her first two children and her youngest would die in the next year.  She was married to an alcoholic and life was a constant struggle to make ends meet.  Her husband was a Civil War veteran who had seen battle in Chancellorsville.  Life was not easy for Ephraim as he fought his inner devils until his death.

The 1880 Census shows the family, minus the daughter on the 1870 census since she had died in 1871.  Their son Edwin (shown as Edward in 1870) is now 12 and he had a new sister, Catharine, who was nine.  There were three other children born after the 1870 census, and they had also died.  Catharine also lost her mother in this decade.

There is no 1890 census, but the family remained at 115 Dock Street in Harrisburg, Ephraim continued to drink and was still employed by Bailey Iron Works and the family grew by two boys, John Ephraim and Benjamin Franklin.  They would live to adulthood.  Sadness and grief was recorded in her diaries, a copy of which still exists in one of her descendant’s loving care.

I am fortunate to have had this shared with me and have transcribed it.  It covers the years 1888 through 1894 in her life and this is where I find the sadness and illness that plagues her life.

The 1888 diary starts out with two mentions of death in the first month:

Jan 8th
This was a blessed sabbath for me, I read a great deal, I could not go out on account of the weather and my health, this evening I feel very sad, Mrs. Fogerty is very sick, they do not think she will live until morning, I feel sorry for them all, she is a very kind Mother and a good neighbor, they keep a bakery two doors from us, I hope she is saved, how necessary to live for christ, when in health, O help me to drink deep of his sweet spirt of submission, that will enable me to meet, yea, even to welcome, the sorest cross, saying yes, Lord, all is well, just because it is they blessed will, take me, use me, chasten me, as seemeth good in thy sight,

Jan 11th
The weather has changed, is very cold – I feel better, but cannot go out much, Mrs. Fogerty was buried to day, she had a very large funeral, but this is the way we all must go, sooner or later, every day is proclaiming anew the lesson, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, O that I may seek to live, so that that (sic) time can not come upon me to soon, or too unexpectedly, Oh that I may live a dying life, how blesed to live, a dying life how blesed to die, with the consciousness that there may be but a step between me and Glory.

and then later in the month:

Jan 27th
Two years ago to day Father died I can never forget his happy death, I think of him very much he always seemed so happy, and waited patiently until he was called, to take his departure, to a home beyond the skies, where there is no sickness, nor sorrow, here he was sick a long time, but our afflictions, and our sorrows, are meted out by a tender hand, he would often request us to sing,

Mid scenes of confusion,
And creature complaints,
How sweet to my soul,
Is communion with saints.
Home, sweet Home,
They sung the piece at his funeral, O how he warned us to live, an honest christian life and be ready for this change that was soon to take place with him O how peacefully he passed away it did not seem like death,

. . . and so the years go. She had faith, but was always thinking about death.

Ephraim and Catharine Auxer Niess on their 50th anniversary

Catharine always referred to Ephraim as “my husband,” never by his name in her diary.  They were married 51 years when he died. They had gone to Washington DC in October of 1915 where Ephraim attended the GAR National Encampment and had seen their first great-grandson who was born in September of that year.  That great-grandson was my father.

Ephraim died on 25th of November of that year.  The entry in a notebook she kept simply says:  “He took my husband.”

“He” took her six years later on 27 May 1921.

 

One more headstone found!

Winchester, Virginia wasn’t that far away from Charles Town, West Virginia so we decided to go, look for yet another headstone!

Winchester National Cemetery is a closed cemtery, with no space left for any more burials.  The cemetery is the final resting place for Civil War Union soldiers.  The Confederate soldiers are buried in the cemetery across the street, according to the caretaker.  It is a beautiful cemetery full of large monuments erected in memory of lost Union Soldiers.

We were looking for the headstone belonging to my father’s cousin, Edward Wheeler Niess, a veteran of WWII.  After finding his name and location information in the book at the office, the caretaker took us right to the site.

After taking the pictures, we wandered around the cemetery looking at various monuments and asking questions of the caretaker, and didn’t leave the cemetery for another 1/2 hour!  Looking over the wall from the front of the cemetery, you can see the Pennsylvania Monument.  Edward Niess’ headstone would be out of the picture on the left hand side, clear at the back of the cemetery.

I thought that finding the headstones this week would be the high points of the week, but I found that was not so.  While answering a genealogy request at the Historical Society I was searching through the tax records for the City, years 1850 through 1860, and I found several of my ancestors, but not theirs!  I feel bad for them, happy for me!

I’m looking forward to the surprises next week holds. . . .