I forgot to add another favorite cemetery!

. . . and how could I ever forget Marietta Cemetery??

John Auxer, Jane Park Auxer, Henry Stoll and Caroline Auxer, their children

Since my Leader family were original settlers of this river town, two cemeteries here reflect my family’s history.  The picture of the John Auxer’s family final resting place is one of my favorites.  It was a chilly day, leaves blowing everywhere, and even the American flag in the distance is flapping in the breeze.  The headstone laying face down is John’s, the broken one next to it belongs to his wife, Jane Park Auxer and the two next to her belong to two of their children, Henry Stoll and Caroline.

Philip and Rebecca Leader

Philip was my g-g-g-g-g-g grandfather’s nephew and has a prominent monument in this historical cemetery.

George W. Leader was Philip’s son and is buried along with his wife, next to her parents in the same cemetery.

Just to walk through this large cemetery and see the history of my family is an experience I would not trade.

I try to do it often.

 

My Favorite Cemetery

Since I love cemeteries, I thought I’d try to narrow it down to my favorite cemetery.  I visit so many,so often, you’d think I have a favorite.  Well, I do!

Entrance to Donegal Presbyterian Church

I love the peacefulness and stillness I feel when I visit the cemetery at Donegal Presbyterian Church in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  It is in the country, surrounded by an old stonewall.  The old Church is right across the drive and down the hill are the Donegal Springs with a bench to sit and comptemplate whatever it is you wish to contemplate!

Donegal Springs, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Is this my favorite cemetery?  No, but it is one of my favorites!

Lancaster City has many, many old cemeteries, all beautifully maintained, for the most part.  Two blocks away from my home is the old Shreiner Cemetery where the great Abolitionist, Thaddeaus Stevens is buried.  Today the cemetery is right on the edge of a major thoroughfare thru the city, and in the middle of a wonderful old neighborhood.  It is surrounded by an iron fence, and mowed and weeded regularly.

James Buchanan's gravesite, Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, PA

The final resting place for Jacob Auxer and his family is in horrible shape.  I have removed weeds, trash and dirt from this site.  I cannot sit the stones upright, but I have filled in gopher holes that have undermined headstones.  Perpetual care?  hmmm-m-m-m-m-m-m-m

Auxer site, bottom of the hill, Woodward Hill Cemetery

Is this my favorite cemetery?  Once again, no, but high on the list.  High on the list because it gives me something to maintain.  Someplace that makes me feel that I am indeed honoring my family ~ however distant it maybe ~ and somewhat of a cause.

Harrisburg Cemetery, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

No, my favorite cemetery, without a doubt, is Harrisburg Cemetery! This awesome cemetery stands in the middle of the city, with a view of the State Capitol. It once was on the edge of the city with the entrance to the west. The entrance is now to the south, through a less than desirable neighborhood.

This is the cemetery in which my ancestors first spoke to me and encouraged me to continue in my search for their stories.  This is the cemetery where three generations all lie together for eternity.  This is the cemetery that keeps pulling me back, if only to place a few flowers, pull a few weeds and sit quietly for a minute or two.

Ephraim Niess, his wife, Catharine Auxer Niess and five of their young children have their lives all noted on the same headstone, Catharine’s brother, mother, father and grandmother share the plot with them.

Ephraim and Catharine Niess and 5 of their children, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

This picture was taken when spring had just arrived.  The grass is green and the leaves on the trees shade the cemetery’s occupants final resting places.  It is Mother’s Day and I’ve taken my annual pilgrimage to the various cemeteries through out the midstate region, leaving a small flower at grandmother’s grave. I have graves from Snyder County to Shippensburg and Harrisburg down to Lancaster to visit, but it is worth the effort.  I am sure some of these graves have not been visited for years and I love to show my respect and love for these wonderful women who paved the road I travel today.

Abraham Auxer

Maria Leader Auxer

Philip Kleiss Auxer, Catharine Niess' father

Susannah Bischoff Leader Kaylor, Catharine's grandmother

In reality they all could be my favorite cemetery, but Harrisburg Cemetery, is without a doubt my favorite cemetery, because of it’s history and meaning to my family and because my ancestors still speak to me when I visit them.

I guess you can say, I do play favorites . . . . . .

 

Do you think I’ve been stagnant in my Genealogy?

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!

 

Every so often you get a break and it happened last week

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!




 

It’s been awhile, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stagnated!

I’ve taken 2 trips to California, and still managed to increase knowledge of my family! While the rest of the household sleeps, I research! My husband, son and grandson are sawing logs and my daughter-in-law has left for work. Only Linda is up and hard at it! All because of a new website FULL of information!!!


Thanks to the discovery of several websites. . . two of them still in the Pilot stage, I’ve added a whole lot of information to my database! Actual death certificates and obituaries online! From Pennsylvania! Wow!

When I was a “newbie” on the internet, well over 10 years ago, who would have thunk it? Actual documents from Pennsylvania online? Much less newspapers from the early 1800′s?

Remember Christopher’s kids? That Axer family? Daughter Sarah who married Michael Allgeyer? I found both Mary and her husband and Margaret and her family (9 kids!) . . . . and then right in my own line, I found Amelia Auxer and her husband!! That one was the biggest find for me. I’d love to have my own line complete (siblings and their spouses) but we all know what a dream that one is! Especially the females!!

. . . . and then finding one of John Auxer’s daughters (He was the JP in Marietta) in Montana of all places!! Unbelieveable! Any volunteers out there to look in Montana records for a death date for me??? Her husband died in Marietta and she high tailed it to Montana to live with her daughter, 2nd husband and kids.

. . . . . and then there’s a death certificate for a six month old Auxer baby who died from “Hereditary Syphillis.” First child from the first marriage. . . . . and the couple went on to have seven more children before she died. Wow! Whomever the transmitter was must have been cured before the conception of those other seven. . . . .

Back to the webpages. . . . there’s too much out there right now and I’m on a roll! I’ll post more results as time permits and if I get bored researching.

. . . . .like that will happen!!

 

Sometimes I wish I descended from Christopher. . . .

That branch has so more drama in it than Michael’s does!!

We have wife beaters in this branch, we have bootleggers and we have somebody who enlisted in the Civil War three times just to collect the bounty!  Yes, he deserted all three times and he got caught. And he even applied for a pension!!  However, our government, in one of their smarter moves, turned him down.  Duh!

I keep thinking I’ve found the end of the drama, but then more just jumps up and slaps me in the face! I love this branch of the Axer family! and it always seems to be Christopher’s kid Jacob’s branch! The others, it seems, lead fairly normal lives.

Christopher’s grandson John is our subject this week, his first born, heir to the throne, yada, yada, yada. As I documented previously, John married Anna Maria Ferree and they had a daughter Lydia. So far so good.

My trip to the National Archives opened up a new chapter in this guy’s life for me. I got his military record and matched it with a file I had for the military pension for John Axer, Lieutenant in the First Maryland Calvary. Guess what? Same guy! . . . . and just what is he doing in NYC after the war??? This guy traveled from Lancaster to Maryland to NYC . . . . and now he has a different wife!!

How did I come to the conclusion that the guy in NYC is the same John Axer that was born in Lancaster, PA? For one thing I compared signatures, and for another, and most importantly, death dates matched exactly!

There is NO divorce in Lancaster County for John and Anna Maria Ferree, perhaps there is one in Philly. I certainly hope there is a divorce record, because Ida claims to be his widow while wife #1 is still alive!! What goes on here?

Another interesting fact is a letter in his file requesting a leave of absence from the military to go home to Lancaster because “one of his children” has just died and his wife is very ill. Who died? Who was the wife in Lancaster? Anna Maria was in Philly from 1850, and just exactly how many children did he have???

. . . . so now we add Ida F., as one of John’s wife and the search continues for his children! Now we must find out when he picked this one up, and when he got rid of the other! Who knows? Rosanna Kiplinger may be his wife, too! He may have wives in 3 separate states ~ and children scattered far and wide!

So continues another week of research with a lot of loose ends to tie up . . . . . somehow!

 

Christopher? Christian? Same Guy? YUP!!

This is the 2nd time I’ve run into Christian and Christopher being used interchangeably, and both in this particular family line! Are they the same guy?? Facts say undeniably, YES!

My latest find is in the Doebler line. Anna Maria Axer, daughter of Christopher (Christian?) Axer and Catharine Danner, married to John George Doebler. Anna Maria and John George had at least five children, probably more because they keep turning up the more I dig! One of the children is the Christian/Christopher I am referring to.

According to Church Records found for a Lutheran Church, George Doebler and his wife, Anna Maria, baptized a son, Christoph on 4 October 1820. The child was born in 1816. First name for this son.

On the 1850 census, in the same area, Christopher is now married to Elisabeth. She is 26, he is 32 and they have three children, John, age 7, George, age 5 and Catharine, age 3.

On the 1860 census, same area again, Christian Dobler is 45, (he’s aged 13 years, not unusual) Elisabeth is 36, John is 17, George is 15, Catharine is 13 and two more children have been born, Anna age 5 and Mary age 2.

According to those same church records, in 1856, Christian Daveler is buried, leaving Elisabeth a widow.

In 1870, the census shows Elisabeth Daveler as 46 and a housekeeper for the Good family in the same area. Mary is with her and is 13.

On the 1880 census, Elizabeth Daveler is 53 and widowed, Anna is 25 and single. They are still in the same area. They are still in West Lampeter, which they were 10 years previous.

As Christian and Christopher are interchangeable, so seems to be Doebler/Dobler and Daveler. I have conferred with several people on this, and everybody concurs that this is indeed, the same family.

. . . . . . . . . .Just love it when more information pops out at me!!