Genealogy Jottings

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We always tell beginning genealogists to start out by gathering family papers. I thought I had done that years ago. Yet this week I came across a folder of documents I did not know we had. My father seems to have done some genealogy research shortly after he retired in the 1980’s. I found copies of  Reed papers from libraries and courthouses. Some of these were on my research to-do list because I had no idea my dad had already done the work. And good work it was! I just wish he had told me about it long ago.

 This week the probate file for my great-grandfather’s first wife, Nancy Jane Dudley Reed, arrived in the mail. It held a couple of surprises. First of all, the family waited over 20 years to probate her estate. Why? I am guessing it was because they finally wanted to sell her Kansas land (location unknown to me) and could not do so until they cleaned up the chain of title. Since Nancy died as a resident of Illinois, that is where I found her probate record. Luckily, it gives me the land description in Kansas. I am intrigued to find that her land lies not in Neosho County, KS where Nancy and Sam lived as newlyweds in southeastern Kansas, but in western Trego County. Now I wonder how she acquired a tract so far away and whether she ever visited it. I am off to search some Trego County land and probate records to find out more.

Last Saturday we went on the first leg of the road trip and visited Lakeside Cemetery in Canon City, CO. I thought I went prepared (I had a camera, good shoes, rain gear, grass clippers, and a stiff brush) but as usual, I overlooked something. This cemetery has over 1500 graves, and I had no idea where to find my great aunt and uncle, Hettie and Thomas Reed. I had planned to check in with the cemetery office on arrival to get the location, but the office was closed, and there was not a cemetery worker anywhere. I should have called ahead. Luckily, my ever-resourceful husband was able to zero in on the likely grave location, and he found the spot. We took photos of the Reed graves, and then we went on to fulfill some FindAGrave requests for that cemetery. We posted those as soon as we got home, and one of the recipients sent us a very nice thank-you message.

Many Americans have German ancestry. Huge numbers of immigrants arrived from the German states after the revolutions of 1848. German culture flourished in American communities until World War I. After that, people hesitated to mention their German heritage, and we no longer saw many German events. But now, memories of the world wars are fading and people seem more willing to celebrate German culture. This summer alone, the Denver area will see two large German festivals. In genealogy, too, interest in German research grows. A couple of years ago I joined a relatively new group, the Germanic Genealogical Society of Colorado, to help me research Tony’s family. Because of the interest in Germany we see in the greater community, I think this group has potential, but we sorely need a leader. Only 8 people attended the summer picnic this week. I wish someone would step up, someone with German connections and good program ideas. German research can be difficult, and a focused group could fill a real need for guidance.

Family reunions are fun. My husband’s family has them, and even we “outlaws” have a great time. But when it comes to my own family, a reunion is not something we do. Living in the Denver area offers a good substitute for me.

We are at a crossroads for the nation, and many relatives come through here on their way to somewhere else. That is when I get to see them. Just last weekend we had wonderful visits on Saturday with Tony’s brother and on Sunday with my aunt as they traveled through. We caught up on all the family news, and no one had to organize a party.

For some time I have been trying to think of a quick and inexpensive genealogy trip Tony and I could take this summer. I wanted something within driving distance in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, or Kansas. Finally I made a list of cemetery markers not available on Find-A-Grave that I want to photograph. A few of the cemeteries I still need to search lie within driving distance of Denver, so now I have an idea for two trips instead of just one. First, I will visit Reed graves in southern Colorado, and later on I will take photos of various family plots in the Casper, Wyoming cemeteries. These two trips will add about 10 grave photos to my collection.

Last winter we sold the family home, and I saved several boxes of things to sort later. As I unpacked one recently, I discovered my dad’s Loveland High School year books from World War II. I thought I would see only his school photos inside, but I found much more. One especially interesting page described school being dismissed for days at a time during the labor shortage in 1942. Students worked in the sugar beet fields to help with the harvest. That explains the photo I found several years ago of Dad in the beet field! He had never mentioned working as farm labor so I had no context for the picture. Yearbooks can provide some interesting details on a person’s life, especially if one participated in school activities.

I just cannot find it. In 1900, Petronellia and Samuel Reed had 7 children under the age of 18, but I cannot find a census record for the family. I have searched the Ancestry indexes in creative ways for every person in the family and come up empty. I have searched their assumed township and surrounding townships  in Missouri name-by-name and come up empty. Where were they? Did the census taker miss them?

We all know that cemetery markers serve to memorialize the dead. As we move into the Memorial Day weekend, I began thinking of all the photos I have taken of tombstones  over the years.  I have found pictures of others on the website FindAGrave.com. They provide birth and death information for my ancestors when no vital record exists. Find A Grave provides a valuable service to genealogists, and I could aid the effort by furnishing photos from my own collection. At this point, I do not have the technical skills to do this, but I would like to learn. This weekend, as usual, I will visit the gravesite of my uncle, Robert Lloyd Reed, at Fort Logan National Cemetery. It will give me an opportunity to begin by photographing his headstone and inserting the image, not just at Find A Grave, but also into my own database. Thanks, Uncle Bob, for your service and for inspiring a service project of my own.

My distant cousin, Dr. Michael Hayden, wrote The Reeds of Ashmore in the 1980’s. Numerous Reed descendants grace its pages, and this week I have been using a book I acquired via inter-library loan to update the family stories that Michael gathered. Ashmore Illinois 1800-2000 follows the pattern of the 19th-century “mug” books used by genealogists, and it is chock full of Reeds and their relatives who still live around Ashmore. This week I have added dozens of people to my database and learned about their lives. Many are professional people who got their start by attending nearby Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. A few still farm the Reed family land. Some have married neighbors; others have wed people from as far away as Africa and Japan. We may not know one another, but we are all connected by our descent from Ann Kirkham and Thomas Reed, Ashmore pioneers of 1830.