Jun 16

A New Leaf On Our Family Tree

Our family just got a little bigger this past week. We have a new leaf on the family tree–another grandchild, a grandson this time.

James Ryan Bennett, June 2017

I am very happy to announce the birth of James Ryan Bennett, who weighed in at 8 pounds, 12 ounces, and is 22 inches long. James weighed almost as much as his father, Jeff, who was an even 9 pounds at birth.

Grandma holding Jamres

James is simply a sweet, precious, cute, and adorable baby boy. There is nothing like holding a newborn baby and we got to hold him about eight hours after he was born.

James Ryan Bennett, June 2017.

Mother and son, as well as father and big sister, are all doing very well. In case you are wondering, big sister Chloe was at her other grandparents’ when we were there to see James.

James was born at home with the help of two midwives. Erin felt very comfortable giving birth at home and said it was a very positive experience.

Jeff and Erin had a little trouble deciding on a name. There were two other names in the running but we think they made a great choice. James Ryan is a good solid name and he looks like a James. They wanted a Biblical name and the name James certainly fits the bill.

Jeff, Erin, and James, a few hours after birth.

We now have three generations of Bennett men whose names begin with the letter J: Joe, Jeff, and now James. Jeff and James share the middle name Ryan and so they also have the same initials.

Joe, Jeff, and James; three generations of Bennett men.

I have mentioned before that there are some very creative names in the Bennett family history. About three generations back Joe’s great-grandfather Henry Brandenburg Bennett and his wife Sarah Milligan named their seven children after U.S. states or territories. Their children were named Nevada, Dakota, Minnesota, Goldsby Alaska, Arizona Landon, Delaware, and Vermont. Vermont was Joe’s grandfather.

Welcome to the world and welcome to our family, James Ryan Bennett.

Jun 13

Tombstone Tuesday–Heinrich Hoffmann

This is the tombstone of Heinrich Hoffmann, located in row 8 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed:

HEINRICH
Sohn of
Ferd &
Elisabeth
HOFFMANN
Gest.
2 Febr 1873
Alter
8 m. 20 t.

“Heinrich, son of Ferd & Elisabeth Hoffmann, died 2 February 1873, aged 8 months, 20 days.” A little lamb is carved into the top of the monument, symbolizing youth and innocence.

According to Zion Chatt’s church records Heinrich Hoffmann was born 11 May 1872 in Liberty Township, Mercer County, Ohio, the son of Ferdinand and Elisabeth (Herzog) Hoffmann. He was baptized on 16 June 1872 with Wilhelm Betzel and Katharine Gugel serving as his sponsors.

Heinrich’s father Ferdinand was born in Fechingen, Rhein-Prussia, and his mother Elisabeth was born in Buschendorf, Bavaria.

Heinrich was the ninth of ten children born to Ferdinand and Elisabeth Hoffmann. The family lived in Liberty Township and attended Zion Lutheran Church in Chattanooga, Ohio.

Heinrich Hoffmann died 2 February 1873 at the age of 8 months and 20 days. He was buried on the 3rd.  The records do not indicate what he died of. He was born between census enumerations so very little is known about him.

Heinrich’s parents are buried a few miles away in Kessler Cemetery, Liberty Township.

The Ferdinand Hoffmann family is included in Zion Chatt’s familienbuch which gives quite a lot of information about the family. More about the Ferdinand Hoffmann family in next week’s Tombstone Tuesday.

Jun 09

Two Ancestral Homes in the Old Country

I am fortunate to have photos of two of my ancestors’ homes. They are not just photos of old homes on this continent. These photos are special because they are from the Old Country–from Germany. I have a photo of a house on my paternal side and several photos of a house on my maternal side. And the homes were not all that far away from each other.

The Rueck house is on my dad’s side of the family and the Schumm house is on my mom’s side.

Christena Rueck (1858-1945) was my great-grandmother. She married Jacob Miller (1843-1918) in 1882 and they were the parents of my grandfather Carl Miller (1896-1973). Carl was my dad’s father.

Rueck home in Appensee, Wuerttemberg.

The Rueck home shown in the photo above was in Appensee, Baden-Württemberg, and was built in the 1500s, according to what is written on the back of the photo. It was razed in the 1980s. Fortunately all of that information is written on the back of the photo along with the names Louise and Ursula Rossle, Karlsruhe. I am not sure who Louise and Ursula were.

I do not know how many generations of Ruecks lived in this home or if my great-grandmother Christena Rueck ever lived there. Perhaps her father Jacob Rueck lived there before immigrating.

Christena Rueck immigrated to America in about 1880 with her parents Jacob and Regina Rueck and Jacob’s two Rueck nephews. They lived in Ohio for a short time until most of the family moved westward, some to Oregon and some to Oklahoma, but Christena remained in Ohio.

John George Schumm home, Ruppertshofen, Wuerttemberg.

The Schumm home shown in the photo above was in Ruppertshofen, Baden-Württemberg, and was built about 1814. My mother was a Schumm and we descend from immigrant John Georg Schumm (1777-1846) who immigrated with his 4 sons and one daughter in 1833. John Georg’s wife died in Germany about 10 years before some of the family immigrated. The John Georg Schumm family lived in Holmes County, Ohio, for a few years before moving to Van Wert County, Ohio, where they established the village of Schumm and the Lutheran church there. I descend from John Georg’s son Johann “Louis” (1817-1855), his son “Louis” John (1851-1938), and his son Cornelius Louis (1896-1986). Cornelius was my mom’s father.

John George Schumm home, Ruppertshofen, 2002.

John George Schumm home, Ruppertshofen, 2002.

I am not sure if the Schumm home is still standing. Over the years several Schumm descendants have visited our ancestral town of Ruppertshofen and they took these photos.

Both the Rueck and Schumm houses look a lot alike. And they look large. Particularly the Schumm home. Perhaps that was the standard type of house built in Württemberg at that time.

Both Appensee and Ruppertshofen are in Baden-Württemberg and are about 27 miles apart.

Location of Appensee and Ruppertshofen, Wuertemberg. [1]

Yes, I feel very fortunate indeed that my family saved these old photos, giving us a look back into the past.

 

[1] Google.com search, distance between Appensee and Ruppertshofen, Wuertemberg.

Jun 06

Tombstone Tuesday–Infant Daughter of Charles E. & Mary P. (Andrews) Pickering

Pickering infant, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio. (2011 photo by Karen)

This is the tombstone of the infant daughter of C.E. & M.P. Pickering, located in row 6 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed:

INFANT
Dau. of
C.E. & M.P.
PICKERING
Born & Died
Oct. 14, 1915

The church records indicate that “Baby Pickering” died of weakness on 8 November 1915 at the age of only a few hours. This record indicates that she was buried in Zion Chatt’s cemetery on the 9th. Survivors included Charles Pickering and his wife.

Her Mercer County death certificate gives 15 November 1915 as her birth and death date. This record indicates that she died of premature birth, born at 6½ months, and that she was buried on 16 November. H. & F. Pulskamp, Celina, in charge of the funeral arrangements. This record also names her parents as Charles and Mary (Andrews) Pickering and that she was born and died in Liberty Township. [1]

Her tombstone gives her death date as 14 October 1915.

Three different records and three different dates.

Pickering infant daughter, 1915 Ohio Death Certificate.

The Pickering name is mentioned in Zion Chatt’s records only about three times and they likely were not members of the church.

This child was the first child born to Charles and Mary Pickering. Her parents were both from the Chattanooga, Ohio, area.

Charles Pickering married Mary Andrews on 8 June 1915 in Celina, married by Rev F.G. Reitz, the Evangelical Lutheran Minister there. Charles was born in Blackcreek Township on 1 February 1886, the son of John and Barbara (Johnson) Pickering. Mary Andrews was born in Liberty Township on 23 February, 1898, the daughter of John and Sophia (Alt) Andrews. It appears that her parents’ consent was not given even though Mary was under age. Charles was a farmer and Mary was a housekeeper. This was Charles Pickering’s second marriage. [2]

Charles was first married to Phoebe Kendall and they had a son Russell Francis, born 12 August 1907, [3] Phoebe (Kendall) Pickering died of tuberculosis on 23 June 1912 at the age of 28 years, 4 months, and 13 days. She was buried on the 25th. Zion Chatt’s records indicate that she was not a member of the church but that she was under the spiritual care of Zion’s pastor at the time of her death. It appears Zion Chatt’s minister officiated at her funeral but I do not know where she is buried.

I found it interesting that when I located Charles and Phoebe Pickering in the 1910 census someone indexed the road they lived on as Ruttebegga Pike in Blackcreek Township. I wondered where that road could have been and when I looked at the census image itself I saw that the road was actually Ruttledge Pike. This census indicates that Charles and Phoebe had been married four years, married about 1906, and that Phoebe had given birth to just one child. [4]

By 1920 Charles and Mary (Andrews) Pickering lived in Jefferson Township, Mercer County, Ohio, where Charles worked as an oil pumper. They had two children of their own by this time, Lloyd and Theodore. Their household in 1920: Charles, 32; Mary, 21; Russell, 12; Lloyd, 3; and Theodore, 1. [5]

By 1930 the Pickerings had moved from Mercer County to Medina, Ohio, where Charles found work in the oil fields there. Their family had also grown by 1930: Charles E, 46; Mary P, 31; Lloyd E, 14; Theodore D, 12; Alma C, 10; Marcile O, 8; Otis O, 6; and Joyce I, 1. [6]

They remained in Medina County, at least another 10 years and had at least three more children. Their household in 1940: Charles, 56; Mary, 41; Lloyd, 23; Otis, 17; Joyce, 11; Charles, 9; Gaylord, 6; and Loretta, 2. [7]

Charles Pickering died 22 July 1946 and his wife Mary died in 1956. They are both buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Lodi, Medina County. Their Find a Grave.com memorials indicate that Charles was born 1 February 1884 and that Mary was born in 1900.  [8]

 

[1] “Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953,” FamilySearch.org, Pickering 15 Nov 1915; Liberty Township, Mercer County Deaths; FHL microfilm 1983549.

[2] “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013,” FamilySearch.org, Charles Pickering and Mary Andrews, 8 Jun 1915; Mercer County Marriages, Vol. 10, p.470, no.939; FHL microfilm 914959.

[3] “Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003,” FamilySearch.org, Russel Francis Pickerin, 12 Aug 1907; Blackcreek, Mercer Births, unpaignated; FHL microfilm 2367099.

[4] 1910 U.S. Census, Black Creek, Mercer, Ohio, ED 107, p.11A, dwelling 228, family 230, Charles E Pickering; Ancestry.com; FHL microfilm 1375227, NARA microfilm T624, roll 1214.

[5] 1910 U.S. Census, Jefferson, Mercer, Ohio, ED 136, p.12B, dwelling & family 254, Charles Pickering; Ancestry.com; NARA microfilm T625, roll 1418.

[6] 1930 U.S. Census, Chatham, Medina, Ohio, ED 2, p.5B, dwelling 130, family 138, Charles E. Pickering; Ancestry.com; FHL microfilm 2341582, NARA microfilm T626, roll 1848.

[7] 1940 U.S. Census, Chatham, Medina, Ohio, ED 52-2, p.4B, household 71, Charles Pickering; Ancestry.com; NARA microfilm T627, roll 3112.

[8] Find a Grave.com, Woodlawn Cemetery, Lodi, Medina, Ohio; Charles E Pickering memorial no. 52762215; Mary P Pickering memorial no. 52762253.

Jun 02

Who Was Ida Brewster?

In last week’s blog post I mentioned the water problems we had in our basement after receiving 5 inches of rain in a very short period of time the Wednesday night before. Our sump pump did not fail. Ironically it went out just three days before and Joe installed a new one. No, the rain came down so hard that it came in the basement window in the back room.

I had a hard time believing that so much water could come in through the bottom of a window but I had the chance to view it first-hand last Sunday night when we received another very hard rain–another 1.7 inches to be exact.

I was down in the basement checking on that same window when the water started coming in again. It was like a little waterfall and I could not stop it. I felt so helpless. I yelled for Joe as I tried to pack the bottom of the window with the rag I was holding. The puny cloth did not do much good and the water flowed down the wall and rapidly moved across the floor as I yelled to Joe, encouraging him to hurry up and get the wet/dry vacuum to suck up the water.

I moved boxes and other stuff across the room and tried to mop the water back to Joe, who finally had the vacuum up and running under the window.

Thank goodness that rain did not last long and we were able to keep ahead of the water that night. We certainly did not need any more rain. The standing water outside had been receding from Wednesday’s 5 inch downpour and things weren’t looking too bad that Sunday.

We sometimes watch the HGTV show Beachfront Bargains and one of the things people always ask for is a home with a view of the water. Well, we have that right here this year. For the last two weeks we have been able to see water from every window in our house–a view of water in every direction. Never mind that most of that water is standing in a field our in our front yard.

However, the basement water problem actually turned out to be a good thing. I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and take the opportunity to give the basement a good cleaning and rearrange things while everything was moved around and the area rugs were outside drying out.

1894 Book from Ida Brewster. (2017 photo by Karen)

While going through some boxes I found this nice old book that I think we found while going through things at my mom’s last year. I remember seeing the name Ida Brewster written in pencil on the inside and figured that it came from my dad’s side of the family. I knew someday I would try to figure out who Ida Brewster was. It should be as simple as searching my database.

Not!

The inscription reads: Presented to Harry Snyder by Ida Brewster, Dec. 25, 1894. The book, Youthful Yarns, has a copyright of 1894 and Ida probably purchased it as a Christmas present for little Harry.

1894 Book from Ida Brewster. (2017 photo by Karen)

The inscription is dated 1894, two years before my grandmother Gertrude (Brewster) Miller was born. I looked through my Brewster database but there are no Ida Brewsters in it. Maybe Ida married a Brewster–a Brewster by marriage. Or maybe my database is incomplete.

As I searched the Internet looking for an Ida that married a Brewster I learned that a Charles W. Brewster married an Ida M. Cramer in 1898. There is a Charles William Brewster (1871-1943) in our family, the son of Daniel and Sarah (Fetters) Brewster. But that really did not fit because the book was signed with the date 1894 and Ida M. Cramer would not have been a Brewster until 1898. I looked at this couple anyway.

I learned this was not my relative, but another Charles W. Brewster, born in Pennsylvania in September 1872, [1] who married Ida M. Cramer 20 February 1898 in Noble County, Indiana. [2] Ida was born September 1879 in Indiana. [1] I tracked Charles and Ida in the 1910-1940 censuses while at the same time I tracked my Charles W. Brewster (my relative) and his wife. The other (non-relative) Charles W. Brewster died in 1947 and his wife Ida May (Cramer) died in 1952. They are both buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Noble County, Indiana. [3] I believe I can eliminate this Ida Brewster as the presenter of this book.

So who was the Ida Brewster who gifted this book? Was Ida a nickname or an unknown middle name of one of my relatives? Maybe.

Ida would have been from the generation before my grandmother Gertrude, probably from Gertrude’s father Philip’s generation. Gertrude, born in 1896, was the oldest child in her family and her father Philip was the oldest child in his family.

1894 Book from Ida Brewster. (2017 photo by Karen)

I noticed that that one James Thomas Brewster married Ida Heacock in 1891, [4] and they lived in Pike County, Indiana. [5] Not a Brewster from our family that I am aware of.

I also searched for Harry Snyder, mainly in Adams County, Indiana, but did not have any success there, either.

There was an Ha…Snyder in Madison, Pike, Indiana. His first name is unreadable because there is a big black blotch on the image, but the name looks like Ha…, with the last letter having a loop, like g or y. So it could be Harry Snyder who was 9 years old in 1900. [6] The Ida Brewster lived in Marion, Pike County, Indiana, about 30 minutes away.

This was getting to be way too much conjecture and at that point I decided to throw in the towel for this one.

Maybe someone in my family randomly found this book with a Brewster name, purchased it, and Ida Brewster was never even our relative. Or maybe Ida Brewster is a relative that I have not learned about yet.

And, just in case you are wondering, the area beneath the leaky basement window has been totally cleared of boxes and other stuff, cleared of everything except the wet/dry vacuum, ready for duty in the event of another downpour.

 

[1] 1940 U.S. Census, Albion, Noble, Indiana, ED 57-2, p.1A, line 24, Chas Brewster; Ancestry.com; from NARA microfilm T627, roll 1082.

[2] “Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007,” database with images, FamilySearch.org, Charles W Brewster and Ida M Cramer, 20 Feb 1898; Noble Marriages, Vol. 7, p.378; FHL microfilm 1704901.

[3] Find a Grave.com, Charles W. Brewster memorial #31505558; Ida May Brewster memorial #31505601; Rose Hill Cemetery, Albion, Noble County, Indiana.

[4] “Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007,” database with images, FamilySearch.org, Thomas Brewster and Ida Heacock, 20 Oct 1891; Pike Marriages Vol. 8, p.513; FHL microfilm 1433322.

[5] 1900 U.S. Census, Marion, Pike, Indiana, ED 28, p.2A, dwelling & family 27, Thomas Brewster; Ancestry.com; FHL microfilm 1240397, NARA microfilm T623, roll 397.

[6] 1900 U.S. Census, Madison, Pike, Indiana, ED 26, p.4B, dwelling 78, family 82, Peter R Snyder; Ancestry.com; FHL microfilm 1240397, NARA microfilm T623, roll 397.