52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases: California

This is the fifth post in a weekly series of Online American Digital Archives and Databases found for free at state, county, municipal, college and university history, library, and archive websites, as well as public and private library and museum sites, and historical and genealogical society sites.

3DFlags.com

Talk about your Gold Rush! If you have California ancestors, you'll strike gold with this state's treasure trove of online digital archives, databases, exhibits, and indexes!

Online Archive of California - http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ - a central search portal for a multitude of institutions and repositories of digital and offline collections from around the state

Oviatt Library Digital Collections - http://digital-library.csun.edu/ - another central search portal aimed at the history of the San Fernando Valley as well as ethnic collections (Chinese, Latino, etc.)

Calisphere - http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/ - a searchable listing of digital collections from around the state, arranged by historic themes for the purpose of assisting educators

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California State University, Bakersfield - Walter Stiern Library - http://www.csub.edu/library/specialcollection.shtml - Davis Civil War letters, Dust Bowl Migration Digital Archives

California State University, Domingo Hills Digital Collection - http://archives.csudh.edu:2006/ - includes South Bay Photograph Collection and the Rancho San Pedro Collection. Subjects in the latter include the city of Compton; houses; agriculture and farming; education; transportation; religious life; oil; early planes; and aviation cartoons. The University's collection includes campus; buildings; students; presidents; commencement, historical publications and yearbooks (1966 - 1977), as well as the history of the university's first twenty-five years.

California Underground Railroad - http://digital.lib.csus.edu/curr/ - "...high quality digital images of letters, journals, photographs, documents, newspapers and more to tell the often overlooked experiences of African-American slaves in California..."

California Views - http://www.caviews.com/ - "most comprehensive historical photo collection of the Monterey Bay area"

Humboldt State University Special Collections - http://library.humboldt.edu/humco/holdings/CollectionList.htm - county atlas and many photographic collections

Occidental College Library Digital Archive - http://departments.oxy.edu/digitalarch/index.htm - online archive of the Japanese American Relocation during World War II; stereographs from the American Civil War, the Cuban and Philippine campaigns of the Spanish American War of 1898,  the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, and the World War of 1914 to 1918; railroad collection; architecture of the Occidental campus buildings

San Diego State University Digital Projects  - http://infodome.sdsu.edu/projects/ - photograph collections, WPA murals, poster collection, trading cards, and more

San Francisco Public Library Digital Images - http://sflib1.sfpl.org:82/

Santa Clara University Digital Collections, Projects, and Initiatives - http://www.scu.edu/library/collections/digital/index.cfm?ulrfsrc=nvbr - Holocaust Oral History Project, ClaraVision (images), Silicon Valley History Online, plus virtual exhibits

Simon Wiesenthal Center Digital Archives - http://swcdap.legalinformationmanagement.com/ - image collections and names database

University of California Berkeley Regional Oral History Office - http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/

University of California Davis Special Collections - http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/specol/ - photographs

University of California Irvine Special Collections - http://www.lib.uci.edu/libraries/collections/special/ - history of UC Irvine; Southeast Asian American collection

University of California San Diego Libraries Online Resources - http://libraries.ucsd.edu/locations/mscl/resources/index.html - photographs of California missions, Dr. Suess collection, Spanish Civil War collection, photos of Baja California

University of California Santa Barbara Digital Collections - http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/digital/index.html - Cylinder Project ("listen to thousands of musical and spoken selections from the late 19th and early 20th centuries") and other audio archives; photograph collections

University of San Francisco Gleeson Library Digital Collections - http://digitalcollections.usfca.edu/ - printing and graphic arts, manuscript, and  rare books collections; USF yearbooks and historical materials; and more

University of the Pacific Digital Collections - http://library.pacific.edu/ha/digital/index.asp - John Muir Papers, Brubeck Collection, California History (Delia Locke diaries, Spooner stereographs, Japanese-American Internment camp collections), University archives

University of Southern California Digital Library - http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/index.htm -includes various photographic, newspaper, rare books, manuscript and postcard collections, bibiliographic database, WPA census cards, employee records and land use survey maps; collections from various groups including the Automobile Club of Southern California, the California Historical Society, and the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California; Japanese American Relocation and Korean American Digital Archives; and much more!

Wells Fargo Corporate Archives - http://www.wellsfargohistory.com/archives/archives.htm - object and photo archives

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Anne T. Kent California Room - http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/index.html - oral histories, photographic collections (including family albums), Frank Lloyd Wright collection, and the 1906 Earthquake collection

Center for Sacramento History - http://www.cityofsacramento.org/ccl/history/collections/oral_histories.asp  - transcripts of oral histories

City of Glendale Public Library - http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/library/special_collections.asp -  oral histories, photograph collections

Contra Costa Genealogical Society - http://www.cocohistory.org/index.html - searchable index of obituaries, probate records, photographs and maps

Digital Anaheim - http://www2.anaheim.net/article.cfm?id=407 - historic Anaheim photos

Digital Storystation - http://www.ci.escondido.ca.us/library/pioneer/digitalstorytelling.htm - Escondido Public Library's project of local oral histories

Freedom Archives - http://www.freedomarchives.org/index.html - "8000 hours of audio and video recordings documenting social justice movements locally, nationally, and internationally from the 1960s to the present. The Archives features speeches of movement leaders and community activists, protests and demonstrations, cultural currents of rebellion and resistance.

History | San José - http://www.historysanjose.org/ - history of the Silicon Valley and Santa Clara County, including online exhibits

Holocaust Center of Northern California - http://www.hcnc.org/index.html - photograph collections, some oral history excerpts, links to online yizkor books

Japanese Town Archives - http://amacord.com/fillmore/museum/jt/index.html - photographs from Japanese Town in San Francisco prior to WWII internment

King Library Digital Collections - http://digitalcollections.sjlibrary.org/ - this collection documents "the history of the Santa Clara Valley from its agricultural beginnings to the high-tech boom and formation of the Silicon Valley. The range of subjects covered include local politics, social and cultural traditions, education, local business and industry, and historical events."

Los Angeles Public Library - http://www.lapl.org/index.html - many photographic collections as well as databases of indexes of materials in their history and genealogy collections

Mill Valley Historical Society - http://www.millvalleyhistoricalsociety.org/index.html - local history

Mill Valley Public Library - http://www.cityofmillvalley.org/Index.aspx?page=521 - historical photographs, digitized maps, and more

Nixon Presidential Library and Museum Virtual Library - http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/index.php - documents, White House tapes, online exhibits, photo gallery, interactive presidential timeline

Oakland History Room of the Oakland Public Library - http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/Seasonal/Sections/oakhr.html - photographs, 1906 earthquake photos and reminiscences, and indexes to local newspapers, including African-American ones

Sacramento History Online - http://www.sacramentohistory.org/ - photograph (and postcard) and document (books, manuscripts, maps, etc.) archive on the subjects of transportation and agriculture

Sacramento Collection at the Sacramento Public Library - http://www.saclibrary.org/?pageId=848 - photos, postcards, ephemera, maps; also be sure to check out the Local History links

San Diego Historical Society Online Resources - https://www.sandiegohistory.org/online_resources.html -  photograph collection, selection of documents (books, serials, public records, personal and institutional collections, scrapbooks, ephemera, maps, and architectural plans), and past issues of The Journal of San Diego History

San Joaquin and Sierra Foothills Photo Heritage - http://www.sjvls.org/photoheritage/ - subjects include agriculture, oil, buildings, portraits, street scenes, disasters, railroads, big events, and libraries

Shades of Corona - http://www.coronapubliclibrary.org/shades/welcome.asp - part of the "'Shades of California' photo history project which is documenting the daily lives and historical, political, and cultural contributions of the diverse communities of California. 'Shades of California' sponsors Photo Days at public libraries throughout the state where people are invited to bring their family albums and personal photograph collections. Community volunteers and project staff select and document photographs which are then copied on-site by professional photographers. These images are archived by the libraries and will be made available to the public at the host libraries."

Thousand Oaks Library Local History - http://www.tol.lib.ca.us/specoll/DOCS/LocalHistory.html - photographs

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Check out my California Historical Directories and California Historical Newspapers pages.

Mary Emeline (WILBOURN) MIDKIFF

Source: Midkiff, Mary Emeline Wilbourn. Photograph. Taken before Sep 1919. Reproduction of original photograph in the possession of Miriam Robbins Midkiff, Spokane, Washington. 2008.

Mary Emeline WILBOURN was my husband's Great-great-grandmother Midkiff. She was born 11 Aug 1839 in Sandoval Twp., Marion Co., Illinois to Dr. John Wilks WILBOURN of Orange Co., North Carolina and Martha Susan DEADMOND of Bedford Co., Virginia. John and Susan's respective families had migrated to Marion Co., Illinois by 1831, when they married. Mary was the fourth of nine known children which included Rufus K. (b. c. 1833), Denita Frances (b. c. 1836), James Manissa (1837 - c. 1837), John Henry (b. c. 1843 - bef. 12 Mar 1878), Aramanthe E. (b. 1846), Thomas Jefferson (1849 - 1942), Sarah Jane (1851 - 1940), and Benjamin Franklin WILBOURN (1854 - 1944).

The Wilbourn family moved from Illinois to Grayson Co., Texas between 1843 and 1846, and were prominent in that early community. It was there on 24 Jul 1859 that nearly-20-year-old Mary was wed to Charles Anderson MIDKIFF. They lived in Sherman Township when the 1860 U.S. Federal Census was taken; a time when trouble between the North and South was brewing. Charles served with the Texas Cavalry for the Confederacy, along with two of his brothers. About that time, the family moved to nearby Springville, Cooke Co., Texas. During the war, their two eldest, William Preston (1862 - 1936) and Charles "Anderson" Jr. (1865 - 1948), were born. Louanna Ellen "Annie" (1868 - 1940), John Franklin (1870 - 1926; my husband's great-grandfather), Ethel Susan (b. 1874), and Thomas Jefferson "Tex" MIDKIFF (1879 - 1941) soon followed. An infant, Mae, did not survive.

The Midkiff family remained in Cooke County where they were enumerated in the 1880 U.S. Federal Census. Charles' occupation was a miller. Sometime within the next few years, they moved to Lexington, Cleveland Co., Oklahoma Territory, where some of their children were married and their first grandchildren were born. Ever on the move, the family may have also lived in Pottawatomie Co., Oklahoma Territory, and were definitely residing in Delta Co., Colorado by 1902, where Charles was cattle ranching.

The Midkiff Family in Delta Co., Colorado. Charles and Mary are in the center, surrounded by their children, children-in-law, and grandchildren.

Source: Midkiff Family at Home in Delta County, Colorado. Photograph. Taken c. 1902 - 1908. Original photograph in the possession of John and Mary Lou Midkiff, Midland, Texas. 2008.

On 10 Mar 1908, Charles wrote his brother in West Texas from Hotchkiss, Delta Co., Colorado and told him he had sold his ranch the summer previously, as he had been injured when his mules ran away with him, getting caught under the wagon and breaking his left leg. Because of being crippled, he could not work the ranch in the winter when the snow was so deep. This injury was probably also motivation for Charles and Mary to retire after a few years to Chico, Butte Co. in Northern California, where the warmer climate and town living were more suitable for the senior couple. Mary's mother and four younger siblings and their families, along with most of the adult Midkiff children with their families, also lived in the area; however, I haven't done enough research to discover if the Wilbourns or the Midkiffs emigrated to California first.

In 1914, both Mary and Charles are listed on the Butte County Voters Registration. California had granted suffrage to women in 1911, nine years before the federal government did so. After Charles died in 1919, Mary lived with their daughter Annie until her own death in 1923. Mary and Charles are buried in unmarked graves in the Wilbourn Family Plot in Chico Cemetery.

The "empty" grassy spot in the midst of the Wilbourn Family Plot in Chico Cemetery is the final resting place of Mary Emeline (WILBOURN) MIDKIFF, and her husband, Charles Anderson MIDKIFF, Sr. The graves of Mary's sisters can be seen in the foreground.

Source: Midkiff, Charles Anderson Sr. and Mary Emeline (Wilbourn) burial location, Chico Cemetery, Chico, Butte Co., California. Photograph. Taken 31 May 2006 by FindAGrave photo volunteer Laural N. D. at the request of Miriam Robbins Midkiff. Digital photograph in the possession of Miriam Robbins Midkiff, Spokane, Washington. 2008.

New Genealogy-Related Websites

Interesting new (or new-to-me) websites I've discovered during the past week:

• *Lost and Found Photos

• *Photos (vintage and current) of county courthouses all over the U.S. (hat tip to Charles Hansen of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society)

• *South Dakota State Archives has started databases of Civil War veterans (both Union and Confederate) listed in Dakota Territory's special Veterans Census of 1885 (hat tip to Leland Meitzler of Genealogy Blog). Also at this archive website, I discovered the South Dakota Newspaper Vital Records Index, spanning 1781 - present. Joe! You need to add this one to your website!
  

• *Southern California Genealogical Society's Virtual Surname Wall is now searchable. You can also add your own surnames.
  

The California Death Index on RootsWeb

I've been using the California Death Index at RootsWeb a lot this evening to look up Midkiff descendants for my husband's family tree database. A distant cousin is preparing to publish a new book on the Midkiff family, and has asked that we submit updated descendant reports of their primary ancestors, Franklin Preston MIDKIFF and Ellender "Nellie" OLIVER. Of course, any living descendants will not be included, but there is much data in the family tree that needs tidying. I'm particularly looking up death dates and places in the various death indexes online, both state death indexes and the Social Security Death Index, for those descendants that are likely to be deceased (appearing as aged 80 or above in hubby's database).

A couple of things I noticed of which other researchers should also be aware. The first is that the Soundex feature doesn't apply to either the mother's maiden name or father's last name when running a search; only the surname of the deceased that you are searching for will have their name Soundexed. That may be true of the Metaphone feature as well (I haven't checked). So searching for children whose mother's maiden name is Midkiff, and using the Soundex feature will only bring up the exact Midkiff spelling under the category "Mother's Maiden Name," and not Medkiff, Medkeff, Metkeff and other strange varieties that I often see.

Another warning comes with possible errors in the California Death Index where it is linked to the Social Security Death Index, also on RootsWeb. I found that John Leland KIRBY, Sr., who married a Midkiff descendant, had the Social Security number 560-03-5333 linked on his entry in the California Death Index. When I clicked on the link, I was brought to the SSDI page for Louis ESCALLIER ("What the heck?!"). Running John's birth and death year through the SSDI search engine cleared up the matter. His Social Security Number was 560-03-3333. Also, the SSDI states his birthday was 22 Oct 1899, whereas the California Death Index says 22 Sep 1899.

So which is correct? It's hard to say, but my guess is that since the error for the Social Security Number came on the part of the California Death Index, then it's more likely that the CDI's birth date for Kirby is also incorrect. Looks like there was some sloppy data entry here (not that I've ever done that before!).

All that said, the California Death Index is a great help and guide to obtaining original records. I've been able to sort out relationships and find more family members by using this resource. By putting this data on our family trees and then uploading my GEDCOM to RootsWeb's WorldConnect, I've been contacted by many Midkiff descendants over the years and been able to verify the information as well as share with them their family history.

The Legend of Joseph Josiah ROBBINS

See images of your Civil War ancestors' Pension Index cards.

When I was growing up, one of the favorite things I loved to hear when I being tucked in bed by my father were the old family stories. Living in Southeast Alaska in the '70s, no one had television, unless they lived in one of the cities like Ketchikan. So good books and other printed material, oral stories, and recorded music (once our little farm outside of town got electricity) were our main forms of entertainment. How grateful I am now for that childhood!

The one story I heard occasionally was of father-and-son ancestors, Joseph Josiah ROBBINS and Charles H. ROBBINS, who had both fought in the Civil War. Ol' Charlie had had plenty of adventures and because my grandfather remembered him (Charlie was Grandpa's great-grandfather) and attended Grand Army of the Republic reunions with him, those adventures which provided plenty of material for good family tales were quickly passed down the generations. Charlie himself helped proliferate the legend of his father.

Joseph Josiah ROBBINS had fought in the Civil War as an old man on the side of the Yankees, went the story. He had joined up because he already had military experience fighting in the Mexican War of 1848. While out West during in 1849, he had headed towards California to hunt for gold with the other Forty-Niners, but changed his mind and returned to his family in Pennsylvania. While in Union Army, he was captured by the Rebs and incarcerated in the infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia. Conditions there were so terrible, that Joseph had gone blind from scurvy. In an interview by a reporter from a local paper not long before his death in early 1934, Charlie told of how his father had been a participant in a prisoner exchange, and thus had been returned to the Union Army. He had lived to be 99 years old.

Nine years ago this month, I sent off to the National Archives for a copy Joseph's pension application. I believe I spent a total sum of $20.00 (those were the days!). I received 25 legal-sized photocopies of documents from his file, and what a treasure trove they were! First of all, they confirmed his service as a private in Company E, 58th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers from 26 September 1861 to 9 January 1865, with a little more than a year-long detachment with the 7th Massachusetts Battery. Joseph, although at age 41 would have been much older than most of the recruits, was certainly nowhere near being an old man! The records provided a first name and a death date and place of a wife we had never heard of, prior to his marriage of our ancestor. They also gave the date and place of marriage to my ancestor Marinda and confirmed that her maiden name also was ROBBINS (still working on how they possibly could have been related to each other!). There were all sorts of juicy tidbits including how difficult it had been for first his wife (who would have also been elderly during that time), and later his son and daughter-in-law, Ben Franklin and Helena (SWEET) SKINNER ROBBINS, to care for him in his elder years, blind and senile as he was. There were no nursing homes in those days, no respite care, no traveling nurses or Hospice services to assist the family.

The pension records confirmed that Joseph was indeed blind, and that it was related to his military service; but it lists in detail how that disability came to be. While Joseph was at Cliffburne Barracks in Washington, D.C. in early June 1864, he was hospitalized at Satterlee Hospital for fainting, bleeding from the nose, and chronic inflammation of both eyes. His biography in History of Manistee, Mason, and Oceana counties, Michigan..., which as far as I can determine, corroborates with all sworn statements in his pension records, describes the cause as sunstroke. A week after he was discharged at Chapin's Farm, Virigina, he sought out both a doctor and a lawyer in Philadelphia and applied for his first Invalid Army Pension, stating that he had "lost almost the entire sight of both eyes rendering him unfit to follow his occupation," which was farming. The pension records give a clear picture of the difficulties that Joseph and his family members had because of his disability from the time he returned home from the war until his death in Newfield Township, Oceana County, Michigan on 27 July 1905. He was 84, not 99, as son Charlie claimed.

Nowhere in his pension records is there any mention of capture, imprisonment, or a prisoner exchange. There is also no evidence that he served in the War with Mexico; but then, it's not likely that information would show up in these records. Their purpose was to determine that Joseph had become disabled through his military service during the Civil War, and that he deserved a pension, as did his widow Marinda, after his death. Attempts I've made to verify possible service during the War with Mexico have led nowhere. In the Civil War Prisions database maintained by the National Parks Service, I have not been able to find Joseph, even though I've used a variety of spellings, first and last name combinations, and initials.

I believe that Joseph's story was confused in his son Charles' elderly mind with other tales he may have heard from his GAR comrades, or perhaps with the tragic tale of his best friend and step-brother-in-law, Angelo CRAPSEY, whose experiences in the infamous Confederate Libby Prison caused him to go insane and later kill himself after the war's end. So although the account of Andersonville made for a lively legend, the real story of Joseph's service during the Civil War was a fascinating account, nonetheless!

(See a photo of Joseph's grave here.)
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Bibliography:

History of Manistee, Mason and Oceana counties, Michigan ... Chicago: H.R. Page & Co., 1882.

Michigan. Oceana County. County Clerk's Office, Hart. Death Registers. Joseph J. Robbins entry.

Robbins, Bryan H., oral history. Various dates from c. 1970 through c. 1984, at Robbins homes in Alaska and Colville, WA. Transcript held in 2007 by Miriam Robbins Midkiff,
Spokane, WA.

Robbins, Robert L., oral history. Summer 1989, at Midkiff home near Deep Creek, WA. Transcript held in 2007 by granddaughter Miriam Robbins Midkiff, Spokane, WA. Mr.
Robbins is now deceased.

Unknown. "Charles Robbins is One of First to Visit Hesperia." Photocopy of typed transcribed undated clipping, c. 1931 - 1933, from unidentified newspaper, possibly in Newaygo County, Michigan. Owned 2007 by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, Spokane, WA.

United States. National Archives, Washington D.C. Civil War Veteran's Father's Pension Application File of John Crapsey, application no. 284,159, certificate no. 380,350.

United States. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Civil War Veteran Pension Application File of Joseph J. Robbins, application no. 60,087, certificate no. 193,978. Includes documents from Civil War Veteran's Widow's Pension Application File of Marinda Robbins, application no. 833,911, certificate no. 623,194.

United States. National Park Service, Washington, D.C. Civil War Prisons database, Andersonville. Online <http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/prisoners.htm>. Viewed 1 September 2007.

View the Brady Civil War Photos collection.

Happy Birthday - March 3

Happy Birthday to:

Dorothy Zada (MIDKIFF) JOHNSON BENJAMIN, my father-in-law's paternal aunt, who--if she had not died on 16 April 1963 at the young age of 49--would be 93 years old today. She was born on this date in 1914 in Idaho (probably in or near Challis, Custer County), the youngest of John Franklin MIDKIFF, Sr. and Margie Ethel TOLLIVER's three children. She also had four older half-siblings on her father's side. Below is a photo of Dorothy's family, taken about 1912. Taken before her birth, she does not appear in it. But this is the home in Challis in which the Midkiffs lived (click on the photo to go to the album and read the caption).

Dorothy does appear in the photo below. She is the little girl sitting on the fender directly in front of her father (again, click on the photo for captions).

Dorothy first married Al JOHNSON and had two daughters. After their divorce, she married Bill BENJAMIN. No one in the family seems to remember where Dorothy died, and my father-in-law is out of touch with his cousins. But I was able to take a photo of her grave at Park Hill Cemetery in Vancouver, Clark Co., Washington on Memorial Day 2004:

18th Carnival of Genealogy is Posted

I tried to blog this earlier, and ran into a hiccup...so here goes again! Jasia, over at Creative Gene, has posted the 18th Carnival of Genealogy. The topic is "5 Best Tips for Specific Research Areas." Nine bloggers share their tips for researching in specific locations including Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Northeast Indiana, Detroit (Polish ancestors), San Diego (CA), Texas, and Upstate New York. There also a blog on five generic tips that can be used for any kind of research. So take a look and check it out. Even if none of these research areas apply to you, you may get an idea or two of how to do research in your ancestral locations.

The topic for the 19th Carnival of Genealogy is "Shelter from the Storm: Stories of Home and Hearth." I encourage you to take a try at blogging on a specific topic...it's a lot of fun!

Research Log - Obits for Norm's Ancestors, Part 2

Heard from Christine Gray, RAOGK volunteer for Multnomah Co., Oregon. She will be looking for obits for Emma Alice LYTON and John Franklin MARTIN. Requests reimbursement of 25 cents per obit (copying fees) and $1.25 parking fee. She's done a lookup for me before; found Leona Mary MARTIN's obit a month or so ago, and did a great job.

Also heard from Joyce Obland, RAOGK volunteer for Rosebud Co., Montana, willing to look up obits for George Rice WESTABY, II, Reuben Wohlford SNOOK, and Elizabeth NEARHOOD. She requests reimbursement for gas (50 cents per mile is the standard donation...however, she has a 60-mile round trip to do her lookups), plus $1.00 per obit copy. I e-mailed her back and told her I will have to wait until after the holidays, as the $30.00 for gas is a little much right now.

Lastly, I heard from Linda Kolinski, RAOGK volunteer for Los Angeles Co., California. She had done an online search in ProQuest Historical Newspapers in the Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1985), and was unable to obtain an obituary for either Clark Pleasant R. TOLLIVER or Senna COLLINS.

Research Log - Obits for Norm's Ancestors

Requested obituaries though various RAOGK volunteers for Norm's ancestors:

Peder Johnsen LERFALD
Regina LERFALD
Clark Pleasant R. TOLLIVER
Senna COLLINS
Emma Alice LYTON
John Franklin MARTIN
George Rice WESTABY, II
Reuben Wohlford SNOOK
Elizabeth NEARHOOD (step-ancestor, second wife of Reuben Wohlford SNOOK)
Angelia Rebecca LUKE.

Grave photos of Charles Anderson and Emeline Mary (WILBOURN) MIDKIFF

I discovered that back on May 31st, Laural D., a Find A Grave photo volunteer, took photos of the unmarked lot where my husband's great-great-grandparents, Charles Anderson MIDKIFF, Sr. and Mary Emeline WILBOURN were buried in 1919 and 1923, respectively. Click on the links to view their memorial pages, portraits, and their cemetery lot photo. You can also click here to read a synopsis of Charles' life.

Grave photo for Theodore William VALK

Sheryl Rose of Find A Grave very kindly took a photo of my granduncle's grave. Uncle Ted came out west from Grand Rapids, Michigan to California for 25 years after WWII, then settled in Boise, Idaho. He and his family, and my mother are the only known VALKs to live out west...all the rest live back in Western Michigan, for the most part.