The Marriage Record of Albert Francis CHAPLIN, Sr. and Emma Alice LYTON

Recently, I discovered that Ancestry had added the Iowa, Marriage Records, 1880 - 1937 database to its collections. While I don't have Iowa ancestors, my children do on their paternal grandmother's side. I was hoping to confirm marriage information for their great-great-grandparents, Albert Francis CHAPLIN, Sr. and Emma Alice LYTON. A family history written by an aunt of their grandmother lists Iowa as their marriage place [1], but no date is given. Their eldest child was born in 1892 in Surprise, Butler Co., Nebraska, but the next two children were both born in Fremont Co., Iowa [2], as was Emma [3], so I figured that was the likely location of their marriage.

A year and a half ago, my children's aunt received the Chaplin Family Bible [4] from a relative, which gave Albert and Emma's marriage date, but not the location:

I was able to locate the marriage record on Ancestry [5] with no difficulty:

The record is written across the top two lines of the register. I've enlarged and cropped the image to facilitate reading it on this blog. You can click on any of the images in this blog to view an enlargement; then use your "Back" button to return to this post.

As you can see, both Albert and Emma were living in Percival, Fremont Co., Iowa and that is where they were married on 18 March 1891 (confirming the Bible entry) by the Justice of the Peace, D. Lumm. It is interesting to me that no witness names were recorded on this register page for any of the marriages recorded here. That's too bad; I would have liked to have known who the witnesses for their marriage were.

From other research I've done, I know that their parents' names were not quite recorded in full or with accuracy here. Albert's parents were Gideon CHAPLIN and Susan W. HAINLINE. Emma's parents were Henry LYTON and Maria(h) Emily DAILEY. Henry's name was an alias. He was born George TURK in Ottawa, Ontario and came to the U.S. to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War. He changed his name at that time, although it is not clear exactly why.

Sources:

     1. Southard, Velma Chaplin, The History of the Chaplin Family as of December 1970, p. 4.
     2. Ibid., p. 2.
     3. Ibid., p. 4.
     4. Albert and Emma (Lyton) Chaplin Family Bible, 1867-1922; The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments (undated, no publication information); privately owned by Mary Duncan [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Washington State, 2015. Dates from 1867 to 1919 appear to have been written in the same hand and at the same time. One marriage entry, dated 15 February 1922, appears to be written in the same hand, but at a later time than the other entries.
     5. Fremont County, Iowa, Return of Marriages, 1880-1922, vol. 36, p. 483, Albert Chaplin-Emma Lyton, 18 March 1891; digital images, Ancestry.com, “Iowa, Marriage Records, 1880-1937” (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8823 : accessed 24 November 2016).


Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Ancestry.com, and as such, receive compensation for products advertised on and linked from this blog.

Mug Book Monday: Joseph Chaplin (1755 - 1812)

"Mug books" are collections of biographical sketches usually found within county histories of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries, particularly in the United States. I have been highlighting ancestors or relatives that were featured in these mug books.

It's been a while since I've written a Mug Book Monday post. I was reminded of how much information there is available on my children's paternal ancestor, Joseph CHAPLIN. In my database, I have this gentleman listed as Joseph Chaplin, III, as his father and great-grandfather, as well as his son and a grandson, were also named Joseph. This particular Joseph was born 1755 in Connecticut to Joseph CHAPLIN and Sarah STEDMAN,[1] and is my children's 5th-great-grandfather. (5 August 2014: I've updated this post with corrected information on Joseph's birth.)

These sketches come from History of Cortland County [New York], with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, edited by H. P. Smith, and published in 1885 by D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, New York. It can be found online at the Internet Archive here.

pg. 58

In the year 1792 Joseph Chaplin came into the town of Virgil and made the first permanent settlement; he located on lot 50 and two years later moved on his family. He explored and surveyed the State Road from Oxford, Chenango county to the Cayuga lake during the first season, afterward employing assistants and fulfilling his contract for the construction of the road. It was completed in 1793-94; after which he brought in his family. About the same time a road was surveyed and partially cut through the wilderness from the south, near the river, until the present site of Marathon village, when diverging from the stream, it crossed the south line of lot number 72, about three-fourths of a mile east of the village of Marathon, and continuing in a northerly direction, intersected the State road on lot 42 in Freetown and so passed on northward through the county to the Salina salt works, giving it the name of "the Salt Road." These two roads were the first in the county that were worthy of being called roads.

pg. 60

The principal difficulty with which the pioneer had to contend was the absence of roads, mills and markets. The first authorized road in the county was the old State Road alluded to as having been opened by Joseph Chaplin [1] and finished as far as his contract went, in 1794. This road extended from Oxford, Chenango county, to Ludlowville, on the eastern shore of Cayuga lake, a distance of about sixty miles. Coming into this county in the southeastern part, it passed through Willet, thence along the north line of the present town of Marathon and through Virgil.

1. Mr. Chaplin was drowned a few years later in the Hudson river at Coxsackie. See history of town of Virgil.

pgs. 319-320

To facilitate the settlement of this section of the country, a road was projected, connecting Oxford with the Cayuga lake, to pass through this town. Joseph Chaplin, the first inhabitant, was entrusted with this work. The instrument by which he was authorized to engage in it was authenticated on the 5th of May, 1792. He spent that season in exploring and surveying the route, the length of which is about sixty miles. he came to lot No. 50, which he owned, and afterwards settled, erected a house and prosecuted his work, having a woman to keep the house and cook for workmen. The work for cutting and clearing the road was done in 1793-94; so that he moved his family from Oxford over in the winter of 1894-95, employing six or seven sleighs freighted with family, furniture, provisions, etc.

Mr. Chaplin married Mrs. Abigail Messenger, who was the mother of Gideon Messenger one of the pioneers of Virgil Corners, and of Nathan Messenger. By her had three sons and four daughters. His son Joseph married a Miss Chatterton and finally died in the southwestern part of Illinois. He was distinguished in the locality where he resided as a man of intelligence and integrity, was chosen a justice of the peace and a major in the militia, and was familiarly known, on that account, as "Major Chaplin." His family were Harriet, who married a Mr. Patten and removed to Illinois, where she died; Joseph, who was last heard of in Pennsylvania; Aaron, now living in Jessop, Iowa; Polly, who married a Mr. Cook and lives in Cazenovia; Gideon, who died in Iowa; Cornelius, who married a daughter of Sylvester Crain, of Virgil, removed to Stockton Cal., where he died Feb. 22d, 1874; Sylvester, now living in Harford, this county; Catharine, who married one of the Shevalier family, of Virgil, and now lives at Macomb, Ill.; and Jacob, now living at Union, Storey Co., Iowa. Daniel Chaplin, the second son of the original Joseph, had a family, but we have not found a record of it.

Benjamin Franklin the third son, was father of George A. Chaplin, who now lives in Marathon, and of Walter L., who lives at Messengerville. The daughters were Sally, Ruth, Marietta and Isabella, two of who are still living. Such is a brief record of the descendants of the first settlers of Virgil.

This Joseph CHAPLIN, IV (c. 1786-1854) who married Lana CHATTERTON is also mentioned on page 330 of this book as being a captain for the town militia during the War of 1812. Joseph IV and his son Gideon are my children's direct ancestors.

pg. 331

Early Births, Marriages and Deaths--The first child born in town was John, a son of Joseph Chaplin, who was drowned in the spring of 1798, aged two years. The first who lived to mature age was John Frank, in autumn, 1797. Next to him was James Gee, in March, 1798; Betsey N. Roe and B. F. Chaplin, in February, 1799, and Hiram Ball and Hiram Bouton, in the same year. 

pg. 332

Some of the people in an early day directed their attention to the cultivation of fruit, especially apples. Very soon after his first settlement Joseph Chaplin sowed the seeds for a nursery of natural fruit, and Enos Bouton did the same soon after, and most of the oldest orchards are from these nurseries.

pg. 334

Several events have transpired that have caused great sensation for a time, and made a lasting impression on many minds. The first was that of a boy lost in the woods. In May, 1796, Daniel Chaplin, son of Joseph Chaplin, and father of Mrs. Gleason, aged about fourteen years, set out to drive a cow to Mr. Frank, and took with him a few pounds of flour. The cow became refractory and turned out of the road, and in endeavoring to get her back he lost the road and wandered in the trackless wilderness. The cow returned home, thus giving notice that he was lost. An alarm was given and about fifty men assembled, which was a great number for so sparse a population. He was gone four days and three nights without food, and was found on the 'Bridge Road,' in Dryden, by Aaron and James Knapp, of Homer. They ascertained who he was, and proceeded to help him home. He had the flour with him, but the weather having been rainy, it had become mouldy and they threw it away. He was very faint and weak, but being supported on each side he could walk, and they arrived at his father's house about midnight, where his mother had about thirty men in and about the house, and was preparing victuals for them to take in their search on the morrow. Mr. Chaplin was absent at the time. We shall not make the vain attempt to paint the scene caused by his arrival.

There is more information on the Chaplin family in this book, mainly about descendants who are not my children's direct ancestors. Also, there are several mentions Chaplin's place, indicating that not only the home located on a major intersection of the humble original road system, but that it was used as a reference point by many of the early settlers.


1. Susan Farrell Bankhead, CG, Lehi, Utah [(E-ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE)], to Miriam J. Robbins, e-mail, 5 August 2014, "Joseph Chaplin Blog Post,"; privately held by Robbins, [(E-ADDRESS) & STREET ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. Mrs. Bankhead wrote an article about Joseph Chaplin which was published in the January and April 2012 issues of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society's Record.

RootsTech: Day One

I'm at RootsTech, a Family History and Technology Conference in Salt Lake City. Today, Thursday, was the first day of the conference, and was sponsored by findmypast. Here are my notes:

This morning's General Session and Keynote was opened by Opened by Shipley Munson, Marketing Director of FamilySearch International. He listed the following statistics for RootsTech 2014:

• There are over 8,000 registered attendees
• On Saturday, we will be joined by over 4,000 youth for Youth Day
• Attendees have come from 49 states (none from South Dakota!) and 32 countries
• Over 15,000 will be watching the live stream sessions online
• There are over 137 exhibitors
• Over 200 sessions are being offered from the top genealogists and innovators from around the world

He then introduced the CEO and President of FamilySearch International, Dennis Brimhall, who welcomed us to the fourth annual RootsTech. Next Monday, volunteers will begin working on RootsTech 2015, which will be held in conjunction with the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference here in Salt Lake City on February 12-14 (Innovator Day will be February 11th). Dennis also mentioned that there are currently 622 RootsTech Family History Fairs being held globally in tandem with the Salt Lake RootsTech. Last year, there were only 16 with an average of 200 people each. It is estimated, then, that over 150,000 people around the world will participate in a RootsTech experience this week.

Dennis then highlighted these areas of focus for FamilySearch:

1. Stories -  FamilySearch has made it easier to share stories and photos on their website with the Memories Tab, where you can upload photos, stories, and documents. In the past year, 150,000 people uploaded 12 million sources; an average of 500 stories a day. For those who do not have access to computers, a paper approach to preserving family history has been created. "My Family" booklets (1.7 million of them) in 27 languages have been shipped out to locations world-wide in an effort to gather and preserve family stories. The end result is to have these be added online. Finally, a texting app for cell phones (not smartphones) is in development so that those who don't have either computers or smartphones can use their cell phones to build a family tree online.
2. Records - Dennis' presentation was interrupted by a pirate, Captain Jack Starling, informed us that dead men tell no tales, but their obituaries do! Obits contain stories that are locked away. The next big FamilySearch Indexing project will focus on indexing this record group. FamilySearch has signed several agreements, with more pending, to get millions of obituaries online. Currently, there are one billion indexed records now on FamilySearch, thanks to the volunteer indexers, with 267 camera crews currently imaging 5.3 billion records in North and South America and Europe...BUT there are 10 billion waiting, at risk to damage and destruction. It will take 300 years to index what already has been imaged, so FamilySearch must change what they are doing.
3. Partners - The way that change can happen so that the records can be imaged, indexed, and available within one generation (the goal) is to partner with other organizations and corporations. One example is in Guatemala, where the government is contributing 30 camera crews to image their records, while FamilySearch will be hosting and indexing these records online. FamilySearch has announced major partnering with Ancestry, findmypast, and MyHeritage in obtaining records. These partnerships will allow LDS members to have free access to these subscription websites in their homes, and the public will be allowed to access them for free at FamilySearch Centers. In addition, FamilySearch has over 30 certified partners, including software companies Ancestral Quest, Legacy Family Tree, and RootsMagic; societies such as the New England Historic and Genealogical Society and the Federation of Genealogical Societies; and app companies FamilyMap and Puzilla.

D. Joshua Taylor (Genealogy Road Show) introduced the first keynote speaker, Annalies van den Belt of findmypast. She talked a bit about her own family history, and then the vision of findmypast. One of the most important projects is digitizing the documents of the Imperial War Museum, which has collected documents, photos, and stories of thousands of individuals who served as soldiers or on the home front during World War I. The second speaker was Ree Drummond, who blogs at The Pioneer Woman and now has a cooking show. Her down-home speech was about the importance of writing down the everyday stories so that someday they may be enjoyed by future generations.

---

The first session I attended was Tom Jones's "Can a Complex Research Problem Be Solved Online?" I was fortunate to get a seat, since the room was packed. Tom brought us through the convoluted but fascinating story of a man who was married five times to four wives, used three fictitious names, has numerous children, and who was missing in many census and vital records.

At the lunch break, I peeked into the vendor hall, but it was too crowded for my liking, so I ended up heading outside the convention center for a quiet, relaxed lunch. I returned to attend "Treasures Within the Ivory Tower: Finding Family in Academic Archives" by Laura Prescott. This focused on the wealth of documents, photos, and even artifacts found within university and college archives and libraries, offline. Laura used their websites, as well as demonstrating using NUCMC and OCLC to locate where resources can be found for your ancestors, their siblings, or their neighbors. She reminded us that even if our ancestors didn't attend college, they may have worked for one and be listed in employee records, or they may have simply donated their own family collections to be preserved at a university archive.

The next session I wanted to attend, "DIY Publishing for the Family Historian: Tips, Tricks, and Tools" by Lisa Alzo, was cancelled because Lisa had been unable to arrive on time due to the bad weather impeding flights back east. The other session I had wanted to attend, "Google Hangouts 101a: The Panelists' View" by Pat Richley, required pre-registration; I didn't have a ticket because I had intended to attend Lisa's presentation. While there sixteen other great choices, I decided I was a bit tired and decided to take another break in which I planned out what I would look for at my next trip to the Family History Library.

The last session of the day was Elissa Scalise Powell's "Genealogy Online Courses Exposed!" Elissa gave an "under the hood" look at the major online courses available, from the Boston University certificate program to ProGen and everything in between. She first differentiated between what a beginner, intermediate, or advanced researcher will look for in a conference or what they want to learn. She then covered the cost; time commitment; credit, certificate or degree obtained (if applicable) from each course; and the showed the type of platform each course uses in communicating and uploading assignments. It was very thorough.

After dinner, I went back to the Salt Palace to see Vocal Point, an a cappella group who has performed on The Sing-Off. I especially enjoyed their "12 Days of Christmas." After, I went to the Family History Library for an hour and a half of research. I was able to obtain and copy Washington State death certificates on microfilm for my ancestor, Mary Lucy (WRIGHT) STRONG, and my children's ancestors, John Franklin MIDKIFF Sr., John Franklin MIDKIFF Jr., and Albert Francis CHAPLIN Sr.

Syllabus materials are available for free for a limited time at http://rootstech.org/about. Videos will soon be available as well, for the keynote addresses and some sessions. LiveStreaming is available every morning of RootsTech on the home page at 8:00 AM, Mountain Standard Time.

RootsTech: Innovator Day

RootsTech: Day Two

My Husband's Maternal Line

Three years ago, I published "Eight Generations of Mothers," which highlighted my matrilineal line. For this Mother's Day, I'd like to post my husband's matrilineal (maternal) line. I have to add that I am very blessed to have the mother-in-law that I do. She's got a wicked sense of humor, is generous to a fault (can't remember when I have visited her and didn't go home with something she gave me), and is a wonderful cook...a heritage that must have been passed on from her mother and her maternal grandmother, both of whom owned restaurants.

This is my mother-in-law, Alice Carol CHAPLIN, at around the age of 2 1/2. Isn't she a cutie? This photo was taken the summer of 1935, and may have been taken in Clark County, Washington.

This photo was taken the same day as the one above. It is of Alice's mother, Leona Mary (MARTIN) CHAPLIN (in front), at about age 28, with her mother, Angelia Rebecca (LUKE) MARTIN, about age 69, in the background. I love this shot for a number of reasons. There are very few family photos from my mother-in-law's family that I have been able to find. I also like this because it shows a young, very pretty, Leona. I only met her once, at my wedding, and she was quite elderly and wheelchair-bound. There's only one other photo I know of her, and that's with her twin brother when they were babies. I also like this because it's the only photo of Angelia that I have in which you can see her face. I recently visited Angelia's grave in Oregon last weekend.

Here is Angelia's mother, Rebecca (HEWITT) LUKE. This portrait, the original of which includes her husband, was taken in 1908, probably in Bon Homme County, South Dakota. She was about 73 in this photo.

Addendum:

I have information on one more generation in this line: Hannah (MILLER) HEWITT was born about 1803 in Pennsylvania and died between 1860 and 1870 in Wisconsin, probably in Dane County. I do not have any photographs of her.

Presenting at the Tri-City (Washington) Genealogical Society

This evening I will be speaking on one of my favorite presentations, "Frugal Genealogy, or How Not to Spend a Fortune on Your Family Tree!" at the Tri-City Genealogical Society in Richland, Washington. It's a two-and-a-half hour drive south from my home in Spokane, and I will be combining a bit of my own research with this engagement. Because the meeting is in the evening, I will be staying the night at the home of a couple of members who have generously offered their guest room to me. An advantage is that on the way to their home, I will be passing right by Sunset Memorial Gardens, where my husband's maternal grandparents, Forrest L. "Frank" CHAPLIN and Leona Mary MARTIN are buried.

I've been to the cemetery once, nearly 16 years ago, for the graveside service of Leona. Frank had passed away 17 years previously, long before I had met my husband and his family. Several years ago, I was able to get photographs of their graves, along with the block, lot, and space numbers for their burial places, thanks to a volunteer at Find a Grave. However, I am planning to stop and rephotograph the graves for myself, as well as determine if any of their siblings are also buried there. I did a quick check through my RootsMagic program, and it appears that between Frank and Leona, only one sibling passed away in the area: Frank's older brother Charles Cornelius CHAPLIN, who died in 1973. Charlie Chaplin may indeed be buried at Sunset, so I will be inquiring at the cemetery office!

I'm looking forward to meeting the members of the TCGS and giving my presentation. I have met a few of them who have in their turn, spoken at some of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society meetings (my home society), and I expect to see many of them at the Washington State Genealogical Society's state conference in Spokane in September.

The tri-cities area, consisting of Pasco in Franklin County and Kennewick and Richland in Benton County, is a beautiful area, well-known for its orchards, gardens, and vineyards. The wine industry there is second only to California's Napa Valley. Its rolling hills and the many rivers (the Snake, Yakima, and Columbia all merge in this region) make for a lovely landscape, and I look forward to my little get away!

Friday Findings: DeVRIES and other Dutch Lines

The last couple of weeks have just been rather crazy and chaotic, and although I did have some great finds, keeping up with blogging about it wasn't easy.

The first big find was when Henk van Kampen read my DeVRIES Surname Saturday post and left a comment, having found more information on this family. I am so excited, because I was able to trace this line back another two generations, using data that has been added to Tresoar (the Frisian Historical and Literary Centre) since I last researched this line!

Then my distant VALK cousin, Anja van Huesden, was looking at my online database and found more information on my JONKER line in the Province of Groningen. Groningen has long had their marriage records indexed on Genlias, but thanks to Anja, I discovered that birth and death records for my ancestral town of Kloosterburen have been added to Genlias. I was able to obtain specific birth and death dates for a few of my ancestors (instead of the "c. 1809" type dates used from their ages at the time of marriage). Plus, I discovered that my HOEKSTRA 3rd-great-grandfather and his first wife actually had eight children, instead of two before the wife died. Most of these were twins, and all died young, except for Gertrude, who accompanied my widowed 3rd-great-grandfather to America in 1867. When my uncle brought me a bunch of old family photos, I found a couple of Gertrude as an elderly lady. She was my 2nd-great-grandfather HOEKSTRA's older half-sister.

One of my husband's maternal cousins friended me on Facebook. Besides being glad we are back in touch after so many years, I am delighted to be in contact with her because she has always had an interest in genealogy. I have asked her to keep an eye out for old family photos, since there seem to be so very few in existence in my mother-in-law's family.

Genealogical Publishing Company has been having fabulous book sales on Fridays. Last Friday, I ordered Virginia Genealogy by Carol McGinnis. I have her Michigan Genealogy, which I've raved about before on this blog many times, so I expect to learn much about how to research in Virginia and how and where records were/are kept. Although I have no Virginia ancestry, my husband has a multitude of lines from that state. (Yippee! It just arrived in today's mail!)

Speaking of ordering, I'm going to renew my Footnote subscription for another 12 months at the reduced rate of $59.95 ($20 off the cost of annual subscriptions after today).

Lastly, I received the July issue of The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Interesting and scholarly reading here, impressing me on the importance of citing one's sources!

Surname Saturday: CHAPLIN

CHAPLIN is my children's paternal grandmother's line. It's one of those old families that have been traced to Puritan New England and further back into Yorkshire, England.

Stories and History:

Ahentafel #6144 - Jeremiah CHAPLIN (ch. 1541)

Ahnentafel #3072 - Ebenezer CHAPLIN (ch. 1572)

Ahnentafel #1536 - Hugh CHAPLIN (1603 - 1654) - the immigrant

Ahnentafel #768 - Joseph CHAPLIN (1647 - 1705)

Ahnentafel #384 - Jeremiah CHAPLIN (1680 - 1765)

Ahnentafel #192 - Joseph CHAPLIN (1716 - 1790)

Ahnentafel #96 - Joseph CHAPLIN (1760 - 1812) - his wife's paternal grandmother was an ADAMS and links my children to the presidential family; he was a first settler in Cortland Co., New York

Ahnentafel #48 - Joseph CHAPLIN (c. 1786 - 1854) - the first of my children's CHAPLIN line to move out of the East; he died in Illinois

Ahnentafel #24 - Gideon CHAPLIN (1821 - 1876) - married twice, my children's line is from his second wife. Gideon died fairly young (age 55); his wife outlived him by 33 years

Ahnentafel #12 - Albert Francis CHAPLIN (1868 - 1946) - for years I wondered why he continually traveled back and forth for many years between the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest - after doing a timeline on his family, I figured out that he was going back to the Midwest to help his widowed mother and single brothers with their farm every time someone in the family fell ill (many had tuberculosis) or died

Ahnentafel #6 - Forrest "Frank" L. CHAPLIN (1901 - 1977) - came out West in a covered wagon as a boy with his family...yes, they still had them in the early 1900s!

Ahnentafel #3 - My children's paternal grandmother (living)

Ahnentafel #1 - My children's father (living)

More about the CHAPLIN family:

1. Online database (I update this at least once a month): CHAPLIN ancestors and relatives (no info on living persons available)

2. Some CHAPLIN obituaries

3. Posts about CHAPLIN ancestors and relatives on this blog

4. Some scanned CHAPLIN documents

5. My CHAPLIN Virtual Cemetery on Find A Grave


My children's CHAPLIN immigration trail:

Yorkshire, England > Essex Co., MA > Worcester Co., MA > Berkshire Co., MA > Cortland Co., NY > Fulton Co., IL > McDonough Co., IL > Union Co., IA > Cheyenne Co., IA > Butler Co., NE > Fremont Co., IA > Clay Co., SD > Yankton Co., SD > Prowers Co., CO > Cheyenne Co., IA > Payette Co., ID > Yakima Co., WA

Friday Findings: GenLine, CRAPSEY Burials, Cousins, and SNOOK Graves

Due to the Blogger debacle this week, I was not able to post my Friday Findings in a timely manner. Here's a rundown of my research results for the week of July 26 - August 1, 2008:

More on Many Marriages
While entering the marriage records of my husband's granduncle, Lee Joseph "Mick" MARTIN, I realized that the witnesses for his third marriage, to Martha Isabell (JONES) DVORAK, were his daughter from his first marriage and her husband. Hmm... It made me wonder if his first wife had died by then (I'm not sure how their marriage ended; by divorce or by her death?). I couldn't find any death information for her, but I did find Isabell, as she was called, on the SSDI.

Swedish Parish Records
Also following up on last week's findings, I went to my local Family History Center to use their free subscription to GenLine, the Swedish parish records database, to find and verify my great-great-grandmother's birth (Ida Charlotte (GUSTAVSON) HOLST). I had never used it before, so it took some time. Fortunately, it has a nice tutorial, available both in English and Swedish. It is necessary to know the name of the parish to do a search. The records appear in digital image format, not unlike looking at a roll of microfilm. They are not indexed by name in any way, so it takes some searching. All I had for Ida's birthplace was Hamnada, Sweden. I had no idea where this location was, and used both Wikipedia and the FamilySearch Library Catalog to find it, without any success. I had a feeling I was spelling it incorrectly. I then did a Google search and found a mention in someone's online family tree of a "Hamnada-Småland, Krnberg". I went back to Wikipedia to look at the political structure of Sweden. Småland is one of 25 provinces (landskapen) of Sweden and has no political structure as of 1634. It is a cultural, geographical and historical subdivision. Kronoberg is a county (län), a political subdivision, that lies in what is a part of Småland. I still could not find Hamnada or a a similiar name in any of the lists of municipalities (similar to American townships), villages, or cities of Sweden.

I went back to GenLine, and looking up Kronoberg County records, I noticed that Hamneda was one of the parishes. Bingo! They had birth and christening records up through 1861 (I don't recall the beginning year), so I went to take a look. In 1861 alone, there were NINE Ida Charlottas (no Charlottes) born in Hamneda parish! Only one had a surname close to GUSTAVSON, and that was a Ida Charlotta GUSTAFSON born, it appears on 29 December 1861 and baptized 31 December 1861. I say "appears", because I am not certain of what the dates stand for. There are three numbers and a month before each record. The first number is the record number, as they are all in sequence from 1 until the last record. Then comes the month abbreviation, which is very similar to our English month abbreviations. Then two numbers follow. The first number is always lower than the second number, and none of the numbers go beyond 31, so my assumption is that the first one is the birth date and the second one is the christening date. The words "Births and Baptisms" appear at the the top of each of these pages (in Swedish, of course), adding credence to my theory. I used FamilySearch's online Swedish Genealogical Word List to figure out the words.

My Ida Charlotte GUSTAVSON was born 28 October 1861, but I need to find my source of information for that. Her 1900 U. S. Federal Census enumeration does have October 1861 as a birth date. I ran out of time to double check 1860 records, and there are none available at GenLine for 1862. I will need to search other nearby parish records, too, I think. I also did not have time to figure out how to save or print the image with the birth date of the Ida Charlotta GUSTAFSON I found. This was an interesting first foray into Swedish records, and I felt I learned quite a bit.

CRAPSEY Burials
I've been trying to find a death date for my 4th-great-grandmother, Lura Ann (JACKSON) PECK CRAPSEY. I know she was deceased by 1900, when my step-ancestor, the Rev. John CRAPSEY, Jr. was listed as a widower in the Federal Census for that year. She was alive as late as 1891, when her husband filed an application for a pension based on his deceased son's military service. They were living St. Paul, Ramsey Co., Minnesota. Attempts to have a volunteer at RAOGK look up her death records did not work out. I then came across John's obituary stating he was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery. There is a Forest Lawn Memorial Parks and Mortuaries in Ramsey County, and I contacted them to see if I could find burial information (and thus a death date) for the Crapseys. I received an immediate response that there was no record of either one in their records. I need to follow up with wording from John's obituary to make sure that the Forest Lawn Cemetery he was buried in is the same as what Park and Mortuaries company now manages, when their records begin, and if they have record of John and Lura's children being buried there (it's possible, if their children are buried there, that John and Lura are buried without markers).

Cousins
A distant LEWIS cousin of mine, Bob Stefanich, contacted me to tell me about another cousin of ours (related more closely to me than Bob is) and that the LEWIS family reunion is occurring today in Fruitport, Muskegon Co., Michigan (wish I could be there)! I've contacted Jim with the hope that I can get more information on the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of my 2nd-great-grandparents, George Emmett LEWIS and Mary WILKINSON.

Also, a McARTHUR cousin contacted me. She lives in Michigan and is able to visit the ancestral cemeteries. She promised to take some tombstone photos of some of our mutual ancestors...so exciting!

SNOOK Graves
Speaking of ancestral graves, I heard from a Find A Grave photo volunteer--Catherine Bryon--who photographed the graves of my husband's 3rd-great-grandfather, Reuben Wohlford SNOOK, and his second wife, Elizabeth NEARHOOD, at the Forsyth Cemetery in Rosebud Co., Montana. Click on the links to view the photographs. Thanks, Catherine!

The CHAPLIN - MARTIN Marriage Certificate

Source: Chaplin - Martin Certificate of Marriage. Washington. Clark County. Marriage Certificates 1889 - 1977. Digital image. Washington State Digitial Archives. http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/ : 2008.

Yes, I realize that Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about displaying a photograph, not a document. Inspired by George Geder's posts of posting ancestral photos on Wednesday and then a biographical sketch on Thursdays, I started doing WW back in February, based on a pattern of showing ancestral photos from my father-in-law's, father's, mother-in-law's, and mother's family trees, in that order. The problem was, I don't have access to many photos from my mother-in-law's family, and I don't believe she does, either. Unless I can come in contact with some of her relatives and obtain scans of ancestral photos (if there are any), I'm relegated to displaying photos of tombstones and images of documents. So be it!

I did want to feature this document, however, for a variety of reasons. My husband's family (both parents' sides) has lived in this state since the early 1900s, and Washington State has a wonderful open-record policy, perhaps one of the best in the nation. In addition, the Washington State Digital Archives and FamilySearch Labs are featuring both indexes and images of county, state, and federal records for Washington residents. I'm waiting impatiently for FamilySearch to release the images that have been indexed on their pilot site, and decided to help them along by doing some indexing on that specific collection. That in itself has been a lot of fun...to see records from Stevens County (where my parents live), Spokane County (my residence), and Klickatat County (which we pass through on the way to visit my in-laws). I recognize all these little towns which certainly helps in determining messy handwritten locations on death certificates!

Besides featuring a document with personal sentiment from the fabulous digital archives site, I thought this record was unique because it contains the signatures of four my husband's direct ancestors. John Franklin and Angelia Rebecca (LUKE) MARTIN were Leona Mary MARTIN's parents. Forest "Frank" L. CHAPLIN and Leona were my mother-in-law's parents. I've always seen Forest's name spelled with two Rs, but here he signs it with one. Hmm... I had the privilege of meeting the widowed Leona once--at our wedding--and then attended her funeral in 1993. I've mentioned Leona and her twin brother Lee before in one of my earlier Wordless Wednesdays.

Wordless Wednesday: CHAPLIN - MARTIN Certificate of Marriage

Source: Chaplin - Martin Certificate of Marriage. Washington. Clark County. Marriage Certificates 1889 - 1977. Digital image. Washington State Digitial Archives. http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/ : 2008.

Emma Alice (LYTON) CHAPLIN and Great-grandchildren

Source: Chaplin, Emma Alice Lyton with great-grandchildren. Photograph. C. late 1957 - early 1958. Original photograph in the possession of Alice Chaplin Midkiff. Vancouver, Washington. 2008.

This is one of only two photographs that I know about of Emma Alice (LYTON) CHAPLIN, my children's paternal grandmother's paternal grandmother. In this photograph, she is holding three of four great-grandchildren that were born to my mother-in-law and her two siblings in the spring of 1957. The three great-grandchildren are my children's father, and his twin girl cousins [names withheld for privacy] born to his maternal aunt and her husband. His maternal uncle and his wife also had a son born that same year, but they lived in California and were not able to attend this visit. At the same time, a four-generation photo was taken:

Source: Four-generations of the Lyton-Chaplin Family. Photograph. C. late 1957 - early 1958. Original photograph in the possession of Alice Chaplin Midkiff. Vancouver, Washington. 2008.

In the front row, left to right are my children's father's maternal grandfather, Forrest L. "Frank" CHAPLIN and his mother, Emma. I believe my children's father is sitting in his grandfather's lap. In the back row are my children's paternal grandmother and her sister.

Emma Alice LYTON was born 31 March 1874 in Thurmon, Fremont Co., Iowa to Mariah Emily (DAILEY) LYTON. Her father, Henry LYTON, had died the month previously. Henry was actually George TURK, born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, who had come to the United States and joined the Union Army, changing his name along the way for some reason (a not-so-unusual occurrence among Civil War soldiers, I've discovered). He and Mariah had three children: Charles Sanford (1870 - 1871), Agnes (1872 - 1898), and Emma Alice LYTON.

When Emma was an infant, her mother married a German immigrant, John Christopher KLINDER. They had six more children: "Nancy" Florence (1876 - 1935), Laura Luella (1879 - 1962), Clara Amy (1881 - 1970), Ada (1884 - 1917), Samuel Ivory Lewis (1886 - 1970), and Susie KLINDER (1889 - 1977).

Around 1891, Emma married Albert Francis CHAPLIN (1868 - 1946), probably in Iowa. Together they had six children, nearly every child being born in a different community:

• *John William "Bill" (1892 - 1970), Surprise, Butler Co., Nebraska

• *Charles Cornelius (1893 - 1973), Percival, Fremont Co., Iowa

• *Nellie Susan (1895 - 1969), McPaul, Fremont Co., Iowa

• *Glen Albert (1898 - 1966), Vermillion, Clay Co., South Dakota

• *Forrest L. "Frank" (1901 - 1977), Yankton, Yankton Co., South Dakota

• *Velma Fern CHAPLIN (1903 - 1997), Yankton, Yankton Co., South Dakota

Additionally, the family were found in Lamar, Prowers Co., Colorado when the 1910 U.S. Federal Census was taken and enumerated in Jaqua Twp., Cheyenne Co., Kansas in 1920. It's likely they were in Kansas so that Albert could care for his widowed mother and four older single brothers, all of whom died of strokes within the next decade. The family also lived for a time in Oklahoma, probably in Hydro, Caddo County, where Emma's mother, step-father, and half-siblings had moved in 1886.

Emma and Albert's youngest child, Velma, wrote "A History of the Chaplin Family," and she recounts that the family made all their moves by covered wagon, even into the twentieth century. She wrote that these moves were great adventures for the children, but it must have been difficult for Emma to be raising a family and continuously following her husband back and forth across the Rockies and Great Plains. In 1930, with the children all grown, the couple was living in South Fruitland, Payette Co., Idaho, and five years later in the community of Payette, same county. By 1946, they had settled in the Yakima Valley of Washington State, and there Albert died in the City of Yakima. Emma moved to Portland, Multnomah Co., Oregan, probably to be near her daughter Nellie and son-in-law, George RICE. The above photographs were likely taken at her home at 6224 Southeast 111th Avenue in Portland. She passed away in that city nearly two years later on 22 Jul 1959 and was buried next to her husband at Terrace Heights Memorial Park, Yakima, Yakima Co., Washington.

From her birth to a Civil War veteran, to traveling the West by covered wagon, to the advent of the space age, her life spanned a time of great change in America.

Wordless Wednesday: Emma Alice (LYTON) CHAPLIN and great-grandchildren

Source: Chaplin, Emma Alice Lyton with great-grandchildren. Photograph. C. late 1957 - early 1958. Original photograph in the possession of Alice Chaplin Midkiff. Vancouver, Washington. 2008.

Twins Leona Mary and Lee Joseph MARTIN

(click photo several times to enlarge)


(reverse of photo)

Source: Martin, Leona Mary and Lee Joseph. Photograph. C. 1907. Original photograph in the possession of Michael Midkiff, Spokane, Washington. 2008.

Isn't this a darling photo? The little girl on the arm of the sofa is Leona Mary "Sis" MARTIN, about a year old, and her twin brother, Lee Joseph "Mick" MARTIN, is on the sofa back. Leona was my husband's maternal grandmother. This photograph was sent to the children's maternal grandparents, Isaac LUKE and Rebecca HEWITT, as evident by the message on the back: "for Grandpa & Grandma". The children's paternal grandparents, Francois Joseph MARTIN and Rachel HUBBY, had died in 1887 and 1892, respectively, so they could not have been the recipients of this photographic gift, perhaps sent as a Christmas gift when the children were a year old.

Lee and Leona were the youngest of twelve children born 17 December 1906 to John Franklin MARTIN and Angelia Rebecca LUKE. A large Catholic family of French, Scottish, and English roots, they were living in Bonners Ferry, Bonner (now Boundary) County, Idaho in 1906, where Frank worked for the railroad (probably the Northern Pacific). At the dinner after Leona's funeral in 1993, Mick's daughter, cousin of my mother-in-law, told me the story she had heard about the day the twins were born. Apparently, no one knew that Mama Martin was pregnant with twins. The family at that point consisted of five sons and five daughters, and there was a competition on as to whether the next baby would be a boy or a girl, since Mama had declared that there would be no more babies. According to the family story, the children, ranging in age from 21-year-old Gertrude (who was married) down to five-year-old Steve, were waiting outside the house to hear the news (seems somewhat inaccurate, given the fact that it was December in Northern Idaho--brrr! Perhaps instead they were waiting in the front room.). The doctor came out and announced, "It's a boy!" to the rousting cheers of Frank Jr., Clarence, Isaac, John, and Steve. He went back in to the house/bedroom and returned not much later to announce, "and it's a girl!" to the delight of Gertrude, Maude, Jane, Agnes, and Viola.

True or no, it's a fun story. When Lee grew up, he settled in Eastern Washington. He was married three times and fathered five children. Leona also lived in Eastern Washington, but spent her latter years in Vancouver, Clark County on the southwest side of the state. She and her husband, Forrest "Frank" L. CHAPLIN, had three children, the youngest of whom is my mother-in-law. Leona was present at our wedding, along with our other three grandmothers, my paternal grandfather, and our two step-grandfathers. This was the only time I got a chance to meet her, as her health was poor and she lived on the other side of the state. Lee died in 1984, before I knew my husband or his family. Interestingly, his Social Security Death Index information states he was born 17 December 1907, rather than 1906, while Leona's has the correct birth date. I spoke with my mother-in-law to verify their birth year (Idaho didn't record births until 1908), and she told me that an error had been made on Lee's birthdate, either by the Social Security Administration (or perhaps by a surviving family member after his passing) but no one in the family wanted to go through the paperwork to correct it.

As an aside: we know that giving birth to fraternal twins is a genetic female trait, usually appearing every other generation, while giving birth to identical twins is not genetic (it's a "mutation" in the development of the embryo, where one splits into two complete embryos). Leona's oldest daughter had twin fraternal daughters. I imagine that eventually one--or both--of them may have twin grandchildren someday.

New Forms Available on My Website

I finally got Microsoft Front Page to work for me again, and so I've posted some new forms on my website here. The first is the U.S. Records Checklist I've mentioned recently. This is a list of the minimum of information I want to gather on each American ancestor. There is room at the bottom of the form to add lists of other records I may need to get--immigration and naturalization records, for instance. I cross off the records I would not need to get for that ancestor (military records for my female ancestors; 1890 Census records for probably all my ancestors, as none lived in areas where those remnants survive). I check off the ones I already have, then use a highlighter to bring my attention to the records I still need to get. It gets messy, but it helps me visualize what I need for that person.

The other form is a Timeline. I copy this front and back on a single sheet of paper. There are 40 lines (years) on each side, so that gives me 80 years, front and back...an average lifespan. For a few ancestors, I may need another one-sided copy. Then I start with the year they were born (or the earliest I can guesstimate) and fill in what I can for as many years as I can (I write their age in the margin). I list where they were in census years, where they lived when their siblings or children were born or when close family members died. Every time I find them on a record, I write it down on the time line. This does three things for me: it gives me a chronology of the events of their life, as I know it thus far; it gives me a chronology of their locations, so I can see migration patterns; and most importantly, it gives me a visual of the years where there are blanks! My RootsMagic software will show me the first two things, but not the last. I have heard professional genealogists state that good family research will account for an ancestor's whereabouts with gaps no more than two years apart! In other words, you should be able to find a record showing your ancestors' whereabouts every one to two years of their lives!

This timeline helped me immensely when reading about my husband's great-grandfather, Albert Francis CHAPLIN, I. According to a written history one of Norm's grandaunts wrote, the family moved back and forth between the West (Colorado, Washington, and Oregon) and the midwest (Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma). As this was the early 1900s and they were often traveling by covered wagon (and probably later by train), I wondered about this. Was Albert not able to find jobs? Did he have an itchy foot? Was the law after them? How could they afford to resettle every few years? When I put all the outlying events of his life (siblings' and parents' events) in order with his own life events, I saw that his widowed mother and single brothers back east all died within a short period of time. I had found him in Kansas in 1920 after living out West for many years. I realized that the family had gone back to Kansas, probably to help with the nursing of the relatives (many of them died of tuberculosis), taking care of the family farm, and settling the estate. I would never had figured this out if I hadn't used the timeline.

On the forms page, I have shown reduced images of the forms to give you an idea of what they look like before you view the .pdf version to download. My free PDF form writer uses images, not document files, to create the .pdf forms, so they may be a little fuzzy. If you would prefer to get the .doc versions of these forms, just e-mail me (see my profile in the right-hand menu of this blog) and I'll send them to you as attachments.

Connecting with Cousins on Memorial Day

Three years ago, my husband, children and I traveled across the state of Washington to spend Memorial Day weekend with my in-laws in Vancouver, Washington, which lies just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon. I always enjoy this cross-state visit, as the longest leg of it--driving along the Columbia River on the Oregon side--follows both the Lewis and Clark trail and the Oregon Trail. I enjoy imaging the explorers and pioneers traveling the same route, and seeing Mt. Hood towering in the distance.

While in Vancouver, we went with Norm's parents and sister to Park Hill Cemetery in Vancouver, to visit and photograph the MIDKIFF, TOLLIVER, DAVES (step-ancestor), LUKE, and CHAPLIN graves. The following year, 2005, we made the same trip, and I insisted that we were going to travel down to the Willamette Valley to visit and photograph the grave of one of Norm's great-great-grandmothers, Rebecca Catherine (SNOOK) WESTABY, buried in Salem, as well as the graves of my great-great-grandparents, Charles Frisbe STRONG and his wife, Mary Lucy WRIGHT. Charles and Mary are two of only four of my ancestors buried west of the Mississippi River, and the other two are nowhere near my home! My paternal grandfather, Robert Lewis ROBBINS is buried at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, and a 4th-great-grandmother, Lura Ann (JACKSON) PECK CRAPSEY, is apparently buried in St. Paul, Minnesota. So to actually be able to be within a few hours of an ancestor's grave is a big deal to me, and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

When we arrived at Belle Passi Cemetery in Woodburn, Marion Co., Oregon, where Charles and Mary are buried, we found that the graves had already been cleaned and decorated. They were surrounded by other graves, obviously of the family of their daughter, Ethel Melissa (STRONG) HASTIE, who is buried there along with her husband, the Rev. Ezbon Roy HASTIE. I remember visiting the widowed Aunt Ethel in 1979, when we first moved to Washington State, and remembered meeting her son.

We were rather rushed on that visit, and so I didn't have time to try to find out how to contact the family. But on the way home, I had a couple of ideas that could work for you to help you connect with cousins on Memorial Day. Obviously, I could have looked up the Hastie family in the phone book in Woodburn, or on Dex Knows when I got home. But what if you are looking for descendants of an ancestor, yet you don't know your cousins' surnames?

First off, you need to know where your ancestor is buried. If their grave is in your hometown or nearby, you're in luck. If you are like myself and live far from your ancestral cemeteries, it's important to obtain death certificates and/or obituaries of your ancestors to determine their final resting places. I use Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness quite frequently to get obituaries of ancestors. They're easier and less expensive to access than death certificates. Once I have the name of a cemetery in hand, I use Find A Grave, Interment.net, Dex Knows, or Cemetery Junction to find an address and telephone number (check out Cyndi's List of Cemeteries as well).

My next step is to cold call the cemetery office during local business hours. I have had so much luck with this! You would be amazed at how helpful cemetery employees are! From phone interviews I have discovered the names of other ancestors and relatives buried in the same cemetery, the names of the funeral homes that provided services (I'll post more about this in the future), the names and addresses of the lot owners (which may be obsolete, but may provide relatives' names). I always try to obtain the lot number of the grave(s) I am interested in, and sometimes the employee will mail me a cemetery map. I ask the cemetery employee if it's okay to send them an info packet that they could place on my ancestor's grave (see following paragraph). In fact, I have been so successful in this type of research, that I've created a form that I use to help me remember all the questions I want to ask when I call.

The fourth step is to write a letter explaining that I am a descendant of the ancestor buried in that cemetery, and that I am doing genealogical research on the family. I leave contact information: a phone number, mailing address and e-mail address. This letter is folded and sealed in a zip-lock bag and then placed in an envelope which is addressed either to the cemetery office or to a volunteer in the area that I've contacted through the local genealogical society or Random Acts. The cemetery employee or the volunteer can then place the info packet (my letter in a zip-lock bag) on the grave, hopefully weighted with a small rock or wedged into a crevice of the headstone, so it won't blow away. If this is done about a week before Memorial Day weekend, there's a chance that I could connect with another descendant of that ancestor who has come to the cemetery to clean and decorate the grave! If the cemetery doesn't allow an info packet left on the grave itself, ask if your letter could be placed in your ancestor's file at the office.

So what's the purpose of this? To hopefully connect with other relatives of a common ancestor and exchange information...photos, documents, stories, etc. It's likely that the two of you have missing information that the other may be seeking. Perhaps you'll break down a brick wall! Memorial Day weekend is only two weeks away, so I hope you'll take advantage of this tip. Good luck to you!

Grave photo of John Franklin MIDIFF, I

As the weather warms up and the roads are safe to travel again, I'm starting to hear back from various volunteers regarding obituaries and grave photos I've requested. This morning I received an e-mail from Find A Grave notifying me that one of their volunteers, Jean had submitted a photo I'd requested of the grave of my husband's great-grandfather, John Franklin MIDKIFF, I. I've mentioned John last month in a post about his daughter Dorothy here. A relative once told me that he died after accidentally drinking some contaminated water. I have not been able to obtain an obituary for him through Random Acts. Yakima isn't too far away (200 miles/3 hour drive), and I have hoped for a while to visit the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society's new library to obtain sources on both the MIDKIFFs and CHAPLINs (my mother-in-law's family), especially to find any death notice or obituary for John. The cost of gas during summer months the last few years has put a damper on genealogical road trips. However, I noticed on the society's web page that they will fulfill queries for $1.00 each - very reasonable! I may just need to fire off an e-mail to them this week...!

Research Log - LYTON / TURK research

Received an obituary for Emma Alice (LYTON) CHAPLIN from Christine Gray, RAOGK volunteer for Multnomah Co., Oregon. There wasn't a lot of new information, with the exception of the fact that she had two great-great-grandchildren living when she died. Emma's father was Henry LYTON, a Civil War soldier who had immigrated from Canada to serve in the Union. His real name was George TURK, and for some reason which is not quite clear, assumed the name Henry LYTON.