Month: March 2011

Fearless Females: Marriages

Today’s entry for Fearless Females is about family marriages:

Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.

Elmer and Lillian Greulich marriage record

Elmer and Lillian Greulich marriage record, 21 Sep 1901

My great-grandparents Elmer Calvin Greulich and Lillian Witmer Snyder were married on 21 Sep 1901 in East Greenville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvnia.1 Elmer, born 6 Aug 1880, was the son of immigrant Karl Philipp (Charles Philip) Greulich and his second wife Caroline Krauss Wolf. Elmer was a cigarmaker. Lilliam, born 26 Oct 1879, was the daughter of Henry D. and Saraphine K. (Witmer) Snyder. She was a teacher.

My great-grandparents Edwin Joshua Wieder and Mary Catharine “Mae” Waage were married on 19 Apr 1905 in Pennsburg, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.2 Edwin, born 29 Mar 1880, was the son of Emanuel and Alavesta Esther (Dillinger) Wieder. Edwin was a jeweler, then a baker and postmaster at Pennsburg. Mae, born 27 Oct 1877, was the daughter of Dr. Charles Theodore and Lydia S. (Eshbach) Waage of Pennsburg.  She was a music teacher and later a postal clerk in Pennsburg. Coverage of their wedding stated:

E.J. Wieder and Mae Waage Marriage Record

E.J. Wieder and Mae Waage Marriage Record

“A Pretty Home Wedding. Amid Profuse Decorations in the Presence of a number of Relatives and Invited Guests Two if Our Young People are Married.

A pretty wedding was solemnized at 3:30 o’clock on Wednesday afternoon at the residence of Dr. C. T. Waage, of Pennsburg, when his only daughter, Miss Mae C. was united in marriage to E.J. Wieder Jr. of Pennsburg. The ceremony was performed by two uncles of the bridge, Revs. O.F. Waage, of Pennsburg, and Rev. Kehm, of Sellersville…

…The bride was attended by Miss Stella Troxell, cousin of the bride, of Philadelphia, and Charles W. Keely, of the firm Dotts & Keely, of Philadelphia, was best man. Miss Gertrude Anders, of Lansdale, presided at the piano, and Dr. Fred Waage, cousin of the bride, was usher…

…The guests present were Dr. and Mrs. C. T. Waage, parents of the bride, Mr. and Mars. E. J. Wieder, parents of the groom, John Wieder [brother], Miss Cora Wieder [sister], Miss Lizzie Bobb [cousin of the bride], Miss Ada V. Waage  [aunt], Mrs. and Mrs. M. K. Gilbert, Dr. and Mrs. W. H. Hunsberger, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Steckel, Misses Vinnie Mensch [cousin’s F.O. Waage soon-to-be bride], Nora Kneule, and Florence Dyson, of Pennsburg; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ott [groom’s cousins], and Mr. and Mrs. Emanuel Moyer [groom’s aunt and uncle] and daughter of Limeport; Mrs. Frank [Dillinger] Heller [groom’s aunt] of Standard; Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Anders, of Landsdale; Miss Alice Welker, of Red Hill; John Hillegass and Miss Bertha Raudenbush, of East Greenville; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jacoby, Mr. and Mrs. Cressman, Mrs. Dr. Ritter, Harry Kehm [bride’s cousin] and Miss Tillie Cressman, of Sellersville, and George Welker, Mr. and Mrs. F. F. Huber, Mrs. C. F. Schoenly, George Day, Frank Haring, Misses Sarah Weil and Nora Keller, members of the St. Mark’s choir.”3

William and Isabella (Smith) Hocker

William and Isabella (Smith) Hocker

My great-grandparents William Howard and Isabella Aitken (Smith) Hocker were married 13 Oct 1914 in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania by Rev. H. Everett Hallman.4 Will, born 17 Aug 1890, was the son of Albert Curtin and Lillian Ainsley (Leedy) Hocker. Will was a carpenter. Isabella, born 4 Apr 1893, was the daughter of William and Eliza Craig (Bonnington) Smith. She was telephone operator in Harrisburg.

Clyde and Nora (Houdeshell) Hoover

Clyde and Nora (Houdeshell) Hoover

My great-grandparents Clyde L. and Nora Melinda (Houdeshell) Hoover were married 16 Apr 1908 in Dubois, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania.5 Clyde, born 30 Oct 1886, was the son of Samuel Thomas and Victoria (Walker) Hoover of Pine Glen, Burnside Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania. Clyde was a lumberman. Nora, born 26 Oct 1891, was the daughter of George W. and Lovina Caroline (Force) Houdeshell. Nora, aged 16, was a cook at a lumber camp. Her father apparently told all his daughters at age 16 to either get married or get a job. Nora, I’m told, refused to give her consent to a marriage for any of her daughters who didn’t wait until they were 21 years old.

 

Fearless Females is, a blogging meme, presented by Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog in celebration of National Women’s History Month.

Friday Finds: Maryland Historical Magazine

I was recently going through the stacks of materials distributed around my “office” when I came across a document I’d ordered from PERSI—”Proceedings of the Committee of Observation for Elizabeth Township District [Washington County]” from the Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 13. I had ordered this because copies I had made at the Pennsylvania State Library were difficult to read; I was hoping for a clearer copy.

What I found made me unhappy. The copies I’d made were not from volume 13, number 2; they were from volume 13, number 3. So, here I have a nice stack of reading that doesn’t include the information that I was seeking. My bad for not clearly marking each photocopy with its full source citation!

Maryland Historical Magazine

Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 13, Number 3, page 245 PDF

I went online to see if I could find somewhere I could order copy of the pages from the correct volume. Instead I found a page on the Maryland Historical Society’s website that seemed to imply that they were providing online access to the periodical.

Wow! I logged in and sure enough volumes 1, number 1 through volume 99, number 4 are available online as PDFs through a joint project of the Maryland Historical Society and Maryland State Archives. Volumes 101-104 are available to members of the Maryland Historical Society. The volumes have been indexed, so you can search them.

Online viewing through the PDF viewer I have was not optimal—the text appears jagged and bitmapped. Opening the file in Preview on the Mac (an option in the viewer) was similar. However, downloading the file and viewing in the Adobe PDF viewer solved the problem—crisp, clear text! I search for “Hoover” in the PDF and it skipped to the first notation (see blue highlight).

I’m so glad I decided to clean up a bit and discovered my mistake. It lead to a wonderful online resource!

Fearless Females: Sharing First Names

I’ve always been told that I was named after a German actress. So, I’ve never had any expectation that it was a family name. Until my family moved to New England when I was 10, I’d never even met anyone with the first name Kristen and even then it was more often spelled Kristin.

There are actually two others—Kristen and Kristin—in my family tree. One from my father’s side, the other from my mother’s side. Both were born after 1900. It is unlikely that either of my parents even knew about either—the relationship was that distant.

However, I have seen related names in my family history. In my research I’ve most often seen the name as Christina or Christiana. My eldest, direct immigrant ancestors Christopher and Anna Margaretha (Jock) Hacker had a daughter named Christina. She married Johann Michael Lang (Long here in the U.S.) in Rußheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany on 8 Nov 1746. This couple came to the U.S. in 1752 with Christina’s parents. They had children: Johann Michael Jr. and Anna Christina. Their daughter married Johan Wilhelm Stober in Lancaster County circa 1777. This couple moved to Centre County, Pennsylvania.

Christopher’s son Johan Adam, my ancestor, and his wife Maria Elisabetha Weidman had two daughters named Christiana. The eldest died as a child. The younger girl married Henrich Fetter on 26 Jun 1781 at Christ Lutheran Church in Stouchsburg, Berks County, Pennsylvania. They had children: Catharine, born 4 Jun 1782;  George, born 10 Aug 1785;  John, born 19 Sep 1789;  Anne Marie, born 18 Sep 1791; and Elisabeth, born 2 Feb 1794.

The name isn’t found again in my direct line until me.

Fearless Females is, a blogging meme, presented by Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog in celebration of National Women’s History Month.

Irish Family History Foundations Exceeds 18 Million Records!

In March our thoughts turn to Ireland—and where else would they be with St. Patrick’s Day coming up? So, this announcement is rather timely! If you’ve got ancestors from Donegal, listen up…

The Irish Family History Foundation’s Online Research Service (ORS) are pleased to announce the availability of an additional 90,000 civil death records from Donegal Ancestry along with other corrections and updates including 6500 new birth records.

Just go to the following site and login using your existing IFHF login details. http://donegal.rootsireland.ie/

We now have over 18 million records online.

Remember that you can purchase and spend your credit at any of the IFHF online centres.

Please check out our interactive map to see which centres are currently live.

If you have any questions or comments please check our Online Help and if this does not provide an answer, then do not hesitate to contact us or one or the county centres.

FamilySearch: New Records Added

FamilySearch.org announced the addition of new records for: Brazil, England, India, Italy, Nicaragua, Spain, Wales and the United States.

More fascinating collections were published this week online at FamilySearch.org—39 million new records, to be exact. The England and Wales 1901 Census will certainly be a favorite for British and Welsh researchers. And how about one million images added for Italy? Or India Land Ownership Pedigrees? FamilySearch’s Texas collections have always been popular, and this week Texas collections have grown by 1.5 million new records (including birth, tax, and county records). In addition, more collections were released for Brazil, Nicaragua, Spain, and the U.S. (Delaware, New Hampshire, and Virginia).

A wide variety of original source records from around the world are continually being added to FamilySearch’s online collections. Search them now at FamilySearch.org.

See the table below for additional details about the latest collection updates.

Collection Records Images Comment
Brazil, Catholic Church Records 0 233,420 Images added for Sao Paulo (Piracicaba);Minas Gerais (Guaxupe, Pouso Alegre, and Joao del Rei); and Rio de Janeiro (Nova Iguacu).
England and Wales Census, 1901 34,138,362 1,456,023 Rich index with links to images on FindMyPast.com.
India, Moga Land Ownership Pedigrees 0 7,640 Set of land ownership pedigrees (Shajjra Nasb) that show familial relationships as land was passed from father to son (in Sanskrit).
Italy, Civil Registration, 1806-1940 0 944,579 Additional images added for Ischia, Napoli City, Nuoro, Mantova, and Padova.
Nicaragua, Managua, Civil Registration, 1879-2007 0 265,237 New digital images added.
Spain, Catholic Church Records, 1500-1930 17,348 87 Additional records from the diocese of Ávila.
U.S., Delaware Marriage Records, 1913-1954 53,352 112,854 Name index and images of Delaware statewide marriage records. The certificates are arranged by year and then by certificate number.
U.S., New Hampshire Marriage Records, 1637-1947 318,102 1,028,209 Index and images of New Hampshire marriage records. These records consist of cards giving the names of the bride and groom with the town and date of the marriage and often much more information. Note: There are two images for each marriage.
U.S., Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-1934 440,509 416,479 Currently years 1903 to 1909 and 1926 to 1934 are available. More years will be added later.
U.S., Texas County Tax Rolls, 1846-1910 0 678,887 New digital images added.
U.S., Texas, Mills County Clerk Records, 1841-1985 0 90,818 New digital images added.
U.S., Virginia Naturalization Petitions, 1906-1929 0 11,999 Naturalization petitions from four U.S. District Courts in Virginia; these records correspond to four record series at the National Archives.