Mary Catherine Waage Wieder as a girl

My Mom’s Matrilineal Line

Mildred “Mims” Esther Wieder, daughter of Edwin J. Wieder and Mary Catherine Waage, was born 23 Dec 1912 in Pennsburg, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania^[1]  and died 30 Jun 2002 in Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.^[2] She married Russell Roy Greulich on 12 Jun 1937 in Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.^[3]  She was a physical education teacher at the time of her marriage and worked for years at a bank in Landsdale before retiring. She had three children—two sons and a daughter (my Mom).

Mary Catherine “Mae” Waage, daughter of Dr. Charles Theodore Waage and Lydia S. Eshbach, was born 27 Oct 1877 in Pennsburg, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania^[4] and was baptized on 29 Nov 1877 by Rev. Frederick Waage, her grandfather.^[5] She died 28 Nov 1970 in Quakertown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.^[6]  Mae was married to Edwin J. Wieder on 19 Apr 1905 in Pennsburg, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania by her uncles Rev. Jacob Kehm and Rev. Oswin F. Waage.^[7] Mae and Edwin had three daughters—Gertrude Glenna (1907—1963), Mildred Esther (1912—2002), and Helen Doris (1917—2011).

Lydia S. Eshbach, daughter of Henry M. Eschbach and Catharine Lydia Bobb, was born 3 Oct 1845 in Albertis, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania and died 7 May 1910 in Pennsburg, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.^[8] She married on 29 Aug 1876 Dr. Charles T. Waage.^[9] Lydia and Charles had one child that I know about—Mary Catharine Waage (1877—1970).

The information I’ve found regarding Catherine Lydia Bobb is not well-documented in my Reunion file. Please consider it unproven supposition and take it with a grain of salt.

Catherine Lydia Bobb, daughter of Daniel Bobb Jr. and Anna Herb, was born 5 Nov 1805 in Hereford Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She died 16 Mar 1859. About 1836, she married Henry M. Eshbach, most likely in Bucks or Lehigh County. In 1850, they were living in Salisbury Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania where Henry was an innkeeper.^[10] To the best of my knowledge, Catherine and Henry had children: Amanda (1838—?) married Rev. Jacob Kehm, Anna Maria (1841—?), Reihel (1843—?), Lydia S. (1845—1910), Rufus (1847—aft 1870), and Elias (1852—?).

My Dad’s Matrilineal Line

Nora Malinda Houdeshell, daughter of George W. Houdeshell and Lovina Caroline Force, was born 25 Oct 1891 in Wooster, Cameron County, Pennsylvania and died 11 May 1965 in Pine Glen, Burnside Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania.^[11] She married Clyde L. Hoover 16 Apr 1908 in Dubois, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania.^[12] Nora and Clyde had 12 children.

Lovina Caroline Force, daughter of Jefferson Force and Susan L. Mulhollan, was born 28 Jan 1872 and died 28 Oct 1964 in Pine Glen, Burnside Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania.^[13] She married 20 Jun 1890 George W. Houdeshell.^[14] Lovey and George had 12 children: Joseph (1890—1890), Nora Malinda (1891—1965), Wilhelmina (1893—1958), Ida Rachel (1896—1950), Anna Belle (1897—1924), Carrie Edna (1900—1989), Wesley Irvin (1902—1903), Thelma Mae (1904—2001), Millard Franklin (1907—1994), William Arthur (1910—1987), Martha Rebecca (1910—bef 1980), and Georgia Caroline (1914—1989).

Susan L. Mulhollan, daughter of John Mulhollan and Emily Boileau, was born 14 Jul 1841 and died 17 Oct 1917 in Pine Glen, Burnside Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania.^[15] She married Jefferson Force/Forcy 22 Mar 1857. They had 14 children: Wilhelmina (1857—1921) married Robert A. Askey, Catherine E. (1859—1899) married Albert Gilmore, Hannah (1861—1938) married Johnson Watson, Agnes E. (1863—1934) married John Thomas Fye, Carrie Amanda (1865—1934) married William Henry Meeker, Martin (1868—1945) married Delilah Hamilton, John C. (1870—1890), Lovina Caroline (1872—1964), Mary Alice (1873—1913) married Richard Whiles, Martha Ellen (1875—1934) married Jacob Whiles and Wilson Smeal, Lucy Malinda (1876—1960) married William Emerick and John Kein, George W. (1878—1878), William E. (1883—1883), and Albert M. (1884—1884).

Emily Boileau, supposedly the daughter of Daniel Boileau and Mary Robertson, was born circa 1805 and died 27 Jun 1842, possibly at Milesburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania.^[16] She married John Mulhollan 21 Aug 1823. The couple had 8 children that I know of: Daniel B. (1822—1907), James E. (1823—?), Roland (1831—?), Harriet (ca 1834—?), Emily Jane (ca 1836—?), Sarah A. (ca 1838—?), Mary Ann (ca 1839—?), and Susan L. (1841—1917). There is a break of 8 years between the birth of James E. and Roland; it’s possible that there were more children.

And that’s as far as I can go in these matrilineal lines. For some reason, I thought I’d taken all my lines further back than this, but apparently I still have a bit of work to do. Maybe I should add researching my matrilineal lines to my genealogy goals for 2012.

What have you found for your matrilineal lines?

I’m not really a fan of New Year’s resolutions. I’ve made them in the past and I did really well for a month or two and then… This time I think I’ll set some goals—realistic ones that I have a hope of actually accomplishing!

1. Finish a Project

At any given time, I’ve got several genealogy projects going on. These are only tangentially related to the actual family research I’m doing so they often get sidelined. Unfortunately, these are also large projects. They also tend to be somewhat tedious—indexing, abstracting, or transcribing—and I can only take so much before I need a break. The tedium and magnitude of how much more I have to do…well, it doesn’t exactly encourage me to pick it up where I left off.

So, this year to reach the goal of finishing just one project, I’ll set up interim goals—breaking the project(s) into smaller, more manageable chunks. And instead of waiting until the whole project is complete to publish it, I’ll release each section in whatever format I finally choose (print, ebook, and/or online database), then put them all together once I’ve finished the complete project. That leads me to #2.

2. Publish

I’ve been compiling information, building and expanding my knowledge base for a while. It’s time to start sharing it. I’ve done some of that by producing PDF files and sharing them through this site. I even published a book I’d written several years ago with marriage and death information for central Pennsylvania residents from the Harrisburg Chronicle from 1820 to 1834. But I’ve got quite a bit more. The trick will be deciding what will be useful to other researchers and what’s the best format.

3. Combine Passions

I’ve been working as a web designer for years. I’ve designed and programmed all of my own sites, as well as sites for family and friends. I programmed a special page template that allows me to easily link parent and child pages for my family groups. (You can see it in action.)

Why not formalize that into a WordPress plug-in that other bloggers can use, too? Why not go a step further and develop themes for genealogy bloggers who use WordPress to publish their blog? Combining my design and WordPress skills with my love for genealogy? Sounds like fun to me.

4. Family Research

There’s so much to do regarding my own family research, it’s hard to tell where to start. But here are several areas that need attention:

• Hacker/Hocker Book:
  I’ve been recreating the manuscript for my great uncle’s book “A German-American Hacker/Hocker Genealogy,” reformatting it match genealogical standards and adding reference citations. I need to continue this project. It, like my other projects, is a huge undertaking, so I may need to break it down along family lines and tackle it in smaller sections.
• Hoover Brick Wall:
  While I’m pretty certain that my ancestor Christian L. Hoover was the son of Philip and Hannah (Thomas) Hoover of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, the evidence so far is only circumstantial. I need to think of some creative ways that I can prove/disprove the connection. 

  Once I can make the connection, I can trace my Hoover family back to the immigrant—Michael Huber (thanks to Richard Hayden for assistance in straightening out the research). The next step will be in tracing Michael Huber’s family in Germany.

• Matrilineal & Collateral Lines:
  As more records become available online, I want to document the information my grandfather Greulich gave me about my his family. I also want to continue to collect documentation and information on all my family lines, especially those that are further back in my pedigree that I haven’t researched. At this point I have quite a few names on my family tree. It would be nice to add some of the details and experiences that made up their life stories.

So, there are some goals for me to shoot for in 2012. Knowing me, I’ll probably get distracted along some tangential line of research or project work along the way. But at least I’ll have this post as a reminder to get myself back on track!

What are your genealogy goals for 2012?

The website also has a hub with information on the wedding attendees.

How did they meet? You’ve documented marriages, now, go back a bit. Do you know the story of how your parents met? Your grandparents?

My parents both went to Pennsylvania State College in Centre County, Pennsylvania. My father was in a fraternity and my mother in a sorority. They met, I believe, through those groups.

The Hockers, 1941

When my paternal grandmother was eighteen, she left Pine Glen and took a job as domestic help, looking after the children, the house, etc. for the Bogar family in Harrisburg.  (She’s still friends with Mrs. Bogar!) My grandfather was working with his father, a carpenter, who was doing some work on the Bogar’s house when they met. My grandfather told us that he took one look at grandma and knew she was the woman he’d marry. She made him wait, however, until she was twenty-one and could get her mother’s blessing on the marriage.

I don’t know how my maternal grandparents met. They never talked about their families. I do know that the Greulichs and Wieders lived in neighboring communities in northern Montgomery County. My maternal grandparents were even cousins-by-marriage. My grandfather’s Aunt Katherine Greulich married my grandmother’s Uncle John William Wieder. Perhaps they met through the family. My grandfather’s parents, however, were not keen on the marriage. Apparently, E. J. Wieder, my grandmother’s father had “gone through a fortune” and that somehow made my grandmother a less than stellar match for their only son. Edwin J. Wieder was a jeweler for 30 years in Pennsburg—a business he opened shortly before his marriage in 1905. He was a postmaster for Pennsburg for nine years and a town burgess for eight years. He also served on the town council and as an auditor. It’s quite likely that he lost the jewelry business during the depression (1932-1935).

My grandmother was a physical education teacher by vocation, but a musician—a violinist—by avocation. My grandfather once told my mother that grandma’d turned down a career as a violinist to marry him. She likely got her passion for music from her mother Mary Catharine “Mae” Waage, who was a “successful and well liked music teacher” before her marriage.[1 “A Pretty Home Wedding,” Town and County, Apr 1905] Grandpa was also a amateur musician. He played trombone and one summer played in a shipboard band for his passage to Europe. My maternal grandmother also made my grandfather wait for marriage. They waited two years until she got her teaching certificate.