Pets - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #17

This is a weekly challenge from GeneaBloggers called 52 weeks of personal genealogy history.

Week 17. Pets. Did you have any pets as a child? If so, what types and what were their names. Do you have pets now? Describe them as well. If you did not have pets, you can discuss those of neighbors or other family members.

The first pets I remember were a couple of turtles and some tropical fish in a small aquarium. We also had a really long lived goldfish named Goldfinger that my sister won in a local carnival. One day my sister and one of her friends came home carrying a cute little puppy named Sadie. Her owner was moving and said that he couldn't take her with him. She was so adorable that my parents caved in and we adopted Sadie. Her eyes were a striking golden color and she had a brown nose and white and brown coat. She was a beagle/wire-haired terrier mix. (I can hear anyone that knows a lot about dog breeds going up oh!) She was fairly quiet in her new home at first, but we soon found out she was a bundle of energy and loved to bark at any critter she saw in our backyard, especially the squirrels.

Sadie is no lady... That was something my father said often as we attempted to mold her into a well trained dog. It just wasn't happening! While we easily trained her to do tricks like shaking hands, sitting, and begging, training her to do useful things like come when you called or heel while walking proved to be much more difficult. She could do them just fine, but only when she wanted to. She definitely had a mind of her own. One day, we went out in our boat and had a picnic at a little island in the Indian River. She was in heaven and ran around exploring the island to her heart's content. When we left, she jumped overboard and swam back to the island! She loved to run and swim, so I guess that would have been her ideal home.

Sadie was barking loudly in our backyard, so we went out to see what was going on. She came over and dropped a baby rabbit at my Mom's feet! She went back and gently picked up the other babies and brought them over. We kept an eye out for the rabbits' mother, but didn't see her. We'll never know if something happened to the mother or if she was just scared off by Sadie!

My sister and I took Sadie with us one time when we went riding on a friend's horse. Sadie had never seen an animal like a horse before and didn't know if it was friend or foe. To cover her bases, she got behind me and barked loudly at the horse from between my legs. As soon as we got on the horse, she was fine with it and happily jogged along with us as we rode. Thankfully, it was a very patient horse that didn't mind a little dog running around her legs. None of us have pets now, but we sure have a lot of memories of our adventures with Sadie!

Wordless Wednesday - Two great-great-grandmothers!

Anna Rohrer Niehaus and Mary Ann Matson Creeden, 1919

Pictured are two of my great-great-grandmothers in Celina, Ohio in 1919. I sure would love to know what they'd been talking about!

Wordless Wednesday is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites.

Military Monday - US Army to Canadian Expeditionary Forces?

Edward Creeden was the sixth child of Mary Ann Matson from Ohio and Timothy Creeden from Ireland. He was born on April 10, 1884, but much of his life is a mystery. His parents bought land in Mercer County, OH in January 1884, but Edward is not listed in the Mercer County Probate Court Birth Records for 1882-1888. I also didn't find him in the Clinton County birth records where Timothy and Mary Ann's first five children were born. I have found no records of a wife or children.

In the 1900 census, he is living at home with his mother and 5 of his siblings in Celina, Mercer County, Ohio. He is 16 years old and working as a clerk at a dry goods store. He did not attend school that year. The census shows that he was born in April 1884 and that he was born in Ohio.

This US Army Register of Enlistments shows that Edward Creeden, enlisted in the US Army on Jan 14, 1904 at Salt Lake City, Utah. He was born in Celina, OH, is 21yrs, 9 months old, occupation is a clerk, he has blue eyes, dark brown hair, fair complexion, and is 5' 11". His regiment was  the 12th infantry D and he was discharged on Jan 13, 07 at Fort Porter, NY. Similar enlistment registers showed that he reenlisted in 1907 and 1912 and was honorably discharged in 1915. According to these registers, his birth year would have been 1883.

There is an Edward Creeden listed on a Return from the Philippines in 1908, but it doesn't give enough personal information to know if this is my Edward. A 1910 Muster Roll of the US Marine Corp lists an Edward Creeden in Puget Sound, WA, but again, it is hard to tell if this is the same Edward. However, in the US Census for 1910, there is an Edward "Creedman" in the Marine Barracks at Puget Sound, WA. He is listed as 28 years old, born in Ohio, with an Irish father and mother born in Ohio. This fits my Edward even though the age is off a bit, but still hard to tell if it's the same Edward.

Here's where it gets really interesting! This record shows an Edward Creeden enlisting in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces on August 31, 1917. He was born on April 10, 1884, which matches my Edward's birth date. It lists his current residence as Minneapolis, Minnesota and his birthplace as Erie, Ontario, Canada. His next of kin is listed as his brother, Charles Creeden. Charles is my great-grandfather and he named his first son Carl Edward. But.... It also gives the residence of Charles as Company D, 9th infantry, US Army. As far as I know Charles never served in the military and his obituary made no mention of it, although he did register in the WWI draft in June, 1917. This record says that Edward has never served in any military forces and his occupation is given as a painter.

The physical description says he is 5' 11", blue eyes, brown hair, dark complexion and is Roman Catholic. I noticed that his complexion changed from fair to ruddy on the US Army Enlistment Registers, so if he was an outdoor painter, it would make sense that his complexion had darkened. Otherwise, the physical description and religion fits. So, is this my Edward? If so, he lied about his former military experience and possibly about his birthplace and his brother Charles' military experience. Very curious!

There is an Edward Creeden, age 35, born in Ohio listed in the 1920 census for Sedgwick, Kansas, with Irish parents. That doesn't quite fit, but could be Edward. The last mention I have of Edward is in his mother Mary Ann's obituaries on her death in 1925. The obituary from Celina, OH says that Edward is living in Briggs, CA and the one from Lima, OH mentions "Edwin" of Kansas City. I have been unable to find any other records on Edward.

I know more information can be ordered on the Canadian records at Library and Archives Canada, but would they shed any light on whether or not this was the correct Edward? I can see that I have more to investigate here! Would love to hear comments or suggestions from anyone with experience with military records.

Updating to add that I just found an interesting record for an Edward Creeden on the National Archives site. There's that 04/10 birthdate again, but 1882! This matches the 1910 census listing Edward Creeden in Puget Sound in the Marine Corps.

Creeden Edward -- [Date of Birth] 04/10/1882, [Service Number] 000041480, [Date of Enlistment] 01/26/1910
ARC Identifier 2250588 / Local Identifier MC20296005

Textual Records from the Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. U.S. Marine Corps. Personnel Management Division. (ca. 1947 - )

Daniel Creeden - Sunday's Obituary

Daniel Creeden was born on April 29, 1877 in Clinton County, Ohio to Timothy Creeden and Mary Ann Matson. Timothy was my gg-grandfather. Daniel was married to Lena Gleagall and they had two children together, Ned and Ida Belle. Both children died young and Lena and Daniel divorced. Daniel was a deputy sheriff when my great-grandfather Charles Creeden was sheriff of Mercer County, Ohio. I don't know much about Daniel's life after that, but it appears that he stayed in Mercer County.

From the Lima News in Ohio, March 22, 1962:

          DANIEL CREEDEN
  CELINA - Daniel Creeden, 84, Rt. 2, Elida, died Wednesday at the Colonial Rest Home in Rockford.
  He was born April 29, 1877 in Clinton County.
  He is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Harvey Stout, of Celina, and Mrs. Julia Balleweg of Pueblo, Colo.; a brother, Joshua of Pontiac, Mich.
  He was a member of the Presbyterian Church.
  Funeral services will be at Vale and Stein Funeral Home Friday at 10 a.m., Rev. Dale Withers officiating. Burial will be in North Grove Cemetery.
  Friends may call at the funeral home after 6 p.m. today.

Rohrer - Surname Saturday

Anna Rohrer Niehaus in 1899

My Rohrer family comes from Ellwangen, Germany and eventually settled in Mercer County, Ohio. It has been one of the more difficult lines to research due to the many variations on spellings of the names.

In 2004, I ordered the Social Security application for my great-grandmother Anna Niehaus Creeden. Her mother's maiden name was listed as Rohrer which was the first I'd heard of this surname in my family. I attempted to do some online searches, but didn't turn up too much. The picture to the left was in my father's collection and was labeled Grandma Niehaus, 1899. Anna Rohrer married Henry Niehaus on January 25, 1881 and they were married until his death in 1923.

In 2005, a Niehaus cousin Marj B. found a funeral card for Anna Rohrer. The card states that she was born in Philadelphia, PA on July 13, 1851 and died in Celina, Ohio on Oct. 28, 1938 at the age of 87 years, 3 months and 15 days. I ordered Anna's death certificate which confirmed these dates and added her parents names: Walburger Fisher and John Rohrer, both from Germany. Anna's death certificate had been listed under Anna Niehans, so yet another name variation.

Even using various spelling variations, I wasn't having any luck locating the Rohrers in the census records, so tried searching for Walburger or Wallburger with no last name.  Finally, some success, but again, different names!

1860 census, Saint Marys, Auglaize, Ohio

Name                Age
William Gisler     62
Walburga Gisler  42
Albert Gisler       13
William Gisler       9
Anna Gisler        10
Henry Gisler        8
John Gisler          4

Walburga's birthplace is shown as Wuerttemberg, Germany. All of the children have that with dittos, except for the youngest (John) which says Ohio. The last names were all just written as dittos too. Walburga had remarried to William Gisler and possibly had more children.

1870 census, Saint Marys, Auglaize, Ohio
Name                 Age
Wallburger Rees 53
Albert Rees        22
Anna Rees         19
William Rees      18
Henry Rees        17
John Gisler         14

This time, it shows Wallburger and Albert's birthplace as Prussia, Anna's as Pennsylvania and the others as Ohio. The last names are just dittos again except for John Gisler. William Gisler died in the 1860's, so it looks like Walburga is using the Rohrer name again.

Marj located birth records for the children of Anna and Henry Niehaus that spelled Anna's maiden name as Rear. With that clue, I was able to find Anna and Albert in the 1880 census, but the name was listed in the index as Bear! The 1880 census for Jefferson Township of Mercer County, Ohio lists Anna Rear, age 24 living with her brother Albert. Anna is listed as being born in PA and her parents were born in Baden, Germany. By now, we were pretty sure that we had the correct Anna and that she had a brother Albert. We wanted to know more about Albert's origins in Germany.

Family Search's IGI records has this listing for an Albert Roehrer:

Birth: 02 DEC 1847      
Christening: 05 DEC 1847 Sankt Vitus Katholisch, Ellwangen, Jagstkreis, Wuerttemberg

His parents were listed as Albert Roehrer and Waldburg Fischer. The next question was whether or not this Albert Roehrer was the same one we saw in other records as John Rohrer. Everything else here seemed to fit and if it was the right Albert, this gave us a church and birthplace. There is also a marriage record listed for Waldburg Fischer and Albert Roehner on 19 OCT 1846  at Sankt Vitus Katholisch, Ellwangen, Jagstkreis, Wuerttemberg.

Another possible record is from a passenger list:
Ship: "Zurich"
Date: Arrived New York 3 May 1849
On board: Albert Roher aged 39 born about 1810
Wallburga Roher aged 20 born abt 1829
Albert Roher (9 months old) born abt 1848

Marj made a trip to Germany and stopped in Ellwangen to research records at the St. Vitus Church. She was able to confirm that Albert John was the correct Rohrer and the father of Anna's brother Albert. This has really been a joint research effort and required both online and on site resources. Thanks to Marj for all the information she has provided!

Restaurants - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #16

This is a weekly challenge from GeneaBloggers called 52 weeks of personal genealogy history.

Week 16. Restaurants. What was your favorite local restaurant as a child? Where was it located, and what was your favorite meal? Did you know the staff personally? What is your favorite restaurant now?

My favorite restaurant was Sand Point Inn in Titusville, Florida. It was located next to the Titusville Marina and was a very popular place for many years there. Their specialty was fresh Florida seafood and my favorite was the rock shrimp. The restaurant had a wonderful view of the marina and Indian River and it wasn't unusual to see dolphins playing in the water while you dined. My father knew Rodney Thompson, one of the owners.

Rodney and his wife Mary Jean moved on and opened one of my current favorite restaurants, the Dixie Crossroads Seafood Restaurant in Titusville. People come from all over to eat at Dixie Crossroads and it's not unusual for there to be a long waiting line. Sand Point Inn wasn't the same after Rodney left, but was still a nice place to go to for many years. Sadly, it is no longer open and nothing has replaced it in that location.

The entire Thompson family is involved in the seafood business, both in running the restaurant and in harvesting and selling fresh seafood. Rodney's daughter Laurilee was the first lady longline skipper in the southeast and used to provide fish for the restaurant. She is now one of the owners of Dixie Crossroads and it continues to be a popular destination for tourists and locals.

Tuesday's Tip - Removal of Personal Data from Ancestry.com

Some time ago, I had shared my family tree files with a distant cousin researching the same lines. I made a rookie mistake and shared my entire tree with her with the request that she not publish it. The tree contained my notes, speculations, and information on living members of my family, including myself.

I was quite surprised when I did a search on Ancestry.com's trees and my own data came up! Not only was my personal information online, but somehow the data included two of my email addresses. I contacted my cousin and she said she had answered "yes" when her family tree software asked her if she wanted to publish the tree. She said she made an attempt to remove the data, but was unsuccessful.

I sent Ancestry.com an email about removing the data and received this response:

All requests to have information or data removed from our website are handled by our Executive Office department. These requests should be sent to by email to customersolutions@ancestry.com requesting that the information be removed.

Note: Please include in the following information so we can better serve your request.

Your email address
The URL address to the page in which the information appears
Specify which portion of the page you would like to have removed

I provided my information as requested and then received a response that I needed to provide a scanned copy of my driver's license:

In order to complete the verification process for record removal, we ask that you provide the following information:

 

·         A copy of your driver’s license, passport, or another government issued document.  (Note: you may cross out your Driver’s License number or Social Security number. We will shred the provided identification after the verification process has been completed.)

The information on my driver's license (name, address, birth date) was already online in the family tree, so I went ahead and provided a copy of my driver's license with the number blacked out. I received a quick response that said my information had been removed. I searched Ancestry's trees to be sure and the information was gone.

I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly Ancestry.com responded to my request. This won't prevent me from sharing family tree data with others in the future, but I will certainly be more cautious with personal data!

Idabelle Creeden Stout - Sunday's Obituary

Idabelle Stout was one of my gg-grandfather Timothy Creeden's daughters. I have been tracking down the obituaries of Timothy's children, in the hopes that there might be some clues about Timothy's origins or family. No luck with that so far, but they have provided more information on his children.

From the Lima News in Ohio, May 2, 1974:

                    Idabell Stout
   Celina - Mrs. Idabelle Stout, 82, died at 2 a.m. Wednesday in Total Care Nursing Home.
   Surviving are a son, Robert of St. Henry; a daughter, Mrs. Jerome (Joan) Keefrey of Phoenix, Ariz; and four grandchildren.
   Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday in Immaculate Conception Church, Rev. Louis Ogreihag? officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery.
   Friends may call at the W.H. Dick and Sons Funeral Home from 7 to 9 tonight.




Sunday’s Obituary is an ongoing series developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.

Sports - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #15

This is a weekly challenge from GeneaBloggers called 52 weeks of personal genealogy history.

Week 15. Sports. Did you have a favorite sports team as a child? If so, which one and why. Did your parents follow the same teams? Do you still support the same teams?

The Miami Dolphins were the only professional sports team in Florida when I was growing up and it seemed like the entire state went crazy for them during their undefeated season in 1972. My Mom's sister and her family lived in Miami and they used to come up to our house to watch the games when they were blacked out in Miami. The entire family rooted for them back then, but my Mom and Aunt were the the biggest fans.

The other teams we rooted for were the Astronaut War Eagles high school football team and later, the Florida State Seminoles. My Mom is still a rabid Dol-Fan and I still root for the Seminoles.

Carl Edward Creeden - Wednesday's Child

Carl Edward Creeden was born on June 10, 1908 to Charles and Anna Creeden of Celina, OH. He was their first child and died four years later on September 16, 1912 of meningitis. He is buried in Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Celina next to his parents. Thanks to Marj B. for sending me the picture of the tombstone. Carl is also pictured in the left picture on my blog header.

Carl Edward Creeden grave in St Mary's Catholic Cemetery

Wednesday’s Child is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites. Post photos of gravestones of children. A sad topic indeed but posts can give life to the stories of these young souls. This has been an ongoing series by Amy at Gravestoned.

Creeden and Fischer - Sunday's Obituary

I've been trying to track down obituaries of my gg-grandfather Timothy Creeden's children in the hopes that they would shed some light on Timothy. So far, I'm not having much luck with that! I know his oldest daughter Mary Elizabeth moved to Los Angeles, CA with her husband George Fischer. This death notice in the LA Times lists a Mary Fischer, age 56 that died in August 1930. The age fits, but I didn't find an obituary. While I was searching, I did locate short obituaries for her husband and one of her children, listed below.

LA Times, August 16, 1930

LA Times, Dec 15, 1937

George J. Fischer, beloved father of Godfrey J. Fischer and Mrs. Beatrice Weddell; grandfather of Jack and Jimmy Fischer, Paul and Joyce Weddell.
Funeral arrangement later by Snyder's Southwest Funeral Home.

LA Times, May 15, 1958

Fischer, Godfrey J. beloved husband of Helen Fischer, father of Jack and James Fischer, brother of Beatrice Weddell. Recitation of the Rosary tonight, 8 p.m., at the chapel of Smith & Salsbury, funeral directors, Culver City. Mass Friday, 9 a.m., at St. Augustines Catholic Church.

Spring - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #14

Week 14. Spring. What was spring like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc.

Growing up in Central Florida, the start of spring marked the end of cooler weather. Spring here usually starts out with high temperatures in the upper 70's and ends with temperatures in the 90's. Spring can be very stormy with fronts coming through and even occasional tornadoes. When we were growing up, spring meant the end of long sleeves and the return of shorts and sandals. While it was sometimes warm enough to go the beach or out in the boat during winter, we went more frequently when spring arrived.

We always had a week long spring break from school and often went to the Florida Keys for boating and swimming. We enjoyed fresh seafood whether or not we caught it ourselves and Key lime pie was a favorite treat. The traditional Key lime pie is made with the small, yellow key limes grown in the Keys and is a custard pie in a graham cracker crust with a meringue topping. Key limes are not green, so the pie shouldn't be either!