Tombstone Tuesday - Tombstone, AZ

One of the places we visited on our road trip out west was the Boothill Graveyard in Tombstone, AZ. There are graves of some famous and infamous people in Western lore and some not so famous that were killed for unusual reasons such as someone not liking the color of their shirt. Some of the gravestones are humorous and it's the only cemetery where I've seen the distinction of being legally hanged vs. hanged by mistake! The sign below welcomes you to the cemetery.

1878 Welcome to Boothill Graveyard
Buried here are the remains of:
Tom McLaury        Killed in Earp-
Frank McLaury     Clanton Battle
Billy Clanton           Oct. 26, 1881
Dan Dowd, Red Sample, Bill DeLaney, Dan Kelly & Tex Howard hanged legally by J.E. Ward, Sheriff, for Bisbee Massacre, Mar. 8, 1884. John Heath lynched by Bisbee Mob Feb. 22, 1884.
Mr. Peel murdered in Charleston March 8, 1882.
Geo. Johnson hanged by mistake.
Dutch Annie, Indian Bill, Quong Kee, Charley Storms, Les Moore, Mashal White, 3 Fingered Jack Dunlap, Bronco Charley, Red River Tom shot by Ormsby.

Men legally hanged on Mar 8, 1884

                My personal favorite:
                                                                                          Here Lies 
                                                                                          Lester Moore
                                                                                          Four Slugs 
                                                                                          From a 44
                                                                                          No Les
                                                                                          No More

Childhood Hobby - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #38

Week 38. Hobbies. Did you have any hobbies as a child? Which ones?

I was in the Girl Scouts in 6th grade and used some of my hobbies to earn badges. I received a stamp album with some starter stamps one Christmas when I was in elementary school and continued to collect stamps for a few years. Who knows, maybe there's a hidden treasure in my old stamp album! Probably not, but I had a lot of fun with it.

Other hobbies were reading, photography, fun in the water, camping, hiking, ballet, tap, and jazz dance, and playing the recorder and oboe.

My badges pictured from top left to right are Collector, Reader, Hospitality, Housekeeper, My Camera, Observer, Water Fun, Troop Camper, and Gypsy.

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

Solomon Sparks - Sunday's Obituary

This article about the death of Solomon Sparks was published in the Denton Journal in Maryland on Dec 17, 1881. Chestertown is the county seat of Kent County, MD. My Sparks family is from nearby Queen Anne's County, MD, but I don't know if there is a direct connection. I could not find the death notice mentioned in the article or an actual obituary, but it is interesting that this story was published.

Tuesday's Tip - New Records coming on IrishGenealogy.ie

IrishGenealogy.ie posted a news update on their site with a promise of new records for the Diocese of Cork and Ross available on Oct. 4. This site has church records available now for County Kerry, County Carlow, and Dublin city. A subset of the Cork and Ross records are already available on the site. If you have Irish ancestors from those areas, it's definitely worth a look and it's free.

Here is the update from IrishGenealogy:
The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is pleased to
announce the addition of further Roman Catholic records of Baptism,
Marriage and Burial for Dublin City, County Cork (Diocese of Cork and
Ross) on Tuesday, 4th October 2011. A further subset of Roman Catholic
Church records for County Monaghan will also be added in the near
future. Further updates will be announced closer to this date. Posted
16th September 2011.

I keep hoping I'll find some evidence of my Timothy Creeden being born in County Cork. I looked on a map at the Diocese of Cork and Ross and I suspect my Timothy was born north of there, but I don't know for sure. I'll be looking just in case on October 4th!

Earliest Memory - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #37

Week 37. Earliest Memory. What is your earliest memory?

Hiking in TN with my Dad

When I was a few months old, we moved from Florida to Knoxville, Tennessee. We moved back to Florida right after I turned 4, so my earliest memories are from when we lived in Tennessee. I remember a few things, but it is hard to say which one was the earliest. One thing I don't remember is the hike pictured to the left!

My father took some pictures of me outside after it snowed and I remember posing for the pictures. He had me shake some snow off a branch and I remember how cold and icy it was. Another early memory is from what was probably our last Christmas in Knoxville when I was 3. I heard a strange noise and came downstairs to find my father inflating what was to become Dino the Dinosaur!

One strange memory is of a bad dream. I was still in a toddler's bed with the crib rail bars up around it and in the dream some clown kind of character was trying to get in past the bars. It was probably from something I saw on TV. I can still picture the clown and he was holding some kind of mallet. I don't remember having a fear of clowns, but I could understand why some kids do!

My sister became ill after she was born and I can remember the chaos of taking her to the hospital. I had a teddy bear with me and a stranger was talking to me about the bear while my parents dealt with the hospital staff.

A favorite early memory is of my first Ferris wheel ride. My father took me up in it and I was a bit scared at first, but could see that he wasn't scared at all. I remember this Ferris wheel as being huge, but it most likely was a fairly typical one. I have loved rides like that and views from high places ever since!

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

Remembering 9/11

Ten years ago today, I was getting ready to go out the door to work in Florida and went over to turn off my clock-radio. The DJ's tone of voice changed and he said if you were near a TV, you might want to turn it on. He said a plane had hit one of the World Trade Centers, but they didn't have many details yet.

I remembered that a small plane had hit the Empire State Building a long time ago and I was thinking it must have been an accident like that due to fog or bad weather. When I turned on the TV, I was shocked to see blue skies and the size of the damage. The news reporters were trying to make sense of what had just happened and whether it was an accident or on purpose. Then the second plane came around and hit the second tower. There was shock and horror in the reporters voices as everyone realized that this was an attack and that we had just witnessed the killing of many people on live TV.

I went on to work while listening to the radio in the car. Everyone at work was in shock and watching the internet sites for updates.They put a TV in a conference room for people that wanted to watch, but most of us just hunkered down in our offices and watched from there. The horrific reports kept coming in with the Pentagon being hit, the towers falling, and another plane down in Pennsylvania. I went home in the afternoon and saw armed military guards at the gates of some of the companies near where I worked. I got caught up in the traffic of the university as they evacuated, but made it home without too much delay.

The next day was one of fear and uncertainty. Was it over or were there more attacks to come? What was our response going to be? As more news came out at work, I found out that one of our employees was killed in the Pentagon and one member of our project team had been in the air after taking off from Boston around the same time as the hijacked planes. His plane was grounded in North Carolina and he had to drive the rest of the way to Florida.

One thing I remember in the days that followed was how quiet it was without any planes in the sky. I'm not close to the airport, but it is a very busy one and there is a fairly constant background noise of planes overhead. I never really noticed it until it wasn't there and it was a welcome noise when the planes started flying again.

As more details of the events came out, there was hope in the stories of heroism of  the passengers on Flight 93, the rescue teams in the Twin Towers, the survivors and many others. Today is a day to reflect on the many innocent lives lost, the heroes of that day, and the heroes in our public service and military forces that continue the fight against senseless acts of terrorism.

Tombstone Tuesday - Pearl Lena Chilcutt Henry

Pearl Lena Chilcutt Henry

Pearl was my great-grandmother and her first husband was my great-grandfather Eugene Willis. She was the daughter of George Chilcutt and Kate Covey and was born in Talbot County, MD. She is buried in Edgewood Cemetery in Delaware County, PA.

Road Trip - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #36

Week 36: Road Trips. Describe a family road trip from your childhood. Where did you go and why? Who was in the car? How did you pass the time?

I could probably write a book on all of the road trips my family took, but one trip is known in my family as "The Trip". We had a small poptop camper and in 1974, we took off in June for a 3 1/2 week trip that started in Florida and spanned several National Parks and many other interesting places. We had never ventured west before, so this was a chance to see many new and different places.

Our well-traveled camper

On travel days, we were up really early and sometimes covered a few hundred miles in a day. My parents, my sister and I had setting up and taking down the camper down to a 5 minute activity where each of us took care of one part of the camper. My Dad was asked at one campground how he "trained" us to do that! We passed the time by looking at the different scenery, playing car games like the old Car Bingo, and sometimes taking naps to make up for the early starts.

Approximate route for The Trip

We started the trip in Florida and headed up to the Panhandle and I-10. Our first major stop was New Orleans, LA where we spent a day touring the sights in New Orleans and had dinner at Antoine's. While we enjoyed New Orleans, the campground we stayed at in Slidell, LA is remembered for the mosquitoes!

Mom in White Sands

We continued west and hit Houston at rush hour (oops!). My Dad had always wanted to see The Alamo, so our next destination was San Antonio, TX. We were a bit surprised that it was in the middle of the city and very small, but it was interesting to see.

Once we got through Texas, we entered into one of the most interesting stretches in the trip. In New Mexico, we toured Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands National Monument and went through Albuquerque and Taos.

In Arizona, we saw the Grand Canyon, Oak Creek Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and Tombstone. Then it was on to Utah, where we visited the gorgeous Zion National Park. We went as far west as Las Vegas and debated going to California, but decided we wouldn't have enough time to see everything still on our list.

Old Faithful in Yellowstone

We continued north to Wyoming and saw Yellowstone National Park and the beautiful Grand Teton National Park.

Grand Teton National Park

We didn't have any reservations anywhere and only encountered a problem finding a place on the July 4th weekend when we were in Cheyenne, WY. We finally found a campground that was out of official sites, but let us and many others park out in a large empty lot. We didn't realize how many others were out there until we got up the next morning and were sure glad we had found the place. From there we headed into Colorado.

My parents at Pikes Peak, CO

One of the highlights in Colorado was going to the summit of Pikes Peak. The car ride was a bit more than we bargained for with steep drop offs and sharp turns. The view from the top was worth it though and a surprise for us Floridians was to see some snow on the ground in July! We made it as far north as the Badlands and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota before starting the long trip back south. This post could go on forever, so I've only listed some of the highlights from the trip. It was certainly a trip that we'll never forget!


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

Wedding - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #35

Week 35. Wedding. Tell us about your wedding. You may also talk about your future wedding, the wedding of a relative or shape this question to fit your own life experience.

Since I haven't been married and have no future wedding in sight (maybe some day!), I'm going to use this post to update the list of marriage records that I have for my ancestors:

My newest records are for my Rohrer family and were sent by Marj B. from her recent trips to Germany and Celina, OH. Thanks so much to Marj for sending these!

GGG-Grandparents Albert Rohrer to Walburga Fischer on Oct 18, 1846. Church record from St. Vitus Church in Ellwanger, Germany. Albert and Walburga had 2 children: Albert and Anna. Anna was my great-great-grandmother.

Another marriage for Walburga: Wilhem Gessler to Walburga Rohrer on August 23, 1854 in Celina, OH.

Other marriage records I have are:

Grandparents Royce Councill to Edna Willis, Marriage Certificate
June 13, 1925 in Chestertown, MD

Grandfather Robert Creeden to Anna Lee Pulskamp, picture on their wedding day, dated December 27, 1930

Grandfather Robert Creeden to 2nd wife Hilda Kleinhenz, Marriage License
August 19, 1937, Certificate from Wapakoneta, Auglaize County, OH
Newspaper clipping says they were married on August 24, 1937 in Cleveland, OH

Great-grandparents Charles Creeden to Anna Niehaus, Church Record
November 27, 1907, Immaculate Conception Church, Celina, OH

Great-grandparents George Pulskamp to Mary Gast, Newspaper clipping of their 50th anniversary celebration on August 21, 1949, in Celina, OH (Marriage assumed to be August 1899.)

Great-grandparents Eugene Willis to Pearl Chilcutt
1930 census - 1st marriage for Eugene about 1904

Great-grandparents John Wesley Councill to Ariana Sparks
Feb 2, 1887, Maryland - Public Family Trees
1900 census says they were married 18 years, 1910 says 23

Great-great-grandparents Samuel Sparks to Susan Godwin
Index to Queen Anne's County, MD Marriage Records, July 16, 1849, Rev. Sumption

Great-great-grandparents Francis Councill to Mary Ann Meredith/Merridith
Index to Queen Anne's County, MD Marriage Records, July 8, 1840, Rev. Larkins

Great-great-grandparents Timothy Creeden to Mary Ann Matson, Marriage License and Court Record, December 10, 1868, Clinton County, OH

Great-great-grandparents George Chilcutt to Kate Covey
1930 census - 1st marriage for Kate around 1878

Great-great-grandparents William Martin Willis to Ruth Edna Adams
January 25, 1859, Delaware Marriage Record

GGG-Grandparents Samuel Godwin to Ann Davis
Index to Queen Anne's County, MD Marriage Records, March 23, 1824, Rev. Crouch

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

Military Monday - WWI Gold Star Mothers

In 1929, the US Congress authorized pilgrimages to European cemeteries for mothers and widows of WWI soldiers who were buried there. Details about the pilgrimages are included in the Burial Case files for the soldier and can be obtained from NARA. (See the Burial Case File for Julius King Councill for details on the records included in a burial case file and how to order them.)

This article was published in the Lima News in Ohio on Sept. 7, 1930 and gives a few details on one of the pilgimages. My Gast family lived in Mercer County, Ohio.

          Golden Star Mother Home From France
   Coldwater, Sept. 6 - Mrs. Gast, of Chickasaw, Mercer county's only Gold Star mother to make the pilgrimage to France this year, is home with a treasure of memories of her eventful trip. She has nothing but praise for the way the government arranged for their every comfort and convenience.
   At the largest American cemetery in France near Romagne, she visited the grave of her son, Leo J. Gast, who as a private in the 16th infantry of the First Division was killed during the Meuse-Argonne offensive Oct. 9, 1918. Each mother or widow was furnished with a wreath of flowers to be placed on the grave. Guides, many of them furnished by Paris Post of the American Legion, conducted them to the various cemeteries and gave them much information about the battle sectors thru which they passed. The mothers showed great interest in the military maneuvers in which their sons played a part.