Sunday's Obituary - Father George Hindelang

From the October 17, 1945 edition of the Lima News in Ohio:

  Father George Hindelang

  CELINA, Oct. 17 -- Father George Hindelang, 77 pastor of the Immaculate Conception parish here, died Monday afternoon in St. Elizabeth's hospital in Dayton, following a week's illness.
   He was born at Kimrathshofen, Bavaria, and came to America at the age of 17. He received his education in St. Mary's Novitiate at Burkettsville and at St. Charles Seminary at Carthagena and was ordained in June, 1893. He is survived by a number of relatives in Germany and several nieces, one of which, Mrs. William Kraenzler, is of New York City.
  The body will remain at St. Charles Seminary in Carthagena and a solemn funeral mass will be sung in the Seminary chapel, at 10 a.m. Thursday. Burial will be in the Fathers of the Precious Blood cemetery in Carthagena.

Father Hindelang was pastor of the Immaculate Conception Church in Celina, Ohio for many years. He celebrated his Sacerdotal Golden Jubilee there on June 21, 1943 and shows up in many of my family's church records as the officiating pastor.

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

Wednesday's Child - James E. Creeden

James Creeden was the son of my great-great-grandparents, Timothy and Mary Ann Matson Creeden. He died on Oct. 3, 1889 at the age of 17 in Hopewell Township, Mercer County, Ohio. He was their oldest living child and died of typhoid fever. James was listed as a farmer in an index for Mercer County, so he probably worked on the family's farm in Hopewell.

The gravestone shows that James' middle initial is "E" and Timothy's is "C". I hadn't seen a middle initial for Timothy anywhere, so this is a little bit of new information. These photos were posted on FindAGrave and are reposted here with permission.

                                                               JAMES E.
                                                                SON OF
                                                              T.C. & M.A.
                                                              CREEDEN
                                                                   DIED
                                                              Oct. 3 1889
                                                                  AGED
                                                              17Y. 11M. 3D.

There is more writing under the age, but it is difficult to make out. The first part is possibly "Weep not father and mother for me..."

Wednesday's Child is an ongoing series by Amy at Gravestoned.

Mystery Monday - First Cousins?

My great-great-grandparents Mary Ann Matson and Timothy Creeden were married in December 1868 in Clinton County, Ohio.

On the marriage license, part of it states "not nearer in kin than second cousins". The second is crossed out and first is written above it.

I am puzzling over how Timothy and Mary could be first cousins. Timothy was born in Ireland in 1846 according to all of the records I have on him and statements from my great-grandfather about Timothy's origins. If they are first cousins in the strictest sense, they must share at least one grandparent.

Mary's parents were Asa Matson (1810-1864) and Dolly Clevenger (born about 1808). Asa was born in Virginia and Dolly was born in Ohio. I do not know who Timothy's parents were.

Asa's parents were said to be John Matson (born 1758 in VA, died 1842 in Clinton County, OH) and Nancy Ann Clevenger (born 1752 in VA, died 1834 in Clinton County, OH). They were married in 1775 in Virginia. Their graves in Ohio have their age at time of death which seems to confirm their years of birth.

Dolly's parents were Aden/Adon Clevenger (born 1778 in VA, died 1853 in Clinton County, OH) and Sarah Beadles (1781 in VA, died in Clinton County, OH). They were married in 1801 in VA. Aden married Elizabeth Crouse in 1816.

In order for Timothy and Mary to be first cousins, either a sibling of either Asa or Dolly would have to be one of Timothy's parents or perhaps one of Timothy's grandmothers married into the families after Timothy's parents were born. There are several mysteries here:

• All of the siblings were born in VA and OH, so if one of them is Timothy's mother, how could he be born in Ireland?
• I have found marriages listed for all of the siblings and there is not a Creeden in any of them with any spelling (Creedon, Creedan, Credon, Credan, etc.). Could a second marriage be involved? If Timothy was born in Ireland and his mother later remarried into the Matson or Clevenger families, would that still count as a first cousin relationship for Timothy and Mary?
• Asa's mother Nancy Clevenger Matson would have been about 58 when she gave birth to Asa. That seems pretty unlikely, so are the dates or the relationship wrong? If John and Nancy are Asa's grandparents, that would leave a place where one of Timothy's grandmothers could have married into these families. This might be the most likely possibility.
• Could the first cousin relationship be once removed and be tied to one of Asa's or Dolly's grandparents? I do not know the names or origins of John Matson's parents or Sarah Beadles' mother. That still doesn't work for the Creeden name to be passed to Timothy unless there was a second marriage involved.

Obviously, more proof of all these relationships is needed. Creeden is not that common, but there seem to be a lot of them in Clinton County, Ohio during that time period. I have yet to be able to relate any of them to my Timothy, so I would love to hear from anyone researching these families!

Week 18 - Historical Books - 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy

Week 18: Historical Books: This week we're going to shine the spotlight on other historical books that benefit the genealogy field. Do you have a favorite book that falls into this category? What makes this book special to you? How can other genealogists benefit from its content?

One of my favorite historical books is the Mercer County, Ohio History 1978, edited by Joyce Alig. Joyce was the Directory of the Mercer County Historical Museum and currently writes a history column called Our Old Bookcase for the local newspapers there. The book is close to 1000 pages long and contains histories of the county, details on each township and many biographies and pictures. There are quite a few mentions of my ancestors and I refer to it whenever I'm looking into a new name or subject. I always seem to discover something new.

The book is available in several Ohio libraries and sometimes comes up for sale on eBay or Amazon. Abebooks and other used book stores would also be a good place to check. The earlier Mercer County histories for 1882 and 1907 are available online through Heritage Pursuit. This is a subscription site, but is available for free to members of the Ohio Genealogy Society.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2012) that invite genealogists and others to discuss resources in the genealogy community including websites, applications, libraries, archives, genealogical societies and more.

Week 16: Tech Toys - 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy

Week 16: Tech Toys: Genealogists love their technology toys! Which tech gadget do you appreciate the most?  How has this tool enhanced your family history experience? Would you recommend it to others?

My scanner is the gadget that I couldn't live without for genealogy. I've used it to scan and share many photographs and documents. I have a nice memory of scanning in old family photographs with my Dad and hearing his stories about them as we scanned them in. The scanner is also an important tool for making backup copies of the paper documents that I've collected over the years. I can't recommend this particular scanner since it's an older Primax model that's not available anymore, but I definitely recommend having a scanner in your collection of tech toys!

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2012) that invite genealogists and others to discuss resources in the genealogy community including websites, applications, libraries, archives, genealogical societies and more.