This week we take a look at the lineage of the Fisher surname as it pertains to my family’s history on the Fitzgerald side.  I have tried to research on this family line with very little luck.  Outside of recording the family group sheets that my father created in the early 1980’s, there isn’t much for us to go on.  It is such a common name in Indiana in this time frame that I get lost in all the various families that could be matches.  Most of the information below was provided by my great-grandmother, Jennie Mae Fisher.

Earliest Known Ancestor

We know that Samuel M. Fisher came from an area of Ohio that was near the Ohio River.  He was a very strict man, and kicked his children out of the house when they turned 14 years old.  Samuel was a veteran of the Civil War.  His family possibly came from Ireland or Germany, we are not sure which.

My great-grandmother Jennie Mae Fisher told my father that her grandfather, Samuel M. Fisher, was born around 1827 in Ireland or maybe Pennsylvania.  He died sometime before Nov 1898 in North Carolina.  Sometime around 1852 he married Susannah Hale in Columbiana, Ohio.  I think she found this information with the LDS Church in the 1970’s.  I have found it on FamilySearch.org, and my research has show this to be totally incorrect.

I believe my 3rd great-grandfather, Samuel M. Fisher, was born in 1821 in Pennsylvania and died on 15 February 1901 in Wells County, Indiana.  His wife Susannah Hale was born in 1822 in Ohio and died in 1883 in Indiana.  They are buried in Nottingham Cemetery in Wells County, Indiana.  I also believe they were married on 12 Nov 1839 in Jefferson County, Ohio.

Samuel and Susannah had the following children: Frances (Frank) Fisher, Tom W. Fisher, Joe Fisher, William Green Fisher, Anna Fisher, Emeline Fisher, Addeline Fisher and Jane fisher.

Thier son, William Green Fisher, was my 2nd great-grandfather.  He rolled logs down the Ohio river during his early life.  He hunted and trapped a lot in the Columbiana area.  William had 4 children from a previous marriage: Ida F (Douglas Clemens) Fisher, Ethel Fisher, Delmer Fisher and Melvin Fisher.

William Green Fisher was born 03 Mar 1853 in Columbiana, Ohio.  He died 11 Jul 1918 in Valparaiso, Porter, Indiana.  His wife was my second great-grandmother, May Richards.  The couple married on November 1, 1898 in Hebron, Indiana.  They had four boys (Earl Benjamin, John W., Albert L., Samuel J.) and one girl, my great-grandmother Jennie Mae Fisher.

Lineage for the Fisher Surname (Fitzgerald Side)

Lineage

Jessica Marie Cole > Douglass Lyal Cole > Florence Mae Fitzgerald > Jennie Mae Fisher (1909 – 1993) > William Green Fisher (1853 – 1918) > Samuel M. Fisher (1821 – 1901)

Family Notes

• We know our Samuel Fisher served in the Civil War and that his records are probably found in Indiana.  I’m not positive, but I think I found the Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865 Record for Samuel M Fisher.  The Samuel M. Fisher listed was born in Pennsylvania, age 42 in 1863, and was drafted in the 11th Congressional District of Adams County, Indiana.
• I may also have found the family in the 1880 US Census, but I haven’t found them in ANY other Census years.  Check out the 1880 United States Federal Census Record for Samuel Fisher.

Additional Information

Check out my Ancestry Family Tree for Samuel M. Fisher.

See my Virtual Cemetery for this Fisher family members on Find A Grave

Check out the graves of Samuel M. Fisher and Susannah Hale on Find A Grave.

Request for Birth Date from Helen Stroik

This letter is another family treasure.  On February 8, 1968 my great-grandmother Helena Frances (Goretski) Stroik received this response from the Social Security Administration Office.  Apparently she had written to them asking for the birth date they had on file.  Their response was very clear: “Our records show your date of birth as December 5, 1891.”

Helen didn’t like that response.  On all the family documents we have prior to 1968 and afterwards, she continually stated her birthday was December 5, 1900.

Nine years difference.  Was it such a big deal?  To Helen, it was.

First all, Helen’s father Adam Goretski died in 1893.  If she was his child, there is no way she was born in 1900.

Marriage License Announcement

Another clue is that she was married to her husband Andrew Anton Stroik in September 1906.  I’ve heard of underage marriage, but at five years old?  Sorry Helen, I don’t think so.  It’s even a bit shocking that you were only 14 years 9 months old on your wedding day.

Next there is the whole problem about her having a child when she was eight years old.  Her first son Frank Stroik was born on October 2, 1908.  If Helen was born in December 1891 as the Social Security Administration believed, she would have been sixteen years old when she gave birth to her first child. This makes much more sense than if she were eight.

Grave of Helen F. Stroik

I’ll never understand why she continued to insist that she was born in 1900.

Helen Stroik died in Saginaw, Michigan on May 1, 1982 at the age of 90.  Thirty years later, her grave sits in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Merrill, Michigan as a monument to her unknown age.  While the birth year of 1891 stands correctly, her death year still has not been engraved.  Maybe this is one final, great testament to her unwillingness to share her true age with the public.

I have spent many moons scanning and cataloging images for my family archive.  It contains more than 6,000 images which were all painstakingly dated and fully detailed and tagged with descriptions and locations to the best of my ability.  Documents can be fairly straight forward since many of them contain a date written upon them.  Photographs, however, are often much trickier.

My Mom did an excellent job throughout the years of writing the exact date on the back of our family photos.  I thank her so much for that – it makes sorting and organizing the photos much easier today.  She often wrote the exact date and day of the week on the back of the pictures, which is amazing.

My DaD on the other hand…  he didn’t often write dates on things.  (Sorry DaD, it’s true.)  To his credit, he has tried to go back and write dates on photos decades later, but I have learned to take those dates as a starting point. :)  I recently came across a photo that has his handwriting on the back: “Diane and Carol, 1977?” just above the ink stamp from the developer that shows “June 1980” as the film date…  Thankfully he is getting much better at dating old photographs and has recently helped me to identify many pictures correctly.  Yay DaD!

I often get asked how I date photos, especially when I have no worldly clue when the photo was taken.  There are many books on the subject, including several that target specific time periods and help you identify dates based on clothing, backgrounds, style of portraiture, wardrobe and more.  They can be a priceless resource when trying to identify an ancestor’s photo from the earlier parts of the 20th century.

My mother, Diane

Since I grew up in the 1980’s, most of the pictures of my childhood are not covered in these types of books.  Instead, I have relied a lot on my knowledge of pop culture and family events to help date photos.  As an example, take this lovely picture of my mother.  I offer the following process of elimination which led me to a fairly accurate date for this one:

1. This photo was taken in the living room of the house I grew up in.  I know this because of the curtains behind her.
2. Since I know my mother moved out of our house in August 1987, I can safely assume this photo was taken before then.
3. I know she won the VCR that you can see behind her on top of the television in a radio contest sometime in 1985, so I know it wasn’t 1984 or before.  There’s also a bowling trophy on the TV which I believe she won in 1985 around the same time as the VCR, so that helps confirm the early side of the date spectrum.
4. 

   Close-up of Items

   If you look very closely at the items on the table behind her, you can see what appears to be a sewing kit and a magazine which doesn’t really help me much.

5. On top of the magazine are three heart dangle bracelets, which was a very popular thing for my sister to be wearing in 8th grade which would have been 1985-1986 for her.  This helps confirm my initial thoughts on time frame.
6. Then I realized the book Mom is sitting on is a comic book of the popular strip Cathy.  I inherited it from my sister as a hand-me-down a few years later and read it many times.
   • A little Google search for “cathy comic” led me to Wikipedia’s list of all the Cathy comic books published.
   • Using Google Images, I typed in each of the book titles that were published in the mid-1980’s until I found a book cover that matched the one in the photo: “Sorry I’m Late, My Hair Won’t Start” by Cathy Guisewite.
   • A quick search for that book on Amazon.com told me the book was published on November 12, 1985.  Bingo – my photo had to be taken after that date.  (And while I’m there, in case I feel nostalgic I can apparently pick up another copy for the bargain price of $2.00.)
7. I know my sister received the comic book as a gift.  It must have been received for Christmas 1985 or for her birthday in June 1986.
8. Based on my mother’s choice of long sleeve shirt and jeans, I have to imagine it would have been cold in Michigan when this photo was taken.
9. Based on all of those details, I believe this photo was taken during the first few months of 1986 – after Christmas and before it warmed up in the Spring.

This is a simple example of the types of details I look for in photos to help date them.  Does it matter whether it was taken in January or February or March in 1986?  Not terribly in this case.  I am satisfied with “Early 1986” as the date for this one. In the case of your photo, these extra-sensory detective skills might just make all the difference in the world.

I wish you the best of luck in researching and dating your family photographs!

Obituary for my great Uncle, Roy Allen Fitzgerald. Published in The Times in Valparaiso, Indiana on February 28, 2011.

Obituary for Roy Fitzgerald

ROY FITZGERALD

ROY FITZGERALD.  GRIFFITH, IN Roy Fitzgerald, age 61, passed away Saturday, February 26, 2011 with his loving wife by his side. He is survived by his wife, Susanne (nee Reidelbach); children: Norman Mantel of MA, Kimberly Mantel of NH, Roy Fitzgerald Jr. of CA, Marc (Kristen) Mantel of MA and Ralph (Mia) Fitzgerald of CA; eight grandchildren; several brothers and sisters; and many nieces and nephews. Roy was employed by Arcelor Mittal Steel, and proudly served his country in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam Conflict. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. He will be truly missed by all whose lives he touched. Friends are invited to meet with the family for a celebration of his life on his birthday, March 2, 2011 4:00 PM at the Griffith Baptist Church, 826 Harvey Street Griffith, IN 46319 with Pastor Rob Lemon officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations to the family would be appreciated. www.calumetparkfuneral chapel.com.

Visit my Ancestry Family Tree for Roy Fitzgerald.

This week we take a look at the lineage of the Jarrell and Fitzgerald surnames as they pertain to my family’s history.  I have researched this family extensively and have copies of many original records for the ancestors in this line.

Earliest Known Ancestor

Thomas “The Immigrant” Jarrell, my 9th great grandfather, was born about 1635 in England or Ireland.  There is a large community of researchers out there piecing together the Jarrell family history, none of whom have been able to definitively source the migration of Thomas into the United States.  Thomas was married on May 29, 1661 although sources differ on whom he married: it may have been Joan/Jean Cook, or possibly Margaret Knight.  He died 17 Jul 1713 in Surry County, Virginia.

Lineage

This is one of the few families in my research that divides and merges halfway through the line.  I am descended from one Jarrell family line that splits halfway down.  My second great-grandfather, George Maywood Jarrell (1867 – 1946) married his second cousin Emily Florence Jarrell (1874 – 1945).  Both of them are descended from sons of William Jarrell (1750 – 1818) and Susannah Parks (1751 – 1825).

Paternal Lineage for the Jarrell Family

Maternal Lineage for the Jarrell Family

Paternal Lineage: Jessica Marie Cole > Douglass Lyal Cole > Florence Mae Fitzgerald > Vondall Euart Fitzgerald (1899 – 1978) > George Maywood Jarrell (1867 – 1946) > Lewis Jarrell (1840 – 1900) > Thomas Jarrell (1798 – 1870) > Ansel Jarrell (1774 – 1880) > William Jarrell (1750 – 1821) > Henry Jarrell (1725 – 1818) > John Fitz Jarrell (1722 – 1742) > Thomas Jarrell (1673 – 1741) > Thomas “The Immigrant” Jarrell (1635 – 1713)

Maternal Lineage: Jessica Marie Cole > Douglass Lyal Cole > Florence Mae Fitzgerald > Vondall Euart Fitzgerald (1899 – 1978) > Emily Florence Jarrell (1874 – 1945) > Amos Davis Jarrell (1833 – 1914) > Parks F(itz?) Jarrell (1801 – 1881) > William Jarrell (1750 – 1821) > Henry Jarrell (1725 – 1818) > John Fitz Jarrell (1722 – 1742) > Thomas Jarrell (1673 – 1741) > Thomas “The Immigrant” Jarrell (1635 – 1713)

Items of Interest

• Lewis Jarrell was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War.  He served in the 1st Company B, 5th Kentucky Mounted Infantry.  He enlisted on October 26, 1861 in Prestonburg, Kentucky and was wounded in battle almost immediately. By December 31, 1861 he was listed as sick at home.  Lewis spent the remainder of the war at home in Morgan County, Kentucky.
• At some point between 1920 and 1930, my 2nd great-grandparents George Maywood Jarrell and Emily Florence Jarrell changed their last name to Fitzgerald while living in Porter County, Indiana.  I have not been able to pinpoint the name change to a particular year within the decade.  In 1920 the US Census shows Jarrell, and in 1930 it shows Fitzgerald.  The family did not move from one Census to the next, they simply changed their name.  None of the family knows for sure why they changed it.  Many of George and Emily’s children were born with Jarrell as their surname but changed it to Fitzgerald when their parents did.
• The legend for the name change is that George and Emily believed their ancestors were originally named Fitzgerald and changed the name to Jarrell when they came to the United States “to sound less Irish.”  The story I have always heard is that George and Emily were proud of their Irish heritage and decided to take the name back once and for all.  In all of my research, I have been unable to prove the family came from Ireland.  In fact, many of the Jarrell researchers believe the original surname was always Jarrell and the family came from England, not Ireland.
• Several of the Jarrell family members began changing their last names during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  Some of the variations are Jarrells, Fitzgerald and Gerald.  Many of these families have descended from this same group of ancestors from: Elliott County, Kentucky; Craven County, North Carolina; Surry and Isle of Wight Counties, Virginia.

Additional Information

There are several Jarrell family researchers throughout the country including Linda and Roger Jarrells of Sandy Hook, Kentucky.  This husband and wife duo have worked very hard to preserve the Jarrell family name in Elliott County.  Linda volunteers much of her time with the Elliott County Historical Society which has a vast library including many Jarrell family treasures.

Check out my Ancestry Family Tree for Thomas “The Immigrant” Jarrell.

Check out my Ancestry Family Tree for George Maywood Jarrell/Fitzgerald.

Check out my Ancestry Family Tree for Emily Florence Jarrell/Fitzgerald.

Find A Grave has several Fitzgerald family members in Hebron Cemetery in Porter County, Indiana as well as several Jarrell family members in the Jarrell Family Cemetery in Sandy Hook, Kentucky.

Wedding Portrait for Andrew and Helen Stroik

I beg of you, do not store your family treasures in the basement.  Especially if your basement has a history of flooding.  Most especially, not in a cardboard box.

This is was a beautiful wedding portrait of my great-grandparents Helen Frances Goretski and Andrew Anton Stroik.  The couple was married in Stevens Point, Tipton County, Wisconsin around September 1906.

Unfortunately, I grew up in central Michigan.  My parents kept everything in cardboard boxes in the basement.  Thirty years and many, many floods later I can fully appreciate the significance of their poor storage decision.

This is the only photograph we have identified for certain as Andrew Anton Stroik.  It was peeled off the bottom of a cardboard box after being soaked multiple times in sewage water.

Notes on back of photo:
On the front of photo card are the markings: “Stankowski Studios, Stevens Point, Wis.”
On the back of the photo is a handwritten note: “Andrew Stroik, R2, Hatley”

Agnes Barkley in the Valparaiso High School 1928 Glee Club

Ancestry.com recently added a significant amount of content to their online collection of U. S. School Yearbooks.  I have been able to locate several of my family members throughout the country, but it hasn’t exactly been easy.

Of course, it goes without saying that if you really want to find someone you need to dig deep from every angle.  Here are some tips to help you learn from my trials and errors.

1. Eliminate the first name. I have found that the OCR scanning they used to index the yearbooks is less than optimal.  Many times, my family members are pictured but not listed in the index.  Many of them have been listed with last names only (i.e. “COLE”) or first initial and last name (i.e. “R. FITZGERALD”).
2. Reverse your search. Look for the last name in the first name, and first name in the last name field.  For example, I was looking for my great-grandmother “Agnes Berniece Barkley” but in order to find her, I had to search for “Barkley Agnes” in the index.  In the same yearbook twenty pages later, I found her indexed correctly as “Agnes Barkley” singing as part of the Glee Club!  Make sure you are searching all over the book in case your target person is listed multiple times.
3. Ignore the dates listed for approximate age. Since there are no birth dates or years provided, Ancestry.com has chosen to give the same exact birth year for every student in the entire yearbook. I suggest an index search range of 9-22 years after your ancestor was born for High School yearbooks, and 13-26 years for College yearbooks. In the example provided here, Agnes Barkley’s approximate age is 20 with an approximate birth year of 1908.  She was actually 16 or 17 and was born in 1911.  Take the index birth year with a giant chunk of salt.
4. Locate another photo to help with the group portrait hunts. To find your great-grandmother in a giant group portrait can be difficult.  A lot of the students look alike.  Try searching the rest of the yearbook first to see if there is an individual photograph of her to get an idea of exactly what she looked like.  You might also reference family pictures from the same era for a good place to start.  Eliminate as many people as you can and narrow down your scope for large group photos.  Send a copy of it to relatives in email (or *gasp* send a printout in an actual envelope) and ask for their assistance in locating her in the group shot.  Don’t forget to somehow document where she is once you locate her.  You could store a second copy of the image noting the location in a bright or obvious fashion (like the red circle above) or by cropping her out in a smaller JPG version stored with the original file to make it obvious to the next person generation which student she is.
5. Search all yearbooks in adjacent years. If you’ve found your grandfather in 1934, check out the yearbooks for 1933 and 1935 even if he’s not showing up in the index.  He might be indexed incorrectly or might have used an initial instead of a full name. If you know he was a Sophomore in 1934, look under the Freshman class in 1933 and the Junior class in 1935.  If you’re lucky, he’ll be listed as a Senior in 1936.
6. Don’t cut corners. I suggest you be patient and thumb through the images just like you would look through a real yearbook in your hands.  You might miss an amazing photo treasure that wasn’t indexed.  You might also find other relatives such as cousins, siblings or spouses that you didn’t even know you were looking for.
7. Don’t give up! If your ancestor is not showing up in the search, use the Browse This Collection area (on the right side) to see if there are yearbooks online for the targeted location and general time frame.

If you have any additional tips, I’d love for you to leave a comment below.  Good luck finding your family in this wonderful collection!

– Jessica M. Green

PS: I still can’t believe my great-grandmother was in the Glee Club!  That’s awesome.

James Irvin Weddle with his mother Jane (Cline) Weddle and sister, circa 1860

This week we take a look at the lineage of the Weddle surname as it pertains to my family’s history.  Weddle is a family line I have yet to fully research.  Fortunately for me, Kathy Burns already has.  I began poking around in this line on Thursday evening, and the floodgates opened wide.  We’re talking about a genealogist’s dream come true: Kathy’s tree is incredibly complete, sourced, organized and highly accurate!

Earliest Known Ancestor

James I. Weddle was my 3rd great grandfather.  He was born in 1859 in Ohio.  He married Ida May Gordon on October 23, 1883 in Valparaiso, Indiana.  James died in April 1923.

I can’t take credit for any of the research done prior to James.  All of it comes from the amazing, incredibly organized tree of Kathy Burns mentioned above.  According to her research, the earliest ancestor for this family is my 8th great-Grandfather, Dirick Adam Wedel, born 1690 in Germany.  His son, George Adam Weddell was born 1712 in Weisbach, Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. He died in 1796 in Rostraver, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania.

Weddle Family Lineage

Lineage

Jessica Marie Cole > Douglass Lyal Cole > Duane Lyal Cole (1929 – 1994) > Agnes Berniece Barkley (1911 – 1991) > Ida Eleanor Weddle (1890 – 1926) > James Irvin Weddle (1859 – 1923) > William Weddle (1828 – 1878) > John Weddle (1794 – 1858) > Daniel Weddell (1759 – 1824) > George Adam Weddell (1712 – 1796) > Dirick Adam Wedel (1690 – )

Items of Interest

• The photo shows baby James Irvin Weddle with his mother Jane (Cline) Weddle and presumably one of his older sisters, either Ethelinda or Mary E.  This tin type was captured late 1860 or early 1861, as James was born in December 1859.
• The Weddle family can be found in the 1920 US Census.  James and his wife Ida were renting a home with their son Lemuel.  Washington, Porter, Indiana; Roll: T625_460; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 155; Image: 977.
• According to his headstone, George’s son Daniel Weddell was a Ranger in the Revolutionary War.
• James Brady Weddle, Ida Eleanor’s younger brother, was a very well respected Army Recruiter during World War I in Elkart, Indiana.  GenealogyBank.com has several newspaper articles featuring his recruiting activities in the area, printed in the Elkhart Daily Review (1918-1920).

Additional Information

Check out the Ancestry Family Tree belonging to researcher Kathy Burns.

Check out my Ancestry Family Tree for James Weddle.

See the grave of James and Ida Weddle on Find A Grave.

I would like to research more about William Weddle, to see whether or he served in the Civil War in Ohio or elsewhere.  A quick search finds a record for a possible match to William Weddle.  It looks like I have a Military records request to make!

Enlisted as a Private on 10 October 1861 at the age of 33. Enlisted in Company Batty K, 1st Light Artillery Regiment Ohio on 28 Dec 1861. Received a disability discharge from Company Batty K, 1st Light Artillery Regiment Ohio on 20 Feb 1863 at Fort McHenry, Baltimore, MD.

This article from The Saginaw News shows just what my grandfather Walter Anthony Dreffs was up to at the ripe old age of 19.  The article was published on January 13, 1920, less than three months after Congress had passed the Volstead Act prohibiting the production, sale and transport of intoxicating liquors.

Underage gambling and drinking during Prohibition.  Now that’s a family treasure!  I’m guessing if my Grandpa Dreffs were alive today for me to confront him about it, he would just grin at me and look away.

Arrested for Gambling: Walter Anthony Dreffs

15 FACE CLEMENTS IN JUSTICE COURT MONDAY AFTERNOON

Gambling and Intox Charges Preferred Against Majority.

FOUR GIVEN RELEASE

Still Owner Bound to Circuit Court in Bonds of $3,000.

Fifteen prisoners made up the reception committee that welcomed Justice Arthur Clements home from Canada Monday afternoon, the police court justice, who is also president of the Saginaw baseball club, returning from the annual league meeting at London, Ont., to find the police had pulled two raids Saturday night and Sunday morning, netting 11 of the 15.  It was the biggest assemblage in the police court since the days before prohibition.

Mike Geklinski, owner of the still found in the home of Stanley Reneskewiski, 319 Lowell street, waived examination on the charge of manufacturing liquor, and was bound over to the circuit court for trial.  He was unable to furnish $3,000 bonds, with two sureties, and remained in jail.  Reneskewiski, John Jenis, Walter Maksinowicz and Walter Dreffs were all released by the court of charges of gambling, while Mike Dumon and Walker Zachsuski, taken in the same raid, pleaded guilty to charges of gambling and paid $10 fines.

Informer Gets Fine, Too.

Edward Casper, Ignatz Merko and Mike Campas, taken in the raid Saturday night on the International hotel, pleaded guilty to gaming charges and paid $10 fines.  Ed. McCusky, who informed the police and was jailed on an intox charge, also paid a $10 fine.

Lloyd Campau, intox, third offense, was bound over to circuit court and remanded to jail, being unable to furnish $1,000 bail, with two sureties.

Chester Korgein, who “rough housed” a south side dance, was sent to jail for ten days.

William Delacey pleaded guilty to the larcony of a quantity of wearing apparel from George E. Blake and was given 30 days in the county jail.

An unassuming intox who paid a $5 fine, was the fifteenth prisoner handled.