2020 Report Card
I typically do a “report card” post at the end of each year to see if I met any of my goals or not and to set new goals for the new year. It looks like in 2019 my last post was about Y2K. Hindsight says it was an appropriate post heading into the disaster that was 2020. Hopefully 2021 will improve.
So, let’s roll on back to the 2018 report card and see what happened there. Life is considerably different now. My daughter found her own place and moved out quite some time ago- maybe the summer after the 2018 post was written. By mid-2019 when she moved out, things were still busy and then Covid hit in early 2020. Rather than writing during Covid, I did more research and learning and less writing. Overall numbers- in 2018 I wrote 53 blog posts (phenomenal!). In 2019, I wrote 15 posts but also got all my old blog posts moved over to WordPress- a definite win. In 2020 I wrote 9 posts, 2 of which were for other people outside of my family and 1 of which is not public for reasons I won’t go into here. I’ll take those 9 posts as a win given all we’ve been through during 2020, not to mention the fact that the first 6 months of the year I spent a lot of time learning how to interpret my DNA results which helped a lot through the rest of 2020 and will continue to help into the future. In addition to the blog, I’ve begun offering my services to write stories for other people’s families as a small side business. I’ve done two stories for others so far and have another in the works right now. I’m pretty pleased with how that venture is going.
It looks like I had someone lined up to possibly write a guest post in 2018. I have no idea who that was and the person never wrote the post or I would have certainly passed it along to you. That’s unfortunate. I always enjoy it when others write stories for the blog. I can see in the 2018 post that I planned on using 2019 to unpack and organize records. I did do fairly well with that although there is much left to do in that regard. I’d say I did enough to make it a win in 2019. As far as 2020 goes, I feel like any progress was a win for the disastrous 2020 year. The 9 posts and extensive research I did count as a win in my book.
Looking forward to 2021, I’ll set my goals as follows:
- Continue unpacking and organizing: I’ll continue doing what I started in 2018 and just try to get everything unpacked and sorted out. Pictures and documents also need to be preserved.
- Commit to writing at least 12 blog posts. I’ll be utilizing Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks most likely but will also utilize Genealogy Photo A Day on Instagram for additional inspiration when needed. Sometimes I find plenty of inspiration in what I’m currently researching so I’ll let that guide me as well.
- Ancestral focus: Nicholas REITER (again- yes. His line is the shortest because I can’t seem to get anywhere with it.)
I’m keeping 2021 simple and uncrowded. I think for this year that will work best. We’re heading into uncertain times with the presidential election uproar. I prefer to meet the goals I set so I’m keeping it simple. Also, my childhood best friend just moved back to the area this week and I’m looking forward to having future adventures with her.
I wish you love, success, and happiness in 2021. Happy New Year!
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Header image is courtesy of Jude Beck and can be found at Unsplash.
Open for Business!
Have you ever thought that you’d like to have your own family stories told? If you like the stories I write and you’d like to contract me to write a story for you or a story to give as a gift to someone else, you’re in luck! I’m opening up my services to you. You can contact me to discuss details. Prices will vary based on your request. All stories that I’m hired to write will be password-protected here on my blog unless you decide you want them to be made public.
If you’d like to contract me to write a story about your family, you can leave a comment or send an email through WordPress or Facebook. If you’d like to see the variety of stories I can write, I recommend the following blog posts as examples:
https://honeysuckle-farm.com/2020/06/11/herman-schreiber-patriotic-son-of-the-lighthouse-keeper-and-the-photographer/ – A post I wrote about my son-in-law’s family.
https://honeysuckle-farm.com/2016/05/04/jealousy-and-bad-whiskey-or-dont-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/ – The first in a series of posts telling the story of the murder of one of my distant family members.
https://honeysuckle-farm.com/2018/03/02/albert-bates-fiddle-player-photographer-and-farmer/– An example of a story that was written when not a lot of information is available.
https://honeysuckle-farm.com/2016/03/20/once-upon-a-time/– This story is a little different. It was written about 2 people I know that are related to each other but they don’t know it nor would they want to know it. To keep the peace, people’s identities were kept a secret while the story still got told.
If you have other family history writing projects in mind, feel free to discuss it with me to see if I’m the right writer for your project.
Until the next post,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
A Precarious, Hayes-ian Kind of Year
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
This time last year I was just starting my research for the last blog post I wrote about my Scottish CHAMBERS ancestors. This past weekend I stumbled into a new quest. I was researching the life of President Rutherford Birchard HAYES (whose HAYES family is also Scottish) when I came across a website (Research & Collections – Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums (rbhayes.org)) where I noticed a link to President HAYES’ pedigree chart. I thought it would be fun to look through his ancestral chart and see if I noticed any familiar names. So I popped open both my parents’ charts and pulled up President HAYES’ chart. It didn’t take long to see some familiar names from my mom’s chart which was very exciting. What was even more exciting is what I found out next.
Before you begin reading though, let’s talk about a familiar New Year’s Eve song, Auld Lang Syne, which happens to be an old Scottish song. Since it’s almost New Year’s again I thought it would be appropriate to sprinkle some of the lyrics throughout this blog post and to give a little history about it. The song was written down for the first time by Robert BURNS about 40 years or so before President HAYES was born. If you happen to still sing it as the old year passes and the new year enters, you may be interested to know that ‘auld lang syne‘ can be translated as ‘for days gone by’ or ‘for olden times’ or ‘for the sake of old times’. It’s a call to remember the past and remember past relationships. For purposes of this blog post I’ll be using the English version of the song so I don’t have to stop and explain things along the way. I thought the song very appropriate for recognizing old relationships and closing out this year’s blog posts. I’ll begin with my mom’s family.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
I’ve written about my maternal 2nd great grandma, Lucinda DOW, before. You can find those posts by going to my blog’s home page at https://daysofourlivesgenealogy.wordpress.com, finding the search bar on the right side of the screen under the header photograph, typing in “Lucinda Dow” and clicking ‘Search’. (Just a hint for this search and others you do online in the future- if you put quotation marks around your search terms the search engine will search for instances of those two words within a few words of each other so that you get better search results.) Lucinda’s quite a character and has been difficult to research at times. My mom’s family connects to Rutherford HAYES’ dad’s family through Lucinda’s dad and on back to Rutherford HAYES’ ROOT/ROOTE family. John ROOT II and Mary KILBOURNE ROOT are President HAYES’ paternal 5th great grandparents and my maternal 13th great grandparents. The surname line goes from my DOW to ELLIS/ALLIS to BRONSON to ROOTE/ROOT. For Rutherford HAYES, the surname line goes from HAYES to SMITH to ROOTE/ROOT. John ROOT was a weaver by trade. If you’re interested in knowing more about John and Mary you can click on over to Janice Harshbarger’s blog, Happy Genealogy Dance, at Happy Genealogy Dance: Allen line: John Root 1608-1684, Immigrant and read more for yourself. We don’t follow her line of descent but we do share John and Mary as ancestors and she wrote an interesting post about them if you want to learn more.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
and surely I’ll buy mine!
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
Once I’d finished tracing out my mom’s line as it related to Rutherford HAYES, I learned that Rutherford and I are 6th cousins 8 times removed- meaning we’re 6th cousins separated by 8 generations. ‘Cousins removed’ gets complicated but Jessica Grimaud simplifies it in her article Cousin Chart—Family Relationships Explained • FamilySearch if you want to learn more. My mom’s ancestors connect to Rutherford HAYES’ dad’s ancestors
We two have run about the hills,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.
Now that I had my mom’s line down, I decided to finish searching just in case I might find a connection to my dad as well. It only took a few minutes to see that there was a connection between my dad’s ancestors and Rutherford HAYES’ mom’s ancestors! My paternal 13th great grandparents Thomas BIRCHARD and Mary ROBINSON are also Rutherford HAYES’ maternal 5th great grandparents. (In case you aren’t following the bolded words- Rutherford B. HAYES is my double 6th cousin 8 times removed by my mom on HAYES’ dad’s line and by my dad on HAYES’ mom’s line.) I love that both lines converge in Rutherford B. HAYES. Very interesting! My dad’s lineage goes through our HUBBARD line. The surname line goes from HUBBARD to WEDDLE/WEDDEL to WALLING to BLEVINS to BUNCH to BARNARD to BIRCHARD (Thomas and Mary). For Rutherford the surname line goes straight up his mom’s BIRCHARD line. Thomas BIRCHARD and Mary ROBINSON are a very interesting couple. I recommend learning more about them. One place you can learn is at The Chattanoogan: Burchards Were Caught Up In Adventist Trial In Rhea County – Chattanoogan.com. They resided for a time at Martha’s Vineyard. I thought that a fitting residence for the family of a future US president. Margaret Dougherty writes about this couple on her blog, Never Ending Family, at My Family History: a never ending story: Immigrant Ancestors: Thomas Birchard (1595-1657) (neverendingfamily.blogspot.com). One more recommended website with information about Thomas and Mary (ROBINSON) BIRCHARD is at Thomas Birchard, Hartford Founder | Founders of Hartford.
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.
So who was Rutherford B. HAYES? He was the 19th president of the United States. He served one term from 1877-1881. Simplified, one of his main jobs was to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and subsequent Reconstruction Era. A task much more difficult than it sounds. Much like our present time, HAYES was living in politically precarious times. His election was at least as contentious as the current presidential election between President Donald TRUMP and former VP Joe BIDEN. Rutherford’s opponent was wealthy Democrat, Samuel TILDEN. Initially, TILDEN won the popular vote but there were several contested state elections. Ultimately, the Electoral College gave HAYES 20 contested electoral votes which made him the winner of the election and President of the United States. However, the “gift” of these 20 votes came at a price. That price was called the Compromise of 1877 whereby HAYES agreed to withdraw any remaining US troops that were protecting Republican officials in the South. This would officially end the Reconstruction Era. In exchange, Democrats would no longer fight Hayes’ appointment as President of the United States. Hayes believed that power belonged with the people, not with the government. He believed in equal treatment regardless of wealth (more specifically, the lack of wealth), social status, or race. He believed the gold standard was essential to economic recovery. He kept order in the US during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. He also kept promises- such as his promise not to run for a second term. He restored people’s faith in the presidency. In short, I think I would have enjoyed getting to know Rutherford. If I could go back in time and enjoy a meal with someone I think Rutherford would be high on my list. There are a lot of questions I’d like to ask him and a lot of things I’d like to learn about him and about our ancestors in common. I love that in Rutherford (as in myself & my siblings) I see the convergence of both my mom’s and my dad’s families.
And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.
I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know my double 6th cousin 8 times removed- former US President Rutherford Birchard HAYES. I hope you make the most of what’s left of 2020 and I wish you prosperity, love, and happiness in 2021. Have a great week and if I don’t see you again this year, have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
For old times. For old friends. For loved ones who came before us and cleared the path for us.
All my love, Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Six Months: A Covid Quest
If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character. If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world. So let it be!
~ a traditional Scottish wedding toast (and so appropriate for 2020)
This blog post is about my paternal 4th great grandfather, William C. CHAMBERS. I’ve written about him previously and you can read that post here. To orient you, the line of descent is through William CHAMBERS, his daughter Nancy Jane CHAMBERS, Nancy’s son Alford Allen HUBBARD, Alford’s daughter (and my much-loved, much-missed great grandmother) Edith HUBBARD DRAKE. During this search a couple of interesting links came up to two other “mystery” family lines I have on my dad’s side so I’m hoping that this search will result in one or two more blog posts in the near future.
William Chambers: A Primer
William CHAMBERS was born around 1824 in Tennessee according to many researchers. My guess is this estimated date is based on the year he got married. On 9 February 1844 in Cass County, Missouri, William married Rhoda ALLEN.
Above is the only image I have that I’m certain is connected to my William CHAMBERS.
On 18 March 1845 supposedly in Arkansas, their daughter (and William’s only known child) Nancy Jane CHAMBERS, was born. Sometime around 1846, William died. This is all the information I have about William. Most researchers on Ancestry have William’s parents listed as James CHAMBERS and Margaret Boyd JOHNSTON. I waver on whether or not this is the correct couple. It may be, but I’m not entirely convinced yet and haven’t found any documents that convince me one way or the other. If a grave exists for him, I don’t know where it is. Some researchers associate a will in Cooper County, Missouri with this William CHAMBERS but I’m not yet convinced the Cooper County William is the same person as my William.
2020 Has It’s Own Mind
In December, 2019 I had a plan for my 2020 genealogy research time. But in case you haven’t figured it out yet, 2020 has a mind of it’s own and it’s gonna do what it’s gonna do! On week 1 of 2020 the plan was to do one intensive research session on Rhoda ALLEN (wife of William CHAMBERS). I actually got a head start on that between Christmas and New Year’s Eve in 2019. By the first week of January I was like a hound on a trail and knew I wasn’t going to move on to the next research goal until I knew something more- not about Rhoda but about her first husband, William CHAMBERS. Quarantine helped speed up the process some and for that I’ve been thankful. And now, five and a half months later, here I am finally writing, although there still isn’t much I can bring to you that’s new. It’s been quite a search though!
I’ve searched for William ten ways from Sunday over the last five and a half months. I’ve searched for all CHAMBERS families in Cass County, Missouri in 1844; all CHAMBERS families in Arkansas in 1845; every William CHAMBERS in the US in the 1840’s…it goes on and on. After gathering all of those lists and looking through them I didn’t know much more than when I began. I was discouraged but wasn’t going to quit.
I regrouped and decided it was time to pull out the DNA. I’m not well-versed in using DNA for genealogy. There’s a steep learning curve and a lot of it just doesn’t make sense to my brain yet. But I couldn’t see any other way forward at this time. Four weeks ago everyone was still quarantined. All non-essential businesses were still closed to visitors so I couldn’t go research records in a library. I was stuck with whatever was online including my DNA.
Tenacity
I chose not to give up and I’m really glad I gave it a few more weeks. Before breaking out the DNA results, I did a quick Google search to see if I could find the origins of the CHAMBERS family in America. I read a couple of websites to become familiar with names and try to make any connections I could.
Then, I opened my Ancestry account to review the CHAMBERS names on my family tree. I found a complication. I have CHAMBERS on both sides of my family. My dad’s CHAMBERS are Scottish. My mom’s CHAMBERS are English/German. When you’re searching through names though, there is no way to tell the difference between the English CHAMBERS and the Scottish CHAMBERS. This small complication added extra time to the search.
I opened up my DNA account and searched my DNA matches for anyone with CHAMBERS ancestors. I have a total of 47 people who match my DNA and are also researching CHAMBERS ancestors. I weeded out the ones with no family trees online and the ones that were predicted to match my mom’s side. Then I began opening each of the remaining family trees and searching through them trying to find connections. Before I get into that though, let’s back up to the first step – searching online for the origins of the CHAMBERS family in America.
Step by Step
Polli’s Place has information about the beginnings of the family in America. According to this website, Alexander CHAMBERS had two sons- Reynolds and Henry. Reynolds remained in Scotland near the family home in Tweed Valley in southern Scotland but some of his sons did come to America. Reynolds’ second son, David CHAMBERS, arrived in the US from Scotland in 1743 and settled in Philadelphia. David later settled in Culpepper County, Virginia. His descendants would eventually extend to Jefferson County, Indiana. Reynolds’ first son, Samuel CHAMBERS, arrived in Philadelphia in 1765. He later settled in Kentucky and Tennessee. Reynolds’ third son, Reverend James CHAMBERS, also immigrated to the US from Scotland but I don’t know when. James lived in Maryland, Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, and finally in Indiana. Henry CHAMBERS, Reynolds’ brother, had enough money for the voyage to America and came here about 1726, settling in Maryland. He later moved to Virginia and afterward settled in Kentucky and then Tennessee.
As far as I know, these 4 men are the beginnings of the CHAMBERS name in this country. I haven’t processed all the information on this website yet but there were some interesting stories. For instance, the William CHAMBERS who was born about 1750 in Culpepper County, Virginia (son of the immigrant David CHAMBERS) was said to have been captured in battle by Delaware Indians during the Revolution. The story goes that William was taken to Arkansas where he lived with the Native Americans until he became accustomed to their traditions. He was said to have married a chieftain’s daughter and became rich in land and other property. According to the website, many of William’s descendants still live in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. I’m not sure about the veracity of the story but it was interesting to note that William’s descendants remained in Arkansas and Oklahoma since my William’s daughter was born there. I do believe we will probably end up connecting to some of the Benton County, Arkansas CHAMBERS eventually. Since I don’t have many photos to share with you in this post, I will post a photo of one of the Benton County CHAMBERS to give you some idea of what one line of CHAMBERS looks like. Below is Nancy Ann CHAMBERS born in Benton County, Arkansas in 1855 and died in 1931 in Benton County, Arkansas. She was the daughter of James Monroe CHAMBERS and Sarah Jane WEBB. James Monroe CHAMBERS is also a descendant of Reynolds CHAMBERS whom you will read about later in this post.
Back to the Polli’s Place search/website: Scrolling down to the ‘Fourth Generation’ section it talks about John CHAMBERS, Jr. and Elizabeth HANKINS CHAMBERS who moved to Harrison County, Missouri (the county where Rhoda ALLEN was living before she traveled to Cass County and married William CHAMBERS. This couple had a son named William who would have been an acceptable age to marry Rhoda but there is no mention of a wife named Rhoda in his short biography. In short, there was no William CHAMBERS I could find who seemed to be “our” William.
The above website is sometimes confusing. This site has a fantastic name index and pedigree chart that will help clear things up a bit. Another website with lots of CHAMBERS stories can be found here. There are many other stories of relatives getting lost- some were found again and some were not. The stories are fascinating. Really though, the only story I wanted to hear was the one of my family. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get past William – at least not with any information that is proven to my satisfaction. So now that you’re caught up on my web search for William, we can move on to the DNA.
As I said, I pulled out only the CHAMBERS researchers who had trees online and who were predicted to match on my dad’s side. I traced each tree back to it’s earliest know ancestor. I compared their DNA to each other and then compared their family trees to see where there were similarities with the people on the trees. The trees I could trace led back to Reynolds CHAMBERS so I think we can say Reynolds is also our ancestor and have some amount of confidence in saying it.
Reynolds Chambers, A Scotsman
Reynolds was affectionately called “Runnels” by his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Runnels was born on 2 April 1699 in Shettleston, Glasgow, Argyll, Scotland. Shettleston is a district in the east end of Glasgow. This area is important because it is the “gateway” between the Highlands and the Lowlands of Scotland. On 30 April 1725 in Shettleston, Scotland he married Nancy SHAW and together they had 4 known sons. Some accounts of Runnels’ life state he never came to America. Others state he came for a short time and then returned home to Scotland. Some accounts also say that he sent his sons to America to keep them out of the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745 against the English. If this is true, this decision likely saved their lives and ensured the continuance of this branch of the CHAMBERS line. You can learn a little more about the Jacobite Rebellion at the Visit Scotland website. Runnels died 12 August 1765 in Stirling, Scotland. Nancy, his wife, was born on 2 April 1702 in Shettleston, Scotland and died on 2 November 1773 in Shettleston, Scotland.
Miscellaneous Thoughts
My dad wanted to know what the clan tartan looked like so I did a little search. On the TartanClanCrest website you can find all kinds of products with the Clan crest, tartan, coat of arms, and battle cry. I can’t say how accurate the site is but it was fun to look at.
The tartan design is a “Basic Clan” design and can be worn by any clan member. It’s described on Clan-Cameron as “…sixteen green squares upon a red background sett, with a bright yellow bordering, is for general use by all members of Clan Cameron.” According to the site, Clan Chambers funnels back to Clan Cameron and it is Clan Cameron’s tartan design, etc. that we are supposed to utilize. There are other tartan designs designated for our clan. If you’d like to see them, you can go to the website above and it will explain each tartan design and it’s approved usage. I think the Hunting Cameron design is a nice one. In regard to the crest, the Clan-Cameron website says the crest with five arrows united with one another by a gules ribbon, along with the motto/battle cry of “Aonaibh ri cheile” and the surrounding strap may be used by clansmen to show clan affiliation. The website offers a link to a more detailed explanation of the arrows if you’re interested. The battle cry “Aonaibh ri cheile” can be roughly translated as “Unite” or “Let us unite”. (The arrows connote the “united” message as well. I love the “united” theme!) In the past there was an associated motto “Pro Rege et Patria” which translates to “For King and Country”. Interestingly there is also a song associated with the clan. You can hear it below.
Below is the Clan Coat of Arms take from the TartanClanCrest website mentioned above. One other website I recommend if you’re interested in the Clan Cameron history is Scotland in Oils website. It gives the history, castles associated with the clan, etc.
Final Thoughts
Long story short, I can get back to William C. CHAMBERS and then I have to skip all the way to the Scottish ancestor, Reynolds CHAMBERS. Whoever lies between the beginning and ending of our American CHAMBERS line is anyone’s guess. Maybe one day we’ll find out more. Until then, I hope you go to some of the websites I listed above and learn more about our CHAMBERS. The next time there is a Scottish Highlands Games event near you I hope you attend that, too.
Scottish Wisdom for the Road
I want to leave you with two more Scottish wedding toasts. I couldn’t decide on just one and I wish them both for you all.
May the best you’ve ever seen be the worst you’ll ever see. May the mouse never leave your pantry with a teardrop in his eye. May you always keep healthy and hearty until you’re old enough to die. May you always be just as happy as we wish you now to be.
~traditional Scottish wedding toast
May the roof above never fall in; may we below never fall out.
~traditional Scottish wedding toast
Wishing you peace and happiness ~
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives
Herman Schreiber: Patriotic Son of the Lighthouse Keeper and the Photographer
I’m currently working on a big blog post but it’s taking longer than I thought it would so in the meantime I want to write a couple of posts especially for my second and fourth grandsons about their families that aren’t related to me. This post will be about Herman SCHREIBER, Jr.- my son-in-law’s paternal great grandfather and the paternal 2nd great grandfather of my youngest grandson.
As always, we start with the basics. Herman SCHREIBER, Jr. was born 5 May 1886 in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas. On 2 August 1911 in Cameron County, Texas, Herman married Vera Annie LAMON. Together they had 6 children. Herman passed away 7 May 1971 in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas. He is buried at Buena Vista Cemetery in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas.
Herman’s Parents: Hermann and Margaret and Ruben.
Herman was born to Hermann SCHREIBER, Sr. and Margaret EGLY. Hermann Sr. brought Prussian-German heritage to the marriage. Margaret brought French-Irish heritage to the marriage. Possibly of interest to my son-in-law will be the fact that Hermann Sr. had a brother named August SCHREIBER. That was a meaningful coincidence for me personally. Also of interest to me was Hermann Sr.’s occupation. He was a lighthouse keeper. He was employed at Old Point Isabel Lighthouse off South Padre Island in 1884. His brother-in-law, William EGLY, was the assistant lighthouse keeper. After looking up Old Point Isabel Lighthouse online, I realized that my husband and I and our two children (who were young at the time) had actually seen the lighthouse when we visited South Padre Island years ago- many years before we ever met our son-in-law. I’m loving all these coincidences!
Lucille SCHREIBER BERRY left some much-appreciated family history stories on Ancestry. She said Hermann Sr. died from a burst appendix. This was at a time when doctors were unaware of Appendicitis. Sadly, Hermann suffered greatly before his death. About the lighthouse, Lucille related, “[The lighthouse] is very steep and grandad remembers getting to go to the top of the stairs to get his dad for eating a meal. He was a very young child and he said he scooted up and down.”
At just 2 years of age, Herman lost his dad, Hermann SCHREIBER, Sr. This left Herman Jr’s mom, Margaret EGLY SCHREIBER, alone to raise 3 young children. That was, I’m sure, a scary position for a woman to be in in the year 1888. Although she had more rights in Texas than she would have in other states at this time, she still had very few rights so she would have been largely dependent on the men in her life. Margaret was fortunate to live in Texas in that she could legally maintain ownership of any property she had when she married Hermann. She was legally entitled to share in any wealth or property Hermann gained after the marriage. She was legally entitled to make her own last will and testament and to leave her property to anyone she wanted. If, however, the property they lived on was solely owned by Hermann at the time of his death and he had not willed it to her, she (and any unmarried daughters) would be allowed to live there as long as they wished but she couldn’t own the property herself because, as a widow, she couldn’t legally make or enter into contracts. She wouldn’t be able to vote (or serve on a jury) for another 31 years, but she could hold public office if she could convince enough males to vote for her!
Many widows in 1888 would have chosen to remarry as soon as possible. It made life easier. Margaret did not. I’m sure her French-Irish heritage probably gifted her with a certain amount of stubbornness that contributed to her delay in remarriage. (I can certainly see that French-Irish in my grandson! I love it!) When Margaret remarried 7 years later, she married Ruben Henry WALLIS. Ruben was an Englishman. (Interesting fact about Ruben: his first wife was also named Margaret and his first Margaret was also Irish!) Ruben came to Texas from New Orleans, Louisiana- as did both Hermann and Margaret. Ruben and Margaret did not have children together, however he was a widower who had a young daughter from his previous marriage. Margaret is buried in the Oddfellows Cemetery in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas. An interesting fact about Margaret: She was a twin. At the time of her twin sister’s death in 1941, Margaret and her sister were thought to be the oldest set of living twins in Texas. Two years later in 1943, Margaret passed away. I have no photos of Hermann Sr. but I do have one photo of Margaret and two of her sisters. Sadly, I can’t tell you which one is Margaret as the photo wasn’t labeled in any way.
Margaret EGLY SCHREIBER WALLIS and two of her sisters.
I was searching the internet for photos of the lighthouse from the period that Hermann was the lighthouse keeper and I found this fabulous blog post at Colorized Fotos blog. It not only includes photos of the lighthouse, it includes a beautiful colorized photo of Ruben Henry WALLIS!! I encourage you to go look at it. I learned Ruben WALLIS was a photographer in Brownsville from the 1860’s to at least 1910 (based on both the blog post and census records on Ancestry). If you’re ever out antiquing in the Brownsville area, keep an eye out for Ruben’s photos! The blog post states that Ruben was probably a lighthouse keeper. I haven’t found documentation to support that but it is a possibility. Another interesting find I made was at Lighthouse Friend’s website. They have not only a blog post with some Point Isabel lighthouse history, but also a photo of the Point Isabel lighthouse keeper’s house from 1895. In addition, they list the lighthouse keepers and show that Hermann SCHREIBER (spelled SCHRIBERS on the website) was the lighthouse keeper from 1884-1888. Margaret’s brother, William EGLY, was the assistant lighthouse keeper from 1884-1888 and the lighthouse keeper from 1895-1905. This website does not list Ruben as a lighthouse keeper but I also note there is a large gap of time from 1888-1895 where no lighthouse keeper is named so I haven’t ruled out the possibility that Ruben really was the lighthouse keeper. (There is also a Fred MEYER listed as a lighthouse keeper. MEYER is a surname connected to Margaret EGLY on her mother’s side so possibly he may be related?) One last aside: Bronsbil Estacion blog used at least one of the photos Ruben took plus a photo of Ruben himself in one of their blog posts. You can find it here– the first and second photos (the second is an enlargement of a section of the first photo) in the blog post. The photo of Ruben is the last photo in the blog post.
And Now…Herman SCHREIBER, Jr.
Herman S. Schreiber, 1886-1971
This is not the only photo I’ve seen of Herman but it was the first one I saw. (And notice who the photographer was!!) My immediate thought was how much my grandson resembles his 2nd great grandfather, Herman! I even did a side-by-side comparison. The resemblance is strong!
Herman was a toll bridge collector and a farmer. The best I can tell from my research, there were two toll bridges in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas in 1930- Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge, and the Gateway International Bridge. The Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge opened in December of 1910. The bridge accommodated vehicles and those traveling by foot as well as river traffic. The Gateway International Bridge opened in 1926. It initially accommodated vehicle traffic but in 1999 it was closed to vehicle traffic and now only accommodates foot traffic. You can find some great photos of Gateway International Bridge being built at the Bronsbil Estacion blog. You can find part 1 of the Gateway Bridge blog post here. The one linked in the previous sentence is actually part 2 of the Gateway Bridge post. If you’re interested in Brownsville, Texas history I highly recommend the Bronsbil Estacion blog. If you’re interested in learning more about the Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge, you can check out Nomadic Border’s blog post. As it turns out, Herman’s World War II draft registration card confirms he worked at the Gateway Bridge.
As I researched further, I found a story someone posted on Ancestry that confirmed Herman did work at the Gateway Bridge and why. Here’s the whole story. The photo online had the words going right to the edge so there isn’t anything I can do to fix that- sorry.
Just in case you needed one more proof that Herman worked at/on the Gateway Bridge rather than the Brownsville & Matamoros Bridge, here’s a short piece that appeared in the 13 September 1937 edition of The Brownsville Herald newspaper:
When was the last time you heard the word ‘terpischorean’?? I’m glad Herman had a sense of humor. I think my grandson may have inherited it. Herman was about more than just a little good humor, though. Service to his community and government also seemed to be important to him. Important enough that in 1909 he served in the National Guard and by 1930 he was an ex-officio GOP committee member.
Herman and his wife, Vera Anna Lamon (who went by Annie), were lifetime residents of Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas according to his obituary. His physical description on his World War I draft registration states he was tall, had a slender build, and had blue eyes and light brown hair. Sounds a lot like my son-in-law! My grandson certainly has the genes to be tall and slender. He already has the blue eyes and I’m guessing his now light-colored hair may turn more brown as he grows up.
Herman (now Herman Sr.) and Annie had six children together- Lucille Margaret, Herman Jr., Clifton Melton, Robert Lee, Arthur Raymond, and James R.. Herman Sr (the subject of this blog post) served in the National Guard and was once appointed to guard President Taft! All five of Herman and Annie’s sons served in the military as well. Below is a very nice article in the Brownsville Herald about Herman and his five sons and their combined service to their country. I’ve tried to enlarge it enough that you might be able to read it. If it’s still too hard to read, try going to this PDF link: file:///C:/Users/willi/OneDrive/Documents/Blog/Herman_S__Schreiber_and_his_5_sons__7_June_1945__The_Brownsville_Herald__TX_%20(1).pdf
I hope that you’ve enjoyed getting to know Herman. I know I have. I also hope that one day my grandson becomes a man who exhibits the steadiness and loyalty that seemed to define his 2nd great grandfather Herman.
Until next time fellow patriots,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives
RESOURCES
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jsw02
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsville_%26_Matamoros_International_Bridge
http://bronsbilestacion.blogspot.com/
https://colorizedfotos.blogspot.com/2017/11/c1890s-lighthouse-keeper-at-point.html
https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=159
Ancestry.com
Newspapers.com
Speaking Words of Wisdom, Quarantine Style
It’s been a while since I blogged. You would think during Quarantine I could find the time to write but it seems there’s always something else to do. We are in our 10th week of quarantine. It’s both frustrating and desirable to be stuck at home. I get stir-crazy and think I want to go to town so I go grocery shopping and by the time I’m done all I want is to be at home without people. C’est la vie. (How do you like that, Mom? I used my French from college!) In any case, I’m here and I’m writing. As I opened up a blank post the words of a song came to mind and I’ve learned that when that happens, I should just incorporate them and go with it. I’m sure it will only take a couple of sections (if that) for you to figure out the song. I’m assuming it must have been a favorite of the person I’m about to write about.
“When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, Let it be.”
This quarantine! It’s been at times comforting, at times worrisome and there has been so much time to think! When it gets worrisome I think about my ancestors who went through difficult times and wondered how they handled various situations. One recurring thought has been that at every moment of our lives each of us is prepared/preparing for the next moment. In other words, all my life has been in preparation for this moment of quarantine. Whatever happens, we’ll make it through. And I’ve said before, the movie Aladdin has some truth in it. When Jafar said something to the effect of “It’s amazing what you can live through”- he wasn’t joking.
“And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me, speaking words of wisdom, Let it be.”
The 10 weeks of quarantine have seemed like an emotional roller coaster. Something that’s been on my mind a lot are the people that I’ve lost- what I miss about them, what I’d like to talk to them about if I could see them again, and did I say ‘how much I miss them’? Yeah. Today I was doing some cleaning upstairs, clearing out some boxes that have mostly been in storage for a while. I came across a typed letter dated January 14, 1994. I read a line. It was clearly from family. I read a couple more lines and I thought, “Man, this really sounds like Aunt Carol but I don’t remember anything that she’s talking about.” Then the letter mentioned Uncle Junior and I knew it was indeed Aunt Carol. What a blast from the past!
“And when the broken-hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer, Let it be.”
Aunt Carol had been going through a tough time in 1994. I’d done something for her and she was writing to thank me- 3 pages worth. Isn’t that just like her? I had to laugh. No thank you card for me. Nope. I get a three page letter. I’m glad. It was an emotional trip down memory lane. She told me about some of the trouble they’d been having. She gave me news about my cousins. She talked about how much they missed us. (We’d moved to Idaho two years prior to this letter- almost two years exactly.) She talked about her work and asked when they might see us again. Rather than asking me to pray for her, she talked about how she had prayed for us. To write all this makes me realize how much I’ve missed her.
“For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see. There will be an answer, Let it be.”
On the last page she told me my grandma (“Mam”- Audrey) said hello. She (and Mam) sent me kisses and hugs. That last page. I finally lost it on that last page. When my Aunt Carol spoke to me she called me by my first AND middle name. She was the only one who did that. The last time I saw her she was in the hospital. There is no doctor that will ever convince me she did not hear and understand my final words to her: “Aunt Carol, this is Lisa Anne. I love you.” She responded and no one can tell me otherwise.
“And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me. Shine until tomorrow, Let it be.”
Tonight is a waning crescent moon. There won’t be much light shining tonight but sometimes God gives us the precious gift of someone’s love that shines down on us. That’s the gift I got tonight. There are so many emotions and memories tied to Aunt Carol. She loved butterflies. I think of her every time I see one. She always led the worship service at the church I attended my entire childhood. She would sometimes get all my cousins and I up in front to sing a special.
We often sang In the Garden, a song I still love today.
My husband always wanted her to play I Shall Not Be Moved. That was his favorite. Our pastor at the time was Les Osburn. His granddaughter came to church with him often. She also liked that particular song as I recall.
Aunt Carol wore Avon perfume which, I’m assuming, she bought from my Mam (her mom). I believe the perfume was Sand & Pearls or maybe Pearls & Lace? She and Mam both wore it. I liked the perfume but if you got in a car with both of them to go to town the smell was overwhelming! I can laugh about it now but at the time, driving from Southwest City to Grove was excruciating sometimes!
“I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, Let it be.”
Tomorrow I’ll wake up, Lord willing, and it’ll be a new day and no matter who I’ve lost, I’ll carry on until the Lord decides my time is up. In the meantime, it’s such a treasure to find memories like this. They help keep me going. Maybe tomorrow I’ll write a letter to someone. I’d hate to think that years down the road we won’t have letters to look at anymore because all our writing is digital now. Some traditions need to be kept alive. If not now, when? If not me, who? Maybe tomorrow…
“Let it be, yeah, let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. Let it be, oh let it be. There will be an answer. Let it be.”
Until next time – Let it be.
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives
Merle and Me
This is a quick post. I’ll be giving you a tiny bit of information about my BATES family. I’m going all the way back to my maternal 6th great grandparents- John and Mary “Molly” (HOWARD) BURNETT. We descend through John and Molly’s daughter, Frances “Fanny” (BURNETT) who married John BATES. We descend through John and Fanny’s son, Jesse. Through Jesse (and his wife, Delila AARON/ARENT) BATES’ son, John. (This was the John who died before he could make it home from the Civil War.) Through John (and his wife, Mary MOBLEY) BATES’ son, George. Through George (and his wife, Mary SEELY) BATES’ son, Albert. Through Albert (and his wife, Dettie GIBSON) BATES’ son and my grandpa, Troy Columbus BATES.
Today I don’t want to talk about our ancestor Fanny BURNETT though. I want to talk about her brother, John BURNETT. Fanny’s brother John married Martha BALLOU and together they had a daughter they named Mary. This daughter married Jesse PATTY and Jesse and Mary (who went by Polly) had a daughter named Harriet. Harriet married Hosea VILLINES and they had a daughter named Martha. Martha married John HARP and she and John had a daughter they named Flossie Mae. Flossie Mae married James HAGGARD and together they had the great Merle HAGGARD, the country singer. That makes Merle and I (and you too, if you’re my 1st cousin) 5th cousins twice removed.
Merle passed away in 2016 at the age of 79. Merle’s music career spanned an incredible 6 decades! Early in life he got in trouble with the law and spent some time at San Quentin. After serving his time in San Quentin, he got into the country music scene which was just beginning to get big in Bakersfield, California. He played a wide range of music including jazz, country, contemporary, and country gospel. He wrote and played his own songs as well as playing songs written by others. The second video below is a song he wrote. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame three years after that.
One more video of an interview with Merle where he talks about his early years.
So today, let’s dig out our old LP’s and 8-tracks (or Youtube if that’s what you’ve got) and let’s play some Merle Haggard songs.
Rest in peace, Merle – and thanks for the tunes.
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Revisiting Sugar Creek: Stormy Nights, Buried Treasure, a Bushwhacker Murder, and a Family Mystery
I woke up early this morning to discover that the overnight storms had knocked out the power. I have no internet to continue researching today’s blog post either so I decided to use the remaining power in my computer to go ahead and type out the blog post and also to charge my phone which was almost dead by the time I got up this morning. I can’t afford to be without an alarm clock/flashlight/contact with the outside world! So, even though my current research isn’t finished, I’m giving you an update as to where it stands right now.
Several years ago I took a DNA test and was fortunate enough to get my parents, daughter, one sibling, and a great uncle to test as well. Later, a second cousin and his daughter also tested. It was fun to see origins details and I’ve blogged about that here and here. In the 3 years following the receipt of my results, I haven’t gotten very far in advancing my family history. I have tons of matches and for a few of those with family trees online, I can see how we were related. For those without trees, I made efforts to contact some of them. Sometimes people responded and sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes their response was that they didn’t know their family history. Overall, I’ve made disappointingly little progress in the 3 years following my DNA results. This frustrates me. My goal was to further my genealogy. Why spend the money if it didn’t further my genealogy?
About 3 weeks ago I decided either the DNA could help my genealogy or it couldn’t and I was going to find out. I formulated a theory that perhaps I could match a particular chromosome to a particular surname and if I could do that then maybe I could tell which line of the family I needed to be looking into for those DNA matches who matched on a certain chromosome but didn’t have family trees online.
I began with a male match to my dad’s line. The guy descended from the second wife of my ancestor and my dad and I descend from the first wife so I thought perhaps it might be easier to find a specific chromosome for the male ancestor’s line and without worrying about genetic interference from the female’s line. I spent some time working on that angle and moved on to other surnames as well. It was more confusing than fruitful. My document looked like this for 2 pages of surnames:
I spent 2 weeks working sporadically on that project and I was about to give up when I listened to a podcast about an adoptee who didn’t know a single person or even a name of his biological family. He sent in his DNA and was able to find his parents, siblings, and extended family. I told myself I have thousands of names and this guy had none yet he got somewhere with DNA and if he could, then surely I could too! I formulated a new plan and set to work. I can’t say I’ve gotten where I wanted to be, but I made some exciting advances that I’d like to share with you.
My first tactic was to change course. I decided to start with the stronger/closer DNA matches. I chose a woman named Joyce. As it turned out, I had tried to contact this person a few months back (long before I started this project I’m writing about today) to ask about her family tree and see if I could figure out how we were related. She had no family tree on Family Tree DNA. Her Ancestry tree had less than 5 people on it and none of the surnames matched my family. Her husband messaged me back. He said Joyce had passed away recently and he didn’t know anything about her family tree. She was an only child and all of her family was deceased and he was sorry but he couldn’t help me. I sent my condolences for his loss. I attempted to find more information online but was unsuccessful and set it aside at that time. Based on her Ancestry tree, I could see that the line she was focused on at her death was a Schell family. This Schell family came from a location where my family had lived in recent history (my grandparents lived in that area until their deaths) and it was a place I was very familiar with. On top of that, they’d lived for a while on Sugar Creek which I recently visited and blogged about here! However, I could find no connection to my family. I narrowed down my thousands of matches to only those who also matched Joyce in some way. Based on the shared matches, I could tell that somehow she connected to me through my paternal Baker family (the same family as the guy above who descended through the second wife instead of the first).
I reset the search and focused on just Joyce. We were matched at a 2nd -4th cousin level which meant we shared a great, 2nd great, or 3rd great grandparent (or possibly a 4th great grandparent depending on DNA recombination). I didn’t want to consider half-cousin levels as I was already feeling overwhelmed so I stuck with the above. I found all other matches who shared the Schell surname with Joyce. I was able to figure out her tree that way. I wrote down as many of her great, 2nd great, and 3rd great grandparents as I could find (which was most of them, thankfully). I then made a list of all my great, 2nd and 3rd great grandparents. Out of all those names (and there were a lot!) I could only find a single surname that I recognized which simplified the process greatly. And, as luck would have it, it was a surname that I have struggled with for 30 years – to the point that I wasn’t even sure if I had the correct surname. So already I was very excited about the process. The surname is Bear/Bare/Bair (depending on who was doing the spelling). Several decades ago when I first began researching my family history, my grandmother told me that my 3rd great grandfather Jehue Baker’s parents were Bets and Mary (Bair) Baker. I have yet to prove that or to definitively prove who exactly “Bets” Baker was. There is a Baker who marred a Mary Betts but the details don’t fit. There is a Jesse Baker who married a woman named Mary (who sometimes went by Polly) and they are the only couple I’ve found in the right area and timeframe who have a son named Jehue so I’ve listed them as his parents because I’ve found no other viable possibilities at this point. But now, I had this exciting new DNA lead that matched me to a BEAR/BARE/BAIR family!
Joyce’s ancestor, Philip Schell, married a woman named Eliza Jane BEAR. Her parents were Henry and Margaret Jane McChristian Bare. I have searched this family ten ways from Sunday and still can’t find how they connect to my family but DNA doesn’t lie and I’m still looking. I was able to connect with a DNA relative of Joyce’s, Gayle Foster, who knows the Schell/Bare family history and I’ve been corresponding with her trying to figure all this out. For now, I’m forced to be content with the fact that finally, after 30 years, I have learned we do indeed belong to a Bear/Bare/Bair family. This information is one of the few remaining things my Mam told me that I haven’t been able to back up so I was very excited to not only have confirmation of one more thing she told me but also to find the very elusive Bear family at last. I did make a couple of interesting revelations while trying to figure out the family connection though. Let me tell you about those. As I’ve said in a previous post, at my funeral I want the song I’ll Fly Away to be played. Interestingly enough, that song was written by Albert Brumley who married into the Schell family AND who lived in the area my grandparents lived – McDonald County, Missouri. I went to church every Wednesday and Sunday of my childhood at a little country church that borders McDonald County called Poynor Baptist Church. So many memories!
Back row: Rick Drake holding my youngest brother Jared Drake, Robert Drake, Chris Bennett, me, Mechelle Drake. Front row: Bradley Drake, Allen Drake, my other brother Cortney Drake, and Gina Drake.
It always amazes me how connected everything is in this world. The Schell family was one of the pioneer families of McDonald County, Missouri. Schell’s were connected to Nichols. Nichols brothers were the owners of the grocery store in Southwest City, Missouri for many years- they were a prominent family in that area. Nichols also connect to my family. Additionally, one of the Schell sisters, Nancy, married James Littrell. One of my ancestors also married into the Littrell family. There are so many connections between the Schell’s and my family that I’m stunned as to how I have still not solved the mystery of exactly which two people connect my Bear/Bare/Bair family to the Schell family.
Shell Knob, Missouri, was named after this family. Henry Schell, the original Schell family member to come to McDonald County, was murdered by bushwhackers. I also learned that there’s a legend about the Yocum silver dollars which I believe is related to Henry’s murder. Henry was married to Elizabeth Yocum. By the way, I just learned that Gayle Foster (with whom I’ve been corresponding to figure out this family mystery) wrote a book about the Schell family. You can purchase it on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Schell-Family-Descendants-Ancestors-Elizabeth/dp/1502745100.
If you have any suggestions about how I might speed up the discovery of who, specifically, I’m related to in the Bear family, please let me know. It’s been a struggle to get this far and I don’t have another 30 years left to let it sit. Perhaps in the end, it will be up to the next generation researchers to figure it out but I’d love to do it myself if I can or at least see someone else solve it before I leave this Earth.
I know I gave you very little new information in this post but I hope it’s been interesting for you to see how I got to where I am right now. By way of apology for the lack of content, I’ll leave you with a photograph I found online.
By the way, if you like podcasts and you’d like to listen to the podcast I mentioned above, you can go to Ohio Mysteries‘ website to download/listen to the episode. It’s an interesting story. I’ve enjoyed binge-listening to the Ohio Mysteries podcasts. The beginning ones are not the best as far as sound quality (as is common in podcasting). I’d recommend starting with the most current episodes and working backward.
Wishing you all the Yocum’s legendary buried treasure,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog