Aug 17

Maple Hill Cemetery, Cadillac, Wexford, Michigan – Block O Lot 352

This entry is part 19 of 60 in the series Cemeteries

Maple Hill is a larger city cemetery, located on the south side of Cadillac, Michigan. I have collected a number of photographs from this cemetery and will post my photographs by lot number.

Lot 352, block O was purchased by Henry C. Ballou on 18 August 1893, according to cemetery records. Everyone buried here seems to have some relationship to the Ballou family.

ballouheadstone

There are a number of burials on the lot, my photos are linked. There was one listing with no birth, death or burial dates for “Ballou, Baby” in a computer printout of burials in the Cadillac Wexford Library at the time I did my search. A small marker with the name “Elton” on the front may mark the baby’s grave. I cannot read the back of the marker from the photos I have, and cannot find any record for his birth or death. However, on the 1900 U.S.census of Cadillac, Wexford, Michigan Sarah A. Ballou, wife of Henry C. Ballou is listed as the mother of 5, 4 living. I can account for her four children alive at that census, so perhaps Elton was the fifth child.

Ballou, Elton
Ballou, Henry, 1854-1926. was the son of Byron Ballou and Hannah Eldred.
Ballou, Sarah (Cornwell), 1860-17 July 1906 was the wife on Henry Ballou.
Ballou, Byron, ca 1827-11 January 1901
Ballou, Hannah (Eldred), ca 1828-27 December 1915, wife of Byron Ballou
Ballou, Henry Cornwell, 3 Nov 1892 – 3 Dec 1965 was the son of Henry and Sarah Cornwell
Ballou, Bertha Kaiser, 21 Feb 1893-11 June 1981 was the daughter of William Kaiser and Delia Conway and wife of Henry C. Ballou.
Ballou, Elizabeth Ann 21 May 1917 – 18 Feb 1922 was the daughter of Henry C. Ballou and Bertha Kaiser.
Ballou, Lornezo D., 24 Jan 1852 – 5 July 1905, was the son of Byron and Hannah (Eldred) Ballou.
Hall, Hattie Ballou, 1867-1896, was the daughter of Byron Ballou and Hannah Eldred. Her death record is here.
Brown, Martha Thompson, September 11, 1905 – 21 May 2008, was the daughter of Maude Ballou and her husband Howard M. Thompson.
Brown, Frank

My connection to this family is Bertha Kaiser Ballou. She was my grandmother’s half-sister.

Aug 16

Maple Grove Cemetery (new), Hoosick Falls, New York

This entry is part 18 of 60 in the series Cemeteries

newmaplegrovesign

The “new” portion of Maple Grove is across the road from the “old” sections. The hill continues, from the top of the new section to the bottom of the old section is a considerable drop. buried part way up the hill in the new section is my grandmother’s twin sister, her husband and their son.

Hazel Sarah Palmer was a fraternal twin of my grandmother Helen Lois; they were the youngest children of O.W. Palmer and Libbie Winn.
chauncyhazelpalmerbrenenstuhl

Also buried on the plot is their son, my mother’s cousin Edwin Brenenstuhl.
edwinbrenenstuhlmaplegrove

My mother was very excited to see the photos from our journey to New York. I was sorry that by the time we were able to make the trip, she was too ill to accompany us.

Aug 15

Maple Grove Cemetery (old), Hoosick Falls, New York

This entry is part 17 of 60 in the series Cemeteries

Maple Grove is divided into “Old” and “New”. This cemetery is located within the city limits of Hoosick Falls. The old and new sections are on opposite sides of the street.

Here is a picture of the old section as it looked in the fall of 2003 when we visited.

overviewoldmaplegrove

Through the gate, down the hill to the right we found the graves of my great-grandparents and two of their daughters who died young. Orlando William “O.W.” Palmer, 1846-1930, and his wife Libbie E. Winn, 1855-1921 have an impressive old marker on their graves. you can just see the GAR marker that was on the gravesite. My mother’s cousin was instrumental in seeing that the GAR markers were placed on graves of Civil War veterans in the cemetery.

owlibbieclosemaplegrove

garmarkerowpalmermaplegrove

Just right of OW and Libbie graves is a similar double marker on the graves of their daughters. Lillian is on the left, and Nellie on the right of the headstone.
LillianPalme maplegrovenelliepalme maplegrove

There were stained glass windows to memorialize the children in the local Methodist church, which the family attended. I did not take photos inside the church, but I wish I had.

Aug 14

Lakeview Cemetery, Howell, Michigan Fred and Maybelle Yournd

This entry is part 16 of 60 in the series Cemeteries

Lakeview Cemetery 920 Roosevelt, Howell, Michigan, 48843.

lakeviewsign2

One of my grandfather’s brothers also chose burial in Lakeside Cemetery. Frederick, Fred, Freddie Yournd/Yearnd and some of his family are buried in section A lot 183.

Fred and Mabelle (Daley) Yournd. If the flag was placed correctly, there may be a military record for Fred.
fredmabelleyournd

Maxine Yournd, a child who died in 1919 at the age of 7 months and 15 days. Her death record is among those posted at Seeking Michigan. I found her death certificate was using the advanced search, and putting Maxine as first name criteria, 1918 as birth year criteria, and 1919 as death year criteria. Searching on the last name “Yournd” produced no results. She is indexed as “Yoarnd”, the “u” must have looked like an open “a” to the person who indexed the record.
Maxine Yournd Lakeview Cem Howell

Use every option when searching indexes. Try everything you can think of, and then try some more. Yoarnd. Hmmmm.

Aug 13

Lakeview Cemetery, Howell, Michigan – Charles and Lena Yournd

This entry is part 15 of 60 in the series Cemeteries

Lakeview Cemetery 920 Roosevelt, Howell, Michigan, 48843.

lakeviewsign2

I asked as a child where the Yearnds came from, and the answer was “Howell”. When we moved to Detroit in, one of the first things I did was make the short drive to Howell to see what I could find out.

I found the Yearnd family, spelled Yournd in the cemetery indices at the library, so off I went, to section A, lot 17:

Yournd

The smaller stone is Lizzie, then in order: Charles, Lena, Augusta, here is a close-up view of each.

Lizzie, daughter 1878-1890
lizzie yournd2

lizzie yournd

Augusta Yournd, my grandfather’s sister, my great aunt.
augustayournd

My great-grandmother, Lena Detman Yournd.
lenayournd

My great-grandfather, Charles Yournd.
charlesyournd

You can see my reflection on these photos. I do have some from the side where my presence isn’t quite so evident. I’m posting these, to show that everyone can learn something. Since the day I took these I have learned how to keep most of myself out of most photos!

I have also learned how to look for every possible spelling of a surname. Every one, and lots that I would never think of. My story of looking for more information on this family is posted here.

Aug 12

Knox Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Huron County, Ontario — Johnston

This entry is part 14 of 60 in the series Cemeteries

knoxpresbyteriancranbrook-2 smallKnox presbyterian cranbrook overview-2 small

The members of the my great-grandmother’s family who died in or near Grey Township are also buried at Knox Presbyterian cemetery.

John Johnston was a taxable resident of Grey Township by 1866; I do not know the exact date he arrived there. Just two members of John’s family survived and migrated to Michigan, his children, James and Jane. Jane was my great-grandmother.

A cousin related to me that her father, Rae Johnston, son of James Johnston and grandson of John Johnston, traveled to Canada with a friend and visited the cemeteries. It seems that either James or Rae Johnston purchased the Johnston gravestones. The appearance and style of the markers is not consistent with the death years of the family.

Johnstonplotcranbrook

My second great-grandfather, John Johnston, 1829-1881

JohnJohnston

Catherine Raper Johnston, 1834-1880
catherinewifeJohnJohnston

Margaret “Maggie” Johnston, 1863-1880
maggiejohnston

Barbara Winnie Johnston, 1876-1881
barbarawinniejohnston

I stood at this grave for a long time. As a reminder, I didn’t crop my foot off the photo. In my mind, this grave connected and cemented my relationship to this family forever. My grandmother, Winnie Alice Kaiser, must have been named for this aunt, her mother’s sister. Just seeing the name made me shiver. I had absolutely no doubt, these Johnstons were my family.

After this trek, I drove back to Goderich and began to search the marriage, death and birth indices for the time. Funny, a marriage record I found said this:

#004614-81: William HARBOTTLE, 23, farmer, born Granville, Ontario, residing Grey twp., son of John HARBOTTLE & Sarah CHISHOLM, married Kate JOHNSTON, 23, born Perth County, Ontario., residing Grey township, d/o John JOHNSTON & Catherine RAPER, witnesses were Earnest HARBOTTLE & Mary Ann KAISER, both of Grey Township, date April 20, 1881 at Grey twp.

Hmmm. Back to the cemetery records; then, another, sadder drive back to the cemetery.

Katherine “Kate” Johnston Harbottle, 1857-1881
catherinejohnstonharbottle

catherinejohnstonharbottleclose up

I remember years ago, when Papa and I located the grave of his g-grandmother I said, great! Now, who else is around here, it is important to look at the neighbors. That day we did find some neighboring graves with names that seemed significant to us. On this day in May, 1991, in Grey, Ontario, I had missed it. I would not have realized, even had I seen the grave before I left the cemetery the first time. I am glad I had planned a several day trip, in order to view all the records I could find in the area.

After locating Kate’s marker, I took this overview of the Johnston markers and her marker, to show the relationship.

relationshipjohnstonharbottle

The taller, older marker for Kate is just behind the Johnston lot, in the next row.

Aug 11

Knox Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Huron County, Ontario — Kaiser

This entry is part 13 of 60 in the series Cemeteries

The Church

Knox presbyterian church cranbrook-2

The cemetery, out my car door, and across the hood.

Knoxcranbrook overview-2

The cemetery is located at Cranbrook, Concession 11, Grey Township. When I arrived at this place in May of 2001, it was truly a spiritual experience.

It was satisfying to stand at the graves of both sides of my grandmother’s family. I later found that a cousin had visited during his lifetime, but that was 40 or 50 years previous to my visit. I had no idea of what I would find, and the discovery of my ancestor’s names in the indices in Goderich and the subsequent trip to the cemetery was very exciting.

This post will show the Kaiser side of my Grandmother’s family. My 2nd great grandfather, William Kaiser, and his family resided in Grey, Huron, Ontario, Canada from at least 1870 forward. I do not know the exact date the family arrived in the area. The three children of William Kaiser and Elizabeth Long who died while the family resided in Grey Township are buried here. There is one stone which had been broken off and subsequently repaired.

kaiser childrens grave

The transcription from the cemetery record in Goderich reads:

In Memory Of
Joseph
Died Feb. 7, 1876;
Aged 18 Years
6 Mo’s & 7 D’s
Cecelia
Died Apr. 17, 1876;
Aged 8 Years
9 Mo’s & 17 D’s
Sarah
Died Aug 19, 1870
Aged 3 Mo’s & 19 D’s
Children of Wm & Elizabeth Kiser
4 line verse illegible

The verse is now completely missing, but the top portion of the marker was saved, and cemented to prevent tipping. Here are some close ups:

Joseph
JosephKaiser

Cecelia
ceceliakaiser

Sarah:
sarahkaiser

The cemetery was well kept and neat. Although I have no idea when the Kaiser marker was damaged and repaired, I am grateful that it remained for me to see and photograph.

Aug 10

Grove Cemetery, New Brighton Pennsylvania

This entry is part 12 of 60 in the series Cemeteries

grovesign

We found this cemetery by driving around New Brighton. It is on a hill in the east side of town. Thee photos are from our first visit there.

ClaudeHannahBrashears

Hannah E. Warren married Claude Eugene Brashears 16 February 1898 in New Brighton, Beaver County Pennsylvania. Hannah was just a year or so older than her sibling Edward Isaac Warren, who was Papa’s grandfather. One of the Brashears’ children traveled to Michigan several times to visit his uncle, and Papa remembers meeting him in the 1950’s.

Aug 08

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Your 16 Great-Grands

Randy Seaver says, “It’s almost Saturday Night – time for some Genealogy Fun!”

Here is your SNGF assignment for the evening (if you choose to accept it – this is not stump the genealogist or even Mission Impossible):

  1. List your 16 great-grandparents in pedigree chart order. List their birth and death years and places.
  2. Figure out the dominant ethnicity or nationality of each of them.
  3. Calculate your ancestral ethnicity or nationality by adding them up for the 16 – 6.25% for each (obviously, this is approximate).
  4. If you don’t know all 16 of your great-grandparents, then do it for the last full generation you have.
  5. Write your own blog post, or make a comment on Facebook or in this post.

I have too many holes to use 16 great-grandparents, so I had to go with 8 great-grandparents. They are:

  1. Charles Yournd/Yearnd born 22 Feb 1884 in Mecklenberg, Germany; died 20 July 1911 Howell, Livingston, Michigan GERMAN
  2. Lena Detman born 22 September 1853 in Germany; died 11 March 1917, Lansing, Ingham, Michigan GERMAN
  3. William Kaiser, born 30 June 1862 Ontario, Canada; died 3 December 1940 Detroit, Wayne, Michigan GERMAN
  4. Jane Johnston b 1867, Huron, Ontario, Canada; died 29 January 1888 Cadillac, Wexford, Michigan SCOTCH
  5. Martin L. Herrington born May 1853 New York; died 7 January 1926 Argyle, Washington, New York, SCOTCH
  6. Catherine H. “Kate” Knapp, born 1863 New York; died 23 December 1936, Troy, Rensselaer, New York ENGLISH
  7. Orlando William Palmer, born 2 November 1846 Vermont died 25 March 1930 Petersburg, Rensselaer, New York, ENGLISH
  8. Elizabeth “Libbie” Winn, born 4 April 1855 Kinderhook, Columbia, New York; died 19 May 1921 Hoosick Falls, Rensselaer, New York DUTCH

So, 25% German, 16.6% Scotch, 16.6% English, and 8.33% Dutch. The percentages pretty much reflect the composition of an average American pound puppy. Interestingly, there are a couple of thoughts that occurred to me as I worked through this little gem.

The first is that I identify strongly with being German, or of German heritage. But, it seems that overall, I’m much more something else, and much less German! It took me only a moment to arrive at the reason for that. Until about 5 years ago, I had never met anyone from my mother’s family other than her. You can see that her ancestors, numbers 5 through 8, are the largest part of my non-German ancestry. However, I never knew them, or even of them until I was well into adulthood. I have no stories, no sayings, nothing which connects me to my mother’s family in any way. On the other hand, German phrases and sayings, and talk about being German flood my childhood memories. We knew we were German, and we had the big noses to prove it.

The other thing that occurred to me is the large extent that adoption colors my heritage. My mother, though never adopted, did not live with her family after she was four, when her father died. She was raised in a series of foster homes, and carried many scars and hurt feelings of those experiences throughout her life.

Likewise, I found as I research that her grandfather, O.W. Palmer, was adopted. Solid proof eludes me, but a note found by one of his granddaughters says that his parents were James Askey and Mary E. Ackert, and that he taken in by the Palmers when his parents divorced. And, thirteen year old Orlando appears in the Palmer household in 1860, but is not present in 1850. I continue to rummage for solid information linking Orlando to either the Palmers or the Askey/Ackert household.

Some mysteries may never be solved, by I hope I have more of the 16 ancestors in the previous generation identified before the next time Saturday Night Fun signals the need!

Aug 08

Moving Right Along

I feel disconnected from the this blog right now, having spent the last week on other things. Some reports for my genealogy society, some other work for that cause, a trip to Lansing to protest (so 60’s), and a family reunion. Now all that is water over the dam.

I’m going continue on my quest to fulfill my New Year’s resolutions. Let me see, what was that?

1. Enter all the information from the BOX into my database. No exceptions, no cheating.

2. I will file all the paperwork in the proper place, not in piles on the floor, desk, or in any convenient box.

And for my blogs:

1. I will post on either GrannyPam or Granny’s Genealogy every day.

2. I will finish posting all the data from my “old” genealogy site to Granny’s Genealogy.

Wow, it’s a good thing I looked back. My results are dismal:

  1. Some of the box information is entered.
  2. What is entered is filed in another box.

I’m in real trouble here, it appears that I’ve completely stalled. However, we put down three rooms of new flooring, painted much of the house, raised a garden, cared for our lawn and flowers, and took a few breaks to see our favorite music and musicians.

I’m hoping that I can return to using one or two days a week exclusively for data entry. That will mean no Facebook, no Twitter, and no YouTube for those days. I am betting if I could stick to that, the pile would shrink dramatically.

Between my two blogs, I have made the following posts:

  1. GrannyPam: 129 posts
  2. Granny’s Genealogy: 265 posts

That is 394, more than one per day for a 365 day year. So, if averages count, I can take the rest of the year off! The funny think about this is that I thought I had accomplished much toward my resolutions by analyzing and posting all the “Belle’s Box” items, and it turns out that was not among my goals!

There is a saying I can remember, Keep Your Eyes On The Prize. Interesting, unsourced info on WikipediA on that.

To end this little evaluation, here is the song that that saying is based on. This a super cool version from The Nashville Bluegrass Band. That is Mike Compton singing and playing mandolin. I had to look twice, usually he is wearing a T-shirt and bib overalls.   I love this video, for the song, the excellent job done on it, and for the camera shots of the Lewis Family members sitting in the audience. They also appeared in the Gaither Bluegrass Gospel Homecoming videos, which we own and play sometimes around here. Enjoy, and I’ll try to keep my hand on the plow.