2022 Year in Review

2022 Review

 Here we are at the end of 2022.  Let's take a quick review of what I accomplished in my blog this past year.

I returned to blogging in October after a much too-long hiatus.  

I wondered if I wanted to join DAR. I do and will hopefully be working through that process this year. 

 I looked at all the veterans in my tree and identified potential Revolutionary War Soldiers.  

I did some research and showed you all how I did it.  

I made some progress on identifying Robert Wuerz while also not locating his death record as I had hoped.

What does 2023 hold?

I will be joining in on Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.  I did the challenge back in  2015 and completed 39/52 so not too shabby.  My goal is to do all 52 weeks this year.  I want to share with you all the joys and challenges of genealogy.  It's my favorite hobby.  I do not excel at it but I do it for the fun of it.  

I'd love to have you join along and follow me as I climb the limbs and search the roots of my family tree.

Unable to locate..

 As you may recall from my last post, I am searching for the death information regarding Robert Wuerz.  I found a death notice in a newspaper.  I sent a request to Madison County, Illinois for a record search.  I received the reply today.  

"After searching all available records in our office we are unable to locate the death record for Robert Wuerz that you are requesting." 

Below is the letter.

Letter from Madison County Clerk regarding a death record search.

Not I must decide where to look next.  I may try another county in Illinois or possibly see if there is a record in the county in Missouri where the burial was to take place.  

And such is the nature of genealogical research. 

As always, I will keep on searching.

There you are Mr. Robert W. Wuerz...

 I finally found the correct Robert W. Wuerz.  Robert Wuerz is my husband's 2nd great-grandfather.  He is the birthfather of Conrad Francis Wuerz, my husband's great-grandfather.  We didn't have much information regarding him at all.  His Granddaughter, Marion Inez Wuerz Schaal, my husband's grandmother, didn't know anything about him.  Her father, Conrad, was raised by his step-father James Fraser and there was never any real mention of his birth father.  I have been searching for him for years.  I got distracted a few years ago by who I thought was him but it turned out to be the wrong Robert Wuerz.  Here's how I finally located him.

As I tend to do, I just randomly picked a person to work on.  A few months ago I was working on Robert Wuerz.  I did a search on Ancestry.com in the Missouri Wills database.  My husband's family lived in Illinois just across the river from St. Louis, MO so I often expand the search into that state.  I looked for "Wuerz" and came across a will for a Conrad Wuerz but it wasn't my husband's great-grandfather.  

Right there in the will it says, "I also give and bequeath to each and every one of the children of my deceased son Robert W. Wuerz, the sum of One Dollar"

Well, there we have him!  Robert W. Wuerz the son of Conrad Wuerz.  Robert had passed away by the time Conrad wrote this will in 1908.  This fits the information I already have.  Robert's wife Annie remarried in 1902.  We know that Robert was gone by this 1908 document, is it possible he died before 1902 when Annie remarried?  I decided to search Newspapers.com for any information, limiting the dates to 1901-1902 as I believe he had to have been alive in 1901 as Annie gave birth to a second son in 1902 before she remarried; however, I do know that it's possible that the second child was her new husband's.  

CLIPPED FROM

Daily News-Democrat

Festus, Missouri

09 Jan 1902, Thu  •  Page 2

There it is!  Robert Wuerz died the Friday before January 9, 1902.  I pop over to timeanddate.com and look at the calendar for 1902 and figure out that the Friday before was January 3, 1902.  I now have a supposed death date for Robert and can now look for more documentation for Robert.

I tried to search specifically for Alton, IL newspapers for an obit from there but came up empty.  I'm not sure that the papers for that time period for Alton are online yet.  I'm now requesting a search for a death record for Robert Wuerz from Madison, County, Illinois County Clerk.  And now we wait to see what information they may have.  

 I know I'm on the right track now.  Since I've added Conrad Wuerz as the father of Robert Wuerz, the DNA has been connecting appropriately with the descendants of Conrad.  

Apparently, Robert was less than truthful on his marriage license when he married Annie Lawless.  As far as I've seen, he was not born in Chicago, IL and his parents' names were incorrect as well.  

As always, I will keep on searching.

Researching Eugene Bartow Ledbetter...

 Sometimes I just jump into my tree, pick a person at random and start researching what I can in a few minutes.  I know there are much more organized and better research plans out there but this is how I like to spend my spare time.  

Today I took a look at Eugene Bartow Ledbetter.  Eugene is my 2nd Great Granduncle.  He is a brother to my 2nd Great Grandmother, Luella Ledbetter subject of a lot of my research.  

Today I was looking at his funeral notice on Newspapers.com.  

CLIPPED FROM

The Atlanta Constitution

Atlanta, Georgia

05 Dec 1929, Thu  •  Page 28

Funeral notices are much less helpful than obituaries.  With an obituary, you learn information usually about the individual and their family but with a funeral notice, it is more of an announcement and invitation to attend the funeral.  In this announcement, we see that the invitation to the funeral is to the friends of Eugene Ledbetter and his sister Mrs. S. T. Bussey.  

I noticed that the funeral is taking place at the chapel of Harry G. Poole.  I take this information and Google "Harry G. Poole" where I find the Find A Grave memorial for Harry G. Poole. On this memorial, I learn that Mr. Poole was a prominent funeral director back in the day for Atlanta.  I have seen this funeral home before in other death notices and records for my Atlanta family.  

Then from the funeral notice, I see that Rev. W. A. Eisenhart will officiate the funeral.  I have never heard if my 2nd Great Grandmother was a regular churchgoer or not.  I know she had a belief in God based on a letter to the editor that she wrote.  I have even less knowledge of what Uncle Eugene's religious affiliation would have been.  So I searched for Rev. W. A. Eisenhart on Newspapers.com.  I found his name associated with a few different Presbyterian Churches in the Atlanta area.  I narrowed down the search to 1929, the year that Uncle Eugene died.  Doing so associated Rev. Eisenhart with the Covenant Presbyterian Church.  I Google searched the church.  They are located on Peachtree Road and have been a church since 1902.  I don't know if Uncle Eugene was Presbyterian or not but now I know that the Minister that preached his funeral service was.  

I next Googled "Presbyterian Archive Georgia" which led me to Columbia Theological Seminary located in Decatur, Georgia.  I searched their online archives for "Ledbetter" and for "Eisenhart" but came up empty.  

Next, I went to Google Books and searched "Rev. W. A. Eisenhart".  There were no results of note.

I still don't know much about Eugene's life.  As far as we know he never married nor had children.  I will continue to seek more information about Eugene.  

  

Saving Money on Ancestry's Black Friday Deals!

 For the last several years I have been getting an ancestry.com membership as a birthday gift from my husband.  Last year I found out about the 50% off sale for Black Friday.  I had no idea I could have been saving money this whole time.  Finally, this year I took advantage of the sale.

The sale is 50% off a gift membership and you can gift it to yourself.  This is not a renewal.  You want to make sure you have canceled the automatic payment.  Your current subscription needs to end in the next 90 days.  You purchase the gift membership of your choice and choose to have it begin on the day after your current membership ends.  Easy peasy!  

I had let mine run out in October so it's been a long 6 weeks without full Ancestry.com access but now I am all lined up to take advantage of this great deal every year now.  

Also, if you are in the market for DNA tests they are on sale as well.  

This sale ends on November 28, 2022, for this year.  

Veterans in my Family Tree

Today I would like to recognize ancestors and family members that were veterans.  I'm sure I'm missing some but I will continue to update this post as I continue to research.  I am including my husband's side of the family as well.

I would like to take the time to honor their service to our country.

Modern:

Cody Schaal *husband(AF & Navy)

Ethan Schaal *son (Navy)

Clay Bowen *cousin (Army)

John Schaal *father of husband(Army)

Vietnam:

Wade Curran *cousin (Army)

Ted Schaal *uncle of husband (Army)

Korea:

Donald Curran (Army) stationed in Germany

WWII:
Lewis Curran, JR *Grand uncle (Navy)

Elmer Jack Laycox (Army & AF)*Grandfather of husband,**have record

Homer Carl Curran *Grand uncle  (Navy)

Herbert Albert Waller *Great Granduncle (Navy) S2c V6. Enlistment date: 27 Nov 1942,
      Received onboard USS Burke (DE 215) 08/20/1943 Service number: 637 77 37 

      Discharge date: 16 Oct 1945

Chester Vonner Laycox *Granduncle of husband  Honorable discharge: 12 Jan 1946 

   TEC 5 US Army

Robert E Laycox *Granduncle of husband  Enlisted 25 Jul 1942, Camp Forrest, TN
  Service number 14133960, Air Corps, Discharged 22 Mar 1946. PFC, 991st MAT Sq

Samuel Groom JR *Great Granduncle of husband, Enlisted 24 Mar 1942, Peoria, IL.  

    Service number 16055064, US Army, 503rd Engr L Pon Co, Pvt,  Honorable discharge

     15 April 1943

WWI:
James Jefferson Bussey *uncle (Army) **have record 

John C. Bussey (Army) stateside, Signal corps **have record

John William Curran *uncle (Army)

Charles Terance Curran *uncle (Army) died 1918--Spanish Flu

Thomas James Curran  *uncle (Navy)
Willis C. Bussey, *Great GrandUncle (Private, Artillery, Georgia Co B) 6months. **on WWI Draft     Card

Samuel L Waller, *2nd Great Granduncle (Army) Sept 7, 1918, Co G 161 Inf  Served overseas 

         Oct 3/1918 to April 5/1919, Honorably Discharged May 12/1919 Army serial # 4,881,876
        Interred National Cemetery Marietta Georgia

Claude L. Thomason, *Granduncle, (Army) Enlistment date: 27 Aug 1941 Private, 

          Service number: 34087445 Discharge 11 Nov 1945

Volunteer Service:

Richard Bird Laycock, Great Granduncle of Husband,(Army), Enlisted 23 Jun 1898,

  Madisonville, KY, Pvt, Company A 3rd Ky Vol Infantry, discharged 16 May 1899, Savannah, GA
  Medical Discharge

Abraham Lawless, 5th Great Grandfather of husband, (Marine), Enlisted 4 Oct 1824, Pvt, 

   Mustered as present on board USS Ship Falmouth Oct 1828

Civil War:

Henry Valentine *4th Great Grandfather (Confed Army) then (US Navy)

Levi “Doc” Marlow *3rd Great Grandfather (Confed Army Virginia)

Joseph Marlow *4th Great Grandfather (Confed Army Virginia)

Thomas Lowers *4th Great Grandfather (Confed Army Virginia) 19th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry

William Deem *4th great granduncle (Union Army) W. Virginia

Washington “Sandy” Deem *4th Great Granduncle (Union Army) Sgt. A 15 WV Infantry

William E. Day *3rd Great Granduncle  (Union Army) Ohio

Jesse Yonally, *4th Great Granduncle (Union Army) Ohio

George Forshey *4th Great Grandfather, Pvt, 62 Ohio Infantry, Company K. 1 yr 4mos 8 days

           (Union Army)

Thomas J. Bussey, 3rd Great Grandfather, (GA). Volunteer GA Militia1864 Macon GA, Co H 7th   

           Reg Ga Military. 10 months.  “In April 1865 at Macon GA was paroled or discharged

           By the Yankee authorities”  Battle of Griswoldville, GA Nov 1864.  Left hip and Leg 

           The explosion of a shell  Jun 1864-April 1865

Dempsey J. Bussey, 3rd Great Granduncle, ( GA) Confederate.  Prvt May 18, 1861. 

           Died at Christian’s Factory at Lynchburg, Va. Dec 2, 1862. Buried in Conf. Cemetery 

           There.. No 9, 1st line, lot 78. *CompanyA, 8th Reg, GA Volunteer Infantry Army

            Of Northern Virginia C.S.A. Floyd County, Georgia (“Rome Light Guards”)

Henry Aaron Waller, *4th Great grandfather, Confed, (GA) GA regiment, 27th company, E
            Buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond VA.  Died of measles

William Lewis Thomason, *3rd Great Grandfather, Confed (GA) Enlisted as a private in Co. B, 25th Battn. Ga. Provost Guards Inf. Sept. 25, 1862. Transferred to Co. H, 5th Regt. Ga. Inf. Apr. 6, 1863; to Co. A, 2d Battn. Ga. Sharpshooters in 1862. Captured at Missionary Ridge, Tenn. Nov. 25, 1863. Released at Rock Island, Ill. June 25, 1865. Storied to have walked home from Illinois barefoot.

Isaac Sanford Thomason, 3rd great granduncle, Confed (GA) GA Company K, 64th Infantry

       Imprisoned 16 Aug 1864 Deep Bottom, VA; died Jackson Hospital, Richmond, VA. 

       Died of disease.  Buried Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA

Gideon A. Thomason, 3rd Great granduncle, Confed, (GA) Private Enlist 21 Sep 1861, GA 

       Company G, 35th infantry, Out 28 Feb 1865, AOL 

Benjamin F. Thomason, *3rd Great granduncle, Confed, (GA), killed 30 Aug 1862*2nd Manassas

        Enlisted 21 Sep 1861, private, Georgia Company G, 35th Infantry, KIA

David Richmond Allen, *4th great grandfather, GA, Confed.  Enlisted 16 Sep 1861, Private,

        Georgia, Company G, 35th Infantry, Muster Out 25 July 1862 due to disability.  Died on the

        Way home of dysentery in Augusta GA. Died 28 Jul 1862, buried in Augusta.

John Fields Chapman, *3rd Great Grandfather, Confed GA, Enlisted 15 Sep 1861, Private,

         GA Company I, 8th Infantry, Greene county, GA **taken prisoner at Richmond, Va in Mar ‘65,

         Held in prison in Washington DC

 John W. Welch, * 3rd Great Grandfather, Confed GA, Enlisted Private, 9 Sep 1861 muster out 11  Dec  1861 discharge disability     Company H, 27th Infantry

John Lloyd Ivey, 4th Great grandfather, confed, GA, Private, 16th Regiment, Georgia Infantry, Company G

Amos J. Stapler, 3rd Great Grandfather, Confed, GA, Private, Company E, 34th Regiment, Georgia Infantry. 

Isham Akin, 4th Great Grandfather, Confed, GA Pvt, Co G, 53rd GA Infantry.

Phillip Schaal, 3rd Great Grandfather of husband, Union, Missouri/Illinois, 2nd Regiment, Missouri Infantry, Company I, Private, medical discharge  **immigrant ancestor

Michael Roth, 4th Great Grandfather of husband, Union, Illinois **immigrant ancestor

David R. Laycock, 3rd Great grandfather of husband, Union, Tennessee, Enlisted 8 Mar 1864,

  Pvt, Muster date 21 Mar 1864, Company F, 2st Mtd Infantry

Thomas Jefferson Whittaker, 4th Great grandfather of husband, Confederate, Tennessee, 

  Pvt, Huggins’ Company, Tennessee Light Artillery

Drury Hyder Bagwell, 4th Great Grandfather of husband, Confed, TN Enlisted 15 Sep 1861, 

   1st Sergt, Muster date 15 Sep 1861, Company A, 28th TN Infantry. (2 Mountain Reg’t, Tenn.

    Vols.)  Died 6 April 1862 at the Battle of Shiloh

War of 1812:

James Marlow *6th Great Grandfather (Virginia)

Aquila Marlow *5th Great-Granduncle (MD) *British Invasion of Maryland

Peter Tennant *5th Great Granduncle  (Virginia) Sgt 6 Regiment Virginia Militia

William Tennant *5th Great Granduncle (Virginia) Pvt Cpt Samuel Kennedy’s Co, 2nd Regiment 

       Artillery, Virginia Militia. 

Alexander Tennant *5th Great Granduncle (US Rangers) Pvt, Capt McCormick         

Joseph Tennant *5th Great Granduncle (Virginia) Pvt 6 Regiment Virgina Militia

      Capt James Hurry’s Company.  

Abraham Tennant *5th Great Granduncle (Virginia) Pvt 6 Regiment, Capt Hurry’s company

Jacob Tennant *5th Great Granduncle (Virginia) Pvt Capt Jesse Ice’s Co, 1st Reg Connell’s

Abraham Deem *4th Great Granduncle (Virginia) 6 Regiment Virginia Militia

John Day, *5th Great Grandfather (Virginia) Sgt Army

James Boothe *6th Great Grandfather 

Solomon Forshey *5th great grandfather (PA)

Gibson Maynard (Manor) * Great Grandfather (SC) Austin’s Reg’t, South Carolina Militia, Private

Jonathan Odle *6th Great grandfather of Husband, In Service at Lewiston, NY.  Under Capt. 

  Samuel Jennings in the Company of Col. Philetus Swift.

Indian War

Jacob Deem SR, *5th Great Grandfather, Scout on the Frontier

Revolutionary War:

John Nighswanger *6th Great Grandfather (Virginia, Continental Troops) Sgt

Richard D.Tennant II, *6th Great Grandfather, (Virginia) Drummer, Capt Parsons, McIntosh’s Company

Peter Haught JR (II), 6th Great Granduncle, (Lord Dunmore’s Army)

Jacob Deem SR, *5th Great Grandfather **Rejected pension due to Indian wars on the frontiers.

Michael Cox, *5th Great Grandfather, Private, Pennsylvania

Thomas Forshey, *6th Great Grandfather (PA) 1775-recruiting officer.  1776 Ensign in 8th Pa. 

              Rel. commanded by Col. Enos McCoy, and in the company commanded by Capt. John

             Wilson.  

Richard Wells, *6th Great Grandfather (PA) **application for pension/bounty land warrant?

Henry Wells, *6th Great Granduncle (VA) Sgt in Col. Burgess Ball’s Co, 1st Virginia Regulars 

             Commanded by Richard Parker

Alexander Wells, *7th Great Grandfather (MD) appointed Captain of MD Militia June 6, 1776

Samuel Whatley, *5th Great Grandfather, wounded at Long Cane, S.C. Dec 10, 1781

              Served under Capt. Macajah Williamson in the company of mounted militia under
              Elijah Clarke.  Taken prisoner by the British. Siege of Augusta. Shot in the left arm.``Twice

               Frozen, once perished & drowned, once hung and twice shot for his unflinching zeal in

               The defense of Liberty and American Independence.”

Martin Dial, 6th Great Grandfather (SC).  Per SOAR application:  Private soldier in Col Hays 

              Regiment of SC, also Capt. Kilgore’s SC Regiment.  He served several months in

              Capt. John Ridgeway’s SC Co.  He was w Capt Ridgeway when “Bloody Bill 

              Cunningham’s tory Gang” attacked them at a place on the Saluda River, now known as   “Cane- Brake Massacre by the Cunningham tory Gangy”  Martin Dial was one of the few soldiers who escaped.  Martin Dial was taken prisoner on two occasions by the British Army.  His brother, Hastings Dial, an officer of some rank in the British Army affected his release. Granted   326 acres of land in the 96th Dist of Laurens county SC.  Pension-R*13777

John Ephriam Mayo, *6th Great grandfather NC. Received a pension and land.

Benjamin Thrower, *6th Great grandfather, NC, Private, received a pension.

John Patrick McMullin *5th Great grandfather, is rumored to have made the first suit that George 

           Washington wore it after becoming General or something like that.  No evidence.

Johannes “John” Dingler, 7th Great Grandfather, Dragoons US Army Revolutionary War, Continental Troops

Samuel Paschall, 8th Great Grandfather, Mar 1779, Continental Troops, Artillery in the Battalion, Bombardier

Jonathan Terwilleger, 7th Great Grandfather of husband, is found on the following Pay Roll.
  “A Payroll of Capt Jacobus Roos’s Company in Col Jonathan Hasbrouck,s Regiment who marched on the night of the 25 Apr last on an alarm of an insurrection of a Body of Tories” April 1777

Always learning

 I've been paused on my research for a little while because I've been taking in several webinars to increase my skills.  While I"ve been researching family history for many, many years I am so far from an expert.  Sometimes I need to take a break and gain a new perspective  

Recently I watched a webinar that absolutely gave me some fresh ideas on how to try and narrow down who may be the father of one of my 3rd Great Grandmother Alice Lawrence Ledbetter using DNA.  I'm going to write down my ideas and place them in my research plan binder. 

I have found that the webinars presented by Family Tree Webinars are some of the best out there.  I love that they offer free webinars weekly.  I used them so frequently that I decided to purchase a membership so I could always see the webinars and get the syllabus/handouts provided by the speakers.  Because I live in Okinawa, the presentation times do not always work out for me, but I am able to watch them in the webinar library at any time with my membership.  

I only recommend things that I have used myself and enjoy. 

If you are interested in your own membership or just to see what free webinars are available please click here.  *(As an affiliate I earn a small commission if you purchase through my link at no additional cost to you).  Remember many of the webinars are FREE!  

Potential Revolutionary War Soldiers

The following names and descriptions are of potential Revolutionary War Veterans on my side of the family.  These are from my notes. I failed to use proper citations in my notes.  Most of the information I gathered was from online family trees.  Even though I have been researching for years,  I still make mistakes and am always learning.    

I have one of these men in mind as the one I can easily connect to that already has been proven and I can hitch up to one of my cousins that have already submitted an application. 

Revolutionary War:

John Nighswanger *6th Great Grandfather (Virginia, Continental Troops) Sgt

Richard D.Tennant II, *6th Great Grandfather, (Virginia) Drummer, Capt Parsons, McIntosh’s    

          Company

Jacob Deem SR, *5th Great Grandfather **Rejected pension due to Indian wars on the frontiers.

Michael Cox, *5th Great Grandfather, Private, Pennsylvania

Thomas Forshey, *6th Great Grandfather (PA) 1775-recruiting officer.  1776 Ensign in 8th Pa. 

              Rel. commanded by Col. Enos McCoy, and in the company commanded by Capt. John

             Wilson.  

Richard Wells, *6th Great Grandfather (PA) **application for pension/bounty land warrant?

Henry Wells, *6th Great Granduncle (VA) Sgt in Col. Burgess Ball’s Co, 1st Virginia Regulars 

             Commanded by Richard Parker

Alexander Wells, *7th Great Grandfather (MD) appointed Captain of MD Militia June 6, 1776

Samuel Whatley, 5th Great Grandfather, wounded at Long Cane, S.C. Dec 10, 1781

              Served under Capt. Macajah Williamson in company of mounted militia under
              Elijah Clarke.  Taken prisoner by the British. Siege of Augusta. Shot in left arm.``Twice

               Frozen, once perished & drowned, once hung and twice shot for his unflinching zeal in

               The defense of Liberty and American Independence.”

Martin Dial, 6th Great Grandfather (SC).  Per SOAR application:  Private soldier in Col Hays 

              Regiment of SC, also Capt. Kilgore’s SC Regiment.  He served several months in

              Capt. John Ridgeway’s SC Co.  He was w Capt Ridgeway when “Bloody Bill 

              Cunningham’s tory Gang” attacked them at a place on the Saluda River, now known as   “Cane- Brake Massacre by the Cunningham tory Gangy”  Martin Dial was one of the few soldiers who escaped.  Martin Dial was taken prisoner on two occasions by the British Army.  His brother, Hastings Dial, an officer of some rank in the British Army effected his release. Granted   326 acres of land in the 96th Dist of Laurens county SC.  Pension-R*13777

John Ephriam Mayo, *6th Great grandfather NC. Received a pension and land.

Benjamin Thrower, *6th Great grandfather, NC , Private, received a pension.

John Patrick McMullin *5th Great grandfather, rumored to have made the first suit that George 

           Washington wore it after becoming General or something like that.  No evidence.

Johannes “John” Dingler, 7th Great Grandfather, Dragoons US Army Revolutionary War, Continental Troops

Samuel Paschall, 8th Great Grandfather, Mar 1779, Continental Troops, Artillery in the Battalion, Bombardier