SNGF :: Ancestral Name List Roulette

Randy Seaver has posted the “assignment” for tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun and I've decided to play along...

1) How old is one of your grandfathers now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel"). Who is that person?

3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."

My Grandfather (Dad's Dad) Charles Wilson Wiseman was born September 20, 1885 and would be 125 years old. Divided by 4 and rounded to a whole number, my roulette number is 31.

Number 31 in my ahnentafel is Sophia Elizabeth Dunfee. She was the daughter of William Hamilton Dunfee and Catherine Jones and was born September 18, 1850 in Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana. She married William Pythagrus Wise on October 9, 1873 in Whitley County. Sophia passed away on December 6, 1916 in Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana.

Three facts about Sophia:

• Sophia was a farmer's wife and the mother of four children: Harry H. Wise, Maude Wise Brubaker, Maurice James Wise, and Hazlette Wise Burns.

• She lived her entire life in Whitley County, Indiana. Three of her siblings died in infancy and a fourth died at the age of 12. The two siblings who lived into adulthood had no children.

• Sophia created a scrapbook of newspaper clippings of (mostly) obituaries of family, friends and neighbors. The patent date of the scrapbook is March 1876. The scrapbook was passed down to Sophia's daughter, Maude Wise Brubaker then to her daughter Hazlette Brubaker Phend then to her daughter Phyllis Phend Mitchell. The Scrapbook was given to me last week by Phyllis' daughter.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun :: My Sweet Sixteen

Here 'tis, Saturday Night, again, already, and Randy has issued his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge:

• List your 16 [great]-great-grandparents in pedigree chart order. List their birth and death years and places.
• Figure out the dominant ethnicity or nationality of each of them.
• Calculate your ancestral ethnicity or nationality by adding them up for the 16 - 6.25% for each (obviously, this is approximate).

And, they are:

1. Charles Wiseman was born on 30 Nov 1815 in Berne, Switzerland, died on 14 Aug 1895 in Craig Township, Switzerland County, Indiana, and was buried in McKay Cemetery, Craig Township, Switzerland County, IN. Ethnicity: SWISS-GERMAN

2. Naomi Bray, daughter of Samuel Bray Sr. and Susanna Ball, was born on 03 Mar 1824 in Probably Switzerland County, Indiana, died on 06 Dec 1908 near Long Run, Craig Township, Switzerland County, IN, and was buried in McKay Cemetery, Craig Township, Switzerland County, IN. Ethnicity: UNKNOWN

3. William Alexander, son of William Washington Alexander and Lucy Sprague, was born on 20 Nov 1805 in Erie County, Pennsylvania, died on 07 Apr 1899 in Washington Township, Kosciusko County, IN, and was buried in Morris Chapel Cemetery, Kosciusko County, Indiana. Ethnicity: SCOTCH-IRISH (maybe)

4. Rachel Van Curen, daughter of Hendricus "Henry" Van Curen and Rebecca, was born on 05 Sep 1824 in China Township, Genessee County, New York, died on 20 Dec 1891 in Washington Township, Kosciusko County, IN, and was buried in Morris Chapel Cemetery, Kosciusko County, Indiana. Ethnicity: DUTCH

5. Christian Schuder Jr. son of Christian Schuder Sr. and Anna Eva Christina Stoever, was born on 19 Jul 1813 in Montgomery County, Ohio, died on 02 Sep 1885 in Van Buren Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana, and was buried in Syracuse Cemetery, Kosciusko County, Indiana. Ethnicity: GERMANIC

6. Sarah Nancy Huntsicker was born on 02 Feb 1817 in Pennsylvania, died on 14 Jun 1883 in Van Buren Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana, and was buried in Syracuse Cemetery, Kosciusko County, Indiana. Ethnicity: PROBABLY GERMANIC

7. Daniel Lavering, son of William Lavering and Elizabeth Ann Schuder, was born on 18 Apr 1830 in Montgomery County, Ohio, died on 10 Oct 1895 in Kosciusko County, Indiana, and was buried in Syracuse Cemetery, Kosciusko County, Indiana. Ethnicity: GERMANIC

8. Elizabeth Ann Long, daughter of George Long and Unknown (Elizabeth?), was born in 1829 in Ohio, died on 23 Nov 1895 in Kosciusko County, Indiana, and was buried in Syracuse Cemetery, Kosciusko County, Indiana. Ethnicity: PROBABLY GERMANIC

9. Jacob Phend, son of Johannes B'hend and Susanna Kübli, was born on 27 Jun 1829 in Aarmühle, Interlaken, Canton Berne, Switzerland, was baptized on 05 Jul 1829 in Gsteig, Interlaken, Canton Berne, Switzerland, died on 07 Oct 1917 in Elkhart County, Indiana, and was buried in Hepton Union Cemetery in Hepton, Kosciusko County, Indiana. Ethnicity: SWISS-GERMAN

10. Louisa Fisher, daughter of Michael Fisher and Christenia Houck, was born on 27 Jun 1829 in Germany, died on 04 Apr 1898 in Nappanee, Elkhart County, Indiana, and was buried in Hepton Union Cemetery in Hepton, Kosciusko County, Indiana. Ethnicity: GERMANIC

11. Eli Yarian, son of Jacob Yarian and Elizabeth Switzer, was born on 25 May 1839 in Randolph Township, Portage County, Ohio, died on 28 Jan 1895 in Locke Township, Elkhart County, Indiana, and was buried in South Union Cemetery in Locke Township, Elkhart County, Indiana. Ethnicity: GERMANIC

12. Lovina Viola Berlin, daughter of John D. Berlin and Susannah Hoffman, was born on 08 May 1845 in Washingtonville, Columbiana County, Ohio, died on 03 May 1932 in South Bend, Saint Joseph County, Indiana, and was buried in South Union Cemetery in Locke Township, Elkhart County, Indiana. Ethnicity: GERMANIC

13. William Brubaker, son of John Brubaker and Sarah Foster, was born on 20 Nov 1843 in Perry County, Ohio, died on 26 Jan 1912 in Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana, and was buried in South Park Cemetery in Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana. Ethnicity: GERMANIC

14. Malissa Mariah Joslin, daughter of Lysander Price Joslin and Lydia Robison, was born on 24 Jun 1849 in Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana, died on 30 Sep 1937 in Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana, and was buried in South Park Cemetery in Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana. Ethnicity: ENGLISH

15. William Pythagrus Wise, son of Jacob Wise and Malissa Ann Stem, was born on 01 Jan 1852 in Miami County, Indiana, died on 12 Oct 1935 in Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana, and was buried in Scott-Keister Cemetery in Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana. Ethnicity: GERMANIC

16. Sophia Elizabeth Dunfee, daughter of William Hamilton Dunfee and Catherine B. Jones, was born on 18 Sep 1850 in Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana, died on 06 Dec 1916 in Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana, and was buried in Scott-Keister Cemetery in Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana. Ethnicity: SCOTCH-IRISH (maybe)

81.25% of my 2nd great grandparents (13 of the 16) were born in the United States. As close as I can guesstimate, the ethnic breakdown is predominantly GERMANIC (9 = 56%), SWISS-GERMAN (2 = 12%), with a bit of DUTCH (1 = 6%), ENGLISH (1 = 6%), SCOTCH-IRISH (maybe 2 = 12%), and UNKNOWN (1 = 6%).

What Are They Looking For?

Over at What’s Past is Prologue, Donna Pointkouski has shared some really strange, weird, puzzling and funny search terms that bring people to her blog, along with some commentary. It had me smiling with an outright laugh or two even. Thanks, Donna, for the laugh, and the prompt!

Though the items on my list are not nearly as informative, inventive, or esoteric as hers they still sometimes leave me scratching my head. These are a few the latest things people were looking for when they landed on my blog via a search engine. . .

• "charles wise" balloon
• does the joslins have ansters in englad
• dresslers chocolate cake
• general macarthur's cousin in ww2
• michigan dnr plot map levering
• missing people alert in elkhart county
• ms backy ard 69
• parrot inherits estate dayton ohio
• personality
• please acknowledge myself as author of the conference slides
• robbins family strict and particular Baptists
• sheet protectors
• voting turn out for noble county Indiana
• who is the fav wise man in mexico in children

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun :: My Genealogical Threes

Randy Seaver's challenge for this Saturday Night comes from Facebook. He says, "some people have been posting their '3s of Me' with information about themselves providing three responses in different categories like 'Three names I go by,' 'Three jobs I've had,' 'Three favorite drinks,' etc. You get the idea."

So our assignment is to give three responses to these questions:

* Three genealogical libraries I frequent

• Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana
• Peabody Public Library, Columbia City, Indiana
• Elkhart Public Library, Elkhart, Indiana

* Three places I've visited on genealogy trips

• Vevay, Switzerland County, Indiana (Wiseman and Bray)
• Nelson County, Kentucky (Bray)
• Pitkin, Gunnison County, Colorado (Lydia Fisher Conroy)

* Three genealogy societies I belong to (or want to)

• New England Historic Genealogical Society
• Indiana Genealogical Society
• Genealogical Society of Whitley County (Indiana)

* Three websites that help my research

• Family Search Record Search
• Ancestry.com
• US GenWeb

* Three ancestral graves that I've visited

• Peter and Christina Wise and family in Gilead Cemetery, Miami County, Indiana
• Lysander and Lydia (Robison) Joslin in Lyndon Cemetery, Valley Brook Township, Osage County, Kansas
• Charles and Naomi (Bray) Wiseman in McKay Cemetery, Craig Township, Switzerland County, Indiana

* Three ancestral places I want to visit (there's a theme here…)

• St. Armand, Quebec, Canada (Joslin)
• Franklin County, Vermont (Joslin)
• Leominster, Massachusetts (Joslin)

* Three brickwall ancestors I want to research more (I prefer to call them Roadblocks rather than Brickwalls.)

• Ruth Dyer 1771-1830 (married Jonas Joslin)
• Sally Church 1780-1831 (married Bela Goodrich)
• Abigail Price 1754-1827 (married John Goodrich)

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun :: Three Things

So here it is, Saturday Night again. Randy's challenge for this evening is to write about three things that you learned about Genealogy or Family History today.

First and foremost, don't do a Google search for an ancestor unless you have time to spare. Of course, I already knew that but it got driven home this afternoon. I had other things that I should have been doing but really just didn't feel like doing them.

Instead, in a few hours of "surfing" I learned a great deal about my 8th great grandfather, Tjerck Claessen Dewitt, who lived from about 1629 to 1699 in what is now Kingston, New York. Much more than I know about some of my more recent ancestors! His will was dated March 4, 1687. Though I wonder about its authenticity since the book it came from was compiled, abstracted and translated by Gustave Anjou!

Among other things, from the Website of Richard Thomas Rose I learned that the name Tjerck is pronounced as if it was written Cherrick. And Taatje is Charity.

Tjerck was involved in several court cases 1656-1663. In a biography from Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, I learned that his eldest daughter, Taatje, was carried away by the Indians on June 7, 1663 during the destruction of Kingston and Hurley, but was rescued. [She would marry Matthys Matthyssen in 1677 and they would become my 7th great grandparents.] In that same biography, I learned that in 1667, when the British took possession of Kingston, he was one of those who opposed British occupation. Among the complaints made afterward by the burghers was this: "Capt. Braodhead has beaten Tjerck Claezen DeWitt without reason and brought him to prison. Ye reason why Capy. Broadhead abused Tjerick DeWitt was because he would keep Christmas day on ye day according to the Dutch and not on ye day according to ye English observation."

In addition, he refused to take the Oath of Allegiance required of heads of families by the English in 1668. Then, in 1684 he, along with others, petitioned the Governor for the right of Ulster County citizens to be able "to choose our towne officers to every towne court by the major vote of the freeholders." The petition offended the authorities and the signers were arrested and fined because of their desire for local self-government.

Tjerck was an interesting fellow, indeed. All in all, it was an informative afternoon. But all of those other things I didn't feel like doing still await me!

It's time for some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun!

Here it is, Saturday Night already! My, how the time does fly. Randy's challenge tonight:

1. Which of your ancestors were alive in 1909?
2. Tell us where your ancestral families were living in 1909. What country, state, county, city/town, etc. Who was in the family at the time? Use the 1910 census as "close enough."
3. Have you found each of these families in the 1910 census?

My grandfather, Rolland Victor "Vic" Phend, turned 16 years old on June 19, 1909. In 1910 he was living on Ellsworth Street in Columbia City, Indiana with his parents (my great-grandparents) Henry and Susie (Yarian) Phend and eight younger siblings. Henry was 44 years old and Susie was 37. Their other children residing with them were Cecil (15), Gladys (14), Bernice (10), Russell (9), Donald (6), Virgil (5), Paul (3), and Gerald (1).

My 2nd great-grandfather (Henry's father), Jacob Phend (82), was living in Concord Township, Elkhart County, Indiana with his daughter and son-in-law, Sophia (46) and John (55) Ernest along with one of their sons, Frederick aged 16, and John's mother Maria (81). Jacob's wife, Louisa, had passed away in 1898.

Lovina Viola Berlin (my 2nd great-grandmother and the mother of Susie Lula Yarian Phend) was 65 years old, widowed, and living by herself in Locke Township, Elkhart County, Indiana.

Hazlette Aileen Brubaker (my grandmother and future wife of Vic Phend) was 7 years old in 1909 and living on State Street in Traverse City, Grand Traverse County, Michigan. In 1910 the family consisted of her father, Charles R. Brubaker (38), mother Maud C. (33), sister Choella J. (7), and brother William H. (5).

My 2nd great-grandparents, William and Malissa (Joslin) Brubaker were still residing on the Goose Lake Farm in Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana when the census was taken in 1910. William was 66 years old and Malissa was 60. They had purchased the farm about the time they were married in 1871 and lived there until 1911 when they moved into Columbia City.

William Pythagrus and Sophia Elizabeth (Dunfee) Wise (Maud's parents, my 2nd great-grandparents) were living on their farm in Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana in 1910. William was 58 years old and Sophia was 59. Living with them was their 23 year old daughter, Hazlette (she would be married the next year to Harlo Asher Burns).

My Dad's father, Charles, was 25 years old and living in Tippecanoe Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana with his parents Samuel (56) and Amanda (49) (Alexander) Wiseman. In the household were their daughter Lellah (19), Amanda's half-sister Jennie R. Hover (55), and their grandson Harry C. (3). I suspect that the grandson Harry was really Charles' son Perry Martin Comfort Wiseman who was born in August 1906. I have not yet located Charles' wife Elsie (Shuder) Wiseman, age 25, and their daughter Eva Leah, who was born in February 1908, in the 1910 census records.

Nancy Jane (Lavering) Shuder (my great-grandmother, Elsie's mother) was 55 years old and living in Tippecanoe Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana. She was widowed and head of household. Residing with her were her four sons and one daughter; William H. (33), Charles J. (26), Cleveland (19), Anna M. (16), and Ezra (15).

The tally of those found in the 1910 census: 3 out of 4 grandparents (whereabouts of one is not known), 7 of 8 great-grandparents (the other one was deceased), and 6 of 16 great-great-grandparents (the other 10 were deceased). However, I know where the deceased are all buried and when they died, so the only one of the 28 whose whereabouts is unknown is my grandmother, Elsie (Shuder) Wiseman. She would have been 25 years old and wherever she was, I hope she had her infant daughter Eva Leah with her!

The deceased great-grandfather:

• Isaac Shuder died August 11, 1905 (age 59) buried in North Webster Cemetery, Kosciusko County, Indiana

And the deceased great-great-grandparents (all locations are in Indiana):

• Louisa (Fisher) Phend died April 4, 1898 (age 68) buried in Hepton Union Cemetery, Kosciusko County
• Eli Yarian died January 28, 1895 (age 55) buried in South Union Cemetery, Elkhart County
• Charles Wiseman died August 14, 1895 (age 79) buried in McKay Cemetery, Switzerland County
• Naomi (Bray) Wiseman died December 8, 1908 (age 84) buried in McKay Cemetery
• William Alexander died April 7, 1899 (age 93) buried in Morris Chapel Cemetery, Kosciusko County
• Rachel (Van Curen) Alexander died December 20, 1891 (age 67) buried in Morris Chapel Cemetery
• Christian Schuder died September 2, 1885 (age 72) buried in Syracuse Cemetery, Kosciusko County
• Sarah Nancy (Huntsicker) Schuder died June 14, 1883 (age 66) buried in Syracuse Cemetery
• Daniel Lavering died October 10, 1895 (age 65) buried in Syracuse Cemetery
• Elizabeth Ann (Long) Lavering died November 23, 1895 (age 66) buried in Syracuse Cemetery

What did I learn? Nothing that I didn't already know, but here's a couple "interesting" items:

• Still can't find grandmother Elsie in the 1910 census. I looked, again. For the upteenth time.
• All of the deceased great-great-grandmothers, except one, were 66-68 years old when they died.
• Great-grandmother Nancy Jane (Lavering) Shuder lived to the age of 99 years 30 days.
• Grandfather Rolland Victor Phend lived to the age of 97 years 11 months 30 days.

The Best Gift - Ever!

Yesterday morning (March 31st) I received a phone call from one of my genea-friends ("J") that volunteers at the local historical museum. The staff and volunteers are in the midst of re-organizing and inventorying the collections they have in the attic of the annex building. Now, "J" and some of my other genea-friends are aware of some of the surnames that I'm researching in Whitley County and "J" said they had found something that she thought I would be interested in. Really, really interested in. I could hear the excitement in her voice but she wouldn't say anything else.

Well, I'll tell you, it didn't take me long to get around and head on into town. That half hour drive seemed like it was taking forever.

When I arrived at the museum, I knew something was up since one of the feature writers from the local newspaper was there along with a photographer! The excitement was palpable. Without saying anything besides "Hello" they escorted me into one of their meeting rooms. And there, sitting on one of the tables was a medium sized box. Written on the side of the box were the initials "H. F." and in parentheses "Brubaker" and I thought, those are grandma's initials - Hazlette Ferguson.

By this time my hands were shaking and my heart was beating so fast I couldn't hardly stand it. As "J" opened the top of the box, the photographer's flash went off right in my eyes, practically blinding me. Recovery was almost immediate though as "J" pulled out a piece of paper - it listed the contents of the box - it was incredible.

This wonderful, amazing box seemed to be the key to nearly all of the questions regarding grandma's research on her families! Here were pages from the family Bibles of James Joslin and Bela Goodrich and Peter Wise - listing their children and dates of birth and who they had married and when! And the original marriage certificate for James Joslin and Abigail Goodrich. And the original will of Peter Wise, which never got recorded in the county books. It shows that Jacob is indeed his son! And there were letters, too! I had a copy of one written in 1849 from Sophia (Hazlett) Dunfee to her son William but here were half a dozen more. And there were several to Lysander Joslin from his mother Abigail after she moved to Illinois in 1861.

There was so much in that box. Documents that grandma had collected from courthouses and archives, and more personal papers, and old photographs - and the photos were identified! I was absolutely flabbergasted.

Many times over the past 10 years I have silently (and sometimes openly) cursed my Grandmother for not providing the documentation for the information that was written down in her family group sheets. And here it is. To say that I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. Tears of joy were streaming down my face as I carefully picked up each piece of paper. And then, I thanked God, and my Grandmother, for this miraculous gift.

This post was written for the 69th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy: What if...

Ah yes, it is April Fools' Day!

Saturday Night Fun :: Y-DNA

It's Saturday Night, so, as Randy says, it's time for some genealogy fun. Randy's been searching for his Y-DNA matches and thought we might be interested in tracing the Y-DNA line of our paternal grandmother.

The challenge is this: Provide a list of your paternal grandmother's patrilineal line by answering the following questions.

* What was your father's mother's maiden name?

• My father's mother was Elsie Shuder (1885-1926), born in Kosciusko County, Indiana

* What was your father's mother's father's name?

• My father's mother's father's name was Isaac Shuder (1846-1905), born in Montgomery County, Ohio

* What is your father's mother's father's patrilineal line? That is, his father's father's father's ... back to the most distant male ancestor in that line?

• Isaac Shuder's father was Christian Schuder Jr. (1813-1885), born in Montgomery County, Ohio
• Christian, Jr. was the son of Christian Schuder Sr. (1762-1842), born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
• This WorldConnect database indicates that Christian Sr. was the son of Johann Nicolas Schuder (born 1727 in Germany-Esslingen) and Ursula Catherina Mayer. No documentation or sources, and I haven't done any research this far back.

* Can you identify male sibling(s) of your father's mother, and any living male descendants from those male sibling(s)? If so, you have a candidate to do a Y-DNA test on that patrilineal line. If not, you may have to find male siblings, and their descendants, of the next generation back, or even further.

Elsie Shuder had five brothers:
William Henry Shuder (1876-1946), never married, no children.
George Marion Shuder (1880-1954), had two daughters.
Charles Jefferson Shuder (1883-1963), had one son (Milton 1914-1999) who had a son.*
Cleveland R. Shuder (1890-1980), had one son who may still be living. He had children but I don't know if he had any sons.*
Ezra Shuder (1895-1957), never married, no children.

So, it looks like there are two potential sources for Y-DNA testing. Of course I'd need to find them then talk them into having the testing done and probably pay for the testing myself. . .

A search at http://www.ysearch.org/ showed one pedigree for the surname Schuder, none for Shuder. And, hey, we have a match! Well, maybe. That is if Christian is a son of Nicholas Schuder (immigrant 1752) and his wife Ursella Catherine Mayer.

Related posts: Shuder Family - Index to Posts

Saturday Night Fun - Wordles!

Randy's Saturday Night Fun for this week is Wordles, which was inspired by John Newmark! What's a Wordle? It is a graphic representation of text that can be created at wordle.net but be forewarned - you can spend a lot of time playing with the various font and directional settings.

These surname Wordles were created back in July of last year for my maternal and fraternal lines, Phend and Wiseman, respectively. (As always, click on the images for a larger version.)


This facebook wordle was also created in July '08

And this one for the Genea-Blogger Group Games was created in August '08

Who is Number 21?

This week, Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Fun "task" is to write about ancestor #21 as listed on your Ahnentafel report. Why #21? Because it was February 21st when Randy published his post!

#21 is the mother of #10, who is the father of #5, who is the mother of #2, thus:

#2 Jack William Wiseman, my father
#5 Elsie Shuder, my grandmother
#10 Isaac Shuder, my great grandfather
#21 Sarah Nancy Huntsicker, my great-great grandmother

Sarah Nancy Huntsicker was born February 2, 1817 and died June 14, 1882. She is buried with her husband in Syracuse Cemetery, Kosciusko County, Indiana. According to the 1850, 1860 & 1870 census records, Sarah was born in Pennsylvania. In 1880 her place of birth is listed as Ohio. Names of her parents are not known at this time.

On December 22, 1842 Sarah Huntsticker was married to Christian Schuder in Montgomery County, Ohio (Volume A2, Page 270) by John Burnett. Christian's older brother, Peter Schuder (1799-1867), was married to Rebecca Barbara Huntsicker (1807-1865). Christian and Peter were the sons of Christian Sr. and Anna Eva Christina (Stoever) Schuder.

Federal census records show that in 1850 (p377) and 1860 (p11) Christian and Sarah Schuder were living in Jefferson Township, Montgomery County, Ohio. By 1870 the family had moved to Elkhart County, Indiana and were found residing in Jackson Township (p380). In 1880, the family was found in Van Buren Township in neighboring Kosciusko County, Indiana (p14b).

Sarah's occupation would have been that of a mother and wife. Christian was listed as a farmer, farm laborer, and laborer in the federal census records. Details of their life together are not known, but Christian and Sarah Nancy (Huntsicker) Schuder were the parents of six children.

1. Clinton Newell Schuder (1843-1858)
2. Isaac Schuder/Shuder (1846-1905) - Isaac and his family dropped the "c" and used the spelling of "Shuder" for their surname. Isaac married Nancy Jane Lavering. They had nine children, one of whom was Elsie Shuder, my grandmother.
3. Louisa Dora Schuder (1849-1922) - Louisa never married.
4. Sarah Ann Schuder (1851-1853)
5. Diana "Anna" Schuder (1854-1902) - Diana married Solomon Coy; they had no children.
6. Malen Schuder (1856-1920) - Malen married Alice Clem. They had three children; Floyd, Ethel, and Dora. Ethel and Dora did not have any children; Floyd had one son, Evard Schuder. I don't know whether or not Evard had any children.

The 6th of the 6th

Randy's latest bit of Saturday Night Fun is to "go to your My Pictures folder (or the equivalent) and pick out the 6th item in that folder. Then pick out the 6th item in that folder, and so forth, until you get to an actual picture." Then, "post that picture to your blog with an explanation of what the picture depicts, including place and date."

The sixth photo in the sixth folder of the sixth folder of my "Image Files" folder was taken at my grandpa's house in December 1954 and my sister Terry was just learning to walk. Mom has always said "It was her first step" but who knows. A rather appropriate picture though, seeing as how today (January 31st) is her birthday. . .

Me and My Drum :: Blog Caroling with fM

Last year I said that my favorite Christmas Carol was Do you hear What I Hear? And, it still is, but of course as with most everything else, there really isn't "just one" favorite!

My next most favorite is The Little Drummer Boy.

Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
When we come.

Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?

Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.

I wonder what that "surprise" is that Ms. fM has in store for us this year? Her Choir Of GeneAngels last year was really something special.

I don't have no number 1,000

Randy seems to have decided that we genea-bloggers need to have more fun! Not a bad idea, Randy. In his post last night (Sunday morning by my clock!), he asks who is Reference Number 1,000 in your genealogy software?

In my database, number 1,000 is missing in action! Number 999 is Birch B. Smeltzer. 1,001 is a living person. The next number in my database is 1006, who is Eleanor Sisley.

What happened to numbers 1000, and 1002 through 1005? Deleted. Gone. Early on in my research I added the names of the parents of spouses of relatives into my database. I have since switched to putting the parents names in the notes for the spouse and deleted them from my database. Less "clutter" in the database that way and fewer people to keep track of too! They aren't related to me and I usually don't have any dates or other information on them. Anyway, it is likely that the "missing" reference numbers are some of those people.

Birch B. Smeltzer was the husband of Fern Carrie Stemm, my first cousin four times removed. Birch was born October 1, 1887 in Elkhart County, Indiana and was the son of Daniel and Ida (Lammond) Smeltzer. Fern was born June 15, 1900 also in Elkhart County and was the last of seven children born to Lewis Austin and Susan Alice (Sevits) Stem. Lewis was the son of Conrad and Indiana (Sisley) Stem. Birch and Fern were married May 9, 1925 in Elkhart County. He died in 1950 and she in 1970. They are buried in Prairie Street Cemetery in Elkhart. I don't know if they had any children or not; I still need to get their obituaries.

Eleanor Sisley, also known as Nellie, is my 4th Great Grandaunt. She is the sister of Indiana Sisley who married Conrad Stem. And they are two of the ten children of Lewis and Margaret (Ellis) Sisley. According to the The Sisley Family Bible, Eleanor was born October 4, 1797 and was "joined in marriage with Robert Lyon September 4th 1819". She died March 15th 1861. Eleanor Lyon(s) lived in Cookstown Borough, Fayette County, Pennsylvania; she was a widow when her father's estate was settled in 1834. The 1840 census for that location indicates that she may have had at least three children. In the 1850 census, John Lyons, a 16 year old male, was listed in the household of Ellanor Lyons.

Cool Stuff - Alltop and Kronomy

footnoteMaven has been instrumental in getting a Genealogy category created at a new online service called Alltop.com, which the developers bill as a “digital magazine rack” for the Internet. I am honored to be amongst those listed. The site was formally announced in March of this year by Guy Kawasaki. One comment he made in the announcement was to think of Alltop as "aggregation without the aggravation.” For those who don't understand RSS Feeds or don't want to be bothered with setting up a feed reader, this may be a good solution. Of course, for those on facebook, using the Blog Network and/or facebook's, still in Beta, feature the "News Wall" is a more personalized solution.

I checked out some of the other posts on Guy Kawasaki's blog, and noticed something that really caught my interest. Something that could be fun and useful for genealogists and family historians.

First read his post Make Your Life Flash Before Your Eyes. Cool isn't it. Think of the possibilities. Create a timeline of your life, one of your ancestors, or one of your family lines using photographs and digital images of documents. Not just timelines, it is also a social networking site. Just what we need right? But this one looks different. The Kronomy - Share your life website is still in Beta and open only by invitation though you can submit your email address to be notified when it goes public.

Thanks to footnoteMaven and her post All The Cool Kids (And Me) for the heads up on Alltop.com and to Kathryn Doyle for the link to Mr. Kawasaki's blog.

A Symbol of My Heritage

One of the prerequisites for participation in the Summer 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games is to create a flag that represents your ancestry, heritage, or personal expression. These flags can be created at WeAreMulticolored.

This is my flag. Bold, simple, clean lines. It turned out rather nice, if I don't say so myself ;-0 (Can you tell, I kind of like it?)

• The colors Red, White and Blue signify the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States of America. The first two are the homelands of my earliest known ancestors. The latter is my homeland.
• The Red and White colors also represent Switzerland, as does the small White Cross in the center of the flag. Switzerland is the homeland of my Phend and Wiseman ancestors.
• The two large crosses symbolize my parents while the four stars stand for their four children.
• The four blue sections represent my four grandparents and the ocean their ancestors had to cross to reach this country.
• You'll notice that the four "arms" of the large white cross do not extend to the edges of the blue background. The eight "notches" created as a result, symbolize my eight great-grandparents whose paths crossed and merged at just the right moment in time.
• The tips of the red cross, which extend to the edges of the blue background, represent bridges that symbolically span the ocean as well as connect the generations.

In addition to Swiss, Dutch and English, my heritage also includes a considerable number of "Pennsylvania Dutch" ancestors, one or two Scots-Irish, and probably some other (as yet unknown) nationalities.

Wordles Wednesday

No, that isn't a typo. And no, don't worry, this won't be a feature every Wednesday ;-)

Last week when footnoteMaven passed around the Wordle virus to the genea-blogosphere with her post Let Me Get A Wordle In Edgewise, I didn't have time to play. She did a follow-up with Do Not! I Repeat - DO NOT - Read This Post! With links to other genea-Wordles and some other fun stuff.

In school, and the Navy, I was nearly the last in line for everything (surname Wiseman, right). And have a tendency to be a bit late for meetings and appointments. Not on purpose, though it might seem so. Anyway, as the saying goes "Better Late Than Never" here are my contributions to the genea-Wordle-world. One is for the surnames in my Mom's lines, and the other is for my Dad's lines. The size of the name is dependent upon how many ancestors have been entered in my database with that name. As always, click on the images to see a larger version.

Go Fly A Kite!

Yesterday the temperature jumped into the low 70s, the sun was shining, blue skies. Then the clouds rolled in. High winds. Thunderstorms. Buckets of rain. We were lucky where I live, the storms did little damage. My brother lives in Minnesota and they got about a foot of snow. Today, it is cold, windy, rainy, and dreary outside.

But it is springtime, and with the winds and warmer temperatures, it is a perfect time for kite flying. I remember when I was (much) younger, we would buy those cheap little kites from the dime store and a roll of string. More often than not, the kite would be lost the first day, when the string broke. The kite would either soar into the sky and be carried away or it would be dashed to the ground and broken. Fun and disappointment rolled into one. That's life.

A couple of years ago I saw a program on television about kite flying, but these were not the same kind of kites we flew as kids. These were big, I mean huge! It was amazing how they were able to maneuver the kites. Today, on Gadling, they posted a YouTube video by Rob & Shine that was shot during the Washington State International Kite Festival. It's about 4 1/2 minutes long, but very relaxing...

A Tip of the Hat

There is no date on this photograph, but it has been identified as Carrie Alexander. It was taken at the Siegel Cooper photo studio in Chicago. The Siegel, Cooper & Co. discount department store was established in 1887. [1]



Caroline Jane Alexander, known as Carrie, was born November 18, 1868 in Washington Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana. Carrie was a sister of my Great-Grandmother Amanda Minerva Alexander Wiseman. Carrie married John Franklin Roath on July 8, 1884 and they had three daughters: Jessie, Leah, and Ruby. My grandparents, Charles and Elsie Shuder Wiseman, would name two of their daughters Jessie and Leah. Prior to 1900 they moved to Anderson, Indiana and later to Dayton, Ohio. Carrie and John would divorce and Carrie would later marry Perry Martin Comfort. One of my dad's brothers was named Perry Martin Comfort Wiseman! Carrie Alexander Roath Comfort died in 1930 in Dayton, Ohio.

[1] Chicago History Website http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2847.html

footnoteMaven has a list of other bloggers who have posted on the topic that was started by Laura Crawley with her post From The Ministry Of Silly Hats.

I'm a ;

Lori Thornton started this little meme off with her post Which Punctuation Mark Are You?

You Are a Semi-Colon

You are elegant, understated, and subtle in your communication. You're very smart (and you know it), but you don't often showcase your brilliance. Instead, you carefully construct your arguments, ideas, and theories – until they are bulletproof. You see your words as an expression of yourself, and you are careful not to waste them. You friends see you as enlightened, logical, and shrewd. (But what you're saying often goes right over their heads. You excel in: The Arts You get along best with: The Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Beware, Funny Gene on the loose!

Dianne Haddad has the current edition of Family Tree Magazine available at Genealogy Insider. Note that it is only available for one day (today)…

Lolcat: Mkn Mah Fmly Treez by Janice Brown at Cow Hampshire.

And, for your additional reading pleasure:

• The Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time
• The Top 10 Worst April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time
• The Origin of April Fool's Day