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. . .
Today is my sister's birthday. Teresa Jane Wiseman Ratcliff Plybon would have been 55 years old today. Born in 1954, she passed away not quite two years ago. The picture, above, of Terry and Grandma was taken in early summer, 1955.
Birthdays seem to run in pairs in my immediate family. One of my nephews was born on my Mom's birthday in May (he was her first grandchild). One of my nieces and I were born in February, a few days (and, obviously, years) apart. My older brother and one of his sons, as well an uncle (by marriage) were born within three days of each other in March. His twin boys were born on the last day of March.
The Dunfee Family plot in the Masonic Section of Greenhill Cemetery, Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana. Starting from the bottom of the picture are the grave markers for Laura Virginia Dunfee, Albert Eugene Dunfee, and Harry Hamilton Dunfee and His Unnamed Twin Brother.
On the south side of the marker is William's inscription:
OUR / FATHER / W. H. DUNFEE / BORN / ADAMS CO. PENN. / APRIL 10, 1822. / DIED / MAY 29, 1888. / AGED / 66 Y's. 1 Mo. 19 D's.
The inscription beneath his age is not legible.
Catherine's inscription is on the north side of the marker.
MOTHER / CATHERINE B. DUNFEE / BORN IN / MUSKINGDOM CO. OHIO / JAN. 15, 1829 / DIED FEB. 17, 1903 / AGED 74Y. 1M. 2D / Dear mother, fond memory / clings to thee.
It was very thoughtful of them to include the location of their births as well as full dates of birth and death!
Catherine came to Whitley County with her mother and siblings in October 1845. At about the same time, William arrived in Fort Wayne where he was working as a cabinet maker. Two years later, William came to Whitley County and became acquainted with Catherine. They were married on March 5, 1848. Of the seven children born to them, only three survived to adulthood. Of those three, their daughter Sophia was the only one to have children who had children. Sophia married William P. Wise. They are my 2nd great grandparents.
Mae was the adopted daughter of William James Dunfee and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Walker. Jane is my grandmother's sister, Hazlette is my grandmother, and Mercides is the object of my quest in unraveling a little mystery. It's a guess, but I'd say the picture was taken about 1918-1920.
The note reads: This is Mercedes
Name & address
Mrs. A. Vinet
13822 French Rd
Detroit 34 -
The last group of documents to be sorted and scanned are those that pertain to my ancestors, shown on the table in the photo above. The two tallest piles belong to the Brubaker and Phend families. These will be scanned to both jpg and pdf format. After being scanned, these documents will be put into protective pages and placed in three-ring binders.
Two empty filing cabinets. Now there is the "problem" of what to do with the 3-ring binders and hanging file folders that are no longer needed. As you can see below, the three tall bookcases have been removed. They were sold, at a very reasonable price ;-) to a friend.
The "before" photo, above, was taken November 13, 2007. And below is what it looks like now (photo taken yesterday).
Another view.
The "before" photo is above (taken November 13, 2007) and what it looks like now is below.
How did I accomplish this feat in four months? It is due to several things actually, among which are:
Perry M. Wiseman, 61, of Blue Lake, R1 Churubusco, died of complications at 4:30 a.m. today in the St. Joseph Hospital, Fort Wayne, where he had been admitted on Sunday.Aunt Retha's obituary was published May 1, 1989 in the Warsaw Times Union.
Born August 3, 1906 in Tippecanoe Twp., Kosciusko County, Mr. Wiseman was the son of Charles W. and Elsie (Shuder) Wiseman. He spent his formative years in the Barbee Lakes Community and served in the US Army during WWII. On February 6, 1954 he united in marriage with Retha Juanita Wallace who survives. He had been an employee of the Weatherhead Company in Columbia City for several years.
In addition to his widow, he is survived by 3 brothers; Leslie, R2 South Whitley; Emery, R1 Warsaw; Jack, North Webster; and 2 sisters, Mrs. Walter Tobias and Mrs. Carl Conrad, both of Nappanee.
Final rites will be conducted at 2 pm Thursday at the Smith Funeral Home in Columbia City. Rev. Chester Reed will officiate and interment will be in the Lakeview cemetery at Larwill. Friends may call at the funeral home after 2 pm Wednesday.
Retha J. Wiseman, 72, formerly of 840 Plantation Drive, Columbia City, died in Meadowhaven Nursing Home in Butler, Indiana on Saturday April 29, 1989. She was born January 25, 1917, in Richland Township, Whitley county, to William and Georgia L. Cummins Rindfusz. She married Perry Wiseman, who died July 8, 1968. She was a 1935 graduate of Larwill High School and moved to Columbia City in 1968. She was retired from Dana Weatherhead Division in Columbia City. She was also a member of the Pioneer Club and the Quarter Century Club.
Survivors include one niece, Nedra Budd, Pleasant Lane; one brother-in-law, Wheeler Rager, Pierceton; two great-nephews; and three great-nieces. Two sisters preceded her in death.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Smith & Sons Funeral Home, Columbia City with the Rev. Joseph Smith officiating. Burial will be in Lakeview cemetery, Larwill.
Jasia has posted the 64th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, the topic this time around was Winter Photo Essay. Thirty contributors featured a variety of "winter" photographs. A chilly trip back in time to be sure, but heartwarming nevertheless.The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: "The Happy Dance. The Joy of Genealogy. Almost everyone has experienced it. Tell us about the first time, or the last time, or the best time. What event, what document, what special find has caused you to stand up and cheer, to go crazy with joy?So that we genea-bloggers can plan ahead (yeah, right!) Jasia has provided a list of topics for future carnivals (in the lower left column at Creative Gene). Several dates are still available for hosting. If you're interested, contact Jasia.If you haven't ever done the Happy Dance, tell us what you think it would take for you to do so."
This next edition will be hosted by yours truly, right here at kinexxions. The deadline for submissions is February 1st. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using the carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blogcarnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link.
Funeral services for Mrs. Franklin H. Bair, Rt. 4, Gransburg, were held at the chapel on Tuesday afternoon. Rev. J. I. Sainty officiated and Mrs. Ruth Sandberg sang, accompanied by Mrs. G. C. Daniel at the piano.Funeral Notice of Franklin Henry Bair
Nellie [sic] Sedlay Ellis was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, March 5, 1862, and was married to Mr. Bair in Indiana on January 31, 1886, they having been married for a period of 53 years and 8 months. They have resided in Burnett county since 1920.
Survivors are her husband; a daughter Myrta, at home; one son, Albert of Frederic; three grandchildren and a brother at Millersport, Ohio.
Funeral services for Franklin Henry Bair, nearly 86, were held at the chapel Tuesday last week, Rev. James Falk officiating, and interment was in Riverside cemetery.According to the SSDI, their son, Franklin Albert Bair, died in September 1980. He was 86 years old. His last residence was given as Frederic, Polk County, Wisconsin.
Deceased was born in Columbia City, Whitley county, Indiana on June 12, 1862 and passed away at the old people's home in Grantsburg on May 27. He was married to Nettie S. Ellis of Indiana on January 31, 1886, and to this union were born a daughter, Myrta at home, and a son Franklin Albert Bair.
The family lived on a farm north of Alpha about 25 years before moving into that hamlet for a few years when they moved to Grantsburg, where they have been the past six years.
Of all of the family pictures in Mom's albums, this is the only one I found that was taken outside during the winter. It was the winter of 1964 and shows me and my little sister. It looks like I lost my foot, or at the very least, my boot! The houses in the background belong to the neighbors.
An early spring snowfall at our house at Karen Kove, north of Columbia City, March 2002.
My front porch. December 2007. It almost looks like this today. New fallen snow is pretty, even, dare I say, beautiful. That is, unless, like today, I had to go somewhere. Yesterday we got about 8" of the fluffy white stuff, which, considering conditions elsewhere, isn't all that much. But the wind was blowing too. I certainly didn't enjoy driving this morning on the slippery, snow-packed roads in below zero temperatures (with a -25°F wind chill). Brr.
The old crabapple tree at Karen Kove, spring of 1999.
Wiseman, Arkansas ~ September 1994
No relation, just thought it was neat that there was a town named Wiseman!
Two years ago today, I wrote my first blog post, which was no masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a beginning. So, now, can I say I'm one of the Old Timers?
Above is a photo postcard that was never sent. There is no address or any identifying information on the back. 3 1/2 x 5 3/8". *If* this was taken about 1914, it *could* be Vivian Willodene Wiseman born 1908 and her brother Samuel Wiseman born 1912, both children of Smith and Rose (Scott) Wiseman. Smith was the brother of my grandfather, Charles Wilson Wiseman. Smith moved to Dayton, Ohio shortly after his marriage to Rose in 1908. 
The pictures above and below are photographs mounted on cardboard; they have been cropped to emphasize the image. The girl by herself is 2 9/16 x 5 1/2 on a 5 x 8 1/2" card. The photo below is 5 5/8 x 3 15/16 on an 8 x 6" card. They both have a studio name embossed in the card: Hessel, Warsaw, Ind. *If* taken in the 1930s, they *could* be the two oldest children of Samuel Dewey and Ida Estella "Stella" (Wiseman) Mow; Mary Ellen and Thomas Mow.
According to the Indiana State Library, The Warsaw Daily Union was published from 1904-1949, which really doesn't help in narrowing down a timeframe for the picture! (The Daily Union merged with the Warsaw Times to become the Warsaw Times-Union, which is still being published.) The date of the newspaper is not legible. The headlines that I can make out are "Warsaw boys win in state matches", "Would build up new prosperity", "Heaven insulted by puff of locomotive", and "H. S. Kaufman chosen for superintendent".
Enlargements of the little girls in the pictures above. Is it the same girl in both pictures?
Other unidentified photos that I've previously posted about include Unraveling a little mystery (about Mercedes, the "Detroit Cousin") and, in 2007, a series of "Mystery Photos" from the Wiseman Family Bible. footnoteMaven analyzed one of those photos in her post titled Dating Old Photographs :: Becky's Mystery Photograph #9, which is an excellent resource for analyzing old photos.
Contributed to the 9th Edition of Smile For The Camera.
Updated 2:40 pm on January 11th: A Big Thank You to fM and Tamura Jones for providing clues and additional info. Check out the comments they left! The genea-bloggers are a wonderful group of people!
Regarding the photo of the kids covered in newspaper - H. S. Kaufman was superintendent of the Warsaw city schools 1908-1917. Charles J. Hessel, occupation photographer, was found in the 1910 census in Warsaw (pg 1a), as was Mr. Kaufman (pg 4b). So that really narrows down the timeframe IF the newspaper in the photo was a current issue. That said, if the picture was taken in 1908, then I currently have no one in my database who would "fit" that date! This info brings into question the date of the first photograph also, probably much earlier than I first thought.
Indiana Sisley and Conrad Stem, my 4th great grandparents, are buried in Hively Corners (now known as St. Matthews Cemetery) in Thorncreek Township, Whitley County, Indiana. Their small gravestones, located just south of the church, are dwarfed by the much larger markers surrounding them. Above photo taken July 14, 2000. The two below were taken two weeks earlier.
On top of marker: INDIANA
On top of marker: CONRAD STEMThe list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (color optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
4. Nancy Jane Brubaker was born on May 19, 1849 in Perry County, Ohio, died on July 3, 1929 in Rock Creek Township, Huntington County at age 80, and was buried in Star Of Hope Cemetery. Nancy married William L. Kemp on December 23, 1869. William was born in 1845 and died in 1925 at age 80. They had nine children that I know of: Halleck, Lola Catharine, Emma, Libbie, Dessie, Willis, Elsie Vivian, Jesse, and Reah Kemp. Her obituary published in the Huntington Herald on July 10, 1929 stated that she had 13 children. Her husband and seven children predeceased her.Thornton Brubaker, age eighty, died Tuesday noon at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Guy Davis, after an illness of three weeks of a complication of diseases.
Mr. Brubaker was born April 14, 1847, in Perry county, Ohio, to John and Catharine Brubaker. He was one of twelve children. When two and one-half years old he was brought to Huntington county by his parents who settled in Rock Creek township.
In 1873 he was married to Mary Ann Hoover, who preceded him in death on February 7, 1913. Surviving are two children, the daughter at whose home he died and Emery Brubaker of this city, a granddaughter Miss Esther Davis, a sister, Mrs. Jane Kemp of Rock Creek, and a brother, S. J. Brubaker of Fort Wayne.
Mr. Brubaker was a member of the first Christian church and the Masonic lodge of this city. Funeral services will be held Friday at 2 at the First Christian church with the Masons in charge and the Rev. H. G. Rowe officiating. Internment will be at Mt. Hope.
6. Noah Brubaker was born on December 2, 1851 in Huntington County, Indiana and died on May 8, 1903 in Huntington, Indiana at age 51. Noah married Lilly Rosencrantz on December 28, 1880. They had two children: Charley and Guy Brubaker.William Brubaker of near Etna was called to Rock Creek township Huntington county Saturday by the death of his brother Martin Brubaker. Martin Brubaker early Saturday morning succumbed to an attack of pneumonia with which he had been a sufferer for about two weeks. The deceased was born on the farm where he died on September 10, 1850 and with the exception of three years spent in Huntington had always lived on the farm.
He was twice married and is survived by his second wife, eight children and a stepson, besides several brothers and two sisters and numerous other relatives. The funeral services were held at the White church in Huntington county Sunday afternoon, the party leaving the family residence at 2 o'clock. Rev. J. E. Etter of Warren officiated. The I.O.O.F. lodge of which the deceased was a member attended in a body.
10. Belinda (or Malinda) Brubaker was born on September 9, 1860 in Huntington County, Indiana, died on January 9, 1908 in Markle, Wells County, Indiana at age 47, and was buried in Star Of Hope Cemetery. She married James B. Dumbauld on October 21, 1880. James was born in 1858 and died in 1918 at age 60. They had six children: Samuel Arlie, Minnie, Charles, Saloma, Ernest, and Fern Dumbauld.S. J. Brubaker, about 75 years old, a former resident of Huntington county, died Monday night at his home at Fort Wayne following a weeks' illness of leakage of the heart. Mr. Brubaker was born in Huntington county near Brown's Corners.
Mr. Brubaker is survived by the widow and three children, Harry Brubaker, and Mrs. Nettie Martin, both of Fort Wayne, and Charles Brubaker of New York City. Funeral services will be held at 2 o'clock Wednesday afternoon at the Barnes Chapel church. Burial will be at the church cemetery.
