What a Tangled Web We Weave :: Part Five - The Kinexxions

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read part one as well as the 2nd part and part three as well as the 4th part.

The obituaries of the children of Ora Joslin Weeks led to those of some of their children. In all I ended up with 45 obituaries or funeral notices! It was really a lot of fun. Especially when I started finding some kinexxions to me. Perhaps stretching the kinexxions just a little...

The First Kinexxion:

Several sons of Ora (Joslin) Weeks lived in the Ormas area, which is in Whitley County and a few miles north of Columbia City. But apparently they lived just inside the Noble County line. What was interesting to me is that the Ormas area is also where Emily Eliza Joslin Long lived. Emily was a sister of my 3rd great grandfather Lysander Joslin. Emily and Lysander were children of James and Abigail Goodrich Joslin. (For ten years I also lived in Noble County, a few miles northwest of Ormas, but that really has nothing to do with this.)

I think it is highly likely that descendants of Emily Long and Ora Weeks knew each other. Emily died in December 1929 – Ora Weeks died in April 1920 so it's even possible that they may have known each other too. One of Emily's granddaughters married a George Fry. He is mentioned as a pallbearer in the obituary of Charles Weeks (one of Ora's sons). Without further research I don't know for certain that they are the same person. However, the George Fry that married Emily's granddaughter is buried in the same cemetery as Charles Weeks and his brother Bert.

A Second Kinexxion:

Rowena (Loe) Weeks was the wife of Phillip Weeks who was a great-great-grandson of Ora Weeks. I met Rowena a few years ago when she was researching the family of her half-sister Clarabelle Foster. Her Foster family connects with mine, a few generations back and I was able to provide her with information that took her line back to our immigrant ancestor, William Foster. Even though Rowena lived in California, she was a member of the Genealogical Society of Whitley County, as am I. Rowena passed away on June 25, 2009 and has one of the nicest obituaries I've ever seen.

Kinexxion Number Three:

Mary (Weeks) Brown was a great-granddaughter of Ora Weeks. When I was a kid growing up in Kosciusko County, Mary Brown – the one and the same - was one of our neighbors! She lived right across the road from my aunt - my Mother's sister - Patricia (Phend) Reiff for many, many years. They were good friends and attended the same church (Morris Chapel United Methodist), which I also attended as a kid. We moved a few miles north of Barbee Lakes when I was 12 years old. Mary and her husband sold their farm in the late 1990s and moved into Warsaw. I had seen her a few times in recent years. The last time was at Aunt Pat's 80th birthday party in June 2006. I was not aware that Mary had passed away on March 4, 2009 – I was recuperating from surgery at the time.

And, finally, a rather convoluted kinexxion between the Joslin and Winebrenner and Phend families:

My grandmother, Hazlette Brubaker Phend Dunn Ferguson, loved to play euchre. In her later years but before cancer took hold and changed her life, she and “the girls” would gather weekly to play cards. One of those ladies was a “cousin” named Gladys. Now, this was back in the day before I was even the least bit interested in genealogy. After grandma passed away and I became obsessed with this little hobby it took me a few years to finally determine their relationship!

As it turns out, Gladys was a daughter of Charles and Cora Long Burnworth who was a daughter of Emily Eliza Joslin Long... therefore, Gladys was a granddaughter of Emily. My grandmother was a great-granddaughter of Lysander Joslin, Emily's brother. That means Gladys and grandma were 2nd cousins once removed. It gets better. Two years after her first husband passed away Gladys married Jesse D. Winebrenner. Jesse was the father of Ty Winebrenner who married Evelyn Phend, my mother's first cousin!

Through several online family trees (no “real” research has been done by me to confirm these relationships) it appears that Ty is a descendant of Andrew Jackson Winebrenner (1818 – 1888) while Matilda Winebrenner who married George W. Joslin is a descendant of John Winebrenner (born 1812). Andrew and John are children of Christian Winebrenner (1764-1832) and his second wife Abigail Chrisman. My cousin Babs (see the first post in this series) is a descendant of Ester Winebrenner (1801 – 1851) who is a daughter of Christian Winebrenner and his first wife Mary Adams.

And that, my friends, is what makes genealogy and family history research so much fun! Don't you just love it!

What a Tangled Web We Weave :: The 4th Part

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read part one as well as the 2nd part and part three of this series.

At this point we had pretty much determined that Joseph R. Joslin had indeed married Almira White and that Joseph had died after October 20, 1845 (when he sold several lots). Almira Joslin then married Robert Walker probably before 1849 when their daughter Sarah was born. Almira and Joseph Joslin were the parents of George W., James, Ora, and Rodney Joslin.

We know that James and Rodney died during the Civil War and that George W. moved to Kansas. So what became of their sister Ora?

She had married William Weeks in 1860. They are enumerated in the 1870 federal census in York Township, Noble County, Indiana with four children: Devido (?), Lettie, Ida, and Chas. William Weeks died prior to the 1880 census where Ora Weeks and her two-year-old son, Elmer, are residing as boarders in the household of Hannah Barlley in York Township.

On December 15, 1881 Ora Weeks was married to Johnson Butterbaugh. In 1900 she is listed as Orra Weeks in the census for Indianapolis, Marion County with her daughter and son-in-law, Homer and Violette Waltman. The letter “D” is in the column for her marital status. She divorced Johnson Butterbaugh in 1894 and apparently reverted to her previous married name.

In 1910, Ora Weeks is listed as mother-in-law in the household of her daughter and son-in-law, Madison and Ida Skinner in Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana! When I saw that, I started looking at the Obituary Database online at the Peabody Public Library and found that her obituary was published on April 17, 1920 in the Columbia City Post. Also, even though Ora died in Noble County, her death is recorded in Whitley County records. Her son, Bert, at whose home she died, lived just across the county line near Ormas, which is in Whitley County. The published transcription of her death record gives her parents as Joseph Joslin and Elmira White, which is an additional confirmation of her parentage.

Her obituary is a gold mine of information. In addition to naming her eight living children, and giving their place of residence, it again provides confirmation of the names of her parents as well as the name of her first husband, when they were married and the year of his death.

Two of the children, Charles and Bert, lived in Noble County while two others, Mrs. Thomas Skinner and Elmer Weeks lived in Columbia City. Armed with that information, I went obituary hunting!

What a Tangled Web We Weave :: Part Three

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read part one and the 2nd part of this series.

Since there was no estate recaord for JR Joslin or guardianship records for his children, the only other thing I could think of was perhaps he owned land when he died. So over to the Recorders office we went. I searched the General Index to Deeds looking for any land transactions for Joseph or JR Joslin or variations of the surname.

Several transactions were found where Joseph R. Joslin purchased 4 lots in the town of Port Mitchell, which is in York Township, midway between Albion and Wolf Lake in the south-central part of Noble County. Joseph and his wife Almira subsequently sold 2 of those lots on October 20, 1845. That was the last transaction I found for Joseph. And what of the other 2 lots?

Well, in the 1870 census, Almira Walker is enumerated with her son Wash Joslin and family. She was the owner of real estate valued at $400 though a confusing notations states that she “lives with sister.” Cemetery transcriptions show that Almira Walker died on April 24, 1874 (the stone is illegible so we have to go by the transcription).

On April 27th, just three days after Almira's death, Ora Weeks and William Weeks her husband of Noble County and George W Joslin and Matilda Joslin his wife of Lincoln County in the State of Kansas sold Lots 49 & 50 in Port Mitchell. . . “being all of the Estate right title interest claim and remand of the said Ora Weeks and George W Joslin in and to the said premises as the Children and heirs at Law of Joseph R. Joslin deceased.”

Does it get any better than that?

Portion of Noble County, Indiana Deed Book 35 page 233
Showing the heirs of Joseph R. Joslin

Lots 49 & 50 were purchased on May 2, 1844 by Joseph R. Joslin and they are probably the real estate for which Almira was listed as the owner in the 1870 census and which was valued at $400. Ora and George sold the lots for $40 to Peter Elser. Ya gotta wonder whether Peter was related in some way. Why did he get the lots so cheaply?

George W Joslin moved to Kansas, first living in Lincoln County and later in Leavenworth County where on June 16, 1921 he passed away at the Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Leavenworth, Kansas. JM is a descendant of his son Schuyler Colfax Joslin while JJ descends through his son William Tecumseh Sherman Joslin.

But what became of Ora, wife of William Weeks, and sister of George W. Joslin?