Halloween from the 1970's

I don't remember the exact year of this picture, I was a gypsy and my brother Matt Clark was a hobo.  Like most Halloween's in the Chicago area we were bundled up in our winter coats.  Time to check with Mom and Dad to see if they remember what year this was!

Amy and Matt Clark ready for trick or treat action - 1970's

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy - Challenge #44 - Giving Back

The challenge Week 44: Research ways to give back to the genealogy community. The challenge is to examine some different ways genealogists can donate time and effort in kind. Find-a-Grave (http://www.findagrave.com/), Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (http://www.raogk.org/), FamilySearch Indexing (http://www.familysearch.org/eng/indexing/frameset_indexing.asp), the World Archives Project (http://landing.ancestry.com/wap/learnmore.aspx), Unclaimed Persons (http://www.unclaimedpersons.org/) and the USGenWeb project (http://www.usgenweb.org/) are all dependent on volunteer effort.  


I have worked worked with  Unclaimed persons, Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness and Record A Grave organized by Jon Anderson.  John posts cemetery transcriptions that we volunteers transcribe to  ancestry.com, findagrave.com, and interment.net.  I really enjoy working with him. 


I have volunteered for RAOGK, however I have a sour taste in my mouth from one requester.  I searched the major newspapers and historical society for a obit for a lady.  I emailed her back to tell her I am still looking and to advise her that so far I had not located anything. She wrote back and accused me wanting money to release the orbit.  I have not responded to her email, obviously she is not quite right in the head.  Other than that incident I have enjoyed "spreading the genealogy love".   Just think of all the records we could make available by each of us volunteering a few hours a week! 


Thanks to Amy Coffin of We Tree (http://wetree.blogspot.com/) for this topic!  Love ya Amy!

George and Alma Skibbe Wedding picture 1919- identities of the ladies in second row.

I previously posted the above picture of George and Alma Skibbe on my blog, now with the help of my cousin Marge I can identify the ladies in the second row of this picture.  From left to right:  Margaret Edith (Skibbe) Harris (Cousin Marge's mom at age 20, sister of groom), Clara (Scholkopf) Hoberer, Adeline (Spenner) Hankey (sister of the bride), and O'tillia (Spenner) Schultz (sister of the bride).  Now we need to see if Clara is a relative to either family or perhaps just a friend of the bride.

Wordless Wednesday - cir 1925 Santa Rita Hotel, Tucson, Arizona

Tombstone Tuesday - Reinhold, Emma and Arthur Miottel

Great Granduncle Reinhold R. Miottel, Great Grandaunt Emma Ladwig Miottel, and 1st Cousin twice removed Arthur Miottel. Burial is located at Saint Paul's Cemetery in Revillo, South Dakota.   Reinhold and Emma  raised nine children.  Their children were Katerina, Emma, Bertha, Clara (same as my grandmother, Clara Miottel - Clara must be a family name),  Walter, Richard, Amanda,  Reinhold and Arthur.

Mystery Monday

I found this photo among the pictures my Mother had removed from my Grandmother's photo album.  My mother believes that it is her mother on the far left and her step sister Helen Conour's children, along with her mother's step mother Emilie Blank Miottel.. I have doubts about the lady on the right being Emily.  I wonder if the family often had coffee in the backyard or is this is just for fun.  That is not a tea pot - could those children be drinking coffee?

Wordless Wednesday - Tucson 1911

Tombstone Tuesday - Zeck

Daniel Zeck and his wife Caroline nee Poundstone.  Young America Cemetery in Young America, Cass, Indiana.  Daniel and Caroline were married 7 Mar 1867 in Cass County, Indiana.  They had four children:  Inus, Nora, Delbert and Everett.  Caroline is my 2nd Great Grand Aunt, she is the sister to my 2nd Great Grandfather Richard Poundstone. 

Wordless Wednesday - One of the many angels at Holy Hope Cemetery in Tucson Arizona

Tombstone Tuesday - Nellie Lapearl Clark Tipsword and Edward R. Tipsword

Grand Aunt Nellie Lapearl (Clark) Tipsword and her husband Edward R. Tipsword. 

Grand Aunts Nellie and her sister Jennie married two of  the Tipsword brothers.  Nellie married Edward, Jennie married John.  Nellie and Edward along with John and Jennie are buried at the Spring Hill Cemetery in Beecher City, Effingham, Illinois.

Mystery Monday - Hannah Ditch, Starke and Pulaski Counties

Among my grandfather's papers my mother had kept is the tax receipt below.  The clues in the document (or what remains of the document) are the name of what was taxed - apparently Hannah Ditch Cause No. 8024 Starke Circuit Court, the location - either Starke or Pulaski Counties in Indiana, and a partial description SW SW - SW SE of Section 34-32-3 and the date, 28 June 1922.  A World War I Registration Card does show William A. Skibbe living in Denham, Pulaski County in the year 1917.  Census records in 1920 indicate he was living in Wayne, Starke, Indiana.  In 1924 his address was listed as Chicago, Cook, Illinois on one of his children's birth certificates.  Can anyone provide any clues to this receipt?

Treasure Chest Thursday - Clara Miottel bible

Clara Miottel cir 1910 and her bible she received at her confirmation.  I believe she attended the German Ev. Lutheran St. Matthews Church with Pastor H. Engelbrecht.  I know that her father married twice, each time at the St. Matthews. Now I need to locate the church's records and see what family information can be gleaned from them.  Birth information and death information indicate Clara spelled her name with a C.  I don't know why the bible is monogrammed with Klara with a "K".

Almost Wordless Wednesday-Visit from Grandma & Grandpa Clark 1964

Lloyd Clark , his parents Ruby and  Otis Clark, Amy (me) and my brother Matt, 1964, Niles, Cook County, Illinois

Tombstone Tuesday

Bruce Wyman Clark, 7 May 1933 - 7 Oct 1968, my beloved Uncle.  Bruce is buried in Old Stonington Cemetery, Stonington, Christian County, Illinois.  I have blogged about Bruce before, he was murdered. On October 7, 1968 sometime between the hours of 4:20 and 5:00 A.M. in Blue Mound, Macon, Illinois, Bruce Wyman Clark, age 35, was shot and killed at the Fina Gas Station. Sheriff's Deputies were called to the scene at 5:19 A.M. His killer was arrested in 2009, 41 years after the fact.  The murder trial will begin on November the Monday after Thanksgiving.  I hope to be posting while attending the trial.  I am looking forward to visiting Illinois and seeing my relatives; I'm not overly thrilled about the trial process.  I am looking forward to the outcome of the trial.  I hope my family finds the peace the so desperately deserve.  I only wish my grandparents were still alive to see justice being served.

Scott, Me, and Uncle Bruce summer of 1967

Funeral Card Friday - Susie B. Despain (Poundstone)

Susie B. Despain nee Poundstone.  Susie was the nineth of ten children born to Ora Pearl Poundstone and Stella Ann Adams.  In 1929 at the age of sixteen Susie married Authur Despain.  Arthur was twently three at the time of their marriage.



Arthur and Susie Despain, 1964