Re: Anna May Stevens

So instead of working any of the dozen new photos I've purchased or finishing the 2 draft blog posts that have been sitting in my drafts for months now.... I felt the need to revisit Anna May Stevens, the very first photo I blogged about. I don't know why it's suddenly bothering me that I've been in possession of this photo for almost 2 years now. But it is.

Anna May Stevens

Previously I only had done some brief research about Anna, through both of her marriages (and utterly adorable first marriage announcement which is still one of my favourite stories ever), move to Florida and subsequent death... and a little bit of her parents. She had 2 younger brothers that I never really looked into. I'm hoping that one of her brother's descendants will stumble across this and I can finally reunite Anna with her family.

The older brother, George Black Stevens was born December 15, 1876. He married Edith W. Hoffman on June 15, 1904, in his hometown. They had two children during their marriage - Helen (born around 1906) and George Black (born July 18, 1907). He died on September 29, 1907, in Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania, at the age of 30 due to complications during appendicitis surgery.

George Black Stevens death certificate

I couldn't find anything on Helen, but George Black Junior was married and had a son also named George Black.

The younger brother, James Howe Stevens was born September 14, 1879. He had one son - Adie Allen Stevens II -  with Mary M. on November 7, 1909. He died on March 30, 1914, in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, at the age of 34 of spinal meningitis.

James Howe Stevens death certificate

Adie Allen Stevens II had 4 children... and that seems like my best chance to perhaps find a home for this photo of Anna May.

The Goettlings: Ernest Goettling & Susanna "Susie" Rose Gateman (Part 1)

I'm going to have to divide these posts up into parts, otherwise this is going to be the longest blog post ever. Two months ago I found one of my biggest hauls of a single (labeled!) family at an antique store. Needless to say, I was very excited.

And work got insane and all genealogy got put on hold because by the time I was done with my day, all I wanted to do was curl up in a little ball and not think about anything. I picked these back up last week and decided I was going to find where every single person it into this family.

Ernest Goettling was born on February 14, 1874, in Germany to parents Gottlieb and Johanna Goettling (nee Krauss). He married Susanna "Susie" Rose Gateman on December 25, 1903, in Waterloo, Canada. They had five children in 16 years. He died on September 27, 1948, in Tacoma, Washington, at the age of 74.

 

Ernest and Susanna Goettling

As far as newspaper clippings go, I didn't find much online. There were a few real estate transactions that mentioned Ernest - the most notable of which is where he bought land to build his home for his new bride - and a vague birth announcement for their daughter Katharine.

From the Tacoma Daily News (Tacoma, WA), February 27, 1904. Page 10.

Also found in this photo batch was a picture of their daughter Ruth, born November 20, 1904. She married Gilford Schoeffler and had one daughter. She died May 26, 2001 in Tempe, Arizona. 

Daughter Ruth

Which explains how all these family photos ended up in Arizona. I, of course, can't find Ruth's obituary online, so one of these weekends I'm going to have to trek down the library and see if I can dig it up. 

There were also a few photos of Susanna with her siblings which are pretty marvelous.

Susanna with sisters. From left: Mary, Esther, Susanna and Miranda

Susanna, Leander and Mary Gateman

To be continued.... with other branches of the Goettling family!

David George & Bessie Pearl Mulkins (nee Porter)

Last month I stumbled across this golden anniversary certificate kind of awkwardly laid out on a table at an antique store. It was only $4, and I knew I had to buy it.

David George Mulkins was born April 20, 1879 to Joab & Margaret Isabel Mulkins (nee Creighton) in Franklin County, Iowa. September 15, 1909 he married Bessie Pearl Porter - born July 1886 to John & Ellen Porter (nee Towslee). They had 4 children - Guyida Pearl, Floyd David, Edith Lucille and Claude Russell. David died June 18, 1966 and Bessie died September 19, 1971.

Photo by Melissa Lively Sherry via FindAGrave.com

For some reason I've had a bit of difficulty finding much online about the family. I think Guyida is the only child with living descendants. I'm about 75% sure I've found the snail mail address for one of Guyida's children so I'll send a note off to them and see if they're interested in the certificate. Hopefully they still live there. And don't think I'm some weird stalker person.

Rosemarie Amelia Helfrich

This diploma is the main reason I started this blog 5 months ago. A friend of my mom's had been holding onto this diploma for years after her husband had found it in the attic of an house he used to live in in Pittsburgh. They took it with them when they moved to Arizona in hopes that they could one day send it back to Rosemarie's family.

I had only just started buying antique store photos when my mom brought this diploma over and asked me to see if I could find a relative who wanted it.

Rosemarie Amelia Helfrich was born February 1, 1901 in Pennsylvannia to parents Charles W Helfrich and Catherine G Emerich. She had a younger brother Raymond (born 1904). Rosemarie died unmarried March 15, 1997 in Sherman Oaks, California.

Her brother did marry and have children. In fact, right off I found her great niece on Ancestry, but she didn't want the diploma. Months went by and I had kinda put Rosemarie on the back burner until last week I decided to see if anybody had saved anything from my Antique Store Photo tree out on Ancestry. Which is how I got in contact with Rosemarie's 1st cousin 1x removed! A descendant of Catherine's sister Amelia happily agreed to take the orphaned diploma in.

It got mailed off on Monday.

I'm really happy I was finally able to find somebody who wanted the diploma. And best part is.... she had a photo of Rosemarie so I finally got to see the face of the woman whose college diploma has been sitting in my living room for months.

Rosemarie in 1996.

I bet she was a great lady. :)

David & Luvisa Shanks (nee Fisher)

More photos I bought back in January while visiting in-laws in California. If I hadn't found Luvisa's photo, I probably would not have purchased David's because a later generation had only labeled the back as "Grandfather Shanks, age 21". Unhelpful. Also, Luvisa actually signed the back of hers which is pretty cool.

David Shanks was born December 23, 1832 in Crab Orchard, Kentucky to parents William Shanks and Rebecca Baughman. He married Luvisa Fisher - daughter of William Paterson Fisher and Mary Truesdale Pennington, born March 11, 1837 -  on September 22nd, 1853 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. They had 9 children - Judith, Rebecca, Ephraim, Mary, Susan, Kate, Nannie (Mamie?), Samuel and C Walter Shanks. David died August 5, 1882 and Luvisa died January 6, 1915.

Photos by Cathy & Thomas (David's) and Christina Bishop (Luvisa's) via FindAGrave.com

I didn't find much going backwards documentation-wise. I found a couple trees that traced David's line back to Thomas Owsley (1730-1796, Illinois). If that's true... then David's grand uncle was William Owsley, the 16th Governor of Kentucky... which is pretty cool. He even has his own Wikipedia page!

Going forwards, I've managed to follow their oldest daughter Judith's line down quite a ways... to 8 great great great grandchildren, who as far as I know are still alive.... and I'm just starting to work my way down Kate's line. With so many living descendants, I'm very hopeful that I can find somebody interested in owning these photos. :)

Frances Virginia Wilcoxen

Frances Virginia Wilcoxen

I almost didn't buy this photo. I walked past it a few times and then ultimately decided it was too adorable not to go back for.

I also put off researching it because the photo has no photographer's mark or hint of location. The only identification on the photo says "Frances Wilcoxen, Stella's daughter". Tonight I happened to pull up the back a bit to find that it was a postcard photograph and had started to be addressed to "Aunt Gussie". So I ran with that and blindly started researching the first Frances Wilcoxen I could find who had Stella listed as her mother. Many census records later... I found Aunt Gussie!

Frances Virginia Wilcoxen was born November 11, 1916 in Fayetteville, Arkansas to parents Clarence Alva Wilcoxen and Stella Adair Miller. She married John "Jack" Albert Weeks April 13, 1940. They had 2 children - Betty J and Roy J Weeks. Frances died May 20, 1995.

Graves of Frances V & Jack A Weeks

photos by k75evad via FindAGrave.com

Jack A. Weeks, 65, of 4218 E 62nd, died Thursday at Baptist Memorial Hospital. He was born in Osage County Missouri and had lived in the Kansas City area most of his life. He retired in 1969 after 15 years as a business agent for the International Brotherhood of Painters District Council No. 3. He leaves his wife, Mrs. Frances V. Weeks of the home; a son, Roy J Weeks, 5723 E 40th Terrace; a daughter, Mrs. Betty J Ruzick, 1519 N 45th Terrace, Kansas City, Kansas; two brothers, William P. Weeks, Golden, Mo., and Edward E. Weeks, Moline, Ill.; five sisters, Mrs. Cecil T. Stoneking, Westmont, Ill.; Mrs. Sara M. Mahany, 6300 Farrow, Kansas City, Kansas; Mrs Hazel E. Hunt and Mrs. Elsie A Olson, both of Golden, and Mrs. Elma L. Kendall, Dayton, Ohio, four grandchildren and a great-grandson. Service will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at the Floral Hills Chapel; burial in Floral Hill Cemetery. Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at the chapel.


I've tracked her family down to her great great grandson... and while I can't seem to find an email address for him online, I have found his snail mail address (yay White Pages!). So I'll mail him a little note on Monday and see if he's interested in the photo or if somebody else in his family is the family historian.

The Barnes Family

So, after posting that last post about Frank & Nellie, I remembered that the same time I had purchased that photo (over a month ago)... I had also purchased a few other photos labeled Barnes.

Surprise! They're Nellie's relatives!

Harry, Joseph Alexander & Belle Barnes

So I haven't figured out where Belle fits in the tree yet... but Harry is Nellie's brother and Joseph is her half-brother. 

TO BE CONTINUED....