News and Stories

I grew up with one brother and one sister—a typical 50s family.  My mother-in-law, however, grew up in a different world—she shared her childhood with five sisters and eight brothers. Walter Garver and Hazel Alwood were married in Clare County, Michigan in 1914.  Over the next 25 years, they had fifteen children—in order, they were …

The Fourteen Garvers of Clare County, Michigan Read More »

Thank you to Shelly Johnson for sharing this story with us. Whatever happened to Ethel May Fazenbaker Murphy? Growing up I had always heard about Ethel Murphy, mother to my great grandmother Frances May Catherine Murphy Fazenbaker Knepp. When I started doing genealogy about twenty five years ago I asked my mother Virginia Catherine Miller …

What Happened to Ethel May Fazenbaker Murphy? Read More »

My husband’s great-grandfather Charles Garver had a brother, Thomas, who married two sisters—Mary Ann and Ellen Heilman. Thomas Garver (1850-1902) was farmer in Defiance County, Ohio.  According to notes taken by his great-granddaughter Ruth Marie Burkhart in 1943 for a school project, he had a sideline as well.  She wrote, “He was a preacher of …

The Two Wives of Thomas Garver Read More »

Last year I spent some time researching the family history of my sister-in-law Susie.  Along we way we discovered some memorable stories, including that of Rhoda Wyatt (1830-1910). Susie’s great-great-great-grandfather was William Wyatt (1799-1867), a landowner in Somerset, England in the 1800s.  He had seven children with his first wife, most of whom ended up …

Double Wedding Ring: The Story of Rhoda Wyatt Read More »

I was married for the first time in 2007 at age 51, to a wonderful man.  His father, Norman, walked me down the aisle that day, since my father had died many years before. As I got to know Norman, I was intrigued by the story of his mother, Eliza Jane Carriveau Mosey, who had …

For the Love of Norman Read More »

Thank you to J. Lee Simons for sharing this story with us. My mother’s maiden name is Watkins. One of her second-great-grandfathers is Absalom Craddock Watkins, who first shows up on public record in the 1820 Census of Bond Co., IL. With him is his wife Mary “Polly” Little, and enumerated just before him are …

My Twisted Search for Absalom Craddock Watkins Read More »

Robert Evans Griner (1767_1827) eloped with Priscilla Knight (1774-1848).  They migrated to what they thought was north of Duck River near Hickman County Tennessee that in those days was the border of lands of the Native American Chickasaw Nation, and there they built a cabin.  The United States Army troops advised them that they were …

The End at the Inn: My Griner Ancestors and the Mysterious Death of Merriwether Lewis Read More »

My paternal grandmother was Sara Elizabeth Peterson Wallin.  It was Grandma Wallin who gave me my love of genealogy (and some of my Swedish genes). Grandma was born in Nebraska on November 8, 1894 and died nearly 100 years later, in 1986.  She grew up at a time when girls, especially daughters of immigrants on …

Grandma Wallin: Ahead of Her Time Read More »

“The grandson wants to remember what the father wished to forget.” –anonymous One of my great-grandfathers was a Swede named Charles Anderson (1859-1916), a boatman on the canals of northern Illinois—and he was quite a character.  Grandma never talked about him—but being a big fan of black sheep stories (especially when the aforementioned stories come from …

Charles Anderson, Boatman and Black Sheep Read More »