Genealogy Gem of the Day

I am so excited.  I had a plan to tell you about the story of the marriage of Marguerite Schulstad and Frank Phillips but that will have to wait!  I was looking around for information on Frank’s father and stumbled upon something very fun.  I can't wait to tell you what I found.  

A couple of years ago I was at my sister, Betsy’s, house and she and I were going through more boxes.  These boxes had come from my mother’s house when she downsized and seemed to be more family photos and records from dad's side of the family.  Nobody knew much of what was in them or how they figured into the family picture, but I ended up with a crateful of stuff I still need to go through.  In that box was a photo album that I hand carried back to Pennsylvania and have guarded ever since.  I just never sat down to analyze it.  I knew it had information on Frank Phillips’ dad.  Frank Phillips is my paternal grandfather.

I pulled out that photo book today and began going through it.  The photos are glued solidly to the black paper of the album and the annotations were made with pencil. They are very hard to read.   Inside the front cover are parts of several clippings.  The pictures are very crumbly and are fading. 

As it goes in genealogy, one thing led to another.  I am telling this to you very early in the game and must say that none of this has been confirmed as being our family.  But I am pretty convinced.

From some of the clippings:

“Friday, Sept 26, 1902  Wallace Phillips and wife of Chicago, were the guests of Rockville friends Wednesday, and attended the Rockville fair.  Mr. Phillips when here, published the Rockville Gleaner, now the Rockville Leader.”  This is from the Hartford Post, Hartford, Connecticut.

Another reads:  “Mr. and Mrs. A.W. Phillips of Chicago, are visiting the gentleman’s sister Mrs. Gilbreth Dawson, and Monday they made a very pleasant call at his office.”

The photos in the book are dated beginning in 1898.  Many are labeled “Frank and Ernie” and “Frank, Ernie and Al”.  I am pretty sure it all fits with what we already know.

So, here is the big news.  I checked out the census to see if I could find the name of A. W. Phillips’ sister, the wife of Gilbreth Dawson.  Would you believe “Susan Elizabeth Phillips”!!  This gives me shivers.  I am 100% sure that when I was named Susan Eileen Phillips Dad and Mom didn’t have a clue about this!!  So cool.

I will get back to the plan tomorrow…or the next day.  Unless something else exciting comes up!

I found this photo in a box.

Remember I said there were boxes and boxes of stuff  Dad’s mom had collected in boxes?  The photo on this page was among them.  The back of the photo says “Ellen Leon Horace Fuona”.

Ellen Schulstad was grandmother’s sister.  She married Leon Winslow.  I don’t know who Horace and Fuona are, or who the baby is.  It would be great to know.  I am trying to get in touch with the Schulstad cousins.  I used to be in touch, but not now.  Grandmother was the youngest of 11, but Dad was an only child.  His father (Frank Phillips) died when he was two and we know little about him.  His step-father, Jack Langbauer, died when Dad was in his teens or early twenties.  I can’t find any family for Langbauer either.  But Dad was surrounded by aunts and uncles and cousins during his growing up years.  I have lots of pictures and many, many aren’t labeled.  I have learned to label all my pictures.  At least when they were being printed and put in a box I did.  Do it.  And don’t put “This is dad and me at the lake!”  Put “This is me (Mike Trope) and dad (Arnie Trope) at Smith Mountain Lake on July 4, 2001.  Your children and grandchildren will thank you.

Goals

When I first decided to work on Genealogy as a hobby I made some goals.  I was interested in the female side. The men are easier to trace, so I decided to take on the women especially.  It is more difficult, but I have been able to make headway on some of my grgrandmothers.

I decided I wanted to find the immigrant ancestor.  Once I found what country they came from I dropped that line and pursued another.  In some cases the immigrant ancestor is a great grandfather or mother.  Lars Schulstad immigrated from Norway and Louis Trope was born on the ship coming from Germany.  Some came in the 1600s or 1700s.  Davis family came from Wales to Merion, PA in the 1600s and the Wunderlich family came in the 1700s.  There were many in between and some I haven't found yet.  I haven't travelled to "the Old Country" to follow them any more.  Sometimes I get information about life and times of an ancestor or family prior to coming to this country.  But it isn't because I pursued it.  The "Davis Book" goes way back before the immigrant ancestor and there is family in the US now that has contact with the Schulstads who are currently in Norway.

Finding my ancestors in the big events of history also was a goal.  I am an army brat.  As a child I moved frequently and saw grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles infrequently.  I remember only one Thanksgiving and two Christmases with more than my parents and brothers and sisters present until after I was married.  I attended no family weddings or funerals until I was I was grown up.  My sister's wedding was the first and my own was the next.  Being together for holidays, weddings, funerals, graduations and great historical events make up the web that strengthens family.

When Grandma Smith told me about her grandfather, who fought in the Civil War for the north, I began to feel I had roots.  Mike has an ancestor from Virginia who fought for the south.  Our kids have a view on that event different than either Mike or I do.  When I find an ancestor who participated in the Rev War and expansion to the west, national and world history becomes my history.

Today we ask, "Where were you when Kennedy was shot? or Where were you when you heard about 9/11?"  My questions are more like, "How did the Davises end up in Arkansas? or How come my name was Sue Phillips if my grandmother was Marguerite Langbauer?"

It is all coming together.  Slowly.

DAR

After working on this project for 35 years, I am finally getting the proper paperwork together to submit to the DAR for membership.  My problem isn't finding the Patriot who qualifies.  I have located half-a-dozen from the ancestors of Grandfather Davis.  I have a couple of little things to pull together and the submission will be made in January or February.  The part I thought would be the hardest wasn't too hard after all.

My grandma was married 3 times.  The first two marriages ended in divorce.  I think this was unusual for that time period.  When I asked Grandma about this she changed the subject.  She did say she met the first two at church.

In preparing for the DAR I had to find the marriage license for the first and third marriages, as well as the second, which is my direct line.  Thanks to a couple of cousins (Thank you Cindy and Alice.) this has been done.  I was so happy these were both easy to find.  They were necessary to show the name changes.  My grandfather was the middle husband.  She was born a Crone.  We needed the first marriage license to show how she went from Crone to Fulton.  She signed her second license (The one I came under.) with her first married name.  We needed the third one, to Mr. Smith, to show how she was a Smith on her death certificate.

I know I have some cousins who will be very interested to hear more of the Fulton tale.

Getting Started

It occurs to me that other people might be interested in my search for ancestors.  Some of these ancestors are mine and some aren't.  There is usually a story, good or bad, to go along with the search, as well as the ancestor.  My inspiration to blog comes from my brother, Scott.  I never would have suspected he would be a blogger.  Thanks Scotty.  So here goes my try at it.

My siblings, children, parents, cousins and some friends are interested in my search and the stories.  And some have stories to share.  Let's hear 'em.  I have done some work on family stories that may or may not be true.  I will tell you about those.  I have done some work on Uncle Ernest, the sea captain and found some interesting things about him.  I understand Thomas Thompson was with Pinkerton in the 1850s.
should be interesting.  I thought my kids were 7th generation Virginians.  Now I think they might be 13th generation Virginians.  And on it goes.

I started this search in the 1970's.  Having graduated from college, I visited my parents' home.  In their garage were boxes and boxes of stuff from my Dad's growing up years and my grandmother's life.  This would be Grandma Langbauer.  Letters, boy scout projects, school papers and bank records were all in these boxes.  In their house lived my other grandmother, Grandma Smith.  Between these two grandmothers I had the beginnings of the genealogy I wanted to find.

I plan to post stories of how I found information and family stories I have heard along the way.  I don't know how often or consistent I will be, but that's the beauty of this medium.