Recent History – 1970s

OR:  Who is Smitty and why do we call her that?  (Pictures are coming)

At the beginning of the seventies I was in college in Seattle, Washington.  My family was at Fort Ord, California and had been since 1966.  A few months after I left for college Dad was deployed to Viet Nam.   When he got back he was reassigned to Fort Ord and for the first time in my life my family had been in one house for more than 2 years.  But not me, I was in Seattle.  While I was there, I think it was my junior year; I got the letter that jokes are made of.  “Hope you are doing well in school.  We have moved to a new address.”   

They had bought a house and moved to the town neighboring Fort Ord.  The same year I graduated from college Dad retired from the Army.  He retired on Friday and on Monday went back to the same office as a civilian consultant. 

In the mid 70s we started getting married.  Brother Mark first, then me, then sister Betsy.  When Mark got married Grandma Smith came out from Illinois.  She was there for all of the weddings and never moved back to Illinois.

At the end of the 70s the grandbabies started coming.  Mom’s grandbabies.  In the summer of 1979 brother Mark had Katharine, I had Erik, and Uncle John had Cindy.  I had a son, niece and cousin all in a few months.  After that babies were a yearly occurrence for several years.  The next year came Laura, the next Annemarie, the next Jonathan then lastly was Andrew.  Erik was my only one and we were living in Virginia.  Mark and Betsy and their children were all in California and near enough to drive to Grandma Phillips’ house for the day or weekend.

That’s when it happened, I’m told.  When those babies started talking and saying “Grandma” both my mom and my grandmother would smile and look up.  The kids were getting confused.  By mutual agreement my Grandma Smith became “Smitty” and then everyone knew who they were talking about.  We all began calling her Smitty.  Even now when we talk about her we call her Smitty, and smile.

So that’s how it happened.  I will try to carefully call her Grandma Smith in these postings.  Partly to remind of the relationship of whom I speak.  But if, in my excitement and casualness I refer to someone as Smitty, please know it is with love and fondness that it is Grandma Smith I am speaking of.

The rest of this story is this.  Those kids who were born the summer of ’79 are growing up nicely.  Katharine and Cindy are both finishing graduate school this spring.  Erik was married 18 months ago and his lovely wife, Bethany is our newest family member.  However, as I write this I am waiting word from Betsy that Laura has given birth to the next generation in our family.  In the baby pool I picked February 3^rd, but they say it could happen at any moment.  Best wishes and Good Luck go out to Laura and Aaron, Betsy and David, Grammy and the new little boy coming soon.

Crone Family ~~ Characters Welcome!

If my project of tracing my roots was a cable network, “The Crone Family” would be USA: “Characters Welcome”.

This might be the hardest for me to begin to share because this is the grandparent I knew best, and yet have accomplished the least where research is concerned.  I don’t want to dwell on her, but rather her roots.  When I began working on my search of family history she was available and very willing to answer questions and scratch her memory for me.  It is difficult because right at the beginning, in her lifetime, in her immediate family, were two tragic deaths.  Her father and sister both died in untimely accidents.  I will share these stories with you, but not on the same day.

When my brothers, Scott and Mark were in school, each one, on separate occasions had the assignment “to write about a family member”.  They each chose Grandma’s brother, Uncle Frank.  He was a character.  At some point in their lives when Uncle Frank was alone and Grandma was alone he moved in with her on the farm.  We lived nearby for a year and were able to get to know him. 

At the time we had a Chevy station wagon.  The kind that the third seat faced backwards.  My memory is of Uncle Frank, who was getting up in years, climbing into the back seat of the station wagon and singing “Ring-o” all the way to town.  I don’t know if he knew the words or faked it until the chorus.  “Ring-o”.  It wasn’t about the Beatles. It was a song Lorne Greene put out about a cowboy.  Here is a link.  When we got to town we went to an ice cream parlor and he played it on the juke box the whole time we were there.

Uncle Frank put spinach on his hotdog and told us it was an Irish Hot Dog.  He would stand on the back porch and throw a handful of coins into the grass and have us scramble for the change.  On the Fourth of July he was riding in the back seat of the station wagon, again, to go and watch the fireworks.  Do you have a memory of Uncle Frank?   Share it with me so I can post it here.

Marshall Crone was married to Laura Hill.  Laura’s middle name was Louetta.  Her mom’s best friends were Lou and Etta.  Thus baby Laura’s middle name: Louetta.

Grandma Smith was the youngest of their seven children.  Three of her siblings had no children, but the children of the others all spoke lovingly of Aunt Ione.  It will be fun to find these cousins, where ever they are now.

I found a story about her father, George Hill, floating down the Ohio River to come to Illinois.  I plan to offer up some of the history of this part of the country, as it was settled largely as payment for military service.  This story was recorded in a cookbook put together by his granddaughters.  Get ready granddaughters of Iona Crone Fulton Davis Smith.  When I get to the Hill’s and share this story and recipes with you I hope you will share one of your recipes and we will put together the follow-up cookbook.  I am not sure we will ever make the recipes found in the old cookbook, but they are very interesting historically. It was George Hill who was remembered by Grandma as an invalid, having suffered wounds during his service in the Civil War.  I have his military record and will be able to tell you more about this character.  She said one of his children was born before the war, one during the war and one after the war.

George Hill was married to Eliza Jane Coykendall.  (Sounds like Kurtendall.)  I have been able to trace this family a little bit.  It looks like they go back to New Jersey and perhaps New York City when it was just beginning.  I feel certain we will find Coykendalls in the Civil War and perhaps in the Revolutionary War.

Marshall (also called Mark) Crone’s father was Elijah Crone.  Grandma knew he came from Pennsylvania and thought there was a spelling change from Krohn at some point.  My very early research showed him in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, but I am sorry to tell you I have lost that piece of information.  Since then, Cousin Gary Crone has done a lot of work on this family.  While primary evidence is elusive he has put together a good case for a connection to a Crone family in York, Pennsylvania.  What he has done is astonishing and convincing.  I hope to be in touch with him and share his thoughts on how Elijah goes to Illinois.  Perhaps the DAR genealogist can give us her thoughts on his deductions.

Then there is the Muckey Family.  Elijah Crone married Susan Muckey.  This family came from New York State and has the only Rev War soldier I have found, so far.  The catch to this is that he was a Hessian, hired by the British and captured during the Battle of Trenton on Christmas 1776.  I feel a history lesson coming on.  History changes for me when I find things like this.  I had an ancestor who not only fought at that battle and was captured; he was fighting for the English! 

Lots of characters to tell you about. 

I haven’t said much about Grandma Smith here.  I am hoping you will share your memories of her with me and the week of her birthday in May I will put up stories and photos of her.

Davis Family = The History Channel

If my project of tracing my roots was a cable network, the Davis Family would probably be the History Channel.  Previously I traced the path of the Davis Family back to the Revolutionary War and mentioned that Thomas Nicholas Davis lived in Maryland at that time.  According to my stated goal of finding the immigrant ancestor I will finish the Davis line by saying that before Thomas Davis my Davises were living in Delaware, Pennsylvania and came over from Wales before 1685.  I will offer more complete information on this as the weeks and months go by.  Remember, my research is not complete.  

Along with Thomas Davis I suspect we have Rev War patriots in the Brandenburg, Hendrickson, Clary, Spears, and Burger families.  There might be others as well.  I have inklings of service for the families I have named here and will continue to work on establishing the proof.  This is just on the Davis side of this branch. 

My Grandfather Davis’ mother was Sarah Ann Wetzel.  I still have a lot to uncover here, but I have started.

Her mother was a “Clark” from Ohio.  In my quick research I found it is possible (do I dare say this…POSSIBLE, but not nearly proved) that there is a link here to William Clark.  (Remember, I fanaticize a lot.)  The fun part is that in the same, very weak moment of FANTASY I traced my husband to Meriwether Lewis in Virginia.  This is where the Mythbusters say “probably not”.  How cool would that be?  Mike and Sue ~~ Lewis and Clark!  However, you will now have more incite to the fantasies of a genealogist.  A lot of dreaming on a little bit of fact.  This stays between us, okay? I will let you know how this one comes out.

The Clark, Cook and Deary family do go back into Virginia.  I was in a courthouse when I discovered the Cook-Deary connection.  Can you begin to imagine the feeling of coming upon something like this?  I was probably in jeans and a t-shirt, probably skipped lunch because I wanted research time and could eat later.  It was a will or land record and it took my breath away!  I let out a squeal and was grinning from ear to ear.  The worst part was I wanted to jump up and down and hug someone and yell about what I found.  As I glanced around I saw people looking at me.  This was a modern, working court house.  They were at the other end of the room.  I was looking at records from the early 1800s and they were in the mid to late 1900s.  Most of them had suits on and were carrying briefcases.  This was before computers were popular and portable, so I probably had a tote bag overflowing with notebooks and file folders.  I bet I was having a better day than they were!  One of the great things about this find is that "Deary" is not a common name.  I was having trouble with "Cook" in the Shenandoah Valley.  A fairly common English name.  But "Deary" will be much easier to follow up.

And finally the Wetzel-Wunderlich-Stoever group.  This was fun and eventful.  This group settled in the southern part of Pennsylvania.  I would put them from Lancaster to Carlisle.  The easiest ancestor of this group is John Casper Stoever.  He came from Germany (not Germany then).  Born in 1707, he came to “America” and established the first Lutheran church in this country.  We can trace his work here and his ancestors back to 1458.  A lot has been written about him.

See what I mean.  The History Channel.

Tracing the Davis family to the Revolutionary War and before

Davis Family

When I began working on finding my roots this is the branch I knew least about.  It is funny how genealogy research goes sometimes.  Almost immediately I found a book about the family that included my grandfather, Herschel Davis, and went back to the first Davis of this family coming from Wales in the 1600s.  They actually came to the area I am living in now!

My philosophy is that a book is merely a suggestion, or clue to what the truth could be.  I always try to verify with another source, hopefully a primary source, a government record, such as birth, death or marriage records, land records, census or wills.  Even these have been known to be erroneous at times.  But you get where I am going with this.  Verify when possible.  I do have a good example of no primary sources being available, but a strong case is made in another way.  This is very interesting and falls in the Crone family.

This book (The Davis Family in Wales and America) has been accepted by the genealogist at the DAR, so that’s good.  I have found several holes in the details in my direct ancestors that I am trying to fill and will keep you posted on that.  However, there is a lot of discussion and controversy about the same book and its connection to Jefferson Davis.  And on it goes.

I take it as interesting that Jeff Davis might be related to this family, but he is so far removed (something like fourth cousin seven times removed) that it is of little concern to me that it might be wrong and I will spend no time on this problem.

The book led me to Nicholas Davis, who was living in Maryland during the Revolutionary War and is name in the DAR as a patriot.  More details on him are coming, but today let me give you some of the information that we will be discussing.

I am the granddaughter of

Herschel Lee DAVIS (b. 1894 d. 1967 m. Iona Jane Crone) who was the son of

Oliver DAVIS (b. 1865 d. 1947 m. Sarah Wetzel) who was the son of

Alfred Ward DAVIS (b. 1826 d. 1875 m. Jeannetta Clary) who was the son of

Solomon DAVIS (b. 1802 d. 1871 m. Eliza Hendrickson) who was the son of

David Ward DAVIS (b.1762 d.1837 m. Elizabeth Brandenberg ) who was the son of

Thomas Nicholas DAVIS (b. 1741-42 d. 1805 m. Rebecca Ward) who was a Private 2^nd Co., 4^th Batt, under Capt John Mitchell in the war for independence

I call this information the bones, or skeleton of genealogical research.  I have done a lot of study on this family, and have a lot of meat to share with you.  I have done research in Illinois, Kentucky, and Maryland on these families and have followed up on each wife listed.  There is a lot more information to come, including several more DAR patriots and a couple of mysteries solved, I think.  I hope.  Questions like: where in Ohio was Solomon born and was Rebecca Ward’s father’s name really Pierre?  I will let you know what I find out.

Schulstad Sisters

Frequently my blog about family history is motivated by photographs.  I have such a large collection of family photos and I would like to share them and I want to preserve them. Posting these photos on this blog will allow me to share them and ensure that while they are in my hands they won’t be destroyed.  I think that after I scan them I will donate them to an historical library or genealogical society.  Unless someone comes up with a better idea this is what I will go with.  I am open to suggestions.

The motivating picture today is this one of Marguerite Schulstad and her sisters.   On the back is written “Summer 1913”.  This is the same year that Marguerite was married.

From left to right are:

Marguerite Louise born 18 May 1892 Chicago, Illinois; died – 16 October 1969 Los Angeles, CA; She married (1)Frank Phillips, (2) John J Langbauer, and had one son, Ernest. 

Ellen Lucia born 2 May 1884 Austin, Minnesota; died May 1956 in California.  Ellen married Leon Winslow.  Leon was born in Nebraska.  I don’t know of any children.

Hilde Marie born 12 April 1882 Bergen, Norway; died 8 March 1977;  Hilde married Dan Ritenour.  There were no children that I know of.  I don’t know much about this couple at all.

Betty Henriette born 15 February 1880 Bergen, Norway; died July 13, 1973 in California; Betty married George Wyers who immigrated from Canada.  He died between 1920 and 1930.  She moved to southern California and lived with her daughters and sisters.  She died at age of 90. Two daughters: Isabelle and Roberta.

Lisbeth Larsine born 25 September 1870 Bergen, Norway; died 1950; Lisbeth was the oldest child.  She married her cousin Ole Broten.  Ole was the son of her aunt Rikke who was the sister of Lars Schulstad, her father.  They had two daughters: Ellen and Olga.

Looking for descendants of these ladies.  Let me know if I got any of this wrong.  This is a work in progress.

Meet the Tropes

Grandpa Trope, Mike, Grandma Trope, Erik, Ethan

Today is the anniversary of when I met my husband, Mike, so I think it would be a good time to introduce his family history.  We have found many similarities in our families’ stories, and many differences.

Like my dad, his dad’s family came over on a boat from “the old country” in the mid 1800s.  Mine from Norway and his from Germany.  Franz Trope was married with children when he came and one was born at sea.

Franz settled in New York City and was a shopkeeper.  Lars Schulstad (my dad’s grandfather) settled in Chicago and was a tailor.  It didn’t take long for the Trope family to move out of the city to Long Island where many still remain.

Like my mom, Mike’s mom was a farm girl with roots going several generations back in the same farming community she grew up in.  Both grandmas left the area, but family still remains there. 

His dad was a cadet at Virginia Tech mine was ROTC at the University of Illinois.

We both have ancestors who fought in the civil war.  Mine was from Illinois and his was from Virginia.

That is a brief introduction.  I have several pictures of this family and some stories for you as well.  I will continue to post about this family and look forward to comments and stories from you.

Marguerite Louise Schulstad 1892-1969

Marguerite Louise Schulstad

Born: 18 May 1892

Chicago, Illinois

Father: Lars Schulstad b. 1847 Olso, Norway

Mother: Elen Guering Nilsen-Mehling b. 1847 Stavanger, Norway

Lars and Elen were married in Norway and began their family there.  Their first 7 children were born in Bergen, Norway.  Two of those children died in Norway.  They travelled to the United States with five children. 

First they lived in Minnesota.  Lars’ brother, Ludvig, lived there too.  Two children, Ellen and Melvin, were born in Austin, Minnesota before the family moved to Chicago, Illinois.  Richard was born in Chicago in 1889 and Marguerite in 1892.  There was 22 years between the birth of the first child and the birth of the last.

Lars was a tailor.  We have been told he was rather short and sat on the table near the window to sew.

The family of Lars’ brother Ludvig stayed in Minnesota and enjoys family reunions nearly every year.  There are Schulstads all over the country who can trace their families back to these two brothers.  They were 2 sons of 5 children.  The rumor is they left to avoid the military draft.  More about the family they left behind later.

In a previous post I related the story of Marguerite getting married in 1913, at the age of 19, to Frank Phillips.  It was 15 years before their son, Ernest, my dad, was born.  Only two years after that Marguerite became a widow.  It was 1930 in Chicago.  The stock market crashed the year before, prohibition was going on, Al Capone and his cronies were shooting up the place and Marge was a single mom with a 2 year old.  Chicago was so gangster-filled that they made a video game called “Chicago 1930”. 

Marguerite Schulstad Phillips packed up her stuff and her little boy and moved to southern California.  Her older sister had relocated to this area and she went to stay with them for awhile.  At some point the two of them did move back to Chicago.  Ernest went to school and Marguerite worked as a Postmistress in a drug store. 

I remember visiting her at work one time with my sister and brothers and she gave us all brand new pennies.  These were very special because they had the Lincoln Monument on the reverse and that was a big change from the previous penny design.  I was eight years old and I knew that a change in the design was a unique event. 

After returning to Chicago, Marguerite married John (Jack) Langbauer.  This was the dad my dad knew.  Ernest took his name and went by Ernest Langbauer for many years, even though there was never a legal adoption.  I remember seeing several books growing up, with Ernest Langbauer written in them.  Jack died in May of 1948 at the age of 48.  Ernest was in college at the time.

Upon graduation dad went into the Army.  It was necessary for him to use his legal name and his birth certificate said “Ernest Phillips”.  So he went back to using Phillips. 

In the sixties Grandma Langbauer, as we knew her, again moved to California.  Her sister Betty lived with her daughters, Isabelle and Roberta (Bobby).  As their families grew I am sure she was surrounded with love and comfort.

Marguerite Schulstad Phillips died in October 1969 and is buried at Pacific Crest Cemetery in Los Angeles.

This is a rather short summary of a long and interesting life.  I will expand on some of the people, places and events mentioned here and add more pictures.  I welcome comments, corrections and additions.

Did Marguerite marry the wrong guy?

This is one of those family stories that was passed down but we really weren’t sure if it was true.  It goes back only as far as my grandmother so it isn’t like it was handed down from generation to generation to generation. 

The story goes that Ma Schulstad (My great grandmother nee Elen Mehling.) who had eleven children, was lying on her death bed.  The children all were married and taken care of except the youngest, my grandmother.  Marguerite was 13 years old and it was Ma’s dying wish to see her married.   So they sent for Ernest Phillips, who was her beau at the time so he and Marguerite could be married before her mother died.  BUT…Ernest was a sailor and was out at see at the time.  In his stead his brother, Frank, arrived and the two of them tied the knot.  Sadly, Ma Schulstad died the next day.

I think this is a cool story.  It has some romance, tragedy, passion, a little comedy.  I would love to see the movie when it comes out.  It made me nervous to delve into it because I didn’t know if I wanted it to be true or not. 

Here is what I found out:

            According to her birth certificate, Marguerite Louise Schulstad was born on 18 May 1892.  I found her marriage certificate to Frank Phillips and the date was 25 January 1913.  She wasn’t 13 when they married.  She was 19.

            According to the death certificate of Elen Schulstad, she died on 26 January 1913. 

            From all of this we can see that Marguerite did marry Frank on the day before her mother died.  She wasn’t 13 but still young.

            I also found a newspaper clipping about the marriage of one of Marguerite’s brothers who was married on 7 October 1911.  It says:

JACOBSEN-SCHULSTAD MARRIAGE SOLEMNIZED

The home of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Jacobsen, 4317 Costello Avenue, was the scene of much festivity last Saturday evening, Oct 7, when their daughter, Adelaide H. and Mr. Richard H. Schulstad were united in holy matrimony. …….

……

The maid of honor, Miss Marguerite Schulstad, of 1719 West Ohio Street, the groom’s sister, attired in a dress of pink ioline, came down with the best man, Mr. Walter H. Lyngaas, of 2033 Emerson Avenue.

…..

At 11 p.m. the supper march was played, and, led by the bride and groom, was followed by the maid of honor, Miss Marguerite Schulstad and her fiancée, Mr. Frank Phillips, after which came the best man, Mr. Walter Lyngaas and his fiancée, Miss Emma Johnson.

…..

This makes it pretty clear that Frank was a willing participant in his marriage to Marguerite.

I have copied only portions of the article here.  I am attaching the article in its entirety as it was scanned.  I love the detailed description in the paper and the way the evening went for Richard and Adelaide.

All in all I think the story turned out pretty well.  And I am glad we got the facts straight -- for all of us.

I will write more about these people and other family stories soon.

New Years Traditions?

Happy New Year! 

I was going to fill this page with pictures of babies a la the New Year, but I didn’t get my act together enough.  I did find this picture of a baby to share with you.  That’s me with my hands on my ears as little baby Betsy screams her head off!!  Betsy will be fifty-something in a few days.  To me she will always be the sweet baby in this picture.  Love you Bets.

My question for you today is:  Do you have any New Years traditions at your house?  What do you usually do on New Years Eve?  No traditions?  What did you do this year?

From 1999 until 2009 this family went to First Night in various cities in the country.  First Night is non-alcoholic family entertainment that goes through the evening until midnight.  In most of the places we were there were fire works to welcome in the New Year.  We started out in Wilmington, DE for the Y2K scare.  Then went to Haddonfield, NJ, Annapolis, MD, York, PA, State College, PA, Newtown, PA and Monterey, CA.  Not necessarily in that order and it seems like I am missing some.  That has been our tradition for several years.  We have buttons and pictures all ready to be mounted as a memento.  Now that our kids are older they seem to be finding their own activities for that night.  That’s fine with me.  We will find new ways to welcome the New Year.  This year I was asleep by 11:30.  Check out the web site: First Night USA

How about you?  What traditions do you have for this night?