Good Genealogy Luck

Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings has sent out his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Challenge.  The directions for tonight are:

1) When have you had a dose of good genealogy luck? What document or resource did you find just by happenstance or chance? By being in the right place at the right time? By finding a family history treasure in your family's attic or basement? By finding a helpful document or reference without even looking for it?

2) Tell us about it in Comments to this post, in Comments on Facebook, or in a blog post of your own.

O.K., I have to admit that this is an easy and pleasurable task for me.  Please see my post entitled "Can You Say Genealogical Jackpot?" and read all about my "chance happening of a fortunate event."  I'm still identifying, documenting, investigating, and photographing these items, and I've even posted the stories of some of them.  Thanks Randy!  What a great idea.  It's like finding them all over again [almost].

What's In A Name?: Big Paw Paw

What's In A Name? ~ Big Paw Paw

Today's "What's In A Name?" is short and sweet.  Growing up I had always heard stories of my Big Paw Paw.  He always seemed bigger than life.  He had died before I was born and since I only knew my Paw Paw [my grandma], I was always more than a little curious as to how my grandfather had become known as "Big Paw Paw."  [Well, other than the fact that everyone needed some type of designation between my grandmother and my grandfather.]  So, the other day as I was going through some old photographs, I found the one below of my Big Paw Paw from 1951, and I snickered.  [Yes, I said snickered!]  He looks like a used car salesman, doesn't he?  Immediately I thought, "Ah.  This is why he was called 'Big Paw Paw'."  He kind of reminds me of what I always thought "Big Daddy" from Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" should look like.  Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

Does Time Reveal Mercy?

Wading Through the Photos and Heirlooms
I am defintely not going to say that going through the photos and heirlooms [my husband's family's genealogy jackpot cache] that I discovered at my father-in-laws' house is a chore.  On the contrary, it is absolutely awesome to uncover, to wonder, to research, and to document these rare treasures; for each one has a story behind it.  After all, someone or several "someones" thought so highly about the items that some of them have been kept for over 100 years.  Unfortunately, though, no perfect and detailed journal exists that can reveal their stories...just a vague memory here and a distant fragment of family lore there.  What do we do with these wonderful items that, while they are inanimate, are just brimming with stories to tell, if only they could talk!  I mean, could you imagine what these item's witnessed?   Not only that, but none of the vast family trees can compare [in my opinion] with touching - really touching - our family's history.  Holding it where our ancestor's hands were holding it.    It's one of our tangible connections with our past.  So, I ask again, what do we do when we don't know the story, or it's incomplete and/or vague?  Well, I have some items that have given me mixed signals, and in trying to determine the provenance of one item, I'm pretty sure I have uncovered the identities of two people that I found all alone in a Victorian era photograph album.  You see, sometimes it's not the story behind the name, but sometimes the story may lead you to the name...

The Ladies' Pocketwatch

I have to admit that my eyes like "pretty things".  They are naturally trained to find the "bling", but I am not [by any stretch of the imagination] an expert [not an even an amateur] on antique pocketwatches.  That being said, I was able to find some information to help me with my analysis.   This beautiful ladies' Elgin pocketwatch came in a small white envelope with 2 lines of writing on the envelope.  The first line reads, "Pearl May" and the second line reads, "Dad's Watch".  Not exactly specific, but better than a blank envelope.  Unless, of course, the information is incorrect, or it doesn't pertain to this particular pocketwatch.  As you can tell from the photographs, the pocketwatch has engravings on both sides with the front having a type of floral design around the edge and a blank shield and the back mirroring the front but instead of a shield, it has a bird in flight.  Also, the front "lid" of the casing is broken off, the glass is gone, and it does not run.  The outside of the envelope details a quote of the work that needs to be done to it.

So, Whose Pocketwatch Is This?

Well, that's a good question.  It is thought by my husband's family that the handwriting is from my husband's paternal grandfather, Forest Pointer. Forest's father was Harvey Lewis Pointer, and he was Pearl May's husband.  [Remember, the beautiful lady?]  Harve and Pearl married in 1906.  This is pretty cut and dry, right?  That's what I thought, but how do we know if the writing on the envelope refers to this watch?  How do we know if the identification of the pocketwatch by Forest is correct?  The answer is...we don't.

Identifying the Pocketwatch

I needed to identify the pocketwatch in order to document it correctly.  So, I crossed my fingers and googled "Elgin antique pocketwatches."  I was ever so lucky and I found a site that is "everything to do with Eligin antique pocketwatches" including a database of serial numbers and manufacturer descriptions at http://elginpocketwatches.org/.  [Yup, it was that easy.]  It took me step-by-step in identifying this pocketwatch including correcting me on the placement of the serial number [The number on the inside of the casing is the serial number for the casing.  The timepiece's serial number is located on the inside near the gears.  Just in case you were wondering.]  This is its "official" manufacturer description:

• This "style" was manufactured between 1899-1903;
• There were 3000 manufactured in a "run" and there were 45 runs;

• 15 jewels are located in it.
• It's a pendant model & pendant set.
• Designed for a hunter's case [meaning second hand is 90 degrees to the pendant];
• Has a 3/4 plate
• Has nickel damaskeening [a shiny silver color with patterns and designs that change when watch is moved (on timepiece not casing);
• Beats 5 beats/second;
• This particular timepiece was made about 1903, but probably selling several years after the date of manufacture;
• This particular style was manufactured in low-volumes, 3000/run [compared to a high volume of 10,000-20,000 per run]

Remember the stamping on the casing?  There were some more on the inside casing in the back where you access the actual timepiece's gears and whatnot.  [Yes, that's my technical term. ;)]  Using the same above process, I found information here about the casing's manufacturer.  [Back then, the casing & the timepiece were manufactured separately.]  It's stamped "Keystone Watch Case J.Boss, 14K, Guaranteed 25 years."  I discovered it was a 14k gold-filled case designed by J. Boss.  Boss was the man who received the patent for the gold filled process.  Wow, huh?  Who knew there was so much information that could be determined by a serial number on a pocketwatch? [And who would've guessed I'd be looking for it?]

Switching Gears

I put the pocketwatch aside [much to my chagrin because I really like the bling...].  Amongst all the photographs, there were 2 in particular that caught my eye.  Why?  Maybe because they were the only 2 studio photographs that were in this beautiful Victorian era celluloid photo album [the album is a story for another time].  Not only were these 2 photographs alone, but they were anonymous as well.  There were no names to be found on or around them.  Let me correct that.  Their names weren't on there, but they did have a studio "stamp" on the front.  It reads "C.W. Bonham, Gering Nebraska".  [Gering is located in Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska.]  Now, it's thought by the family that the photo album came from the "Haley" side of the family, which would be my husband's paternal grandmother's family.  If this is correct, then the owner of this very lovely album would've been Lovina Emaline Haley [wife of Daniel Haley and my husband's 2nd great-grandmother who owned the 125-yr old autograph album.]  So, it's thought that the photographs are of the Haley persuasion.  [Not exactly definitive because throughout the generations, people could've changed these photographs around.]  I looked on both sides of the family looking for members who had lived in Nebraska.  There were 2 distinct family members that had lived in Nebraska - both from the "Haley" side. [Yes!]  The first was Emaline's younger brother James Madison Richmond.  I found him and his family living in Dawes County, Nebraska [located in the northwestern area of the state] in 1910 and his age is 47.  The other family member living in Nebraska was Frank Edward Haley the adopted son of Daniel and Lovina Haley.  In 1900, he was single and living in Gabe Rock Pct., Nebraska.  In 1910, it's listed that he'd been married to a woman for 5 yrs by the name of Mercy, and they were living in Rose Pct., Scotts Bluff County, NE.  Between 1910 and 1920, they moved back to Iowa [where Frank Edward was born and where he was raised by Daniel and Lovina].  Now, this puts Edward [the name Frank Edward went by] and his wife Mercy very much near Gering, NE, where these photographs were taken.  I looked up on a Scotts Bluff County map from 1907 on http://www.historicmapworks.com/ and learned that Rose Pct [where they lived in 1910] was near Gering, NE [in fact one district away].  This leads me to believe that these two people in these photographs are Frank Edward and Mercy (Slingbaum) Haley [Mercy is pictured above, and Edward I introduced you to here. ].  Not definitive, I know, but still a strong likelihood.  [Also, please note: I tried looking up information on the photography studio in Gering Nebraska, but was unable to find anything.]

Taking A Closer Look

If you take a closer look at the photograph of who I believe is Mercy Slingbaum Haley, you'll notice that she's wearing a...pendant pocketwatch.  I didn't notice this at first even though I had looked at this photograph several times.  I took a look at it under my magnifying glass, and then I could almost see the design on the pocketwatch.  It looked quite similar to the pocketwatch that I had been examining and documenting, but the pocketwatch is supposed to be from my husband's paternal grandfather line [Pointer], and Mercy is from his paternal grandmother line [Haley].  Of course, this might not be Mercy in this photograph, but no other familial lines [paternal or maternal], that I've been able to find, lived in or near Gering, Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska.  The closest other candidate is Lovina's younger brother James Madison Richmond who lived in Dawes County, Nebraska, so he's a possibility, but due to proximity, I think Edward and Mercy Haley are the better candidates.  I decided to try some digital enhancing of the pocketwatch to see if I could make out the design on the pocketwatch.  [Now,  I have no clue how to properly do this.  In fact, I am below an amateur when it comes to this, but I thought I'd at least try and "fiddle" with it!] Here is what I came up with:

Did Time Discover Mercy?

So, nothing really definitive, but I think the enhancements lend a little credence to my theory that this might be the same pocketwatch.  If it's not, it's one very similar.  Edward and Mercy were married in 1905 and this pocketwatch, remember, was manufactured in 1903, but probably sold several years after that.  However, Harve and Pearl were married in 1906, so the timing is right for this pocketwatch to have been a gift of some kind like a wedding gift, etc. for either woman.  One thing of note is that Edward Haley was raised in Jasper County, Iowa, moved to Nebraska and married there, and he and Mercy moved back to Jasper County, Iowa.  In addition Harve and Pearl Pointer lived in Story County, Iowa.  These are adjoining counties and maybe two similar pocketwatches were purchased at the same place.  However, the only problem is, at that time, Edward was living in Nebraska, but he could have gone home.   Maybe they [Mercy and Pearl] just had similar pendant pocketwatches.  Of course, this particular pocketwatch's "runs" were considered low volume - not high volume.  Basically, I don't know.  What I do know, though, is that I probably wouldn't have spent so much time examining an adopted son's life as much if I hadn't noticed the similarities in pocketwatches.  So, in this respect, time did truly help me find Mercy!

Caroline

[Note: All census information accessed through Heritage Quest Online and Ancestry.com]

"I Have Believed...Impossible Things..."

"'Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar.

This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation.  Alice replied, rather shyly, 'I--I hardly know, sir just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'" [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 5 by Lewis Carroll]

I went to a little private elementary school in the small town that I'm from in Texas.  We wore red plaid jumper uniforms over white blouses with Peter Pan collars, and to top it off, black and white saddle shoes

with knee high socks.  It was a pretty good little school, and for the most part I was a good student.  However, every once and a while my Irish leperchaun would come out, and I'd get into some trouble.  [Hard to believe, I know.]  Many of these times I'd end up in the corner staring at the brick wall that was painted white.  [By the way, I like that decorative effect...]  Anyway, there was this built-in bookshelf that contained a large set of books.  Well, being the good student that I am [sarcasm], I became bored and decided to look inside one of these books.  To my surprise, there was an inscription that read "Donated by Mary Alice Truitt Blacketer".  The handwriting looked like my Gran's, but the only name I recognized was Blacketer...This was the first time that I ever saw her full name in print.  [You mean her name wasn't Gran Blacketer?]  As I've mentioned before Gran was Catholic.  So, of course, her first name was Mary.  [This is a joke for those of us who keep finding so many Mary's in our research.]    But  Alice?  Truitt?  Of course, later I asked her about the name Truitt, and she replied, "Dear [my Gran always started a story with this endearment], I am a Truitt.  It's my maiden name and Blacketer is my married name."  During the rest of her lifetime, I heard her mention this several times, and she'd always say it with a declaration of assurance..."I am a Truitt, " as if that explained everything.  [In my research later, I did find out what that meant...a story for another time.]  The name that has captured my interest right now is Alice.

"'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice"[from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 2]

Not only is my Gran named Mary Alice, so is her mother, my Boo.  I even have a second cousin named Mary Alice.  Hmm...Just where does this name come from?  I never really thought much about it until I started researching my Boo's father [my great-great grandfather, Daniel Rook(e) Vaughn.  I wasn't looking for it, but I may have found the answer, but of course it's opened up some more questions...

"The White Rabbit put on his spectacles.  'Where should I begin, please your Majesty?' he asked.  'Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely, 'and go on till you come to the end: then stop.'" [Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Chapter 12]

Daniel Rook(e) Vaughn was born in Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Michigan in 11 Nov 1847.  The very first avenue of research on him was, of course, the U.S. Federal Population Census Schedule [accessed through Heritage Quest and Ancestry.com].  I found him and his family in 1850 in Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Michigan .  His father was B.H. Vaughn 29yo  born in Canada, and his mother was Susanna 28yo born in New York.  They had 3 children: Prudence (5yo), Daniel (3yo), and last [but certainly not least] was Alice (under 1yo).  So then I looked to the 1860 census, and I was able to find Daniel, but he was living with a family by the name of Rook(e), who I have since found out were his grandmother, aunt, uncle, and his aunt's future husband on his mom's side.  Though I performed many searches, there was no sign of his family from 1850.  It was if they had fallen down a hole...

"Down, down, down.  Would the fall NEVER come to an end? 'I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud.  'I must be getting near the centre of the earth'..." [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Chapter 1]

I have since found Daniel's older sister Prudence.  She was living with a family by the name of Ogden in Shelby Co., Ohio [I'm pretty sure.], but I've lost her from there [possibly due to marriage, death, or moving out of the country].  As for the rest of the family, I have searched high, and I have searched low.  In looking at the history of the wee township of Ypsilanti, I did discover that there was a terrible fire in 1851 in the town proper.  However, there were no casualties mentioned -- just damages.  [Alexander Winchell, History of Washtenaw County, Michigan:... (Chicago: C.C. Chapman & Co., 1881), 1121. accessed through Heritage Quest Online].  So, I'm left with a missing family.  Were Benjamin, Susanna, and "baby" Alice casualties of the fire of 1851 in Ypsilanti?  Or did they succumb to some sort of disease?

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, " said the Cat.

"I don't much care where--" said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

"--so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation.

"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Chapter 6]

I'm not sure what happened to Daniel's family.  I don't know why, but I always think of Daniel's sister as "my" Alice.  Maybe because she was so young...  The one thing that I know for sure is that I will never rest until I find "my" little Alice, for she has been on her adventure in her wonderland for far too long.  There have been three women named after her in my family [I think ;)], and it's about time that we found her.

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said : "one can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen.  "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day.  Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

[Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, Chapter 5]

[Note: All of the above quotes and original illustrations are from Lenny's Alice in Wonderland site.  The color illustrations are from Wikipedia.  All items are in the public domain due to copyright expiration.]

Caroline

Were Your Ancestors Beautiful?

What is Beauty?
For the sake of this post, I am going to define beauty as the following:

• Physical Beauty [While it's superficial, I know, it is a real, tangible, and undeniable part of beauty].
• What's Said About You By Others; and
• Your Actions [They really do speak louder than words.]

Physical Beauty
Whenever I look at this photograph, I am so captivated by the subject's beauty.  This is Pearley May "Pearl" [Williams] Pointer, the wife of Harvey Lewis "Harve" Pointer.  She is my husband's great-grandmother on his father's side.  Wasn't she beautiful?  Her skin is so perfect looking and her face is so expressive that I think, sometimes, she looks like she is going to "pop" out of the photograph and into my life.  [I wish she would because I have some questions for her...]  It is easily one of my favorite old photographs.  Pearl was born 21 May 1887 in Fairfield Township, Carroll Co., Missouri, and her family moved back and forth from Missouri to Iowa.  She died in Collins, Story County, Iowa 29 Sep 1970.  Her maternal line, the Odell family, and her paternal line, the Williams family, can both be traced back to England.

What Others Say About You Can Be Very Revealing About Your Character...
This photograph is of a 125-year old autograph book that belonged to my husband's great-great grandmother Lovina Emaline "Vina" [Richmond] Haley.  She was the wife of Daniel Haley [one of 10 children of Irish immigrants, Patrick & Bridget (Foley) Haley], and she was the daughter of James Richmond, Jr. of Indiana and Luvisa Logsdon/Logston of Kentucky.  This family heirloom is easily one of my favorites.  All of the entries are four line rhymes.  The first chronological entry was made 22 Feb 1884 by Della B. Stier, her niece, and it indicates that Della is the one who has given this album to her.  Many of the entries are by her nieces, nephews, and sisters right before they left Iowa to live out west.  What a precious gift they gave their aunt as well as their aunt's many descendants.  By the entries alone, you can tell that she was a beloved aunt.  However, these aren't  the only entries.  There are some by her friends as well as other family members.  In fact, 14 Mar 1885 Daniel Haley [my husband's great-great grandfather], her husband, wrote the following:

     On this page
     The first in this book
     I will write my name
     In your Autograph Book.

     Yours Very Truly,
     Daniel Haley

Daniel and Lovina's son, Wilbert Raymond Haley [my husband's great-grandfather] wrote the following to his mother 3 Jan 1896:

     Dear Mamma,
     I thought I would write on this sheet of paper to let you see it when
     you are old and see how good
     I could write when I was nine years old.  I will write my name.
     Your Baby,
     Ray Haley

And here is one that when I read it to my children, we all got goosebumps:

    9 May 1889
    Mrs. Haley,
   
    One hundred years from now
    Where will this album be
    Who will look these pages o'er
    And think of you and me

    Sallie Pontz

[Well, 125 yrs later, I can tell you, it's me!]

Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Here is a photograph of Frank Edward Haley, the first son of Daniel and Lovina Haley.  He was their adopted son [their biological son was Wilbert Raymond Haley who I mentioned above].  I have determined through a lot of research that Edward was not a blood relation of theirs.  Many times, if there was an adoption, it was usually a blood family member of sorts.  Well, from the best I can tell, Edward was not a blood relation.  Edward was adopted as an infant, and Wilbert came 9 years after that.  What love Daniel and Lovina must have had in their hearts to adopt Edward and raise him as their own.

Though I don't have a photograph of Lovina [not yet, anyway], I can tell that she was just as beautiful as Pearl was!

Caroline

Can You Say Genealogical Jackpot?

I Can...
Last night the kids and I [hubby is out-of-town] went to father-in-law's house to eat some incredibly good grub. [Of course, all meals that I don't have to prepare are incredibly good...] Some of my father-in-law's family was in town and eventually all the old family memorabilia came out...I had no clue what's been sitting in my father-in-law's house all this time! [He lives about 10 minutes away from us.] So, can you guess what I'm doing the rest of this week? Yup, scanning, photographing, indentifying, "database-entrying", etc., etc.... Just some of the items in this collection are:

• 125-year old Autograph Album of my hubby's great-grandmother, Pearl Williams;
• A book of Longfellow's poem "Evangeline" belonging to Pearl;
• A collection of Red Man chewing tobacco trading cards featuring American Indian Chiefs;
• One of Pearl's War Ration Books from World War II;
• A matching jewelry box and photo album that made its way to Iowa by covered wagon;
• Pocket Watch belonging to Pearl; and
• A Civil War tin-type picture of one of hubby's great-great-grandfathers' brother who was shot in The Battle of the Wilderness and was imprisoned in Libby Prison, where he died.

So, I'm going to be a little busy for a while. I think I sense some more family stories I get to share [I dunno. Maybe.]...

Caroline

Genealogy, Catholicism, & Managing Women...

Mary Alice (Truitt) Blacketer

Drumroll, please...here is my Gran. If you've been reading my past stories then you know who I'm talking about. [If not, after this post read: "My Gran's Southern Hash," if you like...] She was such a sweet little lady [unless you got on her bad side, which I didn't because I was her favorite :)]. I don't have a whole lot of photographs of her, but I managed to find some "Mom" pics with all her kids over the years. One of the pictures [a copy actually] I stumbled upon when I found her passport application [way cool]. In it she's holding her infant daughter my Aunt Happy [a name worthy of another story], and an unidentified other woman, who, if I had to guess, is probably my Gran's sister, my Aunt Anne, but I don't know for sure. My Gran and her mother, my Boo [yes, there's a story behind that name, too] raised Gran's eight children together during World War II. My Gran worked several jobs outside of the home, and my Boo took care of things on the homefront. Like so many other mom's, they worked hard to "make it happen."

From Ireland to a Deck in Texas

My Gran's Gran, Annie O'Brien, who came to America [thru New Orleans, LA] from Dublin, Ireland was Catholic. [Shocker, right?] I was baptized a Catholic and remained one for only the first 3 years of my life. My dad didn't really like the Catholic Church, and he'd been raised a Methodist. So my mom and dad compromised and we became Episcopalian [can't say we aren't problem-solvers]. "Why didn't my dad like the Catholic Church," you ask? Well, if you read my 6-part series [yes, I said 6] on "Secrets" of my grandfather's then that might shed some light on it...So, what does this have to do with my Gran? One of my most vivid memories of her [other than her Southern hash] was that she was a devout Catholic who prayed religiously [pardon the pun]. She had her Saint Prayer Cards and her Rosary always in her pocket and she'd go outside to be in nature and talk to God...everyday...several times a day...without fail [in the rain, she'd sit on that same deck that my dad built...the one mentioned in "Runaway Bunny"]. And I remember when I was little thinking at the time that she and God sure talked a lot...[She was probably praying for my dad's non-Catholic soul! lol]

Three Managing Women

So here's to [really] 3 mom's my Gran, my Boo, and the outlandish Annie O'Brien [yeah, there's some stories there, too] - 3 hardworking, managing, Catholic women who never stopped and asked, "Why," but just kept working together to keep their homes together and their children healthy and happy...Happy Mother's Day, Gran, Boo, and Annie!

Caroline

Secrets, Pt. 6: The Rest of the Story...

Joseph Marschall and Emma Rosin

Last, but not least is Joseph Marschall.  So, what happened to him?  Who was he?  I believe that Joseph Marschall married Emma Rosin in 1917 when they both were 24 years old.  He was a medic in the U.S. Army [1918-1919] during World War I and was awarded the Victory Medal.  In 1920, he was living with Emma in San Antonio and was a tree surgeon according to the 1920 Federal Population Census Schedule.  According to early land transactions that I found of my grandfather's, he and Emma [she was included in the transactions and was listed as his wife] bought, improved, and sold land - all in the same area of town that Otto and Jane Rosin [Joseph's sister] lived and also completed land transactions.  [Additionally, Joseph and Emma lived in the same part of town as Otto and Jane.]  However, the transactions ended abruptly with Emma, and I've not been able to trace her after that.

Did Joseph Have Another Wife?
After the transactions that included Emma, Joseph had many more by himself until 1927.  This is where I found a public affidavit that he had filed.  In it he claims that the land [that John and Josephine end up buying from him later] was his before his marriage to an Oveta Marshall, and that Oveta had abandoned him 6 months prior.  I verified when he first purchased this land, and he did purchase it after the land transactions that had included Emma, which indicates possibly that he had another wife.  Two scenarios exist.  Either Emma and Oveta are one in the same, or he married Emma and something happened to her [passed away or they divorced] and then he married an Oveta...I lean a little towards the possiblity that Emma and Oveta are not the same person.  First, the wording and the time line suggested in the public affidavit indicates that he had another wife [if he was telling the truth].  Plus, Emma stops appearing in the land transactions.  Interestingly, Oveta never appears in any transactions - possibly meaning that they weren't married for very long?  Basically, I don't know what happened exactly, but there is sufficient evidence to suggest that he was married twice before marrying my grandmother.  Unfortunately, both Emma and Oveta have proven to be elusive for me and I've not been able to find a marriage record for Joseph and Oveta..Do remember, though that John and Josephine of Galveston, Texas bought the land in dispute from Joseph and immediately mortgaged it plus 26 shares in some stock in order to pay Oveta Marshall $350 per a divorce decree, and they did it for a Joseph Marshall.  They then sell the same land in 1932 to Otto Rosin of San Antonio.  It's possible that Emma and Oveta are the same person, but the name Oveta is not listed as a possible nickname for Emma nor does the name Oveta have germanic origins.  However, anything's possible and without evidence I don't have enough proof at this point.  If they are the same person though, it might explain Joseph's separation from the family, and the land sale to Otto Rosin later, but that could be because Otto lived in San Antonio and John & Josephine didn't, and it would make sense to sell it to him.   After these transactions, my grandfather had many more land transactions - all in San Antonio - that he executed by himself until 1942 when my grandmother - "Paw-Paw" - appears in the land transactions until my grandfather's, "Big Paw-Paw's" death.  My father appears in several transactions as well.


So are Joseph Marshall and Joseph Marschall the Same Person?

I'm pretty convinced they are the same person.  What are the chances that a John and Josephine Marschall of Galveston, Tx. would complete transactions with a Joseph Marshall and Otto Rosin who were not the same ones that they were related to?  Considering that I checked for other Joseph Marshall's [either spelling] that fit the criteria in one way or another and was unable to find one other than this one, I don't think the chances are very high.  [Other Otto Rosin's were checked for as well.]  Also, all the land transactions led back to my grandfather.  The name spelling change from Marschall to Marshall may have been simply my grandfather "American-izing" his name [which was common], or it could represent the separation with the family.  As far as the landscaper angle, I don't know if it was him, but he was a tree surgeon at one time, and remember the landscaping ad was for the 1st high rise in San Antonio in the Laurel Heights area...a possible connection to real estate development [a small one, I know].  It's not any stranger than his brother's occupations [mentioned in my last post], and San Antonio was experiencing economic growth at the time.

Other Avenues to Search
There are many things that I need to find.  To name a few:

• A marriage record between Joseph and Oveta;
• Joseph's and Oveta's divorce records;
• My grandfather's will;
• His appearance in the 1930 Census; and
• Emma...

So, What Gets a Catholic Excommunicated?
Well, the Canon Law of 1917 is written in Latin and is here.  However, I don't know Latin, so I surfed around on forums and websites looking for a simple answer.  [Can you hear me laughing?  Apparently, there are no simple answers when talking about Canon Law in the Catholic Church.]  However, from what I could tell - basically - a marriage after a divorce would get a Catholic excommunicated from the Church because the Church doesn't recognize the divorce...I'm pretty sure my grandfather had been divorced at least once before marrying my grandmother.  Now whether or not he was actually excommunicated and to what level [yes, there are levels or degrees] I don't know.  This is another follow-up that I need to do, but this could also explain a separation between my grandfather and his family...

Joseph Was a Carpenter...
Growing up my dad [Joseph, Jr.] was able to build anything without drawing it up first.  It simply [for him] went from his imagination to creation...[Remember the deck I mentioned in Runaway Bunny?  He built that.]  I once asked him where he had learned to build, and he said that his father [Joseph, Sr.] had taught him.  You see, he'd helped his dad tear-down and build houses in San Antonio...







Where's My Sign?

I still felt that I needed to do something other than what I had already done or listed.  I could have used a sign that had a picture of everyone on it and that read "Hey, Caroline!  Look no further, we're your family".  Too much to ask for?  Probably, but there was something I hadn't done yet that I needed to do...

My Dad's Sister...My Aunt

My dad had a sister, and I hadn't called her yet  for a number of reasons.  First, growing up I wasn't really close to her.  Plus, I thought my mom knew everything that my dad had known, and I'd already exchanged info with her.  I also didn't know how sensitive an issue it would be for her to learn that her father had had another marriage [& possibly 2].  It was time though for the call that should have come first in my quest for answers.  I ended up having a good conversation with her for about an hour & half.  She took everything in stride, and it turned out she knew something more.  While I was listing my grandfather's probable siblings...she stopped me and said, "Wait.  I remember when I was young your dad and I travelling to Galveston to visit our Aunt Ella...her first name was Laura.  I think I remember that her first husband's last name was "Breen" and that he died when their children were young and she remarried.  Also I remember that Roman had died while he was young."  She went on to say that she hadn't thought about that "in years" and probably wouldn't have remembered it if I hadn't mentioned their names...[Oh yeah...]


One Final Twist to the Rest of the Story...
In looking at Rootsweb/Ancestry.com Surname Message Boards and Genforum's Surname Boards under the names "Marshall" and "Marschall", I found a woman looking for a Joseph Marschall...a Joseph Marschall whose parents were John and Emma Marschall of Galveston, Texas.  She provided enough information that I was able to determine that this was the same family.  I posted a response, but didn't get a return response.  In looking at her various posts/requests however, I noticed 2 things: that over time her posts became increasingly urgent, and then one day, they stopped abruptly.  So, on a hunch I decided to "Google" her name which she had provided in her posts, and I found her obituary.  Ironically, she had died the same year as my dad.  According to her posts, she was a descendant of my grandfather's brother, John Marschall, Jr.  She'd indicated that there were no more male Marschall's to carry on the name, but that she'd remembered her father telling her about John's younger brother - Joseph Marschall - who'd been "separated" from the family and had lived in San Antonio, and she was wondering if he'd had a family...Well, he did.  He had a daughter and son...a son who had another son, who had 3 more sons...While the spelling of the name is a little different, it still carries on.  All of them...all of us...descendants of John Marschall from Posen, Prussia who had been..."just a farmer".

So, for your family's sake, go find your farmers!

Caroline

Secrets, Part 5

I'm running out of new and different Galveston pictures that don't have a bunch of peeps in them so this story has to end soon! [Besides, I have an appointment with a guy about some islands that I want...] So, did the Storm of 1900 leave Nettie, Joseph, and Mary orphans?...Nope, it didn't. Remember how in my ignorance I didn't check for any other Marschall's in the 1910 census? If I had, I would've found them. Also, I was able to find a digital copy of the Galveston Commissioners Report of the status of the farms and the farm families after the storm at the Rosenberg Library in their manuscript department. [Oh yeah...] It had good info including their temporary address after the storm, and 2 of their nearby neighbors were the Rosin's and the Cobb's.

I located the Marschall family's death certificates [other than Joseph's, but I did have my grandfather's]; the birth certificates of all the children's children, the men's World War I Registration Cards, and San Antonio land transactions for John Jr. and Otto Rosin [along with my grandfather's]. Below I've listed a summary of each family member to hopefully make things a little easier to understand. [The birth and death certificates were found @ Clayton Genealogical Library [located on Caroline St.], but the death certs can be found now on FamilySearch and Footnote as well.]

John Marschall, Sr.,  Father

After the Storm of 1900, John, Sr. and Emma never lived together again. In 1910, he lived with his daughter, Jane and her husband Otto Rosin in San Antonio at which time Otto was a dairy farmer [maybe John Sr. helped him with that].  In 1920 he lived alone until he passed away in 1928 while living in Hitchcock, Texas [which is on the mainland, but still in Galveston County].  No matter where he lived, he always listed his occupation as a farmer even though he never owned one again after the storm.  He now lays at rest in an unmarked grave in Lakeview Cemetery on Galveston Island.  I did find his Naturalization Certificate as well as a passport application that he filed...wonderful clues left...he was from Posen, Prussia, and his father was...John Marschall, [of course].

Emma Schleicher Marschall, Mother

In 1910, his wife Emma lived with their son John Jr, and his family.  She continued to live on Galveston Island where she passed away in 1927 and is now buried next to her husband in Lakeview Cemetery on the island.  Her last residence was on 31st St near the Strand where the parking lot now is of the Bank of America building [a pity, though, because the nearby homes are Victorian beauties...].  Her parents were Herman and Betty Schleicher of Germany, and Emma was born in New Braunfels, Tx.

John Marschall, Jr. and Josephine Ballou

John, Jr. married Josephine Ballou and was born, lived and died on Galveston Island [he was what we call an "Islander" here]. In 1910, Emma [John's mother] lived with them. They lived in various homes throughout Galveston, and one of the homes [pic on the right] located on 25th St is now an art gallery, Galveston Gallery [not sure of its status after hurricane Ike, though].  John Jr.'s occupations were [in order] farmer [while growing up], fisherman, dairyman, realtor - which actually represents some of the industry trends at the time in this part of Texas.  John and Josephine in 1928 bought land from a Joseph Marshall of San Antonio and immediately mortgaged it plus 26 shares of stock to pay $350 to an Oveta Marshall to get a judgement released against a Joseph Marshall of San Antonio as per a divorce decree.  In 1932 they sold this same land to an Otto Rosin of San Antonio.  John and Josephine had only 1 child, John Raymond, Sr.

Jane Marschall and Otto Rosin

Jane Marschall married an Otto Rosin of Germany, who had been the son of Wilhelm and Caroline Rosin also of Germany.  [Remember the neighboring Rosin farm on the island?...his mother, in my opinion, had a way cool name...]  Otto's 3 youngest siblings were born on Galveston Island - including an Emma Rosin.  Otto's occupations?  Farmer, dairy man, propietor of a house moving business in San Antonio, and was in real estate in San Antonio.  Many Islanders moved from Galveston to "higher ground" after the storm, and at the time San Antonio was experiencing a "boom" and was growing rapidly.  Some of Jane's and Otto's children were born in Galveston and some in San Antonio.  In 1910, Emma Rosin was living with them along with Jane's father John, Sr.  in San Antonio.  Otto and Jane always lived in the area of San Antonio that's south of Interstate-10 and east of Interstate-35 [bottom right corner of San Antonio & near downtown].  And as mentioned before he bought land in San Antonio from John and Josephine in 1932.

Antonetta "Nettie" Marschall and Nicholas Pericles "Pete" Legatos
Nettie [baptized Antonetta] Marschall married, of course, Nicholas Pericles "Pete" Legatos [later changed to Legate].  Pete had been a son of a Greek immigrant and fisherman.  Until Pete's death, they had always lived on Galveston Island and had fished for a living.  After the Storm of 1900, Joseph and Mary lived with them and their family.  Nettie passed away while in Rusk State Hospital [mental insitution] in Cherokee, Texas under mysterious circumstances.


Laura Ellen "Ella" Marschall and Miles Breen; Thomas Cobb
Laura Ellen "Ella" Marschall married a Miles Breen and together with their children lived on the island.  After Miles passed away, Laura Ellen married a Thomas Cobb. [Remember the Cobb farm near the Marschall farm?]  She had 1 son with Thomas.  I found her name as "Ella" on several documents.

Roman/Rolland Marschall

Roman/Rolland Marschall [name found spelled both ways]  died young in 1922 on Galveston Island from a massive heart attack.  In 1910 he'd been the only boarder with a family whose next door neighbors were Breen's.  He's buried in an unmarked grave in Lakeview Cemetery on the island.



Mary Marschall and Harry Esperson
Mary Marschall married a Harry Esperson who'd been a...dairyman and the son of an Aussie & New Yorker.  He and Mary moved to San Antonio and bought a home [but not from Otto or Joseph].  Five months later, Harry died due to complications of Diabetes.  Then 2 months after that Mary became septic from strep throat and passed away childless.  Otto Rosin, her brother-in-law, was the informant on her death certificate.  She and Harry were transferred back to Galveston and were buried there.



...And Joseph?...stay tuned for the rest of the story & secrets...[the end, I promise, is next]

Caroline

Secrets, Part 4 or What's Pete "the Greek Fisherman's" Full Name?

O.K., I haven't taken over the Caroline or Marshall Islands yet [by virtue of their names alone, they should already be mine].  I've been trying to finish this family story of mine, which is taking a lot longer than I thought it would.  You thought so, too?  Be patient...I promise there's an end worth waiting for [at least I hope you think it's worth waiting for].  You have to remember that all this stuff didn't happen overnight, and we certainly aren't going to solve it overnight, either.  [Plus, I'd make your head hurt if I talked about everything in one post...]

So, where were we?  Oh yes, on a farm on Galveston Island in 1900 with a Nettie, Joseph, & Mary Marschall.  [Do you think they could hear the waves while working on their farm?  Just a thought...]  So, were these the same siblings I found in 1910 all in the same household with Nettie's husband, Pete "the Greek Fisherman" Legatos?  At this point, I'm pretty certain they are.  The info given in the 1910 census and the 1900 census for these 3 sibs match exactly [ages, birth, parents' birth, etc.], and there aren't any others living on Galveston Island with the last name Marshall or Marschall with their first names...so I'm leaning towards the fact that these are the same people.  [The true test would be more info...isn't that always the truth?]  Anyway, I mentioned in my last post that they were living with the rest of their family...want to take a guess what their father's name was and where he was born?...You got it!  John Marschall was their father and he was born, according to this census, in Germany.  To make it simpler, here's a quick rundown of this family in the 1900 census:

1.  John Marschall;  Head of Household; born Jun 1857 in Germany; 43yo; married 21 yrs; immigrated 1879; in U.S. 21 yrs; occupation: farmer; and parents born in Germany.
2.  Emma Marschall; wife; born Feb 1857 in Texas; 43yo; married 21 yrs; 7 of 9 children still living; and parents born in Germany.

Children:
3.  John b. Oct 1881 in Tx; 18yo
4.  Jane b. Jul 1884 in Tx; 15yo
5.  Nettie b. Jan 1886 in Tx; 14yo
6.  Saveria E. b.May 1890 in Tx; 10yo
7.  Roman b. Oct 1891 in Tx; 8yo
8.  Joseph b. Jun 1893 in Tx; 7yo
9.  Mare[y?] b. Nov 1895 in Tx 5yo
[and a boarder, William E. Ritz, a schoolteacher - may or may not be related]

This is becoming like a soup that you just keep adding ingredients to...Here are a couple of things that I wanted to point out though - putting aside, for a moment the surname spelling difference...Some food for thought [hey, we're cooking, aren't we?]:  1. This Joseph's birthday is Jun 1893, the same month and one of the target years [1893/95/96] of my grandfather's birth month and year that I'm looking for; 2.  My grandmother indicated on my grandfather's death certificate that his father was John Marshall.  Could it be the same one? [No other John-Joseph relationship can be found in this time period with the surname spelled either way.]  3. This candidate for Mary is spelled Mare, but the birth year and age match the 1910 census, probably could be chalked up to a spelling error; 4. The father's birthplace here in 1900 is Germany - not Poland/Prussia/Texas, which have all been mentioned before for the father of Joseph...so which is it?

I already addressed the 1920 reporting of Texas as the birthplace of Joseph's father.  The listing could be wrong due to clerical error, etc, or this might not be the same Joseph.  As far as the Polish/Prussian/German issue?  Well, I had a  simple & quick look-see at Prussian/Polish/German history [Do you hear me laughing?  I'm laughing because it was neither simple nor quick...Wow! What a history...].  I determined that with the course of history changing due to wars and such, oftentimes immigrants would obviously hear news of what was going on in their homeland and would refer to it in the context of whatever country it was under rule at the time.  In other words, if say , for example, Prussia took over Poland then Poland was given back to the Polish, then immigrants from there would refer to their homeland first as Poland then Prussia then Poland depending on who ruled what, when [I hope that makes sense...]  So, this gives a probable reason for the discrepancy, and if it's true then it might help to pinpoint where John Marschall came from someday [if indeed, he's Joseph's father and this Joseph is my grandfather, of course...]

So, I decided to visit my local genealogical department at Montgomery County Memorial Library in Conroe, Texas.  Not huge, but it's packed with lots of local info.  After looking through all [& I do mean all] the books for Galveston County [O.K., it took me several trips...], I found some "Marschall's" listed in the index of a book entitled, "St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Galveston, Texas, baptismal, confirmation, marriage, and death records : 1860-1952."  Could these be mine, or, at least, the ones I was looking for?  I quickly looked them up and...Bingo!  All the children's births and baptisms were listed as well as witnesses and of course, their parents.  [There weren't any confirmations, marriages, or deaths listed, but, hey I'm not going to be too picky...]  This was indeed the same family.  But was this my family? [...and why does "Catholic" ring a bell...?]

There were some discrepancies [...of course!].  A few names were cleared up:  Saveria E. from the 1900 census was actually Laura Ellen [either transcription or language error] & Mare from the 1900 census was baptized as Mary.  There was an additional child listed, Robert, but remember that Emma, their mother, listed in the 1900 census that only 7 of her 9 children were still living?  This was probably 1 of the 2 that didn't make it. [The other one may not have been baptized before it's death.]  Last, but certainly not least, Joseph's birth was listed as 17 Jun 1890 and his baptism as "Jun...1893".  However, it's highly unlikely that he was born in 1890 because his sister Laura Ellen was born 12 May 1890.  I could be wrong though...[What is it with his birth, anyway?]

I decided to play "What if..." [When puzzled, why not play a game?]  What if...this was the correct family [there were no others that I had found that fit the bill, so to speak...]?  What if...this Joseph Marschall was my grandfather?  If so, what happened to the rest of the family between 1900 and 1910?  Why were Joseph and Mary living with their older sister Nettie...?  Then, it hit me - no pun intended - the Storm of 1900.  You know, the devastating hurricane that hit Galveston Island in 1900 and killed so many?  I quickly "Googled" the storm looking for the exact date...it was 8 Sep 1900.  Then I quickly looked at the date this family was counted in the 1900 census: June 1900.  So, the storm had come after the census was taken for this household...Were Nettie, Joseph, and Mary the only survivors in the family?  I quickly located a list of fatalities and looked for the Marschall name spelled either way, and they weren't listed [just one Harriet Marshall].  Of course, there were only about 6000 of the 8000-12,000 people that actually passed away from the storm on there because they weren't able to find and/or identify them all.  So, they could've passed away and not been recorded at all...I felt sad about the possibilty of this, whether it was "my" family, or not,  because they were someone's family...Did the Storm of 1900 leave Nettie, Joseph, and Mary orphans?...And, were these orphans mine?  [If you're interested, at the bottom of my blog in my book carousel I have featured a book that is about Galveston, Texas; the Storm of 1900; and the reconstruction and fortification of the island...]

Caroline

Secrets, Part 3

Have you ever been to a beach?  Having always lived near the coast of Texas, I sometimes take it for granted.  I love the sand between my toes, the wind blowing in my hair, the sun's warmth on my face, but most of all, I like the sound and sight of the waves as they break upon the beach.  It's a consistent and comforting melody that soothes my soul.  [In fact while we're talking about secrets, my secret fantasy is to have my own island...now that would be cool...maybe I could take over the Caroline Islands or the Marshall Islands...]

Galveston Island, Texas has a unique history.  Some of it's more colorful players in that history include the Karankawa Indians, the explorer Cabeza De Vaca, the pirate Jean Lafitte and his merry bandits [O.K., not so merry, but definitely bandits & no, none of them were "my pirate" - a story for another time] as well as the many immigrants that came through looking for a new home in a new land.  The Port of Galveston ushered in over 133,000 people into the United States.  [If you're ever in the neighborhood, go to the Texas Seaport Museum, a wonderful place that depicts the history of Galveston - my family loved it, and it has a database of all the passenger lists for those who came through Galveston.]  Sometimes I think about what those immigrants saw and felt when they came off that ship. [I'd imagine that a fair share probably kissed the solid ground and were thankful to be off the ship that had carried them here.]  I wonder, though for those who stayed on Galveston Island to make their new home, if they saw the same things that I do when I'm here - that miraculous sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico and that stunning sunset over the bay in the vast Texas sky.  Did they, too, like the sound of the waves and the salty smell of the breeze?

Though my grandfather, Joseph Marshall was born on Galveston Island, Texas 17 Jun 1895/96, he lived most his life in San Antonio, Texas.  In my last post, I explored what I could find out about him on the little bit of info that my dad had shared with me before my dad died.  Here's what I had/found:

1. In addition to his birth date & place, he'd died 29 Jul 1968 in San Antonio, Texas.

2. His father's name was probably John Marshall.

3. He bought/sold/rented/wrecked homes/buildings/land in San Antonio, Texas.

4. Slight chance that he married a woman by the name of Emma Rosin in San Antonio, Texas.

5. He was a WWI vet with a bronze Victory Medal.

6. Was 17-18 years older than my grandma [who was not named Emma - definitely old enough to have had a first marriage, though.]

7. Slight chance he may have been a tree surgeon & possibly involved in landscaping - but not likely - maybe.

8. Was possibly excommunicated from the Catholic Church [just a vague recollection, though].

9.  He was a fisherman or fished at one time in Galveston, Texas...whatever that means.

Lots of "maybe's", "possible's", and "slight chance's," but definitely better than a blank piece of paper [unless, of course, it's all wrong...bite my tongue...]

There was one thing that I'd forgotten to check while we were "in" San Antonio, and that was my grandfather's Social Security Death Index entry.  Luckily, it was pretty easy to find.  I was kind of suprised though to find that his birth year was 1893 - not 1895/96 that had been previously reported.  The lack of any other Joseph Marshall's who died on the same day in San Antonio who was also born in Texas and whose last residence's zip code was my grandmother's zip code as well as the same zip code / quadrant of San Antonio that my grandfather did land transactions in, led me to believe that this was indeed his entry in the SSDI...So, now I have 3 possible birth years...This new one though does coincide with the 1 of 2 Joseph Marshall's found in the 1920 census in San Antonio.  Remember, the tree surgeon married to an Emma, both of the same age?  So, we'll see...

To recap, I wasn't able to find my grandfather in the 1930 census in San Antonio, and as I just mentioned, he may have been the Joseph Marshall married to an Emma, possibly an Emma Rosin [Remember, the marriage record in San Antonio that I found?]  According to that 1920 census of this Joseph and Emma, Joseph was born in Texas as were his parents.  This Emma was born in Texas, while both parents were born in Germany.  So, since I wasn't sure if this was my grandfather or not in 1920 and even though he'd entered the Army in 1918 in San Antonio, I decided to look in the Galveston, Texas census for 1920 anyway.  There were no likely candidates for the position, so to speak.

I then turned to the 1910 census in Galveston, Texas, and there I found a Joseph Marshall.  Well, at least on Ancestry.com.  Heritage Quest and the actual microfilmed copy on both databases have it spelled "Marschall" indicating that the transcriber for the Ancestry.com database might have got it wrong, which happens.  [However, it usually isn't in my favor...]  There were no other Joseph Marshall's on Galveston Island in the correct age range in 1910.  The only closest one was in Fayette County, but I thought it best to go the Galveston route because I didn't have any indication that my grandfather had resided in Fayette County...[a possibility for later maybe, if at all].  This Joseph Marschall was 17yo and the only other "Marschall" in the household was a Mary [15yo].  The head of household was Pete Legatos and his wife was Nettie [24yo].  Joseph and Mary were listed as Pete's brother-in-law and sister-in-law, respectively.  Meaning that they were Nettie's younger siblings.  All three of them had listed their father as being born in Pru-Polish [Prussia] and their mother, Texas. 

Also, remember that vague fishing/fisherman memory that my dad had of my grandfather?  Well, guess what Pete Legatos and Joseph Marschall did for a living?  Yup!  They were fisherman on their "own boat".  Of course, this is an island, and fishing is a big industry here...Do you do jigsaw puzzles?  My family and I do.  You know those irritating pieces that "look" like they fit, but they don't and you want to pound them in and make 'em fit?  Yeah, that's how I felt at this point...

The 2 main discrepancies that are evident between these 2 Joseph Marshall's are the name spelling and the difference in the father's birthplace...Keeping in mind the census is subject to error due to the person giving the info, enumerator errors, and trancription errors [as shown above], I decided to "plug along" with this family for awhile.  [Besides, I didn't have any other likely Joseph Marshall's to follow in the vicinity...]  I also was encouraged by the "finds" in the 1910 census.

Basically, I was left with a lot of questions, but one was bugging me the most.  If [& I do mean if] this was my grandfather and his siblings, where were their parents and any possible other siblings?  In my ignorance, I didn't look any further in the 1910 census for any other "Marschall's".  I assumed that if this Joseph and Mary were - at kind of a young age - living with their older sister and not their parents that something had happened to the parents.  [I now know not to assume anything...]  Instead, I shot back to the 1900 census in Galveston.  Guess who I found living with their family on a farm on the island?...Right!  Nettie, Joseph, and Mary [ages matched the ages in the 1910 census].  Again, here the surname was Marschall, not Marshall.

There were a  few minor discrepancies, but was this my grandfather's family?  Was this my grandfather, Joseph Marshall / Marschall?  [Anyone...?]

Caroline