Military Monday : Elisha Halley

I just received the Civil War Claim Records on my second great grand uncle. I was hoping to find out how he died in the civil war and where he was buried.

The record from the  War Department from the Adjutant General’s Office states:

“Elisha Halley was enrolled on the 15th day of Aug 1862, at Tipton, in Company C 101st Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, to serve three years. He mustered into service as a Private on the 6th day of September, 1862.”
“On the Muster Roll of Co. “C” of that Regiment, for the months of from muster in to April 30, 1863, he is reported present May and June 63 died June 18/63 at Nashville Tenn. Record of Death Interment reports him -died in Hospital No. 7 Nashville Tenn. June 19th 1863, which date is accepted as correct, of complications of pneumonia and diarrhea.”

The 19 is underlined so did he die on the 18th or 19th?

According to The Declaration For An Original Pension Of A Mother the date of the 18th is listed as his death date as in the Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana, Volume VIII - 1861-1865.


Elisha was only 22 years old.

Elisha was the son of Israel and Sarah Halley. Israel and Sarah had eight children; two girls and six boys. Five of their boys fought in the Civil War, all but one came home.

I have yet to locate where he is buried, he is not buried in Indiana with family members nor could I find him buried in Nashville Tennessee. I was hoping that his place of burial would be on his Civil War records but it is not. There is only a death notice on him in the local paper but it does not give any details, just his name and a death date 18 June 1863.

I received a package from my father today

I received a package from my father today! He was cleaning out my grand mothers' house and found old letters, my grandfathers will, my grandmothers birth certificate, old pictures and obituaries, I will be busy tonight!

Sentimental Sunday: The Cedar Chest

A few years ago, my grandmother called me really excited. She said, “You will never guess what your father just bought me… a cedar chest!” She went on about how beautiful it was, that my dad put it at the foot of her bed and she could not wait to put her winter clothes in it.

When talking to my father later on that night, he said he found the cedar chest at an antique shop and he thought Grand mom would like it. He never thought she would be so ecstatic about a cedar chest. I told him she was filling it up now.

A few months later I went to visit my grandmother (I live in Florida and my grandmother lives in New Jersey) and the first thing she said when I walked into the door was ‘you have to see my cedar chest’. I expected to see something fancy but what I saw was an old beat up cedar chest sitting at the foot of her bed. Laughing, she said, “It is so big you could bury me in it!” Then she opened it to show me how she filled it with all her winter clothes. My grandmother was 92 at this time; however, she sounded like a young girl when she went on and on about how she always wanted a cedar chest and that she was so happy she finally had one.

Now I wanted one. When I returned home to Florida, I spent the following weekend going to antique stores and flea markets to find a cedar chest. I did not find one so I ended up going to a wood furniture store. My husband did not really want a cedar chest at the foot of the bed. He said it would take up too much room and make our bedroom smaller. He knew how much I really wanted one so he said he would buy it for me but I would have to stain it myself. He bought me the cedar chest and all the stuff I needed to stain it. Although it took me several days to sand and stain it, it was beautiful when I was done.

We put the cedar chest at the foot of our bed. My intentions were to put sheets and blankets in there but when I went to do that my husband already had some of his stuff in there. For a person who did not want the chest he sure had it filled up! Now I had a story to tell my grandmother.

In February, my grandmother had fell twice and hurt herself so I flew to NJ as soon as I could. My sister flew in from New York so between the two of us, Grand mom had plenty of help. She had hurt her leg and could hardly walk. She had arthritis in both hands; she could not even hold a coffee cup. Michele and I decided to empty the winter clothes from the cedar chest and put in the clothes that were needed. The cedar chest was close to my grandmother’s bedroom door and was easy to get too in case of a fast change of clothing. 

In April my grandmother fell about four times in two days. Thank God she had her medical alert on and pushed the button for help each time, they call my father first and he goes over to check on her. The last time she fell she told my dad she was ok but the next day she told him her side hurt. My father went to her doctor’s office and they sent a nurse out the next day. The nurse sent her to the hospital. It is a good thing she did Grand mom had four “cracked ribs”. Poor thing! She had to of been in pain. 

I flew to NJ at the end of May because Grand mom kept falling and every time I talked to her she sounded groggy. I needed to make sure she was ok. When I got there things were not good. She was having a hard time getting up and walking even with the walker. She said to me, “Oh Kathy, I don’t know how I ever got this way. Why do I feel so tired?” I said, “Well, Grand mom you never been 94 before.” And she laughed. My sister came from New York to help me. My grandmother got in the habit of sleeping on her couch so my sister and I slept on the floor next to her in case she needed to get up at night. Her hands were getting worse she could not even open them. She needed assistance with everything and I told my father we needed to hire her a personal assistant, my Grandmother said she wanted George Clooney. I stayed for as long as I could. My heart was so torn between my grandmother and my responsibilities back home in Florida. My children are grown and live on their own, I work for my husband and he knows how much I love my grandmother. He always told me to stay as long as I need to and I always have.

On June 24^th my brother called me telling me that Grand mom is not feeling well. She is sleeping all the time and her nurse cannot get her to eat anything. I was on the first available flight the next day, so was my sister. She does not look good. 

We do not know if Grand mom has a kidney infection or is in kidney failure. My father took her to the doctors on wed and the doctor wanted her to go to the hospital, but Grand mom refused to go. So they put a cath in her and sent her home. It takes Michele and me everything we have to sit her up and lay her down.

The following day she said she wanted to go to the hospital. My sister could not pack a bag fast enough. We called 911 and off she went. My grandmother was in the hospital for 9 days. My sister and I practically lived there because we did not want to leave her and she did not want us to go. Each day she was getting worse. The doctors basically told us there was nothing they could do… she was dying of old age, (as she would say 94 years young) and her body was shutting down. The last two days she did not know who we were.

 My grandmother’s wish was to die at home and it took a whole day to get her released from the hospital.  Grand mom was home for about a half an hour and with her family by her side, she passed away. I was holding her hand at the time… she looked so peaceful. 

A few days after the funeral we all gathered at my grandmother’s house and my dad and aunt called me into Grand mom’s room. They said they would like me to have Grand mom’s cedar chest and then he opened one of Grand mom’s dresser drawers. It was filled with pictures… it never was before. He said I could have all of the pictures. I told him thank you but that I felt uncomfortable taking it since we just buried Grand mom and he said he understood. I thought about it for two days. I know how much Grand mom loved that cedar chest. I talked to my husband (he drove down for the services) about it and he said, “Take it before someone else does and who knows what will happen to it. It will make a great storage place for all of your family history stuff and we have the truck now.” So I decided to take it. As I was putting the pictures in the cedar chest I found some neat stuff: a civil war certificate of an honorable discharge on my great great grandfather and a very old picture of my grandfather’s sister that he never met because she died before he was born. I could have been there for hours looking at pictures but I needed to get going because we were leaving the next day and had to pack. The cedar chest was carefully loaded into the back of the truck. I still felt guilty about taking it. It belongs at the foot of my grandmother’s bed.

The cedar chest now sits in my guest bedroom at the food of the bed. My daughter and I looked through the pictures the other day. Some of the pictures are very old and have no names or dates on them so I do not know who they are. There are also newspaper clippings, letters, and 8 mm film. My grandfather took a lot of movies when he was alive (he died in 1979). I plan on getting the film onto DVD’s and make copies for everyone. I did not go through everything yet. It is going to take time. 

It has been almost three weeks since my grandmother died and every once in a while I go to the bedroom door just to look at the cedar chest. It is hard to believe that it is at my house now.

I think I will go look at it again…

My Grand Mother

On July 6th 2010 at the age of 94 my Grand Mother passed away at home with her family by her side. I have written stories about her and her life in previous posts. This post is the hardest one I have ever written.

Christmas Tree Ornaments

My Special Ornaments:

My Grandmother's birthday was on Christmas eve so we always went over to her house for a Christmas eve birthday party, I  was always excited to go because I knew she give us kids a special ornament that night.
My Granny, this is what we called her, G for short, gave me my first Christmas ornament 45 years ago!

 Granny also started the same tradition with her great grandchildren “G.G” as they would call her. Granny, it seemed would always give us an ornament that would reflect something in our lives. They were always unique in their special way, she would always write the year on the bottom of the ornaments or on the box. Every year when I would hang them on my tree I would always look for the year and think, wow- I’ve had this one for a long time.

In 1990 I lost all of my special ornaments in a house fire. It really did not hit me until Christmas time came and I had no special ornaments to hang on my tree, no looking on the bottom to see what year I received it, no hearing my children say “wow, mom you were how old when GG gave you that one?”

Christmas eve came and off to Granny’s house for a birthday party, excited because after Granny opened her birthday gifts she would give us each a little box to open. I would be starting my collection all over again. I remember that year I received a dog ornament, a collie, that was the kind of dog I had at that time and my son received his “Babies 1st Christmas” ornament.

I moved out of state in 1994 and that first Christmas away from my family was hard, no Christmas eve at Granny’s house, but there was a little box that came in the mail that I could not open until Christmas eve.

Granny continued this tradition every year until about 1997 when she fell and broke her hip, she was never the same. Not soon after that she was diagnosed with dementia. My granny passed away in 2001.

I continued my grandmothers tradition with my children, giving them a special ornament on Christmas eve to hang on the tree. When my girls moved out on their own a few years ago, I would put their ornament in their stocking to open on Christmas day.

The other day when I was asking my children what they want for Christmas, my oldest daughter, now 25, said “ I really do not want anything for Christmas, Mom, just my stocking-- you know, my special ornament.”

My Family Traditions:

Thanksgiving

When my children’s father and I divorced, one year I would have the kids for thanksgiving then the next year he would. It was fair but when it was his turn I was sad, one of the consequences of being divorced.

When I met my second husband seven years ago he had the same arrangement with his e-wife. It worked out because one year we had all the kids then the next year we did not. When we did not have the kids we would have a quite thanksgiving at his mother’s house.

Well about four years ago my husband and I decided we would have our thanksgiving the Saturday before. Now all the kids are together and our friends come too! Boy do we have a house full, everyone even brings their dogs.

We cook the main dishes: Smoked turkey, fried turkey and baked ham. While everyone else brings a dish, this way I am not “tied” to the kitchen.

Florida weather is usually kind in November, we start early so we can play volley ball or kick ball, I will hook up the pony to the cart and take the little ones for a ride. Most of the older kids leave at dark to go downtown to the park for light up Ocala while the rest of us will sit around a outside fire, talking, eating pie and drinking coffee.

Our children are in their twenties now and look forward to our annual thanksgiving, their friends will call me weeks before that Saturday and ask me if we are having “our” thanksgiving, that is a good feeling.

Family History Notes: My Fathers Side

My Father’s Mother -Cecelia Jacquinot Halley

My grandmother is 93 years old and was a great help to me. She lives in New Jersey so most of our conversations were by phone. We spent many hours talking about family history; I enjoyed her stories of how she grew up on a Kansas farm. One night asking her questions about her family. She was telling me about the church she was baptized and married in. I went online to research the church and found an article Legend of Greenbush St.Aloysius Church at the bottom of the article was an e-mail address with my grandmother’s maiden name. I wondered if this person was any relation to my grandmother so I send an e-mail explaining who I was and if there was any relation. Well I received an e-mail back from Judy, she is the daughter of Francis, my grandmother’s brother, I have never met her. I e-mailed Judy back telling her I was doing family research for my tree and if she had any information on her father she could give me. Judy wrote back asking for my address telling me she had something to send me. A week later I received a package about two inches thick! My grandmother’s side was already done! This was great she had everything, birth records, marriage records, obituaries, pictures and family stories. The family tree goes back to my 4th great grandfather (1795-1844) who was born and died in France. His Son was born in France and immigrated to the United States around 1856, this is where it all begins. I had no research to do on my father’s mother’s side!

This side of the family tree was done many years ago by another family member and Judy kept it up to date. I was even in the tree!

Judy told me about a book that was written in 1937 by W.W.Graves called THE LEGEND OF GREENBUSH the Story of a Pioneer Country Church. This book is out of publication so she sent me a paper copy. The book is about the history of the church and the priest’s who served the church. In one part of the book it names the early settlers, naming several of my ancestors!

My Fathers Father: William A . Halley

My grandfather died in 1979, I was around 15 years old at the time, and I remember him well. Since my grandfather has no living siblings I relied on my grandmother for his information.

I knew my grandfather was in the Navy, so with my grandmother’s consent I wrote to them. The Navy sent me the names of the Ships he was on and a list of medals and awards he received. He was a Senior Chief Petty Officer and retired from the Navy after serving for 20 years. He was in WWII and the Korean War. During my trip to New Jersey I visited my grandmother. I remembered a picture she had hung on her wall of my grandfather flying a plane. It was a big picture, too big to have it copied, so I took a picture of it with my camera. There also was an oil painting of my father and his sister when they were little; I took a picture of that too. My grandmother told me she still had my grandfathers Navy books and I was welcomed to look at them. The first book I looked in, lying between the pages was an 8x10 photo of my grandfather and his unit. I took a picture of this too. When I returned home the pictures I took with my digital camera came out great.

She could not find my grandfathers obituary so I went to the library and looked it up on microfilm. Later that night at my father’s house he took out his photo album and guess what he had? His father’s obituary in between the pages and he thought he did not have it!

My Great Grandparents - William’s parents, Mary Payne &Theodore Halley

Well my grandmother knew my grandfathers parents names and their children so at least I had a start. When I returned home to Florida, I put the names of my grandfather’s parents on my online tree. I found censes records on them and their children. The earliest census I found them on it listed the parent’s names and one child- the child’s name was not a name my grandmother gave me. When I asked her she did not know of such a name. In a later census this child was not listed but other siblings were - the names matched the names my grandmother gave me. My great grandparents lived and died in Crawford County Kansas so I wrote to the library. The library staff was very helpful they sent me the Tombstone inscriptions. In the inscriptions buried with my great grandparents was their first born daughter that died when she was eight years old. My grandfather never knew his older sister.

Along with the inscriptions they sent me obituaries, marriage and death records.

My 2nd Great Grandparents - Theodore’s parents, Fanny Crail & James Halley

On a1880 United States Federal Censes I found my 2nd great grandfather living in Indiana. On this census it states his birthplace is in Indiana, and that his Father and Mother’s birthplace was in Kentucky. I could not find him on any earlier census; I also searched the U.S. Census in Kentucky hoping to find his parents with no luck. On the 1920 United States Censes he is living in Crawford County Kansas with his wife and children. They were listed in the tombstone inscriptions the library had sent to me so now I knew their birth and death date. Once again Crawford County Library came through and sent me a copy their obituaries. In his obituary it states he was born in Switzerland, Indiana. I contacted Switzerland Indiana and they had no birth records on him, but they had a record of his marriage!

I also learned from his obituary that he had a brother Henry and a sister Lizzie. This is as far as I got on my grandfathers fathers side.

My Grandmother: A Memoir

Cecelia K. Jacquinot

Birth: 30 Dec 1915 Greenbush, Kansas

Parents: Napoleon Justin Jacquinot and Elizabeth George

Marriage: 20 Oct 1936 to William A. Halley, Greenbush, Kansas

Children: Sonya Ann, William Joseph and Joan Francis

William & Cecelia

My parents had nine children, I was number six. My childhood was spent growing up in Greenbush, Kansas farm land. We had a big two story farm house and a field of crops. My father grew corn and wheat, we also had every kind of farm animal you could have. From as far as I can remember I worked in the field, pulling weeds, planting seeds and using the cultivator. I remember my legs hardly reached the petals at night, my legs would hurt so bad I would craw behind the heating stove and fall asleep. My other jobs on the farm were: Raking hay, milk the cows and collect chicken eggs. When I was around 15, I was old enough to heard the cattle. I had a riding horse named Dan and he loved to go back to the barn, he would try to get his bridle off by rubbing it on a tree. Dan did not like two people ridding him; he would buck until one of us fell off.

My father spent his days in the field and my mother did all of the cleaning, cooking and took care of the vegetable garden. Before we had an ice box she would put the churned butter in a bucket and lower it into the well to keep it cool. My older sister Ollie made all of our clothes and tended to my younger sisters. Ollie had her own room; I shared a room with my younger sister Thelma.

We had no electricity back then and no indoor plumbing. We had an outhouse out back, if I had to use it at night time I never went alone. It was too dark even with an oil lamp.

We had two wells with pumps, one by the house and another one by the barn. My mother cooked on a wood stove and for heat we had a wood stove in the dining room, that is the one I would craw behind.

I started school when I was 4. I hated school but my mother made me go, she said she had too much to do and it was the best thing for me. We use to walk a quarter mile to the school no matter what the weather was. I remember being teased, we were the only Catholics and the Protestant’s would call us cat lickers. I remember the Gypsy's would come by in their covered wagons and ask us for donations, we were just kids…what would we have?

We did not have much family time except for Sundays when we all went to church together. Between school and working on the farm all afternoon till evening we were too tired. My sister Ollie said to me years ago when we were remising “It’s a wonder we all survived”.

All the time I lived in Kansas I never seen a tornado but whenever there was a storm Ollie would sprinkle us with holy water. In the winter the snow would get so deep it was hard to open the house doors.

My mother use to keep barrels of sour kraut among other things down in the cellar. I remember one time when my father put an injured pig down there, it was mean and I was afraid to go down there.

As I got older we still had no radio or electricity but we finally got a phone. My brother Cliff would call up central (operator) and ask them to turn on a radio so he could listen, we use to fight because he would not let anyone else listen.

Cliff was a big joker he would always sing…Old King Cole was a very old soul with a buck skin belly and a rubber a—hole!

My father died when I was 19 years old. I saw the whole thing happen. I was milking cows when my father was coming back on the mules (he went to a neighbor’s house to borrow something) he was sitting sideways on one of the mules. Something scared the mules and they started bucking. I could see my father bouncing up and down then I could not see him. I knew something was wrong; I called out to my brother who was in the barn harnessing the horses. We went running to my father he was twisted up in the harnesses. Frank hollered for my mother and she came running. My father was lying in the field still alive but choking on his tobacco. My father was taken to the hospital, he was in bad shape, and his broken ribs were torn from his back bone. He lived for another six days, he was 56 years old. There were no funeral homes then so we had the viewing at our home, in our living room.

Cliff and my other brother Frank took over running the farm, although Frank thought he was the boss.

I met my husband at a dance in Girard at the east side square. In the middle of the east side square was a court house where the dances were held. This was during the depression so this was mostly what we did for entertainment. We would all get together and go downtown…dancing.

At the time he was working for the WPA (working on roads). We were married on October 20th 1936, we did not have much money, we could not afford a church wedding so we got married on the farm. We did not have a honeymoon.

The farm was sold and my mother and younger sisters moved down the road, Bill and I moved to a one room apartment in town. I had my first child, Sonya in August of 1938. When Sonya was little we rented a house on a farm. Neighbors gave us chickens, cows and pigs. There I was milking cows again. We finally bought a car a Model A Roster. Bill raised tomatoes plants in cartons and went around the county selling them.

Bill got a job at Cessna airplane factory in Wichita, Kansas so we moved there. I got a job at the Beach craft airplane factory, I was a riveter. I did not like it but it was a job.

I was pregnant with my second child, your father, William when Bill was drafted to the Navy. I moved back home to Girard to live with my mother. I stayed there for awhile, then shortly after your father was born; Bill wanted me to move to Colorado where his family lived so I did.

Bill decided to make the Navy his career. We traveled a lot. I was pregnant with my third child, Joan when Bill was stationed in Memphis, Tennessee; we lived in a trailer on the base. It was hard being pregnant and living on the base, the bathrooms were at the barricades that were like a mile away,

I was told after your father was born not to have any more children but I took a chance. I went home at one time to visit my mother I was not showing yet and I did not tell her I was expecting. Sonya and your Dad knew but they never said a word. When Joan was born Bill called my mother and told her…she was dumbfounded because she had no idea!

I lived in Virginia for a time when Bill was stationed there. Then Bill was transferred to Navfac (Naval Facilities Engineering Command) in New Jersey. We lived in a rented cottage by the cove; I got a job at Wheaton’s. We did not have a car so I had to walk. I worked at night it was scary. We finally bought a car but I did not know how to drive, the lady who rented the cottage next to us taught me.

Bill was stationed there as an electrical engineer so we had a house built, that was in 1952. Fifty seven years ago! And I still live here; I have had the same phone number too!

Bill passed away in 1979 and Joanie passed away in 2003, I miss them both.

Out of nine of us children there is only me and my younger sister Loretta “Sis” left, she is 86 years old now and I am 94.

I have 12 grand children and 18 great grand children.

Cecelia age 94

Written by Kathleen, Cecelia’s 5th grandchild, as told to by Cecelia
09/01/2009

Family History Notes: My Mothers Side

My Mother’s Side:


Both of my mother’s parents are deceased so I relied on her for information. We got as far as her mother’s parents and their children then we were stuck. One of my grandmother’s sisters was still alive so I wrote to her asking if she would help me with the family tree, hoping she would remember me, I have not seen her for years. She did and she was very helpful. She wrote down everything she knew; her parent’s names and birth dates, even her mother’s maiden name! Her brothers and sisters birth and death dates along with spouses and children. She also wrote stories about her maternal grandfather Mathias (her grandfather on her mother’s side) on where he lived and that he worked for a bottling company and later bought a saloon then lost it during the probation act. This information helped me later in finding more about him.

My Mothers Mother- Katherine VanNess Krohn:

My grandmother died in 2001, so I remember her well. I wish I had started this family tree before she died because I would of have had more information on her father’s side. I sent away for my grandmother’s birth certificate but was disappointed when I received a letter back from the N.J state archives stating they could not find one. I searched online for the funeral home where her service was held. I found their web site and they had an online obituary index. I got lucky! They went back to 2001 and I found her obituary and printed it out!

My Great Grandparents- Katherine’s parents, Theresa Knaus & Alfred E.VanNess

My Great-grandmother lived to be 95 and she passed away when I was 29. I really wish that I started the family tree then…could you imagine the stories she could tell! The New Jersey State Archives had a birth certificate on her and they sent me a copy. I also wrote to the New Brunswick library and they sent me a copy of her obituary. I could not find a marriage certificate.

My Great grandfather passed away in 1965; I was only a year old. From my great aunt Mae I knew when and where he was born and when he died. The only other information I could find on him was US Census and a WWI draft card. This information I found on Ancestry.com.

My 2nd Great Grandparents- Alfred E.’s parents, Katherine Jones& Alfred A.VanNess I could only go back as far as Alfred Abram and his wife Katherine. Their information I received from a letter my great aunt Mae wrote to my mother. I contacted NY but they told me unless I knew the exact town where he died in, they could not help me. They also told me that back then (1902) there may not have been an obituary, just a name in the paper. I did find a 1910 United States Federal census on a Katherine living in NY. I am sure it is her, the birth date matches the information Mae sent my mother. I contacted Long Island, N.Y but I had no luck getting an obituary on her. I also sent away for birth and marriage records with no luck

My 2nd Great Grandparents –Theresa’s parents, Mary Walters & Mathias Knaus

My mother went through her mother’s old stuff and found a mass card on Mary, so the only thing I knew is when she died, 22 December 1942.

From the information my great Aunt sent me I knew Mathias was born in New Brunswick, NJ and was raised there, worked for a bottling company and owned a saloon. My great Aunt told me that most of her family was buried in St. Peters cemetery. I called the cemetery to see if he was buried there only to be told that they were not computerized, that their information were on books and that without a death date it would be impossible to find out. I live in Florida so I decided to plan a trip to NJ. In January 2009, my Mother, Sister and I made a trip to St. Peter’s Cemetery. We were hoping to find Mathias and Mary’s headstone. I had Mary’s death date so I was hoping they were buried together.

When the “keeper of the books” looked Mary up (yes, they were old books, if there ever was a fire all of the records would be lost!) he told me that there were six people listed in the family plot. I was excited! I could not wait for him to tell me the names-- Andrew & Mary, Mathias & Mary and John and his wife, were buried there. He told me that Andrew & Mary were the parents and that John was the brother of Mathias. I was disappointed when he told me that there was no death date written down for Mathias. Trampling through the snow hoping the date would be on the tombstone, I was freezing…I am a Floridian. We finally found the tombstone but I was disappointed again. Only Andrew & Mary were inscribed on it. The ‘Keeper of the Book’s’ told us that it was a double head stone and there should have been names on the other side. There were no names. But on the bright side I now know who his parents were and now I have their birth and death dates!

When I returned home I wrote to the New Brunswick library for Mary’s obituary and they sent it to me. I was looking for a death date for Mathias but all it stated was that she was the wife of the late Mathias so, no luck there. I plugged in the information on Mathias’s parents on my online tree and did a search. Ancestry.com search engine pulled up an article on the Chronicles of New Brunswick New Jersey 1667-1931 and Mathias and his father are mentioned in the article! There was even a picture of Mathias (confirmed by my great Aunt Mae). I also found an article: A Retrospect of the Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist, New Brunswick as a souvenir of the 60th anniversary of the founding fathers 1865-1925. Mathias is mentioned as being in the church parish in October 30, 1910 as an active member. Then there is a picture of him and next to his picture is state’s deceased. The book was published November 8, 1925. Mathias had to of died between 1910 and 1920 because in the 1920 United States censes he is not listed with his family.

My 3rd Great Grandparents - Mathias’s parents, Mary & Andrew Knaus

Ancestry.com also had an index to the New Jersey State Archives wills and inventories along with an index number to Andrew & Mary’s will so I wrote to the New Jersey State Archives with the index number and they sent me a copy of their wills and inventories dated 1896 for Andrew and 1897 for Mary. This was interesting to read and from the wills I learned their other children’s names along with their children’s spouses. There were no obituaries for Andrew or Mary. One night I was searching for the history of New Brunswick when I came across the New Brunswick free public library. The library had an online newspaper search engine. The dates ranged from 1871-1908. I did a search on Mathias and Andrew and I found articles on them! One was from 1896 when Mathias was attacked on his way home in a horse and buggy and the other one was about how a border of Andrew’s died after he fell asleep while smoking a cigar—it caught him on fire! I even found an article on my great grandmother in 1906 when she was hosting a church function.

My Mothers Father John A. Krohn

My Grandfather passed away in 1977, I was 13 at the time yet I remember so little about him. I never met his parents. My mother could not find his obituary so I wrote to the hometown library and they sent it to me. When I read his obituary I was impressed, I learned what he did for a living, he was a soil conservationist and worked for the U.S Department of Agriculture for 38 years. My mother remembers her father telling her that his parents came from Romania. I found them on a 1920 US census but I was confused because they had my grandfather’s name as Albert not John. Everything else was right-his birth date, parent’s names, sibling’s names. I wrote a letter to my uncle asking him about this he wrote back to me explaining what he knew along with an old letter.

Letter from my Uncle Jack- retyped: This letter was written by my Aunt Lib to pop-pop when he was trying to get into the service. He was an experienced aerial (photo) map reader, which they needed. However his family ties in Europe were unknown and as such there was a security risk, even though he was a corporal in the R.O.T.C at Rutgers. Pop-pop was named Albert John at birth but didn’t like being called Albert and he switched the names as early as senior in St. Peter’s high school. Granny told Aunt Joyce the reason and I have senior year things that show John Albert. I have no official papers of a name change.

The copy of the letter he sent was from my Great Aunt Lib, my grandfather’s sister, dated Jan 8, 1942. This letter was full of information, where the family emigrated from and to where, the year my great-grandfather became a United State citizen and names of his brothers and sisters still living in Romania. She also stated that my grandfather was named Albert John at birth. I sent away for my grandfather’s birth certificate and it only states John, no Albert but on his obituary it states John A. After talking this over with family members I used John A. for my family tree.

My Great Grandparents - John A’s parents, Mary Bruck & John Krohn

No one could remember much about my great grandfather. On a 1920 United States Federal Census I found Mary living in New Brunswick. The census stated that she came over from Romania-Hungary in 1905 and was naturalized in 1911. When my Mom was searching Ancestry.com she came across a New York Passenger list from 1905 listing a Johann, Maria and Albert. We knew this had to be them because Maria had a brother named Albert. Johann is John in America and Maria is Mary. They changed their Romanian names to American names. Well I contacted New Brunswick naturalization records and they had nothing on Mary, they told me that back then if a husband was naturalized then the wife was automatically naturalized. They had John’s naturalization records and sent them to me, so now I know exactly where in Romania they were from. On my Great grandfather’s petition for naturalization he has his name written down as John. There is no middle name, both my great aunt’s were listed; my grandfather was not born yet. This was John, Mary & Albert that came over on the ship, the name of the ship and the dates match the naturalization records.

My Mother told me that Mary moved from New Brunswick to State College, P.A., to live with her daughter Mary. I wrote to State College Library and they send me her obituary. In the obituary it stated that “she was married to John, who died in 1914. When I went to New Brunswick in Jan of 2009 I did find their tombstone but I had no luck finding a death notice for John. On the tombstone his name is written as Johann.

My Family History

I wish I knew about blogging a year ago. I could of kept an online journel of my family tree adventure! I know I drove my family nuts! Over the year of my dective work I have found out so much about my family. I just wished I started it years ago!