Saturday Night Genealogy Fun ~ A Tad Late

I know that's I'm late to the party - and on top of that, I'm going to cheat! Several years ago we did a similar exercise for SNGF and I've mostly copied it here. I did do the extra credit pie chart for this go round.

So, here is our "mission" from Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings:

1) List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places). [Hint - you might use an Ancestral Name List from your software for this.]

2) Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death.

3) For extra credit, go make a "Heritage Pie" chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the chart generator from Kid Zone for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the "Heritage Pie" chart idea.]

4. Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook or google+.

 Here is mine - copied from my original post from August, 2009.

1. James Ritchie ~ born on 4 May 1844 at Blebo Craig, Kemback, Fife, Scotland. He married on 26 Jun 1868 in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. He died on 7 Oct 1891 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ethnicity – Scottish.

2. Jane Swinton ~ born on 13 Aug 1846 in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. She died on 31 Dec 1912 in Strathmiglo, Fife, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish.

3. William Benzie ~ born on 18 Oct 1843 at Oyne, Scotland. He married on 20 Jun 1874 at Inverurie, Scotland. He died on 3 Mar 1922 at Inverurie, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish

4. Hellen Lumsden ~ born in 1849 in Udney, Scotland. She died on 16 Apr 1919 in Inverurie, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish

5. John Ulrick Saurer ~ born on 23 May 1823 in Berne, Switzerland. He died on 24 May 1899 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

6. Caroline Flory ~ born on 20 Mar 1844 in Wayne County, Ohio. She died on 16 May, 1884 in Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

7. Rudolph Graber ~ born on 13 Sep 1853 in Berne, Switzerland. He married on 15 Mar 1881 in Apple Creek, Ohio. He died on 5 Aug 1918 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

8. Emma Zaugg ~ born on 13 Sep 1860 at East Union Twp, Wayne County, Ohio. She died on 7 Sep 1919 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

9. Edwin S Quick ~ born circa 1855 in Maryland. Ethnicity – Unknown.

10. Susie H Hungerford ~ born 09 April 1867 in Prince Frederick, Maryland. She died 02 Jul 1937 in Baltimore, Maryland. Ethnicity – possibly English.

11. William Eickelberg ~ born on 24 Mar 1863 in Mecklenburg Strelitz, Germany. He married on 1 Jan 1884 in Charleston, West Virginia. He died on 11 Dec 1934 in Denver, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

12. Nellie Auflick ~ born on 29 Apr 1864 at Minersville, Ohio. She died on 27 Sep 1940 in Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio and is buried in Denver, Colorado. Ethnicity – English.

13. Henry Evans ~ unknown

14. Alma ~ unknown

15. August Heinrich Nissen ~ born abt 1850 in Schleswig Holstein, Germany. He died 06 Apr 1914, Broomfield, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

16. Anna Elizabeth Parkson born abt 1856 in Ohio, Died 11 May 1900 in Broomfield, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

This was a very interesting exercise! My ethnicity is 25% Scottish, 25% Swiss-German, 18.75% German (or 43.75% Germanic), 12.5% English and 18.75% anybody's guess.

And here is my extra credit pie chart:

This was fun ~ thanks Sheri & Randy!!

Family Events ~ March 14 - 20

March 15th ~ On this day in 1881 in Apple Creek, Ohio my 2x great-grandparents, Rudolph GRABER and Emma ZAUGG were married. I've posted previously about the incredible coincidence of my becoming best friends with the great-granddaughter of the minister who married this couple, Edmund ERB.

March 17th ~ On this day in 1800 in Cape Girardaeu, Missour John ROSS, the 4x great-grandfather of my nieces and nephew, is born.

March 19th ~ On this day in 1852 my 3x great grandparents Jacob ZAUGG and Anna Barbara BARTCHEY are married in Berne, Switzerland. [pretty obviously NOT a wedding picture, but the only one I have of them.]

This day in 1892 is also marked by the death of my 3x great grandfather, Thomas SWINTON in St. Andrews, Scotland. I've previously posted a picture of his gravestone.

March 20th ~ On this day in 1795 in Bern, Switzerland Jacob ZAUGG, father of the above Jacob and my 4x great grandfather is born.

Also on this day in 1844 my 2x great grandmother, Caroline FLORY is born in Wayne County, Ohio .

Do You Play Favorites?

Marian Pierre-Louis over at Marian's Roots & Rambles asks, "So I want to ask you folks - Why do you have favorite ancestors? How did you select them?"  Several other bloggers have picked up on this question including a post from Randy Seaver and one from Ken Spangler.  This question fascinates me so I thought I'd play along.


I do have several "favorites" but I don't have as logical reasons for picking them as the others seem to.  I can't really even seem to explain how it happens.  One of my favorites is Emily Jane "Jennie" SAURER.  I have no pictures of her which makes it even more odd that she's a favorite. I remember my Grandma Ritchie (nee Saurer) telling me about Aunt Jennie - everyone loved Aunt Jennie she said.  This would have been something she heard, because Aunt Jennie died before my Grandma would have been old enough to even remember her.  She did have older siblings however so she might have heard it from them.

I have some china that was Jennies that my Grandmother left to me and I display a cup & saucer in a cabinet.  Oh, it's not very good china - but the story was that her husband, Harv Senff, sent away for it just because she wanted it.  I might need to get the rest of that china out of the attic and just used it for some occasion.

She died very young - only 36 - and they had no children.  I always found it rather sad that this funeral card only has her name as "Mrs Harvey Senff" - with no part of her name even included!  Even her gravestone is somehow just a little bit different than any of the surrounding stones - it always draws me to it when I go to the Apple Creek Cemetery.

Maybe one of the reasons that I've always considered her a favorite is that she is the daughter of Caroline FLORY.  I've written about Caroline before here and here.  I've always thought that her picture looked just a little bit sad.  Oh I know they were always solemn in pictures back then, but her eyes just look sad to me.  While I have a picture of her mother, I have no pictures of Jennie. I would think there was at least a wedding picture taken, but it's not something that's come down in my part of the family.

Family Events ~ March 14 - 20

March 15th ~ On this day in 1881 in Apple Creek, Ohio my 2x great-grandparents, Rudolph GRABER and Emma ZAUGG were married.  I've posted previously about the incredible coincidence of my becoming best friends with the great-granddaughter of the minister who married this couple, Edmund ERB.

March 17th ~ On this day in 1800 in Cape Girardaeu, Missour John ROSS, the 4x great-grandfather of my nieces and nephew, is born.

March 19th ~ On this day in 1852 my 3x great grandparents Jacob ZAUGG and Anna Barbara BARTCHEY are married in Berne, Switzerland.  [pretty obviously NOT a wedding picture, but the only one I have of them.]  This day in 1892 is also marked by the death of my 3x great grandfather, Thomas SWINTON in St. Andrews, Scotland.  I've previously posted a picture of his gravestone.

March 20th ~ On this day in 1795 in Bern, Switzerland Jacob ZAUGG, father of the above Jacob and my 4x great grandfather is born.  Also on this day in 1844 my 2x great grandmother, Caroline FLORY is born in Wayne County, Ohio .

Saturday Night Fun ~ Genealogy Style

Once again Randy Seaver has given us our Saturday Night Genealogy Fun assignment:

• List your 16 great-grandparents in pedigree chart order. List their birth and death years and places.
• Figure out the dominant ethnicity or nationality of each of them.
• Calculate your ancestral ethnicity or nationality by adding them up for the 16 - 6.25% for each (obviously, this is approximate).

I have a couple of holes in my sixteen, but I am going to go ahead and use this list anyway. I only have 2 that are totally unidentified and 1 with rather shaky birth and no death information.

1. James Ritchie ~ born on 4 May 1844 at Blebo Craig, Kemback, Fife, Scotland. He married on 26 Jun 1868 in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. He died on 7 Oct 1891 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ethnicity – Scottish.

2. Jane Swinton ~ born on 13 Aug 1846 in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. She died on 31 Dec 1912 in Strathmiglo, Fife, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish.

3. William Benzie ~ born on 18 Oct 1843 at Oyne, Scotland. He married on 20 Jun 1874 at Inverurie, Scotland. He died on 3 Mar 1922 at Inverurie, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish

4. Hellen Lumsden ~ born in 1849 in Udney, Scotland. She died on 16 Apr 1919 inInverurie, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish

5. John Ulrick Saurer ~ born on 23 May 1823 in Berne, Switzerland. He died on 24 May 1899 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

6. Caroline Flory ~ born on 20 Mar 1844 in Wayne County, Ohio. She died on 16 May, 1884 in Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

7. Rudolph Graber ~ born on 13 Sep 1853 in Berne, Switzerland. He married on 15 Mar 1881 in Apple Creek, Ohio. He died on 5 Aug 1918 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

8. Emma Zaugg ~ born on 13 Sep 1860 at East Union Twp, Wayne County, Ohio. She died on 7 Sep 1919 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

9. Edwin S Quick ~ born circa 1855 in Maryland. Ethnicity – Unknown.

10. Susie H Hungerford ~ born 09 April 1867 in Prince Frederick, Maryland. She died 02 Jul 1937 in Baltimore, Maryland. Ethnicity – possibly English.

11. William Eickelberg ~ born on 24 Mar 1863 in Mecklenburg Strelitz, Germany. He married on 1 Jan 1884 in Charleston, West Virginia. He died on 11 Dec 1934 in Denver, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

12. Nellie Auflick ~ born on 29 Apr 1864 at Minersville, Ohio. She died on 27 Sep 1940 in Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio and is buried in Denver, Colorado. Ethnicity – English.

13. Henry Evans ~ unknown

14. Alma ~ unknown

15. August Heinrich Nissen ~ born abt 1850 in Schleswig Holstein, Germany. He died 06 Apr 1914, Broomfield, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

16. Anna Elizabeth Parkson born abt 1856 in Ohio, Died 11 May 1900 in Broomfield, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

This was a very interesting exercise! My ethnicity is 25% Scottish, 25% Swiss-German & 18.75% German (or 43.75% Germanic), 12.5% English and 18.75% anybody's guess.

It was also interesting for me to note that 8 of my great-great-grandparents where not born in this country, 4 were born in this country to immigrant parents and there is only one that I believe had parents born in this country - Susie H Hungerford*. (and then my 3 with almost no information)

*Of course, I just TODAY found this name and I will admit right now that I do not yet have good documentation for this line. I was just so excited when I saw the death certificate because it sure appears to be the person I am looking for. This is all part of my wild rush to put together pieces of my Baltimore ancestors so I will have a productive trip there at the end of the month.

Thanks Randy for this idea!!

Family Events ~ March 15 - 21

March 15, 1881 ~ My great-great-grandparents, Rudolph GRABER and Emma ZAUGG were married in Apple Creek, Ohio.


March 18, 1900 ~ My great-grandaunt Laura GRABER's husband, Charles RITTENHOUSE was born.


March 19, 1852 ~ My third great-grandparents (parents of Emma) Jacob ZAUGG and Anna BARTCHEY were married in Switzerland.



March 19, 1892 ~ My third great-grandfather, Thomas SWINTON died in St. Andrews Scotland. [mentioned at the very bottom of this stone]



March 20, 1759 ~ My fifth great-grandfather, Jakob ZAUGG was reportedly born in Eggiwill, Switzerland.* [grandfather of Jacob ZAUGG above]



March 20, 1844 ~ My great-great-grandmother, Caroline FLORY was born near Apple Creek, Ohio.




March 21, 1759 ~ My fifth great-grandmother, Anna SCHENK [wife of Jakob] was reportedly born in Langnau, Switzerland.*




March 21, 1913 ~ My grandmother, Lela Mable SAURER was born near Apple Creek, Ohio.





March 21, 1966 ~ My brother-in-law's great-grandfather, the Reverend Enoch Melvin MOUSER died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.



*I have no real verification or good sources for these events but have been "told" by other researchers.

Saturday Night Fun ~ My Number 21

Just having fun reading blogs tonight and see that Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Fun post asks us who is #21 on our Ahnentafel report. Well #21 for me is Caroline Flory, born 20 March 1844 in Wayne County, Ohio; died 16 May 1884. She was my first Random Relative of the Week post back in January. Caroline is buried in Tracey Cemetery in Apple Creek, Ohio. Next to the marker for Caroline and her husband is one for their young son William who died 16 Dec 1881.

9th Edition Smile for the Camera: Who are You?

For the 9th edition of "Smile for the Camera" we are asked to post a photo of one of our "unknowns". Unfortunately, I have more than a couple but the one I have chosen is the one I would most like to know more about.

The photo comes from my paternal grandmother's side of the family, but Grandma Ritchie was never sure about the identity. She also was not sure if the picture was someone on her mother's side or her father's, although she always thought it was from her father's side. I tend to be of that opinion also as on her mother's side, which would be GRABER and ZAUGG, there are many pictures and I have found no resemblance to this man.


My Grandmother was born and lived most of her life in and around Apple Creek, Ohio which is in Wayne County. There is a very strong Swiss-German heritage there. As a matter of fact, my Grandpa used to tease her that she only spoke German until she went to school. Although that is not quite true, both of her parents did grow up in German speaking households.

If this picture is from her father's side the names involved would be SAURER and FLORY. The picture is a tintype in a very ornate wooden case. I don't believe it is a companion to the one of Caroline FLORY posted earlier as the cases are very different and the one of Caroline has not held up well. This picture is cracked but otherwise very clear. [I restored the picture somewhat to "erase" the crack before I posted it here]

I used to think it might be Caroline Flory's husband, John Ulrick SAURER but I'm not so sure. I have large charcoal drawings of a number of ancestors on that side and I can identify the actual picture from which each is done. [see my post here on Caroline Flory]. If this were indeed Caroline's husband I would have thought a similar drawing would exist.

So I now wonder if this is a collateral relative on either the SAURER or FLORY side? I am not at all good at seeing similarities in pictures, but for those of you with that type of eye, here is a picture of John F. SAURER, my Grandma Ritchie's father. He is the son of John U. SAURER and Caroline FLORY.

So, at the end of the day I am still left with the mystery, "Who are you? I REALLY want to know!"

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Jennie [SAURER] SENFF

Jennie E. [SAURER] SENFF
Born July 13, 1875
Died October 31, 1911



Jennie was one of Caroline FLORY SAURER's children. I chose Jennie because of the few stories my Grandma told me about her. Although Jennie died before my Grandma was born, Grandma told me more than once how, "everyone loved Aunt Jennie." Grandma said that Jennie's husband adored her and bought her china "from England." I actually have that china and it's certainly not fine or expensive - but it's a very pretty white and blue flowered pattern and I'm sure that in rural Ohio in the early 1900's it was quite special. Jennie's brother and wife - my great grandparents - still had a hand pump in their kitchen when my father used to visit them as late as the 1940's!

Talk of "Jennie" confused me for a while and I thought she must have been a child I had missed in my research. I always found mentions in the census of "Emily" Saurer when I was researching the family. I even had this card to confirm that name.


It wasn't until I started looking at dates and talking more to my Grandma that I realized that "Emily J" and "Jennie" were the same person. Fortunately, I didn't have to rely on her funeral card which gives nothing of her own name.

I so wish I had a picture of Jennie. I have pictures of her older sister and her brothers, but somehow no picture of her was handed down in my family. Of course the pictures I have of the rest of the family are all, as far as I have been able to establish, taken after 1911. There were no family group pictures or baby pictures. Of course Jennie was not quite 9 when her mother died and I'm guessing that having pictures taken wasn't the first thing on her father's mind as Jennie was not even the youngest of the children that Caroline left behind.

So, in the absence of a picture, I always think of her gravestone when I think of her - small and ornate, pretty and pink while the others around her are plain and gray and severe.

Research work and cleanup

As I noted in my initial post, I want this blog to help keep me on track with my research and cleanup work. As a follow up to yesterday's entry, I've decided to start my database clean up, how else - randomly - with Caroline FLORY SAURER. As I was writing about her last night I opened my database to look for her death date and discovered that is wasn't even entered!

I have this great photo of the gravestone, so I was able to use that, but REALLY I need to get my database in order. So, this week's to-do list includes:

• Pull out [paper] file and review contents
• Add info and sources for anything not recorded
• Make notes of missing info for further research
• Be sure that I have checked my good Ohio sources such as the Hayes Obituary Index
  
• Make sure all children have birth info with source
• Scan mystery tintype of a man that my Grandma thought MIGHT have been from the Saurer side.

Hey, wait ~ mystery photo...I think I know what I need to do with that! Perfect Smile For The Camera, Who Are You? post.

In pursuit of New Year's resolution #5 I will work both forward and back one generation from Caroline in my cleanup this week. It shouldn't take that much in the one generation forward as I believe my great-grandfather was the only one of her 5 children who lived to adulthood to have children of his own. There is that one brother in California to check on though. See, writing this helps straighten out in my mind what I need to do.

There is now one other reason I need to work on cleanup and research. Miriam's fantastic post over at her AnceStories.blog about posting our brickwall ancestors was like a wake up call. I need to be able to clearly identify my problems, in the way she has outlined, before I can expect to either get help or see what my next research opportunity is.

Off to get some work done!

Random Relative of the Week

Caroline Flory Saurer
20 Mar 1844 ~16 May 1884

Well I know it's been less than a week, but I've decided that Sunday would be the best day for my Random Relative post of the week. It's a day where I have more time to reflect and just sort through my pictures. Besides, it's called "RANDOM Relatives" so who knows if the next one will really appear on Sunday!

Caroline FLORY is my gr-gr-grandmother on my father's side. The picture to the left is a large charcoal rendering of a tintype [see picture below.] Fortunately it was at least labeled on the back as "Caroline, mother of John Saurer." This picture intrigued me from the first time I saw it when visiting my Great Aunt Pearl [daughter of John Saurer.] I always thought that Caroline looked sad, or at least wistful.

I picked Caroline for today because she was the cause of one of my first truly thrilling genealogical moments. I had just started to seriously get into research. By "seriously" I mean actually looking for records to back up all the information I had collected over the years from hearing my relatives talk. I had quite a bit of information at this point because I just loved looking at old pictures and, of course, when people show you pictures they tell you about them. My fascination for pictures is really what propelled me into genealogy in the first place. But I digress.

On a trip to Apple Creek, Ohio to visit relatives I decided to run over to the court house in Wooster. Not really knowing what I was doing at this point I was fortunate that the person there was very helpful and pointed me to some indexes which had been published by the local historical society. I happily looked up births for quite some time and made copious notes. I found more children listed for Caroline and John Saurer then I was previously aware they had.

Then I decided to look for marriage records and bingo! There was a listing for John Saurer and Caroline FLORY. I felt so proud of myself ~ an actual new piece of information that no one else in my family had been able to tell me. That, however, wasn't even the thrilling part. This was just the index so I asked the nice lady about the actual record and she showed me where the big ledger-type books were kept. I looked up the record and nearly fell off my chair [really, it was hard to keep from shouting with glee.] The record had some writing next to Caroline's signature which was HER FATHER'S consent to the marriage because she was only 16! So, right there I was able to go back another generation. If that wasn't cool enough, I also found and was able to make copies of her father's will.

WOW! I was totally hooked for life. Of course I soon found out that not every single trip to a courthouse was going to yield up such treasures. I don't mind though. Looking at old records just fascinates me almost as much as looking as old pictures. It's a way of touching history.