Wordless Wednesday - DeSmet monument 1961

Clifton White at the DeSmet Monument in 1961. The monument honors Father Jean DeSmet, the first Catholic priest recorded in northern Wyoming. 

Military Monday - 90th Division Teeohs

The 90th Infantry Division was formed August 25, 1917 and began training at Camp Travis, Texas, in preparation for action in the First World War. The Division began sending units to Europe on June 5, 1918. The 90th ID, also known as the Tough 'Ombres, fought in many battles to include St. Mihiel and the Meuse Argonne. They were also an integral part of the occupation forces, occupying Bernkastel-Kues along the Moselle River, and stayed in Germany from the end of the war until May 1919.

90th ID headquarters in Bernkastel-Kues, Germany

To celebrate the culmination of the Division's occupation of the area surrounding the town of Bernkasel-Kues, the 90th Division held a "Circus and County Fair" May 1-2, 1919. The fair included a parade, clowns and acrobats and a "Wild West Show." For the event, the Division created Teeohs, money name after the Division's patch. The script was used by the Soldiers for food and activities at the fair.

I found this great German website that discusses the Circus and County Fair that the Division held here. (I translated the website using Google Translate).

Bernkastel-Kues as it looks today

Shopping Saturday - William Strong's furniture store

This is an advertisement from 1861 for William Strong's furniture store located at 203 Randolph Street in Chicago, Illinois. The establishment later moved to 357 Randolph Street. Mr. Strong was appointed as a ward to his cousins Willa Mena and Celia Butler following a dispute they had with their father over an inheritance. He later married Willa Mena.

Wordless Wednesday - Creed sister reunion

A photo of the Creed sisters and the their extended family. I do not know all the individuals in the photo, but I can say that the 9th person from the left is my great-grandfather, Frank Earl Kuhn. Next is Monnie Creed, and I believe that my great-grandmother Gussie Creed Kuhn is the first lady in a floral dress from the right. This was clearly taken at a family reunion of the sisters.

Hmm...I did the right thing

Ancestry's "Member Connect" is a cool tool. It shows recent activity on other member's trees that is perhaps relevant to your own so you can see what other genealogists are researching. I enjoy Member Connect because I have made a couple of connections to other genealogists as I see them make additions to their trees.

However, there is a time when I do NOT like Member Connect. I suppose it is because it highlights those genealogists that don't share and share alike. I keep my member tree public because I like sharing my finds and I hope to help other genealogists. I have spent a lot of time putting together my tree and finding the sources I insist on having behind every link. A while back I noticed that one Ancestry member had been copying a lot of my items to their tree: photos, sources, etc. Great! I thought, a kindred spirit! I quickly hopped on to check out their tree but found that it was private. I fumed a little bit because although I understand that once I post my items they become "public" and available to anyone, I'm frustrated that other researchers take my items without following up. As another blogger mentioned a while back (I'm sorry I can't remember who at the moment), why wouldn't you contact me? You can't imagine all the cool stuff I have not yet posted to Ancestry.

Then I thought about it and decided that perhaps this individual is keeping their tree private in order to keep their personal stuff private. So I decided to write a message to the individual. I mentioned that I saw their copying of items from my tree and thought it would be great if we could collaborate. I waited quite a long time for a response and when it did come today it was simple: I can't help you.

So then I fumed again. But I thought perhaps they don't want to share because they want to keep their information private...I totally understand that. But in Ancestry you can share your tree to a guest and decide whether or not they can see living people. There really is no excuse not to share. But I digress. I ended up doing the right thing. I sent back a brief message telling them that they could continue to save items from my tree and that I hope they are helpful. So there...I can still share.

Military Monday - 90th Division Association reunion

The 90th Division Association will be holding its 94th Annual Reunion August 2-5 in Fort Worth, Texas. All former Tough 'Ombres and their descendants are welcome. For more information visit the 90th Division Association website.

Happy Father's Day



My father with his dad in 1949

I love this picture. Not only does this two-year old look very much like my own sons, but it also reminds me of a happy time my father shared with his own father. My dad has told me stories about helping his father fix the family car and how his father drove a bus in the Kansas City area. But that is where the stories end. When my dad was eight his parents got a divorce and for all intensive purposes his father was never a part of his life again. In fact, I never met my grandfather until his funeral. What a surreal day that was.

Fast forward to my relationship with my dad. He has always been there for me through the pom-pom parades, choir concerts, and the myriad of totaled cars. My dad has always had an answer for my car or military questions. He was so helpful that when I asked for help changing a tire in high school (fully expecting him to do it) he drove to the school and made me do it myself. I owe my sense of direction to my father forcing me to name street names and directions as we took family drives through downtown Kansas City. I owe the fact that I didn't stick with many a bum to his "cleaning his gun" speech to sketchy boyfriends. Actually, I owe my father a lot. A lot more than could ever be written in one small blog post.

So, lift a beer to the best father and friend a girl could have. Love you, dad.

Follow Friday - FamilySearch wiki

I had a phenomenal genealogy research breakthrough on my Cutler family line, which I originally spoke about here, and I have the FamilySearch wiki to thank for it. This wiki provides a wealth of information on locations, research options and FamilySearch films and resources as well as helpful outside links.

As I mentioned in the original post I wanted to find more information on the religious background of my fourth great-grandfather, James Cutler, in the hopes of locating documentation of his birth. I knew that he came from Norfolk, England, so I conducted a search for that area.

Many links came up, but the one that jumped out at me was the "England, Norfolk, Church of England Bishops’ Transcripts" collection.

The page goes in to great detail about the collection, what is covered and even provides samples of the documents in the records. Note that there is also a link to the records. At the time, this record group was not indexed but I was able to narrow down my search and find not only the birth record of James Cutler, but of all his siblings as well.

I suggest conducting a search in the Wiki for the counties that your family lived in. I have found varying results for the several counties I have searched. Some have quite a few links and a lot of information, others are still in progress. But here is yet another way you can contribute to the genealogy community: you can add information to the Wiki that has helped you, making it a more robust resource. Visit the Contributor Help page to find out how you can add information to the Wiki.

As I have shown here the Wiki is helpful for location and particular document research. Have you used the Wiki? What have you found?

Sesquicentennial of Taps

The song Taps has come to be known as a song of mourning and remembrance for fallen service members, but it has not always been that way. Written during the Civil War the song was originally used to order the troops to "extinguish lights." This year marks the 150th anniversary of the most famous bugle call. For more information on Taps and its history visit the Taps 150 website.

Wordless Wednesday - Margaret and Hazel McGuire