Not So Wordless Wednesday - Kuhns in business

This is a photograph of my great-grandparents, Gussie (Creed) and F.E. Kuhn, in front of their co-located businesses in Pleasant Hill, Missouri. F.E. Kuhn ran an insurance and real estate agency and Mrs. F.E. Kuhn ran a beauty shop.

Pulling Fanny White out of obscurity - Matrilineal Monday

One line of family that I have found countless brick walls, some of which I have climbed and some I'm still running into, is the White family of Roanoke County, Virginia. I have found some records, a census here, a headstone there. But I have had a hard time finding conclusive facts to track this family. The patriarch of this line is Edmund Penn White. He married Sarah McClanahan on October 14, 1820 in Botetourt County, Virginia.

The Roanoke County, Virginia historical marker. Photo by MarmadukePercy from Wikimedia Commons.

I have found record or "mention" of the following children for Edmund and Sarah:

William White, no dates
Francis P. White, 1822-1891
Virginia Lafayette White, 1825-1913

Agnes Lewis White, 1825-1873

Gay White, 1830-

Marcellus Fulton White, 1832-1895

Ann White, 1835-

Watkins Leigh White, 1837-1903

Mary White, no dates

In an effort to find out more about the White family, I decided to find out more about the siblings of my ancestor, Marcellus. Through doing this I came across a written history of Virginia Lafayette White that included all of the siblings names.

A possible photo of Virginia Lafayette White McClanahan.

But Virginia and her sister Agnes were the only sisters I could pull out of the woodwork until yesterday. I decided to look in to Fannie P. White, a sister I was only aware of because of the listing of siblings in the history of Virginia White McClanahan. A search of marriages on the Roanoke County, Virginia GenWeb page lists a marriage for a Francis P. White to Adolphus Huff in 1841. The date seemed to make sense, but I had no idea if it was "my" Francis. So I decided to add the couple to my "test" tree on Ancestry.com. I maintain a test tree on Ancestry used solely to gather information and records for potential relatives, without inadvertently messing up my "real" tree.

I added Francis and Adolphus and quickly found many census records and nine children. One child was named Edmund and one was named Sallie...names that Fanny's parents went by. A good start, but not conclusive. I was able to trace Adolphus through 1900 where I found him living with two sons in St. Louis, Missouri. A terrific stroke of luck because Missouri has a wonderful collection of death certificates on the Missouri Digital Heritage website. If one of the sons died in Missouri I had them...and potentially had a link to Fanny.

The first son I looked for, named Lindsay B. Huff, died in St. Louis in 1940. But his death certificate lists his parents as "unknown." The second son, Warner, died in St. Louis in 1929. I clicked on his death certificate and low and behold...

His mother is listed as Fanny White. So now I have two mentions of Fanny White linked to Adolphus Huff. I later find Adolphus and Fanny Huff buried in East Hill Cemetery in Roanoke County, Virginia. The same cemetery where other members of the White family are buried. It turns out the Fanny died in 1856.

I have three links to a Fanny White: a marriage in the family's home county, mention on a son's death certificate and burial in the family's home county. The age on the headstone matches what makes sense for my Fanny White. Plus, her children include names from her family line and her family immigrated to Missouri like four of the other White siblings. Have I pulled Fanny out of obscurity? While I don't have actual conclusive proof I feel like I have.

(Note: Following this post I learned from a cousin that Fanny White Huff's children are buried in the same plot as Edmund White. Proof enough for me!)

Treasure Chest Thursday - Paseo High School yearbooks

Well once again I am happy for my Ancestry.com subscription. They have recently added more yearbooks to their U.S. School Yearbooks collection and I was able to find the following from my father's yearbooks:

The young pup at the far right is my papa, Warren Kuhn. These are the Army Junior ROTC officers from Paseo High School, Kansas City, Missouri in 1964. My father was listed as the Range and Ordnance NCO. Just a few years later he was living in Germany guarding real ordnance.

Luckily, the high school yearbooks for the years I was in school are not online...that would make me old, wouldn't it?

Follow Friday - Great Missouri Treasure Hunt

It should come as no surprise that I love the state of Missouri...being a 6th generation Missourian. I just came across a contest sponsored by the office of the secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, called The Great Missouri Treasure Hunt. The intent is to entice Missourians to utilize the State Archives and other research repositories to find treasures for their families, as well as share the stories behind treasures they already own. I'm already thinking of what treasure to enter!

Welcome to The Great Missouri Treasure Hunt from mosecofstate on Vimeo.

Thanks to Desperately Seeking Surnames for bringing this to my attention!

Follow Friday - Missouri Digital Heritage

I do not keep it a secret that I hail from the best state in the union: Missouri. It is a wonderful state for so many reasons, but today I highlight the wonders of Missouri genealogy research. A website that has been crucial in the research of my Missouri ancestors is Missouri Digital Heritage, a collaborative initiative led by the Missouri Secretary of State to expand the amount of online information regarding the history of Missouri.

The site has often been lauded in Family Tree Magazine's Top 100 websites and for good reason. It is most often referenced for it's database of Missouri death certificates from 1910-1960, but there are so many other great resources on the site that it is hard to choose some to highlight. I have found many a veteran ancestor in their Missouri Soldier’s Database: War of 1812 - WWI and the site currently explores the history of Missouri in the Civil War with links to collections, research guides and lesson plans. I also found an interesting link to the process behind preserving the Dred Scott papers, a good read for anyone interested in preserving documents.

There are legal documents, maps, newspapers, naturalization records...the list goes on and on. If you have ancestors that even stepped in Missouri at some point, I would hazard a guess that you could find them at the Missouri Digital History site. In short, it's good to be from Missouri.

Mildred and Ruth Burnett - Wordless Wednesday

"5 weeks old (July 1917); 3610 Prospect, Kansas City, Missouri"

This photo is of Ruth Butler Burnett and her first child Mildred Burnett. I love the "newness" of this photo. The new family, new baby, new neighborhood. Unfortunately, the beautiful houses are now run down and dilapidated; I love that this photo shows their glory days.