Fantastic Find and Hat Tip: Jones County Newspaper Archive

In this week's email The Weekly Geologist from the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Assistant Editor Valerie Beaudrault spotlights The Anamosa Library & Learning Center's digitized archive of Jones County, Iowa, newspapers from 1856-2011. As the Library points out, "Jones County is one of the few counties in Iowa to have the entire county's holdings scanned." Best of all, access is free.

[Anamosa Library & Learning Center]

A search in GenealogyBank's database holdings shows only the Anamosa Eureka so there may be more information to be gleaned from this source about my Worden and Webb lines.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Webb

Here are two shots of my maternal grandmother Anna Delilah Webb Slater (1891-1973) and her surviving sisters Luella Pageler (1896-1991), Phoebe Merritt (1898-1965), Mildred Siemsen (1900-1973) and Rose Balleweg (1903-1988). Her youngest sister Elnora Nielsen (1906-1955) died in Canon City, Colorado the year this photo was taken.

[Courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

You can see an earlier photo of all six Webb sisters here.


© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Throwback Thursday: Hartley Boys

My grandfather, George Hartley (1907-1977), is the short blond kid in the middle.  His older half-brother, James "Jim"Denby Hartley (1903-1988), towers over the other boys.  George is flanked by cousins John Monroe Hartley (1909-1967) (at left) and Eugene "Gene" Julian Hartley (1905-1948) (right).  Picture was taken possibly about 1918, based on it looking earlier than the photo below.  Not sure where it was taken, although likely in San Diego.  From my personal collection.

On the days when I wonder why I'm so short, I remember all of my direct ancestors who were fairly short, including my grandfather George Hartley, Jr.  Although only 4 years apart, his older brother James Denby Hartley was consistently much taller than George. I'm assuming Jim's mother, Jane Denby (1879-1903) was either a tall woman or had strong tall genes (I wish I could find a picture of her), while George's mother Minnie Nosler was quite short.

"Burbank 1919". I think this was a visit to George's uncle James Paul Hartley (1894-1969), at far left, who was in the ordnance department in the military.  Jim Denby Hartley at 16 was already taller than his uncle Paul.  Shorties Mary Jane (Tibbetts) Hartley, in the car, Minnie (Nosler) Hartley, middle, and my grandfather George and his sister Mary Esther are in front.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Some Notes on the German Miller Family in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and Marion County, Indiana

My grandfather George Hartley and the line going back to the Miller family.

May Tibbetts Jarvis has provided the only information I have on Mary Martha Miller (1800-1871):

John Hill Messinger..., farmer, mill-wright, soldier in the War of 1812, was born in 1789 near the Monohghela [sic] river, in Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania: died 4 July 1859, aged 70 years, at his home in Jefferson township, Bremer Co., Iowa, a few miles east of Waverly; buried in the old burial ground just south of what is now the village of Denver (Gravestone).  He was the son of Abraham and Catherine Messinger, both of German descent.  His death was instantaneous and was caused by a stroke. He was short in stature, had blue eyes and curly hair of yellow tinge.

He was married twice.  He married first, in Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania, probably some five or six years before his service in the War of 1812. The name of his first wife is not remembered.  They had three sons, viz., John, George and Peter, who, after they had grown to manhood, went to Illinois where they spent the remainder of their lives.  Nothing further is known in regard to them.  The following records deal only with the history of his ten children  by his second marriage.

John Hill Messinger was married secondly, about 1817, in Allegheny Co., Pa., Mary Martha Miller, who was eleven years younger than himself.  She was born 14 Aug. 1900 [1800] in Allegheny Co., Pa.; died 1 June 1871, aged 70 years, 9 mos., 17 days (gravestone), at the home farm in Jefferson township, Bremer Co., Iowa, having survived her husband twelve years; buried beside her husband in the old burial ground south of the village of Denver. This was the first cemetery in the township and is located in the northeast corner of Sec. 25, on the farm which was originally owned by Elias J. Messinger (her son).  it consists of about one half acre of land and was deeded to the township by Elias J. Messinger.  Their graves are marked by gravestones which are now, 1931, in a good state of preservation.

Mrs. Mary Martha (Miller) Messinger was of medium height and had dark hair and dark eyes.  She was twelve years of age when she learned to speak English. She spoke German and "Pennsylvania Dutch". She was daughter of Rudio [Rudie?] and Abigail Miller, both of German descent, who resided in Allegheny Co., Pa., and who had undoubtedly removed there from Forks township, Northampton Co., Pa., where many families of Millers were among the early settlers. It is quite probable that the name of Amos may be found in one of her ancestral lines as she named her eldest son Amos, and her brother John Miller named one of his sons Amos.

(Note: She was a sister of the John Miller who married her busband's sister Catherine Messinger and moved to Franklin township, Marion Co., Indiana, about 1826 and located on lands which he, John Miller, purchased three or four years later.  In 1853 he, the said John Miller, sold his land to William Miller who afterward sold it to Thomas Porteous (See Sulgrove's History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, pp. 519-520. Pub. 1884). 

Catherine Messinger (1827-1862), daughter of Mary Martha Miller and John Hill Messinger.  Like her mother she had dark hair and dark eyes--her father apparently had curly blond hair and blue eyes.  User HermitInTheValley originally shared this on Ancestry on 14 Jan 2009.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Hat Tip: Genealogy's Star Reminds You To Use the National Union Catalog and OCLC WorldCat

I was reminded once again of the importance of using the Library of Congress's National Union Catalog (NUC) and National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) for genealogy research, this time by James Tanner at Genealogy's Star.

Whether researching genealogy, or any other discipline, Tanner observes that most library patrons (in Utah, probably the greatest genealogical record hotbed in the world, no less!) tend to use electronic records almost exclusively, and "ignore the vast resources in the books surrounding them."  Sadly, I'm guilty of this myself.

He makes a great point:

One symptom of this lack of awareness of genealogical resources is the surprise I get from those who attend my classes when I mention the OCLC WorldCat.org online catalog. The WorldCat.org is the world's largest library catalog. This lack of awareness of the WorldCat.org catalog is strange since the FamilySearch.org Catalog now links almost every entry to the WorldCat.org catalog.

If you want to up your genealogy research game, I suggest you check out his post.






© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

I've Been Neglecting My Husband's Side

My father-in-law's pedigree.  He was born in the United States.  Except for his narrow band of Irish/English types, his lineage is largely Polish and German.

My mother-in-law's pedigree.  She came from Germany to the United States in the early 1960's, so all her ancestors are European/German.  Thanks to one of her sisters they actually have a lot of information on the Mayer line, which I copied down during a Thanksgiving visit a few years ago.  Also, the pictures were on a relative's tree on Ancestry, which was an exciting find.

I have been neglecting my husband's side of the family on this blog.

He is not into genealogy (yet), so any information I give him about his family always has to be interesting and short, hopefully under 30 seconds.  Also, except for a small proportion of his ancestors, the vast majority are all in Germany and Poland.  Clearly I've put off dealing with German and Polish records.


© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Rufina Ellen Tomlinson (1863 - 1943)

NIcknamed Fina, this maternal great-grandmother was the daughter of Elizabeth Taylor (1844-1863) and George Marion Tomlinson (1839-1922). She was born in Washington County, Iowa, on January 3, 1863, and died in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 13, 1943, at the age of 80. From all accounts she had a very strong personality.

Fina married Lewis Logan Slater on December 13, 1885, in Severy, Kansas. The couple had four children and my grandfather, Harry Allen Slater, was the second oldest.

We're fortunate to have quite a few pictures of her.

[A young Rufina]

[Fina and Lewis Logan Slater]

[Fina, undated]

[Fina Slater, 1920s]

[Anna (Webb Slater), Dolly, Fina, about 1930]

[Rufina Slater, 1930s]




[Fina, a friend, and her daughter Opal, probably taken about 1938]
 [All photos courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

Fina certainly deserves a more complete profile than this but I've had a very long day so I'm postponing it for a bit longer. Stay tuned.


© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.