Update on Website

Today I updated my website, http://www.joanneskelton.com/

I added a timeline chart showing the children of Rachel and John W. Smalley. It helps me to understand the dynamics within a family when I can see who is alive when.

I also added a person page for Mary N. England's husband, John T. Elkins. I included some of the information that I had posted on this blog. So Mary also has information added as well as a photo of her gravestone. I also created a memorial for her on the Find a Grave website.

Some of the information shown on this blog about Dummer Jewett was added to his person page.

I am hoping that this blog and my website can complement each other.

Luman Chase and the Civil War

Luman Chase, my 2nd great-granduncle, was born in Connecticut May 11, 1846. So when the Civil War began in April of 1861, Luman was almost 15 years old. The family was living in Ohio at that time and Luman's older brother, Ralph, enlisted the next year in August 1862. By Luman's 18th birthday in 1864, he was living in Mercer County, Illinois. It is unknown how much Luman knew about his brother's service, but the history of Ralph's unit (23rd Regiment, Ohio Infantry) shows they were involved in the Battles of Cloyd's Mountain in western Virginia on May 9th and New River Bridge and Doublin Depot on May 10th.
It was only a few days later, May 14th, when Luman enlisted as a private in Company E of the 138th Infantry Regiment Illinois. This was one of the groups of the "Hundred Days Men." See the article on Wikipedia about them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days_Men

He was mustered in June 21, 1864 at Camp Wood, Quincy, Illinois. On June 26, they were moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and were on duty there till October. It appears there were no battles fought there but there was concern that the Confederate Army would try to attack so they needed to be ready. Luman was mustered out October 14, 1864 at Springfield, Illinois. On his pension application filed in 1912 in Nuckolls County, Nebraska, Luman stated that he lived in Illinois until 1873 and then moved to Nebraska. That application also stated that he was 5' 8" tall, had light complexion, gray eyes and light hair.

In 1915 Luman and his wife Lucy moved to Deer Park Washington area. Evidently Luman joined the GAR (the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union Veterans organization) in that area. His obituary in 1932 stated that he was the last survivor among the GAR veterans in the area. You can read the entire obituary on my website: http://www.joanneskelton.com/p288.htm

Theodore Falk's Birthday

Granduncle Theodore Falk was born on the 7th of May in 1876 in Pulaski Township, Iowa County, Wisconsin. See his person page on my website which includes a photo of him.
http://www.joanneskelton.com/p87.htm
I find him interesting since he was the nearest in age to my grandfather, Julius Falk.  By the 1900 census Theodore had moved from Wisconsin to Iowa and was living with his brother Conrad. When Conrad and family moved to Salem Oregon  in March 1905, Theodore came with him. A newspaper item in the Daily Capital Journal of Salem stated "they propose to become Oregonians."  It was in October of 1905 when Theodore and his younger brother Julius purchased 280 acres between Halsey and Harrisburg, Oregon. The next year in December Theodore married Jessie Brady.  Julius bought another property in October of 1908 and sold his half of the first property to Theodore in January 1909. I am wondering if Julius did this since Theodore was married and Julius was still single. Theodore and Jessie were on the 1910 census in Halsey Precinct and he was listed as a farmer. Later they moved to the Salem area where they lived until his death in 1930.

Nellie Chase's Birthday

Nellie Grace Chase was born May 5, 1872, in Illinois.

Relationship

Nellie was my 1st cousin 3 times removed as her father, Wells Morgan Chase, was the brother of my 2nd great-grandmother, Lucy Jane Chase. However, I knew her as "Aunt Nellie", since she was married to my great-granduncle William Sherman Smalley.

Memories

Aunt Nellie came out from Nebraska a few times to visit family in Oregon where I lived. I always looked forward to a visit from Aunt Nellie and have fond memories of her. One time she came to visit during the time that the sweet cherries were ripe on our trees and she so enjoyed eating them.

Seth Caldwell's Birthday

My second cousin, Seth Caldwell, was born on May 4, 1911. If he had lived until today he would have been 100 years old. However, he died almost 5 years ago, so only lived to be 95. I'm sorry that I never got to know him. I did some more research on him and found that he was still living with his parents on the 1930 census in Portland, Oregon. By 1938 the Eugene Oregon City Directory shows he was married to Dorothy C and they were living at 1660 E. 23rd Ave. Seth was employed as a wrapper at Williams Bakery. This was repeated in the 1939 directory. In 1940 they had moved to Central Blvd, Floral Hill, RD 2, Box 11. Seth's parents are also in the 1940 directory in Eugene. 1941 shows Seth and Dorothy at the same address and occupation. But in 1942 the address is Central Blvd, Floral Hill, RD 4, and Seth's occupation was listed as whsmn for McDonald Candy Co. Research in the "White Pages" showed that Seth lived at Florence, Oregon from 1996 to 2002. His death was at Florence 19 July 2006. I tried and tried to find an obituary on-line for him and was unsuccessful. So finally telephoned the funeral home in Florence and discovered that they had handled the cremation and there was no obituary.

One reason for wanting the obituary was to verify that his wife's maiden name was Clifford. She died in October of 2006 and also had no obituary. But sometimes the smallest type of item can give us the clue we need. While researching newspapers on-line, I found the following item in the Eugene Register-Guard for June 6, 1939 under City News Notes: "Visit at Albany. Mr. and Mrs. Seth Caldwell and children of Eugene have been visiting at the home of Mrs. Caldwell's parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Clifford, in Albany."

John Elkins and Mary England Wedding Day

Mary England, my 1st cousin 3 times removed, was married on the 2nd of May 1888 in Marion County, Oregon, to John Elkins.  You can read a little about her and see her picture on my website:
http://www.joanneskelton.com/p463.htm
Today I did a little more research about Mary and John and discovered that both of them had been deaf. This was found in the special census for deaf marriages which was online at Ancestry.com. John stated that he was born deaf and attended the deaf school in Salem Oregon beginning in 1870 at age 19 and was there for 6 years. The 1880 census indicates that both John and his younger brother James were deaf. By 1880 John was living with his parents in Polk County, Oregon. Mary stated that she became deaf at age 9 months due to "brain fever." She also attended the deaf school in Salem, beginning in 1875 at age 9 and was there for 7 years. On the 1880 census she was shown as a student at the Deaf Mute School, outside Salem. It was just 3 days ago that I wrote about another cousin who was deaf and found the information about the Oregon school for the deaf.