Using Newspapers to Check a Family Story

     A number of years ago my Dad, Lester Albertson, told me that his Smalley grandparents had come from Kansas to Halsey, Oregon, for a visit in about 1917 because his grandmother was going to a national DAR convention in Portland. I doubted that it was completely correct because I had no record that she had belonged to the DAR. However, her obituary did say that she was a member of the WRC, Women's Relief Corp, which is a women's group of the GAR, Civil War Veterans. Also my father was born in October 1907, so would have been only 9 or 10 in 1917 and maybe would not remember the date correctly. The Smalleys were my great-grandparents, so I wanted to know if my father's memory was accurate. I believed that newspaper research could help me answer this question.

    First I checked to find if there was any type of national convention in Portland for the Civil War Veterans organizations since I knew she had belonged to one of these. Using the University of Oregon website, Historic Oregon Newspapers, I did find some articles in The Oregon Daily Journal from Portland in 1918. On May 10th it reported that the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) was planning for a national encampment in Portland that summer. There were women on the committee from the WRC, Ladies of the GAR and Daughters of Union Veterans. By August 9th the paper reported that there was entertainment planned for the delegates at the encampment to be held August 19th - 24th. Then on August 15th they wrote that 15,000 were expected to attend. There were large articles about the event on the front page on August 19th. One featured the WRC, stating their membership was 165,000 and they expected 500 or more of their members to attend the convention.

    Recently a newspaper from the town of Halsey, The Halsey Enterprise, came online at the U of O website, Historic Oregon Newspapers. It included papers from 1917 to 1920. So I could check for 1918. I searched for the name Albertson for a Halsey paper and found an article on August 29, 1918 which stated: "J. N. Elliott and family, who expected to start for Kansas Tuesday of last week, were delayed a day the arrival of relatives from the east - Mrs. E's parents, who are guests in the Albertson home." Mrs. Elliott was my grandmother's sister.

     Then I decided to check the subscription site, Newspapers.com, which has some newspapers for Goodland, Kansas. It was there I found the following article on August 15, 1918 in the Goodland Republic: "Mr. and Mrs. L. F. Smalley and Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Errington, of our county, departed Wednesday, for Portland, Oregon, to attend the National Encampment of the G.A.R.  Mr. and Mrs. Smalley will visit their two daughters, Mrs. O. J. Albertson and Mrs. J. N. Elliott, of Halsey, Oregon, before returning. They will be gone about two weeks."

     So by using three different newspapers, I can conclude that my father's grandparents did come to Oregon in 1918 to a national convention in Portland and visit family. Even if the convention was for the GAR, not DAR, and if was in 1918 rather than 1917, my father's story gave me the clues to discover an interesting
family event. 

Branching Out – Connections to Cottage Grove – Part 1

I want to use February to write about some genealogical connections I have found to the town where I now live, which is Cottage Grove, Oregon.

If Cottage Grove is the town where I now live, where did I live before? I was born over 80 years ago in Eugene, Oregon. But that was the location of the hospital not my home. My growing-up years were spent on a farm about halfway between the small incorporated city of Halsey, Oregon and the smaller unincorporated town of Shedd.

Although our address and phone indicated we lived at Halsey, the farm was on the north side of the road, so our voting precinct was Shedd. Therefore you will find me listed in Shedd on the 1940 census. After graduating from Halsey High School, I attended Northwest Christian College in Eugene. It was after college that I moved to Cottage Grove, now just a little over 60 years ago.

Did I have any connections to Cottage Grove before I moved here? The answer is yes. We lived on a rented farm. My grandparents had rented it in the fall of 1914 and after they retired, my parents continued to live there. The owner was Eugene Stockwell. He was the grandson of one of the Cottage Grove area donation land claim settlers, Ira Hawley. Apparently Ira purchased farms for several of his grandchildren. Eugene’s sister, Lena, also was given a farm in the Halsey area. Although I wasn’t actually related to the Hawley family of Cottage Grove, I did have a connection through the farm where I grew up.

It was a few years after I moved to Cottage Grove, August 27th of 1964, when the Cottage Grove Sentinel published an item with the headline, “50 Years on Farm Occasion for Fete.” It began by stating that Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Stockwell and others had spent a few days in Cottage Grove visiting his sister, Mrs. Frank McFarland of Cottage Grove. Then it continued, “During their stay here Mr. Stockwell entertained with a dinner at the Eugene Hotel for the Lester Albertsons of Halsey.” It was to celebrate the 50th year of renting his farm. Lester Albertson was my father and I was one of the 28 people who attended that dinner. 

52 Ancestors 2020 – 19 – Service – Gideon Hockett

I found Gideon Hockett in the database at Ancestry.com: U.S., Register of Civil, Military, and Naval Service, 1863-1959. Since this included the word “Service” and his birthday was during this week, I decided that he would fit in this category.

His Civil Service took place in Sherman County, Kansas, as postmaster for LaBlanche. This 1897 map found on the Library of Congress website indicates where LaBlanche was located.

Gideon was my great-granduncle, an older brother of my great-grandmother, Mary Magdalene (Hockett) Albertson. Gideon was the son of Francis and Rebecca (Hartley) Hockett.

His parents moved from Randolph County, Indiana, in 1838 to Salem area in Henry County, Iowa Territory. It was there that Gideon was born on 6 May 1841. So he was a little boy when Iowa attained statehood in 1846, It was a few years later when the family moved to the neighboring county, Lee County, Iowa, and Gideon was included with them in the 1850 census as a 9 year old boy who had attended school within that year. I have searched, but been unable to find their family in the 1860 census, but he is on the 1856 Iowa State census, indexed by Ancestry as Gedicon Hocket, age 15.

It was in 1863 when Gideon moved with his family to Hardin County, Iowa. He and Mary Harris were married  in Hardin County and by the 1870 census the family was living in Liberty Township, Marshall County, Iowa, with their 4 children: Virgil, Mary, Gideon and Francis. Again Ancestry was creative in their indexing as he was listed as Gedeon. But on the 1880 census the family had moved back to Grant Township in Hardin County and by now there are 5 more children: James, Dorah, Tula, Julia and Anna, making a total of 9. The 1880 census included an agricultural schedule and Gideon was listed as owner of 80 acres tilled ground, 14 acres of permanent meadows or pasture and 41 acres unimproved ground. Some of his crops that year included 10 tons of hay, 800 bushels of Indian corn, 400 bushels oats, 275 bushels of wheat, 40 bushels of Irish potatoes and 150 gallons of molasses made from sorghum. He had 2 horses, 3 milch cows, 3 calves, 3 swine and 10 poultry plus a 1 acre apple orchard.

“Gidson Hockett” was enumerated on the 1885 Iowa state census, still in Grant Township in Hardin County. There is 1 more child, Charles, so it makes a total of 10 children in their family. Their oldest child and the 3 youngest were born in Hardin County and the others born in Marshall County. This census shows his location as Township 86, Range 21, Section 1, the Southwest ¼.

But the family chose to move again and Gideon and family went to Sherman County Kansas where he settled a homestead claim of 160 acres. His patent was issued on 20 Jul 1892 for the southeast ¼ of section 7, Township 10 South, Range 41 West.  This was about a mile west of his brother-in-law, my great-grandfather, Nathan E. Albertson.

Using the Library of Congress website for historic newspapers, I could read about Gideon in the Goodland Republic. Goodland was the county seat for Sherman County. Most of the items about Gideon were in the LaBlanche section. If you look for LaBlanche on a modern road map, you will be disappointed because it is no longer shown. There was a post office there from 1886 to 1901. It was in this last part of its existence that Gideon had his “civil service.” He was appointed in February of 1901 and the post office was discontinued in September of the same year so he served a little over 6 months. A newspaper article of 15 Mar 1901 gives the following information:

“It is understood that Gideon Hockett will be postmaster at LaBlache. In that case the postoffice will be located about six miles southwest of the present location, the present postmaster, Charles Olson, having sold the building and claim to Jake Horton, who will occupy the same as soon as vacated.”

I was able to find a copy of a 1887 atlas on the David Rumsey Map Collection which showed LaBlanche. It was in the northwest ¼ of the northwest ¼ of Section 35, Township 9 South, Range 41 West. Mapping it against Gideon's homestead you can see that they were about 6 miles apart.

I really enjoyed the notice in the newspaper on 11 Aug 1905 where they reported that Gideon was in Goodland with a wagon load of turnips, onions and other garden produce.

I was sad to read the obituary for Gideon's wife in May 1916. It stated that for 8 years she had been a patient, helpless invalid. But it also said that she had been carefully attended by her faithful husband. This is the kind of service we can admire. Gideon lived another 8 years and died 16 July 1924 at the county farm. Both Mary and Gideon were buried at Kanorado Cemetery in Sherman County.

52 Ancestors 2020 – 16 – Air – Hannah (Albertson) Nixon

I must admit that this theme of Air had me baffled. So I chose an aunt “out of thin air.”

My 6^th great-grandaunt was Hannah (Albertson) Nixon. I had very minimal information about her on my website, her name, date and place of birth and her parents' names. She was born the 15^th day of the 2^nd month in 1719, which was before the calendar change so would be the 15^th of April. She was born in far northeastern North Carolina in the area that became Perquimans County, to Quaker parents, Nathaniel and Abigail (Nicholson) Albertson.

Since I had not entered a death date for her, I decided to check her father's will from December 1751 to see if she was living at that time. Her father did name her in the will as Hannah Albertson, so she was apparently unmarried at that time, even though she would have been 32 years old.

I enjoyed working on transcribing her father's will. It appears that 6 of the 8 children born to Nathaniel and Abigail were still living when he made his will, 3 sons and 3 daughters. Hannah was named more than once. She was to have the use of the “non Dwelling House” as long as she remained unmarried. Then she was to share with her brother Joshua a Negrow Girl named Rose and “her Increase” to be equally Divided between them. However if Hannah had no children her half was to go to her brother. Hannah had one more Item in the will: one third part of all his sheep, one Feather bed & furniture and one Chest. Nathaniel stated in his will that he was very sick and he was right because it was at the January Court in 1752 when his will was probated.

It was on March 10^th of the next year, 1753, that Hannah and John Nixon were married. John was about 10 years older than Hannah and he had been married 4 times previously. Each one of those women had died within a few years after their last child was born. Thus Hannah became stepmother for at least 5 children, from age 20 down to 2: Elizabeth, Miriam, Zachariah, John Junior and Ezra. Then Hannah had 5 children of her own with John: Mary, Lydia, Abigail, Frederick and Dorothy. But in this case, it was John who died a few years after the last child was born as he died 18 Jan 1762.

Again I found myself transcribing a will from the 1700s, this time for John Nixon, Hannah's husband. John did name Hannah in his will. He gave his son Ezra one half of the Plantation where he lived and then stated “my will & Intent is that my welbeloved wife Hannah Nixon shall have the use & benefit of sd part During her natural life or pleasure to reside thereon in this life.” John noted that this half of his property was adjoining his brother Phineas Nixon. After he makes more specific bequests to some of his children he concluded that his well beloved wife Hannah Nixon was to have all the rest of his personal estate and was to be one of the executors of his will.

Because Hannah had been willed one half a Negrow girl by her father, this caused her a problem at her Quaker church in the mid-1770s. North Carolina law prohibited freeing slaves, but the North Carolina Quaker Yearly Meeting had declared in 1775 that friends were prohibited from buying and selling Negroes. Apparently Joshua and Hannah did sell their “Negrow.” Both Joshua and Hannah are mentioned in the Quaker meeting minutes in 1777 regarding this transgression. Joshua was disowned, but the women's minutes from Pasquotank show the following about Hannah. “it appeared to them that it was hardly in her power to get her half of the negro back again & that she appeared to be very sorry for what she had done.” Therefore Hannah did remain within her Quaker congregation. The 1790 census for Perquimans County, North Carolina, does include an entry for Hannah Nixon. The household contained 3 females and 2 slaves.

Hannah's death was reported in the Quaker records, 16 Feb 1793. This means that she lived as a widow for 31 years and died at age 73, 2 months short of her 74^th birthday. It also means I had another will to transcribe. It was dated 29^th of 1^st month 1793 (29 Jan 1793). She named 3 heirs: daughters Abigail Nixon and Dorothy Nixon and grand-daughter Sarah Robinson. From the Quaker records her son Frederick had been disowned for some activity during the Revolutionary War. Her daughter Lydia had died in 1767 and her daughter Mary, who had married Rowland Robinson, died in May 1774, about a month after Sarah was born. So the 3 named, seem to be all of her female heirs at that time.

For someone I picked out of thin air, there were a number of very interesting items I discovered while researching “Aunt Hannah,” so I'm glad I picked her.

52 Ancestors 2020 – 13 – Nearly Forgotten – Ezra Albertson

When I checked the listing of names for this week to find someone who was “Nearly Forgotten,” I chose Ezra Albertson, because I had basically forgotten about him. Ezra died as a young teenager, so there are no descendants to honor him.

Still he was my 2^nd great-granduncle and I expect my 2^nd great grandfather, Benjamin Albertson, would remember his little brother. Benjamin was born in January of 1826 while the family still lived in Perquimans County, North Carolina. Naturally he was with them when they moved to Indiana in 1832 and were charter members at Walnut Ridge Monthly Meeting in Hancock County in 1836. Benjamin would have been 15 years old when Ezra was born 30 Mar 1841 there in Hancock County, Indiana. Ezra would have been 6 years old when his oldest brother Benjamin was married to Sabina Marsh 25 Nov 1847.

And surely Ezra's parents, Nathan and Phariby (Nicholson) Albertson, would remember their child. He was listed as being with them as the family moved from Hancock County to Hamilton County, Indiana in mid 1850. Since they were in the process of moving, this may explain why I have not been able to locate them in the 1850 census.

The Westfield Monthly Meeting in Hamilton County mentions Ezra twice. In 1850 he was included with the family received at Westfield from the Walnut Creek Monthly Meeting. Then these Quaker death records show that Ezra H. Albertson died 15 Nov 1854 at age 13 years, 7 months and 16 days old.

It was the next spring, 1 May 1855, when Nathan & Phariby requested a certificate to move to Iowa. By the fall of 1855 Nathan had purchased property in Hardin County Iowa and the family moved there. I have discovered that often in my family after a child dies, the family moves to a new location. Maybe this is to escape the sad memories. Hopefully that child will never be totally forgotten.

Ezra's brother Alpheus, who was just 10 years older than him, did remember Ezra in a positive way. He named his only son, Ezra A. Albertson, when he was born in Iowa in 1866. I hope Alpheus told his son Ezra about his uncle Ezra so he would not be forgotten for many years, since this second Ezra lived to age 71.

52 Ancestors 2020 – 7 – Favorite Discovery – Deborah (Hockett) Blair

I wasn't sure how this topic would work for this great-grandaunt of mine, Deborah (Hockett) Blair, an older sister of my Great-grandmother Mary Magdalene (Hockett) Albertson. They were daughters of Francis and Rebecca (Hartley) Hockett. They had 9 other brothers and sisters. I had a bare minimum about Deborah on my genealogy website – joanne skelton.com. It does show Deborah was born 18 Feb 1849 in Henry County, Iowa. She married Albert Dillon about 1868 and they had two children: Ella Kay and Allie May. After Albert died she married Joseph Blair and they had four children: Lawrence Edwin, Henrietta M, Howard and Gale E. She was listed as surviving in her sister Lydia's obituary in Nov 1922.

But when I began researching to discover what more I could learn about her, I did make 3 interesting discoveries.

First was her death certificate which was listed as a source for her death at familysearch Family Tree. I was glad to find documentation for her death, which was 12 June 1925 in Hardin County, Iowa. But I was surprised at the maiden name given for Deborah's mother. It shows her maiden name as Rebecca Larr. It was Rebecca's mother who probably had the maiden name Larr. So this does give me evidence that the Larr name is in the family.

Secondly I found her Find a Grave entry as Deborah Ann Hockett Blair. It shows that she was buried in Honey Creek Cemetery in New Providence, Hardin County, Iowa. There are links to her parents, 8 of her siblings, her first husband and 6 children.

The third discovery is a mystery. Looking at the familysearch Family Tree it showed one more child than I had already entered on my website, Archie Artell Blair. I am not convinced that he is a child of Deborah. His birthdate is shown as 29 Mar 1899. Since Deborah was born in 1849 she would have been 50 years old, which would be possible but not probable. There was a nine year gap from the previous known child. In the information about Archie or Artell, there is a document showing his mother as Deborah, but there is another which shows Etta. Deborah had a daughter Henrietta aka Etta who was born in Oct 1878, so would have been old enough to be his mother.

I decided to check for Archie on the census of 1900 and try to find who he was living with as a baby. I have not yet found him. Deborah was living in Hardin County, Iowa with her husband Joseph and their two sons, Edwin and Gale. The census taker marked that she had had 4 children, 3 living. The Dillon girls seem to be left out but it does account for the Blair children I have on my website. Henrietta was also living in Hardin County in the household of Seth Hammer, marked as a servant and single. But it does list her as having 1 child, who was living.

Since the 1910 census also asks the question about number of children and number living, I checked both Deborah and Henrietta in 1910. Deborah and Joseph and their son Gale were living with Edwin in neighboring Marshall County, Iowa. There her number

of children is 6, with 5 living. So this matches what I have entered on my website, including both Dillon and Blair children. But what about Henrietta? She was married in Marshall County in 1902 to John Mohler as Etta Blair. She and John are in the 1910 census back in Hardin County with a baby daughter Garnet age 9/12. On the number of children question the census taker wrote down 2, with 2 living. So again I searched for Archie or Artell in the 1910 census. I looked for anyone named Blair, born in 1899 plus/minus 5 years, first in Hardin County, Iowa and then in Marshall County. He does not show up in either of those searches.

He does appear on the 1920 census in the household of John and Etta in Hardin County, as Artell Blair, along with 3 Mohler children and Deborah. With John as the head of household, Deborah is marked as mother-in-law and Artell as brother-in-law. So I still have not solved the mystery. Is there anyone who has further information?

52 Ancestors 2019 – 6 – Surprise – Mary Victoria (Smalley) Morey Albertson

When I looked over the “aunts and uncles birthdays” for this week I wondered how I could choose one of them to fit the theme surprise. I decided that Mary Victoria was the closest I could find that might have had an element of surprise.

She was the older sister of my great-grandfather “Lafe” Smalley, the first child of John Wilson and Rachel Ann (Hemphill) Smalley. Mary Victoria was born 5 Feb 1857 in Adams County, Ohio. I have wondered if her middle name was in honor of the Queen of England. Victoria had been the queen for about 20 years when Mary was born.

Mary Victoria would have been 4 ½ years old when her father enlisted to fight for the Union in the Civil War in the fall of 1861. But near her 5^th birthday it appears John may have come home since he was listed as AWOL from February 1862 until August 1863. However he had to go back and be placed in confinement for awhile, until was finally mustered out in October 1864.

When Mary was about 10 years old the family moved north to Clinton County, Ohio, then when she was about 15 years old they moved west into the western part of Illinois.

She was just 20 years old when she married Myron Curtis Morey on 25 Feb 1877. In about 1878 the newlyweds moved to Nebraska, then it was probably in 1889 they moved again, this time to Sherman County Kansas, with the 6 older children: Oscar, Anna, Dennis, Dessie, Herman and Milton. One more child was born, Jay, in 1893.

The family had gains and losses during the next 10 years. Their son Herman died at the end of 1897 and Mary's husband the next May. The patent for their homestead near Edson in Sherman County was issued to Mary as Myron's widow in 1899. It was

26 Jan 1902 when Mary was remarried to a widower who lived nearby, Nathan Elias Albertson.

It was this marriage which caused what might have been a surprise. Nathan had 5 children from his previous marriage, so Mary was now a step-mother. When one of her step-sons, Oran Jesse Albertson, was married in 1906 it was to Lucie Rachel Smalley. Lucie was the daughter of Mary Victoria's brother, so Lucie was a niece and step-daughter-in-law at the same time. Then when Oran's family moved to Oregon in 1911 how did Mary sign her letters to them: grandma or aunt?

Mary died 15 Apr 1916 near Edson in Sherman County and was buried in the Goodland Cemetery using the name Mary V Morey, on a double stone with her first husband. Her obituary claimed: The funeral, which was held in the Christian church, was said by old settlers to have been one of the largest, if not the largest, ever held in the city.  

52 Ancestors 2019 – 5 – At the Library – William Marsh

When I was beginning my genealogy research over 30 years ago I learned that almost one-fourth of my ancestry came from Quakers as my paternal grandfather was born into a Quaker family. My second cousin shared with me his findings about our Quaker ancestors. The local genealogical society library (Cottage Grove, Oregon) had books with Quaker information, so I used them to compare to my cousin's research. The local genealogical library had the 6 volume set of books: Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy by William Wade Hinshaw. Later I learned that Mr. Hinshaw was a distant cousin of mine.

On the aunts and uncles birthday calendar for this week, I found my 2^nd gt-grandmother, Sabina (Marsh) Albertson's brother. William Marsh was born either on 25 January 1816 from Ohio records or 1 February 1817 from Indiana records. His parents were Elias and Edith (Townsend) Marsh. This was in Columbiana County, Ohio, apparently in the part of Columbiana County which later became Carrol County, since records in Indiana show the latter as his birthplace.

I was able to find the Marsh family in Volume IV, Ohio, of the Hinshaw books. The books are arranged by the local meetings and Elias and Edith were reported married at the New Garden Monthly Meeting located in Columbiana County on the 17^th day of the 7^th month in 1810. Then in 1822 they and their children, including Willliam, were granted a certificate to transfer to the Sandy Spring Meeting, which was also in Columbiana County. The Sandy Spring records show the birthdates of Elias and Edith and their 8 children, including William. This record shows the January 1816 date.

It was a dozen years later, 1834, when Elias's family moved to Indiana. My local library at that time did not have the Indiana records, as Hinshaw's books do not include Indiana. However, there was a set of 7 books of Indiana Quaker records edited by Willard Heiss. The genealogy society in Eugene (about 20 miles from me) did have these books in their library, so I took a trip there.

The Elias Marsh family were granted a certificate to Duck Creek Monthly Meeting in Henry County. Indiana. They were probably among the members who were included at Walnut Ridge Monthly Meeting of Rush County, when it was set off from Duck Creek in 1836. Elias' family is named with birthdates in the Walnut Ridge minutes. It is there that the February 1817 date is used.

I found it interesting that the only birthdates which differed between the two listings are my 2^nd gt-grandmother Sabina and this uncle William. But it also made me remember that published information can be incorrect and you need to find as many pieces of evidence as you can. Still sometimes you will not know which one is correct.

It was at the Walnut Ridge meeting that William married Martha Ann Chappell on 21 December 1836. William and Martha had six children: Thomas, Edith, William, Elias, Margaret and Benjamin, who are all named in the Indiana book. Note that I did a post about one of these children in 2017: https://joannesgenealogyresearch.blogspot.com/2017/06/quaker-cousins-elias-t-marsh-1848-1926.html.  The Walnut Ridge record also lists the death of William on 12 October 1861, stating he was buried at Westland Meeting. This meeting house was in Blue River Township in Hancock County, Indiana.

So, even if I cannot be positive about William's birthdate, I do appreciate all the information that I was able to find about him “at the library.”

Connections – At the Library – Safleys

Next week's theme for 52 Ancestors is At the Library. Yesterday, 25 January 2019, I was working at the local (Cottage Grove Oregon) genealogical society library on my regular Friday shift. During the time when no patrons were there to help, I decided to work on my project for our society's displays coming up this summer and fall.

We are choosing various members of our community to research and create a display about. I had chosen the J. I. Jones family because my husband and I at one time owned the house called the J. I. Jones house and I had already done some research on that family. One of the items I had collected was a manuscript written in 1976 about the Jones family done by Lillian Lewis Coffman, a niece of J. I. Jones. On page 20 Mrs. Coffman stated that the only descendants of C. H. Jones (J. I. Jones' father) who were then living in Cottage Grove were her sister, Lela Ward, Lela's daughter Mildred (Mrs. Cecil Safley) and a grandson.

The Safley name drew my attention. When I first started to work at the local museum, my supervisor was Isabelle (Safley) Gates Woolcott. Do you suppose she was connected to the Jones family? But I also knew that one of my second cousins, Kathleen Albertson, had married a Safley from Cottage Grove and they were said not to be related to Isabelle. So did I have a connection to the Jones family through that cousin​?

Thankfully our society has drawers and drawers of file folders of clippings about our local families filed by surname. So I checked the Safley file folder. After reading a number of obituaries and other clippings I discovered that Kathleen's father-in-law, Rodney Safley, was a brother to Cecil Safley who was married to a Jones' descendant. So one of my relatives on my father's side of the family does have a connection to the Jones' family as her children have cousins who are descendants of C. H. Jones.

But as I continued reading I saw another name I recognized. Rodney and Cecil's father, Joseph Safley, died in March of 1944. The newspaper included names of out-of-town relatives who had come to his funeral. Among this listing was Joseph's sister, Mrs. Margaret Meadows and her three sons and their families, who lived in Florence, Oregon. One of these sons was Williams Meadows. His wife was Beverly Isom, my second cousin once removed on my mother's side of the family, so her children would be my third cousins. But these children also have cousins who are descendants of C. H. Jones, because their father, Wm Meadows would have been a first cousin to Cecil who was married to Mildred, a Jones' descendant.

Thus, although I am not actually related to the Jones family, I have some cousins on both sides of my family who are and I can claim a connection.

Postcard From the Past – Christmas

Again I wish to share a postcard from the collection of my father, Lester Albertson. This was sent to him by one of his aunts back in Kansas after his family had moved to a farm near Halsey, Oregon. It was probably received over 100 years ago.

My Christmas greetings to Family and Friends!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 28 – Travel

When I thought about this theme, I realized that I know little about how most of my ancestors traveled. But then I remembered that I have used at least three different sources to learn about their travels: by train, sailing ship and covered wagon.

1. I interviewed my father, Lester Albertson, before he passed away in 2004. He told me that when he and his parents and two sisters came to Oregon from Kansas in 1911, they rode the train. His father, Oran Jesse Albertson, had worked for the railroad back in Kansas, so they had a pass. Apparently they traveled from Goodland, Kansas to Portland, Oregon and then continued south to Halsey, Oregon where Oran's brother Arthur lived.

2. When my immigrant Falk gt-grandparents came from Prussia to the United States in 1858 the passenger list gives the name of the sailing ship they came on. It was a bark named Wieland. I have a picture of a bark named Wieland, but it was built in 1862 and was larger as Lloyd's Register found on the Mystic Seaport website, show the earlier Wieland tonnage to be 512 and the later one was 632. But I believe as they were both barks, they probably had a very similar appearance.

2. In 1938, before I was born, the Bond family reunion printed a booklet with the journal entries of my 2^nd gt-granduncle George Bond on the trip from Iowa to Oregon in 1853. Since this was over the Oregon Trail, it is logical to believe they traveled by covered wagon. It makes it more believable when the entry for April 9 stated that they “loded the wagons.” But they apparently did use tents while camping along the way because on May 14 George recorded that a storm prevented them from pitching their tents. I have always felt so fortunate to be able to read the daily travels for that group which included my 2^nd gt-grandparents and 2 sets of 3^rd gt-grandparents as well as over 30 other relatives.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 21 – Military

Yes, I do know that week 21 was last week, so I am late, which is not that uncommon for me. I had thought that I would probably skip this theme because most of my family did not serve in the military and I had already written about many who did. However, yesterday I saw that Ancestry had added a new database to their collection, U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, so I decided to look up some family names in that collection and write about them today.

I started with Albertson in Linn County, Oregon. There was my father, Lester Albertson and his first cousin Earle Albertson, both listed as Halsey, Linn County, Oregon as their residence place. My father's registration was on 16 Oct 1940. I checked the historical background for this database as given by Ancestry:

“The U.S. officially entered World War II on 8 December 1941 following an attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. About a year before, in October 1940, President Roosevelt had signed into law the first peacetime selective service draft in U.S. history because of rising world conflicts. Multiple registrations held between November 1940 and October 1946 signed up more than 50 million American men aged 18–45 for the draft.”

Although this states the registrations began in November, apparently Linn County started soon after the law was passed.

Next I looked at my Falk cousins who lived in Linn County. There were 10 of them listed, except Gerald was my uncle, not cousin. The first 5 were registered on the same day as my father, 16 Oct 1940. The next 2 were registered on 1 Jul 1941, still before war had been declared. They both were born in 1920, so were age 21 before that date. The next 3 were on or a few days after their 18^th birthday. They were registered near the end or after the end of World War II. Here is a listing as found on Ancestry.

Name	Birthdate	Registration Date
Charles Donald Falk	08 Nov 1913	16 Oct 1940
Leslie Edgar Falk	03 Jun 1915	16 Oct 1940
Russell Charles Falk	05 Apr 1915	16 Oct 1940
Omar Ellsworth Falk	27 Aug 1916	16 Oct 1940
Rawley Lincoln Falk	12 Feb 1918	16 Oct 1940
Everett Henry Falk	21 Jun 1920	01 Jul 1941
Lyman Lyle Falk	15 Feb 1920	01 Jul 1941
Louis Raymond Falk	12 Apr 1926	12 Apr 1944
Gerald Keith Falk	01 Aug 1927	08 Aug 1945
Delmer Orvilee Falk	13 Mar 1929	13 Mar 1947

I checked one more place. Were any of my relatives in Sherman County, Kansas registered?  The answer is yes. An Albertson cousin, Wilfred Glen Albertson, and a Smalley cousin, Lauren Bobby Smalley, were both registered on that first date, 16 Oct 1940.  For these 2, Ancestry provided a link to Fold 3, where I could see a copy of the actual registration. So here are those 2 registrations. 

So, what did I learn from this? Often it pays to check the research databases to see if any of the new records will include your family members.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 13 – The Old Homestead

The theme for this week is “The Old Homestead.” It was during the Civil War, in May of 1862 when the United States Congress passed the Homestead Act. I believe that 6 of my ancestors chose to use that legislation and gain “free” land: 2 in Oregon, 3 in Kansas and 1 in Nebraska.

So who were my “Homesteaders”? I'll begin with those from Oregon. My 2^nd gt-grandfather, Commodore Perry O'Neal, received a patent dated 30 Jun 1891 for 164.53 acres located adjacent to land he had purchased in 1870. This was about 4 miles west of the town of Creswell in Lane County, Oregon. His son-in-law John Howard Bond, my gt-grandfather, received his patent about a year earlier, 28 May 1890, for 160 acres located about 2 miles northwest of Commodore Perry's land. John sold his land in 1893 and moved across the Cascade Mountains to Gilliam County Oregon where he stayed about 10 years before moving back to the Willamette Valley. Commodore Perry stayed on his land until his death in 1919. He had deeded his land to his 3 sons about 2 months before he died.

In Kansas, my gt-grandfather, Nathan Elias Albertson, received his patent 28 Sep 1893 for 160 acres in McPherson township, Sherman County Kansas. As I noted in a blog post about his homesteading last year, 9 Sep 2017, it was located about 10 miles southwest of the County Seat, Goodland Kansas.¹ Before the 1900 census he had moved to another township in the County, Washington Township, about 2 ½ miles west of the town of Edson Kansas.

Nathan's future daughter-in-law's (Lucie Rachel Smalley) grandfather, my 2^nd gt-grandfather, Joshua Rodney Shipman had a homestead also in Washington Township. His patent was dated 23 Sep 1893 for 159.28 acres, located about 2 ½ miles southwest of the town of Edson.

Lucie's other grandfather, another of my 2^nd gt-grandfathers, John Wilson Smalley received his patent 29 Apr 1893 for 160 acres in Itasca Township, Sherman County, Kansas. This was a mile east of Goodland and so was about 5 miles west of where Nathan lived in Washington Township.

It was one of my 3^rd gt-grandmothers who received the patent to a homestead in Nebraska, Lucy Irene Chase (the mother-in-law to Joshua Rodney Shipman.) Lucy's husband Timothy had originally filed for the homestead, but died in 1877 before it was finalized. She received the patent for 80 acres 30 Jun 1879 as his widow. This land was in Atlanta Township, Saline County Nebraska.

Knowing that some who filed for homesteads did not complete the process, I was glad to discover that at least 6 of my ancestors did the required work and were issued patents. Maybe I should also be thankful to the U.S. Congress for passing such a law so my family had the opportunity to be landowners.

1The blog post about Nathan Elias Albertson's homestead is at:

https://joannesgenealogyresearch.blogspot.com/2017/02/great-grandfatheralbertson-had.html

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 11 – Lucky

The theme for week 11 on 52 Ancestors is Lucky. I consider my self lucky (or I prefer the term blessed) that with all the moving my family did, my earlier ancestors were at the right place at the right time to meet and marry and become the parents of my later ancestors.

For example, my 4 grandparents were born in 4 different states: Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin and Oregon.

My paternal grandfather, Oran Jesse “OJ” Albertson, was born in Marshall County Iowa in 1882, but in 1887 the family moved to a homestead in Sherman County Kansas. My grandmother, Lucie Rachel Smalley, had been born in 1886 in Sherman County just after her family had moved there from Saline County Nebraska. It was in Sherman County that OJ and Lucie were married in 1906 and my father, Lester Oran Albertson, was born in 1907. The family moved to Linn County Oregon in 1911.

My maternal grandmother, Florence Edna Bond, was born in 1891 in the Willamette Valley, Lane County, Oregon. About 1894 the family went north to Gilliam County Oregon, but by 1905 they had moved back to the Valley to Linn County Oregon. My grandfather, Julius Adolph Falk, was born in 1880 about 2000 miles away in Iowa County Wisconsin. A number of his family moved to Iowa and then 6 brothers moved to Linn County Oregon between 1900 and 1910. Julius came by 1905 and it was in 1910 when he and Florence were married. My mother, Wilma Anna Falk, was born in Oregon in 1912 and because Lester and family had moved to the area in 1911, they eventually met and were married in 1933.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 9 – Will

My procrastination inclination has set in again and here it is the last day of week 9 and the theme for this week on 52 Ancestors is Will. Thanks to Lisa Louise Cooke's blog on 2 Mar 2018 about state genealogy records I discovered that the State Archives of North Carolina has posted a new digital collection of Secretary of State Wills containing wills from 1663 to 1789. I already had some books of abstracts of those wills, so knew that several of my ancestors' wills were included there. With this new collection available there should be a number of wills that I can try to transcribe.

One of the earlier ones should be Albert Albertson, my 8^th gt-grandfather. I clicked on the link provided and was able to access the collection. I found Albert's will which was written in 1701 and probated in 1702. I find it amazing I can look at an image of my ancestor's will that has survived over 300 years. Below you can see a copy of the first page of that will. Tomorrow I will try to give my attempt for transcribing it.

52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks -- 7 -- Valentine

Since it is that time of year when we send and receive Valentines, I am sharing a Valentine postcard from my father's (Lester Albertson) collection. Most of these are from over 100 years ago. 

This Valentine was given to Lester by his sisters, Vida and Beuna.

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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 4 – Wilma Falk

The theme for this week on 52 Ancestors is “Invite to Dinner” and today, January 27^th, was my mother's birthday, so I decided to write about some of the foods my mother, Wilma (Falk) Albertson, served to our family. Of course she enjoyed eating also.

                                                           Thanksgiving 1977

We lived on a farm and had our own beef and my father was a hunter and fisherman, so had lots of kinds of meat and fish to eat. Some of my favorite dishes included Swiss Steak, which was a thick beef steak cooked with onion and tomatoes; heart with dressing, the beef heart had been boiled and then sliced in a casserole dish with dressing on top and baked; duck and dressing, again the duck was boiled and then the meat taken from the bones and placed in the bottom of a casserole dish with dressing on top and baked; (you might think I really liked dressing not just with turkey); meatloaf, made from the recipe on the Quaker Oats box which is still one of my favorite recipes; Texas hash, which was hamburger, rice, onions and tomatoes; macaroni mixed with tuna fish and cream of mushroom soup; baked salmon; and fried salmon or stealhead steaks. It looks like I had a lot of favorites. That is my style, I like lots of different things.

Well, did my mother ever serve any vegetables? Yes, of course she did. If you count potatoes as a vegetable they showed up most days. It seems like one of the ways I helped in the kitchen often was peeling potatoes. During the summer from our garden, we had green peas, green beans, corn on the cob, cucumbers, and tomatoes. We usually grew some winter squash which would be ready in the fall. I did like the acorn squash when served with cinnamon and sugar. During the winter we had home-canned green beans and frozen vegetables purchased from the store. It seems like my mother used a rotation of frozen spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts. While growing up it was only the spinach that I liked. As an adult I have learned to enjoy broccoli and cauliflower, but still am not fond of brussel sprouts.

We can't leave out dessert. After one of our neighbors put in a blueberry farm, I learned how much I enjoyed blueberry-peach pie. For my birthday I often would request prune cake, which my mother could make so well. I didn't even care if it had any frosting. For family Christmas dinners, I remember my mother was asked to bring the pumpkin pies. They were really good. A dish that I haven't had for a long time was floating island. This was soft custard with meringue floating on it. She only made this for special dinners when we were using the best china and pretty glass dishes. Another dish I liked was a baked apple dessert.

This has been an enjoyable trip down memory lane for me.

Treasured Memories From the Past – More Photos of Smalley Relatives

On 7 Aug 2017 I posted some group photos of some of my Smalley relatives taken in about 1910 and also in 1944. Here are two more photos of some of my Smalley relatives taken probably in the 1940s.

This first photo appears to be taken at my grandparents' (O. J. and Lucie (Smalley) Albertson) house which was 4 miles northwest of Halsey Oregon and the second appears to be taken at the Joe Elliott residence in Brownsville Oregon. Lake (Smalley) Elliott was my grandmother's sister. I wonder if my father took the pictures since he does not seem to be in either one of them.

Both photos include my grandparents, my mother and me. I'm the one with the braids.

Places From the Past - Sherman County Kansas

I had a number of ancestors who lived in Sherman County Kansas. On 28 Oct 2017 I posted photos of the county seat, Goodland.

I found this photo postcard among my father's collection. It shows a little of how flat that part of the country is. No mountains show on the horizon. The caption handwritten on the bottom says: “Highway between Pa Albertson Place and Aunt Sis.” I believe that Pa Albertson is my gt-grandfather, Nathan Elias Albertson, and Aunt Sis is the sister of my Smalley gt-grandfather, Mary (Smalley) Morey. After Nathan's wife died in July 1901, in January 1902 he married Mary who was a widow. Their farms were enumerated next to each other on the 1900 census.We might not consider that this should be called a highway. What do you think?

Ancestor Birthday – December 21st – Rebecca D Hartley - 1818-1908

Rebecca Hartley was my 2nd great-grandmother. She is one of my Quaker ancestors who had a number of children, at least 11. She was born in Hamilton County Ohio on 21 Dec 1818 to Thomas Hartley and his wife Barbara. I am not confident about the surname of Rebecca's mother. I checked the 1^st 20 listings on Ancestry public trees for Rebecca and half of them give Barbara's surname as Loar and almost half say Larr. But none of these show their documentation for these names other than other trees. Maybe I should make this one of my projects to work on in 2018.

My records show that Rebecca had 6 older siblings and 3 younger ones. By 1835 the family was attending the Cherry Grove Monthly Meeting in Randolph County Indiana. Just 5 days before her 17^th birthday, Rebecca married 17 year old Francis Hockett on 16 Dec 1835. It was in 1838 they took their first son and moved to Henry County Iowa. It was about 1850 when they moved to neighboring Lee County with 7 of their children. The other 4 children were born there. In 1863 the family moved farther north to Hardin County Iowa. They traveled to Kansas in 1886 and Francis died there on 12 Mar 1886. On the 1900 census Rebecca was living in Marshalltown in Marshall County Iowa. Her son James was living with her. She was found at age 86 on the 1905 Kansas state census in Stevens County in the household of N. Hockett. This was most likely her oldest son Norton as his age is correct. It was 3 years later when she died there in Kansas on 24 Jul 1908 and was buried in Bethel Friends Cemetery.

But I still have an identity problem. I posted this question on 12 Mar 2015 and also on 27 Feb 2017. Which one of these women is Rebecca?

I believe one is Rebecca (Hartley) Hockett and the other is Sabina (Marsh) Albertson. These are the 2 grandmothers of my Grandfather O. J. Albertson. Can someone out there give me an answer?