Today would have been my great-grandmother, Bertha Childers, 137th birthday. I always found it interesting when talking to my relatives on my dad’s side of the family about Bertha, each person has always described her the same way – “she was very nice, but she put you in your place”.
However, my dad does add that she may have been a little nicer to him because she didn’t see him all the time, which was the truth. He was born in Indiana and raised in Ohio while Bertha Childers lived in Pennsylvania.
An excuse to show my favorite photo, from left to right, Bertha Childers, Margaret Wise, Anna Maria Morgart, and Leroy Blair. From the collection of Anna Maria Morgart Blair.
Her Beginnings
Bertha Childers was born on 14 March 1886 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania to Randall Childers and Sarah Jane Fesler. She was the 7th of 9 children born to this marriage (which from what I have read had “issues”). At the time of Bertha’s birth, Randall was a former Corporal in the Union Army whose occupation was listed as a miner in the 1880 census (they were also living in Huntingdon County so they had moved at some point before Bertha was born).
Sarah Jane Fesler, from the photo collection of Anna Maria MorgartRandall Childers, from the photo collection of Anna Maria Morgart
After the war Randall had chronic ailments so I wonder if that explains some of the “issues” and may explain Bertha Childers no nonsense attitude of life. By the 1900 Census Randall is listed as a farmer, Still living at home at this time, I’m sure she learned the ways of living on a farm. I know my dad told me that Bertha didn’t think anything of going out and killing a chicken and cleaning it up for dinner that same evening.
Married Life
I don’t know how Bertha Childers met my great-grandfather, Andrew Jackson Blair, and I have yet to find a marriage license for them (don’t worry, I’m still looking) but I did find this newspaper clipping about when they married so at least I have something, 19 March 1906.
Found on Newspapers.com from the Bedford Gazette dated Friday, 23 March 1906
Their first child, a son, Darrell, was born 22 September 1906 and died on 22 January 1907 of bronchial pneumonia. Next came a daughter, Vada, who was born on 2 December 1907. Vada lived to be 87 years young, which is surprising as she was born with a cleft pallet and wasn’t really expected to survive. Genevieve came on 14 May 1909 (though it may have been 1910, I’ve not been able to find a birth certificate online or in the list of birth certificates on the website for the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission). My grandfather, originally named Charley Wilmer Blair, later renamed Leroy, was born on 13 February 1912. Finally, Donald, the baby, was born 23 September 1917.
Bertha raised her children while Andrew was a coal miner. Initially they lived in Huntingdon County (where they were listed as living in the 1910 Census) and then they lived in Cambria County (according to the 1920 Census).
But life changed quickly on 16 November 1926 when the shaft where Andrew Jackson Blair was working caved in, killing him.
Found on Newspapers.com posted from The Evening News on Wednesday, 17 November 1926
Most of her children were raised, but Donald was just 9-years-old, and Leroy was 14, Genevieve had just gotten married to her husband, Ralph Vivian the weekend before Andrew’s death. The 1930 Census does not show Bertha being employed but she still lived in South Fork, a mining town in Cambria County which was the borough they lived in 1920.
William Chappell
On the 24 December 1930 Bertha Childers married William Chappell. Bill, as he was called by friends and family, was another coal miner, and according to my dad one of the nicest men you would ever meet.
A photo of William “Bill” Chappell from the collection of Anna Maria Morgart Blair
They were married just shy of 30 years when Bill passed away of prostate cancer on 20 June 1960. Bertha didn’t have to live long without him as she passed away on 11 November 1963 at my grandparents house in Akron, Ohio. According to her death certificate she had a “cerebral vascular accident/hypertension/diabetes”. I do remember talking to my dad and he said Bertha had been very sick and my grandmother was having difficulty taking care of her, and apparently my grandfather stopped talking to his sister Genevieve because she didn’t help my grandma, but she herself was sick with cervical cancer.
Parts of my family are not the biggest fans of Bertha, and I guess I understand why, but I think she gets blamed for things she really shouldn’t. Most of the rest liked her (basically all her grandkids that no longer lived in Pennsylvania – which they were spread out between Ohio, Indiana/Arizona). I know my grandmother, Anna Maria Morgart, always referred to her as “Mrs. Chappell”. I wish I could have met her just to decide for myself.
In closing here is a photo of Bertha and her siblings that I found on Ancestry.com that was posted by my distant cousin, Joanne Fesler, and since she has taken my photos from my blog and posted them on Ancestry, I feel I can use this photo.
From left to right, William Dodson Childers, Elizabeth Childers Whitfield, Bertha Childers Chappell, Bessie Childers Figard, and Charles Peter Childers. Photo from the Collection of Joanne Fesler.
The prompt for Week 6 of Amy Johnson Crow’s writing challenge 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is Social Media and I have been very lucky to have discovered distant cousins in a few of the Pennsylvania groups I have joined on Facebook.
I know I have eluded to this once before but it has happened again recently in a newer group I’ve joined focusing on the town of Broad Top, Pennsylvania, which is where my grandmother, Anna Maria Morgart, was born.
Encouraged to join the group by my cousin Denny, I wasn’t sure they would even let me in at first because I never lived there, and that seemed initially to be a qualification. But luckily my honesty paid off because I noted in my comments when I answered the questions that I was working on my genealogy and just wanted to see photos of the area to get a better feel for where my ancestors lived.
Oddly enough the organizer is a Horton and I’m sure that I’m related to them in some way.
The post I found about 2 months ago referenced my Blair side of the family. A picture of Clyde Vinton Blair, aka “Shinny” was posted as he ran a store in Six Mile Run. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was related to the person who posted the photo (we are 4th cousins) and we ended up chatting and friending each other. It’s not like we were looking for one another, it just happened by my commenting on her post.
Photo of Clyde “Shinny” Blair posted in the History of Broad Top Township PA and Hopewell PA Areas on Facebook by Mary K. Ritchey Hall
Some of the best parts of groups like these are just reading the memories that a photo or just a person’s name will bring back to the other members. I’m sure if I hung out on Instagram more often I would have similar experiences.
If you’ve never taken the time to join a group from where your relatives are from I suggest doing so. Social media is a valuable tool when working on your family history, you never know what a person may post that may answer a question you have, or even who may have the answer to a question you post.
We all have encountered an oops when working on a family tree, and mine is no exception. Mine is actually a work in progress still and relates to my 3rd-great-grandmother on my paternal side, Eliza Horton.
The oops in question deals with Eliza’s parents. At the time I did the unthinkable as a newbie genealogist and took my cue from whomever she was attached to on the big tree on FamilySearch, which had her mother listed as Elizabeth Horton, no father was listed. It wasn’t until a year or so later that I realized that Eliza was either born out of wedlock or she did not belong to Elizabeth. Both of these scenarios could still be true.
Oddly enough while reading a book written about the Horton’s, no one seems to know where Eliza goes (even below she is listed alone in an excerpt from a book, not under her parents like most are listed). She took care of her grandfather, Samuel Horton, until his death in 1836. Samuel Horton and his wife, Martha Evans, had 11 children together, 6 of them boys (Abner, Josiah, John, Thomas, Samuel, and Septimus) and so I’ve been slowly trying to piece together which of them could be Eliza’s father.
The Horton’s in America by Dr. George F. Horton, found on Ancestry.com
So here is what I do know about Eliza Horton. She was born 2 April 1813 in Broad Top, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and I read somewhere that she never roamed further than 25 miles from her home, which always gets a wow from me. She married Thomas Foster and they had 16 children together in their over 50 years of marriage.
Their children were Amanda, Miles, Ira, Aaron, Wealthy Ann, Joseph, Elizabeth, William, Louisa, Thomas Jr, Sarah, Septimus, Lewis Thompson, Susan Jane (my 2nd-great-grandmother), Lyman, and Sampson.
I mention before my oops is a “work in progress” because on my personal family tree, I still have Elizabeth Horton listed as her mom. I’m pretty sure that is incorrect, but I figure why make all the changes until I have the correct Horton? On my Ancestry family tree, which is public, I have her attached to a “Horton” male but no name until I can safely figure out which of Samuel Horton’s children she descends from. I will confess I have assumed it’s a son since her last name is Horton. Elizabeth would have been exactly 20 years old in 1813 so there is that chance that Eliza could be her daughter, and she doesn’t marry William Anderson until 1820).
The present scenario in FamilySearch has Eliza’s parents being Thomas Horton and his wife, Sarah Foster. I don’t like this match because that has her marrying her uncle. Did uncles marry their nieces back then? Maybe I’m too clouded by today’s standards to truly be open-minded about this possibility. For some reason even cousins (which I knew happened) doesn’t bother me as much as this uncle-niece option.
It’s easy to see how Eliza could have gotten lost in the shuffle of her family. In the 1820 Census, Samuel and Martha have taken in several of their grown children and it makes me wonder if they continued to care for Eliza once everyone has moved out (and then in turn, Eliza cared for them).
1820 Census for Samuel Horton, found at Ancestry.com
In the above photo of the 1820 census, you can see where Samuel has 14 children under the age of 10 living with he and Martha. I’m sure one of those 9 girls is 7-year-old Eliza. But where Josiah and Abner Horton both are listed separately in the 1810 census, I would guess that they are 2 of the 4 males aged 26-45 living with Samuel and Martha (Evans) Horton.
I have two key things I need to do: 1) is to determine how old each of Samuel and Martha’s children are (I’ve noticed what is on FamilySearch and what I have on Ancestry don’t necessarily complement each other), and then try to find copies of each child’s probate records to see if they mentioned their children in their wills. I was fortunate that Samuel Horton (1752-1836) even mentioned his son, Septimus, who had already passed away.
So this is a “to be continued” post as I slowly make my way through each child of Samuel and Martha to find out who Eliza’s parents are.
Everyone feels out of place at times. I know I always do and even now when finding relatives through genealogy I find my portion of the Blair family “out of place”.
Why?
Most everyone else still lives in Pennsylvania while my grandfather, Leroy Blair, received an apprenticeship in Gary, Indiana, for the sheet metal trade. So, my little section of the family (and it is small compared to others as my dad was an only child) isn’t included in a lot of functions as others are.
Christmas 1963 – Leroy Blair, Anna Maria Morgart and photo of their son, my dad who was in the Navy in Akron, Ohio. From the photo collection of Anna Maria Morgart Blair.
My dad also notes when telling stories, that his grandmother, Bertha Childers, often treated him differently than the others simply because she didn’t see him as often as her other grandchildren, as even after his apprenticeship was over my grandparents moved to Akron, Ohio, never returning to Pennsylvania to live (only to visit).
For week 2 of the genealogical writing challenge 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, the prompt is favorite photo. One of my favorites (as this is a theme every year it’s fortunate we have so many photos to love) is a photo of my dad. He received a camera for Christmas in 1956 and according to the note on the back from my grandma (Anna Maria Morgart), he was taking a picture and it “exploded” and accidentally took a picture of himself. I like to joke it’s the world’s first selfie.
When I saw the prompt for Week 1 of the 2023 version of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks by Amy Johnson Crow, one thought jumped into my head, but alas, I wrote about that in my 2021 Week 26 Conflict post. Then there are all the usual suspects… Andrew Blair, Suzanna Akers, Mazie Warner… to name a few off the top of my head. And then it hit me, a man I’ve been curious about, a man who got his name in the newspaper for not necessarily the best of reasons (can you say moonshine?), so for this the first week of 2023 I will write about my 2nd-great-grandfather, Jonas Wise as a person I’d like to meet.
Jonas Wise
From the photo collection of Anna Maria Morgart
This is a photo of my 2nd-great-grandfather, Jonas Wise. He just looks to me like a very nice man. I don’t recall too many stories about him from my Grandma (Anna Maria Morgart) as he had already passed away before she was born. The one story I do remember was when my Grandma mentioned his marriage to Anna Maria Leighty, there was an age difference, it was probably not as much as she may have been thinking, Anna Maria was 4 years older than Jonas, but there is an age difference with my husband and I, and when I first began being interested in him, my Grandma likened it to their relationship, showing that even when the woman was older, the marriage could work. (She also went on to say that since women live longer than men, not sure if this is true, but it was in her world as she, her mother, and her granny all lived longer than their husbands by a good twenty years), she was optimistic that my husband and I may die at the same time. Only time will tell.
Jonas Wise was born 3 March 1855 to Philip Wise and Barbara Waite in Liberty, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He was the 6th of 9 known children, the others being Elvina, William, John, Sarah, Margaret, Henry, Emmanual, and Mary Ann. In the 1850 Census Phillp was listed as a farmer but 10 years later in the 1860 and 1870 Censuses he is a coal miner.
Jonas married Anna Maria Leighty around 1875 with their oldest child, Henry James, being born on 3 August 1876 in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. Jonas and Anna had a total of 14 children, with 10 dying at birth. Their next surviving child was Riley born 25 February 1885, then Mary Ann born 25 September 1888, Margaret Dora born 11 February 1891, and lastly Hannah born 14 March 1894 (I have no record of her death, and she is not listed on the 1900 Census so she must have passed away before the turn of the century).
Living on the Edge
In the 1880 Census Jonas’ occupation was listed as Coal Miner, in 1900 he was a day laborer, and then in 1910 a woodchopper. But along with mining, day laboring, and chopping wood, Jonas Wise had a side gig. He made his own liquor and got caught selling it.
From the Wednesday, 13 September 1882 edition of the Everett Press (found on Newspapers.com)
But he wasn’t caught just once, he was caught multiple times. And there is nothing like having a headline of “Whiskey Dealers in Trouble” and the first individual mentioned is your ancestor.
From the Friday, 24 May 1889 edition of the Everett Press (found on Newspapers.com)
The offense in Huntingdon County was actually written up in a variety of local newspapers. I’m sure that made my great-great-grandmother a happy woman.
What Would I Ask Him?
One of the first questions I’d ask would be how did he become deaf? Or was he deaf his entire life? It’s not noted on any census over the years, but it was noted on the bottom of a photo that my 1st cousin once removed, Hope Dipko, had at her home. (Someone left the photo behind at a Wise Family Reunion she had attended one year).
Photo from my own collection, taken on a trip to Pennsylvania in 2019
I suppose I’d ask if making hard cider was worth the fines and jail time he often endured when he was caught? Was he caught more often than what was printed in the newspapers? I’d almost like to give him a glimpse into the future of the home brewing people do of beers and such now and wonder how impressed he would be?
I wonder what he would think about his daughter, Margaret Dora “Maggie”, living to be 96 years old when he only lived to be 57? (He died of pneumonia on 12 January 1913). I’d ask him the question I’d also like to ask his wife, was George Mullen her son (and his stepson)? She is listed as his mother sorta on his marriage license (I say sorta as it’s the wrong name but I’m guessing that is who he means – it’s Martha Wise with the father’s name unknown), and she is who he was living with in her later years, and it’s alluded to on the above photo.
And lastly, I’d ask him for any advice for me as I enter my 50’s this year. It would be interesting to find out what information would be the same and also that which would be entirely different from the changes in technology and just life in general over the past 100 years.
Sign Up!
If you would like to participate in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks genealogical writing challenge click here. It’s fun to take the time to write about your ancestors that you research, and you don’t have to do it each and every week.
For the final month of 2023 the prompt is “New Horizons”. The first person who popped into my head is a relative who is not a direct ancestor for myself, but someone I’ve been curious about learning more about. Her name is Rachel Snell Morgart, she is the younger sister of my 2nd-great-grandfather, George Washington Morgart. She was born in Providence, Bedford County, Pennsylvania and made her way to North Dakota to teach.
Beginnings
Rachel Snell Morgart was born 24 February 1863 to Andrew Jackson Morgart and Rebecca Margaret O’Neal in Providence, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. She was named after her father’s older sister, Rachel Morgart, who married William Snell. Rachel was the 8th of 10 children to her parents, her siblings including Katherine Amanda, George Washington, Mary Elizabeth, Rebecca Jane, Arabelle, James Henry, Sarah Ellen, William Baltzer, and Ida Florence.
When Rachel was just 7 years old, her father died 19 August 1870.
This obituary is from the 24 August 1870 edition of the Bedford County Press and Everett Press. Found using Newspaper.com
Education
Not much is written about Rachel in the newspapers to find out what her life was like after her father died. I did find an article from 13 September 1881 stating that she scored a 91 3-5 attending the Prof Bachtel English and Classical Institute.
From the 13 September 1881 edition of the Everett Press found on Newspapers.com
I then decided to find out what kind of school this Institute was, and so I found this, and it may have been a similar article in the newspaper that convinced Rachel to attend.
Found in the 28 June 1881 edition of the Everett Press on Newspapers.com
The other puzzle is how Rachel ended up undergoing instruction in Bedford County, Pennsylvania and ending up in North Dakota as the next document I can find her in is the 1885 Dakota Territory Census where she is listed as a teacher. In the 11 April 1883 the Everett Press lists how they had received a copy of the North Dakota version of the Daily Minnesota Tribune to review. I tried to see if this was a part of Newspapers.com or even Genealogybank.com but I did not find the newspaper listed. I was curious to see if there was any sort of advertisement for teachers.
By continuing to use newspapers I was able to discover that Rachel taught at the Ypsilanti and Montpelier schools in what was originally the Dakota Territory as North Dakota did not become a state until 1889. I found her with the following timeline:
1885 – Listed on the Dakota Territory 1885 Census
1886 – Teaching at Ypsilanti
1887 – Teaching at Montpelier School #5
1888 – Teaching at Montpelier School #2 (she had 15 students)
In the Dakota Territory school began in late April and went for 6 months. In some winters Rachel attended the Valley City Normal School for additional instruction, in the winter of 1887 she returned to Pennsylvania and visited with her family.
Using an inflation website, $35 a month in 1887 is equivalent to almost $1,100 in 2022. This article was run in the Jamestown Weekly Alert in the 14 April 1887 edition found in Newspapers.com
Marriage & Family
On 31 July 1895 Rachel Snell Morgart married Daniel Halfpenny.
Found on Newspapers.com in the 1 August 1895 edition of the Jamestown Weekly Alert
After getting married children came, daughters to be exact, 4 of them over the course of 10 years. First was Dorothy Evangeline who was born 8 June 1896, then Ruth Morgart born 1 April 1901, and finally twins born on 7 May 1906 Margaret Rebecca and Mary Kathryn.
All 4 girls took on teaching as their vocation at some point in their lives. Ruth Morgart and Mary Kathryn lived their entire lives in the North Dakota area, (Mary Kathryn actually lived her final years in Montana). Dorothy Evangeline and Margaret Rebecca both ended up moving to the San Diego area.
Reverend Daniel Halfpenny died on 21 January 1928 at the age of 75. Within 10 years on 29 September 1937 his bride would die from injuries she sustained in a car accident earlier in the month when her back broke in two places.
Found in the 29 September 1937 edition of the The Bismarck Tribune on Newspapers.com
Ever since I discovered a couple of years ago from a distant cousin who descended from Rachel Snell Morgart of her journey, she has intrigued me. I wish I had more information in regard to her move to North Dakota, it amazes me that no newspaper was impressed with her moving across the country. I tried to see if she had any siblings that may have gone that way and maybe she tagged along, but that is not the case. Her brother, William Baltzer, does end up settling in Idaho, but was living in West Virginia in the 1880’s when Rachel moved to North Dakota. Such gumption she had to do such a thing. And it was a decade before she married, simply amazing!
This photo of Rachel Snell Morgart can be found on FamilySearch and was uploaded by TeriGraham.
Did you have any sort of “pioneers” in your family tree? If you do I’d love to know where they went, and if they didn’t go anywhere, maybe they did something that made them a pioneer. Share your ancestor in the comments.
Today I am going to focus on what I call my “new” side of the family. But I guess it’s no longer that new, as it’s been 3 years since I discovered that my maternal Grandmother’s real dad was most likely Paul Harrison Geer, my great-grandmother’s first husband. Since then, I have done some research on the Geer’s, but have yet to really dig in and find out who they were, so for me it’s like they are this big shadow, no photos, no stories, just odds and ends found in the newspapers here and there with documents I have found to create a trail of where they lived, what they did (I thank city directories for providing these details). There aren’t even many pre-existing trees on Ancestry to give me a bigger picture of who this family really is.
I was also hoping to have this posted yesterday, but I also wanted to do it justice, so here I am a day late, but I hope it is worth it.
Birth
Clyde Ellsworth Geer was born on 21 December 1879 in Cuyahoga Falls, Summit County, Ohio to William Henry Harrison Geer, (according to city directories he went by “Harrison”) and Amelia Dailey. From the information I have gathered, Clyde was the youngest of 4 children, with Kate, Mary Luella, and Frederick Gurdon preceding him (though there is a 7-year gap between Fred and Clyde). Harrison was a carpenter working for such companies as the W.B. Doyle Company (a lumber mill that once stood in the heart of downtown Akron), and AA Bartlett & Company (manufacturers of sash, doors, blinds, and mouldings, according to the 1893-1894 Burch Akron City Directory).
Birth Index Card found on Ancestry.com part of the Summit County, Ohio, Birth Records 1866-1908
His oldest sister, Kate, died on 17 May 1882 of a Typho-Malarial Fever. She was just 15 years old. Another article in the Summit County Beacon from 7 June 1882 stated she died of just typhoid fever. Both were characterized by a similar definition, “Typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever cause similar symptoms. People with these diseases usually have a fever that can be as high as 103 to 104°F (39 to 40°C). They also may have weakness, stomach pain, headache, diarrhea or constipation, cough, and loss of appetite. Some people have a rash of flat, rose-colored spots”, (taken from the CDC’s website). Clyde was just 2 years old when Kate died.
Taken from the 24 May 1882 Summit County Beacon newspaper (found on Newspapers.com)
By 1882 the family had moved to Akron living on Glenwood Avenue, “1 house from Howard Street” according to the Burch Akron City Directory 1882-1883. The family owned that home until Amelia died in 1908.
By the time he was a teenager Clyde began working as a driver, first for Strobel Brothers in 1896, then for Unique Laundry in 1897, then he returned to Strobel Brothers which is where he worked when his father died 16 January 1900 when Clyde was just 20 years old. William Henry Harrison Geer died of “convulsions of the brain” according to the Akron Daily Democrat from 17 January 1900.
The death notice of William Henry Harrison Geer written in the Akron Daily Democrat from 17 January 1900 found on Newspapers.com
Marriage with Gertrude
Within two years of his father’s death, Clyde met Gertrude VanBuskirk. on 3 March 1902 they had their first child together, George Ellsworth. Six months later they were married on 6 September 1902. Their second child, son Paul Harrison Geer was born on 21 September 1905, and finally their third and final child, Ruth Cloe Geer was born on 25 July 1907.
Throughout their married life they lived in North Hill, a section of Akron, a majority of the time living at 21 Glenwood Avenue, and he worked at such places as Akron Belting Company and Goodrich Tire Company. But then on 26 October 1908 Gertrude died of acute pneumonia. She was just 32 years old.
The Tuesday 27 October 1908 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal (found using Newspapers.com)
Earlier in the year, on 27 May 1908, Clyde’s mother had also passed away of diabetes. Amelia had been living with Clyde and Gertrude.
After Gertrude died his 3 children went and lived with Gertrude’s parents, George VanBuskirk and Lydia Cunningham. Clyde lived with his brother, Fred, and his wife, Ida.
Marriage to Helen
On 23 April 1914, Clyde married his second wife, Mary Helen Forbes (McCormick) at the home of his brother, Fred. Helen was 12 years older than Clyde.
With his new wife he also worked at Firestone and Swinehart Rubber Company (this is where I believe Clyde met Samuel Randol, my great-grandmother Mildred Laura Dunbar’s stepfather). While married to Helen, Clyde came into a sense of vocational stability working at the Akron Belting Company, a place he was to work for several years to come.
Around 1925 Helen and Clyde moved to 71 Rosalind Court which was next door to my great-great-grandmother’s, Mazie Warner, and her husband, Samuel Randol’s home. This is when Mildred Laura Dunbar most likely met Paul Harrison Geer (assuming they didn’t know each other already).
Sadly, Helen died 6 February 1931 of a cerebral hemorrhage. She was 63 years old.
From the Saturday 7 February 1931 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal (found at Newspapers.com)
Less than 2 years after Helen’s death, Clyde’s brother Fred died of heart disease.
Found at Newspapers.com from the 18 January 1933 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal
In the years following Helen’s death Clyde continued to work at the Akron Belting Company and lived in downtown Akron with his son’s. At this point in time Paul was working for Goodyear and George (though according to the City Directory he was going by Ellsworth) worked as a janitor/painter.
Marriage to Stella
Clyde’s marriage to Stella Myrtle Long has me intrigued the most. Why, may you ask? Because Stella Long was also the mother of Clyde’s son’s Paul’s second wife, Juanita Faye Dodd. And Clyde married Stella the same day Paul married Juanita, so it truly was a family affair (and to make matters more interesting, Clyde’s daughter Ruth married Stella’s son, Shirley Roscoe Dodd as well). I’ve often wondered if Paul met Stella as they both worked at Goodyear Tire & Rubber in the late 1930’s.
Clyde’s marriage to Stella was his only marriage that ended in divorce. It was also his last marriage. They were married on 30 December 1939 at the First Methodist Church. Their marriage ended on 7 February 1947 (unlike their children whose marriage lasted 44 years). The reason was just “gross neglect”. Stella was the plaintiff, Clyde the defendant in the proceedings.
On 22 July 1953 Clyde’s sister, Mary Luella “Lulu” Geer Montz died of pulmonary edema and broncho-pneumonia. She was 89.
In the Thursday, 23 July 1953 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal (found on Newspapers.com)
Later Life
It appears that Clyde retired from Akron Belting in the late 1940’s and worked as a doorman briefly before he stopped working completely. Most of the last decade of his life was spent living with Paul, Juanita, and their daughter before he passed away of acute myocardial infarction and advanced arteriosclerosis with senility being secondary on 14 December 1962. He is buried at Rose Hill Burial Park.
From the 15 December 1962 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal (from Newspapers.com)
I remember when I wrote my letter to Paul’s daughter it wasn’t just Paul I inquired about, but Clyde as well. I wondered if she had stories she could share about them all. I wish I had more than just a paper trail of these people. What did they look like, what were their mannerisms, I know my grandmother (Alberta Lou Fleming) had Paul’s cheekbones, did they get them from Clyde?
I often hope that whom I presume to be my half aunt has held onto my letter and maybe will one day respond to it. She is the key to unlocking the shadows.
In the past year, John Andrew Akers has popped up on Thrulines as a potential father for one of my favorite brick walls, Suzanna Akers. I have even had John Andrew Akers written down on a piece of paper and looked into him a few times myself but never felt I had enough information to officially list him as my 4th-great-grandfather (I really try to be quite thorough when working on my tree and not just plop people down).
Anyhow, I’ve opted to take the time to do some in-depth research to try to come to some sort of conclusion about whether John Andrew Akers is truly the father of my 3rd-great-grandmother, Suzanna Akers.
What is Thrulines?
For those of you who are not familiar with AncestryDNA, I will enlighten you on what Thrulines is. Thrulines is a DNA tool that uses both your DNA matches and the family trees of your matches to create a view of who your ancestors may be.
A key point of Thrulines is that it is only as accurate as your matches trees.
See how important that statement above is? I bolded it because it’s the piece of the puzzle that many don’t realize. If your distant relative has just plopped information down that they have taken randomly from hints or other peoples trees, their family tree may not be accurate, which would then lead to a false identity on Thrulines.
This is why I am going to do an examination of John Andrew Akers, so I can discover if he is in fact Susanna’s dad. For some reason I don’t recall finding a census for him that would have a female of the correct age for him and that is why I wasn’t willing to think he was my guy. Or maybe he did and other trees that I saw had females listed for the age leaving no room for Susanna. But maybe they were wrong. At the time I did not take the time to do a research plan on him. Today is a different day and I’m up for the challenge.
One last thing about Thrulines. I presently have 28 DNA matches on Thrulines claiming John Andrew Akers is my 4th-great-grandfather. We shall see.
The Research Plan
In an effort to keep myself on track, I’ve created a research plan. Here is what I have down. It’s very rough and may evolve as I go along and that’s okay. It’s 8:30am on a Wednesday and so my mind may not be as technical sounding as I should (especially when I have to head into work here in about 10 minutes). But here is my start. I created a table in Word (I took a screenshot so my nicely bolded header is not so bold). I literally have no information on John Andrew Akers so I’m starting from scratch. This could be very difficult because I know these are dealing with census records from before 1850 so I will not find a lot of good information like you do post-1850. But you have to start somewhere.
I began seeking using Thrulines to come up with a birth and death date and created a family tree on Ancestry that I made private so I didn’t have to worry about anyone taking to heart what I may or may not find. I really am not wanting to offend anyone in my search because I am having difficulty believing people who suddenly think this man is their relative. I should note one key piece of evidence with Suzanna: with as little documentation that I have on her, one fact is consistent on all the censuses I have for her – she always has a birth date of 1826. Andrew Blair’s age is all over the place, but Suzanna is consistently 1826. Here is my list of events in my Legacy Family Tree Software for Suzanna and she is listed being 24, 34, 44, and 54 for each census I have for her (1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880).
Probate Records
Like most everyone else when doing my family history, I opted to go backwards in time. On Ancestry there was an inventory listed as a hint that would correspond with John Akers death date of 4 January 1866. Finding this inventory leads me to believe that John Akers died intestate, so this should be easier than I thought, as I should just find the probate record because all heirs should be listed in the record if he died without a will.
And I found just that, his daughter, Lucretia, petitioned the court and all his children are listed, along with his widow.
Found on FamilySearch under Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994, for Fulton County
As you can tell in the snippet of the record above, no Suzanna is not listed. And I have census records from 1870 and 1880 to prove she was still alive when John Akers passed away in January 1866. In case you are unable to read what I have shown, the name of John Akers children are: Lucretia, Ann, Matilda, Joshua B., John Thomas, and Erastus J (with John and Erastus being deceased when their father died).
The DNA Matches
It’s interesting, once I began writing this blog post (which I thought was going to take me longer than it did) I thought I was going to have this in-depth research plan all documented, never realizing the intestate probate record was the key to everything (thank you Susan Monson for your fabulous Family Tree Webinar “No Will, No Problem” which really brought the entire intestate process to light for me). Anyhow, after working on this for a day or so John Andrew Akers was no longer coming up named on my Thrulines, but as an “Unknown” person was. I didn’t know if this had anything to do with the private Akers tree I created for this project if it would have thrown confusion to my algorithm (I doubt that would do THAT much), I stand corrected, I deleted the tree a few hours ago and he is back on my Thrulines. At least I now know without a doubt that John Andrew Akers is NOT my 4th-great-grandfather.
As for the DNA match, as I looked more closely, most of the matches I had for John Andrew Akers were the same matches that I have for Andrew Blair and Suzanna Akers, all but 1, and he is also a match with my Morgart-Ritchey line so he could actually be related to these Akers where I am not.
The Finished Research Plan
As a genealogist who always wants to do things correctly I can honestly say I’m so glad I took the few minutes (because it really only took a couple of minutes) to type up this research plan in Word using tables. It really helped me stay focused on the objectives I was seeking. And a few times when I began to make things more difficult for myself in my head (as I am often my own worse enemy) this research plan really helped me stay calm and carry on (to steal a quote from a very popular meme).
I have many more Akers to go through to try and figure out who Suzanna’s parents are. One day I’ll find them.
One of my favorite photos of my Grandma, here is Alberta between 1944-1945 as that should be her youngest brother, James, she is holding (he was born in 1943),
Today would have been my grandmother’s 93rd birthday so what a better day than today to share the life of Alberta Lou Fleming with you all!
My grandmother was born on 2 October 1929, a preemie, to Mildred Laura Dunbar. The name listed on her birth certificate for her father was Albert Nank, her namesake, as he and my great-grandmother had gotten married just 3 days before on 29 September 1929 (I have since determined her biological father was actually my great-grandmother’s first husband, Paul Geer, whom she filed for divorce in January 1929 and it was finalized on 5 September 1929). The story goes that my great-grandmother was sent home with her little girl and a hot water bottle, and that if she somehow made it through the night to feed her the next day. Lucky for me, she survived. No one alive now seems to know how premature she was as I have asked.
The marriage to Albert Nank was over by 1933 as that is when Mildred got her second divorce and married her third and final husband, Howard Fleming. He was the man who raised my grandmother along with the two boys that he and my great-grandmother had. (Don’t feel sad at all for Albert, he chose not to see my grandmother growing up, and when my grandfather made my grandmother visit him as an adult, he didn’t say a word the entire visit. I think he knew that she was not his daughter but never said anything. And in other documents I’ve found, be it when he joined the military or when he died, it always said “no kids”).
Left to right: Mildred Laura Dunbar, Alberta Lou Fleming & Howard Fleming on the porch of 639 Carpenter Street, Akron, OH 44310
Initially times were tough, Howard, Mildred, and Alberta lived with Mildred’s mother Mazie at her home on Carpenter Street. Howard, a carpenter, would go out every day with his tools doing odd jobs to make a living to support his bride and daughter. Alberta’s childhood was during the time of the Depression, where food was rationed and grease and aluminum foil were saved for the war effort. Eventually Howard Fleming provided a good home as he was hired as a carpenter at BF Goodrich, one of the 3-big rubber companies in Akron, Ohio. In 1936 Alberta’s brother, Herschel was born and in 1943 the youngest son, James, was born.
Herschel Fleming, most likely age 9, James Fleming, approximately age 2, and Alberta Fleming, a guestimate of 16
Alberta and her brothers grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. It is where their kids grew up, where myself and my cousins grew up, and where my own children go to school now. Cuyahoga Falls is a suburb of Akron, Ohio and is the Indian word meaning “crooked”, referring to the river that runs from Lake Erie and the “falls” were notable, as they had a drop off longer than Niagara Falls. While reading up on what Native American nation that coined the word Cuyahoga – it’s a cross between the Mohawk, Wyandot, and Iroquois that all seemed to have left their mark in this area.
Alberta Lou Fleming, VJ Day 1945
Meeting Harold Fairhurst
At the age of 17, Alberta Lou Fleming met Harold Fairhurst. He was 7 years older than she was and had been previously married. On 29 June 1947 they got married, with my great-grandmother, Mildred, signing off on the marriage license and giving her approval.
The wedding cake of Alberta Lou Fleming and Harold Fairhurst 29 June 1947
A few months later on 22 December 1947 my mother, Cynthia Anne Fairhurst, was born. A total of 5 children were born of this marriage. Their life wasn’t easy as Harold was not a very nice man.
Christmas 1957. Alberta Lou (seated), Howard Fleming & Mildred Dunbar Fleming with Alberta’s 5-children.
While Harold was a golf pro and also worked in construction, Alberta took care of the children by day and bowled in the evenings. She was an excellent bowler, often being invited into leagues where you had to have a very high average to be a part of the group.
From the 9 December 1974 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal found on Newspapers.com. She is mentioned in the “Other High finishers” paragraph.
Harold and Alberta were divorced on 14 November 1968. Less than a year later she married Bernard Szemplenski on 2 September 1969. This marriage didn’t last very long as according to my uncle he was an “old school man of the house”. She divorced him on 16 March 1973 and married James Edward Metzger on 31 March 1973 (Grandpa Jim often eluded to how he paid for that divorce).
Her Life with Jim
I know Alberta as Grandma Metzger, as she married Jim about a month after I was born. Jim was the complete opposite of Harold Fairhurst, he would talk in a funny voice to get a laugh and was a much happier guy than the grumpy, silent man that I knew Harold to be.
James Metzger and Alberta Lou Fleming
Their (Alberta’s and Jim’s) time together seemed like it was filled with joy, they managed apartments and condominiums together, she worked in the office while he was the handy man for the complexes. It suited them. When I was about 3 or 4 they moved to Florida to do their thing in the Sarasota area.
One of my favorite photos of my Grandma Metzger (Alberta Lou Fleming) and her husband, Jim Metzger. This photo was amongst those found amongst my Grandma’s pictures.
My family and I visited them when I was 6 over Spring Break from school. I remember going to the Ringling Museum and stopping to see my Aunt and her family as they lived in Tennessee on our way down. We went down with my Great-Grandma Fleming (Mildred Laura Dunbar) and it was a fun time.
My mom, Cynthia Anne Fairhurst and my great-grandmother, Mildred Laura Dunbar, visiting in 1979
My sister and I went and visited my grandparents after she graduated from high school in 1986. We spent 6 weeks in Florida, helped them move, went to Disney and Busch Gardens Tampa and got reacquainted with my Aunt Teri and her youngest son. Strangely enough my Grandpa Fairhurst was living with Aunt Teri at the time, so he was there too. There was a Sunday when everyone came over where they lived at the condo where you walked about 100 steps out the front door and you were at the pool, a 100 steps out the back door and you were at the Gulf of Mexico. This was my favorite of the two places she worked while we were there. It was on Turtle Beach as part of the Siesta Keys and was just a great place.
Muffin, my grandparents cat, laying on a balcony at Sunset Towers in Sarasota
It was this trip to Florida that I really got to know my Grandma and her wonderful sense of humor which included an extremely quick wit. I wish I had her comebacks because she was the absolute best. I forget what was going on when but out of the blue she exclaimed “Shit! Fire! and save matches!” and I had never heard that expression before but I giggled so much from it.
A working girl
It was this same trip that I learned how abusive my Grandfather, Harold Fairhurst, was to her and her kids. It was something that my mom eluded too but I didn’t really know how bad it seemed to be.
Cancer
In 1988 Alberta was diagnosed with throat cancer. I remember the year from when I was driving up with my sister to visit her at University Hospital in Cleveland. Her and Grandpa Jim had moved up to Ohio the year before and began managing apartments in Bedford (a suburb of Cleveland). The radiation treatments and chemotherapy got rid of the cancer, but they destroyed her salivary glands, and she had a difficult time eating after that. My sister just commented the other day about how Grandma could make an amazing sandwich and she was unable to do so after cancer.
But the big C didn’t get my Grandma down for long. She still had her Christmas Eve party each year and normally had a celebration on the 4th of July for her oldest son’s birthday. I enjoyed the get togethers as it was the one time of the year when the whole family would get together and I’d get to see my cousins.
Her 65th Birthday
I’m going to guess it is her 65th birthday that Grandpa Jim had a surprise party for her. Below are some photos from the special day. From left to right is James Metzger, then a photo of me (my back is turned), my cousin Tommy Weekley (his back is also turned), and my other grandma, Anna Maria Morgart, then a photo of Alberta Lou Fleming heading up a line of well-wishers, and the large photo at the bottom is me again (still my back is turned), Alberta Lou Metzger, Cynthia Anne Fairhurst (my mom, she is profiled), and then on the far right you can see the face of my cousin, Jaclyn Dawn Fairhurst (with the white baseball cap on).
Eventually my grandparents moved to Columbus in the mid-1990’s and finally settled at a trailer park in Groveport. There were a few family get togethers the weekend before or after Christmas, but never the same as Bedford (not everyone had the time to drive a few hours to and fro).
James Edward Metzger and Alberta Lou Fleming at their trailer in Groveport
Her Last Few Years
After Jim passed away in 2001 her children moved Alberta back up to Cuyahoga Falls for her to live near them. She still had her own apartment but for the last 3 months of her life she lived with my aunt as she had both dementia and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). My aunt said they “played Scrabble every day and the last day she went in to feed her on her feeding tube and she said, ‘You ready to eat, and she (Alberta) said no but if it makes you feel better go ahead’ and she died a few hours later”. If memory serves my cousin Tracy and my mom (Cynthia) where with her when she passed. She died on 24 July 2006.
Memories
At the very last minute this morning I had the idea to contact my aunt, uncles, and cousins about their favorite memories of Alberta, and here are the responses I got in order of receiving them back.
My cousin Amanda said… “Well one of my favorite things to do at Grandma Metzger’s was to play with her seashells and shark’s teeth. I used to love going over there on my Dad’s birthday to watch fireworks in her side yard when she lived in Bedford. Staying with her when I had chicken pox… Watching “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy” when she would cook, and every time I see a cardinal, I am reminded of her. I also miss her fish kisses”.
My cousin Stacy wrote… “My favorite memory was when I was pregnant with my daughter and Jim was very unsupportive and told me that I should get an abortion and Grandma looked at him and said “If i did that every time I was pregnant at not the right time in life there wouldn’t be anyone in this room”. Subject was done after that. Also, I will never forget the tinsel tree at Christmas. Her hugs were hugs you felt into your soul. Her smile was infectious. I did not get a lot of time with my family on dad’s side but when I did, she showed me so much love. My mom and I were just talking about her and how when Eddie and I were little she would ride the bus over to help mom get Eddie out of bed and helped with me, put Eddie back to nap and she would get on the bus and go to work. My mom said she was a great mother-in-law and loved her very much”.
In honor of Stacy remembering her tinsel tree, here is a photo of Alberta when she lived in Bedford at one of her Christmas Eve parties – and said tinsel tree behind her.
Kellie, my sister, remembers… “How much fun her Christmas parties were… and a very specific one. I was living with them in Columbus, and I was wearing a particular dress, she says ‘Kellie, I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but that dress makes you look fat’. I looked back and said, ‘Grandma, it’s not the dress, I am fat’. She spit out her water and laughed until she cried. I also used to love to hear her sing”. My sister later remembered that our mom (Cynthia Anne Fairhurst) often said she “gave her a son-in-law for her birthday” as today would have been my parents 51st wedding anniversary.
My cousin Tracy responded with… “Christmas time is a favorite … all her orange cats … I did spend a day gathering data and writing a paper for a Women in History class I had and that was cool to learn about too. I wish I knew where it was because I know I kept it. We had to pick someone born in the 20s. and she fell into that range”.
Her youngest son, Stephen wrote… “I have a memory of my mom and I sitting around listening to 1940’s music. Mostly Glenn Miller, but other swing bands also”. Another memory was… “When I was in High School and we were living on Loomis. Mom had just married Jim. Mom and I had plenty of evenings where we would get time to ourselves. Maybe I had just gotten home from working at the bowling alley. We would put on some of her music., mostly Glenn Millers Greatest Hits. Sometimes a compilation of 40’s swing artists. We’d talk about what was going on in life. Mostly about me (parents find out so much that way). Got a lot of history that way. She knew a lot about the depression, WWII, and the way Cuyahoga Falls was back in the day. How much public transportation was used. Not many had cars and very few families had 2. Stories of the collectors coming around during WWII to collect aluminum foil and used grease. How her dad, Howard Fleming, would walk to the Silver Lake area to do woodworking and housebuilding jobs before he got on at the Goodrich. Which is how they spoke of it. The Goodrich like it was its own little entity. Also, when I learned that unlike most of her friends, she liked Bing Crosby and the crooners more than Frank Sinatra and those type of singers. It wasn’t a long period of time that we did this, but the nights are still etched in my mind. They all kind of blur into one long night of sitting around and learning about each other”.
I know one of her favorite songs was “In the Mood” so here is the Glenn Miller Orchestra performing it
One of my favorite memories was when my sister graduated from high school and my grandparents took everyone out to dinner at my favorite restaurant (though this occasion was my first time going there), the Triple Crown. I had my very first Shirley Temple and everyone was there in my family…. or at least many of us living in the area of Cuyahoga Falls… and it was just a happy occasion. I held onto the red drink mixer thing for all these years (and that I just went to the basement and retrieved it from a plastic bin I think has my hubby a little weirded out).
Drink mixer from the Triple Crown, one of my favorite restaurants. It was in my very first Shirley Temple.
My cousin Emily commented…. “My love of ginger cats (orange) came from Grandma Metzger and Muffin. I always loved going to her house to see her and Muffin. When I was about 10 years old, we went down to see her and Grandpa in Columbus and she had this tiny ginger kitten that had walked up to her out of the woods. She had taken him in, and I fell in love with him. She knew I wasn’t leaving her house without that kitten, and she was right. Arthur came home with me and growing up with him I always felt like Grandma and Muffin were always there with us because the connection of how Arthur became to be my cat”.
Alberta’s oldest son remembers “when Mom and Dad would start arguing over something stupid like the definition of a word they would go back and forth and back and forth until she said ‘I’ll bet you’ then Dad shut up”.
Her youngest daughter, Debbie, recalls… “I’ll never forget the day I was about I don’t know, seven or eight, and she had to explain to me what a douchebag was because I kept calling Terry a douchebag”. She went on to further comment about how good her mom was at Scrabble “I’ll tell you what, she would have a fit about “Words with Friends” and some of the words they allow, she was all about following the rules when it came to Scrabble, and it was hard to beat her. She would win at Jeopardy every night, we told her she should go on the show, but she never would”.
My cousin Todd remembers…. “My favorite memory of grandma was when she took me in when things were stressed in Florida. But I would fish during the day and in the evening me and her would work on puzzles together. We would talk and build those it was my warmest best memory of her and Florida”.
My cousin Tim added… “Ah, Grandma Metzger, funny that Kim, Patrick, Timmy and I went bowling last night- A small venue (24 lanes- I remember Falls Rec as having 20 but I could be mistaken). I guess we were channeling Grandma. I will say that no Fairhurst or Fleming would claim us if they saw the sorry scores we put up. My memory of Grandma Metzger was that of an unflappable family matriarch. She helped each of us through some good times, some bad times, and some in between times. You would never know which of the three you were in because Grandma was the same – unfiltered and funny, caring and graceful”.
Many could have given me more but it’s so nice to know that Alberta has such a wonderful legacy. We all should be so lucky.
Rest in Peace, Grandma. And know you are loved.
Getting ready for a New Year’s Eve party at her friend, Margie’s
Helping History Come Alive 