Life Lessons Through the Ages

The effects of Covid 19 made its appearance in early 2020. Life interrupted best describes our lives over the past year. During the 'downtime' from what our normal lives I used my free time to dive into solving my dad's maternal line. The research was somewhat troublesome to the extent I referred to  them as my quiet Germans. 

There were days when I could justify my great great grandfather's siblings' lives, and others not so much. Then I began to see pieces of my great great aunt Susanna Monath Loehmeyer's life come alive. I credit my information findings to city directories and Newspapers.com.

Susanna and her husband were married in Maryland and eventually moved to Memphis, Tennessee, this learned from city directories. This also justified the birth of their daughter Henrietta, but not why I could not find what happened to Susanna's husband Augustus Loehmeyer. I found Susanna living in Baltimore, Maryland 1880 through 1917 but not her husband. This is where she died and is buried. Even Ancestry.com and Find A Grave had no listing for Augustus. Frustrating for sure!

City directory entries listed Augustus and his brother William living and working in Memphis but stopped in 1878. I resorted to Newspapers.com with little hope.

In August of 1878 yellow fever killed thousands of people. Augustus, his brother William and William's wife were victims of this disease and their remains are buried in mass graves around the city. Susanna and Henrietta survived. My search was now completed. (The last entry in the image to the right shows A. Loehmeyer age 47 died of yellow fever. The article came from The Public Ledger, Memphis, Tennessee published 22 August 1878, page 2.)

However, my point about this is that we endured the effects of Covid 19 much like our ancestors. I wonder what will be written in the decades to come about our losses and survivals experienced throughout our global community that will teach future generations and researchers. 

To learn more about the 1878 epidemic, click this link: https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/yellow-fever-epidemics/.

Genealogy in the fast lane

Back when life was slower and technology was limited to black & white televisions and rotary dial telephones, genealogy research and record keeping was conducted by visiting libraries, digging through musty or moldy documents, and sharing information with relatives and neighbors.

Today, genealogy research has taken a new twist. Much like our ancestors, we love to share what we find, but on public forums and boards. The future for accuracy and completeness scares me. It is becoming more and more evident on various public family trees. One cannot and should not believe what they find until they do 'due diligence' to find the origin of that information. It can be a daunting task, to say the least, especially when there are several generations of a same given name, regardless of the gender.

One example is in my Wildasin ancestral line, and it begins with three sons born to Peter Wildeson (1797-1887) and Catherine Sterner (1807-1887) in York County, Pennsylvania.

• Peter Sterner Wildeson (1836-1911) married Margaret Bollinger (1835-1906). One of their children was a daughter named Amanda Ellen Wildeson (19 Mar 1864-5 Apr 1933) and who married a William John Elder and later a John L. Reily and lived in York County. [Her PA death certificate #40516 confirms: dates of birth and death; parents of Peter and Margaret; location of death and residence at the time of death.]

Photo taken by
Mary K. Wildasin-Staub,
Lazareth Church, Maryland.

• Jacob Sterner Wildeson (1832-1915) married Catherine Yost (1835-1915). One of their daughters was named Lamanda (aka Amanda) Susanna Wildeson (5 Jan 1861- 15 Nov 1933) and who married a George Monath in York County, PA but died in Maryland. [Proof of this Lamanda comes from several sources: marriage announcement and certificate 28 Sept 1884 at the Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary to George; death certificates for Lamanda (#11007) and George (#03541) both in Maryland; a child's death obituary for George Edward Monath dated 13 May 1899; and Lamanda's father Jacob obituary dated 3 Feb 1915, not to mention a land sale from Jacob Sterner Wildasin to his son-in-law George (ref. Book R, page 3 dated 13 mar 1896).]

• Andrew Sterner Wildeson (1846-1926) married Amanda Sipling (1855-1920). They were smart and did not name their daughters Amanda! [This information was confirmed by reading the death certificates for Andrew (#20494) and for Amanda (death certificate #104753).]

I suppose you might say that I have way too much time on my hands to spend time digging in old files and driving to out of state repositories like the Maryland State Archives. To me discovering my ancestral roots and proving their lives is all part of the challenge of genealogy.

Word to the wise ... please be careful in believing what you find. Go the extra mile to find original records, compile a chart to compare your findings, and then make a determination. Later down the road you will appreciate it that you did! 

Happy researching.

P.S. My email is patwistedroots@gmail.com should you want to discuss or share. 

Once Upon a Time ...

... a little girl (that would be me) was born to parents, LeRoy H. Wildasin and Bernice A. Berkheimer.  My dad named me Mary Kathryn after his mother, Mary Catherine.  According to family stories, my great grandmother, I think, also had my name.  This tale leads me on a quest to find out just who these great grandparents were and where my ancestors reside today.  This is what I do know:   

My grandmother's surname was Monath.

The Monath family emmigrated from Germany on a shipping vessel, Orleans, and arrived in the Port of New York circa 1852. 

Christian Monath was age 15 when he came to America on the Orleans.

Every summer my family would attend a Monath reunion in Taneytown, Maryland, along the Big Pipe Creek.

Someone in the family tree maintained a huge wheel with all the ancestors' names on it and now I want to find this big wheel and any living relatives who know of this.

 

If anyone can help me with leads, information, pictures, email addresses, this information would make a very nice ending to my tale. 

Finishing what I started

When 2011 arrived I resolved to finish what I started. Since leaving my job in public relations I found several unfinished projects - a quilt that my mother started, keeping my potted herbs alive and actually cook with them , and completing researching my family tree.  Until today, work and life got in the way.  

Today is the beginning of my personal journey.  My first task ... researching my ancestors beginning with my family and then my husband's.  Who knows where this new hobby could lead me. 

After a few days of digging into my parent's past, I learned that my grandmother Ida Mae (Simpson) Berkheimer's family has links to England.  My other grandmother Mary Catherine (Monath) Wildasin has roots back to Germany.  Oh, but there is so much to do - organizing data, documenting information, putting a name to all the photos that my parents stuck (literally) in a photo album.  My dad glued photos to the pages of his photo album.  Thank goodness for scanners!