Wedding Wednesday – Gail W. Garnett and Corinne J. Johnson

Omaha World Herald, 19 Mar 1946:

Corinne Johnson to Wed Monday

The engagement and approaching marriage of their daughter, Miss Corinne Joy Johnson, was announced Sunday at a buffet dinner by Mr. and Mrs. Sigurd P. Johnson.  Miss Johnson’s fiance is PhM1C Gail W. Garnett, son of Mrs. Grace Garnett.  The couple will be married Monday at 8 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Chruch.

Mr. and Mrs. Gail W. Garnett -25 Mar 1946

The Wedding Party – Bob Schiller, Keith Johnson, Tony Jacobson, Gail, Corinne, Missy Johnson, Ann Madsen, Lois Johnson.

Talented Tuesday – Poetry by Jenny

The following is a poem written by my great grandmother, Virginia (Jenny) Coate Harper. I thought it was very fitting for this beautiful Midwestern spring day.

SPRING AGAIN

Happy springtime’s here again,

The gladdest of the year.

The birds are singing in the trees

To fill our hearts with cheer.

There’s violets blooming in the dell

Where bunny rabbits play,

And bees are droning round the trees

Mid apple blossoms gay.

The daffodils and tulip bright

Begins a gorgeous race,

While lilac, rose, and columbine

Will vie for scent and grace.

The turtledove coos to its mate

As their nest they have just begun

While mother hen and baby chicks

Are basking in the sun.

Long furrows top of fresh plowed soil

Stretch far across the field,

A symbol of the thoughts and plans

For crops this earth will yield.

At signs of putting forth new life

Some happy thoughts must cling

For birds, and beast and all mankind

Must love the happy spring.

Jenny was born on 21 Mar 1874 to Calvin W. and Candace (Coppock) Coate.  She married Elbert S. Harper on 22 Dec 1902.  Jenny died on 28 Sep 1950. Much of her poetry was discovered years after her death, mixed among personal papers and possessions.  Many of these poems were written on the backs of used envelopes, old letters, or scraps of paper.  In the 1990’s, Jenny’s granddaughter, Betty, self-published a small collections of Jenny’s poetry to preserve it for future generations.[1]

[1] Schwartman, Betty (Taylor) Smith, Ed., Jenny: A  Portrait in Poetry. 199?, self-published.

Society Saturday – Nebraska State Genealogical Society Conference

Today is day 2 of the Nebraska State Genealogical Society’s 38th Annual Conference in Grand Island.  Yesterday we had several great session from George Morgan of Aha!Seminars.  “The Genealogist as CSI” was a refreshing view of genealogy research from a different perspective.  We look for clues, gather evidence, evaluate the evidence, develop hypotheses, and reach conclusions just like crime scene investigators do.

George also spoke about using maps to further our genealogy research, as well as locating and analyzing obituaries for more clues.  The sessions also included a panel discussion from several lineage societies, including Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Colonial Dames, The Society of Mayflower Descendents, and Union Daughters of the Civil War.  Although I am already a member of DAR, I really think I should talk to a few friends about joining Colonial Dames, and Union Daughters. Both sound like worthwhile organizations. Alas, I do not qualify for the Mayflower Society. Darn.

Today we look forward to more lectures from George on using the U.S. Agricultural Census Schedules, and gleaning clues from newspapers.  We also have on the schedule, Kassie Nelson speaking on Handing Down History to the next generation, and a panel discussion on Genealogical Computer Programs (Legacy, RootsMagic, FamilyTreeMaker). I can’t wait for another great day of communing with my genealogy friends and colleagues.

Tombstones Tell a History of Their Own

Often times as genealogists, we utilize tombstones as sources of data for the birth and death information on our ancestors. Being able to see a gravestone (or a picture) can open up doors for discovery that we, as genealogists, often dream about. Perhaps it might be the foreign place of birth, military history, or groups to which our ancestor belonged.  However, in my case, it was a small piece of history immortalized for all time.

Several years ago, I was contacted by a kind fellow genealogist, who located me via an on-line family tree. During a recent trip to a local cemetery, this genealogist had stumbled about the gravestone for my great-great-great grandfather, Andrew Daubenheyer, in Hancock County, Illinois.  This kind lady was contacting me because of the uniqueness of the information contained on the stone.  Following Andrew’s vital information was the phrase, “Killed by the Mormans in Sept. 1845”. Intrigued, I immediately contacted the Hancock County Historical Society for information from county history books to discover the rest of the story.  Meanwhile, my new genealogist friend contacted a reporter for the nearby Fort Madison Daily Democrat.  Soon after I received an e-mail copy of the newspaper article, Some Tombstones Show Sentiment of the Times, by Jerry Sloat

During the mid-1840s, Hancock County, Illinois, and the city of Nauvoo, became an area of settlement for the Latter Day Saints, as they were driven farther and farther westward.  Andrew Daubenheyer, one of the local settlers in the area, like many of his friends and neighbors, was displeased with the settlement of the Mormans. This lead to a tumultuous time in Hancock County history.[1]

The History of Hancock County tells of Andrew Daubenheyer’s demise.  “On the 18th of September he started to Carthage with a two-horse wagon. On the evening of the 20th he started for his home on horseback, which he never reached, but on the morning of the 21st his horse came home without him. On his road home was encamped a body of Mormons…and the belief was that he had been waylaid and killed by them. Search being made his body was afterward found, buried near the place of the encampment.”1

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Tull Cemetery in Hancock County, where Andrew and his wife, Jerusha, are buried.  High on a hill, overlooking the Mississippi River, stands a wonderful tombstone that hints at a history of its own.

[1]Gregg, History of Hancock County (1880), p. 344.