More Familyology

The importance of a good chair

2011-12-30T10:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I sat at my dining room table with the laptop to my side, my big binder of family group sheets in front of me, and various notebooks and files around me... I was going through every detail already written and putting to pencil and paper where I found all such tidbits... When I got to their portion, I ended up chasing my husband's grandparents as best I could, trying to nail down a solid date for something. You wouldn't think a deceased generation not so far removed would be so tricky... I called a half dozen cemeteries with the information I have. I found one possible lead so far for Cecelia Gutierrez-Avila-Castro but the death date is different than I thought it would be. Did she die in 1973 or 1977? And her first husband, the father of my husband's mother and her siblings, did he legally go by Refugio and by Nabor to his family and friends?

This paper chase has begun to remind me of the one I have with my Irish immigrant family, the Howard's and Waters. The censuses had different ages each time so that a birth date could not be concluded. I couldn't get a death date besides "spring of 1924" because she went by Ellen Mary and not Mary Ellen. WHAT?! Why didn't I think of that before? So now I finally have cemetery records of those two, my second great grandparents, and a death certificate. It still doesn't verify for real when and where they were born, because the family left behind provided that information, but at least it's something. This is the same kind of problem I'm having with the immigrants on my husband's side, from Mexico and perhaps even from Italy.

I had to get up several times to do things (rescue some hapless object from the jaws of the family dog, make lunch, do dishes, help the husband) but sitting down again I began to realize my seat wasn't so happy. By the time we went to Goodwill to look at a glass table my husband had found that was perfect for our big flat TV and it's personal affects, my whole leg was yelling at me from upper mid-calf through my hammy gluteus-maximus. The dining room chairs, while graceful in appearance, are an affront to the backside with long periods of use. It makes me think of certain kinds of restaurants that are designed to move people rather than beckon them to stay. My dining room does not like loitering, and my right leg was the proof.

Then another old saying drifted through my head, "The mind can only absorb what the seat can endure."

Man, ain't that the truth.

So now, Friday, my husband is at work, my son is off playing with friends, and I have two rooms to rearrange and a whole lot of stuff to move, organize and store. One piece of furniture causes such a huge ripple effect. The parrot's cage is finally moving out of the living room so she won't be screaming at all our visitors and we can watch TV in peace; She, too, will be able to go to sleep at the proper birdy-bed time and perhaps be less cranky for it. I get to do it all by myself, but I had to write about this first, because sometimes, no matter how passionate I feel about recording stories and facts and images of loved ones gone before, I have to get other things done first. I have to get the house in order so the husband is happy, cause if he's happy I can work on other matters of organization, if that is done I can make a nook for myself to really knuckle down and focus on what I love- THIS- I can only do so much from an uncomfortable chair.

Scrubbin'

2011-09-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

Well I don't know about y'all, but my chief excuse this last year for not moving forward much with genealogy was "too much information loitering my basement and computer". I needed to get a handle on what was in my Legacy program file (dumped out of Ancestry) and compare it to all that I have. I need to scrub all my files, as it were... and finally this week, I have begun to do just that.

It has Begun.

It's going to be like comedy, I'm sure. I do know, from professional experience, that I just have to take it on one task at a time and try to be smart about it. I know there are things I have that I have not input yet, or have not cited my sources. I need to meticulously log my sources, my family group sheets, and my pedigrees.

The system I started before sucks and I have decided to make a log in Excel based on all the individuals' names and info (dumped from Legacy in a csv file), then track parents and spouses and charts on the same line. I file them in a 4" rough-and-tough binder with alphabetical tabs now. Anyone with the last name beginning with "A", regardless of how far removed from my direct ancestors, will be found in the "A" tab. The numbers run consecutively, but heedless of traditional alphabetical order beyond the "A". Numbers are assigned as the charts are made. No bias, no fuss... If I make a bunch of new charts, I will number the stack, then put them in the log, then file in the binder. Letter "W" may have charts 1, 2, 3, 4, 17, 28, 29, 30, 52 etc.

anyway... it's fun.

And I still need to finish my photo and document log, too. They will be closely guarded.

The Tides of Genealogy

2011-06-21T10:15:00.001-07:00

The genealogy bug ebbs and wanes. The excitement of actually finding those you are looking for, sucks you in until the inevitable brick wall stands in your path and frustrates you to no end.

For those who have not tried genealogy or are not interested, it is hard for them to imagine how excited a person can get just by finding a known family member on a census which puts you hot on the trail of others. The excitement rises when you find another ancestor that you had been looking for. Alas, the trails often grow cold or lead to dead ends. There often seems to be no resolution, no resource, nothing that leads to the one you're searching for. This is where we get bored with it all, annoyed, and just plain tired of learning that the records you need, were destroyed.

Just like the tides of the ocean, genealogy research ebbs and wanes. You'll get your awesome surf days with big waves and beautiful skies and you'll get those days where the ocean seems as calm as a pond and the clouds block the sun.

All I can say is to not give up. New records are added to databases every day. New people might have information to give you. Focus on another ancestor if the one you had been searching for, proves elusive. Sometimes, on a sunny day with big waves, that other ancestor will lead you right to the one you were searching for all along and the bug will bite you once again.

Kooky families and Good Food

2011-02-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across this blog, Aunt Peaches, and smiled as I read about the far reaching story around a family tradition recipe for Apple Kuchen. What a great tribute to a kooky family.

I think a lot of us have stories like this that we just don't realize we have.

For a woman who could not hear and rarely spoke, Big Alice could communicate across an ocean with her facial expressions. In fact, it was not until Herbert’s mention in the parking lot that day that I realized she was deaf. In my mind, we had spoken dozens of times. Heck, we were pals! She played in my blanket fort. I fetched her unfiltered cigarettes from the patio. She saw me hide brussel sprouts into my napkin and didn’t tattle. I didn’t say anything when I saw her taking a swig off a wine bottle in the kitchen just before she took it out to the table. Herbert’s news that she was deaf came as shock. In vain I searched my memory for the sound of her voice.

Isn’t it strange how the very young and the very old have no problem communicating without words?

Her nickname, Big Alice, was misleading. The woman weighed as much as a wet hamster. The name came only after she had a daughter, dubbed Little Alice, whose daughter then became known as Tiny Alice. As fate would have it, Tiny Alice recently had a baby girl named Emma, which is a lovely name, but I was really looking forward to one day adding an entry to my address book under the name Infinitesimal Alice.

I'll be coming back to this blog. And yes, Peaches, people are like cook books.

My sister years ago took upon her and (her husband) the task of making a Family Cook Book, "Hot Rod Recipes", which went way out of the box. I still refer to it; some good food, good stories, good graphic art, and a great way to remember people who've gone and shuffled off this molten core.

Mount Olivet Cemetery DC

2010-07-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

Out on the East coast, Mount Olivet Cemetery is on 1300 Bladensburg Road, N.E., Washington, District of Columbia, USA 20002
Phone: (202) 399-3000

Here, my 2nd great grandmother's brother is buried, and may hold the key to finding the rest of the Krausers. We're waiting to see if we can get a photo submitted of his grave and any further information about the family. I did find a map of the grounds at www.FindAGrave.com

submitted requests for George's brother, Joseph, and parents, Joseph and Lydia. Also enquired about grandmother, Mary Teresa (Rosina) Krauser.

GEORGE EDWARD KRAUSER
Born 1882 (or thereabouts) Died 24 October, 1942
Section 58 lot 976

Howard Family part two

2010-05-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

Alrighty then... I had all these eloquent ideas of how to write floating around yesterday, as I was walking on sunshine... I'm still happy about this, but my mind is zinging wanting to discover NOW, not just sit and write about the process. I know they're not going anywhere, they've been buried almost a hundred years, so I should be able to do this.

When I got off the BART, the first thing I did was walk straight to the Department of Public Health and Vital Statistics. It's so grand that all these things are right there within walking distance of the station. I stood in line (should have filled out my forms then) with everyone else, although there was a sign or two that said "Genealogists and Government Agencies must see cashier for service", which was encouraging. I don't remember seeing that before.

Now I should have finished writing this back in May, but now it's January and the details have deteriorated further. The guy at the window was nice and helpful. I gave him the sheet I made up with all the detective hints on it as well as the prescribed forms for ordering death certificates. Then I had to wait. I was starving, so I went to a restaraunt around the corner and waited for a table until I was too anxious to eat and left again. I don't remember if I ever ate in the city. When I went back I was only partially disappointed, and here's why.

After all these years, the death record has not Mary Ellen Howard, but Ellen Mary! I got the death certificate for Ellen that day because everything else matched up. I didn't have the correct dates for Thomas Howard until after I spoke with someone at the cemetery. Now, with a solid date and calling her Ellen, they found them both. I could get his death certificate right now. I could go to the cemetery plot right now, and though I'm sure their names aren't in stone, at least I'd know where the blazes their bones are! That's something!

Howard Family Descrepancies

2010-05-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

Relying on family memory sometimes can be a detriment. Thomas Howard and Mary Waters were indeed married, were indeed both from Ireland, and did live, raise a family, work, and die in San Francisco. According to family record, typed out in 1952, they are supposed to be buried in the plot of Thomas' former employer, the Cooper's, at Cypress Lawn. The cemetery has no record of them, with Coopers or otherwise. None of their information matches perfectly into any vital record index, and even the census information seems dodgey. With a list of important criteria and all the little errors, hopefully today I can at last resolve some of this.

First, what we think we know.

Mary Howard (Maiden name Mary Ellen Waters) born in Sligo, Ireland. Died at age 80. had broken her hip, pneumonia resulted. Buried in Cooper plot at Cypress Lawn in spring of 1924 about April.

This would make her born in 1844.

Thomas Howard died at 60 years. Native of Limerick, Ireland. Burried Jan. 25th 1918 Grave belonging to Cooper family, both buried in same plot.

This would make him born in 1858, and about 14 years younger than his wife.

1880 census has Thomas, age 28, born 1852, Mary, age 37, born 1843.

1900 census has Thomas, age 49, born 1854, Mary, age 53, born 1846. (January and October)

1910 census has Thomas, age 55, born 1855, Mary, age 65, born 1845.

Also in 1900 it says they were married 33 years (m. 1867, oldest living child born about 1874). In 1910, it says married 31 years! Married in 1879, after several children were born? Not in THAT Catholic family! It's all whacked. I'm sure the death certificates, assuming I can find them, will have some perpetuated whackadoo information, but at least there will be ONE thing settled, when they did, in fact, die, and where their remains were released. That's two things.

So... off I go... wish me luck!

Full Circle with the Browns and Perrys

2010-03-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

You may recall my elation when I found Jim and Niz Brown, he being the nephew of my great grandmother Gertrude V. Brown, and cousin of my grandmother, Jeanette Stewart. Jim has many family photos and had many connections, but knowledge of what became of Jeanette's half-brother George Perry and his children was limited. He hadn't talked to the boys in a long time. I had tried to find them, the sons of George and Nancy, but to no avail.

Until a few days ago... a surreal message came up in Ancestry. The eldest son of George had found US through our common ancestors, and he was from another mother! I'm still kind of goofy about this. At first I thought I had been mistaken, forgetting that sometimes people have more than one family. (HA!) But after talking with him and seeing some of his puzzle pieces, it all makes more sense now. He was the "oldest son" who picked up Dad's remains and went on one last car trip to release him to the US Navy for scattering at sea off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. Very cool.

So we now know Gertrude's firstborn has the name

Finding and losing family members

2010-02-02T14:48:00.001-08:00

Last spring, I managed to track down Patricia O'Reilly (1st cousin of my father, daughter of Blanche DeMarc-O'Reilly-Pastorino and Joseph Albert O'Reilly). From Blanche's obit, I found her step-sister's name and via internet searches, I managed to get her phone number. The step-sister gave me her last known address and phone number which didn't get me far.

My dad had a brilliant idea that an old friend of his, had ties to Redding, CA where Patricia's was last noted as residing. I tracked my dad's friend who, after doing some catch up, decided to go to the last known address for Patricia and failing in finding her, would talk to neighbors.

Well, he didn't find Pat, but found a talkative neighbor who agreed to help. Apparently Pat had a stroke several years back and was in a nursing home. She was a drinker who had few friends, severed family ties, and was pretty much a loner. She kept money hidden in her freezer and the neighbor told us that she wasn't trusting of anyone, feeling that they were out to get her money.

The very sweet neighbor told us the nursing home Pat was at and agreed to facilitate a visit to her. Off dad and I went to Redding for a dual purposes. One, to find Pat and two, to visit with dad's old friend.

Pat's old neighbor was little old lady and the sweetest thing. Chatty, lonely, and helpful. We went to pick her up and drove over to the nursing home. We brought flowers for Pat, pink roses because that's what her old neighbor told us she had loved. Apparently Pat used to tend to her rose bushes with love and care and was a cat lover. We also brought old photos of the family so that we could prove who we were and new photos of the family she never met.

With the kindly help of a CNA on duty, we found Pat eating lunch in the cafeteria . She seemed pleased to have visitors and the flowers. The saddest part of all, Pat could only say, 'Yes.' She couldn't speak other than that, but the cadence in which she said the word somewhat expressed how she felt. We left to let her finish her meal while the CNA led us back to her room.

My dad was devastated. He has spent such a long time without contact with anyone other than his father as far as the O'Reilly clan goes, that I know he was holding out hope for more. So was I to tell the truth. The sadness we both felt was evident and I choked back tears on the way to her room.

There was little in the way of personal effects in Pat's room. Some DVD's, a small TV, and one photo album with pictures of Pat as a youth where she was obviously modeling. The pictures included one of her mother and some other people we didn't know.

There were some cards and letters, but we didn't get much chance to look at them as Pat was soon wheeled in. By now, you could tell that she wasn't pleased we were there. I believe she figured out that we were family and was quite insistent that we leave. She was waving us off, turned her back to us and was shaking her head 'no.'

So, family found and family lost. I'm not quite ready to give up on Pat, but I'm lost as how to go about connecting with her. I'm still trying to get over her inability to speak and the way we were dismissed. I guess it hit me harder than I thought. One thing is for sure, I need to do whatever I'm going to do before she's really gone.

~SIGH~

Name changes

2010-02-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

Honestly, I should post more often. A resolution to a lost password may help :)
So, I resolved the Sognara-Wilson last name issue. Kind of. Wincenzo Sognara, at some point, changed his name to John Vincent Wilson(b 1846 d 1916). As a reminder, John Vincent Wilson was Gazella Wilson-Winkler-Watson's father. Gazella was my g-grandmother. Anyway, some documents sent by cousin Marsha included his Certificate of Naturalization.

I have no idea when or why he changed his name, but I did come across a newspaper announcement of divorces granted and it's possible that Mr. Sognara changed his name as a result of the divorce. If that was him and his ex-wife, the reason cited was cruelty or something along those lines. Dun, dun, dun...the plot thickens. I'm such a hopeless mess that I can't find the article now.

Little tidbits that show up out of no where, make me wonder who else has documents that could solve all the riddles that leave us banging our heads on our desks.

Florrie

2010-02-02T02:03:00.000-08:00

She has her "birthdate" profile already, but this morning I woke up from a dream and couldn't get back to sleep right away. I kept thinking about Florrie Winkler, daughter of Henry and Caroline. I never knew her last husband's name, and thus never knew her death date. I knew she lived in SF and Sonoma county... She is the only child of theirs I didn't have a death date for.

anyway

I did a wild search in the California Vitals (which I thought I did before) pulling all F*or* in case she spelled it different, born in February of 1883... and through process of elimination (no Winkler maiden names listed, so it had to be a blank, would have been born in CA) I found one in Marin

DIPERNO, FLORENCE H born 1883 / 2 / 21 FEMALE born in CA died in MARIN 1974 / 6 /4

and finding her in the SSDI again makes perfect sense she died in Fairfax, CA, the same town her daughter lived in. She probably came to stay with her daughter as age began to grip her. She was 91 when she passed. Wow... now to find some Obit's...

(I thought maybe she would be buried at Mt. Tam, where her daughter is, but she isn't)

Then of course 1920 and 1930 censuses she shows up with Joe Diperno, with her daughter assuming his name, so she may have remarried not long after Nicholas' death. They lived in Santa Rosa, then in Glen Ellen, out in the country just North of Sonoma and West of Napa. The census images did not have the addresses on them, harumph!, but I can look them up in city directories later on. There must have been some discarded correspondence between these cousins, they stayed so close... I can't stand the thought of relations living so close in proximity and being so distant.

Cindles and Stewarts

2010-01-29T10:49:00.000-08:00

Well it's about blinkin' time I found something new. This morning I was just going through my 'basic' family tree on Ancestry, the stuff I pretty much know by heart, and attaching actual documents to the people. Well I got back into the Stewarts and noticed a bunch of other family trees that overlapped mine... So the first revelation, and backed up by censuses, was our Mary Alice Cindle (she preferred Alice) whose parents are (ta-daaa!) Robert Cindle and Nancy Elisabeth Nicholas.

I'm still going back from there and to the sides, but it's so refreshing to find another previously unknown generation and siblings! I've spent a lot of chore time on this... have to get back to reality now... Till soon!

Slacking?

2009-12-27T21:04:00.001-08:00

yes, you might say as much.

I have some new information that I just haven't processed and posted yet. I'm also looking for a paying job. This kind of work I get excited about, but it doesn't pay the bills...

Rohrbachs FOUND

2009-07-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

Holy Cannoli! I finally started looking into the 1870 census lead, that I've had for about a year. Don't know why I was so skeptical. I looked up the "alleged brothers" of my 2nd great grandmother, and found someone ELSE who's been researching them through Ancestry. Hoping the contact link was still fresh I sent them a message and waited... only a couple days, thank goodness! He confirmed we are indeed related if my grandmother married a Winkler and moved to California.

So this morning I was talking to the guy, because he gave me his phone number instead of email (the ancestry site was giving him trouble) and he not only knows what village or town Caroline's father came from, but he's got documentation and has personally been there more than once. "If you could ever imagine a town in Germany you'd like to be from, that would be it." he said. He also has baptismal records in Latin, going back into the 1600's....

Needless to say, I'm floored.

Caroline's father, Philip, was a piano forte maker. Henry Winkler probably worked for him. It will be interesting to see how these little bits do or don't unravel. He said Philip's will said something about trying to track down Caroline. And the mother was not Martha... We talked about the family graves in Brooklyn, and other uncles... Well... I don't want to give a bunch of misinformation in my rush of excitement, it will be coming to me in bits and pieces, but it will come. I am so full of gratitude that I was led to this cousin, and that I could provide his missing links as well. No accidents...

2009-07-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

Striding o'er the heathered hills
we visit those who're marked by cairns,
converse by fire and window sills
with widows, crofters, and wee bairns..

a little something I started writing just now...

Phil Rohrbach

2009-07-12T13:02:00.001-07:00

Phil Rohrbach

Shared via AddThis

Sharing the Joy

2009-05-02T12:10:00.000-07:00

Another part of the joy of family history is getting someone else excited about sharing! My friend just recently started HIS own kind of Familyology blog, called Hin und Zuruck (There and Back). Not easy to stumble upon, not like this one...

Things/ Places we have in common: Alsace-Lorraine; Baden, Germany; Rohrbach as a name and place... we're trying to prove that we're distantly related. Take a gander at his site!

Another stamp...

2009-03-20T21:36:00.000-07:00

SO curiosity is getting the better of me, and I went ahead and ordered two marriage certificates. I think I mentioned finding marriage records on Vitalsearch for Frances Lambert, first her marriage to Michele Fragassi in 1916, and then what may be a second marriage in 1939... We'd like to confirm if this is a coincidence or our same Frances. It would sure be nice to find out when and where she died, too. That will hopefully come soon.

And my apologies for not posting much recently. I can't do this at work (literally, it's blocked) and my time at home is not what it once was... I am working on really cleaning up my family files and then will search for a web host with a lot of storage space.

Till next time...

CHECK THE UPDATE AT THE LA FRAGASSI MARRIAGES POST

Olivet: Then and Now

2009-01-23T21:11:00.000-08:00

Somewhere in here is another post with a roll call at Olivet Memorial Park. Recently we were given this amazing photo of what the Winkler grave and surroundings looked like in 1915.

Today it looks like this...

Well I thought it was interesting to look at both, side by side.

Check what's new for Amelia Winkler...

If you look hard enough...

2009-01-18T22:18:00.000-08:00

You might just find something.

Now, I am not 100% positive, but I think I found my great-great-grandfather Joseph O'Reilly on the 1900 Census. I have had this copy of the census since last year and was just looking for something more concrete. Well, my great grandfather's obit lists sisters named Emma and Nellie. This census shows Joseph with a father named James, brother John, sisters Nellie and Emeli (sp?).

The dates of birth for Nellie on the death index are one year off from the census, same for Joseph.

I also have a 1910 census showing James, John and Emma. I hope these are the same people. The birth dates are a couple years off from the 1900 census.

How many households would have a Joseph, Emma and Nellie, in SF, with dates the same as my verified clan? My grand father's middle name was James and we had no idea where that came from. Now, we might.

I'm not 100% positive so I'm reserving jumping for joy. +1/2 for our side!

On another front, in my search for a possibly surviving O'Reilly cousin, I found her step sister. +1 Yahoo! subtract 1 for the fact that she hasn't heard from or seen her in 12ish years and she never had children (that should be two, but I'm only subtracting 1). The score is back to zero for me, ancestors 1000 LOL! But wait! She isn't listed on the death index. That's got to be a bonus right? +1 for our side.

Aha! Not to be beat, my dad remembered a friend living in the last known city of this cousin. Successful location and contact with old friend + 1. The fact that he's willing to go where ever we need in this city to see if he can locate the cousin +1. The score is now 3 1/2 for us and 996 1/2 for them.
Ah well, it's not all that bad.

I did manage to, kind of, organize all this paperwork. The bad news, the cat decided to knock the big binder off of my desk and it is all a jumbled mess which is worse than it was before organizing. Back to the beginning.

Check the mail, silly

2008-12-26T22:07:00.000-08:00

I already posted today about not receiving the birth and death certificates from Los Angeles County... but later this afternoon as I was about to go off somewhere, I peeked into the mail slot and saw a fat envelope with Yoda stamps on it and my own handwriting... My SASE had arrived- the day after Christmas! Had to get it, had to read it...

Summarizing: more evidence of ignorance with spelling variances of the family name on official documents. There may be an alternate, more flowery spelling of Frances Lambert- Fragassi's first name. It may end in 'neisa, which is very pretty sounding, but it could be that the person writing Angelina's certificate got too liberal with " i's ". You'd have to see the document- which has "Informational Only" emblazoned on it...

It turns out that the mysterious little Laura is another sister of Rocky. The causes of the girls' deaths would not look good on a resume... I'll have to write about them separately.

LA Fragassi Marriages

2008-12-26T10:31:00.000-08:00

As I was enjoying lying in bed well after sunrise (a rare treat) I thought about doing a little research today... I prayed that I would be guided to something that would shed more light on the Fragassi family's distant past. Then I started the day...

After a while I turned on the computer, to try out Mozilla's Firefox web browser recently installed, and went to Vitalsearch... I decided to look and see what was new, and found the marriage section pretty large, especially for Los Angeles county. First I tried to find a marriage date for Rocky and Lucy. They're indexed by Bride, alphabetically as best they could, so I searched 10 scanned pages of 1947... no Lucy... 42 pages in 1946... no Lucy... 10 pages of 1948... still no Lucy. Maybe they married in another county? Did they go to Vegas?

Not about to leave empty-handed, I looked for Frances Lambert Fragassi, just in case she remarried. I began searching 8 pages from 1939, on 'their' page 328 I found:

1939 - Oct 24
LAMBERT, FRANCES E to Harold J Thome or Thorne
recorded in book 1628, page 262

I'm not a hundred percent sure this is our Frances, but seeing as it's about a month after our Frances' husband died, it could be... and it certainly could be the reason her son wrote her off. So to be fair, I looked for any Fragassi... nope. I'll follow this lead later, to see if this was the name she died with...

(thankfully the certificate arrived and this was not our Frances!)

So then I thought I'd take a look around the time between 1909 when Michele came back to the US and 1918 when Angelina was born... The first reasonably searchable bit was 1916 - 1918 Los Angeles County Brides, 4 pages to search. On the first page I found:

1916 - Nov 13
LAMBERT, FRANCES to MICHELE FRAGASSI
Clerk file 5471, Book 268, page 59

Now THAT one I'd really like to see. It may have parents' names and better dates and places... maybe even witnesses... I'm going to order that one soon. Haven't gotten any of the other certificates I ordered, yet.

April 24th the certificates arrived... Frances Lambert, 18 years old, white, single, first marriage, born in Mexico to Quandos Lambert (born in France) and C. Lambert (?) also born in France! (This being a legal document drawn up by adults with their wits about them, one would hope this was more accurate than the censuses who said because Frances was born in Mexico her parents must be Mexican... Verrrry interesting... And Michele Fragassi, 26 years old, white, single, first marriage, born in Italy, occupation : Gardener, father Rocco Fragassi of Bitritto, Italy and Angela Binetti of Bitritto, Italy... Witnessed by L. J. Gutierrez of 627 Alpine Street, married by Edward H. Fitzgerald, a priest, at 167 West 36th Place, LA.

Colleen Sprogis (Dean)

2008-12-03T09:31:00.000-08:00

November 30th - after three years fighting a rare form of cancer, my sister... my beautiful sister... had had enough and gave up her now frail body to go home and be with her husband and the rest of the family.

Colleen graduated from San Marin High in 1979. I remember she worked at the Golden Egg Omlette House in old town Novato for some time. She worked at the Rennaissance Faire many years. She made jewelry for Lewis and Company several years in Santa Rosa.

She married James Bruce Dean (who predeceased her in 1998) in 1989, and a few years later was blessed with the first of two boys.

Her obituaries will be published in five newspapers. The Anderson Valley Times, the Ukiah paper, the Press Democrat, the Novato Advance, and the Marin Independant Journal.

She is sorely missed.

Write a check, lick a stamp...

2008-11-25T21:12:00.000-08:00

I finally got off my hangup horse and ordered four documents from the county of Los Angeles. Birth certificates for Angelina "Frigassi" and Roccke "Fragessi", death certificates for Emalina and Laura Fragassi, both young children. I would really like some more solid information and leads for when ever we actually get down to LA. Sure we'll go to Disneyland and all that, but we have to do some field research as well.

So, we'll see what shakes out of that part of the family tree... I hope it arrives before Christmas.

Some day my prints will come

2008-08-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

or not... I haven't ordered any, but I thought it sounded musical in a Snow White kind of way. I've been on hiatus ( i think that's how it's spelled) for a while but some small pangs of guilt have been setting in... I should make prints of my favorite pictures of my direct ancestors (at least) and put them together in a book for my son...

What if something happens and all that stuff I've been sitting on gets ruined? Why can't I just get it over with and scan like mad a day or two, burn some CD's and breathe? Why don't I get with mom or someone and tidy up my GEDCOM file so I can throw it online to be useful? I have the technology... Have you seen Familyology? It's not much to look at now, but it will be some day when I get it out of 'beta'...

Familyology Reading Assessment

2008-06-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

Found something through another blog- you'll find a link in the side bar. Evidently, according to them, you need to be a Genius to read this blog...

A Sunny Day in Colma

2008-04-27T21:14:00.001-07:00

well for all the hours I spent in Holy Cross cemetery and Olivet, you'd think I should have more to show for it... I found several extended family members- particularly from the Winkler's O'Reilly side. I was so exhausted when I got home (old cemeteries can be a real bother when they have such obscure 'addresses' for the permanent residences. trust me, this is why I have these virtual cemetery tours, because once you've spent hours trying to find one grave, you don't wish it on anyone...) I uploaded my pictures from the camera but didn't put them on the web yet. If anyone this year complains to me about it, I'll be very VERY surprised.

Next time I'm going to the library. And next time I go cemetery hopping, I'm going to ask for more specific directions from the office, looking at the plat maps.

Marguerite found again

2008-04-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

I just got a fresh batch of old documents from my father. Apparently Rowena didn’t throw everything out! I’ve breezed through most of it, original papers from the cemetery and funeral home, little notes on scraps of paper… The most valuable are the newspaper clippings of obituaries for Frank and Catherine. Right in print is a different name for Margaret (Daughter from his first wife) than I had been chasing (Ratchford rather than Stoddard) which explains the failure to produce her death certificate before. After running the name through the California Death Index I came up with a different year of birth, too!

RATCHFORD, MARGUERI (TE left off) born July 17, 1898 in California to ZEPPETIN.

Died May 15, 1963 in San Francisco. Social Security # 546-30-0789

Stoddard is on a few old pictures, so either there was confusion or she remarried. I’ve seen other conflicting things in handwritten accounts of family history, so it’s no surprise. Often advancing age can distort things, and it’s too bad when no one asks these questions until the interviewee is up in years… Still they’re all good clues!

It will be interesting to get a hold of Marguerite’s obituary and death certificate to discover her mother’s true identity and family’s story in the Bay Area. Not knowing has driven me batty, as are all the conflicts about the Howards. (Where ARE they buried?)

I just thought I’d let you know we’ve gotten a new and positive direction for this family’s research. Once I secure another job (this project is almost run out) I’ll get back to voraciously researching and compiling all my findings.

Fresh old documents

2008-04-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

I just got a fresh batch of old documents from my father today regarding the Ambrose family.

Buzzword BROWN

2008-03-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

After all this waiting, wondering, hoping... we finally (and I mean after 80 years) have contact with the Browns again. Words are feeble to express the joy and gratitude at being able to look on the face of our Grandma Gertrude. We still don't know what happened between her and Bob Stewart, way back in 1918, but we can build on where time left off and enjoy the society of our kin once again.

If you have been waiting to see Gertrude Vernona Brown's face , check her post! Please don't trouble yourself to print these off the web, we've much better quality scans.

If you would like to see her parents, go to theirs; George W. Brown and Josephine R. Krauser.

Last night my brother Kyle and I met just a few of the living relatives of this family and was it a joy! We were up waaaay past our bed times looking at pictures, telling stories and tasting Croatian Apple Strudel after we had already savored one of the best meals I have had in a long time. Even the eggplant! It is strangely wonderful how families can be totally separate and intertwined at the same time. Learning how close we lived to each other, the schools we attended, etc...

There is so much more I'll have to write about this. Let me see if I can outline the tangible events that led to this:

Jeanette Stewart had fleeting memories of her mother and a miniscule amount of "facts", her name, she was born in Washington, she was a nurse and died as a result of radiation from Xrays or something like that in the 20's or 30's.

In 1988 Jeanette's oldest daughter (?) sent for a birth certificate for Gertrude in Washington State and then to Washington DC. DC actually had it.

In 2006 and 2007 a granddaughter or two found census records relating to the family.

In 2007 Jeanette's granddaughter made (one of many posts and inquiries from several grandchildren) a post on Rootsweb that got noticed by someone who happened to have access to the archives of the Washington Post, thereby unleashing a controlled flood of new information.

This lead to more census perusal, more vital records searching, more cemetery visits... Two death certificates were obtained for Gertrude's brother and her niece which then led the following day to a conversation with Gertie's living nephew, Jim.

Lost? Well call me up and we can discuss it...

How is that for frustrating?

2008-02-27T14:38:00.000-08:00

As more and more records become available online, things get a little easier for us family historians however, there are still a few glitches. The lack of the 1890 US Census, the destruction of records and documents in the 1906 SF Fire and Earthquake, and the destruction of Ireland census records to name a few.

This is a quote from http://www.oz.net/~markhow/writing/holl.htmwhich summarizes information from various sources regarding the destruction of the 1890 census.

"One of the things that you learn early on in U.S. genealogical research is that the 1890 census is not available. Usually beginners are told that it was lost in a fire. The individual census schedules from the 1890 which might have been microfilmed to the advantage of all family historians are a gaping hole in our research. The 1890 census was taken at a time of huge immigration to this country and it would have been one of the first Federal records a newly arrived immigrant would appear on after getting off the boat."

"In March of 1896, the special schedules for the 1890 census which included those for mortality, poverty, and handicap status were damaged by a fire and their remains were destroyed by order of the Department of the Interior. By 1921, the original and only copies of the 1890 census population schedules were stored in an unlocked file room in the basement of the Commerce Building, resting on pine wood shelving. A fire of unknown origin broke out in the basement on the evening of January 10th. The Washington D.C. fire department contained the fire to the basement of the building with at least twenty fire hoses pouring water into the basement. In the aftermath of the fire, the Census Director estimated that 25% of the 1890 schedules had been destroyed and 50% were damaged by water, smoke, or fire. Note that this estimate would suggest that 75% of the 1890 schedules survived the fire itself in either damaged or untouched condition."
"By the end of January 1921, the remains of the 1890 schedules were moved out of the basement of the Commerce Building and into temporary storage. The condition of their storage at the Commerce Building had helped to strengthen calls for a permanent National Archives to be built. Between 1921 and 1932, the history of these remnants is difficult to determine. It appears that no salvage or restoration efforts occurred. In December of 1932, the Chief Clerk of the Bureau of the Census sent the Librarian of Congress a list of papers to be destroyed. This was standard Federal record keeping procedure at the time. This list included the original 1890 census schedules! The Librarian was asked by the Bureau to identify any records which should be retained for historical purposes but the Librarian did not note any records on the list worthy of saving. Congress authorized destruction of that list of records on February 21, 1933 and thus the 1890 census remains were destroyed by government order by 1934 or 1935."

Genealogists and family historians have found some ways around the1890 census however, some of the information listed could have proven invaluable for us. What this means in the end is that we should all save our important documents, in multiple formats for the future.

In this age of computer records and huge databases; Where there are tons of extended families and twists and turns in family trees; In this disposable society, you might not care to hold on to a marriage certificate of an ex-spouse of your uncle or you might think that someone could obtain another copy, but who knows when someone will wish it was still around.

You don't need to keep all these documents yourself if you don't want to, there are numerous genealogy sites that collect this type of information. It's darn expensive to get copies of documents like birth certificates now. Hey, while you're at it, note names, dates and locations on those pictures. You might recognize those people and remember where you took the pictures, but your great great grand child won't.

Keep those obits too and burial/cremation records too. Submit the information to the various free obit collections and grave finders online. I know it sounds morbid now, but we all pass at some time or another.

The way I do it is to think, "If I dropped off the face of the earth today, who would pass along the information? Who would go through the photo albums with my son and point out his family that have long since past?"

Piano Questions 101

2008-02-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

Most of us know that Henry E. Winkler and at least two of his sons worked at the family piano manufacturing and repair business. William was a salesman at the store and later Philip, who was a repairman from what we can find.
We have a Sanborn Insurance map from around 1900 that shows the business at 64 Park St. in SF.
We are following some leads and asking questions of some professionals regarding the business and its possible affiliation with Winkler Piano Co. in Trenton, NJ. We'll let you know what we come up with.
Philip was listed on the 1900 census as a plumber along with his brother Frederic. It makes one wonder what is the deciding factor is in choosing a profession in some cases.
I am also researching the area in SF that the Winklers lived. From what I've been told, construction records were lost in the 1906 earthquake and they are relying on water company records to determine the construction date of a home. I believe the water for SF was piped from San Mateo which makes sense that those records survived.
Frederick Winkler's house is listed as being built in 1908. I am trying to determine if this is the original house or a rebuild as Frederick lived there prior to his marriage to Gazella Wilson somewhere around 1904-1906. I know that all houses didn't have running water back then and just because water was hooked up in 1908, doesn't mean that is when the house was built. I will compare new and old pictures of addresses if and when I get them.
We'll let you know what we come up with.

Arthur Heglin

2008-01-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

Okay you conniseurs, this picture is supposed to be cousins Arthur Heglin and Freda Winkler out on a lake... Is that really Artie? Arthur was one of the sons of Anna Winkler and Nels Heglin, born August 23rd, 1908 in San Francisco. He married Margaret Strubel and had a son... He passed away at the age of 78 in San Francisco, June 17, 1987.

Interesting finds and learning to search

2008-01-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

I was browsing through SF City Directories for O'Reilly, Wilson, Winkler, Watson, et al. I come across a listing for Frederick Winkler in the 1907 Directory living on College Ave. Since he passed in November of 1907, my assumption is that the book is a little behind just as our current telephone books are.

They also didn't list spouses in the 1907 Directory. So, I continue looking and find Gazella, his widow listed in the 1911 Directory on College Ave.

Suddenly, a light goes on in my head, I look at the 1910 Census where we found Gazella living with she and Frederick's daughter Freda, along with some people named Vincent J. and Ella Sognara listed as head of household and wife. Zella is listed as daughter and Freda as grand daughter. They're at the same address on College Ave.

Move forward to the 1918 directory and Gazella is now living there with her husband Charles Watson.

So, for all you genealogists among us, watch those addresses and compare them from source to source. If they match from a source you know to be accurate, you've more than likely got the right family.

Also, that Sognara thing has had us confused for a while since we have no idea where the name came from. In Vincent J.'s obit, he is listed as John V. Wilson, Ella's lists her as Sarah Ellen both of them with the last name of Wilson. Vincent's parents were from Austria and Slovenia and he was born in Austria. Sognara certainly isn't a german name.

Previous censuses show their name as Wilson. Vincent and Ella had a son that has been listed as Vincent Jr. and the Vincent name has been carried on two more generations as far as I can tell. The only reason I can see for the name change is either Sognara is Vincent's real last name and he changed it when he got to the USA or it was a census taker mistake. Censuses are well known for errors.

Try not to get frustrated when the information doesn't seem quite right or you can't find someone. Try searching under variant spellings and sometimes first names, just initials, or partial names. Don't forget the abbreviations for names, especially for men's names, that was quite common. Jos. for Joseph, Wm. for William, etc. Women often used variants of their names too. A Google search for 'variation of ____' sometimes adding the year, might give you some options. Another tool could be baby name books or websites. Least, but not last, try the spelling the way it would have been spelled in their native country. Juan=John type thing. Variations sometimes aren't as obvious as you would think

ANOTHER puzzle

2008-01-21T11:29:00.001-08:00

11am January 21: Just now I called Olivet Memorial Park to get some details on Charles and Josephine Lowenguth. I got them alright. Now I have a new mystery...

First we found Charles Loewenguth, who died July 6, 1932. The year is etched on the faceplate of the niche in the columbarium. The date came from the California Death Index, but since the years 1905 through 1939 are only available as scanned images, we don't have a date of birth. He was 64 years old. What Olivet could provide was that he was 64 years, 7 months, 5 days old. His medical attendant was Thomas E Gibson, the funeral home was Wieboldts, he was born in Alsace Lorraine, died from Carcinoma of the bladder, recieved on July 8, 1932 and interred in niche 517 of room F. His last residence was 2687 Harrison Street, San Francisco, legal representative was his wife, Josephine Loewenguth.

Josephine Joos- Loewenguth, sister of Martin, Emilie and Philomena; aunt to Alice, Martin A., Charles, etc. The California Death Index says her date of birth was May 5, 1869, her date of death was July 11, 1948 in Alameda County. It also had her maiden name and mother's maiden name. Olivet told me that she was 79 years old, 2 months, 6 days old. She died at the King's Daughters' Home- which I believe is at 3900 Broadway, Oakland, Alameda County, Ca. and it appears to be a National landmark #1982004976. She had cardiovascular disease, H J Smith attended her, she also went through Wieboldt's funeral home. Cremated on July 13, 1948, recieved the same day, placed in a Bakelite urn and interred in niche 517, room F.

Here's the *huh?!* part... the informant or next of kin for Josephine was her niece, Mrs. G. H. Grimm residing at 2352 Cecilia Ave. San Francisco. I asked if there was a mistake, he said it was very clearly a G.H. Grimm. Now I'm racking my brain to think of who that was!

It may be Georgia Grimm, born about 1883, wife of George Herman Grimm. In 1920 and 1930 they lived in Oakland, Alameda County. George died in 1959, She may have remarried before she died, as there is no Georgia Grimm in the death index.

News on Living Persons

2008-01-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

As I perform as much data analysis and entry as humanly possible for a person with two needy boys - sorry, one boy and one husband- I've come across a very wise tip from a cousin who is a hardcore family history person...

Everyone has concerns about identity theft and general privacy, and sometimes it makes them reserved... very reserved...

Well with the program I intend to use, as I have said before, it allows ME full control over what anyone can see. Namely, the public can see ONLY anyone who's already deceased. In order for them to see information on anyone who is living, they have to get by me, requesting a login, which I can assign levels of reading priveledge to. There are two settings, Nothing at all (only says "Living") or names only. We prefer the public to see nothing at all, thank you.

HOWEVER, the news is that the more information we have (ie. birth date and place, etc.) the easier it is for the software to figure out that 'you' are in fact alive. There's also a check mark thing that can be done (check here for living) but there will be a point when there's just too darn much information to want to do that manually...

Speaking to the past

2008-01-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

I'll say hello to everyone because I'm the newbie on the block. One of those long lost cousins from Frederick Winkler's branch. Hopefully those of you reading this won't be long lost for much longer. I'm happy I have more family than I thought I did. Hello cousins!!

So, there I was, talking to one of those cousins, hearing timbres of my voice in hers and then I wondered....'What did this person and that person sound like? Wouldn't it be great to hear their voices just once? Is it possible to miss someone you never knew in the first place?' I posed those questions to my dad and I don't think I'd ever heard him sound wistful in my life, but there it was. "Yeah," he said, "I would love to hear my mother's voice again." Makes me kind of sad and sorry I even mentioned it. All the same, I am elated when I find my grandmother from my mom's side in a census. It sort of brought her back as I could definitely hear her voice in my head saying her sibling's names as I read them on the census. I even said, "hello gramma," aloud, when I read her name. I feel sorry for her mother though. 12 children in 23 years of marriage. PHEW!

Enough of my personal musings. I found an 1870 Census that I believe, locates Caroline Rohrbach in New York, New York. Interesting that her siblings were names William, Anna, Lousia, Philip and Amelia. All the children were born in New York. Their father is listed as Phil who was born in Prussia.

I am definitely making progress in some ways, having a new paid membership on one of the genealogy websites. Other avenues aren't so easy.

the B.F.Stewart Family

2008-01-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

Across the top, Left to Right: Pearl (Johnnie) Stewart-Church-Fennel; Robert (Bob) Lafayette Stewart; Vera Vivian Stewart-Cardwell; Harry Otto Stewart.
Across the bottom, Left to Right: Vivian Church (Johnnie Pearl's daughter); Benjamin Franklin Stewart; Mary Lee (Sister) Stewart-Hutchinson-Davis; Mary Alice Cindle Stewart

This photo was taken in 1911, owned and scanned by Marshall Davis, son of the girl in the middle of the photo. We just got this in the other day and can expect more wonderful things from this line of our Stewarts. The tall fellow in the back is our direct ancestor, Bampa.

Happy Holidays!

2008-01-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

Wow! Our site stats here over the holidays have been amazing. Most especially on December 23rd and 30th. Each was the day before the holiday, the calm before the storm. On the 30th there were 52 first time visitors! 52 browsers that had never browsed here before (at least since I installed a site stat counter, and you don’t know WHO they are or WHERE) and they viewed 81 pages between them. That’s incredible.

And people think family history is boring…

Anthony Paris Fragassi

2007-12-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

We're still looking for the 'estranged' brother- son of Patsy and Rocky. If anyone has heard hide or hair of him, send him this way.

Up and Coming

2007-11-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

SOON, folks...

Very soon (like first-of-the-year?) we will have a bona-fide website for you to visit and this blog will settle down into playful banter and shop talk... so to speak.

Features you will find on the new site, www.familyology.org (not up yet!)

Individual Log-in accounts so that the only information Joe Public sees is for people who are too dead to care. Seriously, this is terriffic. Privacy is a good thing.

Real working family group sheets and pedigree charts so all this information will make sense, courtesy of the brilliant software The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding by Darrin Lythgoes. Best of all- for me- I'll only have to input the information once, cite my sources and so forth, the family relationships will be automatic and I won't have to do all these hyperlinks by hand... (You have no idea...)

Photos, photos, photos! I hope to have too many photos to possibly post, but I also hope to have some sort of image representation for every individual. This includes cemetery photos, and yes, I'm fully aware of what a daunting task this will be. But I have YOUR help, don't I?!

There will also be a Mystery Gallery for those photos you know must have importance because someone was saving it all these years, but you may not know what it's significance is- anymore. Some of these are just beautiful to look at, whether you know them or not. Sometimes it's only a matter of asking everyone who looks at you before someone says, "Yeah, I know who that is, that's my grandfather.", or "That must be a Krauser, look at the nose and eyes..."

A message/ discussion board where we can meet and chat over whatever we like.

Articles, found or written, about how we can preserve what we know now without losing our marbles in the process. This would include involving the kids, making them a little excited about history maybe even... What to do, and what not to do (don't sit Grandma down in front of a video camera and grill her with good cop/ bad cop behavior) from people who have actually tried these things. Family traditions fall into this category, too.

Adopt an obscure family member or in other words, find a pen-pal! Email is acceptable, but remember the feeling of actually getting something in the MAIL (other than nasty-gram bills?) hand written and addressed to you? Extra bonus if someone includes little details unique to their situation. Cousin Leilani writes about the sound of tropical birds just outside her window, how the bay looks at sunrise, the taste of the fruit locally grown on her island... Uncle Frank writes about his war stories and how they just don't make 'em like they used to... You know, we may be related by blood and by chance, but we can choose to be friends, too.

These are the key elements I'd like to have. We're open to suggestion for other functionalities that would relate to the wonderfully diverse Family-Ology.

As a matter of fact, why don't you post your comment right now?

The First Joos

2007-10-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

At first, we only knew of Martin Joos, the husband of Sophie Lowenguth and father of Alice, Charles, and Martin A. Joos.

In August of 2007 I started to think about this more. I wrote in my notebook,

"That mid-19th century cook book I have has written in the cover "Aunt Josephine", then "Alice V. Joos", then "Rowena Winkler". So- this Alice married one of Martin and Sophie's sons, leaving the "Aunt" part to be either a sister of Martin or Sophie. Since then, I've found a few more Loewenguths and Joos, especially JOSEPHINE JOOS LOEWENGUTH. I think we have a match."
The 1910 census has Martin and Sophie living near the Heglins (coincidence) and one census citation says he was naturalized and came to the US in 1880, age 17, then, since he was born in 1863? Sophie Loewenguth came to the US in 1884, age 20 since she was born February 1864.
I found a Phillip Loewenguth born about 1840 in France (1910 census has him as a lodger on Vermont Street, occupation Gardener doing odd jobs) and he could be an Uncle?
I found Henry and Caroline Loewenguth living at 975 Lombard Street in the 1910 and 1880 censuses...

And this isn't even the hard part.

Remember at Olivet I turned around and saw Charles and Josephine Loewenguth in the same room as some of our other family. I'm glad I made a note of them, because the California Death Index put me hot on the trail of Josephine, revealing her maiden name was JOOS, making her our "Aunt Josephine". She was a Joos, sister (?) of Martin, and was Charles related to Sophie? CADI also said Josephine's mother's name was OBER, another hot lead, but I tabled it until today.

Today I spent about an hour and a half at the San Francisco main library and found three more obituaries. Caroline Loewenguth who died October 15, 1909 at age 61, Henry (or Henri) Loewenguth who died March 17, 1913 at age 71, and Martin Joos who died April 15, 1936 at age 73. To my credit, I did first look for a death notice of sorts for Frank Ambrose's first wife, Annie, who died September 22, 1898 according to his memoir. We don't know for sure her maiden name or where she was buried and this has bothered me for years. Petty, huh? Oh well. It could be in another paper??? or not.

Well if you haven't already cross referenced yourself to Martin's post, do it now and you'll read the full text of his obituary from the SF Examiner. This cites not one sister (Josephine), but THREE. No brothers, but he may have uncles or cousins to account for all the other Joos families...

So we know now for sure:

Mr. Joos and Miss Ober in Alsace- Lorraine had at least

Martin Joos in 1863 who married Sophie Lowenguth.

Josephine Joos born May 5, 1869, came to the US in 1883?, married Charles Loewenguth who was born around 1868, lived in San Francisco... They were in the 1930 census together, he was a moulder and came to the US in 1884- same year as Sophie Lowenguth. He died July 6, 1932 and she died July 11, 1948 in Alameda county. They were both cremated and are at Olivet.

Emilie Joos born October 2, 1871, had a son I can only imagine, Adolph E. Koechlin who was born January 7, 1898 in California and appeared with Emilie in a couple censuses. Emilie died in Alameda county July 2, 1952, age 80. Adolph died July 3, 1965, age 67. The age difference is too great to believe them espoused, but stranger things have happened.

Philomena Joos, "Mrs. Charles Fritz" was born March 2, 1874 and died in San Francisco December 23, 1954, age 80. They appear in the 1910 census together in San Francisco. Charles, and only one Charles, is in the 1933 San Francisco phone book available through Vitalsearch, and his occupation is Butcher, address 3208 Mission.

There must be some alternate spellings the census takers recorded. The same may be the case with any of their children, unless they were all done having children before 1905.

Sigh. I haven't searched the death index using the maiden name/ mother's name thing yet, though. My brain is a little fried as it is right now.

Calvary Catholic Cemetery

2007-09-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

Located at 4201 Whittier Blvd, Los Angeles, CA (see map) Calvary is across the street from Home of Peace Jewish Cemetery, at the junction of Hwy 72 and 19. The phone number is (323) 261-3106. Calvary is home to many 'other' famous people, take a look at Wikipedia... it is actually a 'replacement' cemetery, the Old Calvary Cemetery being under other buildings after most of the bodies were moved...

We have confirmed family members here!

FRAGASSI, Michael born in Italy May 6, 1888, died in San Francisco, California (although a Los Angeles resident) on September 30, 1939. Husband of Frances Lambert Fragassi.
He is now in Section L, Lot 356, grave 8. FRAGASSI, Frank and Maria are also here, precise location to be posted at week's end.
Mike Nicassio and Charles Paglia are affiliated with the family somehow- perhaps the cousins we've been trying to track down.

alright- what I recieved from the Cemetery Office and my confirmations from CADI and SSDI
All are closer to the THIRD STREET side of the grounds

Emalina Fragassi
dob March 5, 1923- dod July 11, 1923- interred July 12, 1923
Daughter of Michael and Frances Fragassi
Grave 9, L-1925, Section E ... one of the unmarked ones shown...

Laura Fragassi
dob June 16, 1927- dod June 14, 1929- interred June 17, 1929
Grave 843, L-2, Section K... unmarked, to the right of Fosselman...

Uncertain of the direct connection:
Angelina (Mary) Fragasi
dob April 3, 1892- dod August 26, 1971- interred August 30, 1971
Social Security Death Index has spelling FRAGAS, last residence Los Angeles, CA 90022
Grave 6, L-378, Section R
Mike Nacassio
dob November 27, 1928- dod November 5, 1972- Interred November 8, 1972
California Death Index and SSDI have name spelled NICASSIO, Last residence Covina, CA 91722Grave 6, L-378, Section R

Arlington National Cemetery

2007-09-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

Just across the Ptomac River from Washington D.C. is Arlington National Cemetery. This military memorial established long ago is one of the most revered final resting places in the country.

A sister of our Great-grandmother, Josephine Krauser Brown, is buried here, presumably on the merits of her husband, John McDonald, whose vitals we were delayed in ascertaining.

McDONALD, Theresa Florence, widow of John, and
McDONALD, Sgt. John
Section 17, grave 23581 -together

Their obituaries, published in the Washington Post, may be found here.

Whomever I spoke to first was not very helpful, unfortunately. When I asked her for John's whereabouts and other information (I did not have his obituary yet) she said there were several John McDonalds and without a middle initial she could tell me nothing. I tried to reason, saying he must have died around the same time as Theresa, he must be buried near her... She would not budge.

So when I had the obit, I called again and thought I was going to go through this all over again when she asked me for a middle initial. I said I had none, but I had his rank and branch of service and death date... that this should account for something. Well, after some deducting she found him. He was buried in the same grave as his wife (Why couldn't they tell me that before!) and just out of curiosity, I asked what his middle initial was- she told me he had none! Well, then... Thank you Vicky for at least folding part of this mystery.

Oy! The data!

2007-09-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

I've forced myself to take a real look at all the family data I have found that needs to be accounted for in an actual family history program. I've been using this blog mostly to 'go public' with all the goodies I find, but there is more... There are many data fields I need to use, just biting the bullet and going for it. I'm tempted to start all over again, entering everything from scratch and doing sources as I go, rather than getting the quantity in there without the backup.

I can enjoy a huge tree and not be sure of sources, or a huge tree with some sources...

sigh. which is the lesser of two weevils?

San Fran's System

2007-08-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

Back in April of this year I mailed a request to obtain a death certificate for the Mike Fragassi who was born in Bari, Italy. I had called a few times to the number at the Vital Records office leaving a voicemail message, asking about the status of the request. No luck.

Finally on the 14th of August, I got a different message from the same number. There is a new service in San Francisco! They call it 311, it's a Civic Center Customer Service "to create an atmosphere where people can talk to a live person and get information on all affairs of City Hall, the Muni, etc." So I called that number, which is 311 in the city, but outside SF it's 415-701-2311. I was told that according to their system, my request was being processed at that very moment. I thought this to be an awfully interesting coincidence, so I patiently waited a few more days.

On the 21st I called again. This time I got a woman who told me that the envelope was opened on May 10th, they began to process it around the time of my first call (the 14th) and on the 17th they sent a letter saying something to the tune of "we can't find a record" (haven't recieved this yet) which would mean they would keep the $12 search fee and I would have to ask the State vital records office next and pay their fee. This was her interpretation of the code that was entered in the system. I thought it super-ridiculous that I would find a clear and conscise record from the state's system that this person died in this county on this date and here is the file number, and yet the county would not have that record... Something very strange...

August 22, I'm still steaming, ready to make formal complaints, and my husband calls saying "some broad just called me on my cell phone regarding a death certificate I know nothing about. She said they didn't have a record of it there but the state does and they're sending it out to us..." So can it be that because I put on my request form to the county of San Francisco the state file number for the document I found in their indices, they know it must exist and called the state office up themselves to verify? Could it be?

Well, I'll believe it and exhale when the document is in my hands...

Manton Cemetery

2007-08-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

Way out in the middle of Tehama (te-HAY-muh) County, California is a little town you have to be driving to on purpose- Manton.

Anna Brown Hennessy, daughter of George and Josephine Brown, made her home here and is the only member of her family to be buried at the small Manton Cemetery. (March 2008- correction! Anna's daughter, Veronica, is with her now.)

If you were driving from Sacramento, California- you would go right up Hwy 5 to downtown Red Bluff. Exit right (East) on exit #649, Antelope Rd. Central Red Bluff, Hwy's 99 and 36.

Follow that about 2 miles, then take a Left (North) on to State Route 36. Follow that about 11 miles. Take a Left again (North) on Manton Rd, which is also County Road A6, follow that about 15 miles.

Just after Powerhouse Rd, there's a fork, left becomes Rock Creek, right turns into Forward Road, take the right. Follow that for a while until you find Manton School Road on your right and turn, South. You can't really miss the cemetery...

We haven't visited it in person yet, so we can't tell you exactly where Anna is, but she is there.

Louise Winkler

2007-08-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

Louise was born in San Francisco August 11, 1889, to Henry Winkler and Caroline Rohrbach.

She married Frank Field some time before 1920 and had two daughters (at least) with him. The California birth index has one of their birthdates and both parentage right, but they had different names at birth than those we were accustomed to calling them later in life. We're still looking into this issue. We don't know for sure if these are the only two children Louise had, but they are the only ones who lived that we know of.

Marie L Field born January 30, 1917 to Winkler in San Francisco
Mary C Field born April 15, 1911 to Winkler in Kern County

She died September 28, 1928 in San Francisco and was buried with her parents in Colma at Olivet Cemetery.

A Big Octopus

2007-08-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

That's what this Winkler family thing is starting to look like, if it's drawn out on a huge piece of paper, with Henry and Caroline in the center and all their 10 children radiating out from them... and their children, and their children...

I believe I finally accounted for the last of the girls, and am pretty sure about the boys. More concrete details will come as I find obituaries and other records. Last week I went with my mother (our first research trip together) to the huge San Francisco Main Library, though a little unprepared, to see what we could find in the microfilm archives of the newspapers that have been in Fog City since the mid-19th century. To our astonishment, we found out my mother's real grandmother's family came out to California as well, and so we first wanted to find where Grandma Gertrude was buried and her mother, Josephine Krauser- Brown. Luckily we found their obituaries, unfortunately they only referred to the funeral homes that served them, however, they did confirm some of the hard work I had done trying to locate the rest of the family. Mentioned are the sisters, Anna Hennessy, Juanita Brown-Kuntz, Myrtle Farmer, and brother Joseph Brown, some children as well, although no residences.

We also looked up three Winkler obituaries, Henry in 1914, William in 1908, and Frederick in 1907. I was hoping to find out which of the brothers who died rather young was involved in the construction site accident that I've heard about. We did confirm that Florence Winkler had married a Bruno, probably Nicholas who is buried with her parents and brothers and their infant without a name. Most of the funerals for this family were ar their own residence, with a procession by carriage to Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Colma.

This was all we had time for with the late start, lack of true preparation, and company of a wiggly 5 year old boy. Still and all, we were very happy to learn what we had, both about our ancestors and about how certain research is done at this 6 story facility.

I am working on a "shopping list" of dates and events to look up next time I go down that way, which should be some time this month. Arranging births, marriages, other events, and deaths in chronological order regardless of family will make it much easier to check them off and find more goodies at the library. Too much information is better than no information at all.

The families that will be researched are:

Ambrose, Brown, Bruno, Field, Franklin, Frische, Grimm, Heglin, Joos, Krogman,
Loewenguth, McGarvie, Olsen, Pastorino, Peterson, Pisani, Trabucco, Winkler...

If there are any more surnames that you know of, families who even passed through San Francisco, send an email to FAMILYOLOGIST at YAHOO.COM

Theresa Krauser

2007-07-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

Teresa was born in 1874 to Joseph A. Krauser and Lydia "Coniston" in Washington D.C. Most of what we know about her is from her obituary and census records. She is the sister of Josephine R. Krauser- Brown who died in San Francisco, California 1940.

Washington Post

McDONALD, THERESA FLORENCE, On Saturday, July 18, 1942, at her residence 1017 26th St. NW., Theresa Florence McDonald, beloved wife of the late John McDonald and sister of George E. Krauser. Funeral from Chambers Georgetown Funeral Home, 31st and M Sts. NW., on Tuesday, July 21st at 8:30 a.m. Mass at St. Stephen's Church at 9 a.m. Relatives and friends invited. Interment Arlington National Cemetery.

Her husband's death notices are also in the Washington Post, as follows:

Washington Post, March 4, 1940 pg. 13

Retired Marine Sergeant Dies
Funeral services for Serg. John McDonald, United States Marine Corps, retired, who died Saturday at his residence, 1017 Twenty-sixth street northwest, will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Wise funeral home, 2900 M street northwest. Burial with military honors will be in Arlington National Cemetery.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, McDonald served in the Spanish- American and World wars, in the Phillippines and in Cuba in 35 years' service with the Marines. He had lived here since his retiremane in 1932.

He leaves his wife, Mrs. Theresa McDonald, and a sister, Mrs. Molly Corby.

McDONALD, JOHN. On Saturday, March 2, 1940, at his late residence, 1017 Twenty-sixth st nw., JOHN McDONALD, retired, Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, beloved husband of Theresa McDonald (nee Krauser). Services at George W. Wise Co. funeral home 2900 M st nw. on Wednesday, March 6, at 2 p.m. Relatives and friends invited. Interment Arlington National Cemetery.

Frederick Winkler

2007-07-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

Fred, the fourth son of Henry and Caroline, was born in San Francisco on the 18th of July, 1880. Until December of 2007, all that was known of him was from censuses with his parents and the records at the Olivet cemetery office. He died November 29, 1907 in San Francisco, at the age of 27, a hard blow to the whole family. We believe he was the brother who had a nasty fall from construction scaffolding.

Late in the summer we came upon his obituary from the San Francisco Examiner which said he was married to a woman named Zella. Since he was rather young when he died, this was wonderful to find out that he was married, because there might be a child to look for, though none was listed. From the 1910 census now we know why... Frederick died when his wife was about 6 months pregnant! Frieda Winkler was born in February of 1908, her mother's maiden name listed as Wilson, although the 1910 census suggests something else. I then found Frieda's married name and the one son she had. Fred's own decendants have very few details about their own family.

Frank Winkler III knows a little of what his grandfather told him. Talking with him in December of 07 he said he remembered something about how (Fred) was up working on a fire suppression system -sprinklers- when his hand slipped, then so did he. He wasn't sure of details, but he sounded like he knew an awful lot about it, probably because he was a plumber, too, like Fred.

Yes, this has taken some doing to find out all this.

Right out of the Sky

2007-06-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had the privilege to finally meet with my cousin Edward Ambrose and see some of the MASS of old photos and documents he has from his side of the family. I brought my laptop and scanner along with my backup stuff to show him while we were working. He kept bringing things out and I finally had to tell him to slow down so I could be sure to get through just one box. I’m not sure how many hours we sat, or I sat, and scanned high resolution images, but it was at least 7 hours leaving out lunch and the time walking around gathering lemons and so forth… My son was such a good sport. He had cartoons to watch and books to read and a kitty to play with outside.

Some of this collection was his mother, Camille Ciramelli Ambrose’s address books and some letters. A few of these letters led me on the relatively quick curiosity path today to find- to actually FIND one of Rose Ambrose Cobb’s grandchildren. Was he surprised to hear from me!

I told them how I found the clue in the letter, then looked at Rose and Lawrence's 1930 census again- there were their daughters! One listed there looked like she had the last name Wright, so I did a wildcard search of births on Vitalsearch and found a Lawrence Wright, born in 1927. I decided to take a chance on finding him living in California and used Zabasearch first because it shows a history, then when I found one in a town I could bet on, I used the white pages to see if the listing was current. Yep. He was the first call I made, and he was the right one!!!

Lawrence's wife, Carolyn, said she had been trying to create a memory book, but was displeased with the lack of information on his grandmother’s side of the family. Halfway laughing, she asked me: “Where did you come from?! Did you just fall out of the sky?!”

Well Lawrence and family- welcome aboard!

I can hardly believe all three branches are 'accounted for' of the Ambrosio line on this soil.

World Vital Records

2007-05-31T13:47:00.000-07:00

I got this rather exciting email from a newsletter today. I especially like the Wikipedia-like obituary project they're undertaking. How awesome would that be to see what someone else wrote and submitted about the very same person you're looking for? This is much more affordable than that other institution that lurks at every corner like Starbuck's Coffee. Let's see some major growth here...

I don't know if you heard, but last week World Vital Records, Inc. announced a partnership with the LDS Church's FamilySearch organization to allow access to WorldVitalRecords.com and FamilyLink.com in the 4,500 FamilySearch family history centers around the world. The newly renamed FamilySeach Family History Centers were previously known as LDS Family History Centers.

This is very important, because as you may be aware, Ancestry. com stopped the availability and free use of their web site in Family History Centers in April. (I never knew it was free)

World Vital Records held a press conference at NGS (National Genealogy Society) Conference. As far as anyone can remember that was the first press conference in the Genealogy and Family History industries. At the press conference, World Vital Records made three important announcements:

A partnership between The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Foundation,
FamilySearch (formerly the Genealogical Society of Utah sponsored by The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), and World Vital Records to provide an
index to the 25 million people who immigrated through Ellis Island and the Port
of New York between 1892 and 1924.

A partnership between World Vital Records and the FamilySearch Family
History Centers to provide FREE access to WorldVitalRecords.com and FamilyLink.com in the 4,500 FamilySearch centers around the
world.

A major content partnership between Quintin Publications and World
Vital Records to put 10,000 new databases and titles onto the
WorldVitalRecords.com site. Most of the Quintin titles are not available on any
other site.

Below are some of the quotes from the World Vital Records press conference at the NGS Conference:

"The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation is pleased to announce this
partnership today whereby the historic passenger arrival records for the Port of
New York and Ellis Island will be freely available through WorldVitalRecords and
FamilyLink. This expanded availability continues our long-standing commitment to
helping families better understand their personal connection to the history of
American immigration." "As we now welcome World Vital Records to our successful
alliance, we are excited that an even larger worldwide audience will be reminded
of the importance of the Ellis Island records."

-Steve Briganti, President/CEO of The Statue of Liberty Foundation-Ellis Island

"We are extremely pleased to be working with WorldvitalRecords.com. We are
trying to make information more widely available. We are also very interested in
others who can facilitate and grow this industry.WorldVitalRecords is a key
component, along with several other companies that will help up post records and
make them available."

-David Rencher, FamilySearch(TM), Director, Records and Information Division, Family and Church History Department

"Quintin Publications is very excited about this venture with
WorldVitalRecords.com. I think this will greatly improve accessibility of
research in family histories for generations to come. My Father, Robert J.
Quintin would definitely be left speechless for the attention his hobby has
received."

-Phil Quintin, President, Quintin Publications

"[T]his is wonderful for genealogists. Now [sixty years of the Genealogical]
Helper and all of the pedigree and family group sheets that are totally unique
to Evertons will be available to thousands of genealogists free of charge."

- Leland Meitzler, Managing Editor, Everton Publishers

I also wanted to tell you about FamilyLink.com. It is a FREE social networking site for Genealogists and Family Historians from World Vital Records. It is a great way to network with genealogists, friends, and family members and share your work and ask genealogy questions. This is a very popular site that I recommend that you try.

World Vital Records has brought back their very popular special offer of a two year membership for the price of one $49.95, or the equivalent of about $2 per month! This is one of their most popular membership offers!

I invite you to explore some of their newest features, and join their growing worldwide community of genealogists. Please take advantage of this offer and don't miss out on the opportunity of accessing all of the great content and features that they are adding daily. Click here to join WorldVitalRecords.com today!

Michael Fragassi

2007-05-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

Don't get the two confused, Michele (Michael) Fragassi has a Grandson bearing his name. This Mike is the one who first came from old Italia, through Ellis Island in New York, around Utah and Idaho with cousins and presumably following the railroad down to Los Angeles.

He was born May 6, 1888 in Bari, Italy. He and his French-Indian wife had three children together in Los Angeles; Angelina, Rocky, and Emmalina. He died September 30, 1939 in San Francisco, California, USA. We will soon find out how, and where he is buried...

World War I Draft - June 1917

Now, from a clean copy of this form, the information you're actually looking at is:

Name in full- Michele Fragassi
Age- 29
Home Address- 828 Cleveland St, Los Angeles, California
Date of Birth- May 6, 1888
Natural born citizen, naturalized citizen, alien, or have you declared your intention?- he put "Italy" Where were you born- Bitoritto, Bari, Italia If not a citizen, of what nation are you a citizen or subject?- Italy
What is your present trade, occupation, or office?- Gardner
By whom employed?- P. J. Howard
Have you a father, mother, wife, child under 12, or a sister or brother
under 12 solely dependent on you for support?- Wife
Married or single?- married
What military experience have you had? Rank?- none
Do you claim exemption from draft?- no
here is his signature "X"

Registrar's report:
Tall, medium, or short?- 5 ft
Slender, medium, or stout?- Med
Color of Eyes?- Brown
Color of Hair?- Black
Has person lost arm, leg, hand, foot, eye, or both eyes or is he otherwise disabled?- arm-leg [does this mean he was actually missing two limbs???]
Precinct 404 or 409 of Los Angeles, Calif
Dated 6/5/17

California Death Index shows :

Michael Fragassi (spouse initial "F") age 51, died on September 30, 1939 in San Francisco County/City. The state's record number is 63856.

Save this Stewart

2007-04-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure, but it's possible we're related to this line of Stewarts as well. I found another Benjamin Franklin Stewart online... He was in the Spanish American War and born in Maryland. Virginia and Maryland aren't that far apart, and there are lines unaccounted for to OUR reconing...

Perhaps these Stewarts know more? Let's look into this, shall we?

Sierra View Park

2007-04-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

In Marysville/ Olivehurst is a large white fallen cross sculpture that can't be missed from Hwy 65, it marks the location of Sierra View Memorial Park. The address is 4900 Olive Avenue, Marysville, CA 95901. The phone number is (530) 742-6957.

Here you'll find (the physical remains of)

Ralph Franklin Sharpe - born August 31, 1913 in Massac County, Illinois- died March 29, 1990 in Mesa, Arizona

Photos and more information coming soon!

Frank Winkler Sr.

2007-04-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

This Frank is the son of Henry and Caroline, born in San Francisco, California April 2, 1888.

After a trip to the San Francisco City Hall, I got more information on his marriage to Lillie J. Olsen, who was born March 11, 1893 in California.

Page 254- record 17394
Frank Winkler (white) age 23, resident of San Francisco, California
and Lillie Olsen (white) age 19, resident of San Francisco, California
Entered on the 16th of March in the year A.D. 1912 by H.L. Mulcrevy,
Clerk Witnessed on the 16th of March, 1912 in this City and State by Felicie B.Trebois, resident of San Francisco living at 478 Gates Street, and William B.Castro, resident of San Francisco living at 478 Gates Street.Marriage ceremony performed by the Reverand James M. McElhinney, Pastor of the Holly Park Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, California Recorded March 18, 1912 No. M 3949

They had two children, Ethel Winkler and Frank Lawrence Winkler.

Found in the Marin Independant Journal December 1, 1977, his obituary reads:

Frank Winkler, Private services have been held for Frank Winkler, a 20 year
resident of San Rafael. Winkler died Tuesday at a local convalescent hospital
after a brief illness. He was 89. He was born in San Francisco. He worked as a
piano repairman for more than 50 years. He retired from Sherman Clay in San
Francisco in 1953. Winkler is survived by five grandchildren and eight
great-grandchildren. His wife, Lillian Winkler, died in 1960.

WINKLER in Novato, Nov 29, 1977. Frank Winkler, beloved husband of the late
Lillian Winkler, devoted father of the late Mrs. Ethel Muggenthaler and Frank
Winkler. Also survived by five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. A
native of San Francisco, he aged 89 years. Private family services were held
Wednesday, Nov 30, 1977 at the Chapel of the Hills (12/1) 453-8440

This Frank was also believed to be a carpenter during the war years at Marin Shipyards. Lillie passed away in San Francisco April 10, 1960. Frank followed her on November 29, 1977. He is burried near his grandson's home in Felton, California. More is to come about our Frank Sr.

(April 2008) I got some photos from Ethel's son and the original marriage certificate of Frank and Lillie. I've scanned it and the original is in an archival sleeve until someone from that side of the family wants to claim it. What a treasure. The San Francisco marriage certificates were beautiful engraved documents...

We love you, Papa Frank.

Florence Winkler

2007-03-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

"Florrie" was born in 1883. She did marry a Bruno, Nicholas Bruno born in Italy 1875 who passed away in 1916 and is burried with Florrie's parents. Also is a unnamed Bruno baby boy burried with them. But she did have a daughter with Nicholas, assuming this was her husband, before he passed away- and Elsie did live and have children of her own!

More is yet to be written. I have found one of Elsie's sons and hope to have a nice chat with him soon.

Web of Winklers

2007-03-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

I just had another wonderful phone conversation with a cousin. This time I had the privelidge of talking to Frank L. Winkler, son of Frank and Dorothy, grandson of Frank and Lillie, great-grandson of Henry and Caroline... Yes, we are related, and he has photos going way back...

The other Winkler descendants I have spoken with kept saying how they remembered Frank and Frank Jr. even though they didn't remember each other. I knew I had to find this line, because obviously they were very family oriented. I had seen "Frank Winkler" before but until recently I didn't have a pin point on how he fit in. When the others remembered "Frank lived in Ben Lomond..." I was on the trail.

I cannot say enough how greatful I am to finally find these generations which were so close geographically, yet just on the other side of common knowledge. It doesn't take much or long for people to become 'totally lost' to each other... It is a beautiful thing, then, to find them. I'm sorry it wasn't sooner, but better now than never.

More soon- very soon!

Marin County Fire Fighters

2007-03-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

The photos you see below were taken on March 3, 2007.

We finally got to see firsthand the Fire Museum at the Larkspur Fire Department in Marin County, California. It is small, no doubt about that, but there is a wealth of treasures from a century gone by packed in there.

The red vest you see is one of the 'uniforms' firemen wore while working at the famous Rose Bowl dances. Many newspaper and magazine articles pertaining to the department as well as original photos are in the poster rack, shown with yellowing of time. These things and more really need to be copied and archived. Although accessible, storage methods of that time weren't safe.

Some of this is already on their own web page, but there are a lot of smaller things the Retired Fire Chief pulled out that are not. Here he shows us one of the membership ledgers from the 1920's with signatures and dues paid.

There are (magnetic) scrapbooks of more photos and memorabilia in these cabinets. We scanned the things that pertain to our line. There wasn't time enough to do everything.

Below, Frank's great-great grandson shows off with pride an authentic early 20th century fire hat, hard as can be, from the Larkspur Volunteer Fire Department. The very kind our Frank Ambrose wore, when they got them.

Just behind is a large group portrait taken about 1929 where I actually found Stephen Craviotto, wearing his own badge from the Corte Madera Volunteer Fire Department. Steve's stepson, Bud Winkler, followed suit and joined the CMVFD when he was old enough.

Little boys of all ages will always revere fire fighters...

It's Been One Year!

2007-03-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

It has been one year now that I have been blogging.

I've gotten more used to the way things can work, linking websites, posts, pictures, even music files- well sort of.

The best part has been the research and bringing things forgotten back to light. Not as many as I'd hoped have found us, but it has been great to be able to refer folks back here. Even if no one reads this, I'm having fun and I enjoy coming back to the photos and information from wherever I may be. It's like carrying a huge family album around with you. I love the virtual cemetery tours and knowing that anyone could pick up and go there (wherever 'there' is) and find family fairly easily. I love it when someone comments on something and I can go back and add to a post, or when I find something new and get to do the whole "STOP THE PRESS!" thing... I love that I can pre date something or post date or just save a draft until I can further verify or finish a thought...

You may have noticed that family members are all over the place, even if I just discovered yesterday about someone, their post may be found in last year's crop... Well, whenever possible I try to put a person's main profile "on" their birthday. It keeps things more evenly spaced and it's neat to go through the archives and see who all the November babies were, the Spring babies, etc. Could you imagine the birthday calendar we could have? Yikes!

Anyway...

Since I started this there have been leaps and bounds in our family tree. Call it a coincidence if you will. Call it "casting bread upon the water" and here come the sea gulls...

Progress has been slow on the Fragassi and Avila sides, unfortunately. Multiple immigrations and availability of Mexican records besides holes in family accounts have been to blame for that.

Winkler, Ambrose, Sharp, Stewart, Sprogis... significant additions. Before 2006 I didn't even know for sure that Phillip Winkler had any siblings, let alone exact relationships with the people he is buried with. I didn't know Frank Ambrose had any siblings, nor his parents' names- now we have more leads than we know what to do with. We have found numerous generations backwards and sideways of Sharp ancestors where before we were stopped at Burlington R. Sharp and wife Nora. My favorite Stewart finding was the records at Folsom State Prison...

I could go on and on. And someday I will!

Joseph A. Krauser

2007-03-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

Joseph, husband of Lydia Coniston (maiden name according to her daughter's death certificate) was born around 1843 in Bavaria. He is found with his wife and a few children in the 1880 census in Washington, DC.

The Washington Post has two articles on him, the second being rather funny unfortunately.

KRAUSER- Departed this life on Wednesday, March 13, 1918 at 1 a.m. at Georgetown University Hospital, JOSEPH A., beloved husband of the late Liddier Krauser, in his seventy-seventh year.
Funeral from his late residence, 514 Twenty-third street northwest, Saturday, March 16, at 9:30 a.m., thence to St. Stephen's church where mass will be said. Relatives and friends invited.

JOHN HALE DIDN'T DIE
Undertaker and Wife Thought He Did - Nurse Mixed Names.

While an undertaker was preparing for burial yesterday a body thought to be that of John Hale, civil war veteran, Hale was very much alive in Georgetown University Hospital. Later developments showed that the undertaker had the body of Joseph A. Krauser, who died early yesterday morning in the same ward where Hale is a patient. The night nurse got matters mixed and notified Hale's family. Mrs. Hale arranged for the funeral today and did not discover the mistake until she called the hospital to learn what time her husband's supposed death occurred.

His son, also called Joseph, died fairly young.

KRAUSER- On Thursday, August 24, 1911, at 4:05 o'clock, JOSEPH, beloved son of Joseph and the late Lydia Krauser. Funeral services at his late residence 720 Twenty-fourth street northwest on Monday, August 28 at 8:30 a.m., thence to St. Stephen's Church at 9 o'clock.

So Lydia died before 1911.

Finding Mothers

2007-03-10T23:07:00.000-08:00

It's after 11 pm and I can't in good consience call anyone to express my excitement and gratitude for what I've just accomplished. I can only blog about it, right now, because this is the polite thing to do. I am quite excited.

I have known I have resources scarcely tapped right under my nose, and finally I am beginning to use them. It's about awareness and creative ways of milking the system.

And there are no accidents.

I just happened to find a freebie for a few days on Ancestry- which got me a ton of new stuff and at least ( ? ) one real live new cousin to swap more stuff with. I just happened to really poke around VitalSearch ( also free ) and use some of it's neat features... I just happened to shut up long enough to hear their voices whisper to me how to find them...

Girls are difficult because of marriages, naturally. It's a pain to have to keep switching your identity, trust me! If no one has a clue who you may be with, you may as well have just dropped off the face of the earth. Several of my ancestral siblings had, until I found I could search 20th century California birth records from the mother's maiden name...!

If you have read about the Winkler family, Henry E Winkler- first generation on this soil, you'll know that their burial plot in Colma was a mysterious melting pot of names. Just finding out who was in there was a gradual process... Field, Frische, Bruno... not obvious Winklers like the rest. Who were these people and how did they get permission to be buried with our family? Did they work with the Winklers and not have money for their own burials? Were they related? How?

So I went into www.VitalSearch-ca.com and set up the birth indices to look for mothers with the maiden name Winkler... and my heart stilled to see right among the top, children's names- Frische, Bruno, Field...

There were four girls in Henry and Caroline's clan. One of which I have already cracked, that's Louise Field, and yes, she's buried with her parents and brothers. Louise happened to house one of her brothers for a time, so that was a good clue... So Florence, Amelia, and Ann are/were unaccounted for.

I went back to Ancestry, typed in the last name Frische with a general birth date of 1890. Just a few down was an Amelia Frische in 1930 and 1920... I looked at the original document first to determine where her parents came from, Germany and New York, then as excitement and relief settled quietly around me, I whispered back, "I found you, girl..."

Now... to find her sisters...

I noticed the following night a child with the name Heglin. Since this resembled a familiar name Geglin- which I saw as the informant of Caroline Rohrbach Winkler's death in 1918- I thought I'd take a look... Sure enough, on Ancestry I found an Anna Heglin, and after clicking on the image of the census, found she lived with her family on Richland Avenue- a few blocks away from where Henry and Caroline lived in San Francisco and the same address on her death certificate. Anna Heglin (not Geglin) died in 1953, so she either kept the name, or more likely, stayed married to the same man throughout her life. Perfectly normal and such a relief to a researcher.

That leaves Florence, so by process of elimination and still leaving evidence in want, she must have been the one affiliated with the Bruno's.

I can't believe it, and yet I can. I found them- with their help, I'm sure.

There were three boys born to Anna, two of which served in World War I and were buried in the national cemetery (Golden Gate). I hope they had children, as they have all passed on fairly recently. And since Anna was close enough to her parents to be listed as informant (not to mention geographically close) I hope Hope HOPE her family has some of the old photos and heirlooms... I have one photo of Phillip Winkler, who was the oldest child. Only one, and nothing but death certificates of Henry and Caroline.

A Wedding Identified!

2007-03-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

We have had three beautiful wedding portraits in 'our' Ambrose collection whose identity had been lost over the years. Here they are... Today I found out who one of these couples actually is.
I'll make a proper post for them now that I know who they are and have a very reliable source of information- their son. The back of the first photo says "Cousin Cealo and Camilla Ambrose- age 20"...

Here are two more, up for grabs in the identification department.

This says "Ambrose Cousins- 1890" and the photographer's embossing says Monaco Foto, 205 Montg(omery) Ave. S.F. Cal.

And here is another from the early part of the century... No names, no dates, no photographer.

CAN WE NAME THEM???

YES WE CAN!

Chinese New Year

2007-03-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to the biggest lighted Chinese New Year parade outside of Hong Kong- in San Francisco, California. We've got a huge population of Chinese descendants here, so that makes sense. My boy loves dragons, so it was a no-brainer to bring him.

It all started with a phone call to my newly-found Ambrose cousin, Andrea. She's on the same generation as I am, descended from Frank Ambrose by way of his son, William- her grandfather. I wanted to meet her and as it turns out, she was already planning a trip down here (from the Sacramento area) to go to the Chinese New Year parade with her family. Though I made the phone call, she wanted to invite us to go along for a 'family outing'.

Well, of course we'd go!

(more soon)

Lucia Avila

2007-02-28T12:08:00.000-08:00

Lucia Avila was born to Refugil (?spelling) and Cecelia Avila in Los Angeles county of California on February 28, 1926- as far as we can tell.

She had a social security card, and yet we're having difficulties getting documentation on her. She was Yaqui Indian from her mother and Mexican from her father- which probably means more mixed Indian blood with a sprinkling of Spanish. Hard to know for certain.

We do know she didn't have it easy as a child, her mother did everything a non-English-speaking person could to support her family when she was widowed before 1930. Lucy didn't have a step-father until sometime after the 1930's.

Lucy's first marriage was to Roczi Fragassi, a hot blooded latin like herself. She would have been about 20 years old, tops, when she married him. Think of the movie "Mona Lisa Smile" and how young women were taught back then their chief goal in life was to land a good breadwinner husband and to put up with incredible amounts of... stuff.

The children were not taught Spanish so they could understand their grandmother who lived close by, but they knew her love. This is the case of many immigrant families, where the pursuit of a new life meant abandoning the old.

Lucy and Rocky had two boys and four girls together. Boy, Girl, Girl, Boy, Girl, Girl. or something like that. The second boy was the silent victim of domestic violence, and as a result was stillborn. There was, supposedly, a record on him nevertheless. His tiny body was buried just above his grandfather's. The other living children suffered in other ways, as did Lucy.

We don't know for sure what "last straw" led to Lucy leaving Rocky for Harold Emerson. They never actually married, after some years, Lucy left him as well. (Live and learn?)

When a decent fellow named Robert Karg, shown right here, came along, he and Lucy did marry in the 1970's. These photos are in much later years, and a little silly- but it's all we've got! If you have some better ones, please send them along!

She had a good sense of humor, was an excellent seamstress, and would drop anything to help someone in the family. She is remembered fondly by many of her posterity, and we would like more positive experiences to share here. She passed away in November of 2001 in Hayward, California. We do not know as of yet where she and Bob are burried.

All throughout her years, she tried to Always Be There for her Family...

Rowena S Winkler

2007-02-28T11:04:00.000-08:00

Not to be confused with Rowena Winkler, wife of Bud Winkler, this Rowena is Bud's Sister!

Rowena Sophie Winkler was born in San Francisco, California, to Alice Josephine Joos and Phillip Winkler on Leap Year, the 29th of February 1912. She preferred her nick name (say Ree-nee). You saw Renee as a child with her father and siblings, below is a lovely picture of Renee's wedding day.

She married Travis Hale November 17, 1933 (or 34) in Glendale, CA. (it was considered North Hollywood to some)

Emmy was her attendant, Bud one of the groomsmen.

Renee and Trav adopted a little girl who was born in Memphis, Tennessee and named her after the curly-haired tot her older sister had lost, keeping Jacqueline -or Jackie- in the family.

More is to come from Jackie about her parents...

Josephine Krauser

2007-02-26T20:09:00.000-08:00

Please forgive me for the brief post, I have more information that I want to type and I will.

Josephine's parents are Joseph A. Krauser of Bavaria, Germany, and Lydia Coniston of Virginia. She was born in Washington DC February 26,1872, married George W. Brown, a barber of Mansfield, Ohio in DC April of 1895, had a family, and died December 15, 1940 in San Francisco, California.

George W. Brown

2007-02-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

George W. Brown, born in Ohio February 1871 to ____ married Josephine Krauser in or around April of 1895, according to the Washington Post.

In the Federal Census of Washington -District of Columbia of June 5, 1900
living at #41 Myrtle Street, is George W Brown, my great-great grandfather…

The schedule is as follows, and it's pretty ridiculous the spelling:

George W Brown, Head of House, White Male, Born February 1871 in Ohio, age 29 at last birthday. Married for 6 years, Both parents born in Ohio, a Barber by trade, 0 months unemployed, can read and write and speak English, Rents the home.
Josephine, wife, White Female, Born February 1872 in District of Columbia, age 28 at last birthday, married 6 years, had 4 children, 3 of which are living. Her father was born in Germany, mother born in Virginia, can read, write, speak English.

Gertrude, daughter, white female born November 1896 (says here in census- her Birth certificate says Nov 2, 1895) age 14 at last birthday, single, father born in Ohio, mother in DC, going to school for last 9 months, can read, write, speak English.

Mertle , daughter, white female, born March 1897, age 3 at last birthday, single, father born in Ohio, mother in DC

Wanetta, daughter, white female, born March 1900, age 2 (or 3?) months, single, father born in Ohio, mother in DC

The child who did not live was probably born in the gap between Gertrude and Mertle. It would be hard to recover from that… More coming soon…

Much thanks to our new-found cousins, we now have one photo of George.

A Family of Teagues

2007-01-30T12:18:00.000-08:00

This wonderfully nostalgic outdoor photo of the Teague family (and perhaps some neighbors) is attributed to Ebenezer Teague, the slightly overexposed figure at the top left.

Help us date it and name the individuals.

Ron's Notes

2007-01-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

This is just a bit of Ron Winkler's memories. I left spelling and grammar intact, it's part of his voice. This stream-of-consiousness style is a great way to let those remembrances just come out. No need to create your own obstacles of writing style or spelling. Good job, Dad... Here he is:

Life started in 1938 in Corte Madera, California. I don't remember too many things about our house except the key hanging on the wall of the garage above the garbage can. Apparently I was into garbage at an early age. Will and Mora lived next to us. Will went into the Army during the second war and Mora moved to an Apartment in San Francisco. My mother and I went there to visit. Years later, Will and Mora moved to Martinez. They had a daughter by the name of Ann. We went from Kentfield to Martinez every couple of months for a Bar-b-que. Ann and I went up to the train trestle to watch the train come by.

I was thinking back about visits with my grand parents. Catherine and Frank Ambrose lived in Petaluma, California. They had a farmhouse and a garage in the back, an enclosed back porch and a big kitchen. I remember Frank sitting in his rocking chair - I was sitting on his lap. He was also cooking mushrooms so maybe the event was Thanksgiving dinner. His wife, Catherine, also called Caty was there but I don't remember anything about her. Some years later, Caty came to our (my folks ) house in Kentfield to stay, It was the same year that Franklin Roosevelt died - maybe 1945. I would have been 7 years old then. Caty later developed some difficulty in talking and later, she became hard to handle and my mom ( daughter Rowena ) had to put her in a rest home in Lucas Valley where she later died.

Caty's other daughter, Alice, (Rowena's sister) also lived in Kentfield. She had two daughters - Alice and Shirley. In 1945, they were staying in an orphanage in San Anselmo. But, somehow, they didn't get an invite to our house in Kentfield and that blame rested with my father. I don't know what his objection would have been. Alice and Shirley never forgot that. Alice married later and lives with her husband (Dan ) in Marin County. No children. Shirley also married but her husband died and she never remarried. They had one son, Nickelous.

Alice Krogman was a neat person. I used to see her all the time. She worked at the Roger Kent estate in Kentfield. Roger was a congressman ( I thought ) in Sacramento but Shirley seems to remember as just an attorney. His two daughters ( Alice and Molly ) went to the same grammar school as I did - called the Adeline E. Kent school. Adeline was Roger's sister. Yes, everyone was related.

In case it seems confusing, there was Alice Krogman, her daughter named Alice and Alice Kent. Roger Kent's place was the largest in Kent Woodlands. He had a big Olympic sized swimming pool with six lanes. Also a tennis court. There were many local events held there. Roger had many special guests there also, big names in the Democratic party. Alice Krogman was the chief cook for those events. The table was long - maybe sat 20 people. Also, before my time, Alice was bought along to Hawaii to take care of the Kids. She stayed there for some time.

At Alice Krogman's place, she had other relatives visit there. There was Nita, Colleen, Lynn, and Rowena. Nita and Don lived in San Rafael, Lynn and Bill Bergeron lived in Fairfield (Bill was in the Air Force) Bill was the co-pilot of the B-17 crew called "the candy bomber" that flew the airlift into Germany. And of course Bud and Rowena lived in Kentfield. Bud worked at the shipyards in Sausalito during World War Two.

There was also Kathleen and Sam Guerin who lived in San Francisco then later, Sparks, Nevada where they had a health food store. Kathleen's daughter was Lynn (Bergeron)

Two other people were always in my life during those years. That was Fagan and Bill. They lived on 208 Monte Vista Avenue in Larkspur, California. They were always "were", like grand parents. I think friends of my father's mother when she lived in Corte Madera. Fagan was a switchboard operator for the town of Larkspur and Uncle Bill was the treasurer for the city of Larkspur. But his expertise was a calligrapher for the city documents. He used pen and ink - not ball point pens. He had a very special writing style from the 1880's era. We went to their house for dinner once week then the next week they would come to our house. That was before television. When at their house, I would go into the family room after dinner and listen to the radio programs: Amos and Andy, The Bob Hope show, Fiber Magee and Molly, the Lone Ranger, the Shadow and others. The grown-ups would play cards until midnight.

Last but not least were my dad's mother and her husband - Alice and Roy. They lived in a small house in Richmond, California. There was no bridge so we took the ferry boat to get there. My dad had a 1932 Pontiac. We went there for all day events. Usually Aunt Emmy and Uncle Al and their son Bobbie would come over from San Francisco. Emmy was my dad's sister or Alice's daughter. They would play cards until the late hours. During the summer, I was invited to stay there for one or two weeks. I pal'd around with the boy across the street - his name was Jack. His dad looked and sounded like Anthony Quinn. I liked Alice. I could talk with her about anything. I liked the type of answers she gave me. She was always happy to see me. And she was a great cook too.

We also went to Emmy and Al's place on Park Street in San Francisco. They had a row house, a two-story with a full basement. We always went there for Christmas day. My cousin Bob was 2 years older than I was and very wise in city ways. By comparison, we lived in the country with open lots and fruit trees to be picked. But things did not go well there. Emmy and Al eventually got divorced and after 1956, Bobbie committed suicide. Emmy remarried to Angelo Gatorna and I went there to visit ( when I was working at Bechtel ) up to 1962.

Renee and Trav lived in North Hollywood. On special occasion, they came to Richmond or we went down there, like in 1952 - in my dad's new black '51 Mercury car. Renee was Alice's other daughter or my dad's sister. ( There was Buddie, Emmy and Renee ) Renee had a daughter (adopted) called Jackie - she is 8 years younger than me. We have always kept in contact with each other. When I was at Edwards Air Force base (1956), I went to Renee and Trav's for Thanksgiving dinner.

Walter Joos was a retired Air Force major ( I think a cousin of my father) Since we each had an Air Force background, we spent some times together. He was called Uncle Walt. Renee was a close relative and they wrote to each other during WW2. Walt was a navigator on B-17s over Germany. Walt and I went to Renee's for a New Year's day Rose Bowl football game. We had a great time.

Another favorite was Eleanor and Earl - they lived in Hammond. Louisanna. And they had a daughter by the name of Sheilah. I always liked Eleanore (my mother's sister ) Earl was a highway contractor - he wore a hearing aide and he was hard to know.. He didn't like any of Eleanor's family line. I found out later that he was not friendly to his wife or his daughter. This came out after he died. Eleanore and Sheilah kept the house on North Pine street. But in 2004, Eleanore went into the hospital then died in July 2006. Sheilah has not spoken to me for many years. I don't know why. She has spoken to Karen and Marc.

Alice is another cousin who will not speak to me - since my mother died. Shirley (sister of Alice) is a good person - we were always close over the years. Shirley is about 10 years older than me.

In closing this time period, I should mention a few things about living at home. It seemed peacefull early on. Dad belonged to the Corte Madera fire department as a fire fighter. I have a picture with me sitting on an early vintage fire truck. Dad worked at the Marinship ship yards then, later, for Litchfield Constrution Company in San Rafael. Dad helped build the new addition to the Adeline Kent grammer school. That was the time that the movie "Blood Alley" with Lauren Bacall and John Wayne, was made at China Camp. Dad worked on that - I was in the 8th grade. We had an Austrialn Shepard dog who was jealous of me and growled whenever I was near her. The next dog was a Doberman Pincher. Cute as a puppy but became angry when my dad got near my mom. They ended up giving the dog away to a trainer.

Grammer school had its ups and downs. I can still name a few people from those 8 years. Some have died already. Jim Schultz and Margaret Brooks I still keep in contact with. As I approached the 8th grade, I realized some difficulty with Math. I was just a "C" student( If I was luckey) Margaret and her pals always got "A's". Our 7th grade teacher was Ray Monson, He later became the grammar school principal in Novato (Pleasant Valley School ) where our kids went to school.

My mother used some extreme measures to control me. Drop the pants and beat me across the butt. Later came the razor strap - 4" wide 1/4" thick and 3 feet long. She saw I was resisting that so she complained to my dad and he cut the bottom 12 inches into thin strips. That DID hurt ! My dad wanted me home by 6pm. I would wait across the street (by then 6pm) waiting for the cars to pass so I could cross to our driveway. My dad stood in the driveway taking his belt loose - getting ready to deal out his punishment.
So I made it thru all that business then went thru 4 years of high school. I played basket ball, had a Saturday gardening job, got a car which was a '48 Plymouth. Girl friends were Cathy Silcox and Gloria Ongaro. The summer of 1956, my graduation year, I worked at a summer camp for boys, met Laverne Hardy ( a separate story) then went on active duty with the Air Force doing helicopter Maintenance and search and rescue. (which is also another story).

Someplace, I should add an interesting observation. During grammer school and high school, all my relatives were older to the point, alot of them died. My dad, Uncle Walt, his brother (Bud Joos) and I were frequently Pall Bearers at funerals. I never thought much of the occassion other than another event to meet living family members. However, as time went along, I met other people my age who had never been to a funeral, much less a pall bearer. Part of life's many lessons.

Lawrence C. Ambrose

2007-01-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

On the 12th of January in 1902, Mary Megalo (Migali is an alternate spelling) Ambrose, wife of Antone Angelo Ambrose, gave birth to Silva Lawrence Ambrose. In the 1910 census of Oakland, Alameda County, California he was called Silva, in another it was Celia, all his conscious life he preferred to be called Lawrence.

He married Camille Cirimeli and had two sons, one of which is still living, and a daughter. Lawrence is a grandson of our Giovanni Ambrosio from Verbicaro, Italy. He died on the 27th of September, 1966 in Contra Costa County, California.

Gerry's Family Notes

2007-01-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

As a little girl, I enjoyed listening to the grownups' conversations around me and when some of the relatives came to visit that was a double bonus fo rme. The memories came flooding back when I started going through things to assemble these pages. I did not have to rely solely on memory.

Fortunately, some old newspapers and pictures were found in chest drawers or stuffed in boces which I discovered after mother's death, some of which she had kept from her mother's possessions. There was nothing about Judge Charles Walker (Hattie's mother's family). I had really hoped to find information about him and his wife and not much about Eb Teague either - only a few letters.

Regarding the spelling of Sharp or Sharpe, mother said when she was growing up, her family spelled it SHARP, but when she was in high school, she thought adding the E gave it a little flair, so she changed it. (She'd also given herself the middle name of DELAINE about this time). Later, after she went to work, she thought it was pretentious and dropped the E. I know Brad and his family do not use the E.

I'm sorry to say I know very little about the Teague side of the family, and I'm not sure why. Anyway, i'm enclosing pictures and notes from the back of pictures that indicate time, places, and names. I'm hoping the information you've offered to send me will enlighten me a lot about both the Sharp's and Teagues.

I do remember Hattie (my grandmother) talking about her mother who was named Mary Tennessee; it seems each of those four girls in Judge Charles Walker's family had a middle name of a Southern state. I found that fascinating as a little girl. She also mentioned that each spring and fall, he would take the girls on a riverboat trip down the Mississippi River to Memphis to buy their spring and fall wardrobes.

Apparently, after Mary's husband Eb died, she married a Mr. Richardson and moved to Tennessee. I want to research this more (or, hopefully you have it) as I do have dim memories of meeting some fo the Tennessee relatives.

Elijah (1855 - 1927) and Mary Teague (1863 - 1951) are buried at New Hope, but I don't know who they are or their relationship to Eb and the Mary who was born in 1860 and died in 1949 per Hattie's notation on the back of the pictures. Maybe Elijah was Eb's brother. Of course, Eb and Mary's children were Clarence, Walter, and Hattie.

Some aging, crumbling letters need to be deciphered and/or restored. When that happens, I'll send you copies.

Hope you enjoy these pages and can use them in your quest for connecting with our ancestors.

Submitted by Gerry Roby Wardlaw,
Daughter of Inez Sharp Roby
September 2006

Alice Turb

2007-01-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

Alice

Momilee remembers: Alfred was Harold Sprogis's little brother who died from complications due to a thyroid gland condition (swelling?) Anyway, Harold was my first husband and he was born July 4, 1930. He spoke of his little brother sometimes. Harold's mother Alice Turb, according to what I remember (ask Harold for better remembrance) fell off a ladder in her home and died sometime after - ? - may have been an injury to her head or something, OR maybe my memory doesn't recall all the details Harold told me.

Janis Sprogis

2007-01-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

His Americanized name was John Sprogis, and he was born

Momilee remembers:
Janis (?) I don't know who that was, but Carl Sprogis, (Harold's dad) had a brother who was married to Veronica. Shortly after Harold and I were married we visited them at their home in Sacramento. I thought his name was John, maybe that's what they called him in the USA, but he was on his death-bed and he just lifted his head and peered around the corner to say hello to us and then he layed down again. Veronica always looked very young to me, I don't remember her ever having gray hair. Harold could speak Latvian though I only understood one comment.

Cold-calling Cousins

2007-01-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

If you've ever gotten a phone call that went something like this:

"Hello, my name is Karen... Is this so-and-so?"

"Yes."
"Ooh, my goodness! I am so happy to talk with you!" (This isn't a lie or exaggeration, by the way, I am always surprised to actually talk to the person I'm "tracking" and anticipate whatever nuggets of information I might get, especially those that help dissolve barriers of time, ignorance and complacency.)

"Do you remember anything at all about your grandparents ___ and ___? I have a limited amount of information on them from family records and the US Census..."

and so it goes...

I gladly accept whatever I can get, even if it requires some travel. To prove a person's existence is great, to learn who they actually were is a priceless treasure.

Recently I printed out a list of people with the last name Smith who lived in Belknap, Illinois. Why? Well, my great-grandmother Hattie Teague Sharp married a Mr. Ray Smith in the 1950's whose wife had passed away and had a large farm in Belknap. After he passed away, she left the farm to his son (no name) because it was too much for her alone. That was a while ago, because she passed away in 1974, but not so long that someone/s would remember her and still have all their scruples to be able to talk about it. (smile- that was supposed to be funny)
And, for ducks I mapped out where they each lived on a Streets and Trips file. Most of them lived in a cluster around- guess where? The New Hope Baptist Church. Now THIS is getting interesting...

So I made a few calls with no response until I got to one who- according to the online source said he was born in 1926- was both old enough to remember Hattie's marriage to Ray and home to answer the phone! Although I'm not sure yet where he fits in, I learned to my surprise (or not surprise) that he is not only related to that Ray Smith who married my great-grandmother, but the Calvin Smith who married Hattie's ex-husband's oldest sister, Cora... Lost? Burlington Riley Sharp, the preacher, and his wife Nora had a bunch of kids. Eight, including the first baby Charlie, who didn't live long. The oldest living was Cora, born in 1882, who married Calvin Smith. Cora's younger brother, John Calvin married Hattie Teague, who later married another Smith of the same lines. So it isn't that the bloodlines cross, it's only by marriage and coincidence. The fellow I spoke to remembers calling her Aunt Cora, so the relation is close.

I asked him if I could send him some print out sheets in the mail for him to look at and fill in the missing pieces, he said that would be fine. I hope he does look them over and draw on them. This double criss-cross family lines is so interesting... He also referred me to the grandson of Ray Smith (also named Raymond) who lives on the same property. I told him I had a few pictures of my grandfather (Hattie's son, Ray's stepson) working the farm with him and Hattie and Ray on the big front porch. He says the old house is still in good shape, although he doesn't think anyone is living in it.

I'm just as excited about farmers and hillbillies (as they call themselves) as I am about Italians and Scots. They're all precious...

William Ambrose

2007-01-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

William Francis Ambrose was the only son of Frank and Catherine Ambrose.

Luminary Battlefield

2007-01-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hauntingly beautiful images.

a moment capture: antietam luminary memorial in sharpsburg, maryland

New Hope Church

2007-01-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

Nestled in a quiet country churchyard is the final resting place of generations of our Illinois ancestors. Sharps and Teagues are all we know of so far.

There is additional family significance with this church, our own Burlington Riley Sharp was a preacher there for many years. His son-in-law, Calvin Smith was also a preacher.

(Jan 3) I have been trying to get ahold of the keeper of this cemetery and obtain copies of the burial records from so long ago. I talked with them (husband and wife) once in May of 2006, after many calls around to find out who was in charge. They said they would get back to me, but this hasn't happened yet. Photos will have to come in due time.

(Jan 9) I have gotten ahold of Carl Crockett, the keeper of the grounds I was referred to by Miller Funeral Home in Metropolis, Illinois. He told me he's been taking care of the place since he was 12 years old, and now he's in his 50's. He has a younger guy doing the harder labor and he does the rest. He doesn't really like the job, but he's stuck and got elected to be the Secretary of the Board.

I again asked him if there was a map and any burial records available for me to compare my own records to.

He told me somewhere there is an old map of the cemetery grounds, emphasis on old, which he doesn't recall actually ever seeing. He told me the burial records are a bit lacking, too. I got the impression most records would be in family bibles and with the local paper's archives. I asked him who a family would come to for burial arrangements with the church, and he said, "Well... me, I guess."

I asked him what I could do to help. He said "Send money. When we run out of money at certain times of year the place goes unkempt because we can't pay someone to do the mowing." I asked differently, what I could do to help with his job, so that people coming to pay respects to departed loved ones would know where to go, would know who was related to who, and so that new families would know what space is available for the future. I asked if there would be any resistance from the Board to outside volunteer help, he said it would be most welcome. I added that I was fully aware of my distance restraint, he interrupted that sometimes someone farther removed is just the thing to get a job done.

So we reached the conclusion that I would help make a new map, rustle up some volunteers to walk the grounds, making notations of the occupied graves, wether they have markers, and what information is on them. We would work together on the problem of burial records, and hopefully, by the end of this, he would be able to call up in print or on his computer just who was where and all the other conveniences of large-scale cemeteries I've become accustomed to.

My first assignment to myself was to talk to my dad about surveying and what equipment I would need to get an accurate reading of the property. He told me to call on the county land and zoning person who would have property boundaries of everything in one form or another... If I could get a copy of the property lines, just as though I was going to buy it from the owner, that would be the best beginning to a cemetery map. Then every grave and lot would be in relation to the road and buildings...

So I got online and found the Massac County Zoning Administrator... I'll tell you, it is so easy to talk to folks out there. Not like most people in the Bay Area who are too busy to talk to you or are so bound by rules (real or imaginary) that they can only help so much... I expected so much "Who wants to know?" and "Fill out this form", but Penny told me right off I'd want the plat maps, and he'd look for an electronic copy of the property.
What he emailed me was a PDF, which I converted and put the street names on it, and show below.

This is our starting point. I'm excited to have this opportunity to do some sleeve-rolling service to my ancestors' (and present-day cousins') community. Map of [6758-6873] New Columbia Rd Grantsburg, IL 62943, US

More to come.

Paul Bunyan Lumber

2007-01-01T18:58:00.000-08:00

Calvin Lavell Sharp was the first to come to California, falling in love with the logging town of Westwood, Lassen County. Ralph Franklin Sharpe came out as soon as he could- 1932.

Both brothers worked for the Paul Bunyan Lumber Company and Red River Lumber Company. Ralph kept a photo album with surprisingly well preserved images (it was probably rarely opened) a few of which are shown here. Higher resolution copies are available, plus more...

The man in the middle is Ralph Sharpe. P.B.L.Co trucks. 1930's. The Red River Company's Diesel Locomotive and Logging Train

Avila bits

2006-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

We speak of the Avila branch of the family, and know such a limited amount about it. My son's grandmother, deceased before he was born, was Lucy Avila, and she had a few brothers and sisters, lots of cousins, though their names are scraps of paper in the wind right now... Lucy's mother was Cecelia, born in Mexico, we don't have her maiden name nailed down for sure, but it may have been Guttierez. Look to their postings for more coherant details.

The only "Aunt" left of the Avila's is Candy, or Candela as she was in the census schedules with her mother. She is alive still as far as we know, she has advanced Alzheimers, however. The last time 'we' know of, before her sister, Lucy died in 2001, Candy thought Lucy was her own mother. There used to be quite a lot of animosity between her and Lucy over, loosely speaking, class- or standard of living. She is somewhere in Los Angeles County, we believe.

Lucy's brother, Francisco, or Frank- also called Kikko, is thought to still be alive as well. Lucy and Frank were the only two of the siblings who really got along with each other. His wife, Nomi, put together pictures of all the children and grandchildren on to a video once, with subtitles identifying everyone... If only we could get a hold of one of those- and some actual photographs for the purpose of getting high resolution scanns...

It's one thing, I think, to have family secrets and keep them, it's another to attempt to totally wipe out familial associations- particularly when it comes to the innocent generations. All children deserve to be able to see photos of folks they're related to. It's wonderful to say, "Hey, look, we have the same nose!" or "Yikes! so THAT's where my hips came from!" Better still is to meet them and draw one's own conclusions about what makes a person tick...

One of the cousins did time at San Quentin, Madeline remembers going to visit.

I just had a great new-year conversation with sister-in-law Madeline, and I'll let her do most of the writing on these lines because some of this just makes my head spin. She and my husband had basically the same dream a year or two ago, on the same night, and it is their task to bring the family back together, to begin the healing, and to do whatever the Spirits may inspire them to do to help bring that to pass. It won't be an easy task, by any means. Alcoholics en masse are full of surprises.

Alameda Co. Ambrose Brothers

2006-12-30T20:02:00.000-08:00

From History of Alameda County CALIFORNIA, Volume II" by Frank Clinton Merritt. Published by the S.J. Clarke Publishing Company of Chicago, Illinois in 1928. Pages 151 and 152 read as follows:

The firm of Ambrose Brothers, composed of George C. and William A. Ambrose, of San Leandro, has won a place in the front rank of contractors in sheet metal work, plumbing and heating, and in many of the important buildings of this section of Alameda county are found evidences of the superior quality of their work, which has been their best advertisement. Both brothers were born in Oakland, California, George C. on the 12th of September, 1890, and William A. on the 12th of February, 1892, sons of Antone Angelo and Mary (Megalo) Ambrose, both of whom were born and reared in Italy, though their marriage occurred after they had come to California. The sons were reared and educated in Oakland and in boyhood gained their first business experience in selling newspapers. During all of their lives they have been associated in their interests and activities and have formed a strong and efficient team. They learned together the metal working, plumbing and heating trades, being first in the employ of Willis B. George, who is now retired from business. Later they worked for Lewis Blake, Spot Brothers and other prominent Oakland firms and contractors, becoming proficient in their line and in 1911 they started in the contracting business on their own account. Since 1919 they have been located in San Leandro and have here built up a large and successful business, which in recent years has exceeded two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, annually, while they employ as high as thirty men. Among the many contracts which they have executed in this county are many large apartment houses, including:

The Abbott apartments in Oakland

150 residences in Homes court, Oakland

110 houses on the Saroni tract, at 82nd street and Foothill Blvd, San Leandro

150 houses in the Broadmoore addition

The Palace theater building in San Leandro

The First Presbyterian church in this city

The Matthews & Boitano building at 1337 East Fourteenth Street

and many others...

They own their own home at 206 Chaumalia Street and four fine bungalows across the street. They have, in the rear of their home, a large and completely equipped shop, their machinery being of the most modern type, and they are prepared to do any kind of work in their line promptly and efficiently.

Both brothers are married, George C. Ambrose having been married in Oakland, in 1914, to Miss Nicolina Zammerelli, who was born near Naples, Italy, while William A. Ambrose was married in Oakland in 1915 to Miss Antoinette Zammerelli, who was also born near Naples, Italy, and is a cousin of Mrs. Nicolina Ambrose. To William A. Ambrose and wife have been born two children, Estella and Gloria. In 1925 George C. Ambrose and his wife took an extended trip to Italy, visiting Naples, Rome and other cities, and while in Rome were in the Vatican, where they met the Pope (it being Holy Year), and also saw Premier Mussolini. The Ambrose brothers are wide-awake, enterprising and progressive business men, conducting their affairs in accord with the highest commercial ethics, and enjoy a splendid reputation for good work and square dealing. Friendly and hospitable, they command the friendship and good will of all who know them and are numbered among San Leandro’s most highly esteemed citizens.

This book was found in the California State Library of Sacramento on December 29, 2006- Finally giving solid answers to "whatever happened to Frank and Rose's brother" (Antone, also seen in the 1900 census) and "Who was George Ambrose" whose house we have a photo of.

California State Library

2006-12-29T09:05:00.000-08:00

I happen to have a few unusual days off due to the workers' Union I'm around, and so I eagerly anticipated today as a day to go Gedder Done!

I was just going to go to Folsom Prison to see some stuff on Benjamin Stewart and then take some pictures on the way back at a few cemeteries, but because my sister wants to be involved, too, I thought harder about what could be done in the Capitol City that I normally couldn't do...

What about the state archives? What about all the resources at the Library? Vital records for the whole state supposedly are there, too... Holy Cow! That's worth a trip if it's done smartly.

So I need to work on the smart part first.

(just got off the phone with someone there...)

The California State Library is open Mondays through Fridays (except holidays) from 9:30 to 4pm. No Saturdays. The address is 900 N Street, two blocks down from the State Capitol building between 9th and 10th. 916-654-0176

Some of the things I can do there is search the California Informational File, a card catalog, for people and events... So hopefully I should be able to find out the results of the 1910 Election when Frank Ambrose ran for Assemblyman. They have indexes of Deaths back to 1905, marriages (husband and wife seperately) from 1949 to 1986, and births have to go through the state Vital Records repository, which you cannot visit in person.

This has its limitations, but I can still certainly use it.

They ask you use pencils, never pens, just in case. You may bring a laptop, but not a scanner or digital camera. They ask you turn your cell phone off or on vibrate, talking only outside the library. You can photocopy most things either yourself or by asking a librarian. If you are not a state employee, you must register as an In-House Patron. There is no fee for this.

So... off we go!

* * * * *

I had some specific things I was looking for; Fragassi evidences, Avila evidences, anything on the Ambrose lines- particularly election results from 1910, Sprogis and Winkler to a lesser extent. I tried to multi-task whatever section I was in at the time. I was in the Calif Informational Files and statewide City Directories the most. I did look at the marriage and death indexes, but had more success with them online later.

I found George and William Ambrose of San Leandro, and thus learned what happened to Giovanni and Marie's son Antonio. I found Wallie Sprogis in the Sacramento directory from 1930. Rose Marie (Ambrose) and Lawrence Cobb in San Luis Obispo, 1942. In Los Angeles' city directory from 1938 was Michael and Frances FRAGASSI, Angelona, and Rozzi all living together in black and white on page 728. On page 729 of the same volume was Frank and Angelina FRAGISSI. The year before, LA directory 1937 page 702, Frank and Angelina were at the same address, but spelled FRAGASSI.

I could bore you with all the things that I looked for but didn't find... I did come away with some great stuff, but for the most part I now know a little better how it all works in there.

And in case you ever go, the entry foyer has the most extrordinary echo I've ever heard. We spent several minutes enjoying that alone...

Celebrations

2006-12-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for a reason to celebrate ANY day (if life just isn't legitimate enough for you) one place you can look to is the Earth Calendar .

There are so many ways to celebrate in families or all alone... Please consider a few of the "Best Holidays We Remember" and why they were so special. What works, what didn't work...

As comments come in, I'll add them to the main post if you like.

Family um... planning

2006-12-24T11:51:00.000-08:00

This is one of those subjects that usually causes parents to blush. Sometimes, or many times, it's skipped over all together or glossed over with some kind of Disney or Sunday School cleanliness. "The stork brought you" or "It was like magic"...

I only know of one time in history where it was "like magic"... and none of us is likely to experience that kind of thing...

One cousin keeps making the point to me that "they just didn't talk about those things. (She) probably didn't even know how she got pregnant." And this goes for married and unmarried, boys and girls alike. Another cousin remembered a conversation with Alice J. Joos late in her life, "She got pregnant as soon as they were married and then two more times. Once she figured out how the babies were coming, she stopped ___..."

They could be so sheltered they just haven't a clue, and go giggling after whatever 'feels good'.

Sometimes they'd get briefed in at the last minute, right after the wedding ceremony for instance, "Now don't worry, Susan. You'll probably see blood, it's going to hurt for a while, but try to enjoy it..." Can you imagine the terror this young bride might feel on her wedding night? Thanks for the warning, mom.

Or maybe her mother mentioned it before, but while playing around with the boy next door she didn't get hurt, didn't see blood, so she figured she was okay? Whoops! "Hey, how come I'm getting so fat?"

I'm kind of making light of it, but I hope you see where I'm coming from. These days we have Health classes in school starting around 5th grade going over the whole gamut. Some people think that's too soon or they don't want their kids to hear it from a teacher. If they cover it at home, great, if not- poor souls.

I'm not even talking about the birth control and disease lectures we get in todays media, I'm just talking about the basics. So many young women did not have that benefit even 60 years ago. And yes, people can be that "dumb".

THEN there is the feeble question of options at that point... Most of the time folks got married...

If you want to add your own comments to this, even if anonymous, go ahead. You don't even have to talk about specific family members, if you wish to leave it out.

Belmont Memorial Park

2006-12-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

In Fresno, California is a beautiful and family-owned cemetery called Belmont Memorial Park.

If you cannot click up a larger image of the map at left, email us for a larger one or get one when you visit the cemetery itself. There is an interesting listing with Political Graveyards about BMP.

It is the final resting place to three of our Stewart family members (at least). You would go in the main entrance, turn left, go back two 'blocks' and right there should be all three. The corners of each block has number stamped into it, and addresses, as I like to call them, are painted in black and white also.

STEWART, Benjamin Franklin
Born December 22, 1866 in Johnson County, Arkansas -
Died June 5, 1955 in San Joaquin County, California

STEWART, Alice Mary (Mary Alice Cindle)
Born May 25, 1871 in Arkansas (?)-
Died July 26, 1962 in San Joaquin County, California

LYNCH, Vera (Stewart)
Born 8 Feb 1895 in Arkansas
Died 28 May 1961 in San Joaquin County, CA

Block 12, Row 104, go north 4 sections to 404. They're all together.

Benjamin Franklin Stewart

2006-12-22T13:10:00.000-08:00

Benjamin was born to John Morgan Stewart and Sarah Ann Jones December 22, 1866 in Perry Township, Johnson County, Arkansas.
He married Mary Alice Cindle, daughter of David and ?, who was also born in Arkansas. (these are my mother's great-grandparents)

Benjamin and Alice lived in Indian Territory at the turn of the century, in the Cherokee Nation, as a matter of fact.

The 1900 census lists:

LINE 27--#24 Stewart, Benjamin F- Head of House, White Male, Born December 1865,age 34, married 13 years, Born in Arkansas, Father born in Virginia, Mother born in Tennessee. Occupation, Farmer, not unemployed last year, Can read, write, and speak English, renting farm 32 on the farm schedule.

LINE 28-- Mary A,
wife, white female, born May of 1876?, age 30, married 13 years, had 5 children,
3 of which are living. Born in Arkansas, Father and Mother both born in Arkansas. Can read, write, and speak English.

LINE 29-- John P, son,
white male, born March 1890, age 10, single. 2 months or years at school. Can
read, write, and speak English.

LINE 30-- Robert L, son, white male,
born July 1892, age 7, single. 2 years or months at school.

LINE 31--
Vera V, daughter, white female, born February 1895, age 5, single

Oral tradition in the family says he was an "Indian Counter" at that time. I believe the technical term was Indian Agent, and it was a government position. Probably more like an ongoing census. I bet it wasn't easy. This subject is open to research if there's any takers...

Not long after that census, the family moved to California. For about 35 years he was a Guard at notorious Folsom Prison. He actually worked there twice. He was first appointed on October 27, 1904 as a guard under Warden Archibald Yell. He quit at some point, probably over a hard-headed warden's ideas of how things should be run. "If you don't like it, there's the door!" When a new warden was appointed (I guess there were others who didn't like that particular warden's ways...) the Honorable Campbell E. Beaumont recommended him and Ben was re-appointed under Warden J. J. Smith on October 15th, 1927. Below is his staff photo from 1927.

In those days, the only uniforms were on the 'bad guys' and the staff wore tan or dark suits with a vest and perhaps a fedora hat. They all carried a lead-tipped oak cane, some were also armed. One resounding "tap" of the cane was a warning, two meant "get moving- MARCH", and, as one might expect, it could deliver a pretty efficient lambasting to an inmate out of line. Great-granddaughter Janice remembers he kept a talking bird, some kind of colorful parrot in his office, which brought home some very colorful language...

I don't imagine Benjamin was the kind of guy often mistaken for a doormat...

His Last Will and Testament mentions:

I, BENJAMIN F. STEWART, of the age of 89 years, a resident of the County of San Joaquin, State of California, being of sound mind and memory and not acting under duress, fraud, menace or undue influence of any person whatever, hereby revoking any and all wills by me heretofore made, do declare the following to be my last will and testament; -- to-wit;

FIRST
I direct that all my just debts and funeral expenses be paid as soon after my death as is conveniently possible.

SECOND
I hereby will and bequeath to my wife Mary Alice Stewart all the property that i may die possessed, both real and personal, and should she predecease me then the same as follows; -
To my daughter Vera V. Lynch a life estate in my home property in the City of Manteca, California, known as 737 Nevada St., so long as she desires to reside
therein.

THIRD
Subject only to the life estate in the real property described above, to my children in equal shares and their children by representation, I hereby will and bequeath all the property that I may die possessed, both real and personal, of whatever nature or wherever situate.

FOURTH
I declare said children and heirs to be as follows; My son Robert L. Stewart, my daughter Vera V. Lynch, my son Harry O. Stewart, my daughter Marylee Davis and my grandchildren, daughters of Johnnie Pearl Fennel (or Bennel?); Vivian McKenzie, Cleo Davadian and Ruth Sward.

FIFTH
I hereby nominate and appoint my daughter Vera V. Lynch as and for the executrix of this, my last will and testament, and direct that she may act without bond.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this __5th__ day of May,
1955.

BENJAMIN F. STEWART (signature)

He passed away June 5, 1955 in the Modesto, CA area. He was buried at Belmont Memorial Park in Fresno, California.

Janice also remembers:

About the first week of September, 1954, Harold and I went to visit Gr. Grampa and Gramma Stewart and their daughter, Vera (whom I called Aunt Vera because she was my GREAT aunt) near Manteca - or whatever town they lived in when Gr. Grampa died. I'll have to check on the towns' name. Anyway, Vera opened the door and welcomed us in. Alice Stewart always had a glare in her eyes it seemed; she looked at me and then walked into the kitchen.
I was directed towards the bedroom where Gr. Grampa was in bed. As soon as he saw me his eyes just lit up and he had a big smile on his face. He said "Janice, oh my sweet little Janice, I'm so glad to see you!" We visited for quite awhile.
Vera said he was often "naughty" and would get out of bed and eat things he wasn't supposed to from the refrigerator. (he had diabetes) But he was a sweetie pie for sure. Now Alice Cindle Stewart always loved Jeanette, but she didn't seem to have much friendliness in her eyes for me or Beverly. Maybe I was imagining it.
Vera would always french-braid my hair and Beverly's hair when she visited Bampa and Mamma in their country home outside Placerville, Ca in El Dorado County.

Some more links about Folsom Prison,

The Government Page, Touring, Pay Rates at the turn of the century, riots, history, etc... Some of my research attempts - the warden at San Quentin and the National Archives in San Bruno...

MANY THANKS to the people of the Folsom Prison Museum, run by retired guards and volunteers who have never met me but know me by name now. I am especially anticipating the book Lt. Jim Brown will be putting out on the history of Folsom Prison and it's staff. He will be considered the authority on the matter in no time at all, he certainly helped our research.

About Verbicaro

2006-12-18T15:37:00.000-08:00

Along the foothills of the Northern Calabrian region, in the province Cosenza, gleams the little ancient town of Verbicaro. The "old town" inhabited still is about 400 years old. Here is a map showing where it is- almost to the 'ankle' of the boot. This is (one of?) the town's official website. Check out the pictures, it's all in Italian.

The first Googled website I keep getting is another fellow (name Fazzio) whose grandparents immigrated from Verbicaro to- guess where?- San Francisco and Sonoma in the early 1900's. This is just amazing... You have to visit this site.

Here's an article in the SF Gate (online San Francisco newspaper) about the glorious food of Calabria, through the eyes of one from Verbicaro. I noticed that they mention there are a lot of immigrants from this town here in the San Francisco Bay area... I wonder why?

The population there is steadily decreasing, so there's not a lot of cutting edge info available. Our people left over a hundred years ago looking for something else, something better...

Still, it's nice to see where they came from. The Ambrosio surname supposedly originated a little farther south. We'll look into that, too.

About Bari

2006-12-18T15:34:00.000-08:00

Visit Santa Clause in Italy? Yep... for real.

Our Fragassi family came from Bitritto, a part of Bari. The thumbnails below are actual photos of Bari around the time period they got on the boat.

hlotis

Bari, the Adriatic coastal city and capitol of Puglia, Italy, is known for many things. There is some evidence that it may have been inhabited as early as 1500 BCE. It has been controlled by Illyrians, Greeks, Romans, Goths, Lombards, Byzantines, Normans, and Venetians and became part of the kingdom of Naples in 1557 (I didn't know Naples was a kingdom).

In the 9th century AD it was a Moorish stronghold, but it was taken by the Byzantines in 885. Peter the Hermit preached the First Crusade there in 1096. Razed by the Sicilians in 1156, it acquired new greatness in the 13th century under Frederick II. It became an independent duchy in the 14th century, passed to the Kingdom of Naples in 1558, and became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

In short, it's seen a lot of action through the centuries.

It is connected by road, rail, and ship to other Adriatic ports and is now connected by road to Naples. It was badly damaged in World War II. It was called Little Pearl Harbour for the German bombing of Liberty Ships on December 2, 1943. Some more links about this disaster are as follows: Bari- The Second Pearl Harbour , and this is just an astonishing coincidence of names, but the 15th Air Force has important history in Bari, too.

Noteworthy buildings include the Romanesque basilica (1087–1197), a major place of pilgrimage, with relics of St. Nicholas of Bari (see Nicholas, Saint); the Romanesque cathedral (12th cent.); and the Hohenstaufen castle (1233). The city has a university founded in 1924.

Take a look at Wikipedia, for starters.

View a nice slideshow in beautiful color on Webshots.

This town is thriving and more things are being discovered online. Check back in a while or add your own findings- please!

http://www.ba.infn.it/bari.html
http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/italy/bari/bari.html

Alice J Joos

2006-12-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

The one daughter of Martin Joos and Sophie Lowenguth was born in San Francisco, California on December 15, 1889, and given the name Alice Josephine Joos.

She was a very attractive young woman of French and German descent. She seemed to enjoy the outdoors very much, as you'll see in photos below...

Her first husband was Phillip Winkler, who lived a few blocks away from her parents' home near Holly Park. He was a plumber in his early years, then inheriting his father's cabinet shop and building/maintaining pianos until he retired. They married in 1903 and had three children together, Emma, Edward, and Rowena.

Alice left him in 1917 or 18, taking the children to Marin County. They still had a relationship with their father, as you will see in his post. Edward (Bud) was listed as the informant when his father passed away in 1934.

Alice's first appearance in a Federal Census is in the 1920 Census as follows:
Marin County, California. San Rafael, Corte Madera Township
January 6th, 1920 at 62 Willow Avenue, line 23 of page

WINKLER, ALICE- Head, Renting the home. White female, age 30, divorced. Can read and write, born in California. Father and mother both born in France, speaking French. Alice can speak English. She is a buyer of Toilet Articles and is working.
- Emma- daughter. White female age 10 and single. Has been attending school, can read and write and speak English. Born in California, father born in New York, mother born in California.
- Rowena- daughter. White female age 8 and single. Has been attending school, can speak English. Born in California, father born in New York, mother born in California.
- Edward- son. White male age 9 and single. Has been attending school, can speak English. Born in California, father born in New York, mother born in California.
Craviotto, Stephen- Lodger. White male age 27 and single. Came to the US in 1890, naturalized in 1899 or 98. Can read and write. Born in Italy, spoke Italian in the home. Father and mother both born in Italy, spoke Italian. Can speak English. Works as a Vulcanizer (for tires?) He is on line #27 of the page.

We are not certain exactly when Alice married Steve. Originally it was thought their marriage only lasted about 3 years, but evidence shows their relationship as a 'family' was more far-reaching than that. He appears in photos of the 20's and 30's. When Bud married in 1937 his mother was still using the name Craviotto.

Alice's third and final husband was Charles Roy Ferguson, who was born March 11, 1890 in Canada. Alice passed away in Richmond, CA in 1978 and Roy died May 27, 1981 in San Rafael, California (age 91). Edward H Winkler, stepson, was the informant/ next of kin when Roy passed. Alice's grandson only remembers his grandparents as Alice and Roy Ferguson.

Frank Winkler Jr.

2006-12-09T11:07:00.000-08:00

Frank L Winkler was born to Frank Winkler and Lillie J. Olsen on the 9th of December, 1914 in San Francisco, California. He married in due course and had a handfull of children.

He is also (believed to be) mentioned at Marin Ship and his signature is right here with his shopmates, unless, of course, this carpenter was Frank Sr.

He went Home in September of 1971 after living in Medford, Oregon for a time.

more is to come, as we have contact with Frank's son...

High School Yearbooks

2006-12-08T10:49:00.000-08:00

Back in June I had the idea to go looking for High School Yearbooks to get more information on grandparents and their siblings. Yearbook photos seem like a great way to get positive identification on other 'mysterious individuals' in family photographs.

This is what I beleived in June:

In Marin County, Tamalpias High School has got to be one of (if not the) oldest still-active schools. My grandmother and her siblings had attended there, and so did my grandfather and his siblings. I have been pining to get over there to search their yearbooks for some of the only pictures I may ever see of them. The trick is going when the school is open, and that would mean taking a day off or being very persuasive in making an appointment. Another benefit of this is being able to pick out who some of the OTHER people are in photos I have. If I can find them in the yearbooks, then I'd have names, and vice versa.

Well, I was somewhat wrong. I researched further online, Tamalpias wasn't built until 1908, and had very small classes even then. The older school was San Rafael High. I have Granny's graduation stuff and had seen her yearbook (Dad has it somewhere) and since the phrase "High School Sweethearts" was used with my grandparent's, I assumed they attended the same school. I guess not.

I went there to the school library, unfortunately right around lunch, but I was able to research quite a bit anyway. I found only Rowena Ambrose, no others and no Winklers, after searching the yearbooks from 1910 to 1932. I did come away with a little better understanding of the young adult scene back then, however. That was something I hadn't thought of before. A few weeks later, Shirley assured me her mother and the others did attend there, but back then you had to pay for your pictures. They may not have made it into the yearbooks. Why then was Rowena the only one?

I now have contact at SRH with the Librarian and school Admin, Christina and Peggy, who are extremely helpful and offering the extra mile. The yearbooks are kept in a vault in the office there, not in the library at all. Peggy is going to enlist the help of a student or two in reseraching those archived volumes, going from a list I faxed to her with the names and birth years (and a guesstimate of when they graduated) of my grand-aunts and uncles... Christina also told me there is an alumni association that has all the old yearbooks, as well, and some public libraries and historical societies may have a year here and there.

There are more yearbook wranglers on the job, too. Janet from Westwood High in Lassen County is looking for Jeanette Stewart. They have cume' files on students still dating way back from the "old" Westwood High, which burned or had to be moved in the 1960's.

Mt. Tamalpias Cemetery

2006-12-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

Since 1879, Mt. Tamalpias Mortuary and Cemetery has 'served' Marin County's people. It occupies acres of peaceful wooded hills at the end of 5th Street in San Rafael, California.

It is here just behind the office in what is called The Angels' Garden where my grandparents are laid to rest, end to end, in an outdoor mausoleum. I circled where they are in yellow.

WINKLER , Edward "Bud" Henry" born October 28, 1910, Died December 7, 1989
WINKLER, Rowena Louise (Ambrose) born June 10, 1912, Died December 8, 1996

Edward "Bud" Winkler's first cousin, Elsie, is also just a few yards away in the Fountain Grove, tier 3.

RUSTICE, Alfred George was born January 19, 1913; Died June 23, 1996

RUSTICE, Elsie Ann (Bruno) was born June 2, 1914; Died February 14, 1999. She was the daughter of Florence Winkler, Granddaughter of Henry and Caroline.
The boy is standing next to their niche.

Caroline Ann Rohrbach

2006-12-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Caroline was born on December 2, 1854 in New York. Her father, Henry Rohrbach, was born in Germany according to her death certificate, however I haven't found anything yet on her mother. We think her name was Martha... Most of this early info came from family records. I'll be adding more and more, needless to say...

On her son, Phillip's death certificate, her last name was spelled Roebuck. I'm adding this in case that particular error was perpetuated anywhere else.

She married Henry Edward Winkler around 1871 and began a family while still in New York. The order of their birth and places in family records seemed to indicate she traveled back and forth between the two coasts. Perhaps this is error, or perhaps she still had strong family ties back east that we haven't found yet. Or both.

Caroline passed four years after her husband in San Francisco on August 9, 1918. Ann Geglin, who lived around the corner at 257 Richland Ave, was the informant. I believe this was her daughter, Ann.

The first US Census we found of theirs was from 1880.
City of San Francisco, County of San Francisco, State of California
Page 33, Supervisor district 1, taken on the Ninth of June

Park Street, beginning on line 41
WINKLER, Edward
White male age 34, married, a Cabinet Maker born in Saxony, mother and father from Saxony. They left of the "Germany" part, but perhaps it was more understood back then.

" Caroline -wife
White female age 25, married, occupation Housekeeping. She was born in N.Y. and her parents were both from Baden. They left off the "Germany" here too.

" Phillip -son
White male age 8, single. He had whooping cough that year, attended school that year, was born in N.Y., father born in Saxony, mother born in N.Y.

" Annie -daughter
White female age 5, single, attended school that year, was born in N.Y., father born in Saxony, mother born in N.Y.

" Eddie -son
White male age 4, single, was born in N.Y., father born in Saxony, mother born in N.Y.

" Willie -son
White male age 2, single, was born in California, father born in Saxony, mother born in N.Y.

and Al Soon, a chinese male age 20, single, and employed as a servant. He could not read or write, he and his parents were born in China.

The next available census was from 1900. This census of San Francisco was performed on the 10th of June. Sheet number 13, beginning on line 81... I'll quote what's changed from 20 years before.

64 East Park Street

WINKLER, Henry E -Head
..born September 1843, age 56, married 28 years. Born in Germany, both parents born in Germany. Came to the US in 1864, has been here 31 years and was naturalized. Here he is listed as a Piano Maker, he can read, write, and speak English. He owns the home with a mortgage.

"Caroline -wife
born December 1854, age 45, married 28 years. Has had 10 children, 10 are living. Here it says she was born in New York and her parents were both from Germany.

"Phillip -son
born October 1872, age 27 and single. Here he is the only one listed as born in New York. He worked as a plumber and could read, write, and speak English.

"Edward -son
born September 1876, age 23 and single. He worked as a (Crofter? Crafter? something like that) was unemployed for 2 months last year, and could read, write, and speak English.

"William -son
born June 1878, age 21 and single. He worked as a peddler and could read, write, and speak English.

"Frederick -son
born June 1880, age 19 and single. He worked as a plumber and could read, write, and speak English.

"Florence -daughter
born February 1883, age 17 and single. She was 'at home' and could read, write, and speak English.

"Frank -son
born April 1888, age 12 and single. He was at school for 10 months last year and could read, write, and speak English.

"Louisa -daughter
born August 1890, age 9 and single. She was at school for 10 months last year. Not specified about reading and writing...

"George -son
born January 1892, age 8 and single. He was at school for 10 months last year. Not specified about reading and writing...

"Emilia -daughter
born July of 1893, age 6 and single.

Hessen, where Henry was from, is in the area of Frankfurt, Germany. Baden, where Caroline's parents are from, is just South, near Stuttgart. I'm still researching how these borders have changed over the years.

Early Memories

2006-11-30T13:59:00.000-08:00

I know it’s different for everyone, how memories transcend time and what details remain… I wanted to share an example from my own life.

We always made a big deal out of going to Sacramento when I was a child. My grandparents lived there, my mother’s only sister lived there. We memorized the landmarks along the way so we wouldn’t have to use up our “Are we there yet?” allotment.

I remember going to Sacramento for a funeral and being held in my sister’s arms at a ‘chapel’ with sunshiney windows. The color I remember was burgundy or brown, probably the upholstery and rugs or draperies. Either I told her or was thinking I wanted to see what everyone was looking at, who was in the box? She lifted me up (However old I was, I was that small) and I saw a very old looking person apparently asleep in a strange bed. I guess from everyone talking I knew this person was dead, although it didn’t bother me a great deal. I remember going outside with the procession, there were very green lawns on gently rolling hills. We went up one hill near a row of oleander bushes. I remembered them because we had the same kinds at our house, pink, white, red… There was fake grass covering the piles of dirt on either side of the big hole that was already there. I could also hear the traffic from the freeway, although I couldn’t see it. With anticipation for what was going to happen, I heard some additional words being said before they actually lowered the casket with a motorized thing. I waited for them to cover it, don’t think it happened while I was there.

When I was about 17 or 18 I went with a boyfriend to that cemetery, East Lawn in North Highlands, California. I guess I didn’t know then that you could just go in the office and “ask directions”. We drove around looking for the oleanders, and when I found them I got out of the car and could hear the traffic from the freeway. We began looking around and with only a little effort we found my mother’s grandparents, Robert and Olive Stewart.

No one in my family has been able to verify which great grandparent it was that I saw. (figures)It could even be that I remember both of them, and the memory fused into one. If it was “Bampa”, I was just 6 months old. A stretch, but possible. I have other memories from the crib period. If it was “Ma-maw”, I was 5 years old.

My point is that fragments of memories like that can lead to incredible findings. It may be the little clue that is the difference between two entirely different families that appeared the same.

Have any of you ever had a similar experience?

*

Olivet Memorial Park

2006-11-25T11:13:00.000-08:00

Another large cemetery in Colma, California is Olivet Memorial Park. The address is 1601 Hillside Blvd. The phone number is (650) 755-0322. I haven't found an official website yet, but there are numerous references to it in other sites such as Rootsweb and San Francisco Genealogy. We have a lot of family here, I've arranged them like a walking tour.

In the Columbarium, adjacent to the new office:

Three niches in a cluster in Room F
(Niche 416 )
JOOS, Martin born in France July 5, 1863, died in San Francisco April 15, 1936 (age 73)
JOOS, Sophie (Lowenguth) born in France February 21, 1864, died in Berkeley, California December 22, 1954 (age 90)
JOOS, Edward Henry (their son?) born May 15, 1899 in California, died September 10, 1915 in San Francisco. (age 16)
FERGUSON, Alice Josephine (Joos) born December 15, 1889 in San Francisco and died March 10, 1978 in Richmond, California. (age 89)
FERGUSON, Charles Roy (husband of Alice) born March 11, 1890 in Canada and died May 27, 1981 in San Rafael, California. (age 91) Edward H Winkler, stepson, was the informant/ next of kin.

Room F, Niche 418
JOOS, Martin W born 1916 in San Francisco, died August 29, 1962 in San Francisco (age 46)
JOOS, Martin A born 1896 in San Francisco and died in February 10, 1972 in San Francisco (age 76)
JOOS, Alice Victoria (Peterson) born 1892 in California, died October 24, 1972 in Burlingame, California. (age 80) *Relative listed as Georgina Rannizi Also in Room F a little higher on the left is Charles and Josephine Loewenguth, which I believed to be too much of a coincidence to Not be related to Sophie Lowenguth Joos. This Josephine's maiden name is Joos, also. One of my family books once owned by Alice and Marty Joos refers to "Aunt Josephine", so that's too many coincidences... CHARLES is Sophie's brother, JOSEPHINE is Martin's sister. Room I, Niche 102 at the bottom
GRIMM, Albert L. born September 24, 1906(or 05) in California. (He was the first husband of Emma Winkler) Died May 12, 1964 in San Francisco. (age 58?) Next of kin was his son, Robert L Grimm at 161 Bismark Street, Daly City.
GRIMM, Jacqueline Renee born October 18, 1937 at 374 Park Street, San Francisco, Ca. She died September 9, 1941 at the same address. (age 4)
GRIMM, Robert Lewis was born October 18, 1937, a twin. He died May 6, 1968. (age 31) Informant/ next of kin was his mother, Emma L. Gattorna at 475 Alvarado Street, San Francisco. His death was alcohol related.
Palm Room, Niche #724
GRIMM, Lewis Robert born March 23, 1876 - died December 2, 1956 (father of Albert L. Grimm, above)
GRIMM, Mary (Koch) born June 16, 1880 - died March 6, 1960 (daughter of Geo. & Maria)

Outside, you will find

Sycamore Section B
KOCH, George died February 12, 1934 at age 81 (grave 1)
KOCH, Maria M. died April 2, 1935 at age 73+ (grave 2)
George and Maria owned 13F-Section B Sycamore together with L.R. Grimm*. They were once thought to be just family friends, but they are actually family on the Grimm side.

*L.R. Grimm born March 23, 1876, died December 2, 1956 at 71 Forest View Drive, San Francisco. Husband of Mary- may be Albert's parents.
Right next to the Koch grave, previously thought to be anonymously burried with them is:

GATTORNA, Emma Louise (Winkler) born October 28, 1909 in San Francisco, she died January 13, 1972 in San Francisco. (age 63) Her husband, Angelo, was the informant.
GATTORNA, Angelo born 26 May 1913 in Italy - died 18 July 1994 in Sonoma County, California.

Sycamore Section FAMBROSE, Frank Murray born March 24, 1872 in Calabria, Italy. Died October 19, 1945 in Santa Rosa, California. (age 73)
AMBROSE, Catherine Agnes (Howard) born June 17, 1876 in San Francisco, California. Died April 25, 1952 in San Rafael, California. (age 76) She and Frank are in Sycamore section F, Division C, Grave 84.
You go around to where section H and I meet, allign yourself with two very large trees and a private mausoleum (you can see the building between the two trees) walk straight on and in the 2nd row back you'll see them.
(Their daughter, Kathleen (Kay) purchased a double grave in this same area, grave 45, in or around 1952, but I suppose she sold it to someone else...)

Linden, Lawn 1Lot 29 (10 graves in this lot- directly behind "Baby Land" on the Right)

WINKLER, Henry Edward (#3) Owner of the lot, born October 6, 1843 in Germany. Died June 30, 1914 in San Francisco. (age 71)

WINKLER, Caroline Ann (Rohrbach) wife of Henry, born December 2, 1855 in New York. Died August 6, 1918 in San Francisco. (age 63)

WINKLER, Phillip born in New York October 10, 1872, died November 7, 1934 in San Francisco. (age 62)

WINKLER, Edward born in San Francisco October 15, 1877, died in Richmond, California on July 10, 1929 (age 52)

WINKLER, William born in New York on June 19, 1878, died February 24, 1908 in San Francisco. (age 30)

WINKLER, Fredrick born July 18, 1880 in San Francisco, died in San Francisco on November 29, 1907. (age 27)

FRISCHE, William H. born May 1, 1913 in San Francisco to Amelia Winkler. Died August 1, 1915 in San Francisco. (age 2)

FIELDS, Louise (Winkler) born in San Francisco August 11, 1889, died September 28, 1928 in San Francisco. (age 39)

BRUNO, Nicholas born in Italy 1875, died in Redwood City on January 5, 1916 (age 41)

BRUNO, unnamed still born baby boy, born December 4, 1911 at 280-C Shipley Street (between Folsom & Harrison), San Francisco, CA (buried at the back of grave 9)

In 1913 a Bruno girl was born to a Winkler mother.

Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery

2006-11-25T10:25:00.000-08:00

The main entrance of Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, California is 1500 Mission Road. You can also get there from Hillside Blvd, BART South San Francisco is just a block away.

The only family we knew until recently were from the Howard family, children born in San Francisco to Thomas and Mary who came from Ireland. Now we know that some of the Brown/ Krauser/ Hennessy clan are here too! The list keeps growing.

WILLIAM HOWARD was born in 1877 on the 13th of October. He died November 1937 in San Francisco, buried in Section R1, row 10, grave 62 at Holy Cross.

THOMAS F. HOWARD who was born on July 3, 1874 died on Christmas Eve 1943. He was buried at Holy Cross, sharing a grave with his brother.

(Nov. 24, 2006) This grave is difficult to find. Either the marker has sank into the ground or there wasn't one to begin with. This section is on a rolling hill with flat markers all around. The person in the office graciously gave me a list of surrounding graves so I could tell where it was supposed to be, but this was after I had already done a lot of searching and it was getting dark. The people from grave 56 to 64 are as follows: Ayala, McGinnis, Witacki, Cardinal, Mason, Donnelly, (Howard), True, Bancroft. As I understood the map, if you stand on Avenue E, facing the hills behind the cemetery with the large mausoleum to your left and a little behind you, you are looking at the rows of R1 before you. There are some "mini-graves" at the right, but once you get to the standard size graves, begin counting the rows to 10. Still on Avenue E, right? Now, from row 10 begin walking toward the little tree line dividing the two R sections. You may have to scuff the markers a bit because of lawn clippings and soil runoff. Count as you go and look for the names above.

(AUGUST 26, 2007) There is now a concrete marker on their grave.

ALICE HOWARD died August 24, 1874 at the age of three. She was originally buried at Mount Calvary Cemetery in San Francisco, with a new marker made in December of 1903.

MAURICE HOWARD born June 27, 1879, died at grammar school age when he was kicked by a race horse at the Cooper Stables, where his father worked. He is supposed to be buried near his sister Alice.

The burial information for Alice and Maurice in family records (Dormetory 3, Station 71, Area 27, Grave 78) is most likely irrelevant now because in the early 1940's the 38,000 people who were buried at Calvary were dug up and moved to a special section of Holy Cross, which did not exist at all until 1887. What you are looking at is... a mass grave... this patch of lawn is where they all are.

ALSO in section R1 just a few more rows away from the Howards:

BROWN, Gertrude V. born November 2, 1895, died August 15, 1935 (Row 17, Grave 25)
BROWN, Josephine R. born February 26, 1872, died December 15, 1940 (same grave)

Over in section 5, way over by the northern tree line, is

HENNESSY, Alfred J. born June 4, 1872 and died May 31, 1961. It was intended to be shared with his wife Anna Cecelia Brown, however her sister, Juanita, predeceased her and she evidently gave permission for her sister to be buried there. Anna is buried by herself near their 'country home' in the Manton Cemetery in Tehama County, California.
BROWN, Juanita M born March 4, 1900 and died March 26, 1979. Daughter of George Brown and Josephine Krauser.

Shown at right is the visual line up to find their grave. This one is easy.

Italian Cemetery

2006-11-24T10:19:00.000-08:00

Located in Colma, California, the Italian Cemetery is "home" to our first immigrant Italians on this line.

You can now get there by BART, the Colma station is just a block away from F Street.
It's no trouble to drive, but you may have to make a U-turn to get to F where it curls up a slope because of the divided road.

If you go in the 2nd entrance, called Columbo Avenue, and go almost all the way down to the end, on the right, stand on the number 57 and look to your left to see the Ambrose's white marble cross on a pedestal.

Block 58, lot 67 is owned by G. B. Ambrose. Shown below are details from the memorial.

Alla Memoria Dei
nostri genitori
MARIA AMBROSE
Nata a Verbicaro
Provencia di Cosenza Italia
Morta in S.F. il 9 maggio 1912
all eta di anni 65
* * *
GIOVANNI B. AMBROSE
Nata a Verbicaro
Provencia di Cosenza Italia
Morta in S.F. il 10 marzo 1915
all eta di anni 68
Cari genitori
R.I.P.

Loose translation: To the Memory of our parents (Ancestors) Maria Ambrose, born in Verbicaro, Province of Cosenza, Italy. Died in San Francisco on May 9, 1912 at the age of 65. Giovanni B. Ambrose, born in Verbicaro, Province of Cosenza, Italy. Died in San Francisco on March 10, 1915 at the age of 68. Dear Ancestors, Rest in Peace...

Golden Gate National Cemetery

2006-11-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

If you've ever driven along Highway 280 near the San Francisco International Airport, you've undoubtedly noticed the Golden Gate National Cemetery. It's size and immaculate rows upon rows of white headstones make it somewhat intimidating and a sober reminder of all the servicemen who don't make it home... and those who do...
The address is 1300 Sneath Lane, San Bruno, CA 94066

The San Bruno BART is reasonably close by.

Previously, the only part of our clan we knew resting there was :

GEORGE WINKLER (son of Henry and Caroline, brother of Phillip, etc.)
Born January 28, 1892, died May 3, 1953
Was a wagoner in the Wagon Supply Company during World War I.
63rd Infantry 11th Division (24109 is another associated number)

I found him some time ago through http://www.interment.net/
Many beautiful photos of this cemetery are available at Indospectrum.com

We have since found out (in 2007) that we have more "family" here. Family relationships are yet to come.

Howard, Robert James, (son of Thomas Howard and Mary Ellen Waters) b. 09/17/1882, d. 11/08/1951, CHAUFFEUR 1ST CL SQ C AIR SVC FLYING SCH ROCKWELL FLD CALIF, Plot: R 3345, bur. 11/15/1951, *

Heglin, Philip B, b. 12/28/1901, d. 03/13/1993, S 2 USN, Plot: CA 976, bur. 03/18/1993, and

Heglin, Florence L, b. 12/17/1903, d. 05/30/1984, Plot: CA 976, bur. 06/01/1984,

Heglin, Harry Monroe, b. 01/04/1896, d. 03/20/1958, PFC USMC, Plot: T 4797, bur. 03/24/1958,

Heglin, Ray , b. 04/20/1899, d. 09/26/1977, PVT USA, Plot: T 4798, bur. 09/29/1977,

Heglin, Margaret , b. 05/11/1905, d. 08/20/1988, Plot: T 4798, bur. 08/24/1988,