We walked the dog in the middle of the afternoon which wore him (and us) completely out. That was two walks in one day for me -- I could use more after the winter months.
After the walk I worked on the "family trees". I have four of them going which I'm sure most hobby genealogists recognize -- that's four for my surname at four different sites -- I of course have a few others working on different surnames for friends.
I am always amazed at how things work when poking around randomly "in the trees". There is always trimming and pruning needing attention. I never tire of finding out what next will come within a tree. In my four trees I usually build one name at a time so that I can "connect" with each name and feel like I get to know them and their growth.
Yesterday I actually was able to solve a mystery that I had uncovered but not followed up on for the last several years. About five years ago my wife and I drove from Northern California to the Midwest to search for "dead relatives", living relatives and some in between. While in Monroe County, Wisconsin we visited a cemetery in Warren Mills -- The Warren Mills Cemetery -- and for the first time for me saw the tombstones of my Great Grandfather, his wife and some other family members. It was one of the others that I believe I have identified just yesterday.
The tombstone in question was one for "Adeline" 1909-1917. It was in the middle of our plot so I knew it had to be someone from the family, but like so many other times when it was easier to pick the low hanging fruit, I just tucked that name and tombstone in the back of my mind and went about several years of picking that other fruit.
Yesterday while finalizing putting another name into my personal website www.danhiles.com
I was puzzled at the three census reports for the family that I was going to upload to the site.
The 1910 showed my Grand Aunt and her husband and their first child. The 1920 Census showed Grand Aunt & husband and two children -- but neither of the two children had the name that was listed in the 1910 Census . Looking at the 1930 Census did not solve the question as now the family dynamics had changed even more.
The family had moved from Wisconsin to Southern California and that Census showed only my Grand Aunt -- no husband -- but still married, and the same two children as the 1920 Census.
It was at that moment that the "tucked" memory of the tombstone came to mind -- both the names on the tombstone and the child's name in the 1910 Census were the same -- Adeline.
Thinking more about it I realized that the tombstone was for "Adeline" who must have died and been buried in that family plot in Wisconsin and she was the daughter that "disappeard" from the two subsequent censuses. Now as to the missing husband to my Grand Aunt -- I am still working on recovering that . . . but there is still plenty of low hanging fruit that keeps me picking that, but one of these days "he will turn up" . . .
And so now it is back to the "trees" . . .
