THANKSGIVING 2009

WISHING ALL MY FRIENDS

A VERY HAPPY AND SAFE

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

Wordless Wednesday--HUGHES THANKSGIVINGS

Tombstone Tuesday--Charles Stark

Charles Stark is my maternal great grandfather. He was born in 1845 in Dasseldorf, Prussia and died on April 26, 1895 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Charles has a somewhat colorful story which needs to be reported on Flipside. Of late I have been tiptoeing around the tale as some new information has come into my hands which has made me rethink my original spin on the events. A piece was presented in SNGF this weekend and is also dealt with more fully in the Charles Stark section of my home page. Although as mentioned, some of the home page story needs to be rewritten.

FATHERCHARLES STARK1845-1895SGT. Co. D 5th W. VA. CAV.
Charles is buried in the single interments area in Division Two, near Section E and F, Union Dale Cemetery, on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Also buried in Union Dale are his wife, Wilhelmine Catherine Schwarz Stark, and two daughters, Lucy Stark Munger and Dorothy Stark Cooper.

I have not visited Union Dale. My brother, Jeff, and my Dad photographed the tombstone in 1993. From Jeff's notes, it was rather difficult to locate. There was only a record of Charles Stark's burial, but no real direction as to where the grave was located--other than the vast area of Section E and the unnamed land where the actual gravemarker is located.

After walking around on a hot 90 degree Pittsburgh summer day, they managed to see the tombstone. Jeff was puzzled when he saw that great grandfather did not have an American flag marking his service in the Civil War and returned to the cemetery office to correct the oversight in the record book. Returning with the flag, he had to dig down in the dirt beside the tombstone to locate the metal holder which had been pushed into the ground over time.

As I have mentioned on numerous blogs, my family goes beyond the call of duty helping with the family genealogy. Jeff also found the other Stark graves and took photos for my records on this Union Dale day.

SNGF--Most Recent Unknown Ancestor

Randy at Genea-Musings has presented this Saturday Night's challenge. 1) Who is your MRUA - your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor? This is the person with the lowest number in your Pedigree Chart or Ahnentafel List that you have not identified a last name for, or a first name if you know a surname but not a first name. 2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently? Why don't you scan it again just to see if there's something you have missed? 3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your MRUA?4) Tell us about him or her, and your answers to 2) and 3) above, in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or a comment on Facebook or some other social networking site.

Saturday Night on Sunday Morning for Flipside

After checking my chart, the winner is # 24, my maternal great great grandfather--Unknown Stark. There are two reasons for this mystery person. First, my maternal Great Grandfather, Charles (listed as Carl) Stark, emigrated from Germany, arriving in the U.S. on September 15, 1860. He was a young man of 18 and came to the U.S. alone. I do not speak German and have not searched for German records. The most information I have about him is his Civil War pension file. From it I am able to determine where in Germany he was born--Dasseldorf, Prussia.

I have his death record from Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, there is no record of his parentage on it.

Now for the second issue--my great grandfather was declared a lunatic, sent to the city home in April, 1890 and died there on April 26, 1895. Apparently no one discussed him in the family. Various cousins who I network with have conmunicated that their grandparent (Charles' child) never spoke of him. My own mother (his grand daughter) had no idea who he was or that he was in the Civil War, even though we have a tin type of him in uniform. His wife and widow never spoke of him to her grandchildren.

A couple of leads that I have not followed:

1. When Charles (written as Carl) Stark and Wilhelmina Catherine Schwarz married in St. Louis on February 6, 1878, it was a Rev. Charles Stark that officiated. Was this a relative? Why did Charles and Wilhelmina travel from Pittsburgh to St. Louis to marry? There is also information as to where my great grandparents came from on the marriage documents. Charles from Elberfeld in Prussia and Wilhelmine from Wurttemberg, Germany

2. I have been told that there were relations living in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when Charles arrived in 1860. An educated guess it that they were his relations and not Wilhelmina's. On the flipside, she might also have had relatives in town as she supposedly was a woman who came from Alsace-Lorraine in 1877 to marry Charles Stark and she was in the Pittsburgh area before the marriage took place. Frankly, her parentage is also shrouded in mystery and I do have her death certificate!

What I have gleaned from this SNGF--I need to pursue the German ancestry of my chart as numbers 24, 25, 26 and 27 are all unknowns.

Treasure Chest Thursday--Stark Cane

Although only about 45 to 50 years old, this cane is a precious family item. It originally belonged to my maternal grandmother, Martha Marie Frederick Stark, aka Teek. She suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and in her later years needed the cane for support.

Teek is pictured here with the cane the day of my wedding on August 16, 1969.

After her death in 1971, the cane became the property of my mom, her daughter. Mom was also a victim of arthritis and used the cane in her later years. My brother Jeff, tells the humorous story of the cane and May 23, 1978. Apparently after my first son, Aric, was born, Jeff found the cane, tied a big blue bow on it with the sign--GRANDMA--and presented it to Mom.

After my Mom's death in 1999, the cane was passed on to me. I used it for years as a prop in my Little Folks Theater class. It was the the favorite of the young thespians. My Mom was active in theater from high school and into her old age, both on the boards and as an audience member. It somehow seemed fitting to use her cane with the upcoming generation of actors.

Now the cane rests against a wall in my dining room....currently a decorative piece, but I know the day will come when I will also use it as that old arthritis gene has unfortunately come down to me.

Wordless Wednesday--Wooster Mystery Tree

Tombstone Tuesday--William Steele and Elizabeth Ann Pool McClure

William Steel McClure and Elizabeth Ann Pool McClure are my paternal gg grand uncle and aunt. Elizabeth is my blood relation, the daughter of William Lanham Pool and Anne Louise Frum. Elizabeth was born in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia on May 24, 1840 and died on Barons Creek, Union District, Monongalia County, West Virginia on April 24, 1928. She married William Steel McClure, son of William McClure and Martha Steele on October 05, 1865 in Monongalia County, West Virginia. William was born on April 29, 1836 in Greene County, Pennsylvania and died on November 16, 1919 in the Morgan District, Monongalia County, West Virginia.

The McClures lived on a farm in Monongalia County and raised nine children.

Elizabeth, known to family as Aunt Sis, was a life long member of Rock Forge Methodist Church (now known as Brookhaven Methodist Church). She had attended a subscription school as a child.

The McClures are buried in East Oak Grove Cemetery, Morgantown, Monongalia County, West Virginia.

Aunt Sis McClure cropped from a Poole Family Reunion photograph