Carnival of Genealogy 74th Edition--Annual Swimsuit Edition

Carnival of Genealogy 74th Edition—Annual Swimsuit Edition. Back by popular demand, the topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: Swimsuit Edition! Why should Sports Illustrated have all the fun? This edition of the COG will be hosted at Creative Gene.      Years back my Dad’s cousin, Kae Billick, sent me this photo of their mutual aunt, Mary Louise VanGilder, known to family as “Bobs.” She was the daughter of George Ethelbert VanGilder and Jessie Pool, born March 9, 1894 in Morgantown, West Virginia. During a telephone interview, Kae told me that Bobs was a flapper during the Roaring Twenties. She was the older sister of my Grandmother Hughes and as you can tell from this photograph postcard, loved to have fun.   A couple of years ago, as I was surfing around the ancestry newspaper site, I happened upon the collection of old newspapers from Charleroi, Pennsylvania. Unbeknownst to me, there was a gold mine waiting for me to explore in that collection. 

     My Great Grandmother VanGilder, all of her sisters and even a couple of articles about her daughter, my Grandmother Hughes, were hiding there. I also found the newspaper article above which explains the photo postcard of my bathing beauty.

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published.    PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2009, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

For Greta---Language of Cats

My blogging buddy, Greta, over at Greta's Bog, has had a series called Language of Cats and comes up with some pretty clever titles....with, I understand, the assistance of her husband. I don't know, Greta....all I can come up with for this one is....."punch drunk" or "bowl-ing".

I think a little history is needed here because, after all, this is a blog!

My brother, Jeff, took this photo for a photography class in college. I am guessing that the cat is Mame, as my mother had a penchant for naming her cats from Broadway shows. Addendum: Jeff just called and the cat is Zip, a song in the show, Pal Joey and the photo was taken in 1976.

The photo has been a comical, fav of our family since it was taken. The humor....Mame has decided to take her afternoon nap in one of our treasured family heirlooms.....a turn of the century, American Brilliant Period, cut crystal punch bowl complete with buzz stars, pinwheels, fans, hob stars and a pedestal. My mother told me that it belonged to her mother, Martha Marie Frederick Stark and was used for family gatherings. It came into my possession when Ted and I purchased our first home. I have three cats and none of them has chosen the punch bowl as a place to repose!

P.S. And yet another springboard from Greta's Bog....boys, this is one you DON'T sell when I am gone!!! ;-)

Wordless Wednesday--Herb Gardening Mathematics

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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun on Sunday Night

I know it is Sunday, but I am just getting around to Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Fun over at Genea-Musings . It looked like such a good time, that I am doing it tonight.

This weekends task is to find out with of your ancestors were alive in 1909, tell where your ancestral families were living in 1909. What country, state, county, city/town, etc. Who was in the family at the time? Use the 1910 census as "close enough" and have you found each of these families in the 1910 census?

Paternal Ancestors

John and Elizabeth Hughes (great grandparents) were living at 2403 Wright Alley, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (South Side) with my grandfather, George Henry Hughes.

Ferdinanda Olesen (great great grandmother) was living at 73 South Parade, West Hartlepool, England.

George Henry and Ann Storey Hughes (great great grandparents) were living at 70 Florence Street, West Hartlepool, England.

Jessie Pool VanGilder (great grandmother) was living in Morgantown, West Virginia with her four daughters, Mary Louise, Anna Estelle, Sarah Margaret (my grandmother) and Jessica Virginia VanGilder.

Sampson Frum Pool and Sarah Louise Harner Pool (great great grandparents) They were living on their farm in the Morgan District, Monongalia County, West Virgina. Sampson died December 14, 1909

William Lanham Pool (great great great grandfather) was living on his farm in the Clinton District, Monongalia County, West Virginia.

Maternal Ancestors

Alfred Frederick (great grandfather) and Lucinda B. Orr were living at 67 Jackson, Bellevue, Pennsylvania with Martha (my grandmother). Lucinda died on December 15, 1909 at home.

Wilhelmina Stark (great grandmother) was living at 530 Marie Avenue, Avalon, Pennsylvania. Living with her were Charles E. (my grandfather), his brother, Alfred and sister, Dorothy Stark.

The Janice Brown Puckerbrush Blog Award of Excellence

Thank you Greta over at Greta’s Genealogy Bog for sending me this prestigious award. It is particularly special coming from you, a fellow genablogger who continually has exciting, innovative and educational blogs. AND, you love cats! So often I find ideas as a springboard for my own writing over on your blog. I am honored.

The Puckerbrush Award was conceived by Terry Thornton over at Hill County of Monroe County Mississippi and the details are on his blog .

This is my listing of the ten blogs that I am giving The Puckerbrush Blog Award of Excellence to. You have all inspired me. Congratulations to you all and pass the award along.


1. Lori E at Stories of My Ancestors
2. Lori E at Family Trees May Contain Nuts
3. Sheri at The Educated Genealogist
4. Linda at Exploring Almost Forgotten Gravesites in Ohio
5. Terri at The Ties that Bind
6. Jo at Wibbling Jo’s Genealogy Blog
7. Olive’s Granddaughter at Grandma’s Stitches
8. Courtney at My Family Puzzle
9. Alana at A Twig In My Tree
10. Evelyn at A Canadian Family

Smile for the Camera--Wedding Belles

The word prompt for the 14th Edition of Smile for the Camera is Wedding Belles. Historically, couples married in the month of June to honor Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage. Others did it to time conception so births wouldn't interfere with harvest work. And brides in the 15th century chose to marry in June because it coincided with their "annual bath" - that's right - ensuring a relatively sweet-smelling honeymoon.



When I began working on this blog, I quickly realized that I did not have many wedding photos in my genealogy cache of family pictures. My Mom and Dad did not have a white wedding dress ceremony. They were married during World War II when my Dad was in medical school. Their ceremony was small, only family attended, and my Mom wore a new suit. There were no photos taken of either of my grandparents weddings. I think the only family wedding photos, other than my own, are those from the marriage of my Aunt Faith and Uncle Ed in 1955. I was the flower girl.

Then I remembered the professional wedding photograph of my mother’s first cousin, Dorothy Wilma Cooper. After my mother’s death in 1999, I was going through her closets and ran across a box that was filled with her memorabilia. In a manila envelope there was a wedding photo. It was the marriage of my mother’s first cousin, Dorothy Wilma Cooper to Samuel Milton Richards.
Dottie and Samuel married on Halloween, October 31, 1946 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Two of her attendants were her first cousins, my mother, Martha Jean Stark Hughes and Lorraine Wilma Miller.

The name Wilma is common in this generation of cousins as their grandmother was Wilhelmina Stark. Three of the five girl cousins had Wilma as a first or middle name.

I first met “Cousin” Dottie in the mid 1990’s. She was so welcoming and shared numerous family stories and photos of our mutual Stark side of the tree. Once, when we were talking about the family, she showed me the photo of her wedding and shared the following story.

Dottie asked my mother to be one of her attendants. Several months before the wedding day, my mother became pregnant with me causing some concern that Mom would not fit into her gown by the end of October.

The knowledge of this story makes the wedding photo very special to me….after all; I was also in the wedding party!

John VanGilder of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri—Ours or another Family’s?

Remember “Where’s Waldo”? John VanGilder, son of Jacob VanGilder and Anna Margaret Gibler or Kibler has become an equally illusive character. In most of the VanGilder family research pieces that have come across my desk, John “went west”. No further research was ever done as to just where in the west he went.

There is a letter dated 1925 written by Ezra Morgan,¹ a great grandson of Jacob and Anna Margaret. Ezra writes about his recollections of the VanGilder ancestry. In the letter he tells of John VanGilder who went to the state of Iowa, married and had a son, also named John. Ezra remembers that in 1862, John VanGilder, the son, visited the family in West Virginia. The letter can be used for clues and as a springboard for further research as there are many inaccuracies in the names, dates and places. Ezra was 79 years old when he wrote the letter.

     The only John VanGilder that I was able to locate in early census reports was one who lived in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. Adding to the interest in this John VanGilder is that Cape Girardeau County is located on the Mississippi River. A story passed down through the generations in the VanGilder family was the tragedy of James VanGilder who drowned in the Mississippi River following a visit with his brother, John.² The accident occurred after 1840 and before 1850.


     The John VanGilder in my family tree was born about 1789 in Maryland, the first known son of Jacob and Anna Margaret VanGilder. Determined from birth records of the next three children, the VanGilder’s decided to join the pioneer movement west after 1797. They left Frederick County, Maryland and traveled on dirt trails and paths over the Allegheny Mountains (probably partially following what was to become the National Road or Cumberland Road) to Monongalia County (West) Virginia, settling in the area of present day Morgantown.

     The earliest documentation for the family is a Monongalia County Court record dated 1800--Jacob Van Gilder was ordered to work on the road from Morgantown by Robert Hill's house into the Uniontown Road. Jacob was to be the surveyor.³

     Another court record reads, 1804 appearance by Jacob Vangilder who wanted his stolen dog "Scent" returned. Other family members called to testify were son, John and daughter Mary.⁴ Jacob did not get his dog back!

     In a property tax record for 1806 there are two males over 18 years of age listed for Jacob VanGilder.⁵ One would be Jacob and the other must be his son, John. The tax record for 1810 only lists one male over age 18.⁶ Has son John VanGilder gone west?

     The next piece of interesting information is in the book, “The History of Southeast Missouri”. On page 413 there is a petition dated in the summer of 1808 requesting the court to appoint commissioners for the town of Cape Girardeau.⁷ One of the petitioners is John VanGilder and listed directly above him is Frederick Gibler.

     Back to Morgantown. “The Monongalia Story: II The Pioneers” by Earl L. Core shows an early map of the town of Morgantown, (West) Virginia. Frederick Gibler owned Lot 125 along the Monongahela River. Frederick, a tanner, was the first owner of the lot and could have been in Morgan’s Town after 1785.⁸ There is a Monongalia tax record for Frederick Gibler in 1805, which lists that there are two males over age 18in the home.⁹ Is Frederick Gibler a relation of Anna Margaret Gibler/Kibler VanGilder? If so, could he be John Van Gilder’s grandfather or more likely his uncle.

Did Frederick leave Morgantown first, removing to Cape Girardeau County, Missouri and John followed a year or two later or did they travel together? On page 411 in the “History of Southeast Missouri,” Frederick Gibler is listed as an early resident, but not John.¹⁰ Was it Frederick Gibler, the tanner, who removed to Missouri or could he have had a son, also named Frederick, who would have been about John’s age according to the Monongalia tax records, that is the Missouri early settler? Were the Frederick Gibler and John VanGilder in Cape Girardeau cousins?

     I will mention here that Jacob and Anna Margaret VanGilder did name their second son, Frederick….perhaps for Frederick Gibler. I also want to make note that Anna Margaret’s maiden name is in question. On the pension file papers for Jacob VanGilder it appears that her name was listed as Kibler and someone printed a letter “G” over the “K”.¹¹

     Over the years I have been contacted by numerous descendants of John VanGilder from Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. To date they have not been able to make a documented connection to the West Virginia VanGilder roots that stem from Jacob and Anna Margaret. This is one of my genealogy conundrums that will take much more research and perhaps will never been resolved.

     I am generally not a betting person; however, I am placing my money on the Cape Girardeau County, John VanGilder, as belonging to my VanGilder line.

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     It is time to update this very old blog.  With DNA testing, it had been proven that John VanGilder of Cape Girardeau County is indeed the son of Jacob and Anna Margaret VanGilder.  

     And, the DNA has also shown that Jacob VanGilder did not immigrate from the Netherlands.  He is a descendant from Mohican-Wappinger Native American, Awansous.  

Also on Flipside

Gena-musings with additional added information regarding the DNA testing.

Updated:  January 2026

Notes

1. Ezra Morgan letter dated December 18, 1925

2. Marion County, Historical Society, Inc., A History of Marion County West Virginia 1985, Walsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1986, page 323

3. Melba Pender Zinn, “Monongalia County, (West) Virginia Records of the District and County Courts, Volume 4 1800-1802, 1810,” Heritage Books, June 1800 Court

4. Melba Pender Zinn, “Monongalia County, (West) Virginia Records of the District, Superior and County Courts, Volume 5, 1802-1805,” Heritage Books, 132a.

5. Monongalia County Records of District and County Courts, Monongalia County (West) Virginia Personal Property Taxes, 1806.

6. Monongalia County Records of District and County Courts, Monongalia County (West) Virginia Personal Property Taxes, 1810.

7. Robert Sidney Douglass, “History of Southeast Missouri: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, It's People and It's Principal Interests,” Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1912, page 413.

8. Earl L. Core, “The Monongalia Story A Bicentennial History: II The Pioneers,” McClain Printing Company, Parsons, West Virginia, 1976, pages 126, 195, 206.

9. Melba Pender Zinn, “Monongalia County, (West) Virginia Records of the District, Superior and County Courts, Volume 2 1800-1803,” Heritage Books, 2007, pages 62, 87, 119, and 142.

10. History of Southeast Missouri, p 411.

11. Revolutionary War Pension File, Jacob VanGilder, R 10868.