Finished.....although maybe not......

    Whenever I think I have found all I can about my maternal great grandaunt, Edna May Frederick Zeigler Gween and her daughter, Mary A. Zeigler Quinn, I come up with something new. I keep poking around looking for new leads, primarily for myself, as there were no descendants from this branch of the Frederick tree. Edna had only one child and her daughter, Mary, had none.

     First, I found that for over a decade, I have misspelled the Zeigler surname!  That took a short time to change all the various listing on FTM and out on the net.  Next, I found that Edna's first husband, Harry G. Zeigler was actually named Henry G. Zeigler....more corrections needed.  Is Harry a nickname for Henry????

Zeigler/Frederick marriage license

     Another little tidbit turned up when I located the marriage record for Henry and Edna dated 1899.  The Frederick family was living in Esplen, Pennsylvania at that time.  I knew they resided there by the 1900 Pennsylvania census report and apparently they relocated from Columbiana County, Ohio earlier. 

     Before finding the marriage license, I had estimated their marriage about 1899, since Edna was not enumerated with her Frederick family.  I was on target--their marriage was September 6, 1899 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  The Zeigler Family lived in and around the greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.  Their daughter, Mary A. Zeigler was born about 1903.  So far I have not been able to locate her birth information. 

     Henry was a shoe salesman with a department store in Pittsburgh during the early days of their marriage.  The marriage came to an end about 1915.  By 1920, Henry went back to live with his parents.  I have not traced him further.

     Edna remarried by 1918, William Clinton Gween.  The Gween's made their home in various places in and around the greater Pittsburgh area.  William must have died by 1930.  Recently I located two city directory listings for Edna Gween.  She is living alone and there is no mention of her husband.  Edna was employed as a telephone operator.

     My mother once told me that she always thought that her Aunt Edna was gainfully employed as she seemed to have money for lunches out, nice clothes and would usually bring her a little present each time she visited.  She  had no memory of Aunt Edna's husband, although, I was told that at the funeral of my maternal grandfather, Charles Edward Stark, my mother's father, that it was said that Edna and Martha, my mother's mother, might become closer now that they were both widows. 

     The only record I have of Aunt Edna's death and burial was written in the back of several of my maternal grandmother, Martha Marie Frederick Stark's, annual date books.  Edna died on January 25, 1961 and is buried at William Penn Memorial Cemetery.  I have not visited the cemetery and do not have any photographs of the memorial marker.

Also on Flipside:
1. Edna May Frederick Zeigler Gween

2. Edna May Frederick Zeigler Gween and Mary A. Zeigler Quinn

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© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Ten year mystery solved ????? Or just more questions !!!!

     I found this old cabinet card photograph at least ten years ago in a cardboard box of items that once belonged to my paternal grandmother, Sarah Margaret VanGilder Hughes.  The mystery--who are these people? 

     It made sense to me that the baby was my paternal grandmother with her parents, George Ethelbert VanGilder and Jessica Pool VanGilder.  The question was...why did they go from Morgantown, West Virginia to McKeesport, Pennsylvania to have a photograph taken?  Were there family members living in McKeesport that they were visiting and while there, decided to have the local photographer take the picture?

     Although I haven't come to a definite conclusion to this photo mystery, I have recently found a piece of information that gives me a clue.  Once again I am turning to those newly added Pittsburgh City Directories that are on ancestry.com.  I think I have put every possible Pittsburgh family name into the search engine.  On a whim, I decided to try the surname "Pinyerd".  John A. and Sarah Pool Pinyerd lived in North Charleroi, Pennsylvania in the early 1900's and although North Charleroi is quite a ways down the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh, it was worth a shot. 

     Up came this record!  John A Pinyerd did live in McKeesport, Pennsylvania in 1897.  WHOA!!!  Unfortunately, this is the only city directory with their name listed.  Sarah Pool Pinyerd was my paternal great grandmother's sister.   I do know that Sarah Pinyerd was back in Morgantown, West Virginia on the 1900 census.  If the Pinyerd's were still living in McKeesport in 1899, that baby could be my grandmother OR this could be a picture of John and Sarah Pinyerd with their little daughter that died as an infant or child.

     The man in the photograph appears to have brown eyes.  The few photos I have of my paternal great grandfather show him with light eyes, probably blue.  The woman in the photograph favors my paternal great grandmother, but her face is somewhat fuller in photos I have that were taken during the late 1890's. 

     My money is on the Pinyerds; however, I will never probably know for sure.  They had no descendants.

Additional Pinyerd blogs on Flipside:

John A. Pinyerd

Sarah Ann Pool Pinyerd

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© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

William Christian Olesen--Naturalization Petition

William Christian Olesen
Petition for Citizenship 1930

Again, Flipside scored a new documents for my paternal great grand uncle, William Christian Olesen--his Certificate of Arrival in the United States, the 1928 Declaration of Intention for Citizenship and his 1930 Petition for Citizenship.  Thank you ancestry.com.

William Christian Olesen
Certificate of Arrival

Oddly, the information on Great Grand Uncle Bill's Certificate of Arrival, which was used as the basis of his petition to become a US citizen, is actually the second time he traveled from England to America. As mentioned in an earlier blog, Bill first came to the US with his sister, my paternal great grandmother, Elizabeth Olesen Hughes, on August 7, 1910 from Liverpool, England on the ship, Celtic. Uncle Bill lived with his sister and her husband, John George Hughes, in Woodlawn, Pennsylvania and was probably employed then with J & L Steel.

Bill traveled back to England in the summer of 1920. On the voyage back he was accompanied by his mother, Ferdinande Weiss Olesen and his sister, Emily Olesen Richards. They arrived at Ellis Island on July 24, 1920 on the S.S. Aquitania. It is this arrival in the United States that was used for the petition for citizenship.

I have never found citizenship papers for my paternal great great grandmother, Ferdinande Weiss Olesen. Perhaps she was "grandfathered" in with her son, Bill Olesen. That might make sense since she accompanied him on the voyage.

William Christian Olesen
Declaration of Intention 1928

These documents give me a better picture of how Uncle Bill looked. I never realized how big a fellow he was, standing at 6 feet tall and weighing 210 pounds. The papers also confirm that he was a locomotive fireman and that he was living with my great grandparents at 131 Spring Street in Woodlawn, Pennsylvania.

Now if I could only find a photograph!

Tombstone Tuesday:William Christian Olesen on Flipside.

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© 2012 copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Working Gal--Sarah Margaret VanGilder

     My Grams, paternal grandmother, Sarah Margaret VanGilder Hughes, was a member of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania work force before she married George Henry Hughes in 1921.  I was told she was a stenographer/secretary; however, until this week I never knew just where she was employed, nor did I have confirmation of her employment.

     The 1917 Pittsburgh City Directory had a listing for her. At age nineteen she was a stenographer aka typist for The Sloan Typewriting Bureau. Also of interest in the directory is her home, which is listed as Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. 

     It appears that Grams had to travel into Pittsburgh from Wilkinsburg, probably on a bus or streetcar.  The Sloan Typewriter Bureau is advertised as the "oldest circular letter company in Pittsburgh."  I had to google "circular letter" to find out what it was.  Grams spent her work days typing and retyping the same form letter which was sent to groups of customers from various businesses. 

     She was a typist.  I have numerous cards and letters that my Mother and I saved, typed by Grams.  In 1977/1978, at age seventy-nine, she was still using a typewriter to write to me when I was pregnant with my first son.  

     Naturally as I am writing this, my mind is wandering to where Grams was at in her relationship with my paternal grandfather in 1917.  They had met about 1915 and were dating, although she was living in the Pittsburgh area and he was living with his folks up the Ohio River in Woodlawn, Pennsylvania.  

     It was on August 1, 1917 that George Henry Hughes joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force,  as a member of the 20th MGF (Machine Gun Force).  Pop Pop was discharged on May 16, 1919 and they were married a little more than a year later, on June 5, 1920 in Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia.  I imagine that Grams was working as a typist up until she married.

     I do not believe that Grams worked outside the home following her marriage; however, her typewriting skills stayed with her forever.

FROM MY BROTHER, JEFF--interesting historical tidbit. Back in 1917, the person using the machine was known as a "typewriter". The word "typist" came later.

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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.

© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Frederick Family Genealogy--Pittsburgh City Directories

Ancestry.com continues to add scans of records that have been valuable to my family research.  One of the most recent are two Pittsburgh Pennsylvania City Directories.  In the past I have gone through some late 1800's and early 1900's Pittsburgh City Directories on microfilm at the library.  Either that library did not have the 1904 and 1907 City Directory, or I was unaware at the time, that my Frederick family was then living in the Pittsburgh area.

I was delighted to find a record of my maternal great grandfather, Alfred Frederick, one of his daughters and my maternal grandmother, Martha Marie Frederick and one of his sons, Robert Frederick in the 1904 Pittsburgh City Directory.  On the 1900 Pennsylvania Census, the Frederick family is living in Esplen Borough, Pennsylvania, along the Ohio River.  Apparently, by 1904, the family moved into the city of Pittsburgh, on 5125 Liberty Avenue.  There must have been a train switch yard near their apartment, as Alfred was employed as a switch tender for the railroad; a job he had held for several decades.  This section of Liberty Avenue is near the Bloomfield area of town.

The second city directory is dated 1907.  The family has moved across town, near the Monongehala River on Craft Place.  My excitement with this record is that my maternal grandmother is listed, along with the place of her employment and the phone number.  My mother, her daughter, had told me that Teek (my pet name for my grandmother) was employed as a stenographer before she married.  This is the first record that proves my mother's memory was correct.  I have to check further, but I believe that my grandparents met through work.  I have to explore further where my grandfather's place of employment was in 1907.

I do not know how many years the Frederick's had a city address. More research is needed; however, I do know that they were living in Bellevue, Pennsylvania when my maternal great grandmother, Lucinda Orr Frederick died on December 15, 1909.

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© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Another dip into the Poole--Virginia Isabelle McClure

Cover of autograph book once belonging to
Virginia Isabelle McClure

     Genealogy tips do come from some welcome sources as was my good fortune this week. A message was left on one of my family pages out on ancestry alerting me to the sale on Ebay, of an old autograph book, dating from the 1880's, that once belonged to an ancestor.  

     In the end, I decided to not purchase the book as the price was a little steep. The first owner, Virginia Isabelle McClure, is my first cousin three times removed. I may have anted up if the owner was just a bit less removed.  I was able to copy scans of the pages that the seller published and there was a listing of the various signers that could be identified.  I guess that will have to suffice.

January the 1 1885
To My Friends
My Album is open
Come & see what.
Wont you waste a line
on one.  Write but a
thought a word or tot
that memory may revert
to you.

     Virginia, or Jennie as she is identified by many of the autograph signers, was the daughter of William Steele McClure and Elizabeth Ann Pool.  She was born on August 31, 1873, probably on the family farm located in the Morgan District, Monongalia County, West Virginia.  The McClure family had previously lived in Greene County, Pennsylvania and Jennie was the first of their children to be born in West Virginia.  She had nine brothers and sisters and died at age twenty of a fever on October 23, 1893, in the Morgan District, Monongalia County, West Virginia...probably on the family farm.

Page that was glued onto the back cover
of the autograph book

What I learned from the few pages scanned:

1. Virginia's date of birth.  I had the year, but not the exact date.
2. Virginia's date of death.  I found it in records found on the West Virginia website, but had it incorrectly written on my FTM database and out on ancestry.
3. Virginia's middle name.  She is listed as Belle; however, her brother, George Jerome McClure used Isibelle (Isabelle) in the autograph album.
4. Virginia was called Jennie by friends and family.

Note that brother George used the name
Isibelle (Isabelle) for his sister.

Signers of the autograph book that were listed and relation to Virgina:

1.  John McClure--John Frum McClure, Virginia's oldest brother.
2. Oliver McClure--Oliver Lanham McClure, Virginia's second oldest brother.
3. M.E. Hall
4. Emma Church--Emma J. Church, second cousin once removed.
5. C. C. McClure
6. Belle Fleming
7. Martha McClure--Maratha Ann McClure, Virginia's oldest sister.
8. E.H Conway--could be Enzor Herschel Conway, husband of her sister Martha.
9. George F.C. Hartman
10. A. McClure--could be Elizabeth Ann Pool McClure, Virginia's mother.
11. J.B. McClure
12. Susie Brunner
13. George McClure--George Jerome McClure, Virginia's younger brother.
14. Joseph Johnson
15. C.N. Finnell
16. James McClure--probably James Sampson McClure, Virginia's younger brother.
17. John Fleming--could be John F. Fleming, first cousin once removed.
18. Lida Brunner
19. G. F. Lumley
20. R.H. Harne
21. S.A. Kinsley--Samuel Arlington Kinsley, first cousin twice removed to Virginia.
22. G.H. Kinsley--George H. Kinsley, first cousin twice removed to Virginia.
23. Edward Kinsley--Edward H. Kinsely, first cousin twice removed to Virginia.

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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.

© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Jumping Back Into The Poole: Olive Pettit Bashaw

     Well over a decade ago my Aunt Faith asked, "I sure wish you could find out whatever happened to my Mom's niece, Olive". Before sites like Ancestry, finding Olive Bashaw was next to impossible. Over the years I periodically plugged her name into the various search engines currently available to those of us who love to do genealogy research. I think I now have enough info to give blogging about her a try and perhaps some family member might see it and contact me.

     Olive Pettit Bashaw belongs to my Poole family branch and is my first cousin twice removed. She was born on June 2, 1914 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Leon Hamilton Bashaw and Eleanor Poole. Her mother, Eleanor Poole, is my great grandaunt.  Olive's middle name, Pettit, was the maiden name of her paternal grandmother, Lucretia M. Pettit.

1240 Palo Alto Street

     Soon Olive became nicknamed "Little Olive" to distinguish her from her namesake, maternal aunt, Olive Poole. By the 1930 census, Olive, then age fifteen, and her younger brother Leon Poole Bashaw were enumerated with their Aunt Olive Reeves in a boarding house at 1240 Palo Alto Street on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

     I have been told that Olive attended Divine Providence Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during her high school years.

     Following her graduation, Olive became employed as a clerk and stenographer with Kaufmann's Department Store in downtown Pittsburgh.

     I have recently found three Pittsburgh City Directories that list Olive living with her mother in 1949 and then Olive living alone in 1952 and 1955 Her mother died sometime in the early 1950's.

     Of interest in the directories is Olive's name. She decided to change it to Olivia. Name changes seem to be common with the Pooles. Actually many in the family added the final "e" to the original spelling of Pool in the early 1900's. My own grandmother decided to change the spelling of her first name from Sarah to Sara and her maiden name from VanGilder to VanGuilder. I don't think any of this name changing business was done legally....just for fun and it stuck!

     Family members told me that once her mother died, that Olive, or Olivia, moved in with her brother. The trail is lost once again.

     I have located a death certificate for Olivia P. Bashaw. The birth date is the same as our "Little Olive" and I believe it to be hers. According to the social security death record, Olive died September 11, 1987 at Shreveport, Caddo County, Louisiana.

     She apparently never married and why she was in Louisiana still remains a mystery.


More on the Bashaw Family on Flipside

Friday Family Profile: Eleanor Poole Bashaw

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.

© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser