Wordless Wednesday: Seven Mile Beach

Seven Mile Beach
Cayman Islands
RootsMagic Cruise
Feb 2010

SNGF: Birthdays

Randy over at GeneaMusings has challenged us to more Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (SNGF):

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1) Is there a person in your genealogy database that has the same birth date that you do? If so, tell us about him or her - what do you know, and how is s/he related to you?

2) For bonus points, how did you determine this? What feature or process did you use in your software to work this problem out? I think the Calendar feature probably does it, but perhaps you have a trick to make this work outside of the calendar function.

My birthday is April 25. The first person I can think of right offhand that shares my birthday is my 1st cousin once removed, Dee. Her mom and my maternal grandfather are siblings.

After a search of my RootsMagic database, I found two more people.

The first person is my great-great-great-grandfather, Charles Lesperance. He was born 25 Apr 1840, according to an online transcription of baptisms from St. Anne's Catholic Church in Detroit. I still need to verify that this is my Charles. Charles is the great-great-grandfather of my cousin, Dee, mentioned above.

The next person is on my dad's side of the family and is my second cousin three times removed, Helena Trahan. She was born 25 Apr 1910. She was the daughter of Jean Trahan and Bernadine Bernard. Jean was the son of Pierre Marie Trahan and Cidalise Julienne Robinson. Pierre was the son of Delphin Stainville Trahan, my fourth great-grandfather, and a slave named Fanny Becker.

To find these people, I went to Search>Person List>Find>Birth date contains April and Birth date contains 25. Of course, I found instances of people born April 1925 and such, but this was the best way I could figure to do the search.

In my old Family Tree Maker database, I found some more people:

1) Rosalie Hidalgo, b. 25 Apr 1850, my fourth-great-grandaunt (younger sister of my fourth-great-grandmother, Marie Calice Hidalgo)

2) Jean Clete Marcelin Domingue, b. 25 Apr 1828, my fifth-great-granduncle (younger brother of my fifth-great-grandmother, Maria Domingue)

3/4) Thomas Webb, b. 25 Apr 1795, and John Webb, b. 25 Apr 1804, my fourth-great-granduncles (brothers of my fourth-great-grandmother, Sarah Webb)

5) Joseph Thibodeau, b. 25 Apr 1739, my 7th-great-granduncle (older brother of my 7th-great-grandfather, Paul Thibodeau)

6) Anne Savoie, b. 25 Apr 1734, 7th-great-grandaunt (sister of my 7th-great-grandfather, Francois Savoie, and my 7th great-grandmother, Marguerite Savoie)

Treasure Chest Thursday: John Peter Pemberton's Obituary

We continue in the Treasure Chest Thursday series on John Peter Pemberton (my maternal grandfather) with his obituary. I found this obituary in a box of my mom's keepsakes in the spare bedroom closet at my parent's house when I first started digging around for family history info. This was in the early 1990's when I was about 12. This is a memorial copy of the obituary that was originally published in the Port Huron (Michigan) Times Herald on 15 Oct 1970.

John P. Pemberton

John Peter Pemberton, 41, of 1828 Stone Street, died Monday in Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, after a short illness.

Born Nov. 18, 1928, Mr. Pemberton lived in Port Huron all his life. He married the former Violet Currie on Sept. 9, 1949.

He attended Port Huron schools and was employed as an engineer for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad for the last 20 years.

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force during World War II, he was a member of Charles Schoor Post No. 796, V.F.W. He was a member of the United Transportation Union.

He is survived by his widow; five sons, John M., George A., Stephen A., Brian J., and Mark A. Pemberton, all of Port Huron; three daughters, Miss Pamela S. Pemberton, Miss Gloria Pemberton, and Mrs. Deborah Chamberlain, all of Port Huron; his mother, Mrs. Mabel Beedon of Port Huron; three brothers, Frank M. Pemberton and Daniel R. Beedon, both of Port Huron, and William H. Pemberton, Flint; four sisters, Mrs. Nancy L. Jackson and Mrs. Barbara L. Post, both of Port Huron, Mrs. Betty J. Hackett, Madison Heights, and Mrs. Eva M. Hofeling, Bloomington, Calif.; and several nieces and nephews.

The remains are in Pollock-Jowett Funeral Home where services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Rev. M.V. Scutt, pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene, will officiate.

Burial will be in Caswell Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be Ted French, Tom Hering, Bill Hering, Dave Stocker, Howard Wollen, Gordon Bailey and John McQue.

Memorials may be made to the Cancer Society.

This is one of the more informative obituaries that I've seen in my years as a genealogist. It talks about military service, education, occupation, and memberships, in addition to the family information.

One thing that caught my eye when I analyzed this for the first time about two years ago was that it stated he served in the air force during WWII. However, when WWII ended in 1945, he was only 16. I will post his military records in a future post for Treasure Chest Thursday, but I did find that he actually served in Japan in the years after WWII, which was considered the occupation period. I also have a copy of his VFW membership card.

Another interesting thing is that I don't recognize any of the names of the pallbearers, so they must have been co-workers or friends.

I did send off to the social security administration for his SS-5, but I'm still waiting to hear back from them. In the meantime, stay tuned for more Treasure Chest Thursday posts on John Peter Pemberton.

Stovall Family in the Census Records

Well, I'm back in northern California again, visiting my sister and brother-in-law and my brand new niece, Violet. As some of you may remember, last year around this time, my sister had recently bought an old house that was built c. 1910. I did a post about the land records we found at the county courthouse in Colusa. According to town lore, Mary Eliza (Moore) Stovall built this house as a retirement home. There is a history of Colusa County online, which contains info on Jesse Curl and Mary Eliza (Moore) Stovall. It does not mention the house, but it does say that Mary Eliza (Moore) Stovall moved to the town of Williams after her husband died in 1902. According to the online history, Jesse and Mary married in 1859. In this post, I'm going to write about the Stovall family in the census records from 1860 to 1930.

1860 US Census, Colusa County, California, population schedule, township of Spring Valley, p. 15, dwelling 168, family 137, Jesse C. Stoval household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Oct 2010); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 57.

Jesse C. Stoval, age 31, male, stock raiser, b. Tennessee
Mary E. Stoval, age 20, female, b. Missouri
Cordelia Stoval, age 5/12, female, b. California
Leonidas Bugg, age 12, male, b. Missouri
Berry Swift, age 20, male, laborer, b. Missouri

1870 US Census, Colusa County, California, population schedule, township of Spring Valley, p. 21, dwelling 160, family 149, Jesse C. Stovall household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Oct 2010); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 71.

Jesse C. Stovall, age 48, male, white, stock raiser, value of real estate $89,920, value of personal estate $29,500, b. Tennessee, male citizen of U.S. at least 21 years of age

Mary E. Stovall, age 30, female, white, keeping house, b. Missouri

Cordelia Stovall, age 10, female, white, b. California

Mary Stovall, age 8, female, white, b. California

William P. Stovall, age 6, male, white, b. California

Jesse R. Stovall, age 4, male, white, b. California

Frank Lercan, age 35, male, white, sheep herder, b. New York, male citizen of U.S. at least 21 years of age

George H. Smith, age 40, male, white, sheep herder, b. Ohio, male citizen of U.S. at least 21 years of age

1880 U.S. Census, Colusa County, California, population schedule, township of Spring Valley, ED 15, p. 18, dwelling 118, family 119, Jesse C. Stovall household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Oct 2010); citing NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 64.

Jesse C. Stovall, white, male, age 56, married, stock raiser, b. Tenn. f.b. Kentucky, m.b. Ala.

Mary E. Stovall, white, female, age 39, wife, married, keeping house, b. Missouri, f.b. Ky., m.b. Ky.

Cordelia Stovall, white, female, age 20, daughter, single, at home, b. California, f.b. Tenn., m.b. [blank]

Wm. Preston Stovall, white, male, age 16, son, single, at home, attended school, b. California, f.b. Tenn., m.b. Mo.

James M. Stovall, white, male, age 11, son, single, at home, attended school, b. California, f.b. Tenn., m.b. Mo.

Hiram Stovall, white, male, age 7, son, single, b. California, f.b. Tenn., m.b. Mo.

Charley Stovall, white, male, age 5, son, single, b. California, f.b. Tenn., m.b. Mo.

Alonzo W. Hannah, white, male, age 28, single, carpenter, b. Virginia, f.b. Va., m.b. Va.

John Carroll, white, male, age 50, single, farm laborer, b. Mass., f.b. Ireland, m.b. Ireland

William C. Ralston, white, male, age 28, single, farm laborer, b. Ohio, f.b. Penn., m.b. Penn.

Richard H. Lyons, white, male, age 26, single, laborer, b. Ill., f.b. N.Y., m.b. Ireland

Edward Ralston, white, male, age 22, single, farm laborer, b. Ohio, f.b. Penn., m.b. Penn.

Charley Barker, white, male, age 22, single, laborer, b. New York, f.b. N.Y., m.b. N.Y.

Leonard H. Jones, white, male, age 39, single, laborer, b. Illinois, f.b. Ala., m.b. Ky.

Sing, Chinese, male, age 36, married, cook, b. China, f.b. China, m.b. China

1900 U.S. Census, Colusa County, California, population schedule, precinct of Williams, ED 8, sheet 7A, dwelling 139, family 139, Jessie C. Stovall household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Oct 2010); citing NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 85.

Jessie C. Stovall, head, white, male, b. Jany 1822, age 78, married for 41 years, b. Tennessee, f.b. Kentucky, m.b. Kentucky, capitalist, able to read/write/speak English, owns home free of mortgage

Mary E. Stovall, wife, white, female, b. July 1840, age 59, married for 41 years, mother of 8 children, 4 children still living, b. Missouri, f.b. Kentucky, m.b. Kentucky, able to read/write/speak English

Mabel Stovall, daughter, white, female, b. Sept. 1884, age 15, single, b. California, f.b. Tennessee, m.b. Missouri, attended school for 8 months, able to read/write/speak English

1910 U.S. Census, Colusa County, California, population schedule, township of Williams, ED 26, sheet 5B, dwelling 47, family 47, Mary E. Stovall household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Oct 2010); citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 74.

Mary E. Stovall, head, female, white, age 69, married for 50 years [actually widowed], mother of 8 children, 3 children still living, b. Missouri, f.b. Kentucky, m.b. Kentucky, speaks English, able to read/write, owns home free of mortgage

H.F. Clark, grandson, male, white, age 24, married for 3 years, b. California, f.b. California, m.b. California, speaks English, clerk in hardware store, wage earner, not at work on April 15, 1910, able to read and write

1920 U.S. Census, Colusa County, California, township of Williams, precinct of Williams, ED 31, sheet 6B, dwelling 25, family 25, Mary E. Stovall household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Oct 2010); citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 94.

Mary E. Stovall, head, female, white, age 79, widowed, able to read and write, b. Missouri, f.b. Kentucky, m.b. Kentucky, speaks English

According to the deed records we found at the courthouse, Mary E. Stovall died in 1930, which is probably why I can't find her in the 1930 census.

Wordless Wednesday: Labadee

Labadee, Haiti
Feb 2010
RootsMagic Cruise

Wordless Wednesday: Dunn's River Falls

Me and Mom
Feb 2010
RootsMagic Cruise
Dunn's River Falls
Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Introducing Violet

Violet Cecile
b. 30 Sep 2010

I am finally an aunt! Violet is named for her great-grandmother, Violet Mae CURRIE. I will be going out to California to meet Violet on Thursday! Can't wait! I've already bought her a onesie with a pedigree chart on it from Fun Stuff for Genealogists. I figure since she is named for her great-grandmother, she is going to have to be the next genealogist, right? Violet is the first grandchild of my parents. She is the second great-grandchild and first great-granddaughter of my paternal grandparents. She is the 18th great-grandchild and 9th great-granddaughter of my maternal grandparents. She shares the same birthday as her second cousin, Blake, and was born exactly one month after her second cousin, Denni.

Surname Saturday: BONEAUX

This Surname Saturday post focuses on the ancestors of my great-grandmother, Beatrice Marie BONEAUX. She was my paternal grandfather's mother. She is in the pic on my blog banner with the BONEAUX name written across it. This is one of my few Louisiana lines that is not of Acadian/Cajun descent. My great-great-great grandfather, Dominique BONEAUX, immigrated from France to Louisiana sometime before Dec 1869. The family story says that he met my great-great-great grandmother, Marie Alida MOUTON, while working at a restaurant in New Orleans. It does appear that Marie's stepfather, Gabriel DUBAN, owned property in New Orleans and was living there at the time of the 1870 census. Gabriel was also from France, so I have always wondered if he and Dominique knew each from the old country.

1. Jennifer Nicole TRAHAN (me)

2. Michael David TRAHAN (my dad)

4. Benford Maurice TRAHAN (my paternal grandfather)

9. Beatrice Marie BONEAUX was born 26 Aug 1910 in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana. She died 21 Jun 1993 in Sulphur, Calcasieu, Louisiana and was buried 23 Jun 1993 at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana. She was the daughter of 18. Maurice BONEAUX and 19. Marie Alice SONNIER. She married 8. Bienvenue TRAHAN 14 Sep 1929 at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana. He was born 26 Oct 1908 in Vatican, Lafayette, Louisiana, and died 18 Mar 2006 in Lake Charles, Calcasieu, Louisiana. He was the son of 16. Oscar TRAHAN and 17. Virginia PREJEAN.

18. Maurice BONEAUX was born 13 Aug 1883 in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana and was baptized at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana. He died 5 Sep 1934 in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana, and was buried 6 Sep 1934 at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana. He was the son of 36. Dominique BONEAUX and 37. Marie Alida MOUTON. He married 19. Marie Alice SONNIER 10 Sep 1908 at St. Peter Catholic Church in Carencro, Lafayette, Louisiana. She was born 7 Sep 1891 in Carencro, Lafayette, Louisiana, and was baptized 24 Oct 1891 at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana. She died 7 May 1970 in Vinton, Calcasieu, Louisiana, and was buried 9 May 1970 at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana. She was the daughter of 38. Joseph Numa SONNIER and 39. Marie Edmonia DOMINGUE.

36. Dominique BONEAUX was born about Jan 1837 in France. He died between 1910 and 1920, probably in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. He was the son of 72. Dominique BONEAUX and 73. Marie LACOSTE. He married 37. Marie Alida MOUTON 7 Dec 1869 at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana. She was born 25 May 1840 and was baptized at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana. She died 22 Mar 1924 in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana, and was buried at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana. She was the daughter of 74. Cyprien MOUTON and 75. Cidalise Elizabeth DUGAS.