October 3 2019

Where is the world was Thomas?

For those of you who are visiting for the first time or two and might have missed it, this is a followup to a post from just after Labor Day. I did some quick research and got excited thinking that perhaps I had found a connection that would tie into my family tree. In case you want to go back and read it before reading this one, the link is both above and below for your convenience.

I left off last time with the premise that the Thomas SOLON who lived out the rest of his life as a shoemaker in Washington, Daviess County, Indiana was the eldest son of John SOLON of Champaign, Illinois.

Since then, I located this couple (Thomas, the shoemaker, and his wife Mary) in the 1910 census:

1910 US Thomas and Mary SOLON Washington, Daviess County, IN

By this time I am seriously beginning to suspect that the shoemaker is not the same person who died in Oklahoma in 1915, because that Thomas SOLON bought land in Lawton, Oklahoma in May 1909. But by now, I really want to see this through and find out what happened to the shoemaker, just because I can and it might help another researcher.

I found the marriage record for Thomas SOLON and Mary Ann REDMOND, but convinced myself it couldn’t be the correct record because it was so far from Daviess County, Indiana where they lived after they were married and where Thomas had lived before. I knew it was the correct one after I found their headstone photo. It turns out that Thomas and Mary were buried in Saint John Cemetery, in Washington, Daviess County, Indiana.

So, there you have it. One Thomas SOLON story neatly tied up. This obviously is not either of the Thomas SOLONs I have been trying to track down, but it was fun learning what I could and now I know this one has been eliminated from the search. Who knows? Maybe one day when I find my great-great grandfather Thomas SOLON’s siblings and parents, this Thomas might turn out to be his nephew or cousin, in which case I will be that much further ahead with my research.

If by any chance you have SOLON or SOLAN ancestors in your family tree or just happen to know where I can find either of the Thomas SOLONs I am searching for, for heaven’s sake, PLEASE contact me!

Labor Day Research

Category: Genealogy, Learning | Comments Off on Where is the world was Thomas?
September 5 2019

Labor Day Research

I’m not sure what you did on Labor Day, but I remembered that it was the last day of the free census weekend on MyHeritage, so I got to work and labored for hours searching the census for both the US and Canada. I wasn’t exactly sure what I should look for because I had been away from my research for a long while. I decided that since I had never seen the Canadian census I should search it for a couple of the surnames I thought I could find on it. I methodically went through each year they offered searching for the two surnames and saving everything I found for a more in-depth look at a later time. I didn’t want to waste the little time I had left on this great day of free-ness.

After I ran out of Canadian census to search, I began by looking for my great-great grandfather, Thomas SOLON, in each census he would have been in the US for (1860-1900). I had seen most of them before, but didn’t have them saved in digital format, so made quick work of finding them again. I then decided to do the same for John SOLON the man we think was Thomas’ older brother. It turns out I had made a note on one of my genealogy websites about not being able to find this family in the 1870 census, but they were right there when I looked, so that was a win. I then decided to try to find John’s eldest son, Thomas, who was with the family in 1860 but then we knew nothing about him until he died in 1915 in Oklahoma.

1860 US John and Ellen SOLON Du Page, Will County, IL

Now it might be important to note that in 1860, the census listed John and Ellen as being born in Ireland, Thomas in England and James and Michael in Illinois. So we can estimate that John, Ellen and Thomas came to the United States sometime between 1850 and 1857. Also we can estimate that John and Ellen were likely married in Ireland or England before 1850. The census also indicated that John and Ellen cannot read or write and that John is a farm laborer with no real estate and a personal estate valued at $200.

When I found the family in the 1870 census, Thomas would have been about 20 and was no longer in the household with his family.

1870 US John and Ellen SOLON Colfax Twp, Champaign County, IL

I was able to search the census for any SOLON born in 1850 give or take five years either way. I found one that seemed like a possible fit. The age was about right and he was in Indiana instead of Illinois.

1870 US Thomas SOLON Washington, Daviess County, IN

On the 1870 census, this Thomas is listed as born in Indiana and he of all those in the house is not marked as having parents of foreign birth. As the head of the household is listed as a hotel keeper, we can guess this was a boarding house or hotel of sorts, so perhaps Thomas was either new to town or had no reason to build a home yet.

So, now I have a viable prospect for John’s son, Thomas, in the state next door to the one his family lived in and not so very far away really. Lets track this Thomas and see what happens to him.

1880 US Thomas SOLON Washington, Daviess County, IN

Looks like he stayed in the town of Washington, Indiana and was a shoemaker from the 1870 census until the 1900 census. In 1880, he lived at 130 South Street in what appears to be a boarding house. It says Thomas was 28 and born in Indiana with both his parents born in Ireland. The 1890 census was destroyed many years ago, so we cannot track anyone using that record, so we must move on to the 1900 census and see what it can tell us.

1900 US Thomas and Mary SOLAN Washington, Daviess County, IN

If you look at the rest of the info on the 1900 census it tells us that he owned his home, had a mortgage and it was a house, not a farm which makes sense for a shoe maker. It tells us that Thomas was born September 1846 in New York and Mary A. was born September 1843 in Maryland and that they have been married 10 years.

Looking back at some info I had sorted by location I found this among the records I had extracted years ago.

I found a couple more census I wish I had gotten copies of while I had access to them:

1850 Census Extraction

Washington Township, Daviess County Indiana 1850 census 
==========================================================================
Name             Age        Occ.           Birth      Twp.
==========================================================================
Solon, John      35         Canl/Digger    Ireland    Wash

 

1870 Census Extraction

CENSUS YR:  1870  TERRITORY:  IN  COUNTY:  Daviess  DIVISION:  Alfordsville  PAGE: 32/246b
==========================================================================================
LAST	FIRST		AGE	BIRTHPLACE	OCCUPATION
==========================================================================================
SOLAN	John		52	Ireland		Farmer
SOLAN	Mary		50	Ireland		Farmer
SOLAN	Thomas		21	New York	
SOLAN	John		18	Indiana		
SOLAN	Catherine	17	Indiana		(school in year)
SOLAN	Bridget		14	Indiana		(school in year)
SOLAN	James		11	Indiana		(school in year)
SOLAN	Mary		 9	Indiana		(school in year)
RILEY	John		16	Indiana		(school in year)

Extracts from the Indiana WPA Indexes for Daviess County

BIRTHS 

Child Name		 Father		Mother		Birthdate	Original Source
=============================================================================================
SOLAN Catherine    F W	 Jno		Emma CHURCH	Feb 14, 1906	Book  H-5   Page 20 
SOLAN ---          F W	 John		Emma CHURCH	Feb 14, 1906	Book CH-2   Page 32 

MARRIAGES 

Name		Spouse		  Date		Original Source
=============================================================================================
SOLAN James  	DUFFEY Catharine  21 Jun 1882	Book 5, Page 310, Fiche 3881
SOLEN William C	MATTINGLY Iola M  30 Jan 1917	Book 15, Page 418, Fiche 3881 (DOB 19 Dec 1894)
SOLEN John	GUIRE Mary M	  15 Nov 1855	Book 1, Page 447, Fiche 3881
SOLON Catherine	SUMMERS Wm Ed	  16 Sep 1884	Book 6, Page 1, Fiche 3881
SOLON Bridget	CAVANAUGH Owen	  14 May 1884	Book 5, Page 551, Fiche 3881

DEATHS

Name		 	   	Age	Deathdate	Location	Original Source
===========================================================================================
SOLON, Mary		F W 	75	Sep 05, 1900	Washington	Book  H-18  Page 81
SOLON, Katherine F	F W 	45	Oct 27, 1901	Washington	Book CH-6   Page 69 
SOLAN, Mary		F W 	75	Aug 08, 1903	Washington	Book CH-6   Page 87
SOLAN, Mary Ann		F W 	76	Apr 24, 1918	Washington	Book CH-7   Page 100
SOLAN, Emma		F W 	39	Feb 02, 1920	Washington	Book CH-8   Page 13

I also found the following newspaper reference:

The Daviess County Democrat
Vol. 17, No. 7. Saturday, January 5, 1884 also this same notice was in Vol. 17, No. 8. Saturday, January 12, 1884

PAGE 2
"LEGAL"
NOTICE TO THE TAX-PAYERS OF DAVIESS COUNTY"
Greenwood	Richard H.	Treasurer of Daviess Co.
"SHERIFF'S SALE"
Solon		John
Source URL: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~koliver/DaviessCountyDemocrat_01051884.txt

Now lets go back to what we know about John and Ellen’s son Thomas.

Oklahoma Land Patent Records
(http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/)

Patentee Name  State  County 	Issue Date Land Office 	Doc. Nr. Accession/Serial Nr.
===================================================================================== 
SOLON, THOMAS  OK     Comanche  5/4/1909   Lawton  	02836  		   59338  (see it)


So we know from the death certificate that we have the correct Thomas. His younger brother Michael was the informant. This doesn’t do much to tell us where Thomas was all those years. I will need to look at some other census records, try to find marriage records, death certificates, obituaries, etc for Thomas and Mary SOLON who lived in Daviess County, Indiana and see what those documents can tell us about this shoemaker and his wife. The death certificate lists Thomas as single, but his brother apparently didn’t know him well enough to know his birth date, so perhaps he\wouldn’t have known if Thomas had married later in life and been a widower when he died.

I found digging into the census records to be an awesome way to spend the day. The fact that I could do the research without any additional cost was purely a bonus and a huge nudge to get me back into researching my family tree. To see more on the SOLON family as well as other lines I have researched, please visit Karen’s Kin. I have many many hours of work preserved there including virtual cemeteries and photos. If you have any info that might help me solve the mystery of Thomas SOLON and his ancestor, PLEASE get in touch with me so we can sort it out. What do you think, is the shoemaker the missing son of John and Ellen? The timeline looks like it fits or could fit, except there may be a different John SOLON who fathered the shoemaker according to the census extraction for 1870 that I haven’t got the real copy of yet. We shall see…stay tuned for further updates.

 

 

Category: Genealogy, Learning, Organizing | 1 Comment on Labor Day Research
April 26 2019

Touch (Five Minute Friday)

Of my four grandparents, the only one I recall meeting was my paternal grandmother. She did not have what I would call the grandma touch. I have at least two vivid memories that stand out to me when I think of her. It might be important to note that she was a widow for a few years by the time these memories took place.

When we were teens my uncle and aunt would bring my grandma down to visit with us for the day while they drove to a different town to visit with my aunt’s family for Christmas. Our city was on the way between where they started out and where they needed to end up so it worked out pretty well.

On this particular day, my mother was preparing a turkey dinner with all the fixings. This may well have been more of a meal than we normally would have been able to afford, but because grandma was coming it needed to be special. And to us it was. I distinctly remember my grandma asking my mother what we were having for dinner. My mom told her we were having the turkey dinner with all the fixings that normally went with it. Grandma rudely answered that she couldn’t stand turkey. Well, mom being the person she was and trying to make everyone happy, quickly pulled a foil-wrapped ham out of the freezer. Now mind you, this was well before the microwave was a common household appliance, so the only way to thaw it was to bake it in the oven in the hope that it would thaw enough to cut a few slices and serve them along with everything else as though it had been planned that way all along.

This might not sound so bad to you, but it probably messed up the family food budget for the next while. You see, we were poor. There were six of us in the family and at least three of us four kids were in our early teens by then. We were likely scheduled to make several meals from that turkey and the ham was probably being saved for some week well into the future. We didn’t eat ham dinners very often. So the fact that once meat had thawed it couldn’t be frozen again meant we would be eating a lot of meat in the next few days before it could spoil. Once the meat was cooked, it could be frozen, but it might well end up getting freezer burn and wouldn’t be the same as it should have been, to begin with.

The second memory was after I was married and had my first born who was about eighteen months at the time. My older sister and I had taken my son and my brother’s son who were just 18 days apart in age up to visit my grandmother in the old-age home she lived in. When we walked through the door, she took one look at me and said, “Karen, how did you get so fat?” I’m pretty sure I said, “Gee grandma, I don’t know. I guess I ate one too many desserts and, poof!” The entire time we were there she was nervous about the boys getting into things. Now we had my sister and I to divide and conquer so to speak, so they weren’t going to be causing any trouble. Besides, they were very well behaved.

I also remember that when mom would send her the 5×7 photos we had taken each fall at school for Christmas, that she would send us back the ones from the year before, simply switching them out of the same frames. Now that I am older, I understand this was likely her way of not having to deal with clutter, but it always set wrong with me. As I said, she just didn’t have the grandma touch.

Once I dug a little deeper into her genealogy, I began to understand a little more about why she may have been the way she was. It seems that when her Irish father and English mother got married, her mother’s family disowned their daughter and later left her only $1 in their will so she couldn’t contest it. So she never really got to know her maternal grandparents.

Then, her Irish grandparents listed themselves as widowed in the 1900 census although they were clearly both still alive and even living in the same county, though in different townships. In her grandfather’s will, he mentioned that he did not want his wife to get the customary one-third widow’s right as she had kept all the money the children had earned while growing up. He also didn’t want his oldest daughter to have anything either because she was mean to him. Family stories say he was a drinker and she was not a nice person. This might or might not be the case, but after learning all this it was much easier to forgive my grandmother for not having the touch. How could she? She never had the example of what a kind caring grandmother was supposed to be like. I figure she did the best she could with the hand she was dealt. By the time we came along, she had already been a grandmother to my uncle’s three kids for about ten years or so and maybe they got a different sort of grandmother out of the deal, who knows? My dad was so obviously not her favorite child, but that is a story for another post.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Touch
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Category: Family, Five Minute Friday, Genealogy | 1 Comment on Touch (Five Minute Friday)
November 22 2018

Review: MyHeritage DNA

Back in March 2018, my daughter bought the MyHeritage DNA Test Kit for me as an early birthday gift.

We basically chose this kit because it was on sale for what we considered to be an affordable price, and we decided to go for it. I think she was almost as excited to see what it showed as I was. I knew we had English, German and Irish ancestors. I was hoping to figure out more specifically where our ancestors came from in those countries or what other countries we might have ties to.

The italicized words below are not my words, but the actual results that I got in an email from MyHeritage DNA.
Europe 100.0%
North and West Europe 100.0%
North and West European 84.4%
Irish, Scottish, and Welsh 15.6%
Karen Beidelman 100.0%

84.4%

North and West European
The population of Northern and Western Europe mainly includes German, French, and Dutch people. This region has been influenced by significant historical events including the formation of the Catholic Church, the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Industrial Revolution. Imperial conquests and the age of colonization have spread Northern and Western European peoples across the globe, with significant populations across the Americas and in parts of Africa and Oceania. The area is the birthplace of Western culture, including innovations in art, literature, philosophy, and scientific methodology that have become standard around the world. In particular, Western Europeans take food very seriously. European culinary practices and dining etiquette are highly developed, with artisanal wine and cheese-making, pastry baking, and cooking having been elevated to an art.

15.6%

Irish, Scottish, and Welsh
The western region of the British Isles is populated by peoples descended from the six Celtic nations, three of which had settled in what became Ireland, Scotland, and Wales (the other three were in Brittany, Cornwall, and the Isle of Man). Each of these three nations has spoken some variant of its original Celtic dialect continuously. The Irish, the first people to settle in Ireland about 9,000 years ago, share heritage, culture, and language (Gaelic). They were organized by clan, or kin groups. The Scottish are similarly famous for the clans, but from the time of the Middle Ages have been a composite nation of Picts, Gaels, and Britons. So that the northern population speaks a version of Gaelic, while those in the south speak what came to be called Scots. Their neighbors the Welsh are called such dating back to the Germanic labeling of them as “walhaz,” meaning “foreigner” or “stranger” – the language of Wales is similarly called Welsh. The area was overrun by Anglo-Norman conquerors in the Middle Ages, and English colonization in the 16th-17th centuries changed the ethnic composition of the British Isles altogether, introducing ethnic English. Despite the unification of these countries as part of the United Kingdom in the present day, the people in each locale take great pride in their independent ethnicities, and accompanying cultures – from the family divisions as clans to the respective alcoholic beverages (Wales has a more English cuisine). The ingathering of several ethnicities in such a small space has facilitated interesting genealogical discoveries as well as mysterious connections to unravel – and for all the different heritages, nearly everyone there now speaks English.

Now really it isn’t so bad knowing you come from just two specific regions, don’t get me wrong. I guess I just didn’t know what to expect and was hoping for something more exciting maybe. I get notices from MyHeritage telling me I have new connections. sually when I take the time to look at them, they are third to fifth cousins. I have only had a couple that were as close as second cousins, and in almost every case, when I contacted them to try to discover where our common connection was, I never heard back from the person.

So, would I recommend using MyHeritage to get your DNA tested? Probably. Would I do it again if I had it to do over? Probably. I think eventually I would like to use all the DNA testing companies who offer genealogy-type testing. If I had all of them I feel like I would have the best of all worlds and be able to have the most complete picture possible of my DNA and connections.

Have you used a DNA testing company to help you discover your roots? Please tell us which one and what you thought of the results.

 

Category: Genealogy, Review | Comments Off on Review: MyHeritage DNA
June 21 2018

Restore (Five Minute Friday)

Restore

Ok, here we go again. It is Thursday and I’m not sure what happened to all the time between last Friday and now but I am determined to get this entry written and posted before the linkup closes and the word prompt for tomorrow is posted.

This week, I have spent many hours helping go through the photos of an elderly family member. This helps restore my faith in the family because the memories this person chose to save were mostly those of family members. There was a huge collection of all the birth, marriage, and death announcements for this family going back at least sixty or seventy years. It was sad sorting through everything knowing it couldn’t all be kept but being able to help make the decisions on what did get to be kept and who to give the photos to when the person no longer has use of them. In many cases, the photos were those taken of scenery on vacations over the years. Some of them were amazingly good considering the cameras they must have been taken on at the time. I found myself wondering what could be done with them other than having them end up in a landfill somewhere. They really were pretty but had no meaning to anyone who wasn’t on that vacation with them. Most were of interesting flowers or animals taken mostly so they could remember the experience of the trip.

I began to think that maybe digital photos are the green way to go because, to be honest, most of us take loads of photos with our smartphones but very few of those ever get printed out at all and even fewer in the way we used to get prints when we had the film developed.

Some of the photos saved were blurry or of some indistinguishable object or place. Those were the easy decisions to make. One of the hardest things about the task was that very few of the photos had anything at all written on the back to tell us who the people in them were so we had to guess in many cases. PLEASE, I beg you to date and label your photos! At least write the date of the trip and the location on the envelope from the film developing. Someday, even YOU might not remember anymore.

PLEASE, I beg you to date and label your photos! At least write the date of the trip and the location on the envelope from the film developing. Someday, even YOU might not remember anymore. Click To Tweet

Well, time is up for this post, but you will likely see another one in the next day or so unless I let it fall through the cracks like I almost did with this one. Thanks for reading my ramblings. Hopefully, I can restore my sense of timeliness and get back on track with these. I hate to get behind or miss posting one completely.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Restore
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Category: Five Minute Friday, Genealogy | 1 Comment on Restore (Five Minute Friday)