Fearless Females - Family History Trading Card

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I am truly enjoying this.  Here is day 29.

March 29 — Create a free Fold3 Memorial Page or a Genealogy Trading Card at Big Huge Labs for a female ancestor. Some of you may have created your own card back in September 2009 following Sheri Fenley’s post over at The Educated Genealogist. This time, the card is for your female ancestor. Tell us about who you've selected and why and then post a link to what you've created.


I made a trading card of my dad's sister Thelma Lee Plummer.  She was my dad's youngest sister.  She died when I was young so I don't ever remember seeing her.  

I thought this process was easy and it makes a nice card.  I think I will do additional cards.  It makes it quick to get an overview of someone's life.

Wordless Wednesday - Remnants of World War II

Found in the museum at The American Cemetery in Normandy.

Fearless Females - Family Resemblance

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I am truly enjoying this.  Here is day 24.  

March 24 — Do you share any physical resemblance or personality trait with one of your female ancestors? Who? What is it?

I really don't know if I have any physical resemblance to any of my ancestors.  I have been told that I look a little like my Grandmother Anna Boughner Plummer.  Since Anna died long before I was born, I never got to see her.  There are just a couple of pictures that I have been able to find.

I am going to post a picture of Anna and a picture of me and ask you to tell me what you think.  Anna's daughter's that I have seen pictures of do not remind me of her at all.  I do believe my dad looks like her.  Dad was 45 when I was born, so many of his siblings had died before I was born or when I was young.  I really only knew one of his sisters and one of his brothers.  His brother looked very much like him, but his sister really didn't look like him at all. 

 

The two pictures are of my Grandma Anna, and the last picture is of me.  What do you think.  I know I have her thick dark hair.

Fearless Females - My Female Timeline

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I am truly enjoying this.  Here is day 23.  I have gotten a little behind in the last week so I am trying to go back and catch up.


March 23 — Create a timeline for a female ancestor using your favorite software program or an online timeline generator such as OurTimelines.Post an image of it or link.

This is the timeline for my great great grandmother, Elizabeth "Betsy" Frakes.  She was born in Kentucky and died in Indiana.  The timeline was created in Family TreeMaker 2012.  I use Family TreeMaker 2012 to keep my family history.

Fearless Female - My Brick Wall

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I am truly enjoying this.  Here is day 20.  I have gotten a little behind in the last week so I am trying to go back and catch up.

March 20 — Is there a female ancestor who is your brick wall? Why? List possible sources for finding more information.

My great grandmother, Margaret Jane Barnes, is my brick wall.  She was the mother of my grandfather, James Plummer.  She died before my father was born.  Margaret was born in May, 1831 in Kentucky.  She married Osborn Plummer, before 1850.  They raised eight children, there may have been more who died.  

I haven't been able to find out much about Margaret.  My grandfather's first wife died and Margaret finished raising his three daughters up until she died.  

Margaret lived around Pendleton and Bracken Counties in Kentucky.  My grandfather was the youngest of her children.

I have found Margaret's maiden name listed as Barnes and Burns.  Barnes seems to be on more documents.  I haven't been able to verify her name as Barnes, but my research seems to lean in that direction.  I have found several birth records of her children that list Margaret Barnes and Osborn Plummer.  Osborn's name is Osborn D. Plummer.  He is called Dorsie, Dessie and other versions of that name.

I have found an 1860 Census that has Osborn Plummer and Margaret living with their family and having an Alexander Plummer living with them as a day laborer.  I believe Alexander is a nephew of James.

The 1880 Census with Osborn and Margaret has a Robert Barnes living a couple of doors from them, and Alexander Plumber, age 34, is living with Robert Barnes as a servant.  I am sure this is the same Alexander that had lived with Margaret and Osborn 20 years before.

I really think this Robert Barnes is Margaret's brother.  I have found Robert on previous censuses with his parents, but I haven't been able to find Margaret with him or his parents.  Margaret was already married in 1850 to Osborn.  So, I have not really been able to connect Margaret with either Robert or his parents.  I really think I have found the right family for her, I just haven't found anything that will document that.

I need to spend some time in Kentucky doing research.  I don't know if I can find land records for Robert's father that might list Margaret.  I need to find any records that will help me identify Margaret or Robert that might verify that there is a connection of the two.  I just feel going to the area and researching might help me get further back in this family.  I think one of the hardest parts of the research in this area is the fact that the names are so often misspelled.  I have found that many people that lived in the area were not very well educated.

I would really appreciate any ideas on where to go from here.

1860 Census

1880 Census

Fearless Females - A Surprising Fact

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I am truly enjoying this.  Here is day 19.  I have gotten a little behind in the last week so I am trying to go back and catch up.


March 19 — Have you discovered a surprising fact about one of your female ancestors? What was it and how did you learn it? How did you feel when you found out?

I did find a very surprising fact about one of my female ancestors and I wasn't sure what to think about it.  I have written about this before here.

When I was talking to different cousins I found out about a picture. It was a picture of Margaret Plummer Browning in her casket.  She was my dad's much older half-sister.  I have not seen the picture.  I have been told by several of my cousins that the picture exists.  Margaret's granddaughter remembers the picture, but is not sure what happened to it.  My Uncle George's daughters had a copy of a picture, which we believe may be the same picture, but one of the family members destroyed it.  I have been told there are other copies.  I hope to someday get a copy of the picture if it still exists.

The picture is of my great aunt in her casket wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe and had other Klan items in her casket. 

When I found out I was shocked!  I didn't even know women were in the Klan.  I couldn't believe that someone in my family could be involved with an organization like that.  I have since done some research on women in the Klan and found that they did do some good things, which made it a little easier to deal with. 

 One of the things I was determined not to do was to try to hide the information.  I was surprised that family members had destroyed the pictures.  We can't change the past, we can only learn from it.  I am not rewriting the past, I am doing my best to report it. 

Someday I hope to get a copy of the picture to add to this post!

Wordless Wednesday - Young Mother

Young Mother

Circa 1950's

Tombstone Tuesday - James G Plummer

James Plummer was my dad's oldest brother, he died in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He was a street car driver in Cincinnati.

Fearless Females - Lunch with my Aunt Ethel

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I am truly enjoying this.  Here is day 16.


March 16 — If you could have lunch with any female family member (living or dead) or any famous female who would it be and why? Where would you go? What would you eat?

If I could have lunch with any of my dad's female relatives I would chose his sister Ethel Mae Plummer Heinzelmann.  She was about two years older than my dad.  

I would have lunch with Aunt Ethel to talk to her about her parents and siblings.  Since she was just a little older than my dad I think she was close to him growing up and might remember things about when he was young.  I was twenty when my dad died so I didn't get to ask him those things.

I remember meeting her twice.  One time we stopped by her house when we were traveling and she was sitting on her porch.  When she saw who had pulled up to her house, she ran out and hugged my dad.  The only other time I remember seeing her she came to my house to see my dad not too long before he died.

I wish I had gotten to spend more time with her, and had gotten to know her.  They lived a distance from us so we didn't get to see her.  

I don't know what we would have to eat.  I would ask her to fix something that her mother fixed for her when she was growing up.  I would want it to be something that was my dad's favorite.  

I have always wanted to know more about my dad's family.  My Aunt Ethel would know all about her parents and grandparents.  Maybe she sat and talked to her grandmother when she was younger and  maybe her grandmother told her about growing up and stories about her parents.  They lived next door to their grandmother at one time.

I have a couple of pictures of Aunt Ethel that aren't very good.  I hope to get more pictures some day.  I know there are pictures, I just haven't been able to get any yet.

Friday Faces From the Past - Cousins

 My Cousins - Probably around mid-1940's

Fearless Females - My Six Words

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I am truly enjoying this.  Here is day 15.


March 15 — Write a six-word memoir tribute to one of your female ancestors.


My six word tribute is about a grandmother I never met, Anna Catherine Boughner Plummer.  She died a few years before I was born.  This is what I have learned about her by talking to people who knew her.  The people who new her were about five years old or less so they only remember her loving and caring, and her taking them to church.

Kentucky Girl, Loving Mother, Christian Woman.

Wordless Wednesday - The Sailor

The picture was taken around 1960.

Women's History Month: Pattern of Children of My Female Ancestors

Women's History Month: Pattern of Children of My Female Ancestors

Lorine at Olive Tree Genealogy posted an interesting genealogical topic for Women's History Month, so I decided to share my father's family.

Instructions:

Make a list of your female ancestors beginning with your mother. Go back as far as you can. Now figure out how many children each female ancestor had. Did the females in your direct maternal line tend to have the same numbers of children each generation? Did they have more? Less? Were they prolific or are there few children born to each woman? Is there a pattern emerging?

Since this is my father's line I will be starting with my Grandmother.

Grandmother - Anna Boughner - 10 children - 6 boys, 4 girls

GGrandmother - Eliza York -  8 children - 3 boys, 5 girls

GGGrandmother - Elizabeth "Betsy" Frakes -  8 children - 5 boys, 3 girls

GGGGrandmother - Elizabeth "Betsy" Harry - 6 children - 4 boys, 2 girls

GGGGGrandmother - Barbara Bowman - 6 children - 4 boys, 2 girls

In looking for a pattern I found there were 38 children,  22 were boys, and 16 were girls.  Other than having more boys I don't see any consistent pattern.  Other than my great grandmother, they all had 2 more boys than girls.  She had two more girls than boys.  

My ancestors were all very prolific.  I think that was pretty consistent with the times.  My mother and father had nine children, 4 boys and 5 girls.  I think in this time frame the size of family had started dwindling, but they still had several.  I have 4 children, 3 boys and 1 girl.  So there is no continuing sort of pattern either.

This was an interesting topic.  I enjoyed looking at the family size.  This is something I hadn't really considered before.

Fearless Females - Prompt 10 Religion

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I need to post something so I am following along again.  Here is Day 5.


March 10 — What role did religion play in your family? How did your female ancestors practice their faith? If they did not, why didn’t they? Did you have any female ancestors who served their churches in some capacity?

I am not sure what role religion played in my father's family in recent years.  In going back through the generations I have found ministers in the family.

The only person  that I know that was involved with church was my grandmother.  Grandma Anna Boughner Plummer was very involved with her church.  She would take my cousin to church with her when he was very young.  He would ride along her side on his tricycle as she walked to church on Sunday's.  He was only five when she died, but he remembered her being very involved with the Nazarene church.  As an adult he has been a member of the Nazarene church.  I believe that is because of his memories of Grandma Anna.

The Nazarene church she attended was the church my mother took me too as a young child.  I don't know if my mother started attending that particular church because of my grandmother, but I believe that is what happened.  

I have tried to contact the Nazarene church to see if they have any old records or church directories, but I haven't been able to talk to anyone who has that information.  I would love to find records of her attendance.  Grandma Anna's funeral was held at that church.  

I remember that my dad talked about his mother attending the United Brethren Church.  I don't know if that occurred when she was growing up or when he was young.

My Grandma Anna Plummer was a fearless female whose religion played a key role in her life.

Friday Faces From The Past - George & Thelma

My Uncle George Plummer and his wife, Thelma.

Wordless Wednesday - Hunting

My Cousin with his Dad

Fearless Females - Day 6

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I need to post something so I am following along again.  Here is Day 6.

March 6 — Describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor (wedding ring or other jewelry, china, clothing, etc.) If you don’t have any, then write about a specific object you remember from your mother or grandmother, or aunt (a scarf, a hat, cooking utensil, furniture, etc.)

I haven't posted anything for a couple of days because I don't have many stories or heirlooms.  I just have paper that I have collected and some pictures that my cousin had.  I kept thinking I don't have a story to tell.  The more I think about it, I think there may always be a story to tell.  Sometimes, it just is a little different than what you would expect. I imagine that there are a few things left from my Grandmother.  My cousin may have something.  I really need to spend more time talking to her.  I really enjoy it when I can get her to talking.  She was very young, but she knew my grandparents.  They both died at her house.  My grandfather's funeral was held there.  

My grandmother was a fearless female.  She raised many children, nine of her own, and was stepmother to three more.  She died years before I was born, so, of course, I have no memories of her.  I just have what the cousins who were born before she died have been able to tell me.

In my research I found out that when I was young I lived in the house that she had lived in for several years.  I only have very vague memories about the house.  My older sisters were describing it to me recently, as they told me things some of the memories came back.  They talked about the neighbors who lived near us and I remembered them.  


I went to the neighborhood to find the house to take a picture, but the house was gone.  The house had been a double, my aunt and her family lived there at one time.  The lot looked so small.  It was hard to believe that a house that held a family of our size had stood there, and that a few generations of our family had lived on that little lot.  How many of us had played in the yard?   

Tombstone Tuesday - My Grandparents

This is the gravestone of my grandparents, James and Anna Boughner Plummer.  My Grandparents died eleven years before I was born.  They are buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Brookville, Indiana.

I may have gone to the grave as a young child, but I don't ever remember seeing it until this past year in this picture.  My brother went to Brookville and found several family graves and sent me the pictures.

When I was young my mother went to put flowers on graves for Memorial Day, or as they called it Decoration Day, but I don't remember what graves she put flowers on or where we went.  It seemed very important to my parents to get flowers on the graves.  I just wish I had been more attentive to what they were doing back then.  I might know where the graves are that I haven't been able to find.

Mystery Monday - Who is Benjamin Plummer?

My great grandfather is O.D. (Osborn D) Plummer listed on the 1850 Census.  I am trying to determine who Benjamin is.  O.D. is only 27, Benjamin is listed as 80.  I believe he is O.D's father.  I haven't been able to verify this in any way.  With the age difference, he could be a grandfather.  I think I can track Benjamin, but how is he related to O.D?  Any suggestions? 

Fearless Females - Day 4

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I need to post something so I am following along again.  Here is Day 4.

March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.

My Great Grandparents Elizabeth (Eliza) York and William T Boughner were married in Bracken County, Kentucky on 14th day of January 1867.

I found these copies of the marriage record and marriage bond on FamilySearch.com.  

The Marriage Bond  lists as surety, John J. Clark, my great grandmother's half-brother.  

On the bond the signatures of my great grandfather and my great grand uncle are signified by an X.  So neither were literate and able to sign their name.  

It was a first marriage for both and my great grandfather was a farmer.

Listed under remarks, it says "Consent of mother given through son".

During my search this record helped my to determine I had correctly identified my great grandmother on the Census record since it had the name of her half-brother, who was living with her in one of the early Census records.  I have been able to find pictures of John Clark on Ancestry.com.  He lived to be 97 years old.

Fearless Females - Day 3

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I need to post something so I am following along again.  Here is Day 3.

March 3 — Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first name you’ve come across in your family tree.

 

I don't share a name with any of my ancestors on my dad's side of the family.  I do have a few unusual names.  The name that I have selected for this post is my great grand aunt Mercilvia Frances Boughner McClanahan.  I had never heard the name before I found her.  I have found many different spellings of her name, which I assume are misspellings.  I have found Mercilva, Myrrhsilva, and Myrrhsylvia.

Fearless Females - Day 2

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog. The prompts are interesting and I need to post something so I am following along again.  Here is Day 2

March 2 — Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo?

This is my cousin Betty Heinzelman.  I am not going to put her married name.  Her son is a Hollywood producer and is married to an actress.  

She was born in 1930 so I believe it was taken around 1950 or before.

I chose this picture because I have always like it.  I just feel like there must be a story behind it.  I know it was taken in Cincinnati, Ohio.  I don't know what building she is standing in front of.  I don't know if I ever met her.  We didn't get to see our cousins very much.   

Fearless Females - First Day

Fearless Females - Daily Prompt 1

In honor of National Women's History Month, I will be following the blogging prompts from The Accidental Genealogist blog.  She has a list of blogging prompts for each day.  I just found out about this today and after a month of writing The Family History Writing Challenge for My Mother's Family History, I thought I was ready for a break.  She says you don't have to feel pressured to do every one, you can pick and chose.  The prompts are interesting and I need to post something so I thought Why Not!  So here goes for Day 1.

March 1 — Do you have a favorite female ancestor? One you are drawn to or want to learn more about? Write down some key facts you have already learned or what you would like to learn and outline your goals and potential sources you plan to check.

Elizabeth (Eliza) Isabel York Boughner was my great-grandmother.  She was born in Bracken County, Kentucky, around 1849.  She grew up in BrackenCounty.  Her father committed suicide in December of 1860 by shooting himself.
Eliza was around eleven years old.  Can you imagine that?  Is it possible she found his body!  

She married William Boughner on January 15, 1867.  They lived in Kentucky until sometime after 1880.  I have not been able to find them in the 1900 Census.  Without having the 1890 Census that gives me a 30 year gap that I can't track.
  
On the 1910 Census it showed Eliza as giving birth to eleven children, with seven children living.  I have found the seven children, but do not know anything about the other four.  She lived with her son Charles.  She is reported as single.  William lived with their daughter.  Her son, Charles, died in 1913.  

In 1920 she lived in Brookville, Indiana.  She lived a couple of houses down from my Grandmother.  She was 69 years old and worked as a housekeeper for a 76 year old lady named Mabale Lyons.  It reported her as married.  William was still alive and lived with a niece.

In 1930 Eliza lived with my grandparents in Connersville, Indiana. She was listed as a widow.  I know William had died by then, so if they were still married she would be a widow.

Eliza died March 7, 1932, in the house that I lived in as a small child.  

There are so many things I would like to know about Eliza.  I need to find the 1870 and the 1900 Census reports.  I am not sure where to look for a divorce record or if one exists.  I feel like they stayed married and just lived apart.  I also need to find a birth record and I would love to find birth records of her children.

I am planning a trip to Bracken County, Kentucky, this summer.  I don't know if I will find any records.  My cousin told me that the records had been lost in a fire.  I will at least be able to get a feel for the place she spent a good deal of her life and get pictures of the area.