Surname Saturday: That's Waggoner with Two Gs

Off we go on an adventure for Surname Saturday, the blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers! I just love writing up these posts because it's another occassion to review what's known and what is yet to be discovered! We're in the 2nd great grandmothers and this time we'll be checking out the Waggoner line. Recently, while on a message board for Allegany County, MD., I happened across someone who is also researching some Waggoners from there. We haven't found a match yet and her people are from a more easterly location in the county, but there just aren't very many Waggoners so we're suspicious!

Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly (1916 - 2007)
3. Virginia Williams, living and loving it

6. Cambria Williams (1897 - 1960)
7. Emma Susan Whetstone (1897 - 1956)

14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone (1858 - 1938)
15. Catherine Elizabeth House (1865 - 1947)

28. Joseph Edward Whetstone (1816 - 1897)
29. Sarah Waggoner (1825 - 1880)
Joseph Edward and wife Sarah Waggoner were born and died in Garrett County, Maryland in and around the tiny community of Grantsville. He was a stonemason but for a time around 1840 - 45 took care of the inn and roadhouse his father-in-law's managed on the way west, The National Pike. In the 1850 US census Joseph E. Whetstone reports that he's a blacksmith and he and Sarah are living in close proximity to the Inn.
The winters are harsh here and my guess is that daily life then was not easy. I blogged not too long ago about a letter Sarah received from her mother, also named Sarah, just before she died and you can read it here to get a feel for the times.
Sarah is the start of the Waggoner line for Mom and me.
They had these 13 children:
Elizabeth Jane Whetstone 1842 - 1896
Susan Emily Whetstone 1844 - 1877
Peter Yeast Whetstone 1847 - 1918
William Whetstone 1850 - ?
Charles Whetstone 1851 - 1880
Charlotte "Lottie" Whetstone 1852 - 1872
Mary Alice Whetstone 1856 - 1862
14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938
G. O. Theodore Whetstone 1860 - 1861
John Edward Whetstone 1862 - 1896
Bradford Whetstone ?
Zoe Violet Whetstone 1864 - 1948
Frank Whetstone 1869 - 1959

58. FNU (first name unknown) Waggoner (dates unknown)
59. Sarah Wooden, then Waggoner, then Yeast, and finally Durst (1810 - 1870)
Sarah was born Sarah Wooden. She had my 2nd great grandmother by a Mr. Waggoner, and we frankly do not know if they were married or not because Mom has found no record. Next she married Peter Yeast (1808 - 1851) and had seven children with him. When he died she married Phillip "Major" Durst (1817 - 1888) presumably after 1851. Major Durst had  two adult children at that time.
She had just one child with the elusive Mr. Waggoner:
29. Sarah Waggoner (1825 - 1880)

It's funny how information comes to you. When I write these posts I invariably recheck Mom's Big Tree on Ancestry.com to see what's what and look at member trees too. This time I reached out to two people who looked like they knew what they were doing and one replied back with information that might be promising. From looking at her tree she has plenty of folks on it from the geographical area most of my peeps come from... so who knows, maybe we're cousins!

Looking towards Grantsville, about 1910.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/surname-saturday-thats-waggoner-with.html

Surname Saturday: The Thomas Family From Wales

It's off to Wales once again for Surname Saturday, the blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers. We've been to Wales a couple of times before as we explored the roots of the Williams, Price, and James clans before these Thomas folks. Unfortunately for Mom and I the records only go back too short a ways for us, in spite of the old saying that a proper Welshman could recite his ancestry back nine generations. Imagine: if all of our Welshmen could have done so how happy Mom and I would now be!

We're here in the 5th generation back sitting amongst the 2nd great grandmothers.

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick Kelly 1916 - 2007
3. Virginia Williams, living and loving it!

6. Cambria Williams 1897 - 1960
7. Emma Susan Whetstone 1897 - 1956

12. Daniel Williams 1852 - 1920
13. Jane Price 1862 - 1939

26. William Price 1829 - 1872
27. Diane Thomas about 1832 - 1871
They had these children:
William Henry Price 1852 - 1910.
Benjamin Price 1854 - 1906.
Diane Price 1856 - ????.
13. Jane Price 1862 - 1939.
Ellen Nellie Price 1864 - ????.
James H. Price 1856 - 1933.
Mary Price 1869 - ????
Victoria Price 1871 - ????

54. Benjamin Thomas (1793 - 1846)
55. Hannah Evans (1798- 1868)
Too little is known about this family for our liking. Benjamin Thomas is the founding member of this family and I previously blogged about them all here.
Benjamin and Hannah were born in Wales but we don't know where. They made their way to America in 1838 with the intention that the males work for the George's Creek Coal company. They landed in Baltimore on 11 Sept, 1838 after a voyage of 46 days. Here's the list of their children followed by an image of the  manifest. As you can see there are five able-bodied men willing to go to work as coal miners, or "colliers".
The children are:
John W. Thomas (1817 - ????) Born in South Wales, John married Lucinda Rice on 29 Aug 1846 in Allegany County, Maryland.
Benjamin L. Thomas (1818 - ????) Also born in Wales, Benjamin L. married Catherine Jones on 20 Feb 1840. She also was born in Wales. They both died in Mt. Savage, Allegany, MD.
James Benjamin Thomas (1822 - 1884) Born in Wales. He married Margaret Lewis on 17 June 1840 in Allegany County, MD.
William Benjamin Thomas (1823 - 1885) Born in Wales, he married Elizabeth Lewis, also born in Wales.
27. Diane Thomas (about 1832 - 1871)
Joseph Thomas ( 1835 - 1915) Born in Wales and died in Eckhart, Allegany, MD, he had three wives: Martha Davis, Rebecca Mosser, and Jane Watkins.
Philip Thomas (1836 - 1885) Also born in Wales, he married Ann Davis.
Jane Thomas (1837 b- 1917) Born in Wales, she married Joseph Scott Robertson.
Ann Eliz Thomas (abt. 1839 - ????) Born in Ocean Mines, MD, she married John Howells.
Maria Ellen Thomas (1841 - 1908) Born in Lonaconing, she married John James Anthony.

Well, there you have it. Obviously, Mom and I are not done here! And a new-to-me cousin, Robert, contacted me through Ancestry.com messages and we chatted so now we'll be working on this line together. So much to do, so little time!

Manifest from the Barque Tiberius, landing in Baltimore 11 Sept 1838.

(Photo by me taken in the Frostburg Museum, Frostburg, Allegany, MD, October, 2012.)

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/surname-saturday-thomas-family-from.html

Surname Saturday: The Zellers from Germany

Off we go on another Surname Saturday, a dandy blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers! I blogged a bit this week on Treasure Chest Thursday about some of this family's members, Grandma Kelly's brother's family, and the Zeller Family Ensemble. That was fun! So here comes the line-up for Grandma Kelly and her ancestors, the Zellers from Germany.

It's sort of unusual that we have a lot of information about the known members in this line but it just doesn't go back too far as compared with other lines on Mom's Big Tree. And the other interesting thing, and a project for a day in the future, is that the other children of great great grandfather Charles William Zeller (1829 - 1901) and his wife, Anna Mary (1834 - 1906) are yet to be discovered by us. They disappear in the Chicago area. Mom has some skimpy information but more must be out there and sitting pretty, ready for us to get to.

So here we go: the Zeller family.

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly (1916 - 2007)
3. Virginia Williams, living and loving it

4. John Lee "Lee" Kelly (1892 - 1969)
5. Helen Gertrude Zeller Kelly ( 1894 - 1985)

10. Gustav William "Gus" Zeller (1858 - 1927)
11. Moretta Workman Zeller (1859 - 1946), everyone called her "Ma"
Gus and Ma, were both born and died in the Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland area. See below for the good stuff:)
They had these 5 children:
Charles Sample Zeller ( 1880- 1966)
Adelbert  "Burt" Zeller ( 1883 - 1947)
Gustav William "Gus Jr." Zeller Jr. (1884 - 1964)
5. Helen Gertrude Zeller Kelly ( 1894 - 1985), that's Grandma Kelly there:)
Anna M. Zeller ( 1882 - 1882)

20. Charles William Zeller ( 1829 - 1901)
21 Anna Mary (possibly Bruning) Zeller (1834 - 1906)
This couple were both born in Werttemburg, Germany. They immigrated and settled in the little town of Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland. Mom believes there were relatives in the area and a search of local records turns up a number of other Zeller families, although their exact connection mystifies us.
After 1878 when the last of the children was born in Frostburg, and before 1886 when Henry died in Chicago, the family moved to Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. All the children except Gustav are buried in the Chicago area. The local Cumberland, MD newspaper mentions Anna Mary's death in the issue printed on 17 Sept 1906 and says she and her husband were residents of Frostburg 22 years ago, making their moving date about 1884. Good tip from a local newspaper!
Charles was a confectioner and his wife, Anna Mary, was a diabetic. Go figgure! Charles ran a very popular sweets store in Frostburg until he moved to Chicago. I wonder if he realized the wider potential of his success in Frostburg and decided to move to the larger market Chicago would promise?
In checking the 1870 US Census Mary Ann is listed as being a milliner. Seems to me I remember Grandma Kelly telling a story about a milliner. Maybe Mom remembers better that I do.
They had these 11 children:
Charles Zeller (1855 - ?)
10. Gustav William Zeller (1858 - 1927)
Gotlieb Zeller (1861 - 1889)
George Zeller (1862 - 1931)
Delbert Zeller (1865 - after 1910)
Frederick Zeller (1869 - 1932), he and John are twins
John Zeller (1869 - 1945), he and Frederick are twins
Henry Zeller (1870 - 1886)
William Zeller (1872 - 1906)
Daniel Zeller (1875 - ?)
Annie Mary Zeller (1878 - ?)

Boom! Done. That was short, too short. Maybe after a while Mom and I will dig into those Chicago records and track down this family. Wouldn't it be fun if we could locate living Zeller people... and they had more family photos and stories? And, we'd like to get more knowledgeable about German records so that we might pursue the Zeller family there.

Something I've noticed because of this family is that if the ancestors were in retail, especially in a small town with a local newspaper with booster tendencies, it's possible to find them mentioned. In a previous post this week which you can see here on Treasure Chest Thursday, I talked about Uncle Delbert's researcher, Sharon. Well Sharon dug into the pages of the wonderful Frostburg Mining Journal, published from 1871 - 1913, and a treasure trove for anyone who has ancestors from the area, to find mentions of GGF Gus Zeller and his barber shop, or as it's often described, "tonsorial emporium". There was giant 6 foot barber pole out front, in case anyone had doubts about his business;) He also had a very large and colorful goldfish tank in the window. It was at 14 East Main Street, but burned in a building fire on 14 Dec 1917. He moved his business to 35 East Main Street after the fire. His new location was also a full-service affair with showers and baths.

Guss, my GGF, had a reputation as quite the drinking man. At the end of this paragraph I'll place links to some of the stories about him I've posted to this blog before. Family lore has it that whenever he'd get drinking such that it hampered family life, Ma would insist that they leave town on a "vacation" with the intention of "drying him out." One mention in the Frostburg Mining Journal of 7 Oct 1899 talks of Gus Wm. Zeller, wife, and little daughter (that's Grandma) having gone on an extended tour, eastward, northward and westward to Boston, Montreal, Chicago, and other cities. Getting GGF Gus to Chicago to visit the family there was a strategic mistake on Ma's part as his father Charles was also a drinking man. Poor Ma!

Here are some other stories about GGF Gus Zeller and his barber shop:
http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2011/07/more-drinking-stories.html
http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/10/he-died-in-outhouse.html
http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2011/09/those-who-labored.html

Dad and Mom, Grandpop Kelly and Grandma Kelly:

2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly (1916 - 2007)

3. Virginia Williams, living and loving it

4. John Lee "Lee" Kelly (1892 - 1969)

5. Helen Gertrude Zeller Kelly ( 1894 - 1985)

 

The next generation back,

10. Gustav William "Gus" Zeller (1858 - 1927), above

11. Moretta Workman Zeller (1859 - 1946), below 

20. Charles William Zeller ( 1829 - 1901), father of Gustav and confectioner.

Sadly, we do not have a photo of his wife Anna Mary Zeller.

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/01/surname-saturday-zellers-from-germany.html