Ya Never Know Till You Look: Benjamin Thomas (1793 - 1846)

Was working on my tree on Ancestry.com this morning. It's the really short and abbreviated version of the GEDCOM that Mom built (hers with over 60,000 individuals on it!) Specifically, was adding photos to the small handful of ancestors there because I think it's nice when people find old photos of their ancestors, and maybe they didn't know what they looked like or didn't have that particular picture.

So there I was and you know how those little green leaves go wagging around at you... and I started wandering off task. I knew that Benjamin Thomas (Abt. 1793, Wales - 1846 Lonaconing, MD) came over on the Tiberias in 1838 into the port of Baltimore but I personally didn't have a copy of the ship's manifest. And one of those leaves was wagging about that so I had to go check it out.

Let me tell you who Benjamin Thomas is to me. My Mom's Father was Cambria Williams (13 JUL 1897 Ocean Mines MD - 13 SEP 1960, Frostburg MD). Everyone called him Camey and he was named after the Cambrian Mountains of Wales. His Mother was Jane Price (5 May 1862 Mt. Savage MD - 2 Feb 1939 Frostburg MD), and her Mother was Diane Thomas (Abt 1832 Wales - 17 Jul 1871 Mt. Savage MD). Benjamin Thomas was her Father and my 3rd GGF.

OK, back to Ancestry and those leaves and the Tiberias. The search result had it at "Liberias" but his name was spot on as well as the birth year so I had to take a closer look. There he was: Benjamin Thomas, 45 and wife Hannah, 40 with children: John 23, James 20, Benjamin 18, William 15, Diana 6 (my GGGM), Joseph 3, Phillip 2 and little Jane an infant. A party of ten!

His occupation was listed as collier. But wait! Look at the rest of the men on the ships list: all colliers!! Now what was a collier? Googled and Wiki said that anyone who worked with coal was a collier. That seems about right for the region at the time. Then I took a zoom look at the ship's list page and saw a notation in modern hand that said " Invitation (? perhaps) is Georges' Creek Co. for all except Mary Bannista of Baltimore." And I do know about Georges' Creek Iron and Coal Company. See this link for real interesting bits about it from the site, Western Maryland's Historical Library, or WHILBR: http://www.whilbr.org/GeorgesCreek/index.aspx



So that was the deal: the Georges' Creek Co. recruited Welsh coal miners and shipped them with family over to staff their booming coal and iron business. Benjamin Thomas was 45. Was he a miner all his working life? Probably. Am thinking that they wouldn't have paid him to come all that way if he didn't know the business. However, he was long-in-the-tooth for a coal miner when they started kids working at about 16 years old and even younger.  But his son was coming too and he was a strong young man of 23.

I'm still amazed at how one thing leads to another in this genealogy stuff!

Photo of the day from Aunt Betty's archive.

And mother to my Grandfather, Cambria Williams.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/02/ya-never-know-till-you-look-benjamin.html

"Mr. Zeller Weds"

Happy Valentine's Day to all who love!

Here's a short post about love in the Zeller Family (see post below about my GGF, Gustav Zeller.) Great Grandfather Gus Zeller's family moved to Chicago but he visited them and knew about family comings and goings such that he made sure big news was mentioned in local newspapers. Here's the notice of his brother Charles's wedding in the March 3rd, 1906 issue of the Evening Times of Cumberland, MD.

Mr. Zeller Weds

The many friends at this place of Mr. Chas. Zeller, formerly a Frostburger, but now located in Chicago, ILL., will be pleased to learn of his joining the benedicts and taking a voyage over the sea of matrimony. Mr. Zeller was united in wedlock to Miss E. Long, a prominent young lady of Chicago, by a Luthern minister this week. The happy pair will spend several weeks sojourning among places of interest throughout the United States and Canada, after which they will return to Chicago and make their future home. Mr. Zeller, the groom, is a brother of Mr. G. W. Zeller, the Frostburg tonsorial artist, and resided here for many years prior to his removal to the Windy City with his parents some years ago. If possible the bride and groom will spend a few days here the guests of Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Zeller before ending their honeymoon, where they will be tendered a reception.

My GGGF, Charles William Zeller, and

father of the groom in the article above 

(MAY 1829, Germany - 17 MAY 1901, Chicago ILL)

My GGF, Gustav Zeller.

See below for dates and stuff.

My GGM, Moretta Workman Zeller (3 APR 1859 - 24 MAR 1946),

Mother of my Grandmother, whom all called "Ma"

My Grandmother Hellen Zeller (Kelly) as a child and the apple of her father's eye,

with her doll carriage and doggies.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/02/mr-zeller-weds.html

GGF Gus Zeller (1858 - 1927)

My GGF, my Grandmother's Dad, was Gustav Zeller (3 FEB 1858, Frostburg MD - 3 DEC 1927, Frostburg MD.) He owned barbershops in Western Maryland that enjoyed success and allowed his family an affluent lifestyle by the standards of the time. He taught some of the sons and his son-in-law, my Grandfather Kelly, the barbering trade. He even had a small barber shop in the back of his house. His son Gus Jr. took over the barber shops when Gus Sr. retired.

Reportedly, he had a barber shop at 14 East Main Street that burned on December 14, 1917. Then he opened another one at 35 East Main Street making it bigger and better that the old one.

This photo documented the arrival of the trolley to Frostburg, MD from Cumberland.
That's GGF in his snappy white barber frock with his hand to head (signaling hair?)
on the lower step of the trolley. Smart PR!

GGF Gus Zeller was a real promoter of his business, never missing a trick to get mentioned in the most widely read local newspaper of the day, The Frostburg Mining Journal (the FMJ). The dominant job of the town was coal mining and the men put his barber shops to good use.

Today the The Frostburg Mining Journal is housed in the Ort Library on the campus of Frostburg State University, and has many mentions of GGF Zeller. Here are a small handful of them.

2/8/1896: Gus Wm. Zeller received a few days ago 68 fancy fish - silver and gold. Almost 20 were sent to his pond up the pike, 40 remaining here. (Note: they were put in a fish tank in his shop's front window.)

8/29/1896: "Stolen Pigeons", Seven pigeons were stolen by boys from Gus Wm. Zeller last Sunday. When the boys ascertained that Gus had a clue to their identity, they let the pigeons go. Two of them returned to Gus and some of the others flew to Hoffman, their first home. They belong to two branches of the pigeon family - the "Tumblers" and "Rattleshirts".

8/21/1897: "A Pretty Place" (Six paragraphs on the remodeling of Gus' barbershop in the Betz building.) "Quite impressive!"

12/23/1897: "Pretty Windows" (Two paragraphs on the windows of Gus' barbershop, including a large fish tank in one window and a rare stuffed white owl in the other.)

6/17/1899: One morning very recently, GW Zeller had the occasion to be up during the early hours. Standing inside his back yard he heard someone brush the fence going up the alley. Looking over, he saw a man with a pack on his back trotting low toward Union Street. Gus fired his pistol over the fellow's head. The chickens in the sack made a loud outcry and the fellow yelled, "Oh My God." He held on to the chickens. However Gus followed to Union Street. A man coming up saw Gus with a lantern and gun, took to his heels also and neither has been seen since. Gus was about to ask him to help catch the fellow with the sack but the Union Street early bird gave him no chance.

Grandma was the only girl and the apple of her father's eye. When she married, he even built her a separate kitchen onto the house so that she and Ma wouldn't lock horns over kitchen duties! Grandma Kelly was born and died in that house.

My Grandma Helen Zeller (Kelly) as a young girl,

all decked out and ready to have her picture made!

One of these days soon I've really got to dig more deeply into this branch of the family and see what pops up! GGF's parents, Charles and Anna Mary Zeller lived in Frostburg until 1884 when they moved to Chicago. Charles was a confectioner... and Anna Mary a diabetic! Many details of this branch and their family history escapes us in the present generation after the senior Zellers moved.

 Here he is, well coiffed... and look at the mustache!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/02/ggf-gus-zeller-1858-1927.html

Why My Family Is So Messed Up... And Yours Is Too

Ever notice that every family is a little messed up here and there? Everyones family has little "quirks" that perhaps run the gamut from sweetly endearing to just this side of clinically pathological;) I've often wondered how that happens, and marveled that a behavioral pattern I can clearly see got handed down from one generation to the next.

I'm not naming names here 'cause they know where I live, but I can see that my grandparents did hand down behaviors and habits to Mom and Dad. Most of those behaviors are lovely and cherished and contributed to our fine upbringing. (Did I tell you Mom reads my blog?)

I love that old story that speaks to this issue of behavior being handed down. A mom was making Thanksgiving diner and cut the turkey in half and then quarters to roast it, putting it in four small pans. The young daughter watched and then asked her mom why she did that when all her friend's moms roasted their bird in one big roaster. Well, the mom said, that's the way her mother did it. So let's call grandma and ask her why she did it that way, said the daughter. Grandma, now living in Florida, replied that all she had back in the day was four small pans! Habits unwittingly get handed down.

Was reading the New England Historic Genealogical Society's email newsletter this morning and snapped to attention when I read about genealogical "clan" characteristics. It went on to say a bit about the previous edition of the email newsletter's article on The Grant Family (1898) by Arthur Hastings Grant.

A reader of the newsletter replied about the Bowen Family Systems Theory. Dr Bowen developed a "sort of a family tree of these intrafamilial processes... not to mention the branches of the family that succeed vs. those that don't, and the reasons why."

Here's the link to the Bowen web site and the page on multigenerational transmission process.
http://www.thebowencenter.org/pages/conceptmtp.html

Today's picture, from Aunt Betty:

Daniel and Jane are my great grandparents.

Am wondering what behavior I express that were handed down from them!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-my-family-is-so-messed-up-and-yours.html

New Look for the Blog

Make-over time! Am trying this new template and let me know what you think. Mostly I think my blog layout should stay the same as long as possible, but I do like this new one because it's cleaner. I think the photos show well on the white background and the text might be easier to read too. And now you can more easily see the tabs at the top above the latest post.

There are of course some things that need to be tweeked, like the widgets at the right side. Some of those have stupid looking text breaks. One word on a line... really!

One thing about the old template with the birds flying was that so many gena-bloggers used it, it was hard to differentiate my blog form the others... even I got confused, and believe me I don't need any more confusion than what's already in the mix;)

Today's photo from my file, this one from Aunt Betty:

Oh and here's somthing I'll try to remember to add for those using smart phones and readers: the URL for this post. Don't yet understand how it helps but they tell me it does:
http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-look-for-blog.html

"What Virginia Knows", Our Family History Newsletter

Just got out another issue of "What Virginia Knows", which is our family newsletter. It's just a simple thing by all of for all of us... and only we would be interested in reading it:) Lots of old pictures of people you don't know, and history and stories about same.

What makes a good family history newsletter, I asked myself repeatedly as the months pass? I've come to some conclusions about that, and feel free to chime in with your own observation and post comments if you like!

First, it's really worth the effort! I put the first one together in an effort to capture what Mom knows about our collected family history, thus the name. Then Aunt Betty brought some good history and stories to the party! And the cousins too. As time passes, I think the newsletter benefits greatly from everyone throwing in their offerings of shared memories.

This issue was 9 pages long and I think that's a pretty good number of pages. If it's too long - one issue was about 15 pages of way-too-long stuff - readers get bored with it, and who can blame them? Six to 12 pages is manageable, depending on how many people are contributing and how many picture you have.

Our newsletter covers the Williams family (Mom's side) as well as the Kelly family (Dad's side) and goes out by email to about 25 people. What with the two families and extended families, it can be a problem if the two sides don't know each other, which most don't. However most grew up in the same area of Western Maryland and that helps.

Very few people outside of hard core genealogy types relish looking at old pictures of someone elses ancestors;) It's important to balance out the offerings for each side and to mix it up. In our newsletter there's a page of pictures for the Williams side and a page for the Kelly side. Seems about fair.

I'm really lucky in that the cousins are a bunch of writers. It's really a challenge when you're the only writer working on the newsletter project!

JC likes to give us mood pieces and they often focus on some aspect of the seasons when we were all growing up, with photos to go with. Cousin Steve is writing his memoirs about enlisting in the Navy when he was just 18 in the late 1960s, going to basic training and then Vietnam. It's a really good series that's going to have maybe 10 or 11 installments with photos. My brother Pat tends to write funny pieces about his memories of stuff he or Dad did. Let's call it True Confessions;) Other cousin have thrown in a memory or two to fill out the pages and sent along photos as well. These cousins mostly have kids and now grands too so it's a place to share and capture some multi-generational stories.

Mom and I are the most likely suspects to contribute hard-core genealogy pieces, but Aunt Betty also contributes beautiful offerings with properly identified photos! Thank for the thousandth time, Aunt Betty! We three try to include at least one article about the "way back" ancestors in each issue. And no, there are not footnotes... we don't want to freak our readers out;) But sources are "softly sited" and provided for those who want to know, hey, were did you get that?

One of the most important things we all can do to make a family history newsletter appealing is to have a balance between text and pictures. Pictures are the sizzle that sell our steak. Each page has at least two photos and usually some clip art. I like clip art, and the more zany the better. Cousin Steve's Navy narrative has allowed me the opportunity to grab up a bunch of Navy clips and cartoons... that was fun:) Brother Pat did a story about ducks - and I'll say no more in an effort to protect the guilty - that included a lot of crazy clips! Clip art is fun and it's free.

We let it all hang out, as the old saying and song goes! Hey, the statute of limitations has run out and Brother is a criminal defense attorney, so why not?! Plus, we just love telling juicy details of the scamps and scoundrels in our lineage. Got to have some sinners to balance out the saints, don't you think?

As to format, I use Word in a 2 column set up. I made a masthead in PhotoShop, but that's not really necessary. I'm using Windows 7 and when the issue is finalized I save it as a PDF file, compressed version for emailing... the option is in the Save As box. It's easy. But before that when I was working on Windows XP, a genealogy friend told me about CutePDF. If you are using XP just google "CutePDF" to find the download and instructions.

Starting our family history newsletter has been one of the very best things I've done as a budding genealogist. Each issue pays me back a hundredfold for the small amount of time I spend gathering it up and arranging it.

My Best Shot at Matralinial DNA

It's always fun to check out Randy Seaver's SNGF, or Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, at http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your.html

His Fun for last Saturday (yes, I'm about a week behind, oh golly) is about Mom's patralinial line and male descendants. It gave me pause... which of my living male relatives might be the carrier of my matrilinial line DNA?

I followed the logic, going back a couple of generations, with the objective of then reaching out to male relatives still living. Suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks: Cousin JC!! He's Mom's brother's son. And I guess that qualifies... although I'll be the first to admit that I know very little about the DNA stuff. If I have it correct, my brother is the carrier of Dad's patrilineal DNA. But on Mom's side, the DNA carrier must be a direct male descendant of the Williams line. And that's cousin JC. His Dad was Camey Junior and Camey Jr's father was my Mom's father. So male to male to male.

Now I know where to find Cousin JC... next step is to find out more about this DNA stuff and how that testing works. Think I might have to chase him down the street with a swab kit grabbing at his cheek;)

Cousin JC and his brother Mike, 1958.