Deb's Adventures in Genealogy
Thursday, January 11, 2024
My Bohemian Lineage ~ Origin
Monday, January 1, 2024
Springer Fortune ~ Family Lore
My favorite part of family history is discovering fantastic stories. All the rumors, secrets, scandals and scalawags hanging about the tree.
When I started researching the family line, my husband constantly asked "have you found the fortune yet?" To appease his curiosity, I did a cursory search. Imagine my surprise when this bit of lore was true! Well, sort of.
"The Springer Hoax was a scam starting in the mid 19th century, often using a phony genealogy in various ways to collect money based on the supposed estate of prominent colonialist Carl Christopher/Christoffersson Springer and debts said to be owed to him by various government agencies of Wilmington, Delaware and Stockholm, Sweden. The alleged estate was said to include 1,900 acres of land, 228 acres of which ran though the center of Wilmington, worth up to $150,000,000. Other claims included $100,000,000 deposited in a Stockholm bank."
Further reading about the hoax:
Rootsweb: Springer Hoax
"Springer Estate" Papers (aka Springer Heir Hoax) from the Springer, Miller & Allied Families Website
Thursday, December 8, 2022
Our Ancestor Was ~ a Missionary
While researching Rev. C.W. Ruth (husband's grandfather), I discovered this unknown family history story about my husband's aunt, Emma Naomi Ruth.
Naomi was Christian's oldest daughter. She was born November 26, 1886. She began missionary work at a very young age. Over her lifetime, she traveled to many out-of-the- way places. I discovered the above photograph on her passport from Ancestry.com, dated September 13, 1916.
Doing further research, I located the articles, which detailed a very anxious time for the entire Ruth family. For a while, they didn't know where Emma was during an earthquake that struck in the path of her travels.
The Sun. (New York, NY) 31 Dec. 1908. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn83030272/1908-12-31/ed-1/.
The Indianapolis Star: 31 Dec, 1908; Indianapolis, Indiana; Newspapers.com
Can you imagine how harrowing this was for Naomi's parents?! Especially in a time period where communication was not as readily available.
To learn more about the disaster, searched Chronicling American for "messina".
Thursday, September 1, 2022
Many at Funeral of Daniel Green
Thursday, July 21, 2022
It's A Small World ...
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Finding Ezra J. Starr ~ One Puzzle Piece At A Time
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Sources:
[1] Kentucky, U.S., Death Records, 1852-1965; indexed database and digital image, Ancestry.com (https//www.ancestry.com : accessed December 8, 2020), "City of Covington, KY, Department of Health,Bureau of Statistics", page 206 (image 223 of 1092), Ezra Starr death entry, February 19, 1904.
[2] "Want Settlement of an Estate, Heirs Filed Suit Against the Administrator," Kentucky [Covington, KY] Post newspaper, Friday, Sep 23, 1904, page 5 column 3, GenealogBank.com (https://www.genealogybank.com : accessed December 8, 2020).
[3] Adams County, Pennsylvania Genealogy Wiki Page, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org) : accessed December 8, 2020),
Saturday, December 5, 2020
Tracking Ancestors with City Directory Spreadsheet
By 1871, we see my 2nd great-uncle, John C. Gaphardt appear in the directory. Verifying address for the family. My 2nd great-grandfather is listed as Gaphardt and Gephardt! No wonder I'm having such difficulty with this ancestral line.
- Henry Horn - tailor - 11 Walker (future 2nd husband of Elizabeth Judd Wakefield)
- Philomena Judd - tailoress - 20 Walker (2nd wife and widow of 3rd great-grandfather Mathias Judd, step-mother of Elizabeth Judd Wakefield Horn)
- Henry Wakefield - tailor - 290 s Ann (2nd great-grandfather, 1st husband of Elizabeth Judd)
Sources
[1] 1870 U.S. census, Baltimore City, Maryland, population schedule, Baltimore Ward 6, page 224 (penned), dwelling/family 1859, Phillipina Judt household; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://ancestry.com : accessed 04 December 2020); imaged from NARA microfilm 552073, roll M593_574
[2] Henry Horn entry, Baltimore City Court of Common Pleas, marriage index (marriage index, male), 1851-1885, CM205, reel CR 1672; Maryland State Archives