Sentimental Sunday - Thomas Edison and my Great-Great Grandmother

This is the first Sentimental Sunday where I will begin posting family stories as told to me by my mother and other family members. It is my attempt to preserve these stories so that they can continue to be passed down to my children and their cousins…the next generation of storytellers.

In March of 1880 my great great grandmother, Mariah Botkin, was a young girl living with her mother, father and siblings in Wabash County, Indiana. Mariah’s father, Isaac Botkin, was a farmer as were many in this rural community. Life on the farm followed a daily routine that was comfortable and familiar to Mariah. But by the end of March 1880 an event would occur in Mariah’s life that would change this small community forever and be told by Mariah until her death in 1953 at age 89.

On the evening of March 31 Isaac took 17 year old Mariah and headed into town. The Brush Electric Company had installed 4 arc lights 200 feet high to the top of the Wabash courthouse and at precisely 8:00 PM that evening they were to be lit. Until this time Wabash and all towns in America had been lit solely by gas lights. But in the previous year of 1879 Thomas Edison had perfected his invention of electric light. Now the little rural town of Wabash was to be the first to experiment with the newly developed arc lighting system.

When Mariah and her father reached town they joined in a crowd of 10,000 all there to see this exhibition. Special trains came from all directions and crowds of people lined the streets.

Exactly upon the hour of eight, the peal of the Courthouse bell signaled the time to start. From above the dome of the building, high on its hill in the evening's darkness, burst forth a flood of light. Mariah and her father stood overwhelmed with awe until, recovering somewhat, they joined the crowd breaking into a wild clamorous uproar expressing their excitement. “The strange weird light, exceeded in power only by the sun, yet mild as moonlight, rendered the courthouse square as light as midday. For a mile around, houses and yards were distinctly visible, while far away the Wabash River glowed like a band of molten silver.”

April 1, 1880--the morning paper carried this headline, Our City Beautiful Wabash Overnight Found Itself Famous....The editor went on to say 'thousands of eyes that were turned toward the inky darkness over the courthouse saw a shower of sparks emitted from a point above them, a loud shout went up from the crowd, the band played and a stranger was heard to say, Day dawns, what will the future bring?...

The above information came from the book:"A Century of Light: Wabash, Indiana" 1981, from various articles from the Wabash Plain Dealer newspaper and from Mariah herself as told to my mother Karen Stephens Swanson.

Follow Friday - Greta's Genealogy Bog

Okay, I admit, I am a HUGE fan of Greta's blog.  In fact, until now, I have felt a bit unworthy of even featuring it.  Silly, I know, but it's kind of like saying to someone "hey I know George Clooney" when in fact I really only brushed elbows with him once in a crowd.  And also, everyone who is anyone already "knows" Greta.  But I shall swallow all doubts and forge ahead featuring Greta's Genealogy Bog as my Follow Friday post.

I've been reading with interest Greta's postings on Online Trees.  Follow the discussion here Online Trees , Playing around with Online Trees and Playing around with Online Trees Part 2.  Although I have posted some parts of my tree online I did so without thinking through the consequences.  Greta's post have encouraged me to go back and take a closer look at those trees and how they are being used.

Other posts really show Greta's personality and sense of humor.  Check out Memory Monday - Havin' a Hissy Fit, Memory Monday - The Missing Mermaid and the Children Who Would Not Sleep, and The Mushroom Factor.

Another feature of Greta's blog that I look forward to are her Friday, Family and Friends Newsletter postings. 

So there you go, my Follow Friday posting of a true genealogy rock star!  Greta Koehl.

Treasure Chest Thursday

My Grandfather's Rosary

Wordless Wednesday

My son is home from college for the summer.

No words are necessary.......

Tombstone Tuesday - Mahlon and Anna (Hinshaw) Pearson

Mahlon and Anna Pearson

2nd Settlers Liberty Township, Wabash County, Indiana

Old LaFontaine Cemetery

MAHLON PEARSON

     Mahlon Pearson arrived in November to take possession of the eighty acres which he had entered in 1832 - the east half of the northeast quarter of the same section (23) upon which Mr. Grant had located.  His entry was the first of record in the township.

     When Mr. Pearson came to take up his entry in section 23 he was in his thiry-eighth year, with a wife and five children.  For years he has been "flat-boating" down the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi rivers, his home having long been in Eastern Tennessee where he had owned a farm of 160 acres.  He was therefore well qualified to make progress in the Wabash Valley, and was a strong accession to the township and the county.  He lived to see six more sons and daughters added to his family, to prosper himself and enjoy the prosperity and good standing of several generations of descendants.  His death occured in 1876, in his eightieth year.

*History of Wabash County Indiana, Volume 1

It's Working!

My husband’s surname is Ellam. It’s a name that is not very common in the United States and not really that common in England either. However, in the 15+ years I have been researching his family I have never come across another person researching his direct line.


When I started my blog one of my strongest desires was to have a long lost cousin of the Ellam family do a google search and “discover” me. I dreamt of the day when I would be able to join forces with someone else and expand the family history. Alas, this has not been the case.

However, last week I received not one, but two emails from descendants of my Scott family who found my blog when searching for the Scotts online! They both referred to the postings of my Research Trip and one directly referenced America Cemetery!

So what does all this mean? It means another trip! This time to meet up with both of them and compare research notes! I am excited to meet them, I am excited to make progress on a family line I don’t know much about but mostly I’m excited that they found me through my blog.

It’s working!

Tombstone Tuesday - Family Tree Stones

While visiting the cemeteries on my recent research trip, I ran across a couple of examples of headstones that will would a family researchers heart go pitter patter!

How wonderful would it be to find one of these stones on the grave of one of your ancestors?

My Research Trip - Day Two, Part Two

You can read about Day Two, Part One here.
After the triumph of finding Freddie’s grave we headed back to Wabash County to photograph another cemetery. This one would not have as many ancestors as yesterday but we still managed to take 56 photos! We even found some that had photo requests on Find A Grave.

The disturbing trend we noticed yesterday continued today. While most of this cemetery was beautifully maintained, the older section was in sad disrepair. The grass needed to be cut and shrubs had overgrown to the point they had entirely engulfed sections of stones. It was going to take more gardening tools than my little cemetery bucket held to dig into that overgrowth. We didn’t locate stones for some of our family members and I feel sure that they are buried underneath all that shrubbery. The plan is to return in the fall and bring my husband along to do the dirty work here!

By now it is midday and my mother was nursing an extremely sore ankle. She had hurt it before we left for the trip and had irritated it by walking down the hotel stairs that morning. It was starting to look like locating America Cemetery may not be in the plans for this trip. However, I was driving and decided to go back to America to see if anyone was home at the house we were told may have the cemetery in the woods behind them. At least we could locate where we should return next trip.

When we arrived at the home there were cars in the driveway which was a great sign and all the encouragement I needed to hop out of the van and knock on the front door. It was opened by a lovely woman who told me that the cemetery was indeed in the woods and was genuinely happy to have someone stop and ask about it! She stated that she had lived there for 26 years and only a couple people had ever stopped and inquired about the cemetery. She told me to pull the van to the side of the drive and she would meet me out back and show me how to access the cemetery.

Beyond excited I hurried back to the car to pull it over and explained to my mom and aunt that the homeowner had offered to show me how to find the cemetery and that I was going to follow her. I can’t express the excitement in the air!

I got back out of the car and the kind lady told me that it would be quite a hike and that it included climbing a steep hill. I could feel my mom’s disappointment. There was no way she could manage on her ankle. But my aunt donned her hiking boots, intent on joining me. We met up with the homeowner and set off for the woods. As soon as we reached the edge and saw the initial hill we needed to climb my aunt backed off. It was covered in poison ivy and she is highly allergic. It looked like I was going on alone.

The homeowner gave me directions but then decided to join me! She had not been back to the cemetery in years and was not sure I would be able to find it. It seems she had been lost in those woods a couple of times and was worried I might get turned around. Instead it turns out the path was still visible and we set off together.

I’m not really sure how far we went but all of the sudden in the distance I saw a headstone! And then another and another. I left out a whoop of excitement! Among the trees in this woods lay America Cemetery. According to cemetery records the earliest burial occurred in 1836 and the last burial in 1871. Among those buried include Indians which lived in the area. My first thought as I stood there among the quiet of the woods was “how long has it been since one of my ancestors visited this place?” The last of my ancestors were buried here in 1861. Before the civil war had ended. I can easily guess it had been more than 100 years. And with that thought, I began to cry. I felt so blessed to be there among those stones.

I got out my camera and began photographing every stone in the cemetery that was still visible and standing. The homeowner joined me in my quest, pointing out stones among trees and behind shrubs. Some stones had fallen over and we were not able to lift them (another job for my husband in the fall!) so we had to leave those for now. The names we were able to read off the stones came straight out the of Wabash County history books: Garrison, Harrell, Pearson, Rinearson and Scott!

After I photographed all the stones I took a moment and photographed the cemetery itself. And then we started back. Before the cemetery disappeared from my view I turned around and took one last look and promised…..I will be back.

My Research Trip - Day Two, Part One

Day Two dawned nice and bright.  All the clouds and rain from yesterday had disappeared and it looked like we would have a nice, sunny, warmer day ahead.

This day would start with a trip one hour out of our way but I couldn't help myself.  I had to find the grave of Little Freddie.  It was calling to me.  I discovered the newspaper article about Freddie taped to the front of my great-great grandmothers family bible.

A large number of sympathizing relatives and friends attended the funeral of Frederick Earl Driggs at the M.E. chuch Friday torenoon. Rev. O.V.L. Harbour preached an excellent, comforting sermon from the words of David in 2 Samuel XII 23, "I shall go to him but he shall not return me." The choir feelingly sang "Rock of Ages," "Asleep in Jesus" and "Nearer My God to Thee." The pallbearers were classmates of Freddie and were preceded by six little girls in white, with arms full of beautiful flowers. Freddie' classmates, the Junior League, The Ladies Aid Society and my O.M. Bevington and family all sent beautiful flowers to the bereaved family. The stores were closed during the service. The remains were laid to rest in Park cemetery.

As the newspaper stated, Freddie was laid to rest in Park Cemetery, Fairmount, Indiana.  Now, Fairmount, Indiana (made famous as the home of James Dean) is a small town surrounded by farm land.  I have to admit I made the same mistake here that I did with the cemetery in North Manchester.  I assumed it would be small.  Not so much.  The cemetery was large.  Very large.  And my heart sank as I realized that finding Freddie in this cemetery would be like finding the elusive needle in the haystack. 

However, I was not going to turn around and leave without even trying.  I mentioned that Freddie died in 1906 and my aunt pointed out that the older section of the cemetery was on the far side.  I had three roads I could choose to take to get there so, being the predictable person I am, I chose the one in the middle.  One thing we had going for us was that all the stones faced the road.  Therefore, by driving slowly I could look out one side of the car and my mom and aunt could watch the other side.

We had traveled most of the length of the cemetery when my mom let out a yell and said "There they are!"
And right there, right by the side of the road were the stones for Freddie's mom and dad, sister and brother.  Next to them on the right was a small white stone, completely unreadable which must be Freddie. 

I took a few moments with Freddie and then took the picture I came for.  I wish I had thought to bring flowers with me to leave behind as I felt so strange after coming all this way to just get back in my car and drive away.  I still want to order the death certificate for little Freddie.  I don't know why but I feel pulled to learn more about him and his life.

Moving on, we would be remiss if we didn't stop at the grave of James Dean while we were there.  Signs directed us to his burial spot.  When we got there I was shocked.  I really thought it would be some elaborate monument or something.  After all, James Dean is the biggest thing to ever happen to this little town.  However, it was a simple stone decorated only by those that had visited before us.

Park cemetery took me by surprise.  It was a beautifully well maintained cemetery in the middle of farm land.  I would have loved to take more time to explore a bit but we still had a drive back to Wabash to visit Center Grove Cemetery and then there was Amercia Cemetery.  Finding it would be a challenge.

But, after finding Little Freddie, I felt like I was up to it! 

Next up, Day Two, Part Two where we put on our hiking boots.  We're going to need them for this one!

My Research Trip - Day One, Part Two

Day One, Part One can be found here.

Since the weather had turned nasty we decided to head over to the Wabash Library and do some research. My goal was to find some obits for the Botkins family. I wasn't having much luck when I ran across the following article in the March 13, 1864, Wabash Weekly Intelligencer. (The names in bold are related to me in some way)

Frightful Mortality. The people in the vicinity of Ashland and America in Liberty Township, have been undergoing a terrible ordeal of sickness since the first of January. We have been furnished with the names of fifty who have died since that date, and our informant states that he was unable to give the names of several others who have died. The disease which is generally prevelant and the one which has proved so fearfully fatal is what is popularly known as the Cold Plague or Spotted Fever. Its character is pretty well known. The victim is suddenly taken with a chill, after a while excrutiating pains ensue, the head is drawn violently backward, delirium occurs, and within a day or two death comes and relieves the sufferer. After death the body becomes spotted, hence the name of the disease. The disease is still violently unchecked and the suffering and terror in and around Ashland is enough to excite the sympathy and compassion of all who hear of it. Dr. Armstrong, of Ashland, is completely exhausted and wornout, and yet he can scarcely get time to sleep and hour or two, such is the demand for his presence and skill. Whole families have been prostrated at the same time, and one by one the members there of have been conveyed from the threshold, corpses until father, mother and children, the entire family – have all gone. A friend told me that it was terrible to look at the burying ground in Ashland. It was dotted all over with new made graves.

The following is the list of the names of those who have died. It was furnished to us by Mr. Henry White, who says that he was unable to learn the full names of all.

Joseph Bruner, wife and son*, Jesse Perkins and son, wife of Hiram Gardner, Noah Kretzinger, Frances Loudenbarger, Mrs. J. Sailors, Thomas S. Lines, Mrs. William Sutton, Mrs. Henry Bruner, Uriah Hawkins, Mrs. L. Smith, Mrs. James Harvey, Mrs. Runnels and Child, Samuel Se___, William Kanada’s child, Ezekial Rhodes, Lewis Sims, daughter of A____ France, William Woodard’s child, Mrs. John DeCoursey, daughter of Presley Prickett, daughter of Jacob Moyers, Jonathan Moyer, Asa Blood’s child, Walter Downey, child of Mr. Williams, son of James Freels, child of Jesse Herrel, J. Sutton, son and daughter ; T.A. Botkins, small pox, child of James Bratton; daughter of William Howard; daughter of R. Banister; William Prickett and son; Jesse Talmage; Daniel Talmage*; child of Mr. Overman; Mrs. ____ Stone; child of Jackson Stevens; child of Mr. Rinearson; child of Hiram Hendricks; son of Isaiah Brady; child of Esq. Thompson.

Those marked thus * were soldiers at home on furlough.

How extremely sad and how frightening this all must have been for the residents of the tiny towns of Ashland and America. In 1864 the country was in the middle of fighting the Civil War and two of the victims above were home on furlough. I wonder if they brought the disease home with them and it spread from there. I suppose there is no way of knowing but in both cases, son of Joseph Bruner and Daniel Talmage, the disease also killed their family members.

I've linked the names in the article to memorials I have been able to locate on Find A Grave.

Tomorrow is Part One of Day Two. I locate the grave of Freddie Driggs and we visit the final resting place of James Dean!

My Research Trip - Day One, Part One

Day one dawned early but not so bright! The weather was a nippy 40 degrees, windy and cloudy. It remained that way all day and even threw a couple of rain showers at us in between. Here is a photo of my Aunt and I starting our day in the IOOF Cemetery in La Fontaine, Indiana!

The IOOF is borderd by 3 other cemetries, Old La Fontaine, Harper and Emery. They way the cemeteries are laid out, it is hard to tell where one stops and the next one starts. We divided the cemetery into threes and each took a section, walking and taking photos of any stones belonging to our ancestors. We took an amazing 133 photos that morning. And managed to do so in record time! The cold might have helped us along.

Among those photos we took that morning were stones located in the oldest part of the cemetery. While most of the cemetery was well maintained, this section was in sad disrepair. It had not been mowed and stones that had been standing nine years ago were now laying on the ground. How sad for a section of the cemetery that has the stones of the 2nd settlers of Wabash county and many of those found in the history books of the county.

After warming up a bit in the car we decided to head over to what used to be the town of America, Indiana to see if we could locate the old cemetery. The only hint we had as to where the cemetery was located was a general area between 950S and 1050S. So we headed out into the country and managed to find the two streets. Between them lay two homes on the south side of the street and a creek with a small bridge. Behind these homes lay dense woods. I had a bad feeling that the cemetery was located somewhere in those woods. We drove past the two homes and at the next intersection my Aunt spotted an estate sale taking place. Perfect! We pulled in and asked the lady holding the sale if she knew where the old America cemetery was located. She told us she thought is was behind the house on the north side of the creek......in the woods. We would have to go back and knock on the door to see if we could get permission to go into the woods behind their home but just then it began raining and we decided to return the next morning.

This post is getting long so I'll break Day One into two parts. Up next, we visit the North Manchester and Wabash Libraries where I find a heartbreaking obituary............

Preparing for a Research Trip - I'm Back!

I returned last night from my research trip to Wabash County, Indiana and wow, did I accomplish a lot!

Myself, my mom and aunt took over 300 cemetery photos that now need to be uploaded to Find A Grave.  We also visited both the Wabash and North Manchester Libraries and did some research in their genealogy departments.  The most fun I had was knocking on a door, asking if they had an old cemetery on their property and then donning my hiking boots for a trek through the woods to visit a VERY old cemetery!  That was a great experience and I was able to find stones for a couple of my ancestors who died in the early 1800's!

I have so many stories to tell but first I need to organize all my findings and also my thoughts. 

It was a perfect Mother's Day weekend for me.  I hope all of you had the same!

Preparing for a Research Trip - Part 3

 Just a quick update since I depart in 4 hours!  Can you feel my excitement?

At this point I'm as prepared as I going to be!  The weather has took a turn in my favor.  They are no longer calling for rain tomorrow just cloudy and windy and cooler conditions.  I look at it this way, photography is easier on a cloudy day and I'd rather the weather be a bit nippy than too hot.  As long as there is no rain in the forecast I'm a happy camper!

Tomorrow's plan is to hit four cemeteries located near each other and then after lunch head into town for some library research.  My goal is to locate family obits. Dinner Saturday night will be with my son who is at college in the area and I can't wait to see him!

Sunday is our day of adventure as that is the day we will attempt to visit some very old cemeteries.  My only means of finding them is GPS coordinates.  I can't wait to see how that goes!

I'd be remiss if I didn't send a special thank you shout out to my wonderful husband and children for allowing this trip to happen as a part of my Mother's Day gift.  Thank you guys!

Tombstone Tuesday - Elsie M. Brane

Elsie M. Brane

Center Grove Cemetery

Lincolnville, Wabash, Indiana

Preparing for a Research Trip - Part 2

I leave for my research trip on Friday so this week I am making final preparations! So far I have researched Find A Grave for Wabash county and made spreadsheets for each of the cemeteries I hope to visit. I’ve looked up the hours for the Wabash Public Library so that I can squeeze in some research time on Saturday. I’ve pulled maps with GPS coordinates for all the cemeteries I want to get to and also for the library. (I love my GPS!) I pulled all the research notebooks for the families in Wabash County to take with me and I’ve located all the camera cords I will need to upload my photos to my laptop.

Tonight I want to put together my “cemetery bucket”. I plan on including gardening gloves, knee pad, pruners, a small hand shovel, a whisk broom, Off, sunscreen, and a spray bottle with water. I’m open to anymore suggestions of items I should include.

I still have many misc. items on my “to do” list including getting the oil changed in the car, which is way past due, and deciding what clothes to pack.

My major concern right now is the weather. The extended forecast is calling for rain on Saturday.

Maybe I should add umbrella to that list……..