Genealogical Gems

This week, my family both celebrates and remembers. Birthdays Happy birthday this week to my sister, Noreen! Hope your birthday is a … HOOT! Today is our cousin Sue Still’s birthday as well. May God grant you both Many Years.    Memory Eternal Ten years ago today my sister (technically hubby’s sister) Wilma Lee Eckman LeMon passed. She was only 52 when she passed. She was the daughter of Frank Eckman and Dorothy Deyoe and the wife of William LeMon. They have three children.  She was a great friend, one of a very few I feel safe confiding in. She is deeply missed. She is pictured at left here with Dad (her father, Frank, that is). The picture was taken in my parents' front yard during our wedding reception in 1992. Today we also remember my husband’s 4 th great grandmother, Catherine Bumberger Herr. She passed 135 years ago at the age of 88. Catherine was the daughter of Michael Bumberger and Elizabeth Hawk. She married David Herr in 1808 and they had seven...

Birthdays Happy birthday to Patricia Beattie, Lauren Morris, Alex Soanes, and Tim Peters! May God grant you all Many Years.    Patricia Beattie is my second cousin once removed. She is the granddaughter of Nora Kilpatrick, who was my great grandmother Mary Kilpatrick’s sister. I’ve never met Aunt Nora’s branch of the family but would love to get to know them.   Lauren Morris is also my second cousin once removed. Her great grandfather is my Uncle Reds (Raymond Welsh), who was my grandmother’s brother. Sadly, I have not met her yet either.   Alex Soanes – Alexander really – is my third cousin once removed. He used to be my neighbor! We used to live right down the street from him, his mom (Dawn Mullin) and his five siblings! Alex and his wife still live nearby and they have three children. Oh yeah, Alex’s third great grandparents are Dennis and Martha Durkin O’Flaherty. They are my second great grandparents.   I have not seen Tim Peters in years; s...

Birthdays Happy birthday to Teddy Ruzchak! May God grant you Many Years. Teddy’s father Theodore and my grandfather were brothers.   Memory Eternal Today is the 209 th anniversary of the passing of John Jacob Eckman. He is hubby’s 4 th great grandfather. He was born in 1756 to Johannes Peter and Mary Magdalena Bushong Eckman. In 1782, he married Catherine When. They had seven children together.    Jane W. Still Lewis is my 3 rd great aunt. She passed away 86 years ago Monday. She was the daughter of George David and Sarah Bing Still. She married Benjamin Franklin Lewis, to whom she had one child, Sarah Lewis.   Margaretta Still, born in 1836, she was too was the daughter of George David and Sarah Bing Still. Like Jane, she is my 3 rd great aunt. She married Thomas Naylor. She had four children.   My 2 nd great uncle Hugh O’Flaherty passed away 68 years ago Tuesday. He was the son of Dennis and Martha Durkin O’Flaherty, who both immigrated...

Birthdays Happy birthday to Steven Leroy Peters, Shayna LeeAnn O’Flaherty and John Schlichter. May God grant you all Many Years.    Steven is my fourth cousin once removed. He is descended from my fourth great uncle and Civil War Veteran Benjamin Franklin Vanhorn. Shayna is my third cousin once removed. She is descended from Hugh O’Flaherty, my second great uncle. John is my second cousin once removed. He is descended from my Uncle Reds (Raymond Welsh), my great uncle. Memory Eternal Today is the 71 st anniversary of the passing of Darius James Eckman. I’ve written about him recently in a Tombstone Tuesday prompt. He is my husband’s second great uncle.   Tuesday is the 105 th anniversary of the passing of Albert Eckman. Albert is the half second great uncle of my husband. His mother is the son of my husband’s second great grandmother (Elizabeth Winter) by her first husband (Samuel Eckman).    Jane Ann Way passed away 104 years ago on Wedn...

Family Events This Week Birthdays Happy birthday to my daughter, Mary. She turns 22 today. It is also Lori LeMon’s (hubby’s niece) birthday. May God grant you all Many Years.    Memory Eternal Today is the 102 nd anniversary of the passing of Dorothy Still. The daughter of Pierson George Still and Mary Kilpatrick, she was my great aunt. She lived only 19 days in 1913. She died of whopping cough.  She is buried with her parents in Old Doe Run Presbyterian Cemetery in East Fallowfield, Chester County. Friday is the 156 th anniversary of David Herr’s death. He is hubby’s 4 th great grandfather. He was born in 1774 to David Herr and Christina Martin in Camargo, Lancaster County . In 1808 he married Catherine Bumberger. They had seven children. He died 13 March   1859.   My Family Calendar This Week will be a weekly feature.    © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

Birthdays Happy birthday, Merle Peters, Matthew Smith, Issac Webb and Shannon Wheatman. May God grant you all Many Years.    Memory Eternal Today is the 20 th anniversary of the passing of my Aunt Helen (at right with her sister). Helen Mae Gould Still, daughter of Franklin Still and Sarah Jennie VanHorn, was one of the first to encourage me in this research that has become more like an obsession. She was born on the family farm in East Fallowfield in 1903 and lived there her entire life. She was the wife of Elwood James Webster.   Today is also the 39 th anniversary of the death of Marie J. Rogers Angell. She is a granddaughter of my 2 nd great grandparents, Dennis and Martha Durkin O’Flaherty. Her parents are Patrick Rogers and Mary T O’Flaherty. Marie married Truman Angell and they had three children. She died in 1976 in Philadelphia .   Little Ulysses S Eckman was just 18 days old when he died in 1873. On Tuesday, it will be 142 years since...

Birthdays Happy birthday, Karen Swier Hornak. May God grant you all Many Years. Memory Eternal Today is the 16 th anniversary of the passing of Charles D. Eckman. Charles is the son of Darius and Ella Doner Eckman. He was the husband of Mattie Leanore Kittinger. He was a watchmaker at the Hamilton Watch Company in Lancaster .   Monday will be 93 years since George David Still, my 3x great grandfather, passed. George! What can I say about George that I have not already said dozens of times! His mother, Margaret Still, had him out of wedlock in 1808 and I am still tracing his father. George apprenticed as a tailor but took to farming instead. In 1830 he married Sarah Bing and they had six children. He died of dropsy and heart disease. George is buried at the Olde Doe Run Cemetery in East Fallowfield Township , Chester County .   Agnes Armstrong Still passed away 155 years ago on Tuesday, the 24 th .   She was the George’s sister-in-law! She married...

Birthdays Happy birthday this week to Francis Stuczynski. May God grant you all Many Years.    Memory Eternal Today is the 136 th anniversary of the passing of John W. Deyoe and 142 years since Amelia Kunkle Eckman passed away. My cousin Deborah Sammons also passed on this day in 1974; she survived only a few hours. John (1826-1879) is hubby’s 2 nd great uncle; he is the son of John W. and Mary Schemerhorn Deyoe and husband of Rachel Caroline Huggins. Amelia (1852-1873) was the first wife of Aldus John Eckman, hubby’s great grandfather. She died of complications relating to childbirth and is buried with the son – Ulysses – who did not survive long.    Monday is the 94 th anniversary of the passing of Martha Durkin O’Flaherty, my 2 nd great grandmother. She is the daughter of Patrick and Abyan Murphy Durkin and is my immigrant ancestor of that line.   Franklin Still passed away 84 years ago Tuesday. He was my 2 nd great grandfather. He w...

Birthdays Happy birthday this week to Beth Garris, Abigal Buckley, Dennis O’Flaherty, and Angele Sammons! This Saturday (Valentine’s Day) would also have been Uncle Tom (Still)’s birthday. He is my Godfather, mom’s brother, and Beth’s father. May God grant you all Many Years.   Valentine's Day   Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!   Memory Eternal Today is the second anniversary of the passing of Naomi “Aunt Nonnie” O’Flaherty Catanese. She was born in 1934 to Dennis and Naomi Souder O’Flaherty. She was the oldest of six children. She married Dominic Catanese, to whom she had five children. She passed on 8 February 2013. That’s her brother Dennis mentioned above in the birthday session. Monday is the 113 th anniversary of my 3x great grandfather Chrispin Pierson VanHorn’s passing. He was born 21 September 1839 to George Washington and Jane Dudbridge VanHorn. He was the oldest of seven children. He married Maria Rice, with whom he fathered six c...

My family events this week: Birthdays Happy birthday this week to Samuel Buckley, Uncle John (John Ruczhak), Dawn Soanes and Robert Walkling! This week is also my Godmother’s daughter, Mary Roebke’s birthday! May God grant you all Many Years.    Memory Eternal Polly Deyoe died 154 years ago today (1 February). She is hubby’s 3 rd great aunt. She is the daughter of Jacobus “James” Deyoe and Annatje “Hannah” Walker.    John Bing passed 125 years ago Monday (that is, 2 February). John’s my distant cousin! According to FTM, he is my first cousin five times removed. He is the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Bing. He was born in 1818 in Chester County but at some point moved to Centre County . There he married Melissa Iddings, fathered a daughter Wilda and died on 2 February 1890.   Tuesday is the 16 th anniversary of Mabel Lawrence Geib passing and the 31 st anniversary of John Yuzwiak passing.  Mabel is the daughter of Walter Lawrence an...

Thursday of this week is National Puzzle Day. I used to love putting jigsaw puzzles together but why I bring this up is because it dawns on me that genealogy is like a big family puzzle. We spend our time seeing if this person fits here or there and matching up events and such. So really Thursday could be “National Place An Ancestor Day”!   Birthdays Happy birthday this week to David and Mark Peters, and Doug Schlichter! May God grant you all Many Years.    Memory Eternal Today (25 January) is the 104 th anniversary of the death of Julia T Coursault. She is my husband’s 2x great aunt and the daughter of Oliver C Coursault, of Philadelphia , and Catherine Wren, of Ireland .   Monday is the second anniversary of Aunt Jo passing. Aunt Jo is Josephine Eckman Pelikoski. She was (hubby’s) Dad’s sister. She married Tony Pelikoski. Tomorrow I will share more about Aunt Jo during Matrilineal Monday.   That's her photo at right. It is also 152 ye...

This week begins today with the birthday of a famous children’s author, A.A. Milne. He was born in 1882. He is the author of Winnie the Pooh. Tomorrow (Monday) is a US day of observation, recalling Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth in 1929. Last week’s 52 Ancestors theme had him in mind with the theme “ Remembering the King .” The themes though are simply loose guidelines and I instead talked about Elvis and my Daddy! Wednesday is National Hugging Day so grab a family member and hug away! Birthdays Happy birthday this week to Chip Pelikoski, Stacey O’Flaherty and Diane Buckley McKiernan! May God grant you all Many Years.    Memory Eternal Monday (19 January) commemorates three who passed. Alice K. Eckman Dupal passed four years ago. Maria Herr Barr passed 199 years ago.    Alice is my husband’s 4x cousin 1x removed, or at least that’s what FTM tells me! Alice is the daughter of Ross, son of Cyrus. Cyrus is the son of Mahlon, son of Henry. It i...

  This week is a tough week. We have two birthdays but we also have seven deaths. One of those is my great grandfather who I am so fortunate to have known him before he passed. Another is my husband’s father. His death was a surprise and hits hard each year. Birthdays Happy birthday this week to Donald Epps, and Eileen (Eckman) Walkling! May God grant you both Many Years. Donald is married to my cousin and Eileen is my husband’s sister.   Memory Eternal Monday (12 January) will be the 38 th anniversary of the passing of my great grandfather, Pierson George Still. PG. He is buried at the Old Doe Run Cemetery in East Fallowfield, Chester County . I was a month shy of being eight when he passed away and I remember little things – like how windy it was at the top of that open field! I’m sure he had one but I do not recall a service. I remember him in great detail – perhaps tomorrow I will delve more into my memories of him.   The photo at left h...

This week, in addition to birthdays and passings, we are celebrating Christmas. That is to say, we celebrate the Nativity of our Lord on the 7 th . Being Ukrainian Orthodox, we are still on the Old Calendar.   Birthdays Happy birthday this week to Arthur Soanes, Kathryn Epps, and Loretta Kaba Swier! May God grant you all Many Years.   Memory Eternal Laura E. Garvin Vanhorn passed 35 years ago on the 5 th . She was 98 years old. She had married Hensell E. Vanhorn in 1902. Hensell was the son of Benjamin and Margaret Hensel Vanhorn. Benjamin is my 4x great uncle.   Blanche Towson Eckman passed 51 years ago on the 7 th . She was 70 years old. Her death certificate lists her Cause of Death as “dilation of heart.” She married Jessie Hall Eckman, my husband’s great uncle.   My Uncle Paul – Paul Hruszczak/Ruczhak – passed away 20 years ago on the 8 th .   He was 72. His wife, Ocie Mae Bailey, predeceased him in 1989. He served in the Army during ...

Awhile back I saw this sort of post on someone else’s genealogy blog. I forget who wrote but I love the idea of each week remembering those who have passed, wishing the living a happy birthday or happy anniversary or simply remembering family events. Hence, this coming year – 2015 – I have decided to do the same.   Sunday, 28 December M. Virginia Acre Garris passed 5 years ago in 2009. The wife of Charles S. Garris, she was 90 years old when she passed. Their grandson Kevin married my first cousin Beth Ann Still. Charles Joseph Buckley turns 12 today!   His great grandfather, Raymond Welsh, was one of my grandmother’s brothers. Wednesday, 31 December Mattie L. Kittinger Eckman passed 25 years ago at the age of 87. She was married to Charles D. Eckman, son of Darius J. and Ella M. Doner Eckman. Darius was brother to hubby’s great grandfather, Charles Eckman. John Lawrence Schlichter turns 51. John is, according to FTM...