Kingsley Fancher Marsh Myers Parker Genealogy

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T06:45:00.002-05:00

Obviously my last check into how much time I had available here went poorly. I actually took on a different challenge... gaining weight. Well, I guess "using my weight more efficiently" would be more appropriate as I started out at 190 and now I weigh around 195. I lost several inches of a gut, put on several inches in the chest and arms, and formed a 6 pack. So...

I name this post Merry Christmas for a couple reasons. First, obviously I wish I was home and could just TELL my family Merry Christmas, but the military has needed me here for 5 1/2 months and I will have to give them ALMOST 1 more. Second, I figure that when I get home in mid-January, maybe the eyesore of Merry Christmas will give me the first push back into doing this blog regularly. Here's to hoping.

Merry Christmas, and to all a Happy New Year!

P.S. Family ALL IN! WDE!!!

Just checking in

2010-10-14T08:34:00.002-04:00

My Afghani vacation is going well. I am FINALLY done with my degree... and I am going to have to start working on genealogy at some point. So, as I do often when faced with this kind of decision, I ask myself "why not now?" I will start looking into my available resources here and we will see how it goes... Good Luck Me!

Wow! how time... drags!

2010-04-28T00:01:00.001-04:00

Well, I am still alive and I wanted to make sure my blog didnt get taken away. I am close to finishing my degree (still) and I will be out of the country until about January, so don't expect new news any time soon. HOWEVER, if you find some genealogy info on here, please feel free to write my email address at capt.kingsley at gmail.

GOOD LUCK!
me

George Elbert Kingsley's relation to me

2009-04-04T15:31:00.005-04:00

The last posting, http://kingsleyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-tried.html, was a brief show of support for Sean at http://congdonfamilies.blogspot.com/2009/03/george-elbert-kingsley-1854-1923.html. I think I would like to show my relationship to George Elbert and, further, his descendancy to me (as far as I have it and as far as they are no longer living...).

I, Donald Kingsley, am son to E. Daniel Kingsley (he has given his permission to be put on this post) who is still living. His father, Lester Smith Kingsley, died when I was less than a year old. His father, Ernest Daniel Kingsley, was born in Pittsford, NY, 20 May 1886, and died in Rochester in 1967 (email me if you need the date). Ernest was George Elbert's son.

The rest of this account is information that I have found, if it is incorrect please let me know how and why.

Reciprocally, George Elbert Kingsley had 3 Children- Ernest Daniel, George William, and Frances Mary. George William married Elsie Payne and Frances Mary married Hartley Thomas Payne... Elsie did extensive work on our genealogical line and I can get in contact with her line if needed. Ernest Daniel married Grace Smith, the grandaughter of an Irish immigrant on her father's side, but her parent's were married after 1880 and her mother died before 1900 so she is not on any census with Grace's father.

Ernest Daniel and Grace Smith had three children- Mary Anna Kingsley (3-5 Oct 1916), Charles Ernest Kingsley (Who married one Hazel Ewell, but I have no other info... If you need it, I will investigate that line), and Lester Smith Kingsley.

I will have individual posts for all these individuals but I wanted it posted so anyone who needed a tie in would have it. If this helps YOU, let me know how I can help.

I tried... George Elbert Kingsley

2009-03-30T00:47:00.011-04:00

Well, I guess back to business isn't the best choice of words. Because I am in training and won't be around here much longer (deploying...) I have been required to come in on the weekends, too. I will try to continue blogging, I promise, but the time frame is questionable. Just check back every once in a while. In the mean time, I couldn't have done any better than this (http://congdonfamilies.blogspot.com/2009/03/george-elbert-kingsley-1854-1923.html). I will
only bulk up the census data. Here you go. This is my GGgrandfather, paternally, obviously, and every census he is on that still exists.

1850 (parents with George's older sister)

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1880

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1900

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1910

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1920

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Harold Benjamin Fancher

2009-03-18T18:32:00.006-04:00

I started out with my Paternal Grandfather, as mentioned, because he is the only 2nd generation ancestor I have who is no longer with us. Then I went to my maternal Grandmother's parents (see http://kingsleyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2008/08/floyd-j-parker.html and http://kingsleyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2009/03/leona-winifred-mckay-wife-of-floyd-j.html). Now I will start my maternal Grandfathers Parents...

Harold Benjamin Fancher was born in Holland, Erie County, New York, in 1895 to Elbert Hiram Fancher and Adelaide Eva Rogers. The first Census that Harold shows up on is in 1900.

After this, the 1910 Census...

In 1917 Harold married Florence Belle Woodworth, thus on the 1920 census:

1930

That is all the censuses that he is found on, so far...

His son, here forward "Grampa Fancher" or "Grampa", is very near and dear to my heart and my family. I called Grampa one day with the single purpose of questioning him and Grandma Fancher about their parents. The results are http://kingsleyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2009/03/leona-winifred-mckay-wife-of-floyd-j.html, http://kingsleyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2008/08/floyd-j-parker.html, this post and a future post on Grampa Fancher's Mother, Florence Belle Woodworth.

One of the things Grampa told me about Harold was that he had many, many jobs.

Grampa told me that Harold served in WWI. This is Harold's WWI draft registration card.

At one point he was an insurance salesman. To work a larger area he would sleep in his car. For security, he would bring a dog and leave the dog outside of the car.

At a different point he ran a lunch car.

Harold owned a bakery/delicatessen. It was in a small room in the corner of the house they lived in. The room was about 10'x15'. There was a door from the store to the livingroom of the house. In this store they sold bread, candy, etc. There wasn't much security back then but the times were hard and there was no telling who would come into the store. Grampa told me they had a little dog that was very possesive. This little dog would stand at the door of the livingroom. It would never bark and was well behaved but, if anyone ever tried to get around to the backside of the counter in the store, the dog would bite.

From this bakery, Harold started running a bakery wagon. He expanded that to include milk. Grampa tells me that the horses were so well trained that they would walk the route almost all by themselves. Harold would walk or ride along with the horses but jump off and deliver without having to guide the horses often.

Harold also ran an old "Huckster" route. This is much like a peddler, selling random items that can and usually do frequently change. In NY, a liscense is required to be a huckster, but there was a loophole for Harold. NY allowed any returned WWI soldier to obtain a huckster liscence free. Among other things he sold, Harold would buy eggs and strawberries in bulk and run them on his Bread/Milk/Huckster route. He also started with flowers, but I will keep that for Florence's blog entry because there won't be nearly as much in that blog.

At a different point in his life, Harold worked for the WPA (Work Progress Administration, renamed in 1939 to Work Projects Administration). The WPA was the largest "New Deal" Agency and affected almost every locality in the US.

Under the more personal stories, Grampa told me one final story. Harold did own a car. He apparently ALWAYS had bad tires. One Sunday he was going from East Aurora, NY to Buffalo. Grampa got to ride with him. On the way, Harold got a flat tire. He was pretty unhappy about it, but he got out and changed the tire. He did carry an extra one so it wasn't too big of a problem. As they continued the drive, he got another flat tire. As he had already used the spare, he had to repair the inner tube. He was very unhappy about it and grumbled while he fixed it. After a little while, he was successful and got the tire back on the car. On the way home, the tire went flat again. According to Grampa, "He stopped the car, got out, threw his hat on the ground and started jumping up and down on it!" While Harold fixed this last flat, grampa played in a stream next to the road, floating things in it through a small culvert.

I hope this has helped the folks in my family know more about Great Grampa Harold Fancher.

Leona Winifred McKay, wife of Floyd J. Parker

2009-03-15T04:03:00.011-04:00

My mother is still living. Her mother is also still alive, praise God. This blog will be about her mother, Leona Winifred McKay.

I have already blogged quite a bit on Floyd Parker (http://kingsleyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2008/08/floyd-j-parker.html) though I did get sidetracked into his parent's history. While that blog stands as it is, I didn't comment much on his marriage and I didn't show any of the censuses that they show up on. I will add what I have on his wife, Leona Winifred, and all the other data I have.

Leona Winifred McKay was born 7 April 1909 to Elbridge Gerry McKay and Nellie Bell Smith in East Aurora, Erie County, New York. They are found on the same Censuses in 1910 (very blurry, bad scan) and 1920 (Much Better). Below--

1910

1920

I have found Leona and Floyd on the 1930 Census as well.

In Floyd Parkers post, it describes some of the life situations that Leona went through because of her husband's career. Grandma (Leona's daughter) shared some other personal information about her.

Leona was very active and very busy in church and "lodges". She was always volunteering and organizing events.

Grampa (son-in-law) really loved her, a mutual relationship as Leona thought Grampa could do no wrong.

Grampa and Grandma, who are perpetually at odds in opinion, both agreed that Leona made the best banana bread anywhere.

While most of that info is more personal than historical, let it stand toward her memory that she was loved by those remaining.

Back to the drawing board...

2009-03-15T03:59:00.002-04:00

I have posted on Lester Smith Kingsley (http://kingsleyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2008/08/lester-smith-kingsley-by-e-daniel.html) ... that was the only logical post I have made, therefore rendering it illogical amongst all the other random posts. Here is my second attempt at organizing this blog... I will start a new post so it will be indexed on search engines.

OK, Back to Business...

2009-03-15T02:59:00.002-04:00

Well, I finished my LAW 531 class and now I should have more time to get back into this genealogy stuff. Thanks to those of you who stuck around... Expect more, today even.

THE MISSING LINK!!!

2009-01-17T11:01:00.003-05:00

Like I said, several days ago I was contacted through the Ancestry.com connection service by a gentleman who I recognized from an email address I used a long time ago in my search through the Kingsley family line. I think the last time I tried to contact him, it was through Genealogy.com, but it was an old email and I don't think he got it. (but thanks for taking interest Sean) Anyways, as I have been trying to confirm the Kingsley line for a long time and I had discounted the Seth, Seth, Calvin line,... I had done the best I could. In the 1870 census there is an elderly lady who lived with Daniel and Maria Kingsley by the name of Anna Meade. Assuming that was her original married name, I included Meade as Maria's last name. In fact, I think I had Maria's name as Marie (in 1850 it is listed as Mariah, 1860 Marie and 1870 Maria). So this guy emails me and asks me where I got Marie Meade from, opening a connection through email that would help mold the Kingsley genealogy forever.

With a username (and I am pretty sure the OLD email address) of kingcongdon, I mistakenly assumed that King Kong Don was taken (kingkongdon). Until we opened this line of communication I didn't realize that he was just referencing the name Congdon (married into the Kingsley line at Daniel Kingsley's daughter, Frances). He gave me a few tidbits in his email but gave me his blog address (see my blog list) which was SATURATED with information that I hadn't had. My family still had Seth as father of Daniel but, again, had no proof of the connection. I will have posts to come with all the things I have learned from this amazing new friend, but for now, I have a gedcom file to update.

Some meandering conversation leading to the next entry.

2009-01-17T09:48:00.002-05:00

I started working on family geneology about 7 years ago when I went TDY to Salt Lake City and had the opportunity to stop into the Mormon Family History Center there. It wasn't the first time I had wanted to start, but it was the first time someone showed me how to look up family members in old censuses. Naturally, the first line everybody does is their own last name. I found a straight line from my father, his father, etc back to one Daniel Kingsley (my GGG Grandfather). At that point, there was no more to find. When I got home from that trip, I started asking around the family for further information about the genealogy. The massive amount of information download was incredible. Both the maternal and paternal sides of the family had huge amounts of names, dates, and other info. The one thing that EVERYTHING was missing was substantiation.

Back to the paternal line of Kingsley. I was given names very far back. Beyond Daniel Kingsley, I was given the names of (in ascending order) Seth, Seth, Calvin, Nathan, and 3 Samuels. I contacted several people who had info on the Seth, Calvin, Nathan line, but they had no information on a Daniel as the son of either Seth, or Seth, Jr. After long and diligent struggles to connect that line, I got fed up with it and decided that maybe it really wasn't the right family. I put the Kingsley line on the back burner and started working some other lines.

My father was blessed with the opportunity to spend a good deal of time with his grandmother later in life. "GG", born in 1907, passed away in 2006. She was a faithful, stalwart record keeper. She had recorded the family history from the time she was young, including one family reunion in 1931 and a long, handwritten record that was presented to her parents on their anniversary. As she was his maternal grandmother, she had nothing on Kingsleys, but she had tons on the Myers and Loop families. She even tied into the Morse/Moss and Bartholomew lines from the Conneticut area. Those lines are very well established in the DAR and such.

My mother's family was also somewhat a mystery, but through hard work, research, and an insane amount of luck (I found a whole book, literally) that had Andrew J Fancher (my GGG Grandfather) as the LOWEST generation in the line of Fanchers and 6 generations past him (Thanks to William Hoyt Fancher and the Cabinet Press). The Parker side of my genealogy chart (the bottom 4th) has been somewhat neglected in comparison. It is not from lack of desire, but it seems like the more I work on the other lines, the more stuff I get that I have to verify.

As I mentioned in my last entry, we just got to Germany so I left a LOT of the paperwork behind. If you know anything about military movers, you understand why I wouldn't bring such priceless things, especially overseas. If you don't know anything about military movers, just understand that I have a lot of explaining to do about a certain antique chair that my grandfather refurnished from an old lodge that closed. See, he did about 20 chairs and sold a bunch. The remainder he had with an antique table he pulled out of his uncle-in-laws barn loft and refinished. I had that table until about 3 months ago, when I shipped it (thanks Dad) to my sister with as many chairs as we could fit. That left 2, and he took another later. The last one we wanted to keep and it was the only thing I took that I would have regretted breaking. What do you know? It is destroyed. There may be a way to fix it, but I think it would have to be touched by the hand of God. Sorry guys.

Anyways, part of my genealogy research was purchasing a year subscription to Ancestry.com. It was a good thing for our family research. EXPENSIVE, but good. I still get emails from people asking about different members of my family tree. So, FINALLY to the missing link.

We made it!!!

2009-01-13T02:06:00.002-05:00

I have returned to the land of my childhood, Germany. I have extremely few real memories of this beautiful country. The only one that sticks out distinctly is a trip that my parents took (I am told it was to Austria) where they went skiing. I was told that I was too young to ski (I don't remember how old I was, but I couldn't have been 5 y.o. yet). I was SO MAD! I am sure that is why I still remember it. I was allowed to go ice skating but, of course as an extremely upset child, I didn't want to go ice skating.

Now, apart from that explicit memory, I do have other really vague memories. Like I remember several times looking out of the side of the car, looking off the side of a cliff (or so it seemed to a young child). Thinking back on it, there weren't all THAT many mountains like that in Washington state. Sure we went to Mt. Rainier a couple times but this wasn't that. Another vague memory that I had no clue about until very recently was the smell of LebKuchen. Kuchen is cake, but Lebkuchen is a special "cake" made around christmas. The closest I have a description of is gingerbread, but this is so much better. When we got some (it was on sale, the stuff is kind of expensive), and I opened the chest, the smell was instantaeously recognizable from over 25 years ago! It was amazing. A smell I haven't experienced in so long was SO clear. I bought some for a bunch of family members, but I haven't had the chance to send it out yet. Just little things like that. I am very excited to share that with my family members, though.

As we get through this move I will try to get back on this and add more to what I have. Besides the deployments (where I am pretty sure blogs will be blocked), and my Masters Program (which I hope to finish in 2009), I am making sure that we are planning weekend trips (every week) to see or do something new. As you can see, there isn't a WHOLE lot of time for me to keep this up, so please be patient. Also, if you have any specific questions, you can email me at Capt.Kingsley@gmail.com and I will respond and then post the research for everyone.
C-Ya
Donny

Contact info in case you don't get a reply

2008-10-03T23:19:00.003-04:00

I am working on my MBA and have completed 6 classes. I had an additional 2 classes waived due to my undergraduate degree in management, so that gives me 8 of the 15 credits for the degree I am working at- Masters of Business Administration, Global Management. The Global Management part moves the program from 13 required classes to 15, but because of the language thing I have going on, I think it will be worth the time (6 weeks per class) and money (really, the military is paying for it).

Anyways, my latest class is now over and I can get back to everything else I do,... genealogy, fixing up the house, etc. Disappointingly enough, I haven't had anyone in my immediate family post a comment on this blog yet. I guess I should realize that this work will be a long time record as opposed to a continuous discussion. Well, here is your heads up... if you leave a comment and I don't notice it or you don't get a reply, please email me at capt.kingsley@gmail.com and I will be happy to respond. As the email eludes to, I am military and it may take me a little while to get back to a place I can check my email but a response will come.

Floyd J Parker

2008-08-28T01:20:00.013-04:00

As I mentioned in the last post, Lester Smith Kingsley is the only non-living grandparent I have. I am waiting on my dad to write up something on his parents. In the meantime, I thought I would go to the other side of my family tree and continue with my "organized" write-up.

As the title explains, this is going to be about my maternal grandmother's father, Floyd J. Parker. I would assume J. stands for Joseph as that is his "father's" middle name. I will explain the quotation marks in a little bit.

Floyd J. Parker was born 29 Jun 1907 in Wales, Erie Co., NY, to Lottie M. Cox and Miles Joseph Parker.

On this 1910 Census there are several things to note. First, Miles J Parker is on line 92 with his immediate family following. Next, line 63 is his father, Joel A. Parker and Emily J. Parker (Clift? I haven't proven that one yet).

Now, to let you in on a deeply covered up family secret... According to Floyd Parker's daughter, my grandmother, there was a farm hand "Harry or Henry" (according to Grandma, but her memory isn't the best) but it was really line 96, John G. Meyers. To continue on with the family secret, John was a farm hand who had a room on the farm. After a period of time he was given a room in the house. Grandma says it was known that Lottie M. Parker (Cox) was close to John but nobody ever spoke of how close.

"After a while", according to Grandma, Miles Parker moved out and made a living working around Buffalo doing odds and ends. They never divorced.

Again on this 1920 census you can see Miles J Parker on line 30. Line 35 is John G. Meyers.

Anyways, according to Grandma, Floyd J Parker much more resembled old John Meyers than Miles Parker.

In this 1930 Census, Floyd J Parker (line 80) married Leona Winifred McKay (Line 81,... the next entry should be about her) in East Aurora, Erie, New York. It shows my Grandma's sister (Mary, line 82) but Grandma wasn't born until after '30.

Enough about his parents, this is about Floyd Parker. According to my grandparents (his daughter and son-in-law), He was a very hard worker. He worked for the telephone company in upstate New York. During the depression he was laid off and had to take a job as a truck driver and worked for a potato company. It was during that time of his life, Grandma says, that he developed some sever back problems. A little way through the depression, when the phone company started hiring again, He was one of the first to get rehired. He was taken back on as a foreman.

When the draft was started for WWII the telephone company had a meeting with him. They said that there were many young men in that area that had farming waivers that made them ineligible for the draft. The company and Floyd agreed that he would most likely drafted so he better join doing something he wanted instead of waiting for the draft and getting stuck with something less than what he was capable of. The phone company said that they would have a better job waiting for him when he got back. According to Grandma, "he went and enlisted as an officer". He joined the signal corp as a 1st Lieutenant. He was sent to Europe and was there from just after DDay until VDay.

He was in Holland, France and "all those little countries". He sent home some crystal from "a place with a castle" (Grandma, Germany?). The Crystal went to one of Grandma's siblings, but she did get 1 ~10" serving dish from there. While he was there, he sent Grandma a birthday card and a silver dollar for her 15th birthday.

He got orders that took him straight from Europe, through the Panama Canal, straight to Japan. (Grandma). He was gone a total of about 4-5 years. When he got back He and Leona (McKay) Parker decided that they wanted a son. Although their oldest daughter was 18 when they Leona got pregnant, they had another daughter. Almost 2 years later they had a son.

When he got back, he got out of the Army as a Captain. The phone company hired him on as a lead foreman. Later he was the head of the telephone company from "Buffalo to Oleans" (According to Grampa). He was always willing to help anybody. When Grampa ever needed any help, Floyd would come over and help "at the drop of a hat".

When Grampa lived in Holland, NY, he had a 2 story gabled barn behind his house that he would always say "One of these days, I need to take that barn down." It was apparently close to the house because grampa was worried that if it came down wrong it would hit the house. Floyd would always say that when they took the barn down to call him and he would "drop it where it stands." Grampa laughed and wouldn't believe it. When the day finally came to bring it down, Grampa called Floyd and he came over with a "cable and a cinch." He walked around it, sized it up, and set the cable around the barn and through the cinch. He tightened it taut and set it around half way up the studs holding the barn up. With the cable where he wanted it, he simply started tightening the cinch. After a short time the rafters started creaking and, suddenly, the barn fell... right where it stood. Grampa still finds that amazing.

One more thing and then I am done. Apparently Floyd and Leona had a "trial" period for young men dating their daughters. Actually the period was until about 2 years AFTER they were married. During that period they made sure that the men would be good to their daughters, "feeding and not beating them" (Grandma). "But once you made it through that trial, you were in their family and their hearts forever" (Grampa)

Lester Smith Kingsley, by E. Daniel Kingsley

2008-08-21T22:36:00.016-04:00

I told you I was going to start putting this in some kind of order. Here is the first stab at it... #1 Kingsley, Lester Smith... The lowest spot on my genealogy chart not living. Written by my father, his son.

August 20, 2008 Lester Smith Kingsley by E. Daniel Kingsley

Lester Smith Kingsley was my father. He was born 31 Aug 1924, to Ernest Daniel and Grace Smith Kingsley on a farm uphill from Wyoming, county of Wyoming, New York. All the following information came from him or noted references.

Lester attended school there in Wyoming, NY, and worked the farm of his Father his entire life until he left it to buy another farm in Erie County.

Lester worked hard, but his parents had no tolerance for some of the modern world. He did well enough in school. He loved to play basketball, and was hurt during a game. The muscle over the right femur was crushed by the knee of another player, and his parents simply let him get over it. According to Dad, the muscle never healed properly, and when WWII broke out, it disqualified him from enlisting as category 4F. I have heard this may not be quite so, as he was also eligible for a farm waiver from the draft. Lester limped around on that leg but did OK.

He married (living) Marsh of Marilla, Erie County, NY in 1946 and attended Cornell University in order to pursue Veterinary Science, but ran out of money. He did however get medical treatment for his leg… they wrapped a hot wire around his leg and kneaded that muscle over months, according to him, until they finally got it to sort of grow back together. He limped the rest of his life, but he always got around well.

My Father and Mother bought an old farm up on Fish Hill Road outside of South Wales, Erie County, NY, and he turned it into a good farm. Dad had arthritis badly, and according to him, he could not always get up off the floor without help in the winter.

They had two boys there , Myself, Ernest Kingsley and (living) Kingsley.

He sold that farm and moved to Phoenix, AZ in 1955.

Sparing you a lot of details, Dad opened a tiny restaurant in Phoenix, and that little business failed quickly.

After the restaurant folded, Dad took a job as an employee at Imperial Valley Hardware, in Somerton Arizona. He worked there and quickly opened a refrigeration business (Kingsley Refrigeration, Somerton, AZ) . They stayed there 12 years.

Dad opened Kingsley Refrigeration and ran a gangbuster business for several years. My sister, (Living) Kingsley was born around there.

The business went bust around 1965 and Dad lost the business, the house and all in bankruptcy between 1966 and 1967. Dad and I packed up and sent Mom and the kids north to NY, stayed the summer and we drove there in August 1966.

We moved to South Wales, and Dad went to work for Mullinburg & Betz in Buffalo, NY as an ammonia refrigeration specialist. He remained there for several years, divorced and went to work for Rich Non-Dairy products. They moved him out to California, where he died in 1978 of cancer of the pancreas. He was always a heavy smoker and drinker, and his untimely death at age of 54 was a direct result.

This summary misses the essence of his life. Dad was a good man, trapped in his habits. He was abusive in his nature due to a brutal upbringing, but he worked very hard and his failure in business left him a broken man. Nothing he did after that showed much success, and in fact he had a nervous breakdown in Buffalo around 1969, and soon after divorced Mom and lived erratically the rest of his life.

I flew my family out to see him before his death, and he did see my two oldest children (Living). He was very sick then, not really interested in my family but only in me and my uniform.
Dec 1978

I wrote an article about Dad’s funeral… see below.
Copyright 1992 ONE TIME NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS ONLY Article # 92-08-Q

E. Daniel Kingsley

From MOBY DAD: Tales of the Great White Father by Dan Kingsley

The Day Dad Died…

I had a peculiar relationship with my Father, and I suppose I will always remember him best because, as a father, I have a terrible inability to relate to my children. I often compare myself to him. I look so much like him that sometimes I want to reach into the mirror and slap him… or hug him… or something…

He was an alcoholic, but not a bad man. He loved his family as well as he could, and gave us as much as he was capable. He worked like a Trojan, and cared about many good causes. But as with all alcoholics, there was a lot of fantasy and untruthful things about his life.

For all of that, I was serving in the Army as a Warrant Officer at Fort Rucker, Alabama in 1978 when my Father called and told me he was dying. I had dearly loved him as a child, but had become terribly disillusioned by him later in life. I didn't believe him. I think my feelings were a coping mechanism… children of alcoholics will relate to this baffling feeling…

I was not able to react to his announcement, though he was clearly expecting me to be upset. I had become completely numbed by our relationship, and pondered over his fate for several days before calling back. He had been "dying" for 20 years, and I didn't see how it was any different now.

Anyway, I packed up my little family, mortgaged my good name and flew to California to visit him.

Dad looked terrible, but not a lot worse than usual. He was awful thin, and was more impatient than ever, having little interest in my wife and less in my children. He was always in pain, and I did what I could to be around without wearing him down. I still could not relate to his suffering, or his illness.

The doctor was absolutely unwilling to speak to me in reference to his real condition, though I asked several very specific questions about 'How bad' and 'How long'. Dad had a lady friend who wouldn't talk about his dying and Dad was pretty vague, except to say he would be cremated. So I left there feeling wasted, as I usually did in our relationship. But it did not occur to me that he would really die. I just could not believe it.

My poor pregnant wife and two babies had a miserable stay. I was glad to leave, and we were glad to get back into the busy flow of Army business.

Four months later he died. I happened to be enroute to Germany, so it was easy to get leave. I raced home to western New York, where he was to be buried. The entire process was a continuance of his life, as though the Great Practical Joker simply had to wring this out into one last gasp of anguish shared with all who loved my Dad.

Someone who knows me, and knows that we do not believe in cremation, asked me how I could let that happen. Without explaining, I was rude and told her to butt out. I never tinker with a dying man’s wish. And I don’t tolerate anyone who presumes to provide that guidance to me.

On the day of his funeral, I ordered flowers from a great florist who had a minor problem… one I did not know about at the time. He was a binge drinker. I arrived to find his wife frantically trying to finish my arrangement. I waited an hour, and she was in tears when she handed them to me. I told her it was OK, that I understood. I didn’t lie. I hated it, but I did understand

perfectly.

I drove the 40 miles to the place of the funeral, late, where the funeral director had not yet located the urn. It was lost in the shipping. I tried to ask how that could happen, and the funeral director treated me like any other inept moron… and was deliberately vague. But he assured they would get it there…

The funeral started late shortly after the urn arrived. When it did arrive, it arrived absolutely without ceremony, or even dignity, enclosed in the strange little pine box (like a tiny orange crate) in which it had been shipped. It was smaller than a shoebox, and came complete with handling tags, address and postage markings. Did I say it arrived without dignity??

A pale little man in a dark suit with a spade went up to the place directly in front of the stone where the urn was to be buried. He eyeballed the little box, and quickly dug out a chunk of dirt, leaving a small hole, barely large enough for the box. He placed the box in it, and covered it with the chunk of dirt. The dirt stuck up obnoxiously, and the man was in a hurry. He stepped on it, jumped once and crushed the dirt into a less formidable chunk. He then tried to smooth it down.

When that clod burst, I could feel the bones in my chest break. It was the nearest thing I had to honest pain the whole day. I felt tears rush to my eyes… I was afraid I would cry… I thought about getting that guy by the throat and inspiring his social skills… when a funny thing happened. That batch of tears stuck right behind my eyes… I couldn’t see well, but I would be damned if I was going to let this get the best of me.

But the day was not over. There was an incident with my Dad as a young man in Arizona, where a young pilot had been killed in a dust-cropper accident. The coroner had signed his death certificate with a pencil, rather than a pen, a sin about which my Father mourned his whole life. “Hope someone thinks enough about me to sign MY burial slip with a PEN…” he would quip from time to time. I had thought about this several times when the driver of the delivery truck came up to me, as Dad’s next of kin… to have me sign for it… and offered me a pencil…

I took it… broke it… ripped the receipt out of his hands and signed it with a pen… gave him the pen… and I cried. It was a wimpy, drippy, stupid flood of feelings. It was for me, to miss whatever he was to me, and it was for him, that he had swung so hard and missed so clean on the important things in life.

I loved my Dad, but nothing about his family seemed normal. There was no sorrow, no mourning. But nice people came to pay respect, lots of honest, hardworking people. What was left of his family was there… but there was no closeness. There are other indicators of unhappiness there I won’t go into, but it is sufficient to say that I have been back only once, to visit my Aunt Issie, the only person at that funeral who really loved him. And to visit his grave. I am ashamed to admit it… but when I went back, someone had to show me where it was.

Andrew J Fancher and Maryette Nichols (Marietta Nichols)

2008-08-18T16:53:00.008-04:00

So, I am really going to try to put this in a reasonable understandable fashion but when I run into little things that just don't make sense I get excited. It makes me want to talk to people but who to call? Well, I figured I would throw it out here and see if anybody could make sense of it.

Andrew J Fancher is Grampa Fancher's Great-Grandfather. I have had his 1870 census (1st on left) for a while. It shows 3 children... Eddy (age 4) and Elliot (age 2) and (before Eddy, btw) another girl. "Eddy, Lydia A" (age 8) like the rest of the family was born in NY. I assumed, and bounced it off B.J., that Lydia A Eddy was from a previous marriage of Maryette.

As a side note, I was still at this point trying to tie Elbert Fancher (Grampa Fancher's Grampa) to this Andrew J Fancher. Elbert (Bert) Fancher was born in 1867 so it makes no sense that he isn't on this census. Then again, there is a child that doesn't belong. I searched and searched for the 1880 census (2nd on left) for this family to no avail. Then I decided to check out familysearch.net. Although they have been mostly useless to me in the past, I found an Andrew Fancker indexed who proved to be the proper person. Although someone familiar with the family would be able to read Fancher, it is funny how a simple mistake can throw off a search. As you can see, there is also an Elbert that ties us together

So, that brings us back to the original reason for this post. Now I find the 1900 Census (3rd on left) for Andrew and Maryette. As you can see on lines 25 and 26, Andrew and Maryette have both been married 41 years. While there is a possibility that they both had prior marriages that lasted the exact same amount of time, it would still be marrying twice very young with no time in between for Maryette. Also note on line 26 (Maryette) that she had 3 children and they all are still living. So, even if they had previously, SHE only had 3 children and Lydia A Eddy must not have been one of them.

So what do you think? Please post comments...

A little more background

2008-08-17T22:57:00.003-04:00

When my dad was in the Army and didn't have time for research (in the days before household internet), it would take forever (18 months according to mom) to get even a death record from the Buffalo area. Seen as how 99% of my ancestors are from the western NY, northwestern PA area, that meant that there was no way for them to do any serious family history research from thousands of miles away.

There was a nice elderly lady in the Buffalo area that agreed to work a certain number of hours each month to do this work for my parents for a small sum of money. Well, $50 isn't exactly small, especially back in the late 70's, early 80's, but there you go. She was experienced in that type of research and she compiled huge amounts of data for my parents and, by default, me.

Although we have all that compiled data, it completely lacked sources. While that didn't stop their work from being done, it leaves the work open for doubt. Did this nice old lady continuously produce names to keep her only source of income flowing? Did she find possible family lines and use them as genuine? Were all the family lines that she found actually valid?

When I "inherited" a PAF file that went back up to 28 generations (I think), it made me wonder how that was and how to prove it. I took it upon myself to "prove" the work instead of looking further. As I take that roll on, you will notice that the names I post will most likely all be in your family PAF file (if you need a copy, let me know and I will email you one), but I will list the source from which I made the connection.

Enjoy

Osborn family 1850 Census

2008-08-17T20:42:00.004-04:00

Although I have yet to figure a way to put a version of my PAF file on here, I will start using this page as a place to post my progress on our genealogy. Right now I am on a 14 day "trial" of ancestry.com. That means I am using the mess out of it for 2 weeks. At that point I am going to go back to the books I have to get more done.

In the meantime, I have found TONS on Ancestry.com and will post a lot of it later, including all the censuses that I have copies of. One of which, a new 1850 census one I just found, shows F.C. Osborn 1 year old with parents Gilbert Osborn and Almira (Thomas, but I haven't proven that). I noticed that the next family on the census was also Osborn (Curtis, who doesn't show up in MY PAF) and was interested in who else was around. On the page previous in the census there were several Osborn families. Eddie Osborn (first name on page, 38 y.o. born in MD plus family). Further down the page there is Jarrit Osborn (65 y.o. born in MD, a change from my PAF) wife Ruth (62 y.o., born in MD) with children Erastius (30 y.o. Male, born in PA), Celitia (20 F, PA), Emeline (14 F, PA). Changing families, but not residences, Israel Osborn (35M, PA) with wife Sarah A Osborne (32F, PA), Emerett (5F,PA) and Karin (8/12, F, PA).

This will be my first test of saving an image here, cross your fingers!

My Learning Curve

2008-08-17T13:47:00.000-04:00

For anyone out there who hasn't done a blog before, there isn't much to it... but there are a lot of details. Like who you let see your blog, who you let add to your blog, etc. As this blog is not just meant for me, please feel free to email me and I will consider adding you to the list of Authors... ahem... (BJ, Nik, anyone else?)

Also, for some privacy (mostly for those still with us), I will make every effort to protect personal information. If I slip up or you simply want me to remove anything, just let me know (or request author permissions).
Donald

My first REAL blog

2008-08-17T13:40:00.000-04:00

I am going to start running a blog for the genealogy I have been doing. As it SHOULD become a reference point for more than just my immediate family, I would like to welcome anyone who ends up visiting. There will be a wide collection of family reference dropped in here. I would like to thank all in advance for any additions, help, corrections, etc., as I am only one person. I will make this blog open to the public and try to keep it up to date.
Love Ya'll!!!

Donald