Tombstone Tuesday - February 28, 2012

Audrey Gerkin  - born on February 27, 1917 and died on October 9, 2011

Her birthday was yesterday, Happy Birthday Mom! Greg misses his mother very much so I decided that this was a good week to highlight her on Tombstone Tuesday. Once again you got to spend your birthday with Jim.

She was quite a business woman in a time when most woman were not busness owners ! She  and Jim raised three sons.  Most of her life she was a seamstress but after she retired she became a quilter.  I will highlight some of her quilts on my Quilting blog. I only have a few of here treasures in my photos.  She and Jim were blessed to live long lives.  She only missed one birthday without Jim and then they were reunited again. 
Rest in peace.

Love, Jan

Nellie has been found...

It has been a busy winter. We have been working on our kitchen and pantry. I have been painting and reorganizing. We are try to prepare for the day when we pack our house up and move. It is amazing how much stuff you accumulate in seventeen years.

Winter is usually the time that I do the most genealogy work. There is too much gardening to do in the summer. It is a perfect task for cold winter nights, cruising around the internet in my PJ's and looking for new family members to get to know.

One evening last week, over a cup of tea, I decided to look for Nellie Best, my GGGrandmother and her family. I have not looked at this lineage for quite some time and as always I am once again surprised but IT. IT happens to me every time. If you just put your work away and don't look at IT for a while either you see records that you overlooked before. Or records which did not make sense before ...Or records that are all new or all of these things combined. I know that IT will happen but I am always surprised by IT again.

This week Nellie and her family emerged from an 1871 Canadian Census record. It reveals that she had brothers, Walter, Alvin, William, Harvey and one sister, Alice. Through Nellie's second marriage records, I was able to determine who her parents a few years ago but I was never able to confirm it. This week I found her parents marriage record in Canada. John L Best and Emeline Silverthorn were married on October 12, 1851 in Malahide Twp, Elgin, Ontario, Canada. They were also listed in the 1851 Canadian Census as a married couple along with many, many more Best family members. It was like hitting a jackpot! I needed the help of other Best researchers to sort the family out and there is still some questions to answer but the puzzle pieces are fitting together! There will be more on the Best family in Blogs to come. There is a lot of information to sort through and share in the coming weeks so stay tuned!

Love, Jan

Tombstone Tuesday - February 21, 2012

Mae Eveleen Boyer Losee

Born:  October 29, 1883
Died:  February 13, 1914

She was buried in Thetford Cemetery. ( I thought it was a bit ironic that she died just over 98 years ago. Wish I had thought of her last week and posted on Valentine's day.)

Love you, Mae!

Youe great granddaughter, Jan

Mae E. Boyer

Mae Eveleen Boyer was born on October 29, 1883. She was the daughter of Austin Boyer and Mary Florence White.



Baby photo of Mae



Toddler photo of Mae



A tin type photo of Valentine Boyer (grandfather) and Mae





In the 1900 Census we find May with her parents in Thetford, Genesee County, Michigan where is is attending school.

Mae and Henry Boyer - school age



Mae's wedding photo in 1902

  
 
She married George Stephen on her birthday in 1902.
 
She and George had five children ; Lester born in 1903, Lillian born in 1905, Wallace born in 1907, Mary Florence (not sure when she was born but is between Wallace and Earnest) and Ernest born in 1913


 
 

This photo is of the Boyer family and the photo must  have been taken in 1907 or early 1908.  Mae is the young woman standing on the porch holding the baby whom I believe is Wallace.  Wallace was born in June of 1907. The man standing next to her looks like her father, Austin who died in May 1908. The small child standing on the step next to Mae is my grandmother, Lillian at about age 4. Mae died on February 13, 1914.  According to my grandmother, her mother went out to hang laundry on the clothes line and never returned to the house.  Grendma told me that after a while she realized that her Mom had not returned from hanging the laundry so she decided to go looking for her. She found her mother slumped over the landry basket. Mae had died. lillian had not yet turned nine years old.