Fall road trip.....

My granddaughter Elizabeth Mae Tietz was October 13, 1999.  A few days later, Grandma Jan took a couple of days off from work and decided a road trip was in order. I love fall, I probably never told you that but I LOVE the colorful leaves, the crisp morning and evening air and a new crop of apples! There is an aroma in the air on a prefect Indian summer day that reminds me of heaven. I know it instantly and I want it to last for ever. I close my eyes and bask in the warmth of the sun and take very deep breaths of this wonderful aroma. I do not know if it is the smell of leave changing but it is an aroma that only happens on a perfect fall day.

My road trip to see Elizabeth began on such a day. I live in Chicago and she lives in Capac, Michigan. I decided to take the long way to Capac, Michigan by way of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Yes. I know what you are thinking! I left first thing Friday morning figuring I would have a few hours to check out a cemetery or two.

I love cemeteries, I always have. I remember as a school girl, I would ride my bike to a small country cemetery down the road from our house. This was a very old cemetery and I visited it often. As I read the names and dates on the tombstones, I would make up stories in my head about the people in the cemetery. Some of my made up stories were about rich people, some were about poor people, some were old people and some were about very young people. I always pondered why they died and how they had lived.

I decided to take a more rural route to Fort Wayne to get away from traffic. I took a US Highway 30 through northern Indiana from the south east suburbs of Chicago to Fort Wayne. The fall leaves were beautiful. The sun was shining and I traveled the whole distance with the window rolled down absorbing every second of the fall ride. My first stop was at the Methodist church at Nine Mile Indiana. I had found records which indicated that my Smith Family had likely lived nearby and that the father James and some of the children may be buried in the cemetery at this church.

I found a section of the cemetery in the northwest corner which had the oldest stones. There did not seem to be Smith family stones anywhere.  Eventually I would find a pile of stone carefully placed on a worn base.  When I moved them, I was thrilled to discover that they were the Smith stones I was searching for.

    

All these pieces are actually one stone. The church burial records which I would later obtain from a cemetery trustee would show that James, Charles, Kisiah and a baby named Barberry are all buried in this plot and listed on this stone. Susannah is also on the stone but the church has no record of her being buried here.

James Smith died on March 24, 1868. Charles Smith died in 1863. I believe he died while serving in the Civil War. I have been unable to obtain his records but there is a Charles Smith listed as killed from Indiana in 1863. I will continue to work to verifying this information. I believe that the loss of Charles was a contributing factor to the enlistment of Charles brother’s James W. Smith (my GGGrandfather) and Joseph J. Smith in 1864. Kisiah died in 1861. She was 19 years old. I do not why she died. I do not know an exact date which will make it difficult to obtain a death record. Barberry died as an infant and no date is listed. To date I do not know when Susannah died either. She was alive and counted in the 1870 census after the death of James but I do not find her in the 1880 Census ten years later. She continues to be a needle in my haystack.

The remaining Smiths' buried in the Nine Mile Cemetery are in the plot to the south of this worn base stone. I noticed the stone that day but I did not record it.  I noticed it because the stone looks like it is growing out of a tree.  I thought to myself, "what a shame".  A tree has grown in that woman's grave. I read the name on the stone but thought nothing of it.  After returning home and obtaining burial records from the trustee of the cemetery, I realized that Mary Ann Kimble and her daughter Susanna, who are buried in this grave are the daughter and grandaughter of James and Susannah Smith.  I have made many visits to this cemetery and will like return many times more....Soon ....my fall road trip will continue in the next segment of my blog...

Rather be Bloggin....

I am taking a class this week and it is really intense...so I have not had time for bloggin..... but I will soon...

What is her name?

The Family Bible says she is Della Denney Smith. Her marriage license says she is Celie Dennie. Her name is Ella in the 1860 Federal Census in Indiana. In the 1870 Federal Census, she is Aella Smith. In the 1880 Federal Census, she is Oella Smith. So who is she and what really is her name?

It would take me several years to sort out who Oella really was. I first contacted the Huntington Library for assistance because Grandpa Everett said he was from Roanoke, Indiana and the Huntington Library is near Roanoke. I worked with a wonderful lady named Marilyn in the Indiana Room of the Library. She was able to provide me with a copy of the marriage license for James W Smith and Celie Dennie. She gave me a marriage license for Alvin Smith and Cora Crites. She would provide information which would pin point the location that these families lived in. It was not Roanoke; it was closer to Zaneville, Indiana. I did not know it yet but I was picking away at the “Needles in my Haystack.”
 
Soon after I received the information from Marilyn, I discovered Ancestry.com. Through Ancestry.com and message boards I would discover a group of Denney (Denny, Dennie) researchers. I posted a couple of question on the Denney message boards. They did not know who Della Denney was. Nor did they know who Celie Dennie was either. I would be able to find the information that Marilyn had provided me. It was listed on Ancestry.com also.

I would learn early on in my research that electronic records are only as accurate as the original recorder and the provider of the information are. Many things would play a role in the accuracy of this data. Lack of formal schooling, the inability to read or write, and spelling were all major factors in the accuracy of the information being collected and the information being recorded. Errors came from the people giving the information and the people recording it.

Many years later we(society) would decide that this data should be translated and placed in databases so that people like me can use this data. At this time, the translation of the data becomes a major factor. If the translator can not read the writing of the census gatherer, then the data maybe translated incorrectly. I would learn that hand writing played a major role in the translation of this information. I would also learn that recorders may have been able to write but they may not have been able to spell. It is very hard to read the handwriting of many of the original records.  At this point I need to make a statement, there have been millions of hours of time donated by wonderful people to who have tried very hard to translate these old records accurately.  They have done a wonderful job!  To these people as a family historian, I am eternally grateful!  You have done a great job!  Thanks!

I would learn that it is likely these situations which lead to the “Oella, Della, Ella and Celie Denney” problem. It would be through the Denney researchers that I corresponded with which enabled me to sort through and untangle all the errors associated with Oella Denney and her name.

She is the daughter of Walter and Mary (Young) Denney. She was born on May 12, 1845 in Brooke , Virginia. By the time that Oella was 16, her parents had settled in Wells County, Indiana near Zanesville. She married to James W Smith on March 18, 1869 by an Allen County Justice of the Peace, A.P. Crighton. They would begin their family with the birth of William F Smith later that year.

James W. Smith Born: 1844 in Ohio; Died: 1915 in Indiana; Buried: Uniontown Cemetery

Oella Denney Born: May 12, 1844; Died : Nov 21, 1925; Buried, Uniontown Cemetery