Wednesday, September 28, 2016

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Karen Jean Stuckert Hedger, 1954-2016


My first cousin Jim Hedger's beautiful wife Karen passed away very suddenly on Monday, September 26, 2016, at the age of 62.  Karen was born January 23, 1954, in Chicago, the daughter of John Leonard Stuckert and Jeanette Louise Boehler (1914-1991).

Karen graduated from Forest View High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois, in 1972.  Another of my first cousins, Donna, was friends with Karen's younger sister Barb.  Donna introduced Karen and Jim, who married on September 11, 1976.  They have two sons, three daughters, two sons-in-law, a daughter-in-law, and (so far) three granddaughters and two grandsons.

Karen and Jim lived in Goshen, Indiana, in the late 1970s to mid-1980s, and moved to Florida in the late 1980s, first to Clearwater and later to DeLand.

Karen loved to travel - she and Jim frequently went to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, and they recently took a trip out West for their 40th anniversary, visiting multiple national parks (Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone, Grand Teton).  They did tons of hiking and Karen took lots of wonderful pictures of landscapes and wildlife, which she shared with friends and family on Facebook.

I've been amazed at all the lives she touched, especially those of many young people for whom she was a motherly presence and influence.  May you rest in peace, dear Karen.

The photo above of Jim and Karen was taken August 7, 1976, just a month before their wedding.



© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Surname Saturday: Peach - DNA Discoveries

A while back, I had my husband's autosomal DNA tested with Ancestry.com. Then I downloaded the raw data file and uploaded it to FamilyTreeDNA, paying the $39 to unlock all the matches.

I've been contacted by a few people who are matches, and have been able to add some people to the family tree (and confirm other relationships) as a result.

One case is in my husband's Peach line.  His great-grandmother was Angelina Elizabeth "Lizzie" Peach Moore, who was born March 31,1859, in Salem, Lee County, Alabama, and died September 4, 1924, in Lewisville, Denton County, Texas.  She and her sister Emma Ann Peach Moore (1861-1915) married half-brothers who moved to Denton County in late 1882 or 1883.

Lizzie and Emma were the two oldest children of Jonathan A. Peach (born July 30, 1832, in Clarke County, Georgia; died March 21, 1908, in Concord, Blount County, Alabama) and his wife Angeline "Ann" Emily Johnson Peach (born MAY 1836 in Alabama, died January 18, 1921, most likely in Lee County, Alabama).

Jonathan, in turn, according to the 1850 Census, was the son of James Peach (born about 1786, died after 1870) and his wife Louisa (born about 1790, died after 1860 but probably before 1870).  On the 1850 Census, Jonathan is the only child listed, so I was not aware he had any siblings.

About a week ago I was contacted by a gentleman who manages the DNA accounts for his wife and three sons.  He said my husband was a match to the wife and two of the sons.  I used the Family Finder Chromosome Browser in FTDNA to take a look.  Here are the matches - the wife is orange, the two sons are blue and green.  Let's call them Orange Wife, Blue Son, and Green Son.  The matches are on the second and fourth chromosomes.  My husband also has a small match with Blue Son on the 15th chromosome (not shown).



As it turns out, Orange Wife also has James Peach as a 3rd great-grandfather - meaning she and my husband are fourth cousins.  James Peach apparently had 11 children between 1808 and 1832, with my husband's 2nd great-grandfather as the youngest.  Orange Wife, Blue Son, and Green Son are descendants of the fourth child in the family, George Peach (1813-1899).

The gentleman (Orange Wife's husband and the father of Blue Son and Green Son) put me in touch with someone else who is apparently also kin through this Peach line.  This cousin (and her sister) match Orange Wife and Green Son on different chromosomes than my husband does, but have no match to Blue Son.  However, they have matches to Orange Wife's third son, who my husband does not match.

This cousin encouraged me to upload the raw data to GEDmatch.  I'd been asked to do this by yet another of my husband's matches (this time in AncestryDNA) and had not gotten around to it.  It turned out to be quite easy.

Here's some more data on my husband's matches:

My husband and Orange Wife DO appear to be a match of genealogical significance, using the one-to-one comparison tool in GEDmatch, and increasing the minimum SNP threshold from 500 to 700:

Inline image

My husband and Blue Son are also a match on chromosome 2:

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They also match (albeit much smaller) on chromosome 4:

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My husband also matches Green Son on chromosome 2:

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There is an overlap for my husband, Orange Wife, Blue Son, and Green Son on Chromosome 2 from 78,790,630 to 96,111,193.

I'm still learning how DNA works, but I feel pretty confident that my husband, Orange Wife, Blue Son, and Green Son are all related, and thus I have some more people to add to his Peach tree.


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Wordless Wedding Wednesday: Charles & Addilee Shelton Wolfe Odom Harris' Marriage Certificate, 1922


"This certifies that Charlie B. Harris of Houston, State of Texas, and Adilee Odom of Houston, State of Texas, were by me united in holy matrimony according to the ordinance of God and the laws of the State of Texas on the seventh day of January in the year of our Lord 1922, two thirty P.M. at 1309 Prairie Ave.  Witnesses: Daniel L Jones (Pastor), Jean B. Lang, S. M. Barnett, Agnes Wade."

© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Sentimental Sunday: Charlie and Addilee Harris, BEF 1959


When I went to the Shelton Family Reunion in Louisiana this past June, I finally got to see some pictures of my great-grandmother Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Odom Harris' (1890-1977) third husband, Charles Burroughs Harris (1887-1959).  Here is what I have been able to learn about him:

Charles Burroughs Harris was born on May 14, 1887, in Bay City, Matagorda County, Texas to Martha "Mattie" B. Spoor (born September 1854 in Louisiana), and James Johnson Harris (born January 1846 in Arkansas).  He was the fifth of their eight children.

Charles worked on the family farm in Matagorda County through at least 1910.  On November 13, 1913, he married a Mrs. Laura Rolan in the county.  When he registered for the draft on June 5, 1917, in the county, he was living in Palacios, listed himself as married, and stated that he was an oil field worker for Mike Mitchell in Goose Creek.  He served in the Army as a cook in the 165th Depot Brigade, 9th Battalion, 34th Company, at Camp Travis in San Antonio, from June 24 to November 25, 1918.

I was unable to locate Charles in the 1920 Census, nor any information about what happened to his first wife Laura (death? divorce?).  On January 7, 1922, Charles married my great-grandmother at 1309 Prairie St. in Houston, Texas.

Charles and Addilee are listed in the 1926 Morrison & Fourmy Houston City Directory on page 914 as living in Pasadena, Texas.  They are on South Shaver street in that city in the 1930 Census, with Addilee's youngest daughter Neva Marie Wolfe and youngest sister Jewell Bernice Shelton, both 17.

By 1935, though, Charles and Addilee had moved to a farm in Verda, Grant Parish, Louisiana.  On the 1940 Census, they are on Harlan Street in Montgomery in that parish.  When Charles registered for the draft for World War II on April 27, 1942, their address was RFD Box 122A in Montgomery.

Charles died January 30, 1959, in Rapides Parish, Louisiana.  If I ever met him, I don't remember, as I had not yet turned age two when he died.  He is buried in the Sardis Baptist Church Cemetery in Sardis, Winn Parish, Louisiana.  Addilee called him the love of her life.


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Monday, September 12, 2016

Matrilineal Monday: Happy Birthday, Sister Jean Marie!


My maternal aunt, Jo Ann Guokas, ABT 1936


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Sentimental Sunday: Happy 62nd Anniversary to My Parents!


Frederick Henry Pape and Geraldine Margaret Guokas, married September 11, 1954


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: Edith, Addilee, and Marie, ABT 1927-1929


Edith Elizabeth Wolfe Smith Murff Brown Gould Knox (1910-2006), her mother Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Odom Harris (1890 - 1977), and her sister Neva Marie Wolfe Ely (1912-1995).  I think this picture was taken sometime after older brother Lloyd Wolfe (1906-1993) married on May 31, 1927 (older sister Sara Melzina Wolfe Guokas Archibald, 1907-1997, was married with one child by that point), but before Edith's first marriage sometime before April 13, 1929 (when her father died).

The photo is from a scrapbook kept by my first cousin twice removed Shirley Thompson.


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Sibling Saturday: Mark and Mary, ABT May 1966


Two of my siblings in the backyard of our house at 8015 Sharpview in Houston, before it was fenced.


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.