Jacob Shelton's Land in Winn Parish, Louisiana - 1860

Today (the last Saturday in June) is the annual Shelton Family Reunion in Louisiana.  My great-great-great-grandfather, Jacob Shelton (ABT 1822 - AFT 28 Feb 1874), settled in Winn Parish sometime between March 10, 1859 (when a son was born in Copiah County, Mississippi) and July 2, 1860 (when he filed a patent for 317.92 acres).  Recently I decided to try to find out just where that land was.

A search at the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records Automation web site for Shelton in Winn Parish, Louisiana, brought up three results:  Jacob Shelton, his oldest son Joseph L. Shelton (1847-1869), and his youngest son (my great-great-grandfather) Levi M. Shelton (1863-1941).  I'll get to them in a bit.  

When I selected Jacob, I got a page that provided details about the patent, with tabs to view the actual patent document image, as well as other documents (other patentees within the same land sections as Jacob had).  On the patent details page, you could scroll down and use a mapping tool (checking the boxes in the Map column) to see just where Jacob's land was located (click on the image to view it larger):

I wasn't too crazy about this map image, however.  I didn't like all the extra orange shading (which marked the entire township/range, the section, as well as Jacob's aliquots).  I also wanted a bit more detail in the base map.  So I looked for some other tools.

I found the State of Louisiana's Division of Administration  Office of State Lands GIS & Data web page, and used the SONRIS Interactive Map linked there.  I chose "Maps Historic 62.5k" as my background Imagery, and used the Draw tool in the AOI Toolbox to draw lines on the map to roughly outline Jacob Shelton's patent, the lighter green area on the map.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

I was curious about the date of the background map, but there was nothing in the application to indicate what that was.  I thought it was likely to be a United States Geological Survey topographic map, so I went to their website and found the Historical Topographic Map Collection.  These can be explored using a tool called topoView.

I searched for Sardis, Winn Parish, Louisiana (because of the Sardis Church and Sardis Lookout Tower near Jacob's land on the historic map in SONRIS), and got 17 results.  The first of these was also the oldest map, and matched the one above.  It is the 1950 Winnfield, Louisiana topo map (Winnfield, the parish seat of Winn Parish, is just a bit to the north on my map snip above), with a scale of 1:62500.

I looked at the other 16 results for the newest map, and found the 2020 Atlanta, Louisiana map, with a scale of 1:24000.  (Atlanta is a town just south on the road on my map snip above.)  This meant I could get a sharper image when I zoomed in, and also showed roads and features as they appear in more modern time.  I downloaded a copy of this map as a .JPG, and used Microsoft Paint to zoom in and mark Jacob Shelton's holdings (outlined in orange), as well as add some other notes to the map.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

It should be noted that what shows up as the "Swindelly Cem[etery]" on this map is not actually known by this name.  Today it is called the Brown Cemetery (established 1857), although it has also been known in the past as the Brown-Swindle Cemetery.  A large number of my relatives, including Jacob Shelton, are buried or have markers here.

The oldest map I was able to find (so far) is the United States Department of Agriculture Bureau of Soils 1907 Winn Parish Soil Map, digitized by the University of Alabama.  I zoomed in to the appropriate sections, grabbed a screenshot and used Microsoft Paint to outline Jacob's land.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

The small black squares mark buildings (houses?)  - the ones with crosses on top mark churches.  On Jacob's land, in 1907 (a good 30 years after his death), it appears there were structures in section 9, near Sulphur Creek and the border with section 10, and in section 17.  This 1907 map indicates some old roads that don't exist any more, and some that still do (the one called Lovell Road today, on the east side of section 9).

Finally, I grabbed a screenshot of the satellite image of this area from Google Maps, and once again used Microsoft Paint to outline Jacob's land.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

I thought it was interesting that, even today, you can see rough outlines of the old aliquots, forming a patchwork design on the land as viewed from space.  If I had to make a guess, I would bet that Jacob settled in that area that appears bright green in the satellite view.  It seems as though it might have been settled the longest.

Finally, I expanded the 2020 map a bit and outlined the land patents of Jacob's sons Joseph and Levi, as well as for other neighbors.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

The lands of Joseph and Levi were patented in 1904 and 1903, respectively.  Joseph died in 1869 without any sons, so I will have to research just how his widow or only daughter was able to patent that land.  William J. Martin patented his land in 1889.  His daughter Martha Jane Martin married Joseph Shelton, and another daughter, Alice Virginia Martin, married Jacob's son James William Shelton (1859-1939).

Erby B. Barton (1877-1949), who patented his land in 1907, was a grandson of Leah Pickering Parton Spikes (1835-1903), my great-great-great-grandmother (more on Spikes land in a future post).  Erby's mother, Parlee Porter Barton, was the sister of James A. Porter, who patented his land in 1906.

And finally, we have James P. Swindall, who patented his land the same year as Jacob Shelton, 1860.  His name may be the source of the various names the Brown Cemetery has had over the years, Swindelly and Brown-Swindle.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

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:



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



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



My husband also matches Green Son on chromosome 2:



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.

Surname Saturday: Shelton Family Reunion - MISSED! And a Blogging Hiatus

My Shelton heritage, left to right:  GGG-grandfather Jacob Shelton (1822-1874), GG-grandfather Levi Marion Shelton (1863-1941), and a four-generations photo of my mother Geraldine Guokas Pape, G-grandmother Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Odom Harris (1890-1977) holding me, and grandmother Sara Melzina Wolfe Guokas Archibald (1907-1997).

Well, if things had gone as planned, right now I would have been sitting down to a meal with my Shelton kin at the family reunion at the Verda Baptist Church near Montgomery, Louisiana.

What I didn't plan on was an emergency room visit about an hour before I planned to leave this morning on the 5.5 drive to get to the reunion by now.

I've had some problems off and on for the past few months with peripheral neuropathy.  For a week or so, it's been concentrated in my left arm.  In the past few days I've developed pain just below the left ribcage, and in my left shoulder blade.  Last night I had some chest pain on the left and a few episodes of sweating.  I was unable to sleep last night and was (still am) more comfortable upright.

Despite doing a 6-mile bike ride yesterday morning and unpacking 25-30 boxes and loading up my husband's un-air-conditioned SUV with a bunch of K-12 textbooks the morning before that, I feared a possible heart attack, so we went to the hospital at 5 AM.

The good news is that my heart is fine and the chest x-ray and blood work did not show anything else that was obviously wrong.  I got to go home about two hours later, but by then it was too late to attempt to go to the reunion.

And unfortunately, I still feel lousy.  Still got the left arm pain/numbness/tingling, still got the pains under the ribcage, in the shoulder blade, and in the chest.  I have an appointment with my primary care doctor this coming Friday (I made that Thursday afternoon when some of these symptoms were manifesting themselves).  I suspect this is something stress-related - maybe an ulcer. [ETA:  The doctor diagnosed pulled muscles and recommended Aleve or Advil, which did help.]

Which brings me to the other part of this post.  I HAVE been under a lot of stress lately.  My husband underwent a carotid endarterectomy a month ago.  He's doing well, but it was the fourth surgery in a year for him - three glaucoma surgeries prior to that, two on the same eye.  My parents are both 86 now, and my mother in particular is facing some issues that might require some changes in her care.  They live three hours away, so dealing with that is somewhat stressful.  The offspring are job-hunting and recovering from surgeries of their own, further stress.  And at work, I'm dealing with a reorganization of my work areas and the need to move my office into a different room before summer's end.

Something's gotta give.  You may have noticed I haven't been writing in this blog very much lately.  And I'm afraid that's how it's going to have to be for a while.  I have enough stress in my life at the moment that I don't need the pressure of researching and writing for this blog (which no one reads anyway) to add to that.

I have a couple posts in draft form that I do hope to finish over the next few months.  I also have lots of photos already scanned that I hope to post, there just won't be a lot of meaty information to go with them (lots of "Wordless Wednesdays" to come).

Someday, when I feel a little better and my life is more in order, I'll be back to the same level I've been at the past year or so.

© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: Ancestry.com Ethnicity Estimates for Mom & Dad

The offspring just asked some questions about where the ancestors came from, so here's a quick reply.  A while back I had my parents' autosomal DNA tested through Ancestry.com (and also uploaded the raw data files to Family Tree DNA).  Here are the Ethnicity Estimate charts for Dad and Mom:

 Dad's above and Mom's below.

Keep in mind that these charts reflect migration patterns from thousands of years ago.  That being said, the charts do fit what I know about the ancestry of my parents.  Dad's immigrant ancestors (Pape, Kramer/Cramer, Massmann, Dienes) came almost entirely from Germany (Europe West) - and of course, many of the Germanic peoples were originally from Scandinavia.  I have to say, I am intrigued by the Iberian Peninsula and Italy/Greece strains in his background.

Mom's paternal ancestors (Guokas, Banavich/Bonewitz/Boenewitch) immigrated from Lithuania, which is reflected in her Europe East and Finland/Northwest Russia ethnicity.  Her maternal ancestors included German immigrants (Wolfe, DeHaven, Horein - the Europe West and Scandinavia) as well as Shelton, Bridges, and Spikes, who likely originated in Great Britain and Ireland.

You can learn more about AncestryDNA here.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: PAPE Cousin Bait - part 4

For the past three Saturdays, I have shared a letter written by my great aunt Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1980), my paternal grandfather's older sister, in 1969.  She sent it to a distant cousin, Lawrence Pape, who'd found me through this blog.

Aunt Martha's letter started out "Grandfather Pape [Jacob Pape, and his wife Elisabeth Gierse] had 4 sons:  John - Joseph - Anton - Lawrence."

The first three parts of the letter talked about Joseph, Anton, and Lawrence (or Laurenz or Lorenz).  The last part is about the oldest son, John, who is my great-grandfather and Martha's father.

Transcription:  John Pape had three wives.  John Pape and his first wife had 2 daughters.  The mother and the two children passed away.  Then John went back to Germany and married Gertrude Kramer and came back to Evanston, Illinois.  They had 7 children.  Clara, Martha, Rhea, Leo, Paul, Dick, and Walter.  Clara, Rhea, Dick, and Walter are not married.  Leo married Gretchen Reis and she has passed away.  Paul is married to Betty Massmann and they have 5 children and 28 grandchildren.  I, Martha, was married to Charles Bleidt (who passed away 10 years ago) and we had 3 children.  Now I have 7 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren.  I hope this gives you the information you desire.  Martha Pape Bleidt (over) - My father's third wife was Henrietta Reimer (We called her Aunt Agnes).  She passed away in 1937.  My father passed away March 9 - 1945."

--

John (born Johannes) Pape was born October 25, 1851, in Bödefeld, Westphalia, Germany, and baptized in the Roman Catholic Church three days later.  He apparently served in the Kaiser's army sometime before emigrating to the United States about 1880 (according to three US Census records) or 1881 (according to the 1930 Census).  I have not yet found him on a passenger list, nor any definitive naturalization records - John Pape is a more common name than I thought.

I was aware of John's first wife from the probate for my Uncle Walt, who died intestate in late December, 1975.  The 1910 Census also indicates he had this first marriage, and the 1930 Census indicates he was 28 when it occurred, which would have been about 1879..  I don't know the name of this wife or the two daughters, nor when they died.  It's not clear from Aunt Martha's letter whether these deaths occurred before or after John came to America. [ETA - I now know the names, and that the deaths occurred in 1886 and 1887.  More on this in a future post.]

However, by 1882-1883, John is living in Evanston, Illinois, according to that city directory, working as a carpenter with a home on the west side of Sherman Avenue, south of Greenleaf.

According to Martha's letter, John went back to Germany and married his second wife, Gertrude Kramer (or Cramer, 1859-1919), around 1888.  They came back to Evanston and had seven children.

According to the 1890 Census and city directories, they lived at 1043 Sherman Avenue in Evanston through 1899.  John moved from being a carpenter to a partnership in Senge & Pape Dry Goods.  In 1900, the U.S. Census shows the family living at 1072 (now 1943) Lawndale Avenue on the north side of Chicago, and John is a dry goods merchant at nearby 889 (now 3060) Armitage (with Senge & Pape). The family's house at 1043 Sherman Avenue in Evanston was rented out.  By 1904, according to the Evanston city directory, the family is back at the Sherman Avenue address, where they remained through at least 1925 (according to a city directory).  Gertrude died there of liver cancer on August 20, 1919, according to her death certificate (Martha does not note her death in this letter).

On the 1930 Census, John is living with his third wife, Hedwige (not Henrietta) Agnes Burkhardt Reimer (1872-1937), at 1949 Lunt in Chicago, not far from his son Paul (at 2093 Lunt).  According to the 1940 Census, John is living in Chicago in 1935, and at 3648 N. Hoyne in Chicago in 1940 with his single sons Walter and Dick (and around the corner from daughter Martha Pape Bleidt at 2043 Waveland).  John died at this address of liver cancer on March 9, 1945.  John and Gertrude are buried at St. Henry's Cemetery in Chicago. 

Standing, from left:  Lee Pape, Walter Pape, unknown priest, Dick Pape
Seated, from left:  Paul Pape, Elizabeth Massmann Pape, Martha Pape Bleidt, Clara Pape

Rhea Pape

The picture above includes six of the seven Pape siblings, the children of John and Gertrude Kramer Pape.   Clara M. Pape (1889-1975), Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1981),  Leo John "Lee" Pape (1893-1979), Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970), Otto Richard "Dick" Pape (1898-1972), and Walter Francis Pape (1900-1975).  Third child and daughter Rhea Maria Pape (1892-1977) is not in the picture above; perhaps she took it (it was provided by her granddaughter).  I've included a photo of Rhea at left that may have been from approximately the same time (this was also provided by her granddaughter).

At the time Martha wrote the letter in 1969 or early 1970, she had three children (a son, daughter, and older stepdaughter), seven grandchildren (two of these were step-grandchildren, and there was one more grandson born in 1973), and four great-grandchildren (at that point).  While she mentions brother Paul's five children and 28 grandchildren as of 1970, she forgets to mention Rhea's daughter Patricia Pape Hunter Parks (perhaps because Pat died in auto accident in 1967), and Pat's five daughters and two granddaughters at that point.

I've written about Martha, Rhea, Lee, and Paul and their spouses and children in previous posts - I will write about the single, childless ones - Clara, Dick, and Walter - in future posts.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: PAPE Cousin Bait - part 3

Martha Elisabeth Pape, 26 years old, about 1916 or 1917.
Photo by J. D. Toloff, Evanston, Ill.

For the past two Saturdays, I have shared a letter written by my great aunt Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1980), my paternal grandfather's older sister, in 1969.  She sent it to a distant cousin, Lawrence Pape, who'd found me through this blog.

I learned something interesting about Aunt Martha while having lunch with my dad last Saturday.  She was quite a singer in her younger days, but a tonsillectomy damaged her vocal cords and ruined a potential career.

Aunt Martha's letter started out "Grandfather Pape [Jacob Pape, and his wife Elisabeth Gierse] had 4 sons:
John - Joseph - Anton - Lawrence."

The first two parts of the letter talked about Joseph and Anton.  The next part is about Lawrence (or Laurenz, as it is spelled in Germany, or Lorenz, as he apparently spelled it after coming to America).

Lorenz was the youngest of the four sons, born October 30, 1862, in Bödefeld, Westphalia, Germany.  Sometime in or before 1889, he married his first wife, Maria Henrietta Kamp, who died sometime between 1896 and 1899.  As it says below, they had six children:

Transcription:  "Your grandfather Lawrence Pape had two wives.  Your grandfather and his first wife had six children.  Karl, Joseph, Ewald.  These are your uncles.  August - your father.  Marie and Nellie.  These are your aunts.  Your grandfather and his second wife had two children, Margaret (your Aunt) and Lawrence (your uncle who lives in Germany).  If you write to your Uncle Ewald who lives at 7440 - 4th Place Downey Cal. 90241 he would be able to tell you all about your father's family."

Karl James (1889-1958), Joseph John Anton (1891-1936), Maria/Mary [Mrs. Herman Walter] (1892-1977), August Peter (1893-1947), Ewald Theodore (1894-1976), and Petronella "Nellie" [Mrs. George Arendt] (1896-1930), were all born in Düsseldorf, Germany.

By 1899, Lorenz had married again, a Maria Brauman, and had two more children:  Lorenz Jr. (1899-1977), and Margaret "Grete" [Mrs. Louis Travaglini and Mrs. Arthur Hammes] (1901-1988), were also born in Düsseldorf.

Lorenz, Karl, and August arrived in Boston on May 27, 1913, aboard the Marquette out of Antwerp, Belgium.  Joseph, Maria, Ewald, and Nellie arrived later that year, on December 4, in New York, aboard the Friedrich Der Grosse.  They all went to stay with my great-grandfather, John Pape, at his home at 1043 Sherman Avenue in Evanston, Illinois.

The following year, the family is listed in the 1914 Evanston City Directory as living at 1622 Forest Avenue in Wilmette.  Lorenz, Karl, and August are all painters.  In June 1917, the family is still at this address, according to the World War I draft registration cards of Karl, Joseph, August (who all work for Lorenz) and Ewald (who works as a millman for Evanston Labor Co.).

Sometime between June 1917 and May 1919, Lorenz, Karl, Maria, Ewald, and Nellie moved to Wisconsin.  Joseph and August both married Chicago-area girls (in 1918 and 1919 respectively) and stayed in Wilmette, operating the painting/decorating business.

Maria married German immigrant Herman Walter (of Nekoosa as of 1917) on May 27, 1919, in Nekoosa, Wisconsin.  Lorenz is on the 1920 census in nearby Port Edwards, owning his own farm, with sons Karl and Ewald and daughter Petronella.  She married Illinois native George Arendt (who'd been in Wisconsin since at least 1910) in Nekoosa on May 18 of that year.  By December 11, 1920, Ewald is in Fort Logan, Colorado.   An article in the March 18, 1921, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune states, "Lawrence Pape was among the German Settlement residents who visited in Nekoosa on business Thursday."

However, by July 2, 1923, Lorenz and Karl are apparently back in Wilmette, Illinois, according to the passenger list for the arrival of his youngest daughter Grete from Germany that day.  Karl and Ewald both married Illinois girls later that year, but in Ewald's case, the marriage took place in Vancouver, Washington, and he moved to Portland, Oregon, shortly thereafter, where he had a successful architectural career. (Interestingly, half-brother Lorenz Jr, who stayed in Germany with his mother, was also an architect, in Solingen.)  Like his other brothers and father before him, Karl was a painter and decorator.

Daughter Nellie's July 28, 1930, obituary indicates Lorenz Sr. was living in Chicago, but I could not find him anywhere on the census that year.  He died March 23, 1932, following six weeks of illness with pneumonia, at the home of his daughter Mary in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, and is buried in Sacred Heart (Riverside) Cemetery there.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: PAPE Cousin Bait - Part 2

Martha Elisabeth Pape, 26 years old, about 1916 or 1917.
Photo by J. D. Toloff, Evanston, Ill.

Last Saturday, I started to share a letter written by my great aunt Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1980), my paternal grandfather's older sister, in 1969.  She sent it to a distant cousin, Lawrence Pape, who'd found me through this blog.

The letter stated that "Grandfather Pape [Jacob Pape, and his wife Elisabeth Gierse] had 4 sons:
John - Joseph - Anton - Lawrence."

Martha had said, "We know nothing of Joseph as he lived in Germany and my father never told us anything about him."

Since 1969, though, we learned a little about second son Joseph, who I wrote about last week.

The second part of  the letter talks about Anton Pape, the third son, who was born September 28, 1854, in Boedefeld, Westphalia, Germany, and who arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 5, 1883, on the Weser out of Bremen, Germany.  He was traveling with his son Hugo Aloysius Pape, then age 3, and a 22-year-old woman listed as Regina Pape, who I assumed to be Hugo's mother.

I was a little surprised to find a marriage certificate dated a little over five weeks later, on May 13, 1883, for the marriage of Anton and Regina Elisabeth Allers, by Father A. J. Thiele, rector at St. Henry Catholic Church at Devon and Ridge in Rose Hill (now part of Chicago's Far North Side).  I just assumed they were married again for some sort of legal reasons in the United States.  Aunt Martha's letter clarified that mystery - but left some other puzzles unsolved:

Transcription:  "Anton Pape had three wives.  The first wife and Uncle Anton had a son - Hugo.  When Hugo was a very little boy, his mother died.  Uncle Anton married a sister of Hugo's mother which was his second wife.  Of this union a daughter was born named Emma.  After a few years Emma's mother died.  After a few years Uncle Anton married a third time.  Her name was Katherine Hoffman and this is the only Aunt we knew.  No children were born of this marriage."

The new piece of information for me here was that Anton had THREE wives, and that Hugo and his sister Emma Genevieve Pape Childs were actually half-siblings, and also cousins, as their mothers were sisters!

I feel this provides more evidence for my assumption that Regina is Emma's mother, although I have found no proof of that yet.  I think this letter does confirm that Katherine "Kate" Regina Hoffman (1860-1927), is NOT Emma's mother, but is the stepmother who actually raised Emma.

It looks like Emma was born somewhere between 1883 and 1886 (based on censuses, birth records for her children, and her marriage record).   I believe I have found a record for the death of Regina, on the Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre – 1916.  This Regina died March 15, 1887, in Cook County, at age 25, meaning she was born around 1862, which is about right (based on the April 1883 Baltimore passenger list, and her marriage certificate with Anton Pape).   Since Regina died when Emma was age one to four years old (approximately), and Anton married Katherine a little over a year later (May 8, 1888, at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Evanston, Illinois), I think Katherine raised Emma and that is why Emma referred to her as her mother (and why Katherine was the only aunt that Martha, born in 1890, ever knew).

Aunt Martha went on to write, on page 2:

Transcription:  "Hugo and Emma were first cousins of your father.  Hugo was married to Josephine Didier.  Hugo had five children.  Hugo and his wife passed away about nine years ago.  Emma was married to August Childs.  They had 8 children.  Emma passed away in 1937.  I don't remember when August died."

The "your father" she refers to is Lawrence Pape's father, August Peter Pape.  The information for Hugo Pape (1879-1961), his wife Josephine Didier Pape (1880-1960), and their five children, match up.  Emma was married to August Solomon Childs (born 1882), and I did find records for seven children, although it appears only four lived to adulthood.  Emma's great-granddaughter told me Emma died in 1937 in Wisconsin, although I have no proof of that.  And unfortunately, no one seems to know when August died (although he was still alive in 1942).  Nor, for that matter, is there a date for Anton's death.  I believe he died about 1893, because at that point, Katherine is listed as a widow in the Evanston [Illinois] City Directory.

I'll post the third part of Aunt Martha's letter next Saturday.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: PAPE Cousin Bait - Part 1

Martha Elisabeth Pape in 1912, at age 22

In early February 2013, I was contacted by a distant cousin, Lawrence Pape, who'd found me through this blog.  Lawrence sent a copy of a letter he'd received from my great aunt Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1980), my paternal grandfather's older sister.  Let me tell you a little bit about Martha first.

Martha was born October 19, 1890, in Illinois, probably in Evanston, where she was baptized a week later at St. Nicholas Catholic Church.   She was the second child and second daughter of German immigrants John and Gertrude Kramer Pape.

Martha received her First Communion on May 29, 1904, at St. Nicholas, and was also married there, on May 11, 1921, to Charles Bleidt (1870-1959), a widower with one daughter.  Martha and Charles had one son and one daughter.

Martha was apparently a talented singer.  In the May 22, 1912, Lake Shore News, in "What People Are Doing in Evanston" (page 15, column 2) it says that for the eighth birthday of the Pentalpha Chapter, No. 53, O. F. S.*, "Miss Martha Pape opened the program with a number of vocal selections, rendered in a most pleasing and charming manner."

Martha was that family member that genealogists love, the one that kept the records and the photos and knew the stories.  So when Lawrence (whose father, August Peter Pape, died when Lawrence was only five) wrote her for information about the Pape family, here is what she had to say:

Transcription:  "The Pape Family
Grandfather Pape had 4 sons
John - Joseph - Anton - Lawrence
We know nothing of Joseph as he lived in Germany and my father never told us anything about him."

Based on other information in the letter, I have determined that Martha wrote this in 1969 (she refers to her husband Charles having died ten years earlier, and Charles died in 1959), or early 1970.  Martha's brother Paul Pape, my grandfather, was still alive when this letter was written, and he died in April 1970.

The "Grandfather Pape" she is referring to is Jacob Pape, my great-great-grandfather.

We do know a little about Joseph Pape now.  He was born April 10, 1859, in Boedefeld, Westphalia, Germany, the third son of Jacob Pape and his wife Elisabeth Gierse.   I have met one of his grandsons and four of his great-grandchildren.  How that came about will be explained in tomorrow's post.

This is just the first half of the first page of the letter.   I will share more pages on future Saturdays.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

*O.F.S. is probably supposed to be O.E.S., Order of the Eastern Star

Surname Saturday: DIENES, through Documents

Lately I've been trying to track where my paternal great-great-grandparents, Frederick (1828-1896) and Regina Matheis (1837-1916), lived in Springfield and Chicago, Illinois.  Through a variety of documents, particularly city directories, I've been able to find one or the other or both for many years between 1860 and 1900.

As discussed in an earlier post, Regina was on the 1860 U.S. Census (taken in July), working as a cook at the Springfield home of the widow of Illinois Governor William Henry Bissell, who died in office in March.  We'd been wondering if she worked for the family while they were in the Governor's Mansion.  Sure enough - I found this in an 1860 Springfield city directory:

Despite the misspellings, I know this is my Regina, as explained in the referenced post.

Fred shows up in the 1863 (below) and 1864 Springfield directories:

 By the 1866 Springfield directory (and 1868 and 1869), Fred is no longer working for J. H. Adams and is out on his own:

On page 83 in the 1871 History of Springfield, Illinois, its attractions as a home and advantage for business, manufacturing, etc. Published under the auspices of the Springfield Board of Trade, as well as Wiggins' City Directory of Springfield, Illinois 1872-73, Fred's a direct competitor with his former boss (at right):

However, on March 25, 1874, the following appeared in the Illinois State Journal, published in Springfield:

 Apparently the bankruptcy did not last long.  According to the Illinois legislative manual for 30th General Assembly : 1877 and 1878, page 30:

Nevertheless, the family has moved to Chicago by 1880.  Interestingly, 1882 (pictured), 1885, and 1891 city directories imply that the hat store is in Regina's name (Sedgwick is just a couple blocks away):

Fred registers to vote in 1888 - his registration reiterates that he's been in Illinois since 1854, and that he moved to Chicago in 1878.  It also shows that he was naturalized in Springfield in 1856:

 Tragedy strikes the family in its early Chicago years.  Son Joseph is stillborn in May 1880, daughter Amelia dies in October 1885 at age 18, and son Henry dies in April 1891 at age 19, of typhoid dysentery:

By 1896, when Fred Sr. dies, the family has moved away from Division Street to nearby 476 N. Wells, and apparently no longer operates a hat store (Regina is mistakenly misspelled Virginia):

Regina is at this 476 N. Wells address through at least 1901.  By 1910, she's moved out of the neighborhood, and is living at 1425 Otto Street (today's Henderson Street).  At her death in 1916, she is living with daughter and son-in-law Frederick Henry and Elizabeth Camilla Dienes Massmann (my great-grandparents) at 1927 Morse.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: GUOKAS

Thanks to Osvaldas Guokas, a contact in Vilnius, Lithuania (and apparently a distant cousin), who reads my blog, I've suddenly been able to jump from going three generations back on my mother's paternal line to five:

1.  My mother - Geraldine Margaret Guokas
2.  My grandfather - Charles Peter Guokas Jr. (1903 - 1967)
3.  My great-grandfather - Charles Peter Guokas Sr.  (1863 - 1939)
4.  My great-great-grandfather - Jonas Guokas (ABT 1821 - BEF 1898)
5.  My great-great-great-grandfather - Antanas Guokas

Osvaldas found the marriage record for Jonas Guokas and my great-great-grandmother, Marija Šukytė:

Osvaldas tells me this says that on February 14, 1856, Jonas Guokas, 35 years old, from Celkiai, and
Marija Šukytė (which sounds like sounds like Shukeete), 20 years old, were married.  Parents are Antanas Guokas and Marija Va... Guokas, and Antanas Šukys and Liudvika Gacinskytė (Gacinska) Sukys (Šukienė).

He also found and sent a death record for Marija Šukytė Guokas (Marianna Shukisova Gokasova in Russian).  She died July 5, 1898 in Celkiai village. She was the widow of Jonas Guokas (Yoanna Gokasa in Russian). She was 60 years old. She left her sons Antanas (Anton), Kazimieras (Charles Sr.), Juozas (Joseph), and Petras (Peter), and daughters Agota and Apolonija.  She is buried in Smilgiai in Lithuania:

Charles Sr. is my great-grandfather who emigrated to and settled in Houston along with his younger brothers Joseph and Anton.  We have heard from some descendants of Peter, who settled in Alexandria County, Virginia, and this seems to verify that they are kin.  We also knew that Agota married an Ignacius Radauskas and stayed in Lithuania, but their son Leo was living with Charles Sr. in Houston in 1910, the year after he immigrated (at age 14), and wound up in Chicago; and their daughter Anastasia wound up in the Baltimore, Maryland area and married a Joseph Polianski.  Apolonia is a new family member to me.

Osvaldas also explained that last names vary for men and women in Lithuania, and for women also by marital status.  For example, his mother is Genovaite Guokiene. His [single] daughter is Izabele Guokaite.  His grandfather is Justinas Guokas. "As you can see it is some difference on the end."

Thanks to this information, I've been able to add numbers 48 through 51 to my Ahnentafel chart, and more details to numbers 24 and 25.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: MOORE - Stephens County, Oklahoma

Tandy Clayton Moore and his grandson, Mark Gresham, late 1940s.  Probably taken in Corpus Christi, Texas, as Mark says "there are no trout like that in Oklahoma."  Someone is standing behind Mark - it is probably his sister Ann.

Nancy Flora Jones Moore with grandsons Tom and Wes Moore, late 1930s, Oklahoma

My husband's maternal grandparents, Tandy Clayton (often known as Clayton or T. C.) Moore (1878-1964) and Nancy/Nannie Flora Jones Moore (1882-1969), were likely living in the same place in 1940 as they were in 1930 - a rural area near Marlow in Stephens County, Oklahoma.

The Moore family moved around quite a bit from the time of  the marriage of  T.C. and Nancy in 1901, through the births of their seven children from 1902 through 1914.  However, youngest daughter Jewel (my mother-in-law) graduated from Marlow High School in 1932, and another daughter, Beulah Mabel Moore (1910-1932), was buried in the Marlow Cemetery that year even though she died in Corpus Christi, Texas.  I feel pretty confident that Clayton and Nannie were in the same place in 1940 as they were in 1930.

Therefore, in preparation for the upcoming release of the 1940 US Census, I decided to use Stephen P. Morse's 1930/1940 ED Converter utility. The enumeration district (ED) for T. C. and Nancy  Moore in 1930 was 69-26.  Plugging this into the converter, it tells me the 1940 US Census ED for Tandy Clayton and Nancy Flora Jones Moore in Stephens County, Oklahoma in 1940 is 69-30.  The description of this ED is "Wall Township - that part in Township 2 North, Range 7, outside Marlow city."

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: GRESHAM - Denton County, Texas, 1940

Betty Dickson Gresham with grandson Mark Edward Gresham, circa 1943

My husband's paternal grandparents, Marvin/Mark Ellis (often known as Ellis or M.E.) Gresham (1886-1941) and Betty Dickson Gresham (1888-1976), were likely living in the same place in 1940 as they were in 1930 - a rural area near Krum in Denton County, Texas.   I know this primarily because of an article about Ellis' death in the Denton Record-Chronicle of February 8, 1941 (below).  It states that Ellis Gresham "had lived in...Denton County 13 years.  He was engaged in farming."  While the couple may not have been on Stony Road outside of Krum, as they were in 1930, it's highly likely they were still somewhere in the same area in 1940.


Therefore, in preparation for the upcoming release of the 1940 US Census, I decided to use Stephen P. Morse's 1930/1940 ED Converter utility. The enumeration district (ED) for Ellis and Betty Gresham in 1930 was 61-20.  Plugging this into the converter, it tells me the 1940 US Census ED for Marvin/Mark Ellis and Betty Dickson Gresham is 61-22.

Sadly, my husband never knew his paternal grandfather, as he had passed away about six months before my husband was born.  We don't have any photographs of him.  While he had two brothers who lived in the area, no records indicate the name of their father (my husband's great-grandfather), who died before the 1900 US Census. My husband's great-grandmother Lula does appear on the 1900 US Census in Texas, but at this point she had remarried.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: MOORE: Thomas Jefferson Moore, born August 20, 1852

Breathless' maternal great-grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Moore, was born on this day 159 years ago, in Salem, Russell County, Alabama.  He was the only son of Milton Jonathan Moore (1830-1912) and his first (of three) wives, Rutha Jane Lawson.

He married Angeline/Evangeline Elizabeth "Lizzie" Peach (1859–1924) on December 18, 1876, in Lee County, Alabama.  In 1880, they were living with their oldest son, Tandy Clayton Moore (1878-1964) near Auburn, Lee County, Alabama, where Thomas was a farmer.

In October 1883, Thomas and his family (a second child had been born), his father and stepmother, four of his five younger half-brothers and two of his three younger half-sisters, sold almost everything they owned and bought train tickets for Lewisville, Texas.

Thomas purchased 90 acres seven miles west of Lewisville (near today's Flower Mound) for $5 an acre, with a house, some outbuildings, and a well already on it. Six more children were born in Texas.  The family posed for a photograph outside their home sometime in late 1900 or early 1901.

Thomas Jefferson Moore died of pneumonia at the age of 51, on March 24, 1904, at home near Flower Mound in Denton County, Texas.  He is buried at the Shiloh Cemetery in Flower Mound.

[Some of the information in this profile came from Heroic Lives of Ordinary People, an unpublished family history by Thomas Clayton Moore, Breathless' first cousin.]

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: SPIKES and PICKERING (or PICKENS)

Spikes and Pickering or Pickens were the maiden names of my great-great-grandmother and great-great-great grandmother, respectively, on my mother's side. I can't go very far back in either line. As is typical for many women, I know little about Leah Lucy Pickering or Pickens (1835-1903) prior to 1860. In that year, she appears on the census in Winn Parish married to G. W. (George Washington) Barton, with two sons. A third son was born before G. W. passed away in 1864. Leah then married Levi Spikes. I can trace back four generations of Spikes, from Winn and Grant Parishes, Louisiana; Jackson and Tattnall Counties, Georgia; and Perry County, Mississippi:

1. Sarianne Spikes (1871 - 1935) - married Levi Marion Shelton on December 30, 1884
2. Levi Spikes (1805 - 1881) - married Lucy Leah Pickering or Pickens in 1865
3. Elias Spikes (1765 - 1823) - married Morning Collins, born June 18, 1766
4. Josiah Spikes, born in Mississippi, died in 1800 in Darien, Georgia

The image above is of an applique square done by Leah Pickering Spikes and in the home of her granddaughter (my great-grandmother's sister), Pearl Shelton Chelette (1909-2003). © Amanda Pape - 2010

Surname Saturday: MASSMANN

Massmann was my paternal grandmother's maiden name. Her grandfather, Carl Massmann, 1847-1929, was born in Hanover, Germany, and came to the United States with his wife, Minna Freicke, and their five surviving children in 1884. Those children were:

• Frances, 1874-1958, who never married;
• Frederick Henry, 1875-1948, who is my great-grandfather;
• George Herman, 1877-1963, who married and had three sons but only one Massmann grandson (Thomas, born in 1938);
• Minnie Clara, 1878-1938, who married twice but had no children; and
• Charles William, 1880-1946, who was married twice and had only daughters.

This photograph is from the wedding of Frederick Henry Massmann and Elizabeth Camilla Dienes (1877-1946) on June 5, 1900, at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago, Illinois. They are pictured on the left. The man standing to the right is George Herman Massmann. The woman seated to the right is probably Elizabeth's sister Clara Dienes, because according to the parish records, she was the other official witness:

Frederick and Elizabeth Dienes Massmann had two children, Alfred John (1901-1964) and Elizabeth Florence (1902-2000), my grandmother. Alfred had five children, four girls and one boy, Alfred John Jr. (1926-1999). The latter had seven children, including two boys.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Surname Saturday: SHELTON

Shelton was my maternal great-grandmother's maiden name. I can trace back six generations in this line, from Winn Parish, Louisiana; to Alabama; Giles County, Tennessee; Adair County, Kentucky; and Virginia:

1. Addilee Tennessee Shelton, 1890 - 1977
2. Levi Marion Shelton, 1863 - 1941
3. Jacob Shelton, 1822 - 1874
4. Mark Shelton, 1784 - 1853
5. Stephen W. Shelton, 1760 - 1828
6. James Shelton, 1739 - ?

The hand-colored photo to the right is of Levi Marion Shelton and his wife, Sarah Ann Spikes (1871 - 1935). It was taken in Louisiana sometime in the 1920s or early 1930s. They had 12 children, nine of whom survived into adulthood.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Surname Saturday: WOLFE

Wolfe was my maternal grandmother's maiden name. I can trace back seven generations in this line, to Washington County, Pennsylvania, and Frederick County, Virginia:

1. Sara Melzina Wolfe (1908-1997)
2. Louis Henry Wolfe (1872-1929)
3. Joseph William Wolfe (1845-1918)
4. William C. Wolfe (1820-1855)
5. Isaac C. Wolfe (1792-1870)
6. George Wolfe (1774-1804)
7. Jacob Wolfe (1734-1815)

The photo above is of Louis Henry Wolfe (top row, left) and Joseph William Wolfe (top row, right) and Louis' four children, Lloyd (1906-1993, top row, center), Sara (bottom row, left), Neva Marie (1912-1995, bottom row, center), and Edith Elizabeth (1910-2006). It was taken sometime after 1912 but before Joseph's death on October 30, 1918. I'm guessing around 1916, as Marie was born in November and she looks about three or four years old here.

I believe the photograph was taken in the front yard of the home of James Shannon Wolfe (1870-1949), Louis' older brother, who lived at 1405 Allston Street in Houston, Texas, on the 1910 and 1920 census. In fact, Louis and the children were living with Shannon and his family in 1920. Furthermore, the photo below was taken at the same time, and shows Joseph, Louis, and Shannon:

What I don't know is who the young boy in the background is in the first photograph - the one standing behind the fence. Shannon had a son, Shannon Jr., but he was born in 1902 and would be older than Lloyd, yet this boy looks younger. Maybe just a neighbor passing by who decided to be in the picture.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Surname Saturday: DIENES

Frederick Dienes (1828-1896) was my great-great-grandfather. He is from Hesse, Germany, but so far I have not been able to trace his surname there (due more to concentrating on other lines at the moment). He arrived in New York City on the Splendid via Le Havre, France, on August 11, 1849. By 1854, he was in Springfield, Illinois. He was naturalized in 1856 and married Regina Matheis (1837-1916) in January, 1858.


Frederick and Regina had ten children:

• Katherine "Kate" (1858-1924), who never married;
• Philomina "Minnie" (1861-1935), who married John Rink;
• Frederick J. (1863-1927), who married Minnie Schul;
• Paulina "Lena" (1865-1935), who married John H. Gauer;
• Amelia (1867-1885); who died at age 18;
• Laurence G. (1869-1935), who married Elizabeth Wallenborn;
• Henry Valentine (1872-1891), who died at age 19 of typhoid dysentery;
• Marie Clara (1874-1916), who died of "organic heart disease;"
• Elizabeth Camilla (1877-1946); my great-grandmother, who married Frederick Henry Massmann; and
• Joseph, who was born and died in May 1880.

The photo above was probably taken in the Chicago area between 1896, when Fred Sr. died, and 1916, when Clara and Regina died. Regina is the short woman in the front. The siblings are, from left to right, Fred Jr., Clara, Kate, Elizabeth, Pauline, Minnie, and Laurence.

© Amanda Pape - 2010