My ggg-grandmother Beulah Weinhart's maiden name was Fish. She was born in Pennsylvania. I have been able to trace the Fish line through her grandfather and probably her g-grandfather. There are several researchers working on her g-grandfather John Fish. Though the smoking gun has not been found yet this John Fish is most likely the correct John Fish. My gg-grandfather Lorenzo was Beulah's son. He owned his own business, lived to be 104, and was the mayor of Ankeny, Iowa twice. I have to think that he was a fairly intelligent person. In the 1910 census there is a category for where the individual's parents were born. Lorenzo indicated his father was from Germany which was correct. For his mother he put down Pennyslvania but along side it he wrote Germany. Does this mean the Fish Family was originally from Germany or was this just a mental mistake on Lorenzo's part? I may never know. I do know that both Beulah's grandfather Fish and probably g-grandfather Fish were born in the United States. Another possiblity is that the Germany is referring to the home country of Beulah's mother's parents. Their name was Kettle. Very little is known about them.  ¶ 8:23 AM 2 comments

 
When a child was born in Norway he/she would receive a given name such as Sjur or Ingeborg. The surname would be the father's name with -son or -datter added to it. If the father's name was Lars the son's surname would be Larsson and a daughter's surname would be Larsdatter. A third name would be added at the end. This would be the name of the farm where the person was born at or is presently working. Once in America though many of the Norwegians would begin to Americanize their names. I have three g-grandfathers that immigrated from Norway. Erick Gunhus had fourteen children by two wifes. In the first marriage four of the five children had as a middle name Erickson or Ericksdatter. In the second marriage the first six children also had the middle name of Erickson or Ericksdatter. The last three children, which included my grandmother, did not. Nub Fredrickson was also from Norway. He had 15 children. I have been able to find that the middle name of two of the boys was Nub (the picture) and three other boys had the middle initial of N which I am assuming stood for Nub. So it appears he continued with the Norwegian custom but did away with the -son and -datter part of the name. A third g-grandfather, Sjur Markusson, from Norway appears not to have continued the custum. His first son, Ole, had the middle name of Johan. His last son who was my grandfather though did have as a middle name Sever which is the American name for Sjur.  ¶ 10:08 AM 1 comments

 
Erick G. Gunhus is one my g-grandfathers on my father's side. He was, along with his mother, my first Norwegian ancestors to come to America. This was in 1849. She died probably in Wisconsin in 1850. He settled in Rice County, Minnesota in 1854. On all the census records, land documents I have of him prior to 1897 when he received his Naturalization papers he went by the name of Erick Gunderson/Gundersen. On his Naturalization papers, the 1900 census and his death card of 1906 his name is different. It is Erick G. Gunhus. I have always wondered why he decided to start using Gunhus as his last name and not Gundersen after thirty plus years of it the other way. This is just a guess but I did see on an early plat map another Erick Gunderson living in Rice County. Maybe he changed his name to eliminate sometype of confusion that had arisen between the two men and their names.  ¶ 10:03 AM 1 comments

 
John Meader's house and the houses of others in the Dover, New Hampshire area in the late 1600's were known as garrisons. They were constructed to fight off Indian attacks. One such semi-famous Indian attack occurred in 1694 and was known as the Oyster River Massacre. John Meader and his family were able to see other garrison's burning and were able to escape. Supposedly their garrison was burned down but quickly rebuilt. The picture is of what remains of a garrison.  ¶ 8:07 AM 1 comments

 
Probably the most important document for genealogical research is the census. The picture is of a 1845 Norwegian Census from the province of Sogn Og Fjordane. It has been translated into English. The only Norwegian words/abbreviations used are noted under comments at the bottom of the page. It is for my gg-grandfather Markus Anderson Dyrdal. The name of the farm is Indre Dyrdal (Inner Dyrdal). You will also notice that the name Dyrdal is spelled Dyrdahl on the census. My g-grandfather Sjur Markusson Dyrdal would be one of the unmarried men that was living on the farm at this time.  ¶ 8:02 AM 0 comments

 
Anders Markusson Dyrdal is the older brother of my g-grandfather Sjur. The picture is of him and his wife. It was taken sometime before 1894, the year he died, and sent to me by a good-hearted person in Norway. As was the custom Anders inherited the Dyrdal farm when his father died. This being one of the reasons why my g-grandfather Sjur decided to come to America. Anders had two sons Nels (Nils) and Berge. Both immigrated to the United States going to Goodhue County where Sjur was living and later Berge went to South Dakota. My father tells that his father bought his farm in the 1900's using money he borrowed from Nels.  ¶ 8:37 AM 1 comments

 
The following is a list of some of my g-grandparents, gg-grandparents, ggg-grandparents, and gggg-grandparents and where they were living in 1850. The picture is a census record showing Evan Young(a gggg-grandfather) and family living in Hamilton County, Indiana in 1850.

• John and Mary Young and family in Tipton County, Indiana
• John Edward Meader and parents in Henry County, Ohio
• Evan and Elizabeth Young in Hamilton County, Indiana
• Joel and Rebecca Young in Elkhart County, Indiana
• Lester Archer and parents in Medina County, Ohio
• Ludinda Edwards and parents in Lorain County, Ohio
• Beulah Fish and parents in Monroe County, Pennsylvania
• Joseph Weinhart in Monroe County, Pennsylvania
• Erick Gunhus in probably either Rock, Green, or Dane County, Wisconsin
• Astrid Aslesdatter Lien and parents in Buskerud, Norway
• Sjur Markusson Dyrdal and parents in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway
• Ingeborg Christensdatter and parents in Sogn og Fjordane in Sogn, Norway
• Lars Gudbrandson Haselhaugen and family in Buskerud, Norway
• Nub Fredrickson Ringerud and parents in Buskerud, Norway

  ¶ 8:37 AM 0 comments

 
Death certificates contain many bits of genealogical information. This is the death certificate for my g-grandmother Ingeborg Markuson. Some of the information that can be found in it is:

• The date of death - April 29, 1921
• Her birth date - October 14, 1839
• Her age - 81 years, 6 months, 13 days
• Cause of death - fracture of the femur
• Husband - Sever Markuson
• Father - Christen Benson
• Mother (maiden name) - Brita Neseth
• Birthplace - Norway
• Birthplace of parents - Norway
• Years living at present address - 61
• Years living in the U.S. - 64
• Cemetery buried at - Hauge

  ¶ 9:39 AM 0 comments

 
I am very interested in not only people and dates but where the people lived. Maps can show you locations of counties, townships, sections, and locations of farms and of these I have quite a few. One of my more interesting maps though has to do with John Meader (my gggggggg-grandfather) who died in New Hampshire in 1736. He had two sons Joseph and Nicholas plus two daughters. I was able to locate his will which basically contained what you would expect to find in a will. What was unique though was that there was also a map showing how the farm was to be divided up between the two sons.  ¶ 8:24 AM 0 comments

 
I have several letters/notes written by various ancestors. They give interesting insights into the individuals and/or of the time period. My gg-grandfather Lorenzo Weinhart was married twice. His first wife is the mother of my g-grandmother. His second wife was the one he spent most of his married life with. Her name was Matilda Gordon. I do have a letter written by her to my g-grandparents. What makes this unique is that a week after writing the letter she passed away. Like I said she was not a blood ancestor and the letter did not mean all that much to me. I was able, though, to develop a correspondance with a blood relative of Matilda's. We swapped information. She had a quite abit of material about Lorenzo and I had quite abit of material about Matilda. She was especially pleased to receive a copy of the letter.  ¶ 9:01 AM 0 comments

 
Living within 10-15 miles of the two county seats where my Young ancestors lived from 1850 - 1870 allowed me access to quite a few records. While searching through a list of marriage certificates I came across one for a Dinah P. Young. I didn't give it much heed since I had never heard of her. I then remembered there was an earlier Young ancestor who had married a Dinah Phillips. I found Dinah P. Young, her husband, and her children in the 1850 census but it really didn't help me identify her as a member of my Young family. It wasn't untill later on when I was searching deeds that I came across several deeds where the Young children were selling property left to them by their mother. One of the shares of property had been left to the children of Dinah Phillips indicating that she had to be the daughter of the Young family I had been researching. Also having her marriage date helps date when her parents, Evan and Elizabeth Young, had moved to Hamilton County. They were living in another county according to the 1840 census. Dinah was married in September 1847. Evan and Elizabeth were most likely living in Hamilton County before 1847.  ¶ 8:10 AM 0 comments

 
To become a United States citizen, an immigrant must first apply for citizenship and once getting that they need to wait for a period of time. The last of my ancestors to immigrate to the U.S. was Asle Lien who came over from Norway. He arrived in 1881. He applied for Citizenship on July 1, 1885 in North Dakota. He became a citizen on November 5, 1992. Wifes automatically became citizens when their husbands did.  ¶ 9:34 AM 0 comments

 
Deeds can tell you a lot. When I first began researching the John S. Young family I found that they had lived in Cicero County, Indiana for about ten years. I just assumed that they had moved there from Wayne County, bought a farm and remained there until they left for Iowa. As I started locating deeds I found it was not quite as simple. First of all I found that they had lived in Hamilton County for approximately a year between their living in Wayne and Tipton Counties. Then I found that they had lived in three different places in their ten years in Tipton County. They had first lived on a farm, second in the city of Tipton, and third on the outskirts of the city. Also I found that there was a very close relationship between John and his family and his sister and her husband Moses Parker. For part of that decade the Parker family lived next to and on a city lot owned by John. The final move to the farm on the outskirts of the city was a joint venture between the two families where both husbands co-signed the deed. The deed is for the city lots that John sold in 1861.  ¶ 9:03 AM 0 comments

 
I have accumulated quite a few records of all types. I have deeds, wills, marriage licenses, marriage certificates, death certificates, naturalization records, and homesteading grants. They have all been copies of the originals though. The one exception is a marriage certificate for Orren Meader and Elsie Weinhart who are my g-grandparents on my mother's side. A relative sent it to me. It was in pieces but it wasn't difficult to piece it back together and secure it with tape.  ¶ 1:56 PM 0 comments

 
My main genealogical concerns involve just what I call my direct ancestors; grandparents, g-grandparents, gg-grandparents, etc. I am interested in other ancestors primarily in what they can tell me about my direct ancestors. But once in awhile I find an non-direct ancestor that has special meaning. This applies to Doctor C.G. Dick. I live in Elwood, Indiana. One day while glancing through a book on Madison and Hamilton County Biographies I caught the the name of a Hercules Young. I have a gggggg-grandfather by that name and he also had a grandson by that name. I found that the grandson, brother to my two gggg-grandfathers, had a daughter that married a Samuel C. Dick. They had a son by the name of Charles G. Dick. He became a doctor and somehow ended up living and practicing medicine in Elwood for his entire career. The home he lived in was just half dozen blocks from the house I grew up in. To add more to the conincidence as a child and teenager he grew up in Winona County, Minnesota which is just a couple of counties away from where my parents grew up.  ¶ 12:19 PM 0 comments