Leaves & Branches

For those of you who, like me, are researching ancestors in Brown County, Ohio and have Facebook accounts, there is now a Facebook group devoted to Brown County genealogy.  The link is https://www.facebook.com/groups/369871666379886/ .

Well, I still haven't found that spark that will again make my family history research an obsession again.  I keep trying to find that one record that will open the door to new avenues of research.  It will come - it always does - but right now I'm still in a rut. This morning I was searching for some good cooking blogs to follow.  In the process, I came across a couple of blogs about "orphan photos" - old pictures the bloggers have found or purchased and for which they have no information.  This inspired me to post some of my orphan photographs. I found these photos in a chest containing photos and documents that belonged to my maternal grandmother, Mary Jane Dudley Donaldson (1898 - 1976).  I believe that many of the items in the chest were passed down to her from her mother, Mary Elizabeth Shaper Dudley (1861 - 1947).  I believe that most, if not all, of the photos are family and friends of the Dudley and Shaper families of Clinton and Highland Cou...

I have been a bad, bad blogger and researcher recently. I go through these periods when I feel like I am hitting brick wall after brick wall and temporarily suspend my research. Then I find one small clue or piece of information, the floodgates open, and I'm back in the swing! I know I'll get back in the swing in less than three months when the 1940 census is released. I can't wait to find my mom's name in a census for the first time and be able to show it to her. I plan to help in the effort to index the 1940 census. I have started indexing other genealogical records on FamilySearch.org to become comfortable with indexing before the 1940 census is available. Access to the 1940 census will be free. If you are interested in helping index the 1940 census, please click this link for more information: https://www.familysearch.org/1940census?CID=adwords&gclid=CK7LxajUy60CFTOCtgodbWSNiA

A few years ago I was walking from my bus stop to work.   As I approached a street where the traffic travelled one way to the north , the “Don’t Walk” signal began flashing.   I heard sirens approaching as I stopped at the corner.   As I stood there, I saw a car speeding on the intersecting street with a police car in pursuit.   The car turned south onto the street I was preparing to cross.   It was a “What If?” moment.   What if my bus had been just a couple of seconds earlier or I had walked a little faster or I hadn’t stopped to let someone exit the bus before me?   I would have arrived at the corner before the “Don’t Walk” signal started flashing and likely been in the middle of that street at exactly the time that car made the wrong-way turn to elude the police.   Our lives are filled with these What If moments.   However, we are also the result of What If moments in our ancestors’ lives.   It is awesome to contemplate how event...

I'm getting lazy.  I will be taking the easy way out this week and instead of writing my own post, I will let the September 7, 1905 News Democrat do the writing for me.  To provide a little background (well, maybe I'm not so lazy after all), Santford Ogden was born March 19, 1836 in Clark Township, Brown County, Ohio, the son of Alfred and Hannah Harriet Leonard Ogden.  Sarah Steward was born February 17, 1838 to Francis and Catherine Price Steward.  Santford and Sarah were married in Brown County and had at least ten childen, including my great-grandmother, Rosa Ogden Davis.  The article that follows describes their golden wedding anniversary celebration. The golden wedding of Sanford Ogden and wife of this place was celebrated on Saturday August 26, 1905, with a large dinner and family reunion, their nine living children all being present for the first time in ten years. About the noon hour the ladies began to bring out the baskets and boxes and the...

A few years ago I was looking through a collection of family photographs and mementos.   I was struck by the number of photos of my grand-uncle, Charles Henry Dudley and his family.   Uncle Charlie was the eldest son of Jesse and Mary Shaper Dudley and brother of my grandmother Mary Dudley Donaldson.   He was born October 18, 1878 in Clark Township, Clinton County, Ohio.    Below is the earliest photo I have of Charlie.      Charlie grew up in Clark Township with his brothers Lew, Frank, Ab, Tom, and Clarence.   By the time my grandma was born in 1898, Charlie was already a young man.   Just a little over a year later, Charlie married the pretty Anna Dora Meyer and they made their home in Clark Township near his aunt Marietta Dudley Himes and her family.   Charlie worked as a day laborer. Charles & Anna Dudley   On August 14, 1900, Anna gave birth to the couple’s first child, Walte...

This blog has, unintentionally, become the means for me to fill in gaps in my research.   When writing a post, my usual process goes something like this: (1) I choose a subject for my post, (2) I review the information I have on that subject, (3) I realize I don’t have as much information on the subject as I thought, (4) I do additional research on the subject, and (5) I compose the post.     This week’s post certainly fits this pattern.   James Rusk is my fourth great grandfather (James Rusk – Jane Rusk – James Donaldson – David Donaldson – Eddie Earl Donaldson – my mom – me).   I thought I had sufficient information on him, since I had his Revolutionary War pension file and he had a famous grandson about whom much was written.   But, as usual, once I looked a little closer at my research I realized I didn’t have as much information as I thought.      I even made a mostly unproductive trip to the Main Branch of the Public Library ...