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| Gallipolis City Park, on the Ohio River About 3 times the size of Medina's park on the Square. Beautiful and relaxing! |
The Lineage Society Banquet was on October 10th in Gallipolis. About 50 members and their families gathered to enjoy the great food and attend the induction ceremony. But the best part was meeting the genealogical society leaders and the other inductees. I was seated with a great group of people that willingly shared the stories of their ancestors. If it wasn't for the 4 hour drive, I would attend every year!
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| Other attending Civil War Inductees |
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| Receiving my certificate and lapel pin. |
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| The Certificate and Lapel Pin. |
But since it IS a four hour drive, I combined the banquet with a research trip. Here is what I did:
Prior to leaving:
- Made a list of information I wanted to find.
- Made a list of where to find that information
- Checked the hours of operation for the institutions I needed to visit.
- Checked the weather
- Printed Ancestor charts & Family Group Sheets for families in the area
Day One:
- Visited the first cemetery on my list - Maddy Cemetery - Success! I found my grandfather's tombstone. As I was only 4 years old when he died, I had never been before. I wasn't even sure he had a tombstone.
- Visited the second cemetery on my list - Good Hope - Success! I found my paternal grandmother's tombstone and also most of her family. The WILLIAMS family had donated the land for the church and cemetery.
- Found a possible link to my missing half brother.
- Got lost trying to locate 3rd cemetery on my list - Steward Chapel. And when you get lost in the hills of southern Ohio, you really get lost!!
- After dinner, I visited the library and checked the resources on my list - partial success. The sources were there, but didn't always have the information I wanted. Did find a clue to a possible father for my 3X great grandfather, John WILLIAMS.
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| Kudzu has taken over this meadow and is encroaching on the gravel road. Along with wild turkeys, this what I did find when I got lost looking for Stewart Chapel Cemetery. |
Day Two:
- Visited the courthouse for marriage, estate and land records:
Gallia County Court Hose - 1 marriage record not found - Success! (That is a good thing when you are trying to prove that your grandfather didn't marry a second woman and commit bigamy!)1 marriage record found - Success!
- Estate records in index. Courthouse staff recommended the Genealogical Society.
- Land records - found & copied - Success!!
- Visited the Genealogical Society, which is right around the corner from the courthouse.
- Copied several estate records
- Determined they didn't have any pertinent family histories.
- Bought a book needed for my personal library.
- Learned how to pronounce Gallipolis! galla - POlice!
- Neglected to check lineage files for useful information.
- LUNCH! at a nearby sports bar
- Returned to the courthouse for additional estate record. It wasn't the one I needed. But I helped another researcher use the estate indexes!
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| Dr. Samuel L. Bossard Memorial Library |
- Returned to the library for a possible obituary. Not found!
- Went to health department for 1 death record and 2 birth records
- Photographed the death record and 1 birth record. Second birth record not found.
- Returned to the hotel to evaluate results. I found:
- I now have the proof I need for First Families of Gallia County and Ohio in the land records! (More on that next week!)
- Found married names of a number of daughters in the estate records.
- Search for missing half brother goes on. The lead didn't pan out.
- Found a truly sad family story. My grandmother's brother was suicidal and was committed to the Athen's State Hospital for about a year. His uncle was already a patient there. A young man of about 20, he was depressed because of being diabetic and a troubling love life. He died less than 10 years later from his diabetes.
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| Grandmother Stella Belle Barry Rose Johnson |
- Returned to the second cemetery, Good Hope, and brought flowers to my grandmother's grave.
- Found the third cemetery - Stewart Chapel - at the end of a steep, windy, dirt/gravel/mud lane! Success! Brought flowers to my 3X great grandparents gaves, Othey & Emily Swain. She is the ancestress who was supposed to be 3/4 Cherokee.
- Stopped by the church hall where the banquet was being held to see if the ladies needed any help setting up. They had finished and left.
- Returned to the hotel to type up some notes and get ready for the banquet.
- BANQUET!
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| Grandpa Johnson's tombstone. Nellie was never his wife. That is the marriage record I didn't find! |
Day four:
- Returned to Maddy Cemetery and brought flowers to my grandfather's grave.
- Returned home.
Day five - ???
- Organize and input all the new data! Still working on that!!
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