Forever Remembering's Article RSS Feed

Buying Granby, Missouri photographs

Michael Reynolds — 6/15/2008 10:25:00 PM

My upcoming book on Granby, Missouri needs help, therefore, I'm attempting to buy old time photographs. Email me a list of what you got and I'll email you back an immediate offer. Use my contact page (click on About Us then Contact Us) to send me an email. Thanks for any help you can provide!

Show and Tell

Michael Reynolds — 4/24/2008 9:15:00 PM

A common trait among the genealogy types is a strong desire to pressure what we have researched and found for future generations. What makes our work particularly exciting is the next generation's moments of nostalgia for family history. Today, I experienced one the greatest such moments as my son took an eight generation family tree and copies of my oldest photos for his final Show and Tell of the year. Let me emphasize that this was no ordinary Show and Tell, but one that takes extreme planning. My son spent no less than 4 days worrying what the ultimate object would be for this special day. He pondered the idea of taking his new tape measure or even pictures of Colorado. When he announced to me it would be the Family Tree and Photos a warm glow of family pride appeared as we printed out the necessary artifacts.

Some days you feel like you are on top of the world, today took me one step higher.

Rueben H Davis - Civil War Veteran?

Michael Reynolds — 4/21/2008 5:19:00 PM

Spending the day at the Mahaffie Farmstead always inspires a nostalgic feeling that is so very conducive to my genealogic research. This weekend was the Civil War re-enactment showing camp life and battles from both sides vantage points. More importantly I met some individuals representing a Lineage society for family members of Civil War Veterans. Instantly, I started researching my leads with a random hope of my work being substantial enough to merit entry into their fine club. My first step was to call Great Aunt Ethel and ask for her opinion on which relatives had military connections...we found only one, Rueben H Davis. Researching on an impulse is my specialty and they are very few libraries out there open after midnight. To get the bug out of my system so I could sleep, I posted a question on Askville.com if Rueben H Davis was in the Civil War. Here's the lead I received from that question for the proving that Rueben H Davis served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

National Park Service. U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865
Name: Reuben Davis
Side: Union
Regiment State/Origin: Missouri
Regiment Name: Capt. Drumright's Co. (D), Greene Co. Reg't, Mo. H.G.
Regiment Name Expanded: Greene County Regiment, Missouri Home Guard
COMPANY: D
Rank In: Private
Rank In Expanded: Private
Rank Out: Private
Rank Out Expanded: Private
Film Number: M390 roll 11

National Park Service. U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865
Name: Reuben Davis
Side: Union
Regiment State/Origin: Missouri
Regiment Name: 48 Missouri Infantry
Regiment Name Expanded: 48th Regiment, Missouri Infantry
COMPANY: C
Rank In: Private
Rank In Expanded: Private
Rank Out: Private
Rank Out Expanded: Private
Film Number: M390 roll 11

Now the task is which record corresponds to my Rueben Davis? Maybe it's both? The first record is in line with the location requirements of a proof: where the Regiment Name is Greene County, Missouri Home Guard as this is where the census records indicate that Rueben and his descendents remained for many decades. I'm compelled to that specific record because census records indicate that Rueben was the only male of service age in the county (Rueben Davis, Jr was only 6 at the time). For family pride's sake I'd love to claim that Rueben was also in the 48th regiment. So let my search go on! My dream was to email the Greene County Historical Society (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gcmohs/index.htm) and they would shoot back a cemetery where he was buried and a hasty trip would be thrown together and I would take a photo of my 4th great Grandfather's headstone with a regiment number and other special designations that Civil War veterans markers might bear.

My dream has not materialized...yet. Instead the email I got back from Bettie Hickman, a fine researcher and all round doer of good deeds, of the Greene County Historical Society has yielded a new focus... Rueben's wife. According to the genealogical society's records the Kelly Chapel Cemetery in the Taylor Twp has listings for Elizabeth Scott Owens and her son, Francis E Davis. I hope to visit this cemetery and take rubbings and photos of the their markers.

The gist of Bettie's email is contained in the following lines:
DAVIS, F.E. 22 Nov 1849--19 Dec 1866 w/o R.H. & E.S. DAVIS
DAVIS, Elizabeth SCOTT 8 Jan 1825---26 Aug 1883 w/o R.H. DAVIS

But that's not all, a few minutes later, Bettie sent me another exciting lead on both Reuben and Elizabeth Davis. A reference to their marriage! Here's the golden treasure...

Reuben H. DAVIS and Elizabeth S. OWENS 11 Feb 1846
by Thomas M. Johnson MG Pg 137 Book A. cert # 576

It's amazing how many times genealogy research starts in one direction and jumps on down another. Here's another situation where I search for something and end up with another treasure to pass down to the family. In the meantime I'll start packing for trip to visit great great great great grandmother's gravesite!

Finding the Creason Cemetery

Michael Reynolds — 2/4/2008 4:26:53 PM

Favorite Genealogy Link for the week of January 21, 2008

Michael Reynolds — 1/21/2008 4:26:53 PM

This week's link is a family genealogical listing on RootsWeb.com. The surnames listed in this posting include: Porter, Wiggins, Cate, Long, Hankins and Large. Normally, I don't post many links to RootsWeb.com as the references are hard to verify or even non-existant. I find that Don's listing is very detailed and pragmattic, with attention paid to the finer points of referencing.

Strawberry Research leads to Porter and Corner Finding

Michael Reynolds — 1/10/2008 10:51:00 PM

My current research project is Strawberry farming in the Family. My first step is to conduct a exhaustive information gathering process. I've found numerous references about the industry in general in southern Missouri which are located at the bottom of this post. I've managed to buy a few tokens and tickets off of Ebay and have even interviewed two family members who both grew and picked strawberries during the 30s, 40s and 50s. A book that I bought, Strawberries in the Ozarks, even has pictures of tickets that two of our ancestors issued, Norman Oren Porter and Francis Henry Corner. There's even an interview of my Great Aunt that's printed on a page.

Finding the Old Granby Cemetery

Michael Reynolds — 1/4/2008 10:51:00 PM

There are two Granby, Missouri cemeteries and the both are located near each other. The old cemetery has sadly been a victim to vandals several times over the years and a few of the headstones are broken. Most are still legible and some still have relatives alive to decorate the graves with flowers. From our GEDCOM files I have made two headstone rubbings of relatives Samuel Fullerton and James Cornelison.

Grandma Porter's Cobbler Recipe

Michael Reynolds — 12/17/2007 10:20:00 PM

Charlene “Blondie” Faye Porter is buried in the Granby Memorial cemetery on the Northwest corner. Charlene endured early tragedies (three out of her four grandparents died before she turned two years old) and brought five children into this world. She was known as an excellent seamstress which is a skill she passed down to her grandchildren. Many of the granddaughters still have Barbie doll clothes or Cabbage Patch Doll custom clothes made by Charlene.Below is a recipe of Grandma Porter’s Cobbler. Enjoy!

New Web Site Features

Michael Reynolds — 12/17/2007 10:20:00 PM

Building out the web site to support our genealogical work has been quite a challenge! Here’s the lowdown on the functionality that we got out there in the last two months. First, we got a GEDCom parser so that I can take my Family Tree generated file and pull the data into a SQL Server database to allow for lookups and review via the Internet. Next, we nailed the articles section and added several articles related to our family, genealogy, favorite web sites and the technology behind the web site. For good measure syndication via RSS is utilized. Search is provided by Google on each individual page, to facilitate external searches across the entire Internet. We’ve done a lot of work, but there are a lot of features, functionality and things we need. Please, use the contact us feature of the web site to send suggestions, stories, ideas or just to kick off a conversation. We’d love to hear from you! - Mike

When I Was Young - Olive Lillian Corner

Michael Reynolds — 12/16/2007 10:20:00 PM

Here's an email that I will be Forever Remembering from a long distance cousin...with this story about Olive Lillian Corner (see below for an excerpt) and this was brief message was attached...I phoned mother in Yorkshire to day, and she would like you have to have her story , of a girl growing up on a Yorkshire farm. I’m honored to be hosting the entire story for all the English, American and Canadian cousins of the future.

What are RSS Feeds?

Michael Reynolds — 12/14/2007 7:30:00 PM

Tired of checking back at a web site to see if they have new content? Then RSS reeds are the way to go! Many software packages including IE7, Outlook and more support the downloading of RSS feeds, then you'll have notifications pushed to your desktop rather than checking a long list of web sites. Forever Remembering has RSS feeds created for the articles. Now, what would be really cool is to have an RSS feed that pushed to you only the family history search. Then you could get notifications whenever I update family facts.

James William Hunter Family and Historical Time Line

Michael Reynolds — 12/13/2007 7:30:00 PM

Mr. Hunter was born at the end of the Civil War and lived through one of the greatest periods of inventions in the world. In the 1900 Census his occupation was listed as a Stone Contractor, in 1910 a House Carpenter and in 1920 a Contract Carpenter, while son August was listed as a Truckman living with his father. He left this life with the world in turmoil at the beginning of WWII. Not only did Mr. Hunter live during the prohibition he flourished during the Depression. James’ legacy includes a family history of children and grand children who are proud movers and packers (just ask my wife!)

Favorite Genealogy Link for the Week of December 24, 2007

Michael Reynolds — 12/9/2007 7:30:00 PM

On the lighter side today is the twelve days of Christmas with a genealogy flair.

Favorite Genealogy Link for the Week of December 17, 2007

Michael Reynolds — 12/9/2007 7:30:00 PM

Newton County, Missouri has had an intresting affect on my ancestors lives as many lived in this area Ozarks for most of their lives. George Arthur Taylor mined for zinc and lead while the Francis Jacques Corner born in England moved his family to the area in a probable attempt to homestead land. He didn't survive this effort but his wife Rachel Corner (Drake) made the claim in his stead.

Favorite Genealogy Link for the Week of December 10, 2007

Michael Reynolds — 12/9/2007 7:30:00 PM

In this RootsWeb posting I have found some very credible citations and just a well organized and documented research project. I haven't contacted Don to thank him for his efforts, but I need to put that on my TODO list today!

Best Screen Resolution to view ForeverRemembering.com

Michael Reynolds — 12/10/2007 9:13:00 PM

We've had some questions on what screen resolution our web site should be viewed. The first question we decided to address was that our web site "looked tiny" on some of our users screens - we were using an old 640X480 layout that should have been taken out to the trash in the late 90s. At the beginning of December we switched layouts to support at least the 800X600 crowd though I admit the site still looks tiny on my 19" monitor. We'll work to improve this aspect of the site in 2008, but for now any resolution above 800X600 will look fine.

Francis H. Corner's Middle Name

Michael Reynolds — 12/6/2007 9:13:00 PM

Francis H. Corner’s middle name eluded me for quite some time, until I started researching his children (thanks for providing insight as to how they married!). Then I found Iva Evelyn Pierce (Corner)’s certificate of death listing her father’s name as “Francis Henry Corner”. At the time of her death she was a widow and the whereabouts of James and Jack, her sons are unknown. Usually, the informant provides data, however; in this circumstance the informant is listed as Records State Hospital. Noticing Dr. Paul Barone certified his attending to Iva from June 30, 1949 until her death on March 15, 1955, it could be surmised that during this time frame Iva herself provided the State Hospital of Nevada, Missouri with most of the lineage information as well as her preference of Funeral Home and Cemetery. Though none of the other Frank Corner children’s death certificates list a middle name for their father, Henry is a plausible middle name supported by information probably provided by his daughter in the form of her death certificate.

Grandpa Corner was born Dec 28, 1853

Michael Reynolds — 12/6/2007 9:13:00 PM

Mama Cleva Opal Porter (Fullerton) was only seven years old when her grandfather, Francis Henry Corner, contracted pneumonia while digging strawberries back in 1911. They operated on him in his living room, removing ribs to drain the lung. Initially the surgery appeared to be successful, unfortunately the fever returned the next day and he lingered on. The site of this surgery and Frank’s suffering must have etched a vivid memory into Mama Cleva’s mind as it was 60 years later when she wrote the story down in the late 1970s. I was able to scan a copy of the letter under the care of Ethel Pearl.

The Book Reynolds - History in the making

Michael Reynolds — 11/27/2007 8:30:00 PM

The Book Reynolds was created in a single evening by my son. What makes the story even funnier is that he has noticed my genealogical transcribing of letters. Guess what that leads to? The last page he snuck up to his Mom's office, turned on the computer and opened up word and he transcribed his story and printed it out (that's the last page of the PDF). The story is about a Pilgrim and an Indian and the first Thanksgiving and contains my sons unique spelling of words.

Favorite Genealogy Links for the week of December 3, 2007

Michael Reynolds — 11/25/2007 8:30:00 PM

The Bureau of Land Management's web site has been a fantastic resource to do land research and find where ancestor's lived and how much land they owned. Not all of the states records fall under the Bureau of Land Management, but enough do to merit searching on this web site. Certified copies can cost a pretty penny, but if you are looking for a downloadable copy for your own proofs then you will be pleased with this web site. Of particular interest to me was the widow Rachel Corner (Drake), who claimed the Corner homestead near Granby, Missouri in her husbands name in 1871. Finding this info was easy with the web site mentioned in this article.

Favorite Genealogy Links for the week of November 26, 2007

Michael Reynolds — 10/25/2007 7:30:00 PM

Having many relatives move to, live in and eventually die in Missouri has been a huge benefit to my genealogical proofs. Missouri is one of the friendliest states to genealogical studies for several reasons. First, the Missouri State Archives has done a tremendous job of indexing and digitizing death certificates from 1910 to 1956 and using technology to bring them to the general public via a web site. To date, I have searched and found exactly 40 death certificates via this web site, and the cost has never been a factor...cause it's a completely free web site. I must admit there are times when I know what state a relative went to the church triumphant, but have been reluctant to send off for the death certificate because of a $10 or $15 fee. Thanks Missouri for leading the way in genealogy research I hope many more states are soon to follow.

Organizing Genealogical Data

Michael Reynolds — 10/21/2007 6:45:00 PM

As an aspiring genealogist I have experimented with numerous methods in organizing my data, and have always felt that I could do better. While I haven’t found the silver bullet, yet, I’m sure that I’m closer to the solution than when I started. My beginnings were very humble… a three ring binder and hole punch is all it took. Then I found HeritageQuest Online and my folder started expanding exponentially and my system soon collapsed into chaos. If you find yourself in the same situation keep reading and see if this system can help out.

Headstone Rubbings - Part 3 - Storage

Michael Reynolds — 10/19/2007 9:30:00 PM

Space is at a premium in almost every household and even today most family historians consume too much as it is today. A growing collection of headstone rubbings definitely competes with all my genealogy books, photos and relics, so much that I’m exploring many different storage techniques. This article definitely will not solve all your Headstone Rubbing storage issues; instead we strive to give you a variety of storage techniques, allowing you to choose a combination that best suits you. Most of us agree that the best way to preserve your work is through professional framing combined with artificial lighting and strict environmental controls, however; when you start to get more than a couple dozen hanging your family and friends will start to question your sanity… and decorating techniques.

Headstone Rubbings - Part 2 - How to Custom Crayon Making

Michael Reynolds — 10/19/2007 8:00:00 PM

Crayon making is not the usual topic of genealogists, but as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention (research to find out who said this and create a link to wiki). In the first article of this series we discussed how to make rubbings from grave markers. We mentioned the use of crayons and found the typical children’s crayons are far too small to easily create rubbings. Not to say that it cannot be done, the challenge is that the surface area of a typical crayon is fairly small and headstones are fairly large. The initial rubbings that I created with ordinary crayons took about 20 minutes to create and were not of a very high quality, at least not for the public displaying that I was aspiring to do. My results often had double edges of the names due to shifting of the cloth and the minor adjustments necessary to get the entire monument when 3D artifacts are attached to the grave marker, such as flower pots in the middle of the monument.

Headstone Rubbings - Part 1 - How to Create an Heirloom

Michael Reynolds — 10/19/2007 7:30:00 PM

In my heart lies a fondness for collecting, others call me a pack rat, when all is said and done the possessions I enjoy most are the pictures, obituaries, and family stories. But there always seems to be that one relative that no one can remember anything about...except where they are buried. For those relatives I find the art of head stone rubbings as a way to “collect” a memory. Taping a cloth to their marker and rubbing a crayon over the engraved stone creates a nice heirloom to display at reunions and is a great conversation starter.