Light Bulb Find

Do you get 'light bulb' hints? Since I have my RootsMagic software connected to my Ancestry tree, I get a yellow 'light bulb' next to someone's name whenever there is a new Ancestry hint.

When I opened the software today, I had several of those hints sprinkled thru the first 5 generations of my tree. One of those light bulbs was for my great-great grandmother, Mary Foster Crawford.

That 'hint' was a link to a 'story' posted by another researcher. That story appears to be an obituary clipping from an unknown source.

Little Clue

My husband and I recently returned from a two-day research trip to the Midwest Genealogical Library in Independence, Missouri.

This was a chance to immerse ourselves in a large collection of books related to genealogy and history. During this trip, I was hoping to find little clues buried in what are often called 'mug books'. These 'mug books' are county histories that also contain biographies. Many genealogists are cautious about the use of these biographies since the families sometimes 'glorified' the information they submitted to these histories.

Even though I'm aware of their common name, I've often found 'little clues' in these county histories. Thus, I was hoping to find such histories for several counties in Missouri and Indiana so I could gleam tidbits to help with my Crawford research.

Revolutionary Ancestors

Were any of your ancestors in the colonies prior to the American Revolution? If so, have you tried to identify ancestors who may have fought in the Revolutionary War?

Since I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), I already knew that one of my ancestors provided patriotic service during the war: Nathaniel Hammond of Connecticut.

I had also started collecting documentation to prove William Buckles on my mother's side of my tree. 

Beyond that, I didn't know which of my ancestors might have served. Thus, I needed to create a list of ancestors who might have served so that I could research them in Fold3 and the DAR databases. 

To create a list of potential people, I needed to know who was of the appropriate age to serve. I found a wiki on FamilySearch that lists various wars and suggests 'Ages of Servicemen in Wars.' 

Using that information, I was able to create a marked group of those whose

     Birth date is after 1715

AND  Birth date is before 1767

100 Years Ago

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1)  Determine where your ancestral families were on 18 May 1919 - 100 years ago.

2)  List them, their family members, their birth years, and their residence location (as close as possible).  Do you have a photograph of their residence from about that time, and does the residence still exist?

My Grandparents

• Leon Crawford was living with his parents at 504 Ave G in Dodge City
• Winnie Letha Currey was likely living with her sister, Myrtle. Winnie traveled from Kansas City to Dodge City in 1918 to help Myrtle with the birth of her first child, Dorothy. Winnie and Leon were married on Christmas Eve in 1919 at Myrtle's house.
• Edward O. Briles and his wife Pauline (Mentzer) Briles were likely living in Woodson County in 1919. Edward's World War I draft card indicated they were living in Everett Township, Woodson County in June of 1917. By 1920, they had moved to Allen County.