Jester Family and Finding New Info

Fun My Jester Family Pictures from left a trip to South Dakota right Christmas dinner and bottom center a Family picture when my kids were little. Adding these to my tree today while doing research.

So many new at least to me indexes and resources to continue my research on ancestry.com. I was excited to see the database

Kansas, City and County Census Records, 1919-1961

http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2270

In this I was able to find where my Mom and Dad lived as well as the address of my Grandparents and myself and my sister were listed also. I then called Mom and shared with her what I had found and she gave me more info too. If you have lived or have people that lived in Kansas City check out this database on ancestry.com They vary in information but it gives address and on some age and others number in household while others listed all at the same address by name. Very helpful and interesting.

Another surprise I found was when I found my Father in Law, Mother in Law and Brother in Law listed in the

 U.S., Chicago and North Western Railroad Employment Records, 1935-1970

http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?viewrecord=1&r=an&db=General-6944&indiv=try&h=162627 

At first I thought it was for my Father in Law but found out after more investigation it was for my brother in law Dennis Forbes employment with the railroad. Still is a great resource if you have someone working for them. It lists parents, dob, and hire date. Interesting info and helpful if you are looking for a maiden name of a mother.

ancestry.com has other railroad records to:

U.S., Northern Pacific Railway Company Personnel Files, 1890-1963

California, Railroad Employment Records, 1862-1950

Kansas, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Prior Service Records, 1859-1935

Early Illinois railroads

The Ohio Railroad

This is very helpful to look at if you think your ancestor might have worked for the railroad at sometime.

Well back to do research. I am trying to find more info on my Jester side before we meet again with the Jester cousins this Saturday. 

Till next time keep on sleuthing and find those family gems

Jester Family Get Together from Nov 2014 and May 2015

My Dad

 

So much has happened this year. I have not done a whole lot of genealogy and have not been on any research outings this year yet. We did go to the cemeteries on Memorial Day and we had fun going to the Shawnee Indian Cemetery in Shawnee, KS.

To catch up I just wanted say that since Dec when I had the flu and was down for 3 weeks I was sick 3 more times with a bad cold and bronchitis and really didn't feel like posting. Then in March my Dad died suddenly and very unexpectedly. My Granddaughter fell at work at severely broke her arm and elbow requiring surgery to put the bones back together with a plate and 12 screws.  Then cars broke down and Grandson was sick and I was sick again. It seems like the hits just kept coming and I either wasn't feeling like posting or to busy to. That has changed now and I hope to start posting at least once a week and to get my research going again as well.

One thing I want to stress in all this is like the old saying "don't put off till tomorrow what you should be doing today" and I will add because you might not get the chance to do it! This is in everything but especially when it comes to spending time with your loved ones and telling them how much you love them.

If you keep putting off talking to your family about their history and memories you just might never get the chance. I was so glad that our Jester family decided to get together in Nov 2014. My Dad was so excited to see and visit with all of his cousins that could be there. We had a wonderful time and heard stories about our ancestors and even got to meet new cousins we had never met before. That is one thing we are very thankful for was that Dad had such a good time and got to see all of them. We got together again in May 2015 and Dad was really missed by everyone. Some that could be there in Nov couldn't be there in May and others were there that weren't there the first time. We are going to get together again in Nov this year.

The one thing is that in Nov I hope to be able to have a big family tree printed up for every one to look at and see how we all fit in.

Here are pictures from Jester get together
Nov 2014

James and Gladys Jester with Jack and Zeilla Jester

Cousins Jan, James, Robert and Jack Jester

May 2015

Thanks to my cousins for sharing their pictures with me.

Next time will have pictures from cemeteries and what I found out from my DNA test on ancestry.com

Until then Keep on Sleuthing!

 

All in the Family Tree

It has been a really long time since I posted anything due to illness. I am much better now and out of my wheelchair so I can get back at the courthouse and cemetery sleuthing again on a regular basis. I wanted to give just a short tree of my direct ancestors and where they are from to start of this new year and to also remind you to never get rid of hard copies of anything. I was rereading a article sent to me out of a book and noticed that I had not followed through on looking for my ancestors marriage record in Pike County IL. When I looked it up at the IL State Archives sure enough there they were. Always review what you think you know and see what you missed.

Here goes with my tree:

Debra Kay Jester (me)

Parents: Jack Norman Jester and Zeilla May Snodgrass

Jack Norman Jester Parents:
Jesse Theodore Jester and Gusta Fern Bilyeu

Zeilla May Snodgrass Parents:
Emmett Elzer Snodgrass and Mattie Rae Capp

Jesse Theodore Jester Parents:
Charles August Jester and Hattie Jane Anderson

Gusta Fern Bilyeu Parents:
George Clinton Bilyeu and Sophia Jones

Emmett Elzer Snodgrass Parents:
Walter C Snodgrass and Sallie Ann Cobb

Mattie Rae Capp Parents
Zelman Capp and Elizabeth Vincent

That is the immediate grandparents and I am going to look indepth each week at one of the sets. This week is Jesse Theodore Jester and Gusta Fern Bilyeu

Now here is the web address for the IL State Archives :

http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/archives/databases.html

the online searchable records are:

Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763–1900

Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre–1916

Illinois Statewide Death Index (1916–1950)

Databases of Illinois Veterans