Memorial Day Honoring our Family Veterans 2016

WWI Museum trench warfare

As Memorial Day 2016 approaches I want to once again honor the Veterans in our family that have served and sacrificed so that we have the freedoms that we have, which includes being able to share here.  We on this day and everyday want to remember and thank the men and women who have served in the Armed Forces to keep us safe and free.  We will also go to the cemeteries to remember our loved ones who have died and put flowers on the graves. We will have family cookouts and picnics and play at the pool or lake but while doing all this we must and should honor those who served because if they had not been willing to put their live's  on the line for us we might not have the freedom to enjoy this day like we do. Our family has had someone who has  served in all the wars starting with the Rev. War.  It is an honor for me to pay tribute and thank them for their sacrifice.
Here are a few of the men from our family that has served. 

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE AND ARE SERVING IN THE MILITARY!

William Capp WWI

Noel L Forbes WWII

Raymond Leroy Wilder  Killed WWII

James M Forbes

Michael Forbes

J Ted Jester

Jack Jester

Jack Jester

Terril Bilyeu

Mother's Day Past and Jester Cousins Get Together April 2016

In honor of Mother's Day I wanted to share a few pictures of Mother's and Mother's day past

Jan, Grandma and Grandpa Jester Mother's Day 1956

Mother's Day 1967 with Grandma holding Ted and Grandpa left Jack, back me Deb and right Cindy

Mother's Day 1967 with Mom and Dad in back and from left to right Me Deb, Jack; Cindy and Cindy holding Ted

Norma Crum, Grandma Snodgrass and Bob Crum

Grandma Snodgrass and Mom Zeilla

Aunt Ellen Thorp, Rebecca Weixeldorfer, Hazel Weixeldorfer

Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary Jester with Rick Jester 1956

Once again the Jester cousins got together for a lunch and time of visiting. We always have a great time when we get together. We talk about our families and what we know about our Jester ancestors which really isn't much. One interesting story my cousin told me was that my Great Grandfather Charles A Jester was something of mess. It was said by his wife's family that he had another family somewhere else and my Dad's cousin said that Charles would leave for 2-3 months at a time and then show back up as if he never left. My Dad's cousin Jim said that he only spoke to his granddad Charles 1 time and that was Charles asked if he parents were home and Jim said no and Charles asked I suppose you don't know what I am having for supper and then walked home. Jim said he had no use for Charles that he wasn't a nice man.  I have learned from past experiences that you don't just disregard these stories and since then I have found that Charles had a woman Anna living with him in the city directories on ancestry.com in 1932, 1934 and 1936 here is an example of the directory from ancestry.com
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?ti=0&indiv=try&db=usdirectories&h=846576008

Name:	Charles A Jester
Gender:	Male
Residence Year:	1934
Street address:	431 N 3d
Residence Place:	Kansas City, Kansas, USA
Occupation:	Auto Mf
Spouse:	Anna Jester
Publication Title:	Kansas City, Kansas, City Directory, 1934

Interesting and needs more research since my great grandmother Hattie Jane Anderson Jester didn't die until 1934 but the address given is where they lived. Questions and more questions. He is a mystery that I hope to unravel.

We had a good time and here are some pictures from the get together

Always take the opportunity to get together with family and enjoy the company, stories and learn, write down and cherish the stories you are told. We get together now about every 6 months and the first one my Dad was able to attend and shortly after that he suddenly died. He enjoyed so much visiting with his cousins and their families, sharing stories and we have wonderful pictures of the time he got to spend with them.



This month of May starts my monthly search for a surname. I will spend most of my time researching that specific surname and this month is Mother's Day so I will be doing more research on my Mother's Mothers family the CAPP Surname.

Until Next Time Happy Sleuthing

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

Back on Internet and Researching Again

I am finally back to having Internet. They finally after over 2 year wait installed our google fiber and I am able to easily do Internet genealogy research again. I will be able to blog more easily also so I hope to at least once a week post something new. Thanks for staying with me.

I was surprised when I got on ancestry.com and looked at some of their new indexes to find my father in law listed in one that doesn't fit what we thought we new. I will share more later but I bring this up because just because you think you have exhausted everything there is always more to find. I will be going back and checking other members to see what I can find that is new in the new databases. More to come later this week