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

Stumped and Moving On

I have been finding it very hard to verify and find much out on my Charles Jester. The family story goes he ran away from home at 10 yrs old but I have know way of knowing if this is true or not. I have been unable to find him in any census records until after he married Hattie Jane Anderson. The census records change the year he was born from census to census. Even his death record and headstone give two different years of birth the death record says 1870 and the headstone says 1868 which is most likely the right date from all I have found. I did find he had a brother living in Kansas City Mo at the same time he lived in Kansas City KS and they are both buried in the same cemetery. His brothers death certificate states his father as Jesse Jester which is who I thought all along was Charles father but hadn't been able to prove. I for now will lay Charles aside and work on another line, but I will continue to look for proof of who his parents were and find more info on him. I hope some day to maybe find cousins or someone who can help with this side but for now I will move on. Sometimes it is good to step away from the brick wall person and then come back later to them for me so that is what I am doing.

I will share the death certificate, marriage record and headstone with you so that you can see what I mean about the dates.

Until Next Time 

Keep on Sleuthing and Happy Hunting you Ancestors

Family Recipe on Throwback Thursday

Throw Back Thursday Recipe of My Grandmothers

Guess I have been feeling a little nostalgic this week and was looking at some of my Grandmothers old recipes. My Grandmothers were good cooks and we always loved what they had for use to eat. My Grandma Snodgrass lived with us and she taught me how to make fudge, divinity, noodles and so many other things. Grandma Jester could make a hamburger special and so good. I loved her hamburgers, fried chicken and just about anything she cooked but her baking goodies were the best. I loved her Watergate Cake, her Banana Cake and all the breads and cookies she made. I thought today on Throw Back Thursday to share one of Grandma Jesters Recipes with you. Sure does bring back memories.

 

This Recipe is in Grandma's handwriting which makes it special to me. This Cake was so moist and flavorful and I loved it. When she died she had one in the freezer for a friend who loved this cake. What a treat.

 

This is a picture of my Grandma Gusta F Bilyeu Jester.

Hope you will try Grandma's Recipe. It was fun thinking about her and all her goodies she made us.

New Year, What I hope to Learn in 2014

    Sorry I haven't been around much. Had some health problems and did not get to do to much genealogy or blogging. I hope to do better this year about posting and researching.

As 2014 starts I was thinking about all I still need to find out in my family history and though I have learned a lot more than I knew before there is still so much more to learn. This year I hope to break through and be able to verify more on my JESTER family as well as the FORBES, LIVINGSTON, SNODGRASS, and WILDER trees. I am going to start concentrating on these brick walls and try to start taking them down brick by brick. I decided to  start with the JESTER family first in this endeavor. I hope to share what I find with you here. Here is where I am going to begin the JESTER family wall.

This is where the wall begins with Charles A Jester. I have no confirmed information on his parents. I do know he has one brother that lived in Kansas City, MO and died there and is buried in the same cemetery as Charles and Hattie Jester. His name was William B Jester. So to start taking down the wall I am going to go back to what I know and re look at everything from census, birth and death, marriage, newspapers, cemeteries and court records, maybe something will jump out at me or maybe I missed something. I am also going to talk to relatives again and see if they remember anything.

SO HERE I GO SLEUTHING IN THE JESTER FAMILY TREE. I will let you know how it is going and if there are any distant JESTER relatives that can help please leave me a comment.

              

Charles Albert Jester 

B: 13 JUL 1869 

Washington County, IA

D: 17 Apr 1942

Kansas City, Wyandotte County, KS

M: 19 Nov 1890

Concordia, Cloud County, KS         

 

Married to

Hattie Jane Anderson

B: 24 Dec 1870

Padonia, Brown County, KS

D: 14 Dec 1934

Kansas City, Wyandotte County, KS

 

children are:

1. Laura May Jester

B: 03 Mar 1893

Rulo, Richardson County, NE

D: 1967

 

2. Bessie Ruth Jester

B: 05 Jan 1898

Padonia Township, Brown County, KS

D: Aug 1979

Tacoma, Pierce County, WA

 

3.   Susie Jester
B:
D:

4. Twins
    Jesse  Theodore Jester
B: 10 May 1902
Horton, Brown County, KS
D: 13 Jan 1983
Kansas City, Wyandotte County, KS

   Daniel Jester
B: 10 May 1902
Horton, Brown County, KS
D: Aug 1902
Horton, Brown County, KS

5. James Franklin Jester
B: 15 Jun 1904
Padonia Township, Brown County, KS
D: 9 Sep 1993
Johnson County, KS

 

 

 

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