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!

 

TBT Research Trip Place To Research

History of Texas County MO

Texas County MO Courthouse

We are planning another research trip so I thought I would repost this for TBT. I have to add that in addition to the courthouse searches make sure you look for a library to search at, a genealogy or historical society, and the cemeteries. Make sure you turn over every rock you can while in the county of your ancestors. Go and see if you can still find the house or site where your ancestor lived. It would be great to be in contact with the historical society for the county you are going to ahead of time and see what they have to offer and the hours they are open. Just go and learn everything you can while on the trip. We are planning on going to Iowa and research this fall and I can not wait.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Place to research

There are so many places to do research on the internet but there is nothing like going to a courthouse in the county of your ancestors. While you are there try just looking around a little this paid of for us when we went to the the courthouse in Washita County OK. They had pictures up on the wall of migrant workers in the cotton fields in the 1930's and they had one that said do you know these people and there in the front was a picture of a woman that looked just like my Grandmother. She had always told me they picked cotton and she did even when she was 9 months pregnant with my mother. These pictures were proof that they really did pick cotton in this county in the time frame she had said and though I can't prove it I am sure that was my Grandmother in that picture.

Things you want to remember to check while at the courthouse are marriage records, deeds, and any court records you can look at. Make sure you look for the ancestor you are there looking for, but also be sure to take note of records of the same surname, like in the marriage records copy in a notebook all the ones you find for the surnames you are looking for whether you think they are in your tree or not. The reason is that you might find later that they fit into your tree and if they do you already have the dates copied down to go back to. I did this when researching my Capp line in Monroe County MO and was glad about a year later that I had because I found that one I didn't think fit in did from one of the brothers to my ancestor. I also have not done this and wished I had later when I found that the person in question was in my line. It just saves time to do it while you are there. Also make sure you check deeds closely. Probate records and wills are also necessary to look at while there. Again check for all you can at the time you are there.

Be sure when going into the courthouses to be courteous and not demanding. I went into one and they said they had bad experiences with people coming in doing genealogy because they were rude and demanding. This makes it bad on the ones coming in after and will limit how willing they are to help you or let you look at records. Most importantly just go and learn about the county and what it was like when your ancestors lived there.

TILL NEXT TIME KEEP DIGGING AND SLEUTHING!

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Memorial Day In Our Family

Memorial Day In Our Family

WWI Museum trench warfare

Today is Mon. May 26, 2014 and I am writing here and able to because of the sacrifices our men and women in the service have made. 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 this day 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 life 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!

TBT Genealogy Vacation

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

Genealogy Vacation

We just returned from a fall vacation in which we went to several cemeteries, a couple of courthouses, and a library. We planned our trip around places we wanted to go for genealogy and then saw the sights around those places. We went to 6 different cemeteries and only in one did we not find who we were looking for, so I would say we were pretty successful. I have started a cemetery book and so while we were there we took pictures of the headstones and then took pictures that gave us reference points to find the headstones again. We also took pictures of the name of the cemetery so we would have that also. We are hoping by doing this that anyone who would look at the pictures would be able to find the headstones themselves if they go to the cemetery or we could find them again if we want. The one cemetery we could not find the headstones for we did find WPA records for that cemetery and got info for it from the Library we went to in Washington, Washington County, IA. They had a very nice genealogy department and very helpful volunteers. We also went to the Washington County, IA courthouse and they turned us loose to look at the books for deeds and marriages. We then visited the Keokuk County IA courthouse and though they weren't as friendly we still were able to look at the records. They had a index card file cabinet  with index of records and then copies in the books that you could look at. We were able to piece together some lose ends and all and all was a fun successful trip. Here are pictures of how I am starting a cemetery book for Ash Grove Cemetery in Ash Grove MO.

First picture is of the name of the Cemetery.

Second is a picture looking back to where the headstone we are wanting is in reference to the ones around it

Third is a picture from the front to the back in the section our headstone we want is in.

Last here is the picture of the headstone we were wanting to get.  You can see where it is in regards to others in the second picture. and the third too. In second is to the back of the picture in middle and third it is on the right of the picture in front.

Hope these pictures help you see what I mean about making a cemetery book. I will get mine together and do another post showing it too you later.

When planning a genealogy trip make sure you have all the known info on the family in the area you are going to do research with you. If you can find out where the cemetery is see if they have a map to help you find it. If you can find where the records are kept that is helpful also or you can do like we did and go row by row looking in the smaller ones. Make sure when in the court house to take note of any names with the surname you are researching because you don't want to find out later that even though at the time that name didn't fit anywhere that you knew of, that they do belong in your tree. Make a list of all the marriages, deeds, land records, vitals and any record they have by surname and figure out later if they are related or not.

One highlight of the trip was going to Springfield National Cemetery in Springfield, Greene County, MO to find my husbands gggrandfather who was buried there. He was a CW vet and where he was buried were many unknown soldiers buried from the CW also. It is a nice cemetery. Here is a picture of his headstone we took while on the trip.

Springfield National Cemetery, Springfield, Greene County MO

Our ancestor Arthur Davis headstone at the Springfield National Cemetery

We are already making plans for our next genealogy trip and can't wait till we can go again. The best part of genealogy is going to the places your ancestors are from and getting a feel of how the place is and was in their time.

Good Resource Videos To Help in your Research

Rootstech 2014 has come and gone. I watched the live stream videos during this time but missed some of them I wanted to see. They have them on the web and you can see them still along with downloading some of the syllabus for the sessions which are available on the website.  Here is one of the video classes that I don't think you want to miss on 5 Ways To Do Genealogy In Your Sleep with Deborah Gamble https://rootstech.org/about/videos/?id=3168208992001. this was an interesting class on how to let the internet search for you while you sleep using watch features on other sites. Good ideas that will enhance your research. Christa Cowen has one on Getting The Most Out Of Ancestry.com which was great and informative at https://rootstech.org/about/videos/?id=3168869866001
There are so many good ones with so much good information that you will want to check them out. The have some archived videos also from Rootstech 2013 that are worth looking at. I hope you will take the time to look at some of these they are an excellent resource to help you in your research.


Until next time


Keep Sleuthing, Hunting and Stomping through your family history.

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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