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This researcher is so proud of her “Brethren” family. While documenting a “collateral line,” I unexpectedly “found” another Frantz wife. Information was sketchy at first but I continued to search. What I found made me both sad and glad.

My fourth cousin, Henry Irvin Frantz, adopted the non-relative girl from the Church of the Brethren Orphan’s Home. “Non-relative” because I was curious about her family and why she (and a younger brother) were in the facility.

Gertrude Janet Garrison had four living brothers who experienced the broken home after the death of their mother in 1918. In the 1920 Federal Census, Gertrude (age nine), and William (age five), in the Orphan’s Home.

In 1920 Federal Census, Albert (age eleven) is listed as an “orphan” living in the home of William & Delight Grandstaff. A great-granddaughter writes “He was orphaned as a child and would sometimes hitch rides in boxcars to get from place to place.”

Elery (age 15) is listed as a “lodger” in the 1920 Federal Census.

Three-year-old Charles had already been adopted by Bert and Matilda Smith.

Where was the father? In the 1920 Federal Census, Frank was living at home with his mother–and listed as “single.”

I was sad for the plight of the children; I was glad they survived (and hopefully thrived).

“Reining in” on publication of blog messages because “a friend” said I am “so negative.”  My apology!!

“IMELDA” is creating havoc but we are OK in Livingston (at 10:30 AM).

“Yours truly”  did not plan to continue expanding the family of one family, one “cousin.”  (Best laid plans….) ‘Twas important to “tie up loose ends.” There never seems to be a stopping point!!

Four AM and I’m back! Couldn’t sleep; kept thinking about that specific family. Thinking: “I should have told the reader that five to fifteen ‘source records’ accompany each of the fifty-two (and/or one-hundred fifty-two recently documented individuals).”  Source records are carefully studied  before “saved.” (I’ve likened myself to a surgeon delicately approaching each step with precision.) One-hundred fifty-two individuals in two days–and multiple “source records”–because of one cousin?!

(Yes, I originally published this on Sunday evening September 15th. Re-publishing it after adding more information.)

Here’s the story: An ordinary “source record” revealed the cousin had been incarcerated (eight years) in San Quentin Prison, in California. I looked at the original record (“copy” right there on Ancestry) and noted the code numbers for the felony. I did several Google searches attempting to identify the crime. Long story, bottom line: My “cousin” from a straight-laced Old German Baptist Brethren family wasn’t living a “straight-laced” life. Hence the search for additional “sources” for him plus record searches regarding his two wives and eight children. “Inquiring minds want to know.”

Errors like these are so frustrating–and too frequent!!

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Comment #1

John Hufford (1814-1886) took William Root into his home prior to 1880 Federal Census. William’s parents died a few years earlier and the children (William’s siblings) scattered throughout the community. William is listed as a “boarder” with John, and his sister Frances is a “boarder” at the next-door property. ~~ I suspect the children are in the home(s) of extended family but I have not unraveled all the relationships.

Comment#2

“It’s a small world after all”  is a tune we hum after a visit to a ride at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. My “small world” experience is the fact that I documented (and published) LaVerne Evergreen Cemetery Tombstone Inscriptions (1989) and I read the tombstones for William E. & Anna Blickenstaff Root. Very likely my grandparents (David & Lydia Frantz) were friends with William & Anna.

LaVerne Evergreen Cemetery Tombstone Inscriptions

documented in Digitized Library of Family History

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Confession: I’m still documenting the extended family of earlier mentioned “cousin” who, undoubtedly, was an embarrassment to his “straight-laced” Bible-believing, Christ-centered, family members.