Trip to the WI Vital Records Office

Today I got two hours to find as much information as I could. I found some pretty good stuff, and I am pretty happy about it.

I finally found Theresa Kaiser Hess's death record. She died in 1939. This provided me with her full birth date, which I didn't have before, as well as her death date (of course) and the name of her father- Bernard. Her mother's name wasn't listed for some reason.

I also tried to find Ruth Dimmys Tarbell Greeley's death record- couldn't find it.

Additionally, I got pretty lucky when looking for Sarah Elizabeth Mayville Beaulieu's death record--- it was in the first book I picked up. She died in Long Lake, WI, in 1925, about a week after her brother Collin died. She was the last to die of Ephraim's children with Hannah Nora Preston.

I also messed around with the Walter family. Lester Walter's father was Fred. I confirmed his parents' names, that he married Helen Stark, as well as got exact birth/death dates for him. Also found Helen Stark's birth and death dates, neither of which I had previously, as well as confirmed her father was Peter Stark.

Also, I looked up Fred's father Fred Sr. I found when he died and was able to find his birth date, too. I tried to find his wife, Elizabeth Hauch Walter but while searching I came across the death record of Fred's SISTER Elizabeth Walter, who died a few years after him as a result of slipping on ice. I was able to confirm this was his sister because both of their records listed father Simon Walter and Margaret Strasser. I hadn't known their parents' names previously.

The biggest thing I found, so far, is Katherine McConnell Reynolds's mother's name. Well, I also found Katherine's exact birth and death dates, but I found that her mother was Elizabeth Hake (her father was Alexander McConnell). For some reason I recognized the name Hake...

A few months ago I found out that Katherine was buried at Rock River Cemetery in Jefferson, WI., so I went to look at the stones for myself and found that the cemetery was full of people named Hake, and in particular Kate and her siblings and son were surrounded by Hakes. I thought it odd but of course didn't think too much of it.

So I looked up these Hakes on findagrave.com first, then looked a couple up on rootsweb. They are all intermingled. A guy named Bob Speckman had added pictures and info to some of the gravelistings on findagrave, and the site had his email address. I contacted him about the Hakes and asked him if he knew of an Elizabeth Hake. From what I found on Rootsweb, and then what he told me, it seems there was an Elizabeth Hake born in 1819 to John Phillip Hake (the man who donated the land for the cemetery), but Bob hadn't been able to track her down--- everyone but her, he knew more info about.

So it seems that I might have his missing Elizabeth, but we can't quite prove it yet... we just know that Elizabeth it related to the bunch somehow. A Reverend Emanuel Hake, also buried in that cemetery, and born around the same time as Elizabeth, married a Jane Elizabeth McConnell, who I can only assume is closely related to my Alex McConnell (if not his sister or something). I'm pretty excited about this discovery. the Hakes trace back pretty well... but the McConnell's are still a mystery.

I almost forgot--- Bob seems to be the leading Hake researcher, so it was lucky that I contacted him-- he knows a lot and has a lot of good resources. He had, offchance, in a pile of newspaper copies he got just recently from the Jefferson Historical Society, the obituary for Alex McConnell, which confirmed all of the moving I had found in the censuses, and also provided the date of his death, and the fact that he married Elizabeth Hake and they lived in the "Hake Neighborhood." This is also really exciting, because I had had no solid dates yet for Alex and still don't for Elizabeth-- unless we prove she's the daughter of John Phillp Hake.

Perry, Mayville, Tice

Haven't updated lately but I've been doing several things throughout the past week or so. Last week I looked in Elouisa Mayville's marriage with George Washington Perry. I discovered that their son Ephraim had gone to Colorado around 1880 and had begun a family there. I also discovered that Elouisa, her husband George W., and her children George Myron and Lucy M. were all buried at Fort Howard Cemetery in Green Bay, WI.

Today I set out to find them in that cemetery, and despite four inches of snow coating everything, I did. They are in Section E.

Also, today I received an email from Pamela F. Tice. She got ahold of a copy of the will of Peter Tice (father of Ralph Tice). She sent me a transcription of it although I wish she would email me a copy of the document, also, so I can compare it.

Additionally I just found out a little more about a couple of Melissa Mayville and Alfred Nachtwey's children. I found three of them on the Social Security database.

Also, I found out that Edmund Mayville actually got married- didn't know this previously. He married Nina Muriel Morris around 1920 or so. They had at least three children, Edmund, Gloria and Gertrude Mayville. Clorie Greeley Mayville's birthday book had listed those three children's names and birthdays, but we weren't sure who they belonged to until I checked the 1930 census last week. I found Edmund Jr and Gertrude on the SSI also, enabling to find their death dates as well as the fact that Gertrude married and Edward Schultz. Gertrude ended up around the Oregon area and Edmund Jr. ended up in Buena Park, California.

This is pretty exciting news because they are only Ephraim Mayville's grandchildren and Edmund Jr. may have carried on the characteristic Mayville look. That would be great to contact his family if he had any, because of the close relationship to Ephraim. Unfortunately Edmund Jr. died in 2004.

Emmerich line back from Franciscus

Albert Emmerich, my contact in Germany, just sent me what he has found so far in the Emmerich line, past Franciscus Emmerich. I now know that line back to the beginning of the early 17th century, which is very good as far as finding records in Germany goes since a lot of them were destroyed as a result of the World Wars.

Additionally, Albert has begun helping me track down any Liebenow researchers who may be in or around Germany. This is very helpful and will hopefully lead to further information on that line.