Oldest Living Relative

At times it is more enjoyable to read other people's blogs than to post on my own. Lately I've been reading other blogs and doing some research on the Ziegler letters I have. My inspiration for this post is from Greta at http://gretabog.blogspot.com/ and Wendy at http://allmybranches.wordpress.com/.

My oldest living relative is my mother's brother. He turned 88 this month. He and his wife live near us, just a few miles in fact. He is three years older than my Mom. They are close but for them it might as well be across the country, they don't get to visit very often. They both are in bad health, both have had heart problems, cancer, high blood pressure. Another thing they share is they are both EXTREMELY hard of hearing. Both of their parents were hard of hearing, I guess I have something to look forward to. Mom has hearing aids but still has trouble hearing especially on the phone. Since she has trouble and he can't hear on the phone (doesn't ear it ring) they can't visit by phone.

My cousin brings her Mom and Dad to see Mom from time to time when they are able to get out. That hasn't been very often since my Aunt fell a few months ago. I haven't been able to take my Mom to see them in a couple of years. They have steps, just a couple but she is unable to go up even a couple. The last time I took her we got her in ok but had a really hard time getting her down the steps.

We always think we'll go in the spring when we could stay outside, but my Uncle has breathing problems and has to take oxygen. The day has to be the perfect day, not too hot, not too cold, low pollen. It's sad to know they would love to see each other and visit but can't.

He has always been a lot of fun. I can remember when I was a small child he called me shadow. I was very shy and would hide behind my Mom. He would look around and say there's Katherine's shadow.

We went to Florida with them several times and he was always fun. They took me to Myrtle Beach when I was a teen. My first trip to the Ocean! They also took my brother and me to Opryland theme park it was closed down a few years ago. I remember he talked me into riding a roller coaster with him, no one else rode. I guess they looked to see what the roller coaster was going to do. It was a bit more than I liked, but my Uncle seemed to have fun! He even asked did I want to ride it again! No!!!

He drove until a couple of years ago when he decided it was too dangerous since he couldn't hear emergency vehicles coming.

Mom's memories of Maggie

I talked with my Mom about the letters regarding Maggie Ziegler Edgemon's estate. She didn't know who Virginia Ziegler was. I told her that I found Virginia on the Census that she was the daughter of Joram and Emma Ziegler. She also did not know the mystery lady, Rula Z. Onks. Mom said that Rula sounded familiar, she thought that her grandmother talked about Rula but she doesn't remember anything else.

I did learn a little more about Maggie. Mom remembers Maggie, she would have been in her early twenty's when Maggie died. Maggie married later in life and didn't have any children. She was not sure if Chester had been married before or if he married after Maggie died. She doesn't know where he is buried. The house where they lived was the old Ziegler house and mill where Jacob and Annabelle lived. She said when Maggie died Chester had to move and the place sold. Some of the family thought that Chester should have been allowed to stay in the house. She doesn't know what happened to him.

Mom remembers going up to see Maggie and Chester when she was about 14 years old. They ate with Maggie and she had a table full of food. She said all the old country people would cook big meals and leave it on the table covered. Wonder how many times people got sick!

I wish there was a picture of Maggie, as I've learned more about her it would be nice to put a face with the name.

Maggie Ziegler Edgemon's Heirs!?

The second letter is mostly written to explain the options regarding the timber and property which Maggie Ziegler Edgemon owned at the time of her death.

I was fascinated by the list of names which Richard Tuell wrote to, the heirs of Maggie Ziegler Edgemon’s estate.
1. Mrs. H.P. Moore this is Mary Annabelle Ziegler Moore sister of Maggie.
Anna Moore died June 27,1947 .
2. W. G. Ziegler this is the brother of Maggie. This is my Great Grandfather, he died Jan. 7, 1949.
3. Mrs. Rule Onks I am researching this person as I don’t know about her.
4. Mr. J. A. Ziegler, Jr. is Joram Jr. who is the son of Joram Sr. the brother of Maggie.
Joram Sr. died in 1935. Joram Jr. would be getting his father’s part of Maggie’s estate.
5. Virginia Ziegler which I found from researching the first letter was also a child of Joram Ziegler, Sr. and would be getting her father’s part of Maggie’s estate.

Now for the unknown mystery lady from the second letter, Mrs. Rule Onks. At the Washington County Tennessee Genealogy Website http://www.tngenweb.org/washington/ I did a search for Rule Onks. I discovered Onks Cemetery on the list I found Rula Z. Onks. It appears the letter I have had a typo instead of Rule it may have been Rula. Finally a small tidbit of information. On the U.S. Social Security Death Index at Family Search there is a Rula Onks born Oct. 7, 1899 and died Aug. 1978 she lived in Washington County, Tennessee. This is the county where Mrs. Rule Onks from the letter lived and where the Onks Cemetery is located. I still don’t know how she is related to the Ziegler family and Maggie Ziegler Edgemon.

Maggie had one other brother John B. Ziegler who lived in Oregon. John died in Oregon in 1926, he had several children. We don’t know much about his children and as far as we do know none of them moved back to Tennessee.

Maggie Ziegler and Chester Edgemon married in 1917 and as far as we know Maggie never had any children.

I’ve had these letters for several years and read over them but just said well I know most of the people. Since I started reading the Genealogy blogs I’ve discovered how much fun it can be to research these old letters and learn more about your family. There maybe someone else out there with this same letter which went to one of the other people on the list, wouldn’t that be neat!

Maggie

I'm not sure why you can't enlarge the letter in the previous post so I'm going to try this again.

Maggie

I have several letters written by Richard Tuell to Will G. Ziegler regarding the estate of (Maggie) Margaret Jane Ziegler Edgemon. Will G. Ziegler was my Great Grandfather and Richard Tuell was the son of Emily Ziegler Tuell. Emily and Maggie were Will's sisters and they were the children of Jacob and Annabelle Ziegler. John B. Ziegler, Joram A. Ziegler, Sr. and Mary Annabelle Ziegler Moore were also children of Jacob and Annabelle Ziegler.

The first letter is dated Feb. 23, 1947. Maggie died May 4, 1946. I believe Aunt Anne to be Mary Annabelle Ziegler Moore who would have been an Aunt to Richard Tuell. Irene was Richard's wife.

Mary Annabelle Ziegler Moore died June 29,1947. I wonder if the family had gone to see her because she was sick?

It appears there was a lot of timber on the land which belonged to Maggie and they wanted to get a good price for the timber. I guess there was a shortage of timber after the War.

Miss Virginia Ziegler has been a mystery. I found no Virginia Ziegler in the Ziegler Family History which my Mom's cousin gave me. It seems by the comment "sticks to her school work" she could be a student, maybe college or maybe she was a teacher?

Yesterday, I searched for Miss Virginia Ziegler, she had to belong to someone! Finally the mystery was solved!! At Footnote.com I found Joram Ziegler on the 1930 Census. Since I'm not a member I took down the information and went to Heritage quest online through our library. Then under 1930 Census, Meigs County, Tennessee, Civil District 4, I found them. Joram and Emma Ziegler with their children Joram Jr. 28 and Virginia 13. On the Family History information I had they only listed J. Reed Ziegler who died in 1906 and Joram Jr.

I also found on the Obituary Database from the library a Virginia Ziegler and a Joram Ziegler, Jr. I'm going to get these and hope to find more information.

There are still lots of unanswered questions, what happened to Chester Edgemon, Maggie's husband? He must have been dead if Maggie's nephew was in charge of the estate? or maybe the property was Maggie's before she married? She was living with her parents at the time of the 1910 Census. Maybe they were divorced? The more research you do there are more questions that come up.

Well I'm still not sure what happened to Chester and Maggie. I found a Death Certificate in Texas for a Chester F. Edgemon born 1883 and died July 2, 1968. Birthplace! are you ready for this Athens, Tn. The informant was George Edgemon. Father Samuel Edgemon and mother Alica Boone. More research! At Family Search. com I found a Samuel Edgemon 51 living with his sons Chester, born 1883 and George, born 1885 on the 1900 Census McMinn County Tennessee. Sure seems this was the same Chester married to Maggie.

One problem, there is another Chester Edgemon (spelled Edegemon) same age, same county, district is different. He is living with a brother-in-law, Lee Sliger, can't make out the wife's name. Could this be the same Chester counted twice? What are the odds of two Chester Edgemon's being in the same county with the same birth year. It is possible!!

After looking at the 1900 Census I looked at some pictures I took last fall at the Buttram Methodist Church Cemetery. This is where Maggie Ziegler Edgemon is buried, Maggie is buried with the Ziegler's in the cemetery. I took some of Edgemon's mainly because my grandmother had Edgemon's in her line. Well, well who do I find Samuel and George.The birth years for Samuel and George match those on the 1900 Census. There is also a marker for M. H. Edgemon son of Saml and A.A. Edgemon and one for Katherine wife of Sam Edgemon, maybe a second wife. I remember there was another marker which you could not read and I didn't take a picture, this could have been A.A. Edgemon.

I'll keep researching. The next letter has ever more questions!

Uncle, Uncle!

I've read several wonderful blogs about Uncles for the Carnival of Genealogy. Terri at The Ties That Bind http://terri-thetiesthatbind.blogspot.com/ has done a fantastic series on her uncle. I'm not sure if I'll have time to see how to send my story to the Carnival of Genealogy or if I'll even feel it is good enough for the Carnival. I wanted to at least do a post on my blog about one of my Uncles.

I can't say he was a favorite, I can't even say much about him. You see he died March 22, 1945 long before any of his nieces or nephews were born. He never married and never had children to carry on his name and memory. I feel it is important for some of his family to keep his memory alive. Never forget him a true hero!

Eugene Douglas Kelley was the third child of Edgar and Fay Kelley and was born June 28,1920. Eugene is the baby in the picture. He was only 8 1/2 years old when his father died. He was the oldest boy, I'm sure he had a lot of responsibility put on him at a young age. My Dad was three years younger and looked up to him. Dad never talked very much about Eugene, I think even years later it was too painful for him. The first time I remember seeing my Dad cry was when I was about eight years old. A neighbor had a friend in Luxembourg working as a missionary. She went to the cemetery where Eugene was buried and took a picture of his marker. When Dad saw the picture he started to cry and had to leave the room. You can see a picture of his marker at this link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=kelly&GSfn=eugene&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GScntry=39&GSob=n&GRid=10106420&

I was surprised to find his name and a picture of his marker at Find a grave and I had to add the picture of the family. His name is spelled Kelly it seems that Eugene spelled it Kelly everyone else in the family spelled it Kelley. I don't know why, maybe he just got tired of trying to get people to spell it Kelley.

I had a chance to read a letter he wrote to his mother when he left the states in September 1944, he must have been a sweet and caring son. He was trying to assure his mother that he would be alright. It brought tears to my eyes knowing that he would never make it home again. He also tried to let her know that my father would write when he could and that it was good that she had heard from him once and received some money from him. Just a few weeks later my dad was wounded and almost died. Dad was in a Army hospital in the States when word came that Eugene had been killed. Eugene was wounded once before but didn't come home and went back to his unit. I'm not sure how long this was before he was killed.

My grandmother decided to have him buried in the Cemetery over in Luxembourg. The church had a Memorial Service for Eugene and others in the area who were killed in the War.

Eugene Douglas Kelly (Kelley) a life cut short by War. He was greatly missed by his family but never forgotten. The family is all gone now. They are all reunited now in heaven without the pain of this world.

My goal is to let my children and future children in the family know what a hero Eugene Douglas Kelley really was.

Unknown Picture Postcard

I assume the city pictured is El Paso, Tx

since she says "we stayed two days in El Paso.

I don't know if this Carrie is the same Carrie Stammer from earlier but some how I don't think it is. Carrie Stammer's mother was a Ziegler. However,the card is addressed to Mrs. H. A. Ziegler, which makes me think it was a friend of Lillie Mae's or one of her relatives.

The postcard is postmarked DelRio, Texas on May 8, 1935 at 10AM.

Wedding Invitation

Today I have a wedding invitation for Helen Ziegler daughter of William Jacob Ziegler. Helen married James Patterson Browder, Jr. They were married June 11, 1938 in Rugby, Tn.

They are related I'm just not sure how. Rugby is northwest of Knoxville,Tn. I don't know anything about Rugby, Tn.

Easter Memories

I have so many wonderful memories of Easter when I was a child. I don't remember if we did all of these every year but I'm sure there were years we did.



We would go to church on Easter Sunday, sometimes we went to Sunday School and then went home. When I was a small child we would go to Mama Kelley's house (my father's mother). We would have a Huge lunch ham, beans, corn, bread etc. The three older kids would hide the eggs and the four younger kids would hunt. I was one of the four younger kids.It was always so much fun!



We would go home and spend some time with my Granny and Pa Pa (my mother's parents). They lived next door. I think my Great Grandmother and Great Aunt Christian always came over on Easter Sunday afternoon. They always brought me and my brother a chocolate Easter Bunny. Since it would be just the two of us, my Mom or Dad would hide the eggs and we would hunt. I don't remember ever going to a big Easter Egg Hunt at church, maybe they didn't have them.

Grandma and Aunt Christian came over most Sunday afternoon's when the weather was nice.
I remember looking for them to come. Finally we would see Aunt Christian's Plymouth coming up the road. It seemed to take forever for it to get to the house. Mostly because Aunt Christian always drove SLOW! She never got in a hurry doing anything. I would always hate it when my brother would tease me and say I was as slow as Aunt Christian. I realized after I was grown there is nothing wrong with taking your time and trying to do a good job. I do try not to drive like her though, you at least have to do the speed limit now a days or get Run Over!

Margaret Ziegler Edgemon

Margaret Ziegler Edgemon from the previous post is buried at the Buttram Methodist Cemetery in McMinn County, Tennessee. Her husband Chester Edgemon is not buried here with her. Maybe this was a second marriage for him and he is buried with a first wife.

Carrie Stammer

I don't know the lady in this picture. This is a postcard type picture and on back it has the date 2/11/13 and Carrie Stammer.

Then addressed to Miss Margaret Ziegler

Athens, Tenn.

In looking at the Ziegler Family History which I received from a cousin I found a Caroline Stammer. This could be the lady in the picture. Caroline Stammer is the daughter of Rebecca Jane Ziegler who was married to John Stammer. Rebecca Ziegler Stammer was sister of Jacob Ziegler (my Great Great Grandfather).

Jacob also had a sister Margaret Ziegler born 1847 and married 1874 to John Blakemore so I don't believe this was addressed to her.

Jacob had a daughter named Margaret born in 1878 she married in 1918 to Chester Edgemon and had no children. Since this Margaret would have been Miss Margaret Ziegler in 1913 I believe this could be the Margaret. Carrie and Margaret would have been cousins. Margaret would have been the sister of Will Ziegler (my Great Grandfather). Since Margaret had no children when she died her things may have gone to her brothers and sisters. This would explain how my Great Aunt Christian came to have the picture.

Dogwood Winter?

I always heard of Dogwood winter and I guess this is what we are having now. My Dogwood trees are blooming now and it has turned cold. Maybe a chance of snow. Here's a picture of one of my Dogwood trees.

Easter Postcard

This is another of the postcards from the Ziegler's. I'm not sure if this one was ever sent on back it says Hello cousin grace how are you-

Christina

Christina was written by a child. Great Aunt Christan was born in 1906 so this could have been written by her.