Minor Genea-Origins

Saturday, July 4, 2020

4th of July with Stu and Margaret (Miars) LeGault

Celebrations of the 4th of July come in all forms and fashions. Sometimes they are spent on boats, beaches or parks. Sometimes with gatherings of friends and family. Growing up in Central Illinois summer days were long and humid. The 4th of July represented the mid-point of the summer season and school break. For my family, many July 4th celebrations took place at the home of my great aunt and uncle, Stuart and Margaret (Miars) LeGault.

Margaret Irene Miars is my maternal grandfather's older sister. She was the daughter of Frank and Katie B (Saltonstall) Miars and was born on 15 July 1898. (1.). On 27 November 1927 in Pekin, Illinois, Aunt Margaret married Stuart LeGault. (2). Uncle Stu was born in Lockport, Illinois and came to Pekin as school age boy. (3). It is believed that Margaret and Stu met in Pekin when she was working in town as a domestic servant. (4)

For much of their married life, Margaret and Stu lived on the north side of Chicago. Uncle Stu was an official with the NCAA and worked football and basketball games for the Big 10 and other college leagues during the 1940's and 1950's.

When they retired in the mid 1960s they decided to move back to Central Illinois. Their first house was the one I grew up in Brimfield, Illinois. They quickly realized that the big two story house on U.S. Route 150 was too big for them. My parents were looking for a home for the growing family so the LeGault's sold them their Brimfield house and found a small home in Elmwood which was better suited to their needs. They lived in that home the rest of their lives.

Stuart and Margaret (Miars) LeGault; at their home in Elmwood, IL, ca. 1973.

It became an annual event to have a picnic on 4th of July each year and then go watch the fireworks display nearby. Other Miars aunts and uncles in the area as well as my grandparents usually attended. On the way to their house,my siblings and I were given strict instructions to stay outside and don't touch anything if we went inside. They had no children so their home was always veryneat and tidy and full of stuff that could be easily broken by small, dirty hands.

Upon arrival, everyone had to get a tour through the modest size garden that they had in their small backyard. A large section of it was for flowers and at 4th of July they were all in bloom. Aunt Margaret had a wide variety of flowers planted but her favorites were pansies and marigolds. To this day, I think of her when I see those flowers.

The picnic spread was laid out in their garage or drive way and there were always lots of goodies. I especially remember though Aunt Margaret's brownies. I do not know what made them especially gooey and chocolaty but they were different from the brownies I was used to getting at home. Also, there were plenty of "vitamins" (AKA M&Ms). Aunt Margaret always had at least one candy dish filled with them or brought them along with her when she came to our house. We still have "vitamins" at our family gatherings today. My mother would try to tell us that we could have "a couple" but Aunt Margaret always encouraged us to take a handful.

Does anybody have this recipe? Please let me know because it belongs in our family cookbook!

Once it got dark it was time to pack up and head over to watch the fireworks. I think back very fondly of these times at their house. Memories of 4th of July as a child are centered around their home and the wonderful celebrations we had with our Miars family.

Miss you, Aunt Margaret and Uncle Stu! I think about you often and the time we spent together.

Related Blog Posts -

An Abundance of Marriage Records for Frank and Katie (Saltonstall) Miars

Bibliography -

1. Peoria County, Illinois, death certificate, unnumbered (1977), Margaret I LeGault, Peoria County Clerk, Peoria.

2. Tazewell County, Illinois, marriage certificate, unnumbered (1927) Stuart LeGault and Margaret I Miars; Tazewell County Clerk, Pekin.

3. Peoria County, Illinois, death certificate no. unnumbered (1983), Stuart E LeGault, Peoria County Clerk, Peoria.

4. Polk's Pekin Illinois City Directory 1926 (Peoria, Illinois: Leshnick Directory Co., 1924), 165, entry for “Miars, Margaret.”

Saturday, May 23, 2020

In Memory of PFC Emery J Whisler - World War I - DOW

Updated - 18 Oct 2020 - See section below with updates for this post.

Recently, I have been doing descendancy research on the family of my great-great-great grandparents, Peter and Sybilla (Garber) Ringenberg(er). This involves documenting the details of each of their children and their descendants. It was doing this research on their children's families that I came upon the tragic story of their grandson, PFC Emery Whisler of Mackinaw and Rock Island, Illinois.

Peter and Sybilla (Garber) Ringenberg(er) lived in Elm Grove Township, Tazewell County, Illinois. He was an immigrant to the US from Germany on 12 Sep 1838. (1) Ten years later he married Sybilla Garber in Tazewell County, IL on 7 Feb 1848. (2) They raised a family of six children on a small farm in Elm Grove Township, Tazewell County which included my great great grandmother, Catherine.

Their fifth child was Amelia who was born in Tazewell County on 29 Nov 1857. (3) On 12 Jan 1890, she married John R Whisler in Minier, IL, also in Tazewell County. (4) John seems to have been a Union solider in the US Civil War. (5) They made their home in Tazewell County and started a family of five children. (3) John seems to have children from a previous marriage that were also part of his second family.

Their third child and first son together was Emery Joseph and was born in April 1898 in Illinois. (6) He is enumerated on the 1900 and 1910 census records with his parents but then was not found in 1920, either with them or anyplace else in Illinois that I could find. At first I did not think much of this scenario. He was an adult now and I figured that he was someplace else living his own life. That idea turned out to be very wrong.

According to Find A Grave, John Whisler dies in Danville, IL in 1915. (7) Not long after that, Amelia moved to Rock Island, Illinois where she had a daughter living. Emery evidently moved with his mother.

But what did Emery do after this move? I could not find him anywhere after this time period. I looked for him on Find A Grave but did not find him there. Then I did a search for his name in various newspaper sites for Rock Island and Tazewell County. It was here that I found him again.

“Son Of Local Woman, Severely Wounded, Oct. 11,” Quad City Times (8)
See below for enlarged versions of the picture and article.

Oh my goodness. Severely wounded. This did not sound good at all. The words of the article were bad enough to read and digest. But the picture is what really got me. Far to young to be involved in a war in Europe between countries and families who could not settle their differences peaceably. Then I realized he was my family. My first cousin 3x removed. He was my great grandmother's (Katie (Saltonstall) Miars) first cousin. I started to think about how I would feel if this were one of my first cousins instead of three generations removed from me and the tears started to flow. This newspaper article was from 19 Jan 1919 saying he had been wounded in October 1918 (just a few weeks before the silly war was over!!). His family must have been beside themselves with worry not hearing from him for several months. Now they were told he was wounded without details about how he was or where he was. Unimaginable to me.

I frantically started searching for the rest of the story. What was Emery's fate? Unfortunately, it was not what I wanted to find.

“Mackinaw,” obituary, The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois) (9)

I can only imagine his family was stunned and devastated at this news. The suffering they all went through from mid January to early February 1919 is unimaginable to me. I kept looking at his picture from the newspaper and about the life he would never get to live. I was also concerned then about his memory. He had no children or family of his own to keep him alive. Nobody who dies in service to his county should be forgotten. It is important, I believe, to keep the memory alive of these young men who made the greatest sacrifice of all so that we might live mostly in peace and prosperity 100 years later.

I made one more attempt to find his place of burial and thankfully I then found a memorial page for him on Find A Grave. (10) His last name was misspelled which prevented me from finding him there before. He's buried in his hometown of Mackinaw, Illinois where he spent his childhood growing up with his parents and siblings.

When I am researching a person from my family tree I usually will google their name to see what might be found about them there. I did this for Emery and to my surprise I found HUNDREDs of entries that included his name! They seemed to be obituaries of other people and upon reading a few I realized something wonderful. Mackinaw, IL named their American Legion Post after him. It is the "Mackinaw American Legion Emery Whisler Post #607"!!No need to be concerned anymore about his memory. His hometown of Mackinaw, IL is keeping his name and memory alive.

Thank you Emery for your service and great sacrifice from you first cousin, 3x removed.

PFC Emery Whisler - Rest in Peace.

You can click this link and be taken to his memorial on Find A Grave and leave a flower for a brave young man who never made it home.

Update - On 18 Oct 2020, I received an email from Randall McClallen who found this blog post. PFC Emery Whisler is his great-uncle. He provided some additional details and corrections about my post that I want to share. Thank you so much, Randall for this information!

"My grandmother, Jessie Amelia Whisler, was a daughter of Amelia
Ringenberg Whisler. She would have been a 1st cousin to Katie Miars. I
want to give some clarifications to her brother, Emery Joseph Whisler.
Emery lived in Deer Creek, Il., at the time of his enlistment. He worked
as a Barber and was engaged to a woman by the name of Gladys Phillips. He
was injured during a battle but not too serious as he was able to write
letters to his mother while in the hospital. What killed him was infection
as it was before antibiotics were discovered. He is buried in the Mackinaw
Cemetery, when you drive into the cemetery it is immediately to your right
near the street. I don't believe that Emery lived in Rock Island and his
mother, Amelia lived with her daughter, Ida, on Taylor St. in Davenport,
IA. There was another son, Johnny, who did live with his mother off and on
in Davenport but he died of pneumonia around 1928 in Peoria."

Randall McClallen

Related Blog Posts -

Bibliography -
(1) "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957", database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 Mar 2020), entry for “Peter Ringenberg,” arrived New York, 12 Sep 1838 aboard Atlantic; citing "Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897," microfilm publication M237, 1820-1897, roll 037, line 24, list number 555; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
(2) David C. Perkins, compiler, Tazewell County Illinois Marriage Records Index (Illinois, Pekin: Tazewell County Genealogical Society, 1982), p. 41, entry for “Ringenberg, Peter and C. B. Garber,” 23 Jan 1848, page 145 in Marriage Book A. Page 145 is missing from microfilm on FamilySearch of this marriage book so the author has been unable to review it directly.
(3) “Whisler,” obituary, The Davenport Democrat and Leader (Iowa), 29 Jun 1931, p. 13, col. 2; digital image, Publisher Extra collection, Newspapers (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed May 2020).
(4) FamilySearch, digital images (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/120944?availability=Family%20History%20Library : accessed 23 Apr 2020), digital film no. 761636, image 609 of 718, Tazewell County, Illinois, marriage register, Book 2, p. 3, license no. 3196, John Whisler and Amelia Ringenberg, 12 Jan 1890.
(5) "Illinois, Databases of Illinois Veterans Index, 1775-1995 (Web),” database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Apr 2020), entry for John R Whisler, about 1846; citing “Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls Detail Report,” database, Illinois State Archives (https://www.ilsos.gov/isaveterans/civilMusterSearch.do).
(6) 1900 U.S. census, Tazewell County, Illinois, population schedule, Mackinaw, Enumeration District (ED) 0145, sheet 6-B (penned), p. 155-B (stamped), line 80, dwelling 158, family 158, Joseph E Whisler; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 Jun 2014), citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 347, FHL microfilm 1240347.
(7) Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 24 April 2020), memorial page for Corp John Raymond Whisler (Mar 1846–29 Jul 1915), memorial no. 53335114, cemetery marker in Mackinaw Township Cemetery, Mackinaw, Tazewell County, Illinois, USA; maintained by “Amelia Crombie-Christy,” contributor no. 46861625. Authors note: John may have been living in a residential home for Civil War veterans in Danville at the time of his death.
(8) “Son Of Local Woman, Severely Wounded, Oct. 11,” newspaper article, Quad City Times (Davenport, Iowa), 19 Jan 1919, p. 8, col. 4.
(9) “Mackinaw,” obituary, The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois), 8 Feb 1919, p. 12, col. 3.
(10) Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 03 May 2020), memorial page for PFC Emery Joseph Whistler (unknown–11 Oct 1918), memorial no. 72998099, cemetery marker in Mackinaw Township Cemetery, Mackinaw, Tazewell County, Illinois, USA.

Friday, May 22, 2020

An Abundance of Marriage Records for Frank and Katie (Saltonstall) Miars

Sometimes in my family history research I struggle to find even one mention of a family member anywhere. I have the opposite situation with my great grandparents where I have multiple documents about the same event. As frustrating as not having anything is the excitement at having more than one document is just as intense.

More than a decade ago when I was starting my family history journey, I found the date and location of the marriage of my great grandparents, Frank and Katie (Saltonstall) Miars in multiple online index databases. At that time I really didn't know where or what to do with that information or how to go about getting the actual original records of this important event. So I just recorded the information in my software program where I keep my family tree and went on with research in other areas. (I did at least include in my family tree the source of that marriage information!)

As part of trying to figure out what happened to Katie's father, Thompson J Saltonstall, I realized that maybe her marriage record from 1893 would offer some clues. By this time I was well acquainted with the process for obtaining vital records in Tazewell County, Illinois where Katie and her husband Frank were married. But also I had seen where the Tazewell County Genealogical and Historical Society had some original marriage records from this time period. So I sent them an email to see what they had. Very quickly I received the following Return of Marriage to County Clerk.

Return of Marriage for Frank Miars and Katie B Saltonstall (1)

Great! This is what I was looking for - the license application that would provide personal and family details for the bride and groom. I read through the information provided for the groom and found everything to be as I had expected. His parents names, residence, occupation, and age all were in line with what I had previously uncovered about him. I then moved to the details about the bride and found an unexpected entry for, Katie's father.

The information I had about my great grandmother's father was that his name was "Thompson J" - not "Peter" as the marriage license stated. "Peter"?!?!?! Who was that? Where did this first name come from? I knew (or thought I knew) that "Thompson J" was Katie's father's name. I have family papers from her daughter (Mary E (Miars) Best) stating this. I have the marriage record of Katie's parent's which lists her father's name as "Thompson". I have census records for him that list his name as "Thompson". I also assumed that the details on Katie's marriage record would have come from her or the groom. Both of which should know the name of Katie's father. Why is his name now listed as "Peter"? Are they the same person?

At first I was irritated about this new information. I have uncovered a couple of Revolutionary War patriots and Mayflower passengers in Thomspon's line. I need a quality source though to identify Katie as the daughter of Thompson. This marriage record was supposed to be that link and now it isn't. Because Thompson disappears after 1875 and Katie was born in 1872 (2) they are never enumerated together in any census. I have yet to find any obituary for him or his mother (Isabella Paine Saltonstall McCoy) who likely outlived him as the newspapers from that time or place are not extant. I needed this marriage license for Katie to say some different than it did. I will write more about the search for "Peter Saltonstall" in a subsequent post.

The second document I have for my great grandparents comes from FamilySearch which has a number of collections digitized from Tazewell County, IL (why can't Peoria County do this?!?!?). A search in those online records found Frank and Katie's marriage recorded in the County's Marriage Register Book 2. One entry in the register crosses both facing pages. In the image below their record is identified with an arrow. It should be the same exact information as on the marriage return above and it is. Katie's father is listed as "Peter".

Tazewell County, Illinois - Marriage Register for Frank Miars and Katie Saltonstall (3)

It is wonderful to have both of these images of records created by Tazewell County, IL upon the marriage of my great grandparents. But recently I was reviewing the papers left by Frank and Katie's daughter (my great aunt), Mary E (Miars) Best. I was trilled to find a booklet commemorating her parent's marriage.

Marriage Certificate booklet - Frank Miars and Katie Saltonstall 7 Mar 1893 (4)

It is absolutely beautiful and other than yellowed pages it is in good condition. The original string that ties the booklet together is still holding all the pages in good order. How about the handwriting! It is beautiful as well. The information included on the "This Certifies" page is consistent with the marriage return and register. I love it when this happens! My working hypothesis is that this was created by the entity that performed the ceremony. In this case the clergyman was "G. W. Ballenger".

Rev. Ballenger's full name is George Walter and I have seen his name many times as the officiant at other Miars/Hodgson/Dillon weddings in Tazewell County. He would have been well known to my great grandparents. Just a few years after he married this couple his wife died. He married for a second time to Frank's first cousin, Anna Robison (daughter of Frank and Mary Jane (Miars) Robison). I need to add G.W. Ballenger to my list of future blog posts because he has a rather tragic story about his upbringing that should be told.

I also need to add to my list of "to-dos" is to research the two witnesses. "Mr. John Whisler" is interesting to me as Katie's mother, Cathering (Ringenberger) Saltonstall Augsburg VanDyke has a sister who was married to a Whisler. I wonder if there is a family connection in the choice of this witness. Figuring out who the witnesses are and the relationship to the happy couple may also help identify the specific location of the marriage. That piece of information is really the only element of the story of this wedding that is not documented. More research is needed! No surprise there.

Once more I can thank everybody, from my great grandparents to my mom, for keeping this beautiful family artifact safe so it could be digitized and preserved for generations to come. It is wonderful to have multiple pieces of evidence for my Frank and Katie's marriage.

Related Blog Posts -

A Letter from "Uncle Roy" to Mary E (Miars) Best
Bramble School and the Miars Family of Jubilee Township
A Teacher's Contract - Mary (Miars) Best - 1843-1944
Mary Best Miars (1906-1986) - Happy 113th Birthday!
A Teacher's Teacher - Lulu (Petty) Eicher
20 Years Ago - The Passing of Robert T Miars
Robert Miars and Bessie Purcell - Breaking Down Barriers to Justice
Clara (Miars) Barker - 123rd Birthday - October 12, 1896

Bibliography -

(1) Tazewell County, Illinois, return of marriage license no. 4098 (7 Mar 1893), Frank Miars and Katie Saltonstall; digital image, Tazewell County Genealogical and Historical Society sent to author on 13 Aug 2019.
(2) Peoria County, Illinois, death certificate no. 65008 (19 May 1955), Katie Saltonstall Miars, Peoria County Clerk. See also "Mrs. Miars of Brimfield Dead at 82," undated newspaper clipping, from unidentified newspaper; in the possession of the author.
(3) Tazewell County, Illinois, "Vital records, 1827-1922," database and images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 Aug 2019), FHL film no. 1314688, DGS no. 7616361, image 683 of 718, Frank Miars and Katie B. Saltonstall, 7 Mar 1893; Register of Marriages book 2, p. 73.

(4) Frank Miars and Katie Saltonstall, marriage booklet, 7 Mar 1893, personal papers of Mary E. (Miars) Best; privately held by Diane Minor, Plano, Texas, 2020.

Friday, May 1, 2020

A Letter From "Uncle Roy" to Mary E (Miars) Best

Recently I started (again) to organize and catalog the many wonderful artifacts that my family has collected over the decades. Specifically, I've been going through the items left by my maternal grandfather's sister, Mary E (Miars) Best. She and her husband, Robert J Best had no children so much of her personal items were given to my mother and her two sisters. Thankfully so many of the family history items she had survive.

Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob spent all of their married life living in Brimfield, IL where my parents and my siblings and I grew up. Among her papers I found a letter that caught my attention. It was still in the original envelope with a return address of "508 Hanssler Pl Peoria, Ill.". it was postmarked "17 May 1976". The address and handwriting were not familiar to me and I was curious about who would be writing to her from Peoria rather than calling her.

Return address on letter to "Mrs. Robt Best" (1)

Here is the letter I found in the envelope:

"Yours sincerely Uncle Roy". Uncle Roy? Who is this? The only "Roy" I know of in the Miars branch of my family tree would have been Aunt Mary's older brother, Roy Saltonstall Miars. But he passed away 11 June 1947. (2) Also, I doubt whether correspondence from her brother would have been signed as "Uncle". Uncle Bob had no siblings name Roy so I thought that it was unlikely that the sender was from the Best family.

I read the letter a few times and thought about it for awhile to try to get some context on what prompted the letter to be written in the first place and who the people where that are mentioned. The writer mentions talking to "Luella". Aunt Mary and my grandfather have an older sister named Luella (Miars) Maher which is likely who the writer was referring to. The writer goes on to say that he heard about "Bob's additional trouble." Hmm....what "trouble" did Uncle Bob have?

The writer goes on to talk about his own similar situation he had faced and how he got through it and expressed the belief that Aunt Mary will get through this time as well with the help of her family. It's not specific at all about the "additional trouble" or his relationship to my family. All I know is that the writer knows Aunt Mary and Aunt Luella and that he's heard that Uncle Bob has "additional trouble".

The postmark on the envelope was May 17, 1976. What was going on with Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob in the spring of 1976? Uncle Bob died on 6 March1980. (3) He died as a result of complications from a stroke he had experienced some years prior. Could that be what this letter was about? I thought about this letter for some time; thinking about when Uncle Bob had taken ill. I remembered that I had graduated from 8th grade in May 1976 and Uncle Bob was unable to attend. Some further digging in that led me to determine that he had his stroke in March 1976. I am pretty sure that this letter from "Uncle Roy" was about that event.

Now...who is "Uncle Roy"?!?!

A few years ago, I decided to put together a collection of newspaper articles from the Brimfield News (Illinois) about each of my parents. This small town newspaper had the usual items about births, marriages and deaths in the community but it also contained "gossipy" items as well like who visited with whom and when and how people spent their leisure time. As part of that process I came across a small item that named my maternal grandparents and my mom. It was about a Christmas dinner they attended in 1946. I was pretty sure in thinking back that I had questioned my mom about it because I did not know all of the attendees that the article listed. Here is that article:

Article from The Brimfield News section "Everybody's Business," 10 Jan 1946 (4).

Bingo! I found Roy Gray listed with members of my family (including my mom). But this article still did not identify his relationship to me or my family. (5) The Christmas dinner, according to this article, was at the home of James P "Jay" Maher. He was the husband of my great Aunt Luella. How were the Gray's connected to Aunt Luella and Uncle Jay?

It seemed the right time to talk about "Uncle Roy" with somebody who might remember him and who attended this holiday dinner. Thankfully there are still two people living that are listed in this article. One of them is my Mom! I sent her this article clipping and after discussing it on the phone she remembered the Gray's as they attended several family gatherings when she was growing up. She thought that maybe he was related to Uncle Jay Maher but was not sure how.

I turned then to a source that has proven very useful in my research for family in Peoria County, IL - Find A Grave. I found the memorial page for Roy Ellis Gray with little trouble. (6) His memorial page was attached to his wife's page and when I clicked on it I found the answer to my question.

Roy Ellis Gray was married to Kathryn Helena (Maher) Gray. There were several siblings of hers attached to hers. Among them was a brother, Thomas Maher, I knew to be the father of James P "Jay" Maher.

The writer of the letter that started all of these questions was Roy Ellis Gray. He was married to the aunt (Kathryn Helena (Maher) Gray) of my great uncle, Jay Maher (husband of Luella Miars Maher). He has no biological relationship to me or my family but evidently had a long familial relationship with his wife's extended family. That would have included my maternal grandfather and his siblings, Mary (Miars) Best and Luella (Miars) Maher.

In May 1976, "Uncle Roy" Gray found out that Bob Best had had a stroke some weeks earlier and wrote a letter of support to Bob's wife, Mary. Thank goodness for extended families.

Lessons learned -
1. Talk about the questions that are identified when working on your family tree or history.
2. Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither is the uncovering of our family history. Contemplate and think about the issues and questions that we uncover and only then document a research plan to resolve and answer them.
3. Think about the time and place of the issue or question to get a context of what was going on and not sure the bare bone facts.
4. Finally.....start with the obvious explanations or sources first to try to resolve the issues or answer the question. There might be a quick solution available.

Related Blog Posts -

An Abundance of Marriage Records for Frank and Katie (Saltonstall) Miars
Bramble School and the Miars Family of Jubilee Township
A Teacher's Contract - Mary (Miars) Best - 1843-1944
Mary Best Miars (1906-1986) - Happy 113th Birthday!
A Teacher's Teacher - Lulu (Petty) Eicher
20 Years Ago - The Passing of Robert T Miars
Robert Miars and Bessie Purcell - Breaking Down Barriers to Justice
Clara (Miars) Barker - 123rd Birthday - October 12, 1896

Bibliography -
(1) Correspondence from "Uncle Roy" Gray to Mary (Miars) Best, postmarked 17 May 1976, Peoria, IL, personal papers of Mary E. (Miars) Best; privately held by Diane Minor, Plano, Texas, 2020. "Uncle Roy" is likely Roy Gray who was the uncle by marriage of James P "Jay" Maher who was Mary's brother-in-law. Also, for the location of this return address see Goggle Map link.
(2) Peoria County, Illinois, death certificate no. 26213, Roy S. Miars, Peoria County Clerk.
(3) Peoria County, Illinois, death certificate no. 127189, Robert J. Best, Peoria County Clerk.
(4) "Everybody's Business," newspaper article, The Brimfield News (Illinois), 10 Jan 1946, p. 4, col. 3; digital image, Historical Newspapers collection, Brimfield Public Library (http://brimfield.advantage-preservation.com : accessed 30 Apr 2020).
(5) I told you that this paper had gossipy items in it!!!!
(6) Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 30 April 2020), memorial page for Roy Ellis Gray (23 Oct 1894–2 Jun 1990), memorial no. 23427076, cemetery marker in Saint Patricks Cemetery, Kickapoo (Oak Hill), Peoria County, Illinois, USA; maintained by "Heather (Angel_Graver)," contributor no. 46809426.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Bramble School and the Miars Family of Jubilee Township

My Miars family line came to Peoria County, Illinois with my grandfather, Robert T Miars, as a toddler sometime between his birth in 1915 and 1920 when the family is enumerated in the US Federal Census in Jubilee Township. [1] I have always wondered exactly when they started their home and farm in there and what their life was like in those days.

Last fall I found the property deed records for my great grandfather's land purchase in Jubilee. He bought the property on 8 Nov 1916 from Harry and Mary Chance. [2] This information was very helpful but I was still not clear exactly when they moved and began living in Jubilee Township. This land purchase in the fall of 1916 did not really narrow the window by much I had for their new residence. But recently I found something that not only helped answer this question but also gave me some new insight on life in their new home.

Going through my grandfather's sister's (Mary E (Miars) Best) papers I found a couple of school report cards for her. One especially caught my eye for a few reasons. Here was one for "Bramble School Dist. 48". [3] Now I had a name for the rural school that she and some of her siblings (including my grandfather) attended after moving to their new farm - Bramble School District 48.

Report card for Mary Miars at Bramble School. See Bibliography #3 for citation.

I remember growing up in Brimfield, Peoria, Illinois seeing a couple of buildings along US Route 150 when we went to town (Peoria, Illinois) that were supposed to have been one room school houses. From my vantage point in the 1970s that kind of school environment seemed like something from the dark ages. Today, that time is around one hundred years since Aunt Mary and my grandfather and their brother, Albert "Dutch" Miars would have been schooled in such a place.

One of these buildings I remember most was down the hill from what used to be the Notzke dairy and the beautiful rock garden it contains. That area now is the main entrance to the Jubilee College State Park on US Route 150. There was a white (when it was painted) dilapidated building there that I must have past hundreds of times growing up. I never knew the name of it and I certainly did not know that my family had attended school there. Now I know they did.

After finding this report card I went looking for the location of Branble School. The internet is still a wondrous entity where nuggets of gold are still to be found. I found reference to the school on a website that no longer exists - Peoria County One Room Schools [4] Even though the website is no longer active it was found on Internet Achive's Wayback Machine. [5]

On that website is a picture of the Bramble School and some interesting history about it. Seeing that picture made me realize I probably had one also.

School photo of Robert Miars ca. 1920s [6] He is far right in second row.

This photo of my grandfather at school is one of my favorite. He is seen as a young boy (far right on second row) standing next to a lifelong friend, Tom Flynn (second row, second from the right). I never really knew where this school was until now. It's very likely Bramble School in Jubilee Township, District no. 48. Now this photo has a location as well as a time period and a couple of names for the students.

I also did a search of "Bramble School" in the archives of the Brimfield News. This is a marvelous resource for finding context, events, obituaries and news (aka gossip) about the people of Brimfield, Illinois. I found a number of references to the school mostly relating to the annual report of its finances. But also I found notices about reunions that were taking place in the summertime. Someday when I have time (ha! Like that will ever happen!) I want to go back and read them and remember.

Back to the report card. The name of the school was just one item that stood out on the report card. The second item was the school year it reported on - 1917-1918. Aunt Mary would have turned eleven years old during this time period. [7] Now I know with much more specificity when the Frank Miars family took up residence in Jubilee Township. They bought their new farm in November 1916 and by the fall of 1917 his school age children were attending Branble School within walking distance.

When I turned the report card over I found another wonderful gift. Here was my great-grandfather's signature - Frank Miars. But not just once but seven times! I do not think I have ever seen his signature before so this becomes one of those documents that I will treasure.

Back of report card for "Mary Miars" Best. See Bibliography #3 for citation.

I learned quite a bit from a one hundred year old report card. The name and location of the school that my grandfather and his younger siblings attended, the year that his family moved to Jubilee Township, Peoria County, Illinois and his father's signature. Once again I will thank and thank and thank again all the people in the past one hundred years that held onto and kept safe this document that helps their descendents learn more about them and their times.

Related Blog Posts -
A Teacher's Contract - Mary (Miars) Best - 1843-1944
Mary Best Miars (1906-1986) - Happy 113th Birthday!
A Teacher's Teacher - Lulu (Petty) Eicher
20 Years Ago - The Passing of Robert T Miars
Robert Miars and Bessie Purcell - Breaking Down Barriers to Justice
Clara (Miars) Barker - 123rd Birthday - October 12, 1896

Bibliography -
[1] For birth see Tazewell, Illinois, amended birth certificate, local file no. unknown, 1915 (issued 24 Sep 1940), Robert Thomas Miars, formerly "Miars"; Tazewell County Clerk, Pekin. For census see 1920 U.S. census, Peoria County, Illinois, population schedule, Jubilee, Enumeration District (ED) 54, sheet 4-B (penned), p. 108-B (stamped), line 100, dwelling 94, family 94, Robert Miars; digital image, Ancestry (http://ancestry.com : accessed 11 Jul 2014), citing National Archives microfilm publication T625, roll T625_398, image 812.
[2] Peoria County, Illinois, "Historical Index," entry for grantee of "Frank Miars", book 312, p. 290, dated 8 Nov 1916, PeoriaCounty.org (https://recorder.peoriacounty.org/recorder/eagleweb/historicalIndex.jsp : accessed 18 Jan 2020).
[3] School report card from Bramble [Illinois] School for "Mary Miars" Best, 1917-1918, personal papers of Mary E. (Miars) Best; privately held by Diane Minor, XXXX, Texas, 2020.
[4] Thank you to Katherine Wilson for finding this website for me on the Wayback Machine on Internet Archive! https://web.archive.org/web/20110816053027/http:/www.peoriacountyoneroomschools.com/Jubileetownship.html
[5] InternetArchive "archives" the internet daily so extinct websites live on.
[6] Robert T Miars school class photo, location and date unknown; digital image 2018, original privately held by Jana (Miars) Minor, Aurora, Illinois. Location is likely Jubilee Township, Peoria County, Illinois and the date is likely ca. mid 1920s.
[7] Tazewell County, Illinois, “Record of Birth Reports, 6, May 1906-Dec 1908” p. 150, for female “Miars,” (23 Oct 1906), unnumbered; digital image, Vital records, 1827-1922, “Book 6, May 1906-Dec. 1908,” FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 10 Jan 2020), film no. 1314683, DGS no. 8329568, image 80 of 715.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

A Teacher's Contract - Mary (Miars) Best - 1943-1944

Here is a wonderful document I found in the papers of my great aunt, Mary (Miars) Best. She was a career teacher in small, rural schools in Peoria County, Illinois. She spent most of her teaching years in 3rd-5th grade. She did not drive so she would have had to get transportation to her school in the days when ride-sharing services could not have been imagined.

She graduated from Brimfield High School in the mid 1920s and then attended Illinois State Teachers College (known today as Illinois State University) in Normal, Illinois. She likely started her teaching career in the early 1930s.

We know that she taught in Sipp School (Richwoods Township, Peoria County, Illinois) which was located at what is today the corner of Glen and University in Peoria, Illinois (a Chili's restaurant is there last time I was there). In the 1950's she was at Edwards Grade School in Edwards, Peoria County, Illinois. We have some class photos from that time. She also spent some years at the school that my parents, my siblings and I attended - Brimfield Grade School (Peoria County, Illinois).

But it is not exactly clear what years those were. It seems to be likely that she was there in the 1930s and/or 1940s. Here is a photo with her class that we believe was from her time at BGS.

(On my list of to-do's is to figure out who all of the children are in this photo.)

Recently though I came across this document that may help answer the question of when she taught at Brimfield. It is a teacher's contract from the "School Directors of District No. 15, County of Peoria and State of Illinois, and Mary Best". This is the back side of the legal-sized document. The front side has no writing on it and is not helpful. (It is included below.)

Teacher's Contract - see citation [1] below.

No where in the contract does it specify the name of the school district or the community that it was in. It says though that it is for "District No. 15, County of Peoria and State of Illinois". District 15 appears to be for the Brimfield school district. [2] It has a different district number today.

Now for the important information - salary. The contract indicates that it begins on 1 September 1943 and runs for nine months (1943-1944 school year.) The monthly salary is $105. That would be $945 total for the duration of the school year. Image working long and hard hours for nine months and getting less that $1000 for your time.

The contract also has a clause regarding termination which can be invoked for "gross immorality, incompetency, or any violation of this Contract, or shall have h[er] Certificate annulled or revoked by the County or State Superintendent she shall not be entitled to receive any compensation from and after such annulment or dismissal." This clause seems very favorable to the District with little to no recource by the teacher.

There are three "directors" named at the beginning of the contract and also who's signatures and included at the bottom. They are "R.D. Savage, Karl Christian, C.F. Dungan." Mr. Savage appears to be Rudolph D. Savage (1891-1961). He and his wife, Erma (Catton) Savage, are buried in the Brimfield Cemetery. [3] There are several "Karl" Christians in the Brimfield/Jubilee/Kickapoo Township areas so I am not sure exactly which of them was a school director in the mid 1940s. Mr. Dungan is Charles F. "Ted" Dungan. He and his wife, Elva (Marks) Dungan, are also buried in the Brimfield Cemetery. [4]

At least two of these three men would have been well known to Mary Best as they were long time members of the Brimfield community. She would have known them or known of them outside her work as a school teacher.

There are only three signatures on this contract. They are those of the Directors of School District 15. No where is the signature of the teacher, Mary Best. The very top of the document has the word "Original". Did Mary sign this contract and teach at Brimfield for the 1943-1944 school year? This document alone does not answer that question. I am also curious as to why she hung on to this contract and not others. At least no other teaching contracts for her have come down to me.

During the war years, Aunt Mary's husband, Robert J Best was in the Army and landed in Europe in the weeks after D-Day 1944. She and Uncle Bob made their home in the upstairs apartment of M.R. and Lorena (Reed) Clark about 1-2 blocks from the Brimfield Grade School. She did not drive so working so close to home would have been very easy.

More research is certainly needed. To start with, I need to contact the Peoria County Schools to see what if any employment records they have to fill in the blanks of where she taught and when. Until then I will enjoy this document and the information it does provide and the glimpse into small, rural schools in Peoria County during the 1940s.

Enlarged sections -

Front page of the contract -

Related Blog Posts -
Mary Best Miars (1906-1986) - Happy 113th Birthday!
A Teacher's Teacher - Lulu (Petty) Eicher

Bibliography -
[1] Citation for the document - Teacher's contract for Peoria County (Illinois) District no. 15 between "Mary Best" and school directors "R.D. Savage, Karl Christian and C.F. Dungan" starting 1 Sep 1943 for nine months, from the Mary (Miars) Best collection; privately held by Jana Minor, Aurora, Illinois. This "original" contract is unsigned by Mary so it is unclear if she accepted it or worked in a different district for year 1943-1944.
[2] "Brimfield School District #15," database, Peoria County One Room Schools (https://web.archive.org/web/20110816052903/http:/www.peoriacountyoneroomschools.com/Brimfieldtownship.html/ : accessed 11 Jan 2019); citing Internet Archive Wayback Machine. The original website is not longer on the internet. It was found on Wayback Machine as an archived website. Thank you to Katherine Wilson for finding this for me!.
[3] Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19253858/rudolph-d_-savage : accessed 11 January 2020), memorial page for Rudolph D. Savage (13 Aug 1891–1961), memorial no. 19253858, cemetery marker in Brimfield Township Cemetery, Brimfield, Peoria County, Illinois, USA, maintained by "Barb," contributor no. 46903283.
[4] Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62522787/charles-f-dungan#source : accessed 11 Jan 2020), memorial page for Charles F "Ted" Dungan (13 Jul 1900-25 May 1984), memorial no. 62522787, cemetery marker in Brimfield Township Cemetery, Brimfield, Peoria County, Illinois, USA, maintained by "Stephen Cantrell," contributor 48212706.

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Christmas Card from Mama & Papa

'Tis the Season....

Among my grandmother's collection of cards and letters there were a number of Christmas cards. Many of them are from the 1930s and her work friends or Kickapoo people. They are all wonderful to look through and then try to figure out the context under which they were sent.

Then I came across this card and I realized I had a real treasure.

Christmas card from "Mama & Papa," undated. Sender is likely Joseph and Lucy (Loescher) Stenger to their daughter Clementine (Stenger) Miars.

It is signed "Mama & Papa" with no date or recipient noted. However, I recognized the handwriting as that of my great grandmother, Lucy (Loescher) Stenger. The "Papa" would be her husband, Joseph L Stenger. I believe that this card was sent or given to their daughter and my grandmother, Clementine (Stenger) Miars. It was likely sent in the 1930s or 1940s.

The scene of the card is that of an old-fashion Christmas eve. The cover is an outdoor winter scene with snow and a house with a traditional Christmas wreath on the door. The inside has an inviting fireplace and a tree beside it. The card itself reminds me of Christmases when I was growing up.

But then the signature and the handwriting take me back to memories of my great grandparents. Grandpa Stenger died in 1966 and Grandma in 1985 so it's been a few decades since they have been gone. How wonderful it is to have this card and remember them at this time of year.

I am so grateful to my grandmother for keeping all of these treasures throughout her whole life! They are simply priceless!

Merry Christmas!

50th Wedding Anniversary photo of Joseph L and Lucy (Loescher) Stenger, ca. May 1955.