28 February 2007

WWII Records, 1973 Fire




Well, those of you with more experience at this than me will probably laugh.

I wanted to find out a bit more about my grandfather, Von Joseph "Rusty" Roe. Here is what I did know about him. He was born 10 Oct 1924 in Cement, OK.

Photos: (Left photo) Rusty and father Frank to right after a fishing trip. They both loved fishing with a passion. (Right photo) left is his brother Jimmy and Rusty.
In 1930 I did find him in the census with his parents Frank and May and siblings, Rachel, Hazel, Clearance (Charlie), James (Jimmy) living in Oklahoma County, OK. According to family tradition Frank packed up the children and moved them to California sometime after that. May supposedly was away taking care of a sister who was ill. Now she showed up years later in California, she died in San Fransisco, but her and Frank were never together again. Frank went on to have seven wives total before he died in 1971 in Modesto, CA.
Rusty (Grandpa) was suppose to have served in the army in WWII according to the family. I have yet to find a WWII registration for him. I don't know if maybe he enlisted before the war or what.

The next event in his life was when he married my grandma, Mary Ellen Hayes on 23 Apr 1947 in Reno, NV (they were still living in Stanislaus County, CA though). Then later in his life his other wife, Velma, showed up wanting him to support her daughter. According to family He married Velma before he knew grandma. She had a boyfriend who she took off with. Grandpa had known she was pregnant when she left, but never believed the child was his. He had never officially divorced her because he could never find her. So when she showed up in his life again he divorced her and then legally went back to Reno and remarried grandma on 23 April 1967. Grandma and Grandpa finally had their twin daughters almost 10 years after they were married, it took grandma a long time to get pregnant. Then a few years later one more baby girl.

They lived out the rest of their lived in Modesto, CA. Grandpa spent some time in a VA hospital somewhere in southern CA. He was dying of cancer. He finally lost that fight on 3 Mar 1976. Two weeks later I would celebrate my second birthday, so as you can imagine I have no memories of him other than the family stories. He was buried in Modesto, CA beside his father Frank.

I had sent off for his WWII records. I got a notice back yesterday that they couldn't find any records most likely because of the fire of 1973 that destroyed the WWII records. Now what do I do? They sent a questionnaire to gain more information in order to locate other records about him. But there is so much I can't fill in. It is asking a lot about whether he sought treatment at a VA hospital, where and when. So I guess my only hope is if I can get information from my aunt and they can find his medical records. But I'm also baffled as to why I can't find any record of him registering for WWII. We know he was a veteran and that he received treatment at a VA hospital, but why can't I find his registration?

If any of my genealogy pals have ideas and suggestions to help me find his military records, please help!

25 February 2007

Who's That? Blog Carnival

Don't forget about the upcoming Blog Carnival for "Who's That?" My next post on that will be March 2nd. I do have a couple people who have submitted their mysteries and I can't wait to share them with all of you.

Please tell you genealogy friends, friends, co-workers, family, and any one else you know who might have a great mystery to share with us. It can be a mystery photo or a family story that has been past down that has a mystery character that no one knows who the person was.

I look forward to your posts. Click on the link below and it will take you to the page to submit your post.


Blog Carnival archive - who is that?

23 February 2007

My Newsletter

I'm trying something new. Please send this to your friends and share with other people. I am going to start a newsletter. I will be based on both of my blogs. So the subject matter will range from Genealogy, history, digital scrapbooking to stay at home parents, parenting, family and many other topics.

It will be a great way for you to get my blog material on a regular basis with out always having to visit my blogs.








22 February 2007

A Little Break

I'm having to take just a little break from my genealogy research. I've been so busy trying to make my life as a mommy more efficient in the hope that maybe I can squeeze a few more hours out of the day for my research and my customers.

I'll still be taking the occasional glance into records I'm sure, but just not the hours on end that I usually spend buried in my heritage.

Right now my focus is on building my business as a Heritage Makers consultant, so that I can have more customers to help in this arena. Also I've got to find what it is that will get more people interested in this kind of thing. I've got to start replacing my old income that we have squeaked by without for the last two years. I can't keep putting things on credit and pulling equity out of the house. I'm at the end of my rope, so it's time to get serious about it.

I will have a table at the Gen Soc Conference in Spokane in a couple weeks, so keep your fingers crossed for me that it brings me some business. If I can just get this ball rolling I know I can keep it rolling. I also look forward to seeing those of you who share my passion and live here in the Northwest. It'll be lots of fun!

20 February 2007

4th Annual Genealogy Conferance, Spokane

I have made all the plans. I am going to be there. If you have any little bit of interest in your ancestry this is a worth while event!

4th Annual
Family Trees & Ancestries
Genealogy Conference

Saturday March 10, 2007
8:45 am - 5:00 pm
Registration Begins at 8:00 am

Come join us. Pre register today!
I will have a table there as well to share the Heritage Makers with everyone! I can't wait. I have been looking for the perfect venue to show case Untangled Family Roots/Heritage Makers and now I have found it. Everyone I have talked to who are involved in this have been great! So I hope to see some of you there.

16 February 2007

The Launch of my Website

I finally have my own professional website! It's great! Check it out at Untangle Family Roots.

I'm so excited that I have my own site that stands alone and isn't part of the parent company.

By the way I am hoping that someone out there is interested in hosting a celebration about Heritage Makers so I can introduce this wonderful product and concept to those of us who cherish not only our past memories but our present as well.

Also on my website calendar you will see a couple Workshops in March. I will start holding workshops on digital scrapbooking and I'm sure we will discuss genealogy as well. It's too much of a passion for me not to delve into genealogy research. So if anyone out there in this area wants help with basic genealogy research or digital scrapbooking, please RSVP for one of my workshops. If my schedule doesn't fit yours then don't worry. I am available for one on one help as well.

07 February 2007

We Have a Face!



I am half way there. I was almost ready to do the genealogy happy dance, when I realized the only name I have for this dear lady is Mrs. Barnett.



I have been researching my husband's Conner line for a couple years. I have had several dear cousins contribute information to my search. But the one we never could figure out was the family of my husbands gggrandmother, Laura Alice Barnett.


Here is what we did know. Laura Alice Barnett was born somewhere in Missouri on the 14 February 1876. She married William Monroe Conner about 1890 in Missouri. Probably somewhere around Douglas county where William's family was at the time. They soon moved to Williamson County, Texas.


I have searched many times in the Douglas County area for a family with a Laura Barnett. I haven't yet found one that fits. There were many Laura Barnetts and several in Missouri, but none of them fit conclusively to Laura. I've check Douglas County and the surrounding counties, and still no Laura Alice Barnett. It will take some deeper digging. Part of the problem is we are also dealing with court house fires. So I've got to get creative.


Then several months ago I had a cousin contact me. We have talked many times and they have shared many of the stories of our family. I have also shared with them all of my research. Then he finally pulled together some photos he had of the family and sent them to me. My jaw about dropped open when in the email he writes that this photo is of Laura's mother! I couldn't believe it! We now had a face for Laura's mother, but still no name. The cousin informed me that she was said to be full blooded Indian, which I don't question as it was believed so was her daughter Laura. I will continue my search and update this when I do find out who this woman in the photo is.


Here is a photo of her daughter Laura Alice (Barnett) Conner. She is standing in front of her home in Harmon County, OK. Notice the family resemblance?

02 February 2007

Who Is That? Mystery Carnival

Welcome to the February 2, 2007 edition of who is that?.

Thanks to the contributors of these great stoies. I look forward to seeing more of these for our next carnival. As you will find their are mysteries in our genealogy that may never be answered. There are clues that we may find about our ancestors only to find it creates more questions than answers. It is a part of the genealogical hunt. But we genealogist enjoy that hunt and it keeps us thinking about what it must have been like in our ancestors live.

But what we also need to think about is preserving our own history, so that our descendant will have the privialge of knowing who we are and what our life was like. So that they may know the answer and not have a note book for of questions about our life.

Here are a couple great sites to visit who have shared their stories of mystery.


Reb Chaim HaQoton presents Marriage and Divorce in Egypt posted at Reb HaQoton, saying, "This essay discusses some of the details surrounding the marriage of of Moses' parents detailing his genealogy and the genealogy of his siblings. Amram, the father of Moses, is shrouded in mystery, and this essay offers a small insight into who he was." I didn't expect a biblical mystery when I started this carnival. But this one is great! Have you ever wondered if there was more to the story then the bible tells? If so, here's a great site to check out.




family stories


Gillian Polack presents gillpolack: I am very pleased with life today. For o posted at Even in a Little Thing, saying, "During a visit to family, I encountered a bunch of papers concerning an uncle (Max Rose) and his death in World War II." This is a very touching story about his uncle lost in WWII. Just like myself many genealogist have the frustration of finding clues only to end up with more questions than answers about our ancestors.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
who is that? The next edition will be post on March 2, 2007. I look forward to many more great stories.
use our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page
.




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