Serendipity with Friends and Find-A-Grave

I work as a Parish Administrator in a local church. Two days ago I had a visit in my office from a member of the congregation, a woman named Sallie. It doesn't take long for me to turn a conversation to the subject of family history. In this case I did it because I knew the woman I was talking to had cousin connections with several other members. 

When I had free time Wednesday evening I went to the internet to see what other information I could find on her mother's family line that Sallie and I had discussed earlier in the day.

On Thursday Sallie returned to my office with a family photo and a short narrative she'd written about her grandmother for her children. Our discussion turned to stories about her father. So when I returned home after work on Thursday my research efforts turned to Sallie's father's ancestry. 

I learned that her paternal grandmother's name was Sallie Biddix, for whom my friend Sallie was named. I found some comments on a genealogy forum that had been posted by Kelt Smith about his great grandfather, Francis Willard Biddix, the brother of Sallie's grandmother Sallie Biddix. I started a small database in my RootsMagic program so I could keep track of the discoveries I was making.  

As I crawled into bed last night after my searching for online entries about the Biddix family, I grabbed my iPad Mini to check my email one last time. I had one message, a photo request from Find-A-Grave. I was shaken wide awake when I read the request. It was submitted by Kelt Smith who was asking for someone to photograph the grave of his great-grandfather Francis Williard Biddix. 

I was just blown away, even though this has happened to me on many occasions. It stimulates me and gets me motivated to get back to heavy-duty research, which I've neglected lately due to other responsibilities in my life. But it sure makes it hard to go to sleep when this happens right before I turn the light out!

Grandma's Celluloid Memorial Plaques

As I've been cleaning out storage areas at my father's house, I've discovered some great treasures. I recently found the four items pictured here that I'd never seen before. With a little research online, I found that these items are called Celluloid Memorial Plaques and were sold in the early 1900s. One of them is stamped R. B. Schiefner.

My paternal grandfather, John Ludwig Margheim (1900-1978)

Wedding portrait of my paternal grandparents John Ludwig and Amalia (Koleber) Margheim, Nov. 21, 1920

Memorial tin plaque showing my paternal grandmother Amalia "Molly" (Koleber) Margheim with her infant son Alfred (1923-1933). 

Memorial plaque showing my granduncle Daniel Koleber (1898-1916)

More Connections to Addie....What Can I Say?

Adding My Second Cousin Betty Flanders to the Kasselman, Burhenn Chart

I've had fun recently discovering the many connections of certain people to my mother's Flanders family. My mother and step-father's good friends were Raymond and Adeline "Addie" Buehler. 

Adeline Kasselman Bryant Buehler

In a previous post I drew a chart showing how Ray Buehler was related to my father's cousin Alvina Koleber. And yet Ray and his wife Addie were good friends for many years of my mother and step-father. 

I've found that my mother's 1st cousin once removed Betty Flanders was also a first cousin once removed of Addie Kasselman Buehler, and was a first cousin once removed of my uncle Mervin Flanders, who was briefly married to Helen Burhenn, who was the sister-in-law of Doris Kasselman, another cousin of Addie Kasselman Buehler. 

It sounds rather convoluted, but I find the connections interesting and I enjoy drawing out the charts that show these connections. 

Dad's and Mom's Families Keep Connecting

Yesterday I posted a story that detailed some of the people on the left side of the above chart...from my Mom and Dad to Ray and Addie Buehler. My further research last night uncovered more of a connection from the Buehlers to the Burhenn's and again to me, as illustrated on the right end of the chart above. 

I discovered that Adeline Kasselman Buehler had a first cousin Doris who married Elmer Burhenn. And Elmer's sister Helen married, very briefly, my uncle Mervin Flanders. So you'll find my name at the bottom left and right corners of this chart. 

A Surprising Connection Between Dad's Family and Mother's Friends

The title of this post doesn't suggest anything surprising or unusual. Many couples have friends from one side of the family who are related to the other side of the family. But as I grew up from childhood, my dad's side of the family and my mother's side of the family were like the Hatfields and McCoys. At least that's what my stepmother raised me to believe, and enforced in our home. The two families were polar opposites and neither was ever spoken of in the other's home.

As I've done family history research, I've discovered quite a lot of connections between my mother's family and my dad's family. Another one came to light today as I visited with my dad about one of his cousins. I've drawn this chart to illustrate the relationships I'll describe here.

My parents are Ernest Margheim and Ruby Flanders. You can see in this chart that Alvina Koleber is a first cousin of my dad. Alvina's father (George Koleber) and Ernest's mother (Amalia Koleber) were brother and sister. Actually they are "double cousins" because Alvina's mother (Mary Elizabeth Margheim) and Ernest's father (John Margheim) are also sister and brother.

Alvina Koleber Buehler

Alvina was first married in 1939 to Elmer Buehler. The chart shows that Elmer's brother was Raymond Buehler, husband of Adeline Kasselman. I was shocked to learn this today, because Ray and Adeline ("Addie") Buehler were very good friends of my mother Ruby Flanders and her second husband Don Craine. Many times as I visited my mother in Wichita, Kansas her friends Addie and Ray were present. I went to school with their children as I grew up.

Adeline Kasselman Buehler

It's interesting to me that Ray Buehler's sister-in-law was Alvina Koleber Buehler. Dad has told me that Alvina was employed in the early 1950s at Jones Home Laundry in Great Bend, Kansas. Jones Home Laundry was owned by Henry James "Jim" Jones, whose daughter Phyllis also worked there and in 1953 became my step-mother (as second wife of Ernest Margheim). Phyllis was encouraged by Alvina Buehler in August, 1951 to attend a dance in Great Bend since she was 27 years old and single. Alvina knew that one of the band members providing the music at the dance was Ernest Margheim, newly-divorced father of two-year-old twins, Dennis and Becky. Phyllis and Ernest met and were married in March, 1953.

Dad told me today that the first time he met his first wife Ruby Flanders (my mother) was also at a dance. She was dancing with a man named Ray Buehler! Dad was attracted to Ray's dancing partner so after the dance Dad asked Ray what her name was. Ray told Dad that he didn't know! Dad asked her to dance anyway....and they were married July 9, 1943. Eventually Ray married Addie Kasselman and the two were life-long friends of my mother Ruby and her second husband Don Craine.  

It just amazes me that all those years that I knew Addie and Ray Buehler as close friends of my mom and step-dad I had no idea Ray's brother Elmer had been married to my dad's cousin Alvina Koleber. Even putting the names Koleber and Margheim in the same blog post as the Buehler and Craine names seems like pouring oil in water. But I've discovered and illustrated the connection and am now trying to let it soak into my boggled mind.