Saturday, May 30, 2015

Finding my Cousins Brimhall and Bednar

Yesterday James Tanner wrote in his "Rejoice and Be Exceeding Glad" blog about the new beta site for RelativeFinder.org.
I logged into the site with my FamilySearch.org account and was presented with a list of 1,790 cousins.  Many of those listed were noteworthy in a way that would be interesting to me as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But many were noteworthy as classical music composers, presidents of the United States, Founding Fathers, Inventors, European Royalty, Mayflower descendants, etc. 

My personal research over the years revealed some of these relationships, but there's no way I'd have ever discovered my connection to most of the individuals listed.

Two of the names were of particular interest to me, and they aren't who you'd expect me to find significant.  
This chart shows that my ninth cousin is Dennis Brimhall. I'm particularly pleased to be related to him because he's the CEO and Managing Director of FamilySearch International. When we attended RootsTech a few years ago I took this picture of my husband visiting briefly with Mr. Brimhall.
There was a time about a decade ago that Mr. Brimhall and a Church colleague Tad Callister visited Canon City, CO and were guest speakers in our church service. At that time he was employed as the CEO of the Colorado University Hospital in Denver, CO. When I met Dennis at RootsTech I told him I remembered his visit with us here at church in Canon City. 

I think Dennis has done great things as the CEO of Family Search and I'm proud to be even distantly related to him. We obviously share a love for our families and their histories. 

I was also touched to discover that I'm also a ninth cousin of Elder David Allan Bednar, one of the General Authorities of our LDS Church. 
I've admired Elder Bednar and learned so much that is meaningful to me through his talks at our church's General Conferences. 

As you can see in the above charts, I'm related to each of these gentlemen through the ancestral lineage of my maternal grandfather Milo Flanders. That's possible because it was my Flanders ancestors who settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony from Belgium. My other family lines immigrated in the 1800s and early 1900s from Germany and Russia. 

I know as 9th cousins we won't be attending any family reunions together, but I also know that good Christian blood runs through my veins and for that I'm blessed and proud. 

Monday, May 4, 2015

My Cousin who fought at the Alamo

I'm blessed to have learned how to use Facebook to benefit my family history research. In fact, it was after I read an article in a genealogy magazine in 2008 by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak that I first learned about, and signed up for, Facebook. Almost every week I make a new connection or learn a new piece of information about my family history through a page, group, post, link or message on Facebook.

A few years ago I connected with a distant cousin on Facebook named Karen Flanders Eddy. With the maiden name of Flanders I knew she had to be related, as my mother's maiden name was also Flanders. I suppose all the members of the Flanders family in America are related. I've learned so much over the years from Karen. And again she has blessed me with valuable information. This evening she posted this to my wall
From the Find A Grave Memorial I learned this about my cousin John Flanders.
Now how easy was that? Research about a distant cousin was just dropped in my lap! This chart shows my relationship with John. 
Now as I post this on my blog, it opens up the possibility that someone else researching the Flanders family may find the link through a Google search, a post on Google+ or even Facebook. It just pays to get the word out, while also documenting an interesting story about a cousin.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

64 year-old Valentines Tell a Poignant Story


These little Valentines were sent by me and my twin brother Dennis on February 14, 1951, when we were 3 yrs old. They were signed for us by our dad, Ernest L. Margheim. 




I especially like this Valentine since I can see that I tried to sign my own name on the back side. My dad signed my name at the top, but I was writing my name below. It looks like I got as far as B e c and part of the "k", with Dad finishing the k and y. This is the earliest sample I've found of my own handwriting. Cool!

But here's the best part of this "find".
The envelope containing the valentines tells this poignant story. While I have no idea how Dad came into possession of these valentines, I found them as I've been sorting through all the paperwork I brought home after his death last year. 

They were sent on Feb. 14, 1951, to our MOTHER, Ruby Margheim, whose address is 1674 Parkwest Lane, Wichita, Kansas. And they were sent to her, for us, by our FATHER, as we were all living with his parents at 114 E. 6th St, Hoisington, KS. 

My dad and mom, who were married July 9, 1943, were divorced in Nov. 1949. Dad loved our mom so very much and was heartbroken upon her leaving our family. Upon her departure, we were all very blessed to be able to reside with my dad's parents, John and Mollie (Koleber) Margheim at their home in Hoisington, just 10 miles north of our birthplace of Great Bend, Kansas. We were dearly loved and very well cared for by our grandparents, as our dad worked long hours at Thies Packing Company in Great Bend, KS. When our mother moved away, she took the family car, so Dad was able to drive his parents' car the 15 miles to work each day. Our Grandpa Margheim was employed as the Head Custodian at Hoisington High School at that time (pictured below). He was able to walk the one block to the school to go to work. And Grandma Margheim never learned to drive, so she was always at home with us. How blessed we were to get to live with them at that time. 


One month after we sent this post card to our mother in Wichita, Dad married our step-mother (of 47 years!) Phyllis Jones. This is a picture of us all on the day of their wedding, 18 Mar 1951. We're in the back yard of my grandparents' home with Grandpa and Grandma Margheim and our new step-mother Phyllis. We're pictured below with our grandparents and our new "mom".
I'm not surprised that my dad still had all these pictures, but I do wonder how he came into possession of the valentines. I'm just grateful that he had them and KEPT them. It tells a lot about Dad to know that he bought the valentines, helped us sign and send them to our mother and then kept them for us all these years. They reveal love all the way around.