My Flanders Connection to Architect John James Flanders

  A few days ago my cousin Veva Young posted the photo below at left and asked if we were related to John James Flanders, the famous architect in Chicago, Illinois. The chart I drew up shows our relationship.

Cemetery Photos Bring Me Cousins and Stories

My husband and I frequently visit nearby cemeteries to photograph headstones that I add to individual accounts on FamilySearch. Recently as we were slowly driving through the Weiser, Idaho Cemetery, I noticed this small headstone with the name "Mudd Main" on it. 

I was intrigued that a mother would name her son "Mudd"! As I reviewed the family as listed in FamilySearch, I discovered several more intriguing facts. Andrew Parker Main (1849-1932) and Sarah Elizabeth Hack (1853-1912) were the parents of 12 children. Notice their names:

Odus Olen, Lonnie Loren, Byard Bolen, Made Marian, Nina Noble, Harry Harmon, Carry Clifford, Flo Fountain, --Main (1891-1891), Rell Rencie, Mudd Marble, and Eela Elas. 

I don't think I've ever seen that pattern in naming each child with the same letter starting the first and middle names. 

The "Memories" on Family Search offers this photo of Mudd Main, at left with his brother Flo at right.

Further digging into the "Memories" of the family revealed a very sad story involving another brother of Mudd, namely Carry Clifford Main. Here's the story: 

Isn't this a sad story? The children of Carry (1885-1943) and his wife Lily Jones (1888-1934) were:

Cecil (1908), John (1910), Kenneth (1912), Gladys (1914), Clarence (1917), Claudia (1920), Elmer (1921), Laura (1922), Pearl (1924), Clifford (1028), Edith (1929), and Beulah (1933-1934).

So when Lily and her 11-mo-old daughter Beulah were burned to death in the house fire, their 11 children, ranging in age 26 to 5, lost their mother. And if the 4 oldest were out of the house, living on their own, that still left 7 children at home for the father to care for. 

I don't know the family's circumstances, but this story really hit me hard. When we see headstones in the cemetery, we see only a tiny fraction of the family's story!

As I reviewed the pedigree charts of the family members, I discovered that this Lily Jones Main who died at age 46 was the half-6th cousin, two times removed of my husband, as shown in the chart. 

And I discovered that I'm an 8th cousin, once removed of Mudd Marble Main, as illustrated in this chart. 

Perhaps this is why his headstone caught my attention! But now I know a new story about one of my distant relatives and that make the family seem more like "family" to me. 

Another Sterling Sill Book Reveals a Cousin Connection

I seem to be on a roll here with Cousin Connections discovered in my purchases of books by Sterling W. Sill. During my most recent visit to the Deseret Industries Thrift Store in Nampa, Idaho, I found 3 books by Sterling and of course grabbed them up at $2.00 each. In my previous blog post I explained my discoveries from my research into a book's former owner, Ross E. Butler. 

Today I'm sharing what I discovered from my purchase of the book The Upward Reach. 

Amazon offers this introduction to the book: This volume is made up of fifty-two different, interesting, uplifting and highly motivating discussions based on Victor Hugo's thought that, "Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come." It is thought that for many people who are interested in raising the spiritual level of their lives and in bringing about a more substantial general success, that a regular weekly association with this stimulating book will prove most valuable.

After I lifted the book from the bookshelf, I opened it to leaf through it. I saw this name label inside: 

I recognized the Fullmer name as one I had entered into my genealogy database. Of course I could hardly wait to look into the connections when I got home. 

Sure enough I found a connection! This chart shows that I discovered that my (adopted) son is a 4th cousin, two times removed of Darrell D. Fullmer.  

I know this won't strike most people as significant. But I'm always easily amazed when I discover "Connections"!

One of my Favorite Authors Links Me to More Cousins

In my most recent post, I shared my discovery of LDS author Sterling W. Sill and my newly discovered connection to him as my Cousin. On my latest visit to the "religious" book section at Deseret Industries in Nampa, Idaho, I discovered THREE more books by this wonderful author! I purchased them at $2.00 each! They are "The Glory of the Sun", "The Upward Reach", and "The Miracle of Personality". 

Before I put any new purchase in my shopping cart, I open it and leaf through the pages. I noticed in the book above that the former owner stamped his name on the first page. 

Since I live right across the Snake River from Ontario, Oregon, I was very curious to see what I could learn about this "Ross E. Butler". And boy! was in in for a surprise! The information I found showed me that he and I are distant cousins and that his wife is a distant cousin of my husband, William Thompson. I've illustrated this in the chart below. 

As I read further about Mr. Butler on his FamilySearch.org page, I learned that he joined with friend F. Nephi Grigg and his brother Golden Grigg to form the company that became Ore-Ida Foods, Inc. I was just blown away! Ore-Ida Foods is also in Ontario, Oregon, right across the river from me. 

I've often commented that "I'm easily amazed"! I'm happy that I'm the kind of person who would look inside this unknown-to-me book and discover the name of its former owner, then research that individual to learn more about who owned and surely read this book. 

Of course I couldn't stop with Ross Erin Butler. I had to see what I could learn about his friend and partner Francis Nephi Grigg. In the chart below, you can see that I'm the 9th cousin one generation removed from Nephi's wife Addie Crummet Grigg (pictured below). 

Now that I've made these interesting connections to fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and learned great things about them by reading the 'Memories' posted on their accounts at FamilySearch.org, I need to put my laptop down and read my new books!