A marriage connects my birth mother and step-mother

The charts shown above show how my brain works when discovering connections in my family history. At the top right we start with H James "Jim" Jones and Helen Marker whose daughter was Phyllis J Jones, my step-mother by her marriage to my father Ernest Margheim. Ernest's first wife Ruby Flanders was my mother. My name "Mary Rebecca Margheim" is shown highlighted in yellow. 

We can see that another daughter of Jim Jones, by his first wife Minnie Kite, was Katherine Jones, who married Homer Dyer. Katherine and Homer had a son Paul, who married Julitta Elsen. Paul and Julitta's son was Steve Dyer.

As I grew up, we visited frequently with and were close friends of Paul and Julitta and their family. Since I lived with my dad and step-mother I really felt like Steve Dyer was my cousin. 

Julitta Elsen Dyer

Steve Dyer with daughters Justine (left) and Maleah 
(2nd from left), granddaughter Leah (standing) 
and my dad Ernest Margheim seated in front. 

The chart above also shows that Julitta Elsen Dyer's parents were Nicholas Elsen and Emelia Schwartz. As the daughter of John Schwartz and Elizabeth Geiger, Emelia's had brother William P. Schwartz, whose son was Maurice Schwartz. Maurice's son is Robert Schwartz, who's married to Barbara Jane Smith. 

The chart at the bottom of the illustration shows that Barbara Smith Schwartz is MY second cousin. Her father Wilmer Smith was the son of Edna Becker and Ray R Smith. Edna's sister was Nannie Becker, wife of Milo Flanders. Nannie and Milo were the parents of my mother Ruby Flanders. 

Left to right: Mabel (Becker) Lillich, Esta 
(Becker) Batchman, Lew Becker, Edna (Becker) 
Smith, Bert Becker, Nannie (Becker) Flanders

Just in the past few months have I become acquainted with my second cousin Barbara Smith Schwartz through Facebook. I recently posted a comment about my discovery of another family connection that involved Julitta Elsen Dyer. When I saw a reply comment from my cousin (through my MOTHER'S family!!) Barbara Smith Schwartz asking how I knew Julitta Dyer, I was surprised that she was asking about someone connected to my STEP-MOTHER'S family. As I noticed Barbara's husband was named Schwartz, I recalled that Julitta's ancestry included that Schwartz name too. Barbara gave me the missing link....her husband's ancestry, and I was able to prepare the chart at the top of this post.  

It's surely hard for any reader to understand the significance of this discovery and these connections. It's one of those cases where "you had to be there". I can't begin to explain the division between my two families...my mother/step-father and my father/step-mother. Because of hard feelings, the division was wider than the parted Red Sea. As I grew up, I thought of them as two separate worlds, with no connection except for me and my twin brother Dennis. We were the joining link. 

Dennis, Becky, Phyllis, Ernest Margheim 1965

Left to right back row: Becky, Dennis, and 
Diane (Mason) Margheim, Don and Ruby 
(Flanders, Margheim) Craine; Front row 
left to right Jill, Jenice and Julie Craine,
About 1969 

 So as I discover more connecting links, I'm just "blown away". They are of major significance to me. I have fun illustrating all the connections. Sometimes it seems I'm going in circles, but they make sense to me.