I love the Library of Congress's site Chronicling America with millions of digitized newspapers, FREE! Last weekend I was reviewing issues of the Western Kansas World, which covered WaKeeney, Trego, Kansas, where my great grandparents lived in the early 1900s. I noticed this little item:
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| 22 Jan 1920 Western Kansas World |
George Koleber Jr. was my grandmother's (Mollie Koleber, Mrs. John Margheim) oldest brother. He's pictured in this photo from 1949 with his wife Mary Elizabeth (Margheim), their son Harold and my twin brother Dennis Margheim and me.
Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" was the sister of my grandfather, John Margheim. Here's a photo of George, Jr. with his younger brother Daniel, his sister (my Grandma) Mollie, and their parents George and Katie (Dietz) Koleber, in 1905.
The news item says Uncle George went to work for Walter F. Swiggett. Many issues of the Western Kansas World included ads for Walter's company.
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| 20 Jan 1920 Western Kansas World |
I noticed his phone number was 1 2 3.
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| 6 Nov 1919 Western Kansas World |
I was just happy to know a little more about my great-uncle George. But the really special thing happened on Wednesday of this week, only a few days after I learned of the Walter F. Swiggett company in WaKeeney. The Trego County Historical Society posted this on their facebook page:
The blessings of Social Media! It can be coincidence or serendipity, but whatever we call it, we're blessed when windows like this open up for our research and give us greater understanding of the lives of our ancestors. I looked at the news articles for my Koleber family, found dozens, including the snippet above about Uncle George, and just 3 days later found an accompanying photo and background information from the Historical Society of that county on Facebook. I recognize that as a real blessing!
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