52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #5 - Joseph Victor Bowlby

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Joseph Victor Bowlby

Today's ancestor is Joseph Victor Bowlby, my husband's second great-grandfather.

Some basic facts:
Name: Joseph Victor Bowlby
Born: 29 March 1870
Parents: Samuel Bowlby and Rosannah (King) Bowlby
Spouse: Anna Rhoda (Greenway) Bowlby
Marriage: About 1900
Died: 25 July 1958

Joseph was born 29 March 1870 in Iowa City, Wright, Iowa.  He was born to Samuel Bowlby and Rosannah (King) Bowlby.  He married Anna Rhoda Greenway sometime in 1900.  Joseph and Rosannah had six children: Sherry Victor Bowlby, Percy Richard Bowlby, Richard Samuel Bowlby, Jennie Bell Bowlby, Lillian, Augusta Bowlby, and Thelma Louise Bowlby.

Joseph lived with his family in Iowa until he married in 1900 when he moved to Empire City, Cherokee, Kansas.

Joseph & Anna Bowlby listing in the 1900 U.S. Census

 
Joseph and Anna divorced sometime before May 1920.  He appears alone, marital status showing divorced on the 1920 U.S. census.

Joseph Bowlby listing in the 1920 U.S. Census

Joseph remained in Kansas, eventually moving in with his son, Victor's family sometime before 1940.

Joseph Bowlby, listed with Victor Bowlby and family on the 1940 U.S. Census

 Joseph died 25 July 1958 in Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas.  He's buried in Jamesburg Park Cemetery in Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas.

Joseph V. Bowlby Tombstone
Jamesburg Park Cemetery in Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas

Here's my genealogy list for Joseph:

Have:

• 1870 Federal Census
• 1880 Federal Census
• 1900 Federal Census
• 1910 Federal Census
• 1920 Federal Census
• 1930 Federal Census
• 1940 Federal Census

Need:

• Birth Certificate
• Marriage Certificate
• Divorce Paperwork
• Death Certificate
• Check for appearance in Kansas state census records
• Check for appearance in Iowa state census records

 

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #2 - Shirley Bowlby

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Shirley Bowlby

We're getting some freezing rain in Kansas City this weekend so I decided to post another catch up for the 52 Ancestors challenge.  Today I'm hightlighting my husband's maternal grandmother.

Some basic facts:
Name: Shirley Bowlby
Born: 25 January 1924
Parents: Sherry Victor Bowlby and Gertrude Viola (Warren) Bowlby
Spouse: Earl Leslie Nickell
Marriage: Date Unknown
Died: April 1982

Shirley was born 25 January 1924.  She was born to Sherry Victor Bowlby and Gertrude Viola (Warren) Bowlby.  She married Earl Leslie Nickell sometime before 1943.  Earl and Shirley had children but in the interest of privacy I won't list their information.

I suspect Shirley lived most of her life in Kansas.  I believe she was born near Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas because she's listed on the 1930 census with her parents at the age of eight in Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas.

Bowlby family listing in the 1930 U.S. Census

And then again at the age of sixteen in Clark County, Kansas.

Bowlby family listing in the 1940 U.S. Census

Shirley died in April 1982.  She's buried next to her husband, Earl, in Resthaven Cemetery in Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas.

Shirley A. Bowlby Tombstone
Resthaven Cemetery in Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas

I don't have much more information than that on Shirley.  Here's my genealogy list for Shirley:

Have:

• 1930 U.S. Census
• 1940 U.S. Census
• Find-A-Grave Listing

Need:

• Birth Certificate
• Death Certificate
• Marriage Certificate
• Check for appearance in Kansas State Census'

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Earl Leslie Nickell

I’m a little behind on the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge but I’m going to jump in with ancestor #1 and play catch up.  This week I'm highlighting my husband's maternal grandfather.

Some basic facts:

Name: Earl Leslie Nickell

Born: 24 July 1918

Parents: Delbert A. Nickell and Allie (Maiden Name Unknown) Nickell

Spouse: Shirley Bowlby

Marriage: Date Unknown

Died: November 1965

Earl was born 24 July 1918.  World War I was raging in Europe though, unknown to most of the world, it would end in a few months.  He was born to Delbert A. Nickell and Allie (Maiden Name Unknown) Nickell.  He married Shirley A. Bowlby sometime before 1943.  Earl and Shirley had children but in the interest of privacy I won’t list their information.

Earl lived most of his life in Kansas.  I believe he was born near Long Island, Phillips, Kansas because he’s listed on the 1920 census with his family at the age of one in Long Island, Phillips, Kansas.

1920 U.S. Census for Delbert Nickell and family

Earl served in the military during World War II.  His enlistment date is shown as 4 November 1943 and enlistment location was Denver, Colorado.  From his enlistment record on Ancestry.com I can see that he completed four years of high school and was skilled in woodworking occupations.

Earl died in November 1965.  He’s buried next to his wife, Shirley, in Resthaven Cemetery in Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas.

Earl L. and Shirley A. Nickell Tombstone
Located in Resthaven Cemetery in
Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas

I don’t have much more information than that on Earl.  Here’s my genealogy list for Earl:

Have:

• 1930 U.S. Census 
• 1920 U.S. Census
• Listing from U.S. World War II Enlistment Records from Ancestry.com 
• 1925 Kansas State Census
• Find-A-Grave Listing 
• 1940 U.S. Census

Need:

• Birth Certificate 
• Death Certificate
• Marriage Certificate

Challenge Accepted: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Challenge Accepted!

 

I’m a member of several different genealogy groups on FaceBook.  You might not normally think of FaceBook for genealogy but it’s a great platform for communicating with other genealogists!  While browsing the posts of the Genealogy Bloggers group, I ran across a post from one of the members talking about this blog challenge she was going to join called 52Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Someone else had linked to their blog in the comments and I wandered over to her blog and found the link to the original poster’s challenge post.

The premise of the challenge is to have a weekly blog post devoted to a specific ancestor.  The post can contain anything: a research problem, photograph, stories or a combination of anything focusing on that ancestor.  And it’s not just limited to blogs!  In her challenge post on No Story Too Small, Amy Johnson Crow encourages people who don’t have blogs to post on FaceBook, send an email to family members, write something in a journal or anywhere else for that matter.

After reading some of the blog posts I was inspired to participate in this challenge.  My "blog fodder" for 52 Ancestors is going to be my husband's family, who I've just begun researching.  I'm excited to be participating in the 52 Ancestors challenge.  Why don't you take the plunge and join me?  Anyone can participate in the fun!

Surprise!

With the time off from work I had around Christmas time I devoted some time to beginning work on D1's genealogy.  I had no idea what I would find or if it would be difficult to find information on his family but I was prepared for some quality time on different genealogy sites in search of information.  I was pleasantly surprised with my first foray onto Ancestry.com to discover there were others out there who had done quite a bit of research into different parts of his family.

Like a good genealogist I began entering the information to prove into my database.  I'm always hesitant to use GEDCOM files I find online.  I'm just a little overly cautious, so I choose to re-enter the information manually.  It's more time consuming but it also allows me to get to know each and every person I enter so I can usually remember one or two things about each person I add, plus I can verify the information I add.  In my opinion, those reasons alone balance out the time and effort it takes to enter the information manually.

I spent hours each day on my time off looking at different family trees on Ancestry, checking source documents and adding names to the family file.  D1 thought the amount of time I spent doing genealogy over Christmas break was pretty humorous and he began to joke about it with his family.  It's all good though, because I got the last laugh.  I made it back to his 10th great grandfather and began entering the information and was surprised to get the following error message from Family Tree Maker:

Whaaaaa?????  What was this??  This was an error message I'd never received before!  No, there was no way we shared an ancestor.  I was sure I'd made a mistake in my entry of individuals.  So I checked the list of children for each Caleb and Hannah Knapp...and they matched.  To the name, date and place of each event listed for each child.  So I checked the source documentation to make sure these were the correct connections.  And they were.  Unbelievably, my husband and I share a common relative from the mid-1600s!  My 8th great grandfather was his 10th great grandfather.  I couldn't help it, I started to laugh.  Poor D1 didn't really find as much humor in it as I did.  He just didn't get why it was so funny, but it was hilarious for me.  The maternal unit thought it was pretty funny and dear brother thought it was pretty funny, so maybe it's a genealogy humor thing.

I haven't done any research into the Knapp side of my family but after I told the maternal unit about my discovery and the possibilities of additional Daughters of the American Revolution patriots, she mentioned she had heard they were a pretty large and prominent family in early American history.  I'm having a very hard time focusing on just one genealogy project right now, LOL.  I want so badly to start working on supplemental patriots for DAR, even though I haven't even received notification of acceptance of my initial DAR paperwork.  On the other hand I really want to see what else I can find on D1's family.  His 2nd great grandfather died in France during World War I and is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery.  I definitely want to look into him a little more and see what I can find out from the National World War I Museum's research center.  Then there's the rumored Native American connection in D1's family, the woman who lived in the dugout that my mother-in-law remembers, and the part of the family my mother-in-law would like to know more about.  I feel so ADD right now, LOL.

So many projects, so little time for genealogy...what surprises have you found in your family?