MARCH 201 5 SUNRAYS | 57
ONLINE:
SCTEXAS.ORG
but hesitated to spend the money for his
pension record. When she finally ordered
the packet, she received a document that
was an inch thick, as the man had applied
and been turned down for his annuity
numerous times. The documents did,
however, verify his relation to Betty
Jean, and provided additional information
which led her to search other types of
records. Betty Jean’s hunt for further
details ultimately led her to the discovery
of relatives living in Germany.
“The Internet only accounts for ten
percent of the information,” says Betty
Jean. “You still have to do physical
visits.” Visits could be as simple as a trip
to your local library, so they may take
you on unexpected journeys. Through
an Internet query, Betty Jean found and
shared information with a distant cousin
online. The two met for the first time at
the Stuttgart airport, then proceeded
together to the village of Erlaheim. There,
unable to locate anyone at the local church
or priest’s residence, they stopped to talk
to a couple working in their garage. Betty
and her cousin spoke no German, and the
couple spoke little English, but the couple’s
surname was the one they were looking
for. An English speaking couple, called in
to translate, hosted a party attended by
the entire village, whereupon Betty and
her cousin determined they were probably
related to most of the village. Fourteen
years later, they are all still in contact.
Just as it can produce surprising and
exciting discoveries, investigating
one’s own family history can also be a
frustrating hobby, as researchers attempt
to connect the dots between decades of
evidence. For years, Bonnie believed
that the couple listed as living next
door to her third great grandmother,
SusannaMargaret Wierman, might have
been Susanna’s parents. However, her
only sources for this information were
the 1840 and 1850 censuses, leaving
Bonnie struggling to verify Susanna’s
relationship to the couple in question.
Some time later, while doing research at
a library in Ohio, Bonnie discovered that
Samuel Gardner Wierman – her great
grandmother’s next door neighbor – had
deeded a parcel of land to aMrs. Susanna
Smith. Though helpful, the deed did
not specify that Susanna was Samuel’s
daughter, and could not provide Bonnie
with the conclusive evidence she needed.
“Then,” says Bonnie, “I did something we
should all do routinely - I looked Samuel
up on Find-A-Grave.” She emailed the
site’s administrator, Jim Wierman, who
sent her copies of the Bible records naming
Susanna as the daughter, and listing her
husband John Smith and their first four
children. However, because Susanna had
been born when her family was en route
to Ohio fromPennsylvania, there was no
record of her birth in either state, taking
Bonnie back to square one. “Don’t give
up,” Bonnie adds – she hasn’t.
In addition to research, many ancestral
discoveries are made with the help
of others who share an interest
in genealogical histories. Sarah
Christiansen, who maintains the SIG’s
web page, received an email through her
own website from a previously unknown
third cousin twice removed in Poland.
continued on the next page
Continued on the next page
One of the pleasures of studying family history is collecting old photos and other mementos.
