Ida Davis (1874-1900)

These photos came from cousin Lloyd Adams in Florida, and were part of his mother Marie's collection of family photographs.

Both of these purport to be photographs of Ida Davis, daughter of James Austin and Mary Ellen (Swafford) Davis.

Ida was born July 2, 1874 in Owen Co., IN and died August 2, 1900 in Owen Co., IN. She was married to Samuel G. Hancock on August 28, 1892 in Monroe Co., IN and later divorced. She married secondly to Carrie A. Morris on July 19, 1900 in Clay Twp., Owen Co., IN. Ida had two daughters, Pansy and June. June was my great-grandmother, and her parentage has been a subject of much mystery and debate in the family.

It is quite possible that these photographs are not of Ida, but actually her mother, Mary Ellen.

Who is Henry Chew?

Who is the Henry D. Chew found in the 1860 Gloucester Co., NJ census in the household of Elijah Chew? Henry was age 11, living in Mantua township. Elijah was aged 70, his wife Jane aged 66, so I'm assuming that Henry was a grandchild.

Getting others interested in family history

Yesterday my parents stop by for a visit after spending the day at the Batte of Mississinewa 1812 reenactment. It wasn't too long before we started talking about family history, as they really enjoyed the family tree book that I had put together for the last LeMaster reunion. Dad wanted to borrow it again, and talking about ancestors had him thinking about his own research in the 1970's.

Mom is putting together a project at the school for veteran's day, so she's asking me for information as to who served in what war from our family. Basically, we've had family members in almost every conflict that this country has been a part of. We've had relatives on both sides during the Civil War and the American revolution.

I've never worked out the paper trail hard enough to provide proof for the lineage societies, but maybe that is something I will work on in my multitudes of free time.

One thing I've noticed is that other's in the family are not as interested in genealogy and family history unless they can tie it to a specific event, i.e. the Civil War. Names and dates and who married whom will simply bore them to tears.