Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Wedding Announcement, Virgil Wright to Muriel Pierce, 1915

"Rural Route 20," announcement, Alexandria Times-Tribune, 26 March 1915; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 23 March 2015).


Virgil Wright has joined the "Benedicts," having gone to Anderson and returned with a new wife Saturday. Mrs. Wright was formerly Miss Murrill Pierce, of Alexandria.  A crowd of their friends treated them to an old fashioned charivari Wednesday night.  They will live with Mr. Wright's father for a time at least.

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Located this announcement of my maternal great-grandparents wedding.  Virgil Lee Wright (1894-1972) and Edna Muriel Pierce (1897-1968) were married on June 19, 1915.  Edna was the daughter of William Francis Pierce and Clara A. Penisten.

Apparently, they took up housekeeping for a time with my 2nd-great grandfather, the John William Wright.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Census Sunday : Nancy J. LeMasters household, 1940, Merrick County, Nebraska

My paternal first cousin three times removed, Nancy J. LeMasters, was enumerated in the 1940 census in Palmer, Merrick County, Nebraska.  She was renting a room at the Coolidge Hospital where she worked.

1940 US census, Merrick County, Nebraska, population schedule, Coolidge Hospital, Palmer, enumeration district (ED) 61-8, SD 3, sheet 7B, [no household number], ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 April 2015); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

The household consisted of Nancy, aged 55, her mother, Sarah, aged 80, and a hired girl, Ruby Wagner, aged 21.  Nancy was single and born in Nebraska, Sarah was widowed and born in Indiana, and Ruby was single and born in Nebraska.  In 1935, the residence for Nancy and Sarah was St. Paul, Howard County, Nebraska, and for Ruby, her residence was Greeley County, Nebraska.

Nancy's occupation was listed as supervisor of nurses at the hospital.  Nancy had no occupation listed and Ruby's occupation was a housekeeper.  Nancy's previous occupation in the 1910 census was that of a school teacher.

Sarah was the widow of my paternal second great granduncle, John Stevens Lemasters, son of Rev. Luman Walker and Nancy (Young) Lemasters.  John was the youngest of the family.  He married Sarah I. Wilson in 1881 in Jay County, Indiana and moved to Nebraska by at least 1900, where they were living in St. Paul.

Prior to this find, I didn't have any information past the 1910 census on Nancy, nor did I know where Sarah was after her husband's death in 1932.  All are buried in the Elmwood Cemetery, St. Paul, Howard County, Nebraska.  A quick search on the internet shows that Coolidge Hospital was both a hospital and sanitarium, and today may be part of a mental health facility.

Census Sunday is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites.

State & Federal census sheets are filled with information for genealogists. Both the population & non-population schedules give us insights into the lives of our ancestors. What have you found that is Surprising? Reassuring? Bewildering? Census Sunday is a daily blogging prompt suggested by Colleen Pasquale of Leaves and Branches.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Farewell Party for Miss Pearl Cummins, 1915

"Farewell Party," announcement, Alexandria Times-Tribune, 14 May 1915; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 23 March 2015).

FAREWELL PARTY

Miss Pearl Cummins gave a farewell party at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. D.A. Cummins, Wednesday evening.  Miss Cummins will leave next week for Lafayette, Ind., where she will enter the State Soldiers' Home to take up nurse training.  Among those present were : Ollie Johnson, Lena and Nema Cranfield, Merl Fuller, Mary Moore, Merl Pierce, Cecil Thurber, Ada Miller, Hazel Walker, Pearl Little, Pearl Robbins, Clema Laycock, Edith and Hortense Brown, Bessie Laycock, Sarah Smith, Eva King, Ruth Jones, Iva White, Gladys Davis, Zetta Johnston, Pearl Cummins, Mrs. Charles Finley, Mrs. John Lewis and Mrs. D.A. Cummins and Earl and Joe Mohler, Kenneth Jones, Kenneth Collis, Rex Fuller, Everett Wilson, Chester Seibert, Park Weewee, Joe Draper, Chester and Virgil Wright, Floyd Miller, Oscar Thurber, Lee White, Allen Walker, William Smith, Rodger Brown, Herbert Johnson, Leslie Noble, James Jarret, Jessie Porter, Jessie Reason, Rodney Farr, Henry Young, Roy Jarrett, Clarence Johnson, Dale Cook, Harry Shaw, Robert Zellers, Frank Clevenger, Homer Scott, Cecil Moyer, Herbert Ferguson, Alfred Garner, John Lewis and D.A. Cummins.

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My maternal great-grandfather, Virgil Lee Wright (1894-1972) attended this farewell party along with his brother, Chester.  Many of those named were friends of the family who appeared often in the social news together.

The Ollie Johnson was my maternal first cousin 3 times removed, daughter of John M. and Martha (Pierce) Johnson.