#8 Charles Warren Davis

The Davis line is a difficult line to trace.  Such a common last name and he was born in an area that had lots of them.  Really hope to connect to family members with this posting.

Charles W. Davis was born 18^th of March 1838 in Virginia.  He married Lavina Morgan in about 1865 in Illinois.  He died in about 1921 in Los Angeles, California.

Charles & Lavina had the following children:

1.  Martin was born in Kansas.  According to cousin, Cecil Whitby, Martin was killed in a Sheep & Cattlemen’s War.  I also have notes saying he lived in the Seattle, Washington area and owned a lumber mill.

2.  Charles Warren “Oscar” was born on 9 April 1870 in Kansas.  He married (1) Alice Hall and (2) Elsie.  Lived in Mountain Home, Idaho.

3.  Mary was born in 1873 in Kansas and died about 1876.

4.  George Washington was born 21 Aug 1879 in Decatur, Kansas.  Married Martha Wilson.  His family lived in the Spokane, Washington area.  He was an engineer for Old Spokane Hotel.

5.  Arthur was born Jul 1882 in Kansas and died about 1895.  According to cousin, Cecil Whitby, Arthur was killed by a horse at the age of 18 probably as a result of a rodeo accident.

6.  Bertha was born 9 Apr 1884 in Laramie, Wyoming.  Bertha married Harry Swinehart in Hagerman, Idaho on 1 Nov 1903.  She died Aug 1930 in Lind, Washington. (I descend from this line).

7.  Amelia was born 15 Jun 1888 in Laramie Peaks, Wyoming.  She married Harry Whitby on 18 Oct 1908 in Shoshone, Idaho.  She died around 1980 in Alameda, California.

Have the following Census information:

·        1880 located in Grant Township, Decatur County, Kansas.  Occupation is farmer and indicates he was born in Illinois and his parents in New York and Kentucky.  His age is listed as being 38.  Children included David M (age 9), Charles W (age 6), Mary E (4) and Joel W (age 9/12).  All born in Kansas.

·        1900 located in Blaine County, Idaho.  Indicates he was born in March 1842 in Illinois and his parents were born in New York & Kentucky.  Children (6 out of 7 living) listed include George born in Aug 1879 in Kansas, Arthur in July 1882 in Nebraska, Bertha in Apr 1885 in Wyoming, and Amelia in Jun 1888 in Wyoming.  Listed as a farmer owning his own place.  His son, Charles (b Apr 1874 in Kansas) lived next door with his wife Alace.

·        1910 located in Buhl Precinct, Twin Falls County, Idaho. Just Charles & Lavina.  Indicates 5 out of 7 children are living.  Has him being 68 years old and being born in Illinois and parents in New York & Kentucky.  He is still a farmer but now is renting instead of owning.  Their daughter, Amelia, is living two houses down with her husband Harry Whitby and son W. Cecil.

Looks like I may need to change my data.  All 3 censuses are consistent as to his birthplace and year.  I’m also thinking I may need to update other birth dates as well.  Not able to locate him on the 1920 census nor do I have information for the 1870 census.

PS:  Since writing this, I have located the 1870 Census for Charles & Lavina Davis.  They were in Chandlerville, Cass Co, IL (no children).  I also found their marriage record in Cass Co, IL - 22 Dec 1869.  I also have reason to believe his parents are Joel W & Rebecca Davis.  Found an 1850 census that collaborates the birth information, birth places, etc.  So, I will need to update my family tree.

June 2016 - I have recently been in touch with a family member that has collaborated information and updated others.  I will be publishing a new blog entry for the Davis surname. 

#8 Grades 5 & 6

I’m still at Oakview Elementary School.  However, it has changed.  Instead of Grades 1-6, it now has Grades 4-6.  The first three grades now attend Fords Prairie Elementary School.  Grades 4 had the newer part of the school and 5^th Grade had the older part of the school.  6^th Grade met in portable classrooms.  There were four classes for each of the grades.

My 5^th Grade teacher was Mrs. Mabel Olson (no not the same one I had in 3^rd Grade).  This Mrs. Olson was my mother’s 4^th grade teacher!  One of the first things my mother told her was that we didn’t know our times tables.  Boy, did we have to learn them.  We were tested every week.  Not only did we have to learn our times schedules.  She made us practice our penmanship.  We also had to learn our State Capitols.  I can still remember most of them.

Made lots of new friends that came from Fords Prairie.  We still had classroom parties for the various holidays.  I can remember Mom helping out on Halloween.  As we were getting ready to do the parade to other classrooms, she asked me who the new student was.  I said we didn’t have a new student.  She didn’t believe me until she looked at the name plate on the desk after we left the room.  She cracked up laughing.  It was one of the boys who dressed up as a girl (borrowed his sister’s clothes, had a wig and make-up).  He did a fantastic job – Mom didn’t recognize him!

Mom made me a new dress for school – it was a real pretty pink and had ruffles.  Don’t remember too much about it but I wanted to wear it to school for the Christmas party.  I was all dressed up in it and went downstairs.  Told mom my backed itch and would she scratch it.  She started to then took a look . . . I had the Chicken Pox.   One of the kids took the treat bag to my Dad (he drove school bus and took kids who lived in Galvin/Lincoln Creek).  But what a way to spend Christmas.  And I gave it to my little brother.  When school started back up after break, I was wearing that dress but no teacher, she was ill.

So our Principal, Mr Robinson, taught us that first day until he could get a substitute teacher.  He was great!  By the way, he had a nickname for me = Zenkner Valley Girl.  I was the only student in the school that lived up Zenkner Valley.  My normal bus had to take students from Oakview over to the High School then pick up those kids that lived in the Valley then come back and get me.  School was out at 3:30 but I didn’t leave the grounds until after 4pm.  Mr. Robinson would sit with me until Mrs Clark came back to get me.

Other changes we had were music teachers.  We had a couple of guitar players that came in and taught us songs to sing.  We also had them in the 6^thGrade.  Some of the songs we sang included “Yellow Submarine”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “Lemon Tree”, plus others.  Math changed again.  Boy, no wonder I struggled, it kept changing on me.  And our teacher had to learn along with us.  We also had an opportunity to learn a band instrument.  I wanted to do band but we couldn’t afford it.  Band was done during the lunch periods.  6^th Graders got to help out in the lunch room (and you got free lunch when you did this) – so I did that when the kids who had band couldn’t work their shift.  Mr. Jensen and Mrs. Case (the lunch room workers – Mr Jensen was also the school janitor) loved it when I worked because I never complained and did a good job.

6^thGrade was my first male teacher and it was his first year of teaching.  His name was Mr. Arlen Branch.  That was the year I learned how to talk in class and not get caught.  It was also the year I came down with the flu and when the doctor prescribed antibiotics, I broke out.  He had mom discontinue and bring me in.  Instead of an allergy reaction, I had Rubella Measles (even though I had been vaccinated).  It was also the year that I had to start wearing glasses – I had troubles seeing the black board.

We were also broken up into level appropriate classes for Reading & Math.  I was put in the upper levels for both.  In reading, we created a newsletter and wrote various articles.  We also had to write up book reports.  Math was still a struggle for me.  However, we were in the gym where the Principal, Mr. Robinson, taught us.  One of the first things he did was asked what we were struggling with then he taught us shortcuts on how to learn it.  My main issue was fractions.  His help is what got me through basic math the rest of my school years (and one of the reasons why I’m an accountant today).  For Social Studies, we got extra credit if we obtained literature about foreign countries and did up a report about them.  I remember writing to several Consulates and getting literature.  One of the other classmates did a better job than me.  I was jealous.

5^th& 6^th grade was also the time that they brought in a female doctor (a rarity at that time) to teach us girls about puberty/menstruation.  We had to watch a film.  The boys were sent off to another classroom and I’m not sure if they had a similar topic on puberty for them or not.

One of the sad things, due to school levy failures for several years, we as 6^thGraders did not have the Outdoor Classroom field trip to Mayfield for a week.  Also, for the next year, several schools were closed.  More about that later.

#7 Grades 3 & 4

I had already talked about 3^rd Grade earlier so I will focus on 4^thGrade.  I was still at Oakview Elementary School and we still had too many students for just one classroom.  However, this was the first time that the class behind us also had too many students.  So, they created a split class.  We had one row of desks for 3^rd Grade (I think it was only 5 or 6 kids) and 3 rows for 4^th Grade.  Our teacher was Mrs. Calkins.  I really liked her.  We also had a student teacher that assisted the 3^rd Grade students.  I think sometimes, I also helped out by listening to them read.

The classroom was in the old Music Room in the older part of the school and it was next to the boys bathroom.  I can remember that the halls echoed when you walked down them.  There was only the 3 classrooms (5^th& 6^th Grade besides our room – I think one of those rooms was actually the 4^th Grade and the 6^th grade was down in the new part of the school near the Principal’s Office).  The play shed was also at the old end of the building.  It was where we lined up in the mornings to enter the school.  Grades 1-3 at one door and 4-6 at the other.

I was still involved with Girl Scouts and had my friends.  I probably made new friends as well . . . not sure if I had a “best friend”.  Those seem to change every year.  

#7 - Henry Reisner

Henry Reisner is another immigrant ancestor on my Dad’s side. 

He is my 2^ndGreat Grandfather.

Henry was born 19 Sept 1814 in Poppengrun, Bavaria, Germany.  He married Maria Margaret Haueisen around 1847 (before immigrating to the United States).

He came to New York in 1848 and went to Stoughton, Dane County, Wisconsin where he rented a place.  In 1859, the family moved to Fayette County, Iowa and in 1864 he had purchased land.

Henry died in West Union, Fayette County, Iowa on 19^th of December 1891.

Henry & Maria had 10 children.  The oldest, Christian, was born in 1850 in Wisconsin and the youngest, Louisa, was born in Iowa in 1871.

Henry had 2 brothers that also immigrated and lived in Iowa – Christian born circa 1809 and Adam born in 1823. 

#6 – John Reynoldson

John is my 3^rd Great grandfather on my mother’s side.  He was born 12^th of October 1819 in England and died 14^th of March 1903 in Barrington, Cook County, Illinois.

The 1900 census indicated that John immigrated in 1850.  However, other information I have has his first child born in New York in 1844.

John married Eliza Hougtaling (b 20 Jul 1827 d 17 Oct 1892) in New York (year unknown).  Their second child was born in Illinois in 1846.  They had a total of 12 children.

    1. Robert – b Oct 1844 in New York
2.  John A – b 1846 in Illinois
3.  Eliza J – b 1849 in Illinois
4.  Fannie M – b 1853 in Illinois
5.  Ellen A – b 1855 in Illinois
6.  Caroline – b 1857 in Illinois
7.  Thomas H – b 1859 in Illinois
8.  Samuel Peter – b Dec 1861 in Wauconda, Illinois (my ancestor)
9.  Franklin – b c1863 in Illinois
10.             Adelia W – b 1867 in Illinois
11.             Grace D – b Nov 1869 in Illinois
12.             John C – b Jan 1872 in Illinois

Looking for the following information:

·       Exact Location in England

·       When immigrated & port of entry

·       When John & Eliza married

·       John’s parents

#5 – Gabriel Swinehart

Gabriel is my 4^th Great Grandfather on my Dad’s side.  He was born around 1776 in Hanover, Germany. 

I need to know who his wife is and when he came to the United States.

I descend from his son Joshua, who was born in 1821 in Ohio (probably Sycamore Township in Wyandot County).  I don’t have any information on siblings, if any.

Joshua married Sarah Elizabeth Sparr/Spawr on the 8^th of January 1846 in Wyandot County, Ohio.  They had four children (Emanuel, Rebecca, Joshua, & Robert).

The family moved to Avilla, Noble County, Indiana prior to Robert’s birth, which occurred in 1865.

My sources of information include:

·       http://gen.nobleco.lib.in.us/Marriages/Str.htm

·       http://www.ohiogenealogyexpress.com/wyandot/wyandotco_marriagerec_1846.htm

·       https://archive.org/stream/alvordshistoryof00alvo#page/546/mode/2up/search/swinehart

·       http://gen.nobleco.lib.in.us/Obituaries/Sun.htm

·       Federal Census Records

 

#6 Games You Played

This is easy . . . Sunday evenings was game night in our home.  We would sit around the kitchen table and play a single game.  This could be Parchisi or Aggravation! or Life or Careers or Monopoly or Go Fish, Old Maid, Uno, Touring, Flinch.  We took turns each week on choosing a game.  There was one night we actually taped our playing (totally by accident) and when we returned the cassette player to my grandfather, he had a blast listening to us.  I think after that he wore his hearing aids around us.

I used to play Scrabble with my mom.  Dad would have us play Solitaire.  I remember using the Book of Hoyle to learn how to play various solitaire games (either single or double deck).

I also played Chinese checkers, Operation!, poker, checkers, Yahtzee, and Let’s Drive.  Oh, and there was Battleship.

My brother & I played a lot with Legos, Tinker Toys, and Lincoln Logs.  Paper Airplanes was another thing – we created an airport on the top of our dresser.  In the summer, we would ride our bicycles up & down the driveway and road, pretending we were going to work, store or home (playing house).  In the winter, we would use boxes and my dolls and set up “school”.

I can remember one time visiting some friends of my Dad up Lincoln Creek and they played “Mr Potato Head” with real potatoes.

At school, there was 4-Square, hopscotch, King of the Mountain, Red Rover, Red Light Green Light, Simon Says and Allie Allie All Come Free.  King of the Mountain was played around a concrete septic mound.  There was a person who was the “king” and they were on the mound.  Others tried to run over the mound or knock the “king” off.  The same mound was used as a Witches Pot.  One side was a door and the other end was the Pot.  I don’t remember all the details.  Allie All Come free – this was a multiplayer game using a ball and the maintenance shed.  People were on each side of the shed.  We would throw the ball over the roof and if it was caught by the other team, they ran around and tried to tag people.  This reminds me of another game we played – Tag and Hide-n-Seek.

Road Trips – there were a couple of games we played as a family to keep us kids quiet on the long drives to and from Seattle or Albany, Oregon.  Slug Bug:  If you saw a Volkswagen Beetle, you called out slug bug and the color.  Red was 5 pts, all others were 1.  If the car wasn’t a VW, you lost the points.  The one with the most points when we got to our destination, won.  Car Dealerships were excluded.  Another game was the Alphabet Game.  You would read road signs and call out the letter and word.  Nobody else you use that sign after the first person.  This was real rough for the letter Q or Z as there were only a couple of signs that had those letters.  This game was one of the clues that I was having troubles seeing distances.  We also had a game that had two trays and several cards – one was road bingo.  Another was the States & Capitols.  This was a game we used to help me memorize the State Capitols for 5^th grade.  Then there was a time we tried to see how many different states we could find on license plates.

Mom & Dad played Pinochle once a month with another couple and they also played Cribbage.

My most favorite time was in the winter when Dad would run his model railroad (HO scale).  My brother & I got to play too.  There was the yard where the trains were made up, the mainline, then the logging camp.

I had a jump rope, Chinese jump rope, slinky, yo-yo.  I had a hula hoop and there was another “skipping” thing I had.  It went over the ankle, had a string with a ball at the end and you would twirl and jump over the rope.  I also played with my Barbie dolls.  I too did Cat’s Cradle & Spirograph. 

My favorite past-time was reading.

#5 Naughty or Devilish Things I did as a Kid

Hmmmm . . . . have to really think hard on this one.  There is one story my mom loves to tell about me.  I was either in Kindergarten or 1^stgrade.  I had beautiful long blonde hair.  It was always tied up in a ponytail.  Evidently, one day when I came home from school, I was so tired of the pony tail that I took my scissors to it and whacked it off!  Mom had to take me in to a hairdresser to have it fixed.  I wasn’t allowed to have long hair for a long time.  Nor was I allowed to use sharp scissors.

I also used to dress my baby brother up in my doll clothes.  He was 4 ½ years younger than me so he was my live doll.

I can’t think of anything else – this would be something better for my mom or dad to write about me.

#4 – John Kludt

This is on my Dad’s side – my 2^nd great grandfather.  Heinrich Johann Ludwig Kludt was born 2 Nov 1832 in Goldenbow, Parchim, Mecklenburg, Germany.  In approximately 1850, he immigrated to the United States.  However, I don’t know his port of entry or ship.  He became a Naturalized citizen in West Union, Fayette County, Iowa.

John married Dorothea Ahrendt 27^th of November 1857 in Grafton, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin.  They had six children but only three survived to adulthood.

John was a saloonkeeper in Cedarburg, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin at the time of his youngest surviving son’s birth in 1875 and per the 1870 Census.

By 1880, the family was living in West Union, Fayette County, Iowa and his occupation was farmer.  John passed away 29^th of March 1904 in Hawkeye, Fayette County, Iowa.

#4 Experiences in Grades 2&3

1967 – We moved from Grand Mound and back to the family-owned farm in Zenkner Valley just north of Centralia just before school started.  Attended Oakview Elementary School.  Second grade teacher was Mrs. Steele and third grade was Mrs. Olson.  We had a large amount of students that they had to have 2 classrooms.  It stayed that way all the way through 4^thgrade.  All the other grades were only a single classroom.

I struggled as things were totally different from Grand Mound.  One thing – you didn’t have workbooks to write in.  It was actual textbooks.  Another was the method of teaching – there was a change in Math (that through me for a major loop and struggled all the way till 6^th grade).  Even reading was taught differently – no Dick & Jane but SLR Reading (this is where you read a story and took tests.  If you past the test, then you got to move on to the next card.  It seems like if you passed x number in that section, you got to move up to the next reading level).  I was placed fairly high.

Each of the classrooms had pianos that the teachers played for our “music”.  Every morning started out saying the pledge of allegiance and singing a patriotic song.  We took turns leading and choosing the song.  Our day started at 9 am and ended at 2:30 (an hour less than what I had in Grand Mound, so I was more tired).  We had a morning and afternoon recess.  We had to stay at our end of the playground (unless it was raining, then we can use the playshed).  Lunch was eaten in the gym in shifts (right after our lunch, we had recess).

I started in Girl Scouts as a Brownie.  The boys loved taking our “beanies”.   There was a “dress code” – girls couldn’t wear pants although some rebelled.  By the time 6^th grade rolled around, we could wear slacks but not jeans.

I can remember memorizing a very long poem called “Trees” for a school-wide program to our parents.  Our whole class did various poems.  There was one about boys & girls.  Another about the number of days in a month.  My first experience on being on stage in front of a huge audience.  I never saw my family but did see the neighbors that we were good friends with.  I used them as my focus point.  I returned to that stage several years’ later (high school doing a Shakespeare play for the school).

I believe I had perfect attendance in the 2^nd grade but not so in the 3^rd (don’t remember why).