Google It!

A few weeks ago, I was doing something and for some reason I decided to Google my grandmother's name.  The expected things popped up; links to her obituary, the Find A Grave link, and some trees on Ancestry.  What I didn't expect was to see her name connected to a weather forum chat link. Being the curious person that I am, I clicked on it and am so glad I did!

The person that had written the original post had been a student of my grandmother's when she was teaching first grade many years ago. The post was a nice tribute to her and included her obituary. What was even better was that someone else had commented on this post looking for members of the family because he had pictures of them that he would like to return! I tried to reply to the comment but I couldn't because I wasn't a member of the site. I set up an account asap but it took several days before I was able to comment. However, once I did, this kind gentleman answered me right back.

Several years earlier, he was helping to clean out a storage closet in his church and came across a box of old pictures, letters, and documents. Some of the pictures were labeled, some were not.  As he put it, "being one of the more mature members of the church I was given the job of caretaker of this box".  It had nothing to do with the church and no one recognized any of the names so they were going to throw it out. This church (and where the gentleman lives) is no where near anywhere my grandparents have ever lived.  However, this gentleman is deep into genealogy and knew that there might be family members that would love to have these things. Turns out, he was right.  It took him several years of just keeping his eyes out and searching the names on sites like Ancestry, Find A Grave, and Googling them occasionally, but he's found someone from almost all of the families that were happy to have what he had found.  Mine was one of the last. Unfortunately, a lot of the photos weren't labeled and he has no way of knowing who to give them to. Thank goodness my grandmother was so very good about labeling her photos!!  I'm sure she had sent these photos to friends (possibly family but I don't know who it could have been) back in the 1940's.

There were three photos, one of which I'd never seen.  After looking through the box again to make sure he wasn't overlooking anything, he put them in the mail.  I received them yesterday and was like a little kid in a candy store when I saw that envelope in my mailbox.  Yes, I had seen two of them before.  Yes, I knew what they looked like (he had emailed me copies).  No, I'm not going to do anything spectacular with them.  But the route they took to get to me absolutely amazes me. Technically, you could say it started with my grandmother mailing those photos 60 some odd years ago but for me, it started with a Google search!


Every family has skeletons in their closet and hidden treasures waiting to be found; I hope to discover all of mine!

One Thing Leads to Another

Earlier this week, I went looking for a picture of my grandmother that was 'missing'.  I was going to share it with a friend of mine, but when I went to send it to her it wasn't where I thought it was.  I thought I had it in my computer with all of my other photos but when I started looking, it was no where to be found.  So, I pulled my box of old pictures out and started sifting through them.  I came across several pictures that I didn't have in my computer files so I started scanning and organizing them. There was this one picture of a pretty older lady that my grandmother had labeled, "Lelia Green Osborn".   that day who she was.

Lelia Green Osborn

The name sounded somewhat familiar but I wasn't sure exactly how she fit into my family tree.  For some reason, I decided that I needed to know

First stop, my Family Tree Maker files. I remembered that my grandmother had an Uncle Joe Osborn.  Maybe one of her aunts was married to him but I didn't remember a Lelia.  Sure enough, neither one of them were there. I had all of her aunts and uncles listed with their spouses and children.  So, who were they and how were they related to me? Or my grandmother for that matter.

Joe Osborn was appointed guardianship over some money she inherited when her father died but I didn't have him in my tree.  I did, however, have a picture of her with him when she was about three years old. Now I'm realizing that I was never clear about how he was related to her.  When I was in Alabama a couple of months ago, I got copies of some documents relating to the guardianship that I hadn't had time to transcribe.  Maybe it was time to make time.

Unfortunately, the documents didn't really give me any information I didn't already know.  They are not  complete files of the case; they are the final settlement of the guardianship which was started in another county and the first part of the case was recorded there.  I foresee another trip to Alabama and another courthouse in my future!  There are some Greens in my tree but a couple of generations further back than Lelia would have been and it 'started' with a female so I didn't really think that that is where she fit in.

I checked for a marriage license for Joe and Lelia but didn't find one.  I decided to look at some census records next and, lo and behold, there was Lelia in 1880 as a child.  This is where it gets interesting.  There were several other children in the household listed as step-children and their last name was Hand.  Which was my great-great grandmother's (Sarah) maiden name.  Her mother's name and Lelia's mother's name were the same.  Could their mothers be same person?

During that same trip to Alabama, I had found an estate settlement for Thomas Hand, Sarah's father.  Back to deciphering and transcribing.  This time, I did learn some new information.  The man who was appointed executor of the estate, Thomas Green, married the widow, Jane Hand.  So, yes, Lelia and Sarah Elizabeth were half-sisters!

Just curious to see if this Thomas Green was any relation to my other Greens (who were in Sarah's husband's line), I started looking at census and marriage records.  Was I surprised when I discovered that he was most definitely a part of my Greens!  My mind is still trying to wrap around the fact that he was the brother to my female Green ancestor.  He was Sarah's step-father AND her husband's great uncle.   I'm not even going to try to figure out his relationship to me!  It's enough for me to know where he (and Lelia) fit into my tree.

I know that these sort of things happen in everyone's tree and honestly, this isn't the first time it's occurred in mine, but it is the first time I've done all the research and made the connections.  I can't help but wonder if my grandmother knew about these connections and I just didn't know enough to ask the right questions.  I believe that Joe and Lelia must have been close to my grandmother and her mother (Lelia's niece) or Joe wouldn't have been appointed as the guardian of the trust.

One of the lessons learned?  Remember that siblings can often be the best lead or source of information for the records we need.   Not only was Lelia a great lead but so was Thomas-both siblings of different direct ancestors!

Oh, and the picture of my grandmother that started this whole thing?  I found it.  It was one of the last ones I pulled out of the box.

Maude Foster and Mayburn Allison Teague on the Quad at the University of Alabama in 1931.

Every family has skeletons in the closet and hidden treasures to be found; I hope to discover all of mine!