25 October 2012

A Tragic Loss of a Young Life


Source:  Manistee News Advocate-Manistee Daily Advocate, (Manistee, Manistee, Michigan), 26 October 1963, Front page headline and column 8, microfilm owned by Manistee Public Library, Manistee Michigan; Manistee County Historical Museum, Manistee, Michigan.
 
Brethren Boy, 15, Killed Under Tractor


Michael Fredericks, a 15 year old Kaleva Norman Dickson High School Freshman was killed last night when he and three classmates who arrived early for a Freshman hayride unhooked a tractor from the wagon and rode on it back of the school. The tractor overturned pinning Fredericks under it. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Robert Fredericks of Coates Hwy., Brethren.
State Police said Fredericks and three classmates were riding on the tractor at approximately 6:30 p.m. when it rolled over. They said Bert E. Clements, 15 Route One, Brethren, said he was driving the tractor and that somebody grabbed the wheel, causing it to turn sharply.
He told State Police that the next thing he knew the tractor 'flipped' over and Michael was pinned underneath. He said he did not know who had grabbed the wheel and State Police said none of the other boys knew either. Police said they believed the tractor was moving at a fairly fast rate of speed for a tractor and that when the wheel was turned it went all the way around, causing the tractor to roll over.
The others managed to get clear, but Michael was pinned underneath with the tractor upside down on top of him. The other boys said he was alive for a while, but they were unable to get him out.
A wrecker was called from Onekama and it lifted the tractor off the victim so he could be pulled free.
The other two boys on the tractor besides the driver and Fredericks were Lawrence Lempke and Anthony Skocelas, both 15 and both of Route Two, Wellston.
The tractor is owned by John Urka, Route One, Brethren.
The hayride was to have started at 7:30 p.m.
State Police are continuing to investigate the accident.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m Monday at Trinity Lutheran Church of Onekama with Rev. E. A. Mueckler officiating and burial will be in Brethren Cemetery.
The body will be taken from Terwilliger Funeral Home in Kaleva at noon Monday to lie in state at the church until time of service.
Michael Fay was born March 27, 1948 in Manistee, and besides his parents, he is survived by three sisters; Julie, a student at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Lori and JoEllen, both at home; two brothers, Robert and Steve, both at home; and four grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Nelson of Onekama and Mr. and Mrs. Otto Fredericks of Brethren.


Today marks the 49th anniversary of Michael's death.  I wanted to memorialize Michael, but didn't want to add any pain to his brothers and sisters who are still living.  I emailed his sisters and the one who replied said she was okay with it.  She asked for a copy of his obituary and I sent it to her.

Brethren, Michigan is a very small four corner type of town.  I can imagine the shock that must have went through the town and school community.  Michael was a freshman and had his whole life ahead of him. 

My thoughts and prayers are with his three sisters, and two brothers and numerous nieces and nephews as they remember Michael, today. 







23 October 2012

Michael Fay Fredricks-Tombstone Tuesday

THY WILL BE DONE
SON
MICHAEL F. FREDRICKS
1948            1963
 
This week is the anniversary of the death of my cousin, Michael Fay Fredricks.  Michael was just 15 years old when he died in a tragic accident.
 
Mike was the son of Otto Robert and Fay Fredricks.  He was born 27 March 1948 in Manistee, Michigan and died on 25 October 1963.  He is buried next to his parents in Brethren Cemetery, Brethren, Michigan.


21 October 2012

Frank and Faye Graf Family

The Frank and Faye Graf Family
Picture from Brethren Heritage Association calendar for 2012-2013
 
     "One of Brethren's second generation families was Frank and Faye Graf.  Frank was one of Valentine Graf's sons.  He was born in 1891 and died in 1974.
     Picture is of Frank and Faye and children:  Beulah, Donald, Richard and Garl on Frank's lap."

103 years ago today (21 October 1909), Ernest Franklin 'Frank' Graf and Faye Inez Keck were married in Brethren, Manistee, Michigan.  Frank was born 13 August 1891 in Indiana to Valentine Graf and Nancy (Mast) Graf.  Frank moved to Brethren as a young boy with his family.  Faye was born 2 June 1894 in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan to Jacob and Martha (Winger) Keck. 

Frank and Faye had four children:  Beulah Martha, Richard Franklin, Donald Leroy, and Garl Ernest.

Frank and Faye both died in 1974 in Pontiac, Oakland, Michigan.


19 October 2012

Genealogy Gallery Wall

My husband and I painted our living areas this summer a rich, warm, chocolate brown. Upon completion, my eyes rested on the hallway wall to the bedrooms. It was the perfect place for a gallery wall. The average person would have looked for art prints to display. Not me, I decided to hang family pictures.

With a little help from Pinterest, a project was born! I went through my family pictures and decided which ones I wanted to hang. I wanted to show the Leyndyke and Glover sides of the family. I narrowed the final selections down to 29 photographs, one marriage certificate and one FAMILY letters hanging.

Here is the end result.




I ordered prints to frame from Walgreens. Then, I took advantage of a Michael's sale and bought a few frames. I spent days rearranging the pictures on top of two six foot tables. Once I was happy with the arrangement I turned them upside down, placed wax paper on top of them, and marked where the nail needed to go.  Kirk nailed the wax paper to the wall, leveled it, and pounded the nails in for me. He tore off the wax paper and hung the pictures. The wax paper was a great way to keep everything in order. I only made a couple of mistakes, a couple of pictures had to be moved up and one nail was in the wrong position. 

I am very happy with the final project.  I like the daily reminder of my ancestors.  It helps me to remember that I have a lot to be thankful for.  Here are the Glover family pictures on the wall.

 David and Katherine Watt Family
 Grandma Bell aka Sarah Lilla Watt Glover Bell
 Harry Glover
 Bruce Glover, my dad
 Valentine Graf
 Otto and Daisy (Graf) Fredrick
 Susanna Fredrich, Fredrick Family Farm, J. August and Louise (Zastrow) Fredrick
 Frank H. and Hattie (Fenn) Glover
 Hattie Fenn
 Frank H. Glover
My Dad and I
 Bruce and Audrey (Fredrick) Glover, Kirk and I, James and Elizabeth (Corcoran) Leyndyke
 My Family L-R  Alayna, Travis, Kirk, Chase, Me, Kirsten
 Kirsten and Chase Agnello-Dean
FAMILY-it is what it is all about!
Wondering what Leyndyke pictures I chose, check out my other blog, Journey to His Past for pictures.
(Note:  If you want to see a bigger picture, please just click on the picture.  This is true for pictures and documents on all blog posts.)

18 October 2012

Another Twig on the Glover Family Tree

Hunter J. Scott Chepin
Moments New
 
Don't you love it when you can add another branch, or in this case twig, to your family tree?  I do.  My niece, Bree, delivered a healthy baby boy last week, 10 October 2012, making me a great aunt for the third time. 
 
Congratulations, Bree and Mike, on your precious little boy.  I can't wait to see him.  I believe Hunter was less than an hour old when I added him to my tree.  I wasn't going to procastinate on this family blessing. 

17 October 2012

Hazel Park High School Class of 1943-A Few Surprises

Hazel Park High School, Viking, (Hazel Park, Michigan, 1943) Cover

I was helping my parents clean their house this summer, when I decided to take the books off of the wall unit to dust.  Imagine my surprise when I found my dad's high school yearbook.  I knew he was an athlete and the sport's editor of his high school newspaper, but I didn't know everything else he participated in.  I borrowed the yearbook and have been scanning the pages.

  Hazel Park High in 1943

The Viking Staff at Hazel Park High School, Hazel Park, Michigan

My father, Bruce Glover, was the Sports Editor for "The Viking", the school yearbook.  He is in the second row, first one on the left.  My dad always said if he hadn't gone into teaching he would have pursued a career in sports journalism. 

Hazel Park High School, Viking, (Hazel Park, Michigan, 1943) page fifteen.

Hazel Park High School in Hazel Park, Oakland County, Michigan had a January and a June graduating class.  My dad was in the June class.  He can be found on page fifteen, fourth row, three from left.  Activities he participated in were Basketball, Baseball, President of Honor Society, President of Hi-Y Club, Sports Editor of Viking, and Hazel Parker Staff.

Anything related to sports would not have surprised me, but President of National Honor Society and President of Hi-Y Club did.  I guess I just figured he was so absorbed with sports most of his life that he wouldn't be president of a club, let alone two.  Who knew?

Hi-Y Club, page thirty-three of 1943 Viking Yearbook

I had never heard of the Hi-Y Club before and for those of you who grew up in the 60's and 70's it isn't that!  The Hi-Y Club is a Christian Young Men's Organization.  The club's purpose was for "creating, maintaining, and extending throughout the school and community high standards of Christian character." I don't know why this surprised me because my father has always been a great role model.  Whether as a father, teacher, or coach he modeled high standards of character.  

The Hi-Y page of the yearbook also told me that three students, Don McIlvride, Bill McIntyre and Bruce Glover attended the Michigan Y.M.C.A. summer camp at Torch Lake. I can imagine the fun these three had as they were all friends.  

 Hazel Parker Staff, Hazel Park High School, page thirty five of the Viking.

The Hazel Parker was the school newspaper, it chronicled the activities of the students.  My dad served as the Sports Editor and this came as no surprise to me.  I have heard my dad talk about being a sports editor.  Also, during this time he worked for the Hazel Park Palladium, the local Hazel Park weekly newspaper.  What did he do?  You guessed it, sports editor.
 
I will share my dad's sports participation in a future post, but I have one last surprising thing to share.  The June Class Will was included in the yearbook and here is what it says:  "Shirley Hyde and Bruce  Glover will their inconspicuous romance to Donna Martin and Lawrence Longman, who are taking theirs to heart."  Sounds like Dad had a crush.  Here is what Dad says about Shirley.
 
The one girl that I always had eyes for from 8th grade on was Shirley Hyde and  I would talk to her when occasion presented itself but never actually dated until my junior year when I got up enough courage to ask her to a movie.  I dated her on and off and by end of my senior year we were dating steadily.  I didn’t know how to dance and wasn’t particularly interested in learning but did take her to the prom in our junior and senior years.  I guess I got out on the floor and stumbled around a little and imagine she was completely bored with the whole thing.  When I was in the service I corresponded with her regularly while in training and I guess you could say I was in love or thought I was.  After going overseas the letters stopped coming  and stopped altogether and when I got home I found out she was going steady and I never saw her again. 
 
Do you have an ancestor's yearbook?  What surprises did you discover?
  







15 October 2012

Goal Assessment-This Should Be Interesting-Motivation Monday


I have been setting yearly genealogy goals for the past few years.  I try to assess how I am doing every three months, but due to home improvement projects, family commitments and a few personal health issues I haven't done this since April, yikes!  In fact, this summer was a down time for blogging, research and genealogy education in general.  My first thought was to just forget about it, but then I thought it would be interesting to see if I accomplished anything in the past six months. So, here goes:

My 2012 Genealogy Goals are:

Research
  • Research, record, and source vital record information for my mother's 11 brothers and sisters.  Incomplete
  •        Research Vinera Eglantine Powers parentage.  Incomplete

Education
  • View two webinars per month.
Researching Your New York Ancestors-Thomas McEntee through Legacy

    Researching Your German Ancestors-Kory Meyerink through Legacy


    Genealogy from the Inside-Out-Steve Luxenberg through SCGS Jamboree


    Printed Legends and Missing Footnotes-D. Joshua Taylor through SCGS Jamboree


    30 Second Genealogist-Barry Ewell- through SCGS Jamboree


    Complex Evidence-Warren Bittner-through SCGS Jamboree


    Military Records at the National Archives-Kerry Bartels through SCGS Jamboree


T  The War of 1812-Peggy Clemen Lauritzen -through Illinois State Genealogical Society


    Putting Flesh on the Bones-Ron Arons-through Legacy


    Marriages and Anniversaries-Mining Newspapers-Thomas Kemp-through Legacy


    Mapping Your Ancestors' Footsteps-Kathryn Lake Hogan-through Looking4Ancestors


    Planning Your Way to Research Success-Marion Pierre-Louis-through Legacy


    Building a Family from Circumstantial Evidence-Judy G. Russell-through Legacy


    5 C's for Success in Genealogy Today-Barbara Renick-through Legacy


    Beyond the Arrival Date; Extracting More from Immigrant Passenger Lists-Lisa Alzo-through Legacy


    What is a Reasonably Exhaustive Search-Michael Hait-through Legacy


    Use Your Digital Camera to Copy Records-Mary Hill-through Legacy
17 Viewed
Read research wiki's or courses twice a month.  Big ol' goose egg on this one


Organization

Finish the Glover surname file labels, using Family Roots Organizer System.  Completed prior to April.
    Add information received from a Glover researcher to my Roots Magic software.
         Completed prior to April.




Hmm, that wasn't as bad as I thought.  I guess carving out time for webinars was easier than any of the other things on my list.  My thoughts on my progress are below:


Research Goals-Incomplete, so no brownie points for me.  


Education Goals-I was pleasantly surprised that I viewed as many webinars as I did. Thank you LegacySCGS Jamboree 2012, and Looking4Ancestors for providing excellent educational opportunities which help me grow as a genealogist.  Thank you also to the excellent webinar presenters who take their time to develop and present these.


Organization Goals-I can't take any credit for these being completed the last six months.  Luckily, I completed those before April.  If anyone saw the floor of my office right now, he/she would wonder if I had any organizational system at all!  OK, I will share it with you; it looks like I need to get scanning!  This is only part of what is in the office.  I have a tub to the right of my desk and more on the other wall.







Hopefully, this assessment will motivate me to work on completing my goals in the next two and a half months.  I hope you have a successful next couple of months with your goals.



(P.S. Please forgive the formatting issues, I don't know if it was blogger or me, but I had a devil of a time with this post.)


  

12 October 2012

Where in the World is Hattie Fenn Glover?

One of the first records that a genealogist looks for when starting their genealogy research is the census records.  I am compiling that information for an ancestor in table format, once a month.  This month shows where Hattie Fenn Glover can be found in seven United States Federal Census.

FACT
DATE
PLACE OF RESIDENCE
ENUMERATION DISTRICT/PAGE ID./DWELLING
Birth
6 Jun 1864
Lima, Washtenaw, Michigan, United States

Census
1870
Jackson, Jackson, Michigan, United States
/170A/110
Census
1880
Jackson, Jackson, Michigan, United States
120/339D/311
Census
1900
Crystal Lake Township, Benzie, Michigan, United States
5/19A/367
Census
1910
Marquette Ward 4, Marquette, Michigan, United States
191/4A/71
Census
1920
Marquette, Marquette, Michigan, United States
162/8A/162
Census
1930
Battle Creek, Calhoun, Michigan, United States
34/10B/260
Census
1940
Munising, Alger, Michigan, United States
2-13/20A/Line 1
Death
1951
Munising, Alger, Michigan, United States