October Dates in My Family History

6th - death of Eunice Brown, my 3rd great-grandmother, in 1867, in Northfield, Rice Co, Minnesota, just three days shy of her 18th wedding anniversary. 

9th - anniversary of Thomas Arthur and Eunice Brown, my 3rd great-grandparents, in 1849.  They were married in Trumbull Co, Ohio

22nd - death of Robert Nelson McNeill, my 2nd great-grandfather, in Asheville, Buncombe Co, North Carolina

29th - birthday of Robert Nelson McNeill, my 2nd great-grandfather, in 1858

31st - birthday of Isaac Harmon in 1773.  I believe Isaac to be my 5th great-grandfather, through Walter Harmon (1798-1865)

Edward Joseph Harmon and Kate Nellie Arthur

 Edward Joseph Harmon and Kate Nellie Arthur are my great-grandparents, through their youngest son, Fred.  They had both passed on by the time I was born but my mother remembers them well and has shared many stories with me.

Edward Joseph Harmon was born 9 January 1883 in either Morrison or Round Grove, Whiteside Co, Illinois to Walter and Fannie (Arnold) Harmon, the first of five children.   When he was perhaps a year or so old, Walter and Fannie left Illinois and homesteaded in Clark Co, Dakota Territory.   He was raised on a farm in or around the community of Clark.  



Kate Arthur Harmon,
date unknown

 

Kate Nellie Arthur was born 5 Nov 1889 on a homestead near Trent, Moody Co, South Dakota, just three days after South Dakota achieved statehood.  Her parents were Homer Eugene Arthur and Amanda Savilla Myers;  she was the fifth of six children.  Her parents later left Moody Co. and traveled north to Clark Co. where Homer obtained more farmland.

Ed and Kate were married 30 November 1910 about six miles east of Clark, presumably at one of their homes.  They lived in Clark Co. or neighboring Codington Co. their entire married life with the exception of a short stint in Santa Cruz, California in the late 1930s.  They had three sons:  Kenneth, Harry and Fred, my grandfather.  Seven grandchildren would follow in later years.



Obituary for Edward Joseph Harmon
found in Fred Harmon's personal papers,
newspaper unknown, but likely a Clark
or Codington County, SD newspaper



Ed suffered a stroke and for several years was cared for by Kate in their home, but eventually he had to be moved to a nursing home.  He died 31 Jan 1960 in Watertown, Codington Co, South Dakota.  Kate lived to the age of 84 and died 21 Sept 1974 in Clark, Clark Co, South Dakota.  They are laid to rest in Lorinda Cemetery, Graceland Township, Codington Co, South Dakota.

I remember my grandfather talking about his parents often.  His father was strict and expected hard work from his sons.  I speculate that the sense of humor my grandfather had came from his father.  I think my mother and I both have some of it and I can see those same things coming out in my oldest daughter.  We often refer to it as the "Harmon sense of humor."  His mother, Kate, was the family historian and photographer.  My grandfather was given a family history record for Christmas 1955 that we still have today.  In it, Kate painstakingly laid out her son's pedigree, listing birth, marriage and death dates and locations, all the way through his great-grandparents.  Without her information to get me started, it would have been a much slower process to gather the data I have today. 

We have copies of many of the wonderful photos that Kate took over the years.  Apparently she liked to catch you unawares and take your picture, often times by coming around the corner of the house and taking the photo.  Some of her grandchildren later termed this "shooting from the hip" as she'd hold that camera against her hip, look down through the view finder, and capture the image.   One of the other memories my mother shared with me was Kate's love of books.  Mom remembers she had stacks of books upstairs in her house. 

My grandfather, Fred, had a terrible sweet tooth and he and his mother would make homemade ice cream.  They would eat the whole container just the two of them.  Apparently my grandfather used to crack jokes that we "gotta get ready for the 4th" [of July] in imitation of his mother.  Now I always remember him as a sort of "bah humbug" about 4th of July but as a child his parents would have a celebration that required some big preparations.  I understand one of those was hand cranked ice cream so his sweet tooth was established early in life.

I'd like to think that my love of books, family history, and photos comes from Kate.  I was born just a few short months after her death, but she knew that my mom, her youngest grandchild, was going to have her first baby.  My research would be nothing without the wonderful documentation Kate left behind.

September Dates in My Family History

Important dates for September in my family history include:

10th - death of Iver Hiby, my 2nd great-grandfather, in 1951 in Hamlin, South Dakota

21st - death of Kate Nellie Arthur, my great-grandmother, in 1974 in Clark Co, South Dakota.  She was married to Edward Harmon.

22nd - anniversary of Abraham Lincoln Greathouse and Sarah Jane Johnson in 1910.  They were married in Kansas, likely Johnson Co.  Sarah was my 2nd great-grandmother.  Abraham is the brother of Sarah's first husband, William Michael Greathouse.

August Dates in My Family History

As in July, this month only has a few dates in my family history.

4th - birthday of Homer Eugene Arthur, my 2nd great-grandfather, in 1850.  He likely was born in Trumbull Co, Ohio where his parents, Thomas Arthur and Eunice Brown were married in 1849.

8th - anniversary of Conrad Coons Scott and Zerlinda Jane (Jennie) Pitts, my 2nd great-grandparents, in 1869 in Nodaway Co, Missouri

30th - death of Walter Harmon, my 4th great-grandfather, in 1865 in Whiteside Co., Illinois.  He is buried in Round Grove Cemetery in the same county.

Wordless Wednesday: Kate Nellie Arthur

Kate Nellie Arthur Harmon (1889-1974)

My Great-Grandmother

She would be thrilled to see the ease of availability of genealogy information today. In the weeks to come, I plan on scanning and photographing pages she prepared of genealogy information for my grandfather, her youngest of three sons. That is what helped me get my start with the Harmons and Arthurs.

Dear Genea-Santa

This post is written for Part 2 of the 86th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.

Dear Genea-Santa,

I'm going to cut right to the chase because if you are as far behind on your Christmas preparations as I am you don't have time for a flowery beginning.

I have made every effort to be a good genea-girl this year. Just in the last 10 months alone, I discovered all these wonderful genealogy blogs and even got the courage to start one of my very own. I discovered that my old software wasn't cutting it and that using online trees (while good for sharing with unknown cousins) wasn't great either so I ventured into RootsMagic 4. I combined my four online trees (one for each of my grandparents) into one tree on RM4 and have slowly and methodically been updating and correcting all my sources. While not done yet, I have made great strides in having accurate and complete sources. I have contributed in three previous Carnival of Genealogy events and have had fun writing the stories for each. The stories likely would not have been documented otherwise. I have also been writing about my own childhood Christmas memories by contributing to the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. Again it's something I probably never would have done without the organization of Thomas and Jasia.

So if you believe I have been a good genea-girl this year, I would greatly appreciate any of the following:

1. Proof that my Walter Harmon b. 1798 in Berkshire Co, Massachusetts is really the son of Isaac Harmon b. 1774 and Mary "Polly" Rawson. I really think that he is but could use a little nudge in the direction of hard proof besides a birth notation in Tyringham, Berkshire Co, Massachusetts of a Walter born to these parents. Is this the same guy as my Walter? I know Walter and his family traveled to Whiteside Co, Illinois and homesteaded adjacent to a Hiram Harmon. I know that Hiram Harmon was an associate of Guy Ray who married a Harmon girl and then another Harmon after the first one died. Can you help me prove that these four Harmons are siblings as I suspect?

2. Proof that Azubah Hyde (who married Walter in #1 above) is the daughter of John Hyde 2nd and Azubah Wheeler. I know that she was born about 1799 in Berkshire County and that the New Marlborough city clerk didn't record her birth so I'm hoping you can help me with some other proof. I mean why else would you name a child Azubah if Azubah Wheeler Hyde wasn't your mother, much like Azubah Wheeler Hyde was likely named after her own mother Azubah, wife of Zenas Wheeler? This one tiny little piece of information could lead to a possible Mayflower connection.

3. Parents of Thomas L. Arthur b. 6 Feb 1825 in New London, Connecticut. I have multiple documents that state either a location or a date, but no parents, and no luck searching in the Barbour Collection at Ancestry.com. I read a "vanity book" entry that said he'd been on his own since the age of 12. I know that by 1850 he was in Trumbull Co, Ohio and then moved onto Northfield, Rice Co, Minnesota where he lived the remainder of his days.

4. I'd greatly appreciate a copy of my grandpa Lee's military records. I've attempted before to find them, but according to NPRC, they can't find him based upon the information I provided. I'm a little frustrated and discouraged.

5. And if none of these are to your liking, I would just welcome the gift of a few hours now and then and a few extra dollars so that I can work on these problems myself.

So dearest Genea-Santa, my best wishes to you and a heartfelt thanks for any hints you can give about my above requests. My family, especially my two little girls, wish you safe travels this Christmas Eve. We will be watching your progress on the NORAD site and there will be cookies and milk waiting for you when you arrive.

With much love,
Tracy

SNGF - A Family's Increase

I have spent several days pondering Randy Seaver's latest edition of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. This time the task is to calculate the descendants from a set of our great-grandparents, preferably with the most and determine the number in each generation. Here are his instructions.

As I was thinking about this I realized both of my grandmothers each had one sibling who had no children. I always have known this fact, but I never really considered that this was something in common between them. So then I began to think about my each of my grandfathers and it's quite a different story.

My Grandpa Fred's parents, Edward Joseph Harmon and Kate Nellie Arthur, had four boys of which three lived to adulthood. The descendants of Edward and Kate are as follows:

1. Children = 4 (all deceased)
2. Grandchildren = 7 (one deceased)
3. Great-grandchildren = 16 I think. This number includes my sister and me. Besides us, I've met perhaps only two others in this generation.
4. Great-great-grandchildren = I don't even know how many there could be. I know I have two children of my own that fit into this generation. I am aware of at least 5 others, but know there are more.
5. 3rd great-granchildren = I am aware of one baby born in 2008.

So on my Grandpa Lee McNeill's side, his parents Charles Lafayette McNeill and Della Winnie Grindstaff had five children of which four lived to adulthood. The descendants of Charles and Della are as follows:

1. Children = 5 (all deceased)
2. Grandchildren = 11 (3 deceased) I have communicated with two in this generation as well as the husband of another grandchild
3. Great-grandchildren = at least 8 known (me, my sister and my two first cousins plus 4 cousins of which I have emailed with one) I would expect there could be another 5-10 in this generation that I know nothing of. This also excludes any step-great-grandchildren in this generation of which I know of one.
4. Great-great-grandchildren = well again my two girls count here and a first cousin to me has three children. I know there is at least one other. This again excludes any step-relatives in this generation.

So what this tells me is that I have spent a lot of time focusing on the prior generations i.e. the deceased, but haven't focused so much on the living descendants. I have two reasons (read: excuses) for this. First, if you have read any of my prior posts on my McNeill ancestors, you will know that up until a few years ago we didn't know much about Lee's past. So there have been a lot of letters and emails (think of cold calling) done to try to make contact with some of the right descendants. That explains my paternal side, but on my mother's side (Harmons), I think the seven cousins all lived in such different locations around the United States and with limited funds it was difficult to get all of them together. However, it is my hope in the next year or two to have a mini-reunion with those six remaining cousins. Three of the six remaining cousins all live in a close geographic area that makes it easy to get together and we are only a few hours from them by car. So that leaves the two remaining cousins and the widow of the deceased cousin to come from Utah, South Dakota and Arizona. Think it could happen? We'll just have to see how persuasive I can be!

My ancestors in the SSDI

I noticed a post on Rootdig.com that Michael John Neill had noted his ancestors that were listed in the SSDI. I thought this was an interesting exercise and certainly not one I had considered before, so here goes nothing.....

1. Fred Joseph Harmon (1 Jun 1921-25 Apr 1993) - my grandfather
2. Kate Harmon (5 Nov 1889-21 Sept 1974) - my great-grandmother and mother of #1, maiden name was Arthur
3. Helmer Hiby (21 Jan 1895- Jun 1982) - my great-grandfather
4. Bernice Hiby (27 Mar 1903 - 28 Mar 1982) - my great-grandmother, maiden name was Hanson
5. Charles McNeill (18 Feb 1886-12 May 1970) - my great-grandfather
6. Della McNeill (15 Mar 1893-1 Mar 1979) - my great-grandmother, maiden name was Grindstaff
7. Frona Scott (13 Jun 1890-29 Jun 1971) - my great-grandmother, maiden name was Greathouse

It should be noted that both my grandmothers are still living as well as my parents.

The other unusual thing is that my grandfather, Lee McNeill, should be listed in the SSDI. However, the reason he may not be listed is that he died at age 59 before he started receiving benefits so my grandmother may not have needed to report his death to the Social Security Administration. And she was admittedly rather shell-shocked. Her mother Frona died at the end of June and just over two weeks later Lee died suddenly from a heart attack. Frona had lived with my grandparents since her own husband, Bert Scott, had died in 1950 on the day my uncle was born.

This also pointed out a couple of flaws in my recordkeeping. I need to note the dates of my Hiby grandparents' passing. I remember both their funerals fairly well, particularly for my great-grandma Bernice. She either died on the 27th or 28th of March and the funeral was on the 31st, which was their wedding anniversary as well as my birthday. And my great-grandpa Helmer died just three short months later in June. However, that date escapes me completely. I will need to follow up on that.

Regrouping

I've been away....literally and figuratively. I have taken a break from posting for some "me time" in an effort to figure out what I wanted to accomplish with this blog. It was also a time to reflect on how best to manage my precious genealogy time. I'm a mom of two busy girls, a wife, a full-time employee, a chief bottle washer (thank goodness for all that my dear husband is the chief cook), laundress, etc. You get the picture. There are only so many hours in my day to accomplish things and something had to give.

As a result, I've determined that Twitter just isn't for me - I can't figure out all the abbreviations and I wasn't gleaning anything really meaningful that I couldn't get from reading my favorite blog posts. I've continued with Facebook which I primarily use for my personal friends though I do have "friends" that are new (to me) relatives and researchers working on common lines. I don't use it as extensively as other genealogists do and probably won't. I'm ok with that. I've also determined I just can't possibly read any more blogs. I love to read the escapades of another's mysterious ancestor, but time is precious. I do continue to scan the new blogs that Geneabloggers puts out each week in the hope that someone will be researching my lines. I continue to gather my genealogy news in that fashion. And I will continue to read (via Google Reader) those blogs of the few kind folks who follow my random ramblings. I will also remain somewhat active on GenWise. They've had a few missteps, dramas, and some outright plagiarism (that was later corrected and properly attributed to Randy Seaver) that have left a bad taste in my mouth. My time is precious and I don't need to deal with that kind of drama - if I wanted to I'd watch daytime soaps. I was hoping (and still am) that more educational opportunities would come from GenWise rather than "tell me everything you know about XYZ". I realize that everyone starts new and makes mistakes. Heaven knows I've had my share. However, I am going to pick and choose how I participate. I hope my time won't be wasted there.

I recall reading a post (and please forgive me for not remembering where it was) about a fellow geneablogger also frustrated with all the social media opportunities and the lack of time to do them all. After reading that, it truly verbalized the exact feelings I had been going through. Since cloning isn't an option, I have to manage time the best I can.

Since my last post nearly a month ago, I have been very busy checking off some "to-do" items. A few "family history" things that I have done include:
1. Taking a family vacation to my mother-in-law's in coastal North Carolina.
2. Requested my grandfather Lee McNeill's Navy records.
3. Requested and received land record information from Whiteside Co., Illinois on my 3rd great-grandfather, Porter Joseph Harmon, and his father, Walter Harmon. They had land warrants to get the land so now I have to figure out how they acquired the land warrants.
4. Hired a wonderful professional researcher to look into some McNeill records for me at the North Carolina State Archives.
5. Requested and received some Patriot applications from the Daughters of the American Revolution.
6. Requested and received a death certificate for my 2nd great-grandfather, Homer Arthur, from Santa Cruz Co, California.
7. Requested an obituary on Catherine Ellen Struble Myers, my 3rd great-grandmother. The South Dakota Archives were unable to locate an obit but did send a WPA transcription of the cemetery she was buried in.
8. Started researching a new genealogy software. I'm using FTM 2005 and also have trees posted on Ancestry.com for each grandparent. I'd like to have one tree where I can combine all data, have the ability to prepare various reports, and the ability to attach various media files to the individuals. I'm leaning towards RootsMagic 4, but am also curious about the new FTM 2010. Any recommendations?

I hope in some future posts to discuss the findings, or lack thereof, in the 8 items posted above.

This list doesn't include things like school shopping for the soon-to-be kindergartener in our home, assisting with our church's Vacation Bible School program, swimming lessons, and the list goes on. It's no wonder I'm tired.

Reflections on Independence Day

So I'm a little late for Randy's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun on July 4th, but I thought I'd share a few things anyway.

I remember as a child the 4th of July was just another really hot summer day. The only perk was that my sister and I could stay up really late and watch our town's fireworks from the air conditioned living room. We lived a few miles out of town by road, but as the crow flies (or in our case the river meandered) we were probably a mile and a half to two miles from the town's rodeo/fairgrounds where the fireworks were shot off following a day of demolition derby action in the rodeo arena. I remember that if the (hot) air was blowing just right we could hear the loud crunches of the old beat up cars in the derby. Because my Grandpa Fred farmed and was up at dawn, he'd always go to bed early and us "girls" (i.e. my grandma, mom, sister and I) would stay up late for the fireworks.

When I was in junior high my grandparents had left that small southwest Idaho town for the cooler mountain town of McCall, Idaho. They have a fabulous fireworks display that is set off over Payette lake. It's truly a sight to behold. Because they were no longer visible from home, we convinced Grandpa to load up in the car and drive into town to watch the fireworks. We parked off on a side street and readied our chairs for the show to come. My Grandpa Fred was a real tease and always the first few "test" fireworks that were shot off always got big "oooohs" and "aaaaahs" from him. He loved to see our reaction and we always got some bemused looks from the surrounding families. I even remember one year watching everyone vacate the lakeside park when a streaker ran through the crowd. I guess that's one way to get a better seat for fireworks!

Now that I have children of my own, I remember the delight I felt as a child. This year, we spent our 4th at my mother's home for a BBQ and we walked two blocks over to get a prime seat for the town's parade. This is the second year we have done this and my older daughter LOVES it. The younger one is still a little overwhelmed by it all. They have a good old-fashioned parade with floats, old cars, horses, and the local firetrucks with the firemen spraying the crowd with the fire hose. My daughter's favorite part is the candy she collects during the parade. I assume we will be back next year with our camp chairs in the shade and my daughter's candy bag at the ready.

The one item that was of the genealogical variety on the 4th was when our conversation turned to my Grandpa Fred and how he always would go around teasing, "Gotta get ready for the 4th!" I guess this was something his mother, Kate (Arthur) Harmon, said quite a bit. For their 4th, there was the possibility that relatives from the nearby communities in Clark Co. or Codington Co. South Dakota would come to visit. And I guess the real perk of the day was the trip to town for the block of ice that would later become homemade ice cream. My grandpa Fred and his mother Kate had a terrible sweet tooth. Though he talked about cranking that handle on the ice cream churn, you can bet he was probably the first in line for a taste of the sweet treat.

My memories are always of a simple day spent with family. I am thankful for those forefathers who had the courage to make our independence a reality and for my own ancestors who participated. It is my mission, as a parent, to not only pass along a fun day of memories to my daughters, but to also teach them what makes this day important and how without the courage of those who came before us, July 4th would just be another hot summer day.

What's next, Grandpa?

I have spent nearly all of my previous posts writing about my paternal grandfather, Lee McNeill. However, today is different. Today would have been my maternal grandfather's 88th birthday.

I had the privilege of spending 18 years with my grandpa, including some under his roof, before the ravages of cancer took him from us 16 years ago. It was devastating to watch a once vital, strong man become slowly weaker as brain cancer consumed him and finally took him from us. Most people have very fond memories of their senior year of high school. Mine was spent watching his health fail and finally succumbing to cancer the day after my senior prom. I could have cared less about the dance, but as a result I always know what day it was on.

Fred Joseph Harmon was born 1 June 1921 to Edward Joseph Harmon and his wife, Kate Nellie Arthur in Clark Co, South Dakota. He was the third and youngest son. Grandpa grew up on the farm and always told me that he went to the School of Hard Knocks, though it was really a small one-room schoolhouse! He was able to finish through the 8th grade before times got so hard that he had to stay home to work on the farm. He also attended part of 10th grade in an unknown school in central California where Edward and Kate had gone for a period of time before returning to South Dakota. I know that he regretted not having more formal education and that's why he stressed it so heavily to my sister and me.

Grandpa joined the U.S. Army Air Corps on 8 Oct 1942 at Ft. Snelling, Minnesota. After receiving training in several locations in the States, he was sent to Wharton Air Base at Wharton, England. There were a lot of dinner table discussions when I was growing up about his days in the army, including how he hated the dreary weather and having to march in the mud, his memories of chipped beef on toast (though I can assure you that was NOT the term he used), and the "hurry up and wait" that was the norm for the army schedule. Probably all that marching in mud contributed to his developing pluresy. At first no one believed he was ill as other servicemen, unfortunately, had tried to shirk duty. However, he was truly ill and spent many months in a military hospital, even coming home on a hospital ship. He was thrilled to discover a few years before his death the BAD 2 Association and the yearly military reunions they had around the country. My grandparents were able to attend a few before his untimely death. I remember him being so pleased to connect with some of his buddies that he hadn't seen in over 40 years.

After the military, he returned home to South Dakota, married my grandmother and had their one and only child, my mom. After struggling to make it in South Dakota, he picked up his family of three and headed west to Bremerton, Washington where he worked at the shipyards as a welder. He later joined the Boilermaker's Union which helped him find better work and pay. He spent many a summer working in Alaska in the 1950s while my mom and grandma were still in the Seattle area. Eventually his skills took him to the company Chicago Bridge and Iron where he worked for many years until he retired in the early 1980s. This work required travel so my mom went to about 13 different schools during her Kindergarten through Senior year of high school. He worked all over the western part of the United States building tanks and towers. Usually these were water towers for municipalities, but also included, for example, an underground storage facility at Hanford in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. He was very proud of his work for CBI and I remember he received an award for no accidents on the job for several consecutive years.

By the time my parents had divorced, my grandfather was preparing to retire to a small town in Southwest Idaho to farm. We spent about 6 years living with my grandparents - basically all of my elementary years. He served in the father role for the Daddy-Daughter Girl Scout banquet, he taught my sister and me how to set siphon tubes out in the field, ride a four-wheeler, he taught us the finer points of baseball and about his favorite Dodgers, he listened to my piano practicing, and a host of other activities. If I came home with a B on my report card, his response would be, "How come you didn't get an A?" When it came time to choose a college, though he lay sick, he read cover to cover one of the college catalogs I had.

Because Grandpa didn't know how to be retired, he continued to farm and weld for many years following his formal retirement. He had a shop out behind the house where he spent many an hour. He taught us girls about all the tools in his shop and we spent a lot of time "helping". Apparently we were so "helpful", we would complete one task and then promptly ask, "What's next, Grandpa?" It became a running family joke and still is to this day. And now that I have two young girls of my own, I realize though he probably enjoyed those times spent in the shop, my sister and I probably weren't all that helpful.

There have been times in the last 16 years where I have come to the proverbial fork in the road and think, "What's next, Grandpa?" I only wish he were here to advise me.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa. I miss you.

My Veteran Ancestors

This morning on this long Memorial Day weekend, I got to thinking about all the people in my family tree that have served in the military. I was surprised when I realized how long the list really was.

On my father's side:

• Both my father and his brother served in the Navy during Vietnam. Their father, Lee McNeill (as mentioned in previous posts), also served in the Navy as a pharmacist's mate during the 1930s. My goal for this weekend is to finally draft the letter to the NARA to see if we can finally obtain his military records.
• Lee's great-grandfather, Archibald H. McNeill, served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War serving in Co E, 6th North Carolina Infantry. He escaped from that unit, returned home to Mitchell Co, North Carolina, and enlisted in the Union Army, serving in Co A, 3rd Regiment of NC Mounted Infantry. If I also recall, two of Archibald's brothers, John and Daniel, also served during the Civil War.
• William Woody, another great-grandfather of Lee, also joined Co E, 6th North Carolina Infantry and died of the measles at Ashland, Virginia in May 1862.
• William Woody's great-grandfather, Henry Woody, served in the Revolutionary War from Virginia.
• Henry Grindstaff, Lee's great-grandfather, served in the Mexican War.
• Isaac Grindstaff, an ancestor of Henry, served in the Revolutionary War from North Carolina.
• On my grandma's (Lee's widow) side, her grandfather Conrad Coons Scott served in Co H 35th Missouri Infantry and Co F 12th Missouri Cavalry for the Union during the Civil War. Two of Conrad's brothers also served during this conflict.

On my mother's side:

• Her father, Fred J. Harmon, served in the Army Air Corp station at Wharton Air Base in Wharton, England during World War II. I remember listening to many of his war stories, including the fact that he REFUSED to eat brussel sprouts after being in England, that they had to march through mud in the rain, and that after he was diagnosed with pluresy and put in a military hospital, Dinah Shore came to sing for the patients. He would always sing "Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah" when I was a child and I didn't realize until I was an adult he always fondly was thinking of her! Both of Fred's brothers served during WWII: one stateside and the other in the Pacific at Guam.
• Fred's great-grandfather, Thomas Arthur, served in Co D, 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery during the Civil War.
• My great-grandfather, Helmer N. Hiby, served during World War I at Ft. Riley, Kansas. One story that sticks in my memory is that he worked in the medical unit during the flu epidemic and carried all the deceased victims out of the hospital presumably to the morgue. Apparently he refused to go to funerals for the rest of his life.
• I think there were some Harmons that served in the Revolutionary War, but am not sure if they are my direct ancestors. It's a research point I'm currently working on.
• I think there is a Struble or perhaps a Studervant ancestor that served during the American Revolution as well. Again, something I'm still researching.

In my husband's family, his brother is currently serving a second tour of duty in Iraq. His wife has also served there as well. My father-in-law served in the U.S. Navy in the early 1960s and was stationed in Germany for a while where he got to connect with some of his German aunts, uncles, and cousins.

May you take the time this weekend and every day throughout the year to remember the sacrifices our military personnel makes through their time and even the sacrifice of their lives to serve our country and protect our freedoms. I know I will.

My surnames being researched

Before I continue on with Lee's story, I feel compelled to give a brief description of the other surnames that I am researching. Though Lee's family was the impetus to get me started, I have since branched out to pursue my other grandparent's families as well. The list includes the following:



HARMON from Clark Co, South Dakota (1880s to 1960s); Whiteside Co, Illinois (1840s to 1880s); Berkshire Co, Massachusetts (? to 1840s). Lines related to the Harmons include ZIMMER, HEATH, and ARMSTRONG.



ARTHUR from Clark Co. and Moody Co., South Dakota (1870s to 1950s or so); Rice Co, Minnesota (1850s-1920s); Ashtabula Co. and Trumbull Co., Ohio (1840s-1850s); and New London Co, Connecticut (? to 1830s). Lines related to the Arthurs include BROWN (Ashtabula Co, Ohio), MYERS, STRUBLE (from Union Co, Pennsylvania) and COCHRAN (also originating from Union Co, Pennsylvania).



HIBY/HOIBY from Clark Co., South Dakota (1880s to present); Dane Co, Wisconsin (1860s to 1900s), and Norway. Also related is NELSON of Norwegian descent.



HANSON from Clark Co., South Dakota (1880s to 1960s); Winneshiek Co. and Buena Vista Co., Iowa, and Houston Co., Minnesota (1850s to 1880s); and Kongsvinger, Norway prior to 1850. ANDERSON is another related surname.



SCOTT from Johnson Co, Kansas; Furnas Co, Nebraska; Nodaway Co, Missouri, Davis Co, Iowa and Hendricks Co, Indiana; Associated surnames include PITTS, JONES, SHERER/SCHERER, and the mysterious SWIFT. There is great speculation and family lore indicating that a Scott was originally a Swift. It's a puzzle I'm still working on.



GREATHOUSE from Wright and Webster Co, Missouri (1860s-?) Greathouse branches also are in St. Clair county; Kentucky and Virginia (1790s-1830s). Associated surnames include JOHNSON, COX from Randolph Co, North Carolina (they were Quakers), and ALGOOD/ALLGOOD.