Legal Electrocution

Yes, you read that right.  Legal electrocution.

I was inputting information from a death certificate into the genealogy program and the cause of death startled me.  I looked at it again to make sure I truly was reading it.

Now I was really curious.  Why was this 4th cousin 5 times removed electrocuted?  And legally at that.

It turns out this former chief of police murdered his friend, a police officer.  He shot him in the back.  The rumor mill said it was over a married woman.  Someone who wasn't married to either of them.  The cousin denied it to his last day.

The police officer friend helped the cousin get out of prison somehow with a self-defense story in the past.  That was the second murder.

The first time the victim was a black man in the south.  Nothing more needs to be said.

 The third murder was enough for a jury to convict him and give him the death penalty.

Supposedly he was ready for death after some attempts at pardons and an attempt by his wife to take his place.  His last words were "Good night, I'm going home."

Small World

I would have never guessed that someone I knew from years ago would end up being a 5th cousin.  Who would have guessed that I would meet the person in Small Town America.  Who would have guessed that we would travel overseas together and plan to do it again?  She is a 5th cousin from a branch I never really expected to learn more about.  The family came from Luxembourg and my connection had several different spellings of names and no information. 

Today I learned even more about the 5th cousin's family and I think back to when I was first aware of the family, or at least some of them, and had no idea, NO IDEA, that we were related.  Good thing we all were nice to each other.  Haha!

Seeing Double

Benjamin Oswald born in February, 1843.  There are two of them born in February, 1843.  Both buried in the same cemetery.  One died in 1915 and the other in 1926.  Nothing like that to keep you on your toes!

Is he or isn't he...

Is Victor O the same as Victor A?

What a tangled mess he created IF he is the same person.  I lean towards him being the same due to lots of circumstantial evidence.  I'm still looking for the smoking gun.

Victor was married and the father of four children.  One died in her crib from burns after her three year old sister set her on fire.  I can't imagine this and I can't allow my mind to go there.

His youngest child was about two when Victor had an out-of-wedlock child with his girlfriend.   Girlfriend...what else should I call her?

About two years later they had another child together.  He was still married. 

The children and their girlfriend mother appear on the 1920 census WITH Victor, his wife, and children.  Victor's girlfriend is listed as a servant and the two boys are listed as her sons and they each have a different surname.  The surnames are NOT their biological father's surname whether their father is Victor or not.  At least according to all of the official documents I have found.  The surnames from the census never show up again.  I wonder if his wife knew what was going on.  Of course, all of my assumptions about Victor and the girlfriend are just that.  Assumptions.  Not one ounce of proof.

Both boys are in the orphanage in 1930.  I am still unable to locate their mother in that census.  Their father, well, their father is deceased.  He committed suicide about before the youngest boy was one.

Their mother married in 1929 (so why are the boys in the orphanage?) and her name sometimes reflects the boys' biological father's surname as if they married.  It's possible.

The oldest of the two joined the military.  I haven't found the youngest of the two in the 1940 census, yet.

I've only been able to find one obituary for the children from the father's first marriage.  I want to know if they list the second set of boys as siblings.  The one obituary doesn't.

Someday I'm going to find the proof, but it doesn't look like it is going to be today.

Updated:  I found the 'girlfriend' on the 1930 census with her first/second husband.  Her first husband as far as documents show, but he is the second husband IF she married the father of her first two boys.  Anyway, she is living with the new husband and her two boys from him.  She married the new husband in 1929.  Their oldest was born in 1925 and the second oldest in 1929.  Where are her two boys from the first relationship?  In the orphanage.  I am sitting here in disbelief.  

Another update!  I found a record for the oldest boy of the relationship children.  His father is Victor O.  I haven't determined where the A came from yet but at least I know the father is the same.

Seriously!?

I am always amazed at what people will post for trees on Ancestry.  Look at this one.
Clarence b abt 1902 in Pennsylvania
Magdalena, his wife, b about 1772, d 1844 in Pennsylvania

Yep.  He was married to her after her death.  Makes sense, right?  ARGH!

What?? Which name is really yours?

I spend hours trying to figure out a family that seemed to have two fathers when finally I determined the two fathers were actually one and he used two different names.  He used Roth on his death certificate and on two of the federal censuses.  He used Rhode on two censuses.  His daughters used Rhode on their official documents.  Once I had it all figured out it was time to fix the genealogy program.  One daughter was entered three times.  Once with each of the names her father used and once with her step-father's name.  It was so confusing it corrupted my data.  Seriously.  Good thing I had backed up an hour earlier.  I hated losing that hour of work but it was better than losing more!  I still wonder why he used two names.

Wow, the stories so far.

I am like a ping pong ball doing genealogy.  I'm all over the place. 

I've been working on the Lichtenwalner family from Pennsylvania.  This is my husband's family and they have been interesting family.  Now, let me qualify that.  ALL the families I have worked on have been interesting. This is the current one.  The newest shiny object.

One of the brothers moved to Ohio and started using the name Lichtenwalter.  I am curious as to why.  So far no reason found.

Catharina Staettler.  I wonder if the name was changed to Stettler or if some of the family changed their name to Stettler and then I wonder if I'll find a connection to the rest of the Stettlers in the database.  I love finding connections.

Benjamin Schlabach is a 2nd cousin, 5 times removed. At the age of 20 he fought with the Pennsylvania Regiment 153 Co D at Gettysburg.  The story goes that he was shot the first day of the battle, taken POW, paroled, and treated at a field hospital  He then died about 30 days later.  Not all of the information has been confirmed.  He is buried at Gettysburg.  That I do know. 

Another Lichtenwalner changed his name to Lightwood.  I have been unable to pinpoint when exactly he changed it and why.

The Lightwood fellow lost his parents when he was young.  His mother died when he was 9 and his father, who was 56 when the son was born, died when the young man was 15.  The maternal grandfather was named as guardian.  The estate was worth $14,146.91 in 1915.  Wow!  That was a huge amount of money back then.

I thought this was the family with the suicide/cremation, but now I don't think so..  The object of the story had some sort of issues from newspaper articles I could find.  Didn't get along with his parents.  Lost a child.  Wife died.  Remarried.  So far it looks like his wife was married to two men at the same time although I'm sure I'll find where there are two women by the same name in the area as that is not unusual.  He ran into some financial difficulty.  Applied for a loan.  Then something pushed him over the edge.  He set his barn on fire and then committed suicide.  The family thought he was missing until they found his remains in the ruins of the barn.  Back in those days the newspaper articles were a little more blunt than they are today.  The headline had something about committing suicide and then cremating himself. 

Mary Rhodes, are you Martha's sister?

I am hoping Mary is Martha's sister because then I stand a chance of finding out who their parents are.  I hope.

Martha is a great-great grandmother in our family.  I know she married in Illinois in 1868.  Why her and her husband were in Illinois I don't know.  Maybe someday I'll find out.

She has been a huge wall for me for years.  I don't know when she died or where she died.

When looking in an index of marriages I noticed a Mary Rhodes who married in 1868 to Israel R. Phillips.  They eventually ended up around Wichita, Kansas and died before 1919.   I don't know if they died in Kansas or where they are buried.  Their son, Joseph, ended up in Texas and is buried there.

Through Joseph's records I discovered a brother to Mary.  J. A. Rhodes, married to Amanda, who lived in Arkansas.

I have been unable to find anything else on J. A., Amanda, Mary or Israel.  I really want to know if Martha and Mary are sister.  I have been unable to find a family with Martha, Mary, and J. A. listed as children.  As far as I know Martha and Mary were born in Virginia.  Martha was born about 1850.

Do you know anything about Mary or J. A. Rhodes?