Stray Branches of Our Family Tree

Home-made noodles drying. I have a certain fondness for homemade noodles. When I was little, I used to stay over at Grandma and Grandpa's a lot (Fleeces near Roundhead, Hardin County, Ohio). One of the things Grandma and I would do together was make noodles. I don't remember her having chickens for eggs but I know she did earlier in her life; the farm women of her generation generated income by selling eggs and also butter if there was a milk cow. The chicken house was out beyond the apple orchard, and northwest of the house. Grandma Claribel and Grandpa Ira heading to the Hardin County Fair about 1922.  (Sorry it's crooked!) My noodle-making days with Grandma was in preparation for the Hardin County Fair, for lunch. It was served under the grandstand, always on the western side. I can't remember who had the eastern side but I think it was one of the school band groups. We always served beef and noodles, chicken and noodles, sloppy joe sandwiches, ...

I have this "thing" about visiting my dead relatives. I'm not sure why, maybe it just helps me feel more connected to them. Alphabetized indexed legend in the kiosk at the cemetery. My now-husband and I stopped at the National Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia one summer on the way to Florida to visit his dad. They had an interment book, easy to read because it was typed, and alphabetized and with plot numbers. How hard could it be? There was no listing for my ancestor. What? I was devastated. I didn't know what to do, and I was overwhelmed. We finally stopped at an unknown soldier marker which I photographed so I would at least have something and headed off to Florida. One day, many months later, I happened to be driving through Urbana, the county seat for Champaign County, Ohio where Hiram lived. His parents were early settlers and there were many pastors on both sides, so I pulled into the parking lot, thinking I might run across some biographical i...

June 27, 1864:  The day Hiram Hancock ended his participation in the Atlanta Campaign as a Union soldier. There is ample information available on the campaign leading up to this point, but that is not within the scope of this blog. I am including the basic outline below though, which is an excellent resource for locating additional information about the unit: http://www.ohiocivilwar.com/cw113.html March to relief of Knoxville November 28-December 8.  Return to Chattanooga and duty in that vicinity till May, 1864.  Demonstration on Dalton, Ga. , February 22-27, 1864.       • Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost Gap and Rocky Face Ridge February 23-25.  Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 1 to September 8.       • Tunnel Hill May 6-7.       • on Rocky Face Ridge May 8-11.       • Roost Gap May 8-9.       • Battle of Resaca May 14-15.    ...

I only have two ancestors who fought in the Civil War. I have not yet found the time to concentrate on the men who were siblings of my ancestors - the sons of the mothers in my line who watched them leave. Some, I'm sure, did not return home and one of these years, it will be my research goal to concentrate on their stories. I suspect the photograph was taken around the time of his marriage to Lavina Counts in 1853. There are no known photographs of any of their children at a young age, which is not necessarily proof as they could have been lost to time. It would have seemed likely that a family portrait would have been taken, rather than two separate ones of Hiram and Lavina. However, Hiram's tiny tie dates to the late 1840s so I am doubtful this is an 1863 photograph. The photographs were presented to me at my parents' 50th anniversary party by a distant cousin whose name I cannot recall, on a floppy disk. Does anyone remember those? Lol! (I will definitely give...