Surname Saturday - Hussong

"Hussong is the Germanized spelling of the French name, Husson, from a pet form of the Old French personal name Hue or Hugh. Hugh is English: from the Old French personal name Hu(gh)e, introduced to Britain by the Normans. This is in origin a short form of any of the various Germanic compound names with the first element hug ‘heart’, ‘mind’, ‘spirit’... It was a popular personal name among the Normans in England, partly due to the fame of St. Hugh of Lincoln (1140–1200), who was born in Burgundy and who established the first Carthusian monastery in England."

So says Ancestry.com. This has been a difficult family branch to work on. I have a few hints, but nothing substantial. I wrote of Nora Hussong in a previous post. She is my husband's paternal Great-grandmother. I found her in each U.S. Federal Census, 1900 - 1930, and in the Kansas 1895 census. In the 1895 and 1900 census, she lived with George W. Hussong and Elizabeth Hussong, identified as their daughter in the 1900 census. In the 1910 census, she was the wife of George T. Roark, and in the 1920 census she was the wife of William T. Asbell. Her death certificate informant was her son, William T Asbell Jr., who listed her parents as George Husong and Elizabeth Gilbert. So, it would seem I have a positive ID on Nora's parents.

George and Elizabeth Hussong are listed together in the 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1920 U.S. Federal Census records. In every census, George's birthplace is listed as Illinois, his occupation is 'Miner' or 'Mining'. Elizabeth's birthplace is listed as Indiana, and by the 1910 Census, she indicated that she'd had 10 children, 5 of which were living, and they'd been married for 33 years .

I found Elizabeth Hussong's death certificate at the (wonderful) Missouri Digital Heritage website. Jane Hussong Land, Elizabeth's daughter, was the informant. She gave information that indicated Elizabeth's husband was George Hussong. Since Elizabeth Hussong was listed in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census as widowed, this would indicate that he died between 1920 and 1930. I can find George and Elizabeth in census records, but I can't find either one of them in records before they were married. Unfortunately, I can't find George's death certificate in this database. I believe I did say it wasn't a perfect website.

So, I'm having to wait until January and February to do some more sleuthing on this family. Looking for birth records in Galena, Kansas, and death records in either Joplin or Neosho, Missouri. Wish me luck!

Follow Friday - Missouri Digital Heritage

Personally I don't have any relatives from Missouri; in fact, few of my relatives ever left North Carolina once they arrived, so before I started researching my husband's family, I knew very little of other state's resources. Soon enough, I found the Missouri Digital Heritage website, and fell in love. It isn't perfect, no website is. But it certainly made me wish more ancestors had lived and died there. It was the first online web site I found that provided a digital copy of the death certificate that I could actually read and interpret for myself. I'm not downplaying transcribed copies, but we all know that people make mistakes, especially if they're transcribing hundreds of records. The family records are my favorite part of the website, but there's much more that I haven't begun to explore. An introductory paragraph reads,

"Through the Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative, the Missouri State Archives and the Missouri State Library, in partnership with the State Historical Society of Missouri, are assisting institutions across the state in digitizing their records and placing them online for easy access. We invite you to explore our website and to join with us in celebrating our collective past.

If you have any family from this state, you shouldn't miss this gem of a website.

Treasure Chest Thursday - Photographs

Photographs. We take them for granted today. They're everywhere - and considering the many sources for them - digital cameras, cell phones, computers, 'spycams', security cameras, old fashioned film cameras - we're in danger of being overwhelmed with images. But in generations past, they were something special.

When I asked my husband, what he would consider a 'treasure', his first response was this portrait of Dudley Emerson Jones, his Great-great Grandfather.

I admit - I like this photo too. I see the picture of the man who joined the Third Regiment Iowa Volunteer Calvary September 20th, 1861 in Keokuk, Iowa, leaving his wife and two children, one of them less than a year old. I see a man who served his time honorably, appointed First Battalion Quartermaster on entrance to service, promoted First Lieutenant of Company L, May 2, 1862, and mustered out August 9th, 1865.

The war changed Dudley and his family, as it was during their Company's occupation of Little Rock, Arkansas, that showed him the opportunities for business, and convinced him to move there after the war.

This picture is a copy of the original that now is stored in the University of Arkansas Special Collections. Many other pictures and personal papers, were donated in 1995 for the purpose of preservation and research. Now anyone studying a relevant topic, can, with permission, access those papers. [This picture is David in 1995 at the University of Arkansas, behind the portrait of Dudley E. Jones, surrounded by the other pictures and papers.]

Unlike a lot of family members, Dudley wrote a lot about his life. And though I didn't come along in time to look through those papers and pictures before they were donated to the University, I'm still glad they're there, being preserved for future generations.

Wordless Wednesday - Reading

OK - I know - this picture has nothing to do with genealogy. Or does it? Before the next generation can take up our research, they've got to be able to read; and read well. This picture combines two of my greatest loves - reading and dogs. Enjoy the whole article at my hometown newspaper, The New Bern Sun Journal.

Tombstone Tuesday - Arthur Clifton Jones & Georgia Ann Jackson

Arthur Clifton Jones was the first son, and second child, of Dudley Emerson Jones and Caroline Peck. Born September 18, 1860 in Keokuk, Iowa. After the Civil War, Dudley moved his family, including Arthur, to Little Rock, Arkansas. We don't have many details of his life, but an a short biography that Aubrey F. Williams wrote in 1980 for the Masons lodge hall, included the following:

"He was raised to Master Mason in Western Star Lodge on March 5, 1890, and served as Worshipful Master in 1895and 1897. In 1900 he was High Priest of Union Chapter No. 2, R.A.M. He also was member of Knights of Pythias.

"The family lived at 814 Scott St., the house just south of First Presbyterian Church at 8th and Scott. His father owned Dudley E. Jones Co., a well known machinery and hardware business, where Arthur was employed s secretary and treasurer until the company went out of business in 1912. He died August 28, 1923.

"The obituary contains an interesting paragraph about Jones' life, as follows:

'In his youth and early manhood Mr. Jones took a lively interest in the activities of the time, and was a member of the Quapaw Guards, a drill team of the '80's, and he won a gold medal for being the best drilled man in the company. He also was a member of the first Boathouse Association here. Mr. Jones when a boy was the owner of a fine pony which took many prizes at the old state fairs held here.'"

Georgia Ann Jackson was born October 18, 1856 in Boone County, Missouri, the eldest child, and only daughter of William P. Jackson and Susan B. Johnson. The U.S. Federal Census lists Georgia's father as alternately a brick mason or a stonemason, and by 1880 he was listed as unemployed while his sons (who lived in his household) worked in the brick industry. On June 1st, 1875, Georgia graduated from high school, and nearly 12 years later married Arthur Clifton Jones, April 13, 1887. In the 1880 census she was listed "at home" - but family members remember her as a school teacher.

Arthur and Georgia's life together is a bit of a mystery. We have no photos of them together, and the only photo we have of Georgia herself is a portrait that we found buried among old family items labeled "Mrs. A.C. Jones". This seems odd to me, since there were quite a few pictures of her three sons, Edward Curtis, Dudley Emerson and Arthur Jackson Jones.

We know that they lived in Little Rock for the majority of their married life. Initially they must have lived in Sedalia, since both of the older boys were born there, in 1889 and 1892, but we have no records or information about that time (another instance of my 1890 U.S. Federal Census blues).

After his father's business closed, Arthur continued to work as a bookkeeper with another business, while his sons enlisted and were deployed to Europe in World War II. We have a book of letters written from Europe from the boys to their parents. One day soon I'll get those scanned in and write another entry on them.

After Arthur passed away, Georgia continued living at the Scott Street House, joined by her youngest son Arthur Jackson Jones and his new wife, Nell Marie Ingram. She welcomed Arthur and Nell's only child, her second grandchild, Carolyn Jones, just two months after Arthur Clifton passed away.

At Christmas 1928 she went to visit her oldest son, Edward Curtis Jones, his wife, Jessie M. Colcasure and her oldest grandson, Curtis Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. On December 29th, After less than a weeks visit, she died from pneumonia and influenza, and was buried in Oakland Cemetery, Little Rock, Arkansas, next to her husband.

Graveyard Rabbits Carnival - Plan Your Epitaph Day

After reading Lance Hardie's website, and a few other epitaph 'assistance' sites, I decided I wanted something simple and succinct. C.S. Lewis wrote some of my favorite books, and one of my favorites is The Last Battle. Granted, the storyline is a bit awkward at times, but the ending is the best description of Heaven I've ever read. And when I leave this oh so human body behind, I'll be going "further up and further in."

Genealogy Site Trials

You know, those trial periods using the different internet sources are actually quite helpful. My current subscription to Ancestry.com started that way. I started it with the idea that I might be able to search out all I needed during the two week trial. A foolhardy idea, I know. Even though I spent almost every waking moment working at the searches, I quickly realized that even if I did find everything I searched for, each search inevitably ended in needing a new search.

This week I put the free 7 day trial at Footnote to good use. The Civil War Confederate records and the World War II Army Air Force records were of specific interest to me, having quite a few ancestors from North Carolina who fought for the Confederacy and a distant cousin who died in an airplane crash during World War II. After finding quite a few Civil War records, and even a few Revolutionary War records, last night, right before the trial was to end, I found a record of the Army Report submitted after our cousins aircraft was shot down. There were twenty-four pages of information, the first page of which confirmed that this was indeed our cousin. It was an exciting find, and certainly worth the efforts expended during the trial. However, after this find, I reviewed their currently holdings, and found little else that might be of use, so I let the trial lapse.

I also tried the 7 day trial at Genealogy Archives, but had very little luck there. I entered quite a few of our family names in the general search, and came up with only a few results, all of which I had already found at Ancestry.com. In my case, I didn't think it would be very useful, and let it lapse as well.

So if you're considering trying them, I'd say do it - especially if there's a free trial period.