What I know about Sarah Catherine HAROLD

Sarah Catherine Herold is my second great grandmother on my mother's father's side of the family. She was born on June 22, 1854 in Kanawha County Virginia, which is now WV. She was the third child of Dabney (sometimes referred to as Daniel) Herold and Nancy Griffith. There is also the question about the spelling of the last name. Could it be Herald? I have not seen it this way on any document but then again I do not have a document written by Sarah herself.

According to the 1900 census she married Joseph Leftwich Chandler in 1874. They were married for at least 44 years as both died after 1930 and before 1940. They had eight children together between 1875 and 1892. One being Dabney Chandler named after Sarah's father and another being my great grandmother, mentioned before, Wealthy Susan Chandler.

According to the census records the family lived in Kanawha Co. WV, Colcord to be specific, until 1900 where they moved to Scott, Boone Co. WV and then back to Kanawha Co. in 1910 to the town of Washington and finally ending up in Gripp Mountain in 1920.The couple spent their final years living with their son Dabney and his wife Bessie in Washington WV.

What I know about Wealthy Susan CHANDLER

I find it so interesting that my great great grandparents would name one of their children Wealthy. Were they hoping for the best for this baby or their family? If so, that didn't work out.

My grandmother went by her middle name, Susan. She was born, according to her birth record, on Aug 13, 1877. However, her death certificate states her birthday as July 24, 1877. I have to go with the birth record.

Most of the trees out there have her listed as Susan Chandler and I was determined to prove her name was Wealthy. Her birth record only says W. S. Chandler but I found a delayed Birth Certificate for one of her children, Herman Stevens, with her name "Wealthy Susan Chandler" BAM! That was one of those moments where I jumped up and down!

She married my great grandfather, Millard Stephens (the name spelling changed to Stevens somewhere between Millard and my Grandfather Steward and was spelled Stephenson on the record) on October 18, 1898. They had 10 children in their 41 years of marriage. Millard died on September 4, 1939. 

At age 65, five years after her husbands death, she marries Marian Edward Kidd. Now the funny thing here is she marries him again two years later in 1946. There is a story where she takes to her bed at a daughters home for a long period of time after the first marriage but that is just a story. I have not found a divorce record to date but who knows, it may be out there somewhere.

It was not a glamours life for Wealthy Susan Chandler Stevens Kidd but she lived to a ripe old age of  92. I can only imagine the things she saw change during her lifetime and the things she had to endure. I would have been eight years old at the time of her death. I never met her and even if I did I would probably not remember which makes me a little sad. As we would say at Genealogy Happy Hour, "Cheers!" GG Grandma Susan! 

What I know about Millard STEPHENS

The basic facts:

Millard Stephens was the youngest child born to Thomas J. Stephens and Mary Elizabeth "Polly" Adkins. He was probably born in 1871 according to the census records. It was hard to track him down as there were two Millard Stephens born that same year in West Virginia. Neither of which had a birth certificate. After some digging I located documents associated with his siblings that helped prove the correct Millard.

At age 27 he married Wealthy Susan Chandler, daughter of Joseph Leftwich Chandler and Sarah Catherine Herald. They married 15 Oct. 1898 in Boone Co. West Virginia. The couple had 10 children two of which were twins, Carly and Carter. 

The family moved to Kanawha County WV sometime in the early 1900's and lived in Alum Creek where he worked as a farmer. Some time between 1920 and 1930 they moved to Washington, WV where he took a job as a track foreman for a coal company. The  must have moved again as he died in his Forks of Coal home on 25 September 1939 at age 68

What I know about Marguerite PIERRE

It was not easy for Marguerite to move from her home town in Saint Marie Aux Mines, France to the small town of Colcord, West Virginia. She did not know the language nor did she have any friends there. She was thirty years of age in 1923 with four small children when she boarded the Reliance in Cherbourg, France.Two years after arriving she gave birth to her fifth child and the first one to be born in America. Another child arrived the next year. I am sure she missed her mother and other family members that were still in back in her home town.

Marguerite never returned to her homeland nor did her husband Paul. There were letters I am sure of family news and happenings. Reports of deaths and births and wishes of being together once again. Marguerite had to endure the death of her husband in 1942 leaving her alone in Sherman WV. She did not outlive her husband long and passed from this earth on 28 April 1951 and is buried next to him in the Mordue Cemetery in Whitesville, WV.

Church Record Sunday - Where do you belong?

Last  week I headed out to Salt Lake City with my partner in genealogy crime and attended the Roots Tech conference. What a great experience. I learned quite a bit at  the tech classes and got to spend two full days at the Family History Library researching my family. Last year we attended the National Genealogy Society conference and I have to say, if you have not attended a genealogy conference of any kind, get out there and sign up for one.

One of the things I was researching in the library was church records. I did not find anything that would actually help my search but just learning about the churches in the area where my ancestors lived was fascinating. After returning home I continued filing my records in my binder and happened upon my grandmothers Certificate of  Membership to the Presbyterian Church of Ameagle in West Virginia.

This document answers questions and creates more, don't they all?. I  learned that my grandmother joined on the 6th of April in the year 1947 but I don't know how active she was at church. I saw that it was only her name on the certificate so I wondered if my grandfather joined also and had his own certificate or if she joined alone, which is what I suspected. I have the name of the church and I have the name of the Pastor but not the location of the church.

Now talking to my mother, and yes I am lucky I have someone who might have the answers I seek, I found that my Grandmother joined alone and became quite active in the church. I also learned that the church was located beside the Dr. office and across the street from the company store which had a soda fountain in the basement. This was a coal mining town and they had company stores for the workers and their families.  I also learned that my grandmother was a member of two women's groups at this church. The Willing Workers and the Missionary Society. One or both of these groups had a Hat Party once a year. Looks like they had a good time at these hat parties!