Graham-Thornton Cemetery
In 2016 I visited the graves of my great great grandparents GJ Thornton and Maggie Boothe. They are buried in the Graham-Thornton Cemetery near Snowville in Pulaski County, ; The Graham-Thornton Cemetery has 32 identified burials between 1912 to 1979 spanning 4 generations of Grahams and ;All but one buried here are directly related to both the Thorntons and Grahams by blood or marriage. The Thorntons descend from GJ Thornton and Maggie Boothe. The Grahams…
Research resources
Images Ebay for images of places - then follow that search and you'll receive an email when new items are added Pinterest 500 px Google image search - and you can use this to try to discover the source for a photo you already have - just drag the jpg and it will try to find that photo on other sites Youtube - search for history videos and real estate sale videos often includes images…
Rev. Weiler’s Louisville church to become whiskey bar and Bob Dylan art gallery
In 1933 my great great grandfather Rev. Weiler, wife Addie Hanning and their last child Pearl moved to Louisville, Kentucky to serve the church at 604 East Market Street. Cindy Ward sent me this article about the church being turned into a whiskey bar and Bob Dylan art gallery. Pretty sure Rev. Weiler would not approve of his pulpit becoming "the high church of bourbon." It was from this building in 1937 that Rev. Weiler preached…
Lois Ann Wagner Thornton – 1938-2025
My incredible mother, Lois Ann Wagner Thornton, born on October 7, 1938, in Bellevue, Pennsylvania, passed away on May 15, 2025, at home with me and her cat. My mom was a nurse through and through, dedicating her entire life to caring for others. She started out at Presbyterian Hospital nursing school in Pittsburgh, worked decades of night shift, and cared for her parents and uncle in their final years. For her last 15 years…
Uncle Jim Thornton and his daughters Olivia and Fannie
In May 2024 I was contacted on Ancestry by Kate Kelley, aka “The Photo Angel” as seen on NBC’s The TODAY Show I acquired an antique portrait of a father and his daughters that I would love to return to a family member! Names include Uncle Jim Thornton, Olivia, and Fannie. The back mentions that Olivia married a man by the last name Burns. Are you a blood relative of the Thorntons and if so,…
Frank Funkenbusch – his life after moving to Montana in 1905
When writing the foregoing biographical life of Father and Mother it was intended the story should end with their activities and demise. But now since some have read it and commented it has been suggested that an addition be appended depicting my own life and activities after coming to Montana in 1905. Reflecting on the avidity with which I would read such a story written by my Grandfather of his early life in Germany, crossing…
Vintage Photo Makeovers
Glimpse your Past Self with my Vintage Photo Makeovers! Larry Chiri, 2022/1886. Photo by Diana Thornton Send me your photos for a custom vintage transformation! Upload your high resolution photos Choose from my signature vintage styles Get your personalized edit Only $30 per image Add $15 for AI wardrobe change Custom styling, prints & framing available. Signature Styles Just Like You, every makeover is unique and takes on a life of its own, so results…
My ancestors helped found Santa Claus, Indiana
by Diana Thornton My 3rd great grandmother, Susan (Aegerter) Freyhofer, was born in Switzerland on Christmas Day, 1805. She died 57 years later in Santa Claus, Indiana, a town she and her husband Jacob helped found. Susan and Jacob Freyhofer and their two young children immigrated to the US in 1834. They landed in New Orleans and made their way up the Mississippi River to Indiana where they received a land grant of 160 acres…
The Court Martial of William Wagner
January 9, 1865 was a rainy Monday in Corporal William Wagner’s Union Army camp at Clarksville, Tennessee. He and his Company had been stationed there for a couple years. They were bored and impatient for the war to end so they could go home. Earlier in the day, William had quarreled with Charles Walster over a pistol. (Walster was a survivor of Company M transferred to Company H after a third of his Battery was…
Old Bill Wagner
Jacob William (later dubbed "Old Bill") was born in 1840 in Elleringhausen, Germany. At the age of 6, he and his family joined the waves of German immigrants after their friends in Quincy, Illinois, kept writing for them to come. Six-year-old William took his little sister Henrietta by the hand and led her up the gangplank onto the ship. She never forgot the smell of tar coming from the cordage coiled on deck. They had…