Archives for TOPICS
1943 Wagner Family Recordings
Ben Wagner recently found some 78-RPM 8-inch records in his late father Arnold’s collection. On them are the voices of our ancestors - my great grandparents William C. Wagner and wife Lilly Giegerich, along with their son William F and Lilly's aunt Tillie Eckert Henry. The recordings were made on…
Freyhofer Genealogy
This is what started it all for me - the original Freyhofer genealogy, compiled by Louise Freyhofer in 1937, given to me by my grandmother Louise Weiler Wagner when I was about 10. DOWNLOAD PDF
Tapes for Grandpa
In 1972 my grandfather, Homer Henry Wagner, was in the hospital after a heart attack. I wasn't allowed to visit him because I was only 8. So I recorded two reel to reel tapes for him to listen to. I sang songs, told jokes, played cello, and recited poetry. Diana…
Earthquake in SW Virginia
Earthquakes are actually common in Virginia. Here's one that would affected my Thornton ancestors in Pulaski County: May 3, 1897. Centered at Radford, where a few chimneys were wrecked and plaster fell from walls, and chimneys were damaged at nearby Pulaski and Roanoke. Felt in most of southwest Virginia and…
Are we related to Barack Obama?
The short answer is: sort of. President Barack Obama's maternal GGGG grandfather Thomas L. Clark settled in Canton, Missouri around 1835. All of Thomas' 11 children were born there and they lived there at the same time our extended family (Vesper, Eckert, Hetzler, Wagner, Giegerich). Obama's ggg grandfather Christopher Columbus…
Are we related to John Philip Sousa?
Yes! We ARE related to the famous American conductor and composer John Philip Sousa (1854-1932). Sousa is best known for composing the marches "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (National March of the USA) and "Semper Fidelis" (official march of the United States Marine Corps). John Philip Sousa was born in…
Forest Grove Cemetery, Canton, Missouri
Forest Grove Cemetery is where my grandparents, Homer Henry Wagner and Louise Adelaide Weiler, and other family, are buried. It is in Canton, Missouri, our Wagner hometown, high on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Numerous generations and extended family were born, lived, and died there. Above: Paul Wagner at…
Santa Claus, Indiana connections and events
Santa Claus, Indiana was the site of the Hannings and Freyhofers, along with a church assignment for Rev. Weiler and his wife Addie Hanning, all on my mother's side. 1816-1830 Abraham Lincoln lived about four miles away as a boy on Pigeon Creek Farm. 1847 the Hannings settled there and…
Snowville by Rev. James T. Taylor
by Rev. James T. Taylor (ca 1912) About a hundred years ago , a village called Snowville on Little River, Pulaski County, Va. miles south of Radford, was started. This village was called "The Foundry" at first, with the post office named Humility. In those days there were no postage…
Grimm’s Landing, Pittsburgh
When I was born in 1964, my parents, Charles and Lois Thornton, were living on a 1-room houseboat docked just above "Grimm's Landing" (previously "Zubik's Landing") on the Allegheny River on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Back then the river was lined with "squatters". The land that ran along…