Archives for TOPICS
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…
John Wagner and the Texas Widow
My 2x great uncle John Wagner served alongside his two brothers, Henry and my 2x great grandfather William Wagner, in the Civil War. After the war he moved to Texas, and all I knew was that he had "married a Texas widow." I finally found his obituary, and it lead…
Young Shirley Jones recording
In 1950, my grandfather, Homer Wagner taped the Western District Chorus concert held at Canonsburg High School (Pennsylvania) where some of his children attended school. One of the soloists was a young Shirley Jones (of Broadway Musical and Partridge Family fame), a sophomore in high school. Her voice, even as…
Interview with Louise Weiler
Back in the 1970s (I think) I interviewed my grandmother, Louise Adelaide Weiler about her childhood. I had caught the genealogy bug, and she and I were going through old photos and I was filling in the tree. I made this tape, which I have drawn from for various biographical…