Tag Archives: FAN Club

2025 Week 8

23 Sunday Feb 2025

Posted by in Genealogy, Newspapers

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Mary Frances Arnold has been found! I did not locate her in the Pike County Newspaper, but I did find her in her sister Bertha’s obituary before locating her own obituary in the April 30, 1938 edition of the Princeton Daily Clarion (shown here). Mary Frances married Marcellus Chew and they had two children. Other researchers trees with Mary Frances in them make my head hurt. One such tree has documents with three different sets of parents. How does that even make sense?

The Chews are providing me with plenty of material this week. A second interesting puzzle was found in the 1940 census for Clarence and Audi Fowler Chew. Clarence was the son of Mary and Marcellus. In 1940, Clarence and Audi were in their early 50s. There was, presumably, a 7 month old girl named Carolyn Sue listed as their daughter. While not completely impossible, the probability of Carolyn Sue being the biological daughter of this couple is not very high. Checking the birth records for Pike County in late 1939, a birth certificate for Carolyn Sue Roberts born in Jefferson Township in September was found. Checking FindAGrave, Carolyn’s birth parents Floyd and Jewel lived long lives and Carolyn’s memorial was attached to theirs. Still not convinced Carolyn was a Chew, I flipped a couple pages back and found Floyd and Jewel at the bottom of Sheet 10A. Clarence and Audi were at the bottom of Sheet 10B. Carolyn was listed at the top of 11A. I then compared the household numbers…BINGO! The pages were recorded out of order! What a mess!

Tip of the Week: Leverage those FAN Clubs!

This week’s take away…check those FAN Clubs! You would be amazed how many questions can be answered by checking out those Friends/Family, Associates and Neighbors.

Sadly, I have discovered several individuals who died at a relatively young age for various reasons. One was an apparent suicide, one an overdose, and two were casualties of war. Sgt James Herschel Arnold (1916-1945) served in the US Army 152nd Infantry during World War II. His younger cousin, Pfc. Charles Ajay Arnold (1924-1945), was a member of the 132nd Infantry and fatally wounded assisting a wounded teammate to safety during battle. Both men lost their lives in the Philippines. We will be forever grateful for the sacrifice they made for our country.

I added two new DNA matches on my mother’s side of the family tree. One was fairly easy to add as his daughters are already tagged as matches in my tree. The other only required a small number of updates to add.

With the new updates Ancestry has added to their site, they now give trees a score. Mine is 9.4. They then give you hints to bring that score up. I was given three tasks to do.

  • One was for a floater which I decided to delete.
  • The second was for a distant cousin who did not have any dates associated with her. I found her marriage record which listed her approximate birth year to clear that one.
  • The last one had a census record dated before her assumed date of birth. Considering she was born around 1870, there was no official record of her birth. The birth year on her death certificate likely was a guess and her age was actually underestimated. I made an executive decision that she was born in 1869 not 1872.

We’ll see what my new score is tomorrow.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines which will occur during the week ahead.
217 years ago – Birth of Gesina Brake Sievers (4th ggm)
217 years ago – Birth of Eva Korz Keller (4 ggm)
196 years ago – Marriage of Isaac Lowe (5th ggf) and his second wife Sarah Beckner
186 years ago – Marriage of Suzanne Board (4th ggm) and Isaac Catt (4th ggf)
185 years ago – Birth of Amanda Newcomb Butler (3rd ggm)
161 years ago – Death of Sarah Ireland Reeve (4th ggm)
152 years ago – Death of Zeresh Puckett Coppock (3rd ggm)
115 years ago – Death of Joseph E. Cardinal (3rd ggf)
113 years ago – Death of Michael Kaiser (2nd ggf)
107 years ago – Birth of Samuel T. DeMoss Sr (gf)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,220 people
End of Week: 27,340 people
Change = +120 people – goal MET!!
Goal for coming week: Add 50 new people and continue researching the Isaac and Rebecca Arnold descendants. Barring any rabbit holes, it could take into early or mid April to complete.

William J DeMoss and the FAN Club

03 Thursday Nov 2022

Posted by in Genealogy

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A concept many researchers utilize when trying to trace a particularly family, or any family for that matter, is the FAN Club concept. FAN stands for family, associates and neighbors. Back in the day, it was highly unlikely that a single family would migrate hundreds of miles all by themselves. The number one reason for this was safety. There is safety in numbers and they were heading out into the wilderness where there might not be a lot of other friendly people. If a family migrated to a new location, they would usually go with other family units or neighbors who lived nearby. We can get a feel for who belongs to a particular FAN club if the same names appear in proximity to each other on various documents, the most common being the census records. These families also tend to intermarry so that is another thing to watch for in the documentation.

As I sort through the information on William DeMoss and those who are thought to be his siblings, I will be applying the concept of the FAN club, especially with migration of family units during the 1800s. This first FAN Club post will summarize the migration pattern of William’s descendants. Only those children who are known to have off-spring will be discussed.

Thomas DeMoss (1828-p 1870) – Thomas was one of the two boys listed in the 1830 Census but had moved off the family farm by 1850. He married Mary Gilley and had six children while living in Daviess County, Indiana. Their children remained in the general area spreading into Greene and Knox Counties in Indiana and Wabash County in Illinois. The grandchildren, who were mainly born around the turn of the twentieth century migrated a bit further, landing in the South Bend area. There was also one granddaughter who found her way to Oregon.

Isaac DeMoss (1833-1900) – Isaac was married twice, first to Louisa Reeve then to Laura Johnson. He settled in Edwardsport in Knox County where he lived out his life. His children and grandchildren also remained in the Knox County area.

John DeMoss (1835-1908) – John was married to Sarah Burris and they made their home in Daviess County, Indiana. After her death, John did move down the road to Wheatland in Knox County. Their children seemed to migrate in a westward direction, a few settling here and there along the way. A couple children made their homes in southern Knox County in the Decker area, while a few others continued on to the west, finally making roots in western Illinois and further into Pemiscot County, Missouri. Several of the grandchildren eventually ended up in the Los Angeles, California while others remained in the St Louis area.

William Henry DeMoss (1837-1876) – William’s first wife was Mary Reeve, sister of Isaac’s wife Louisa. William and Mary did attempt to migrate to Missouri, according to family lore, however, they returned after a short period of time. Of their four children, two stayed in the southwestern Indiana area and the other two found their way to the Spokane, Washington area. For the most part, the grandchildren remained in the general areas of their parents.

As I delve into the other possible siblings of William J DeMoss, it will be interesting to see if any/many find their way to St. Louis, Los Angeles, Oregon or Washington. This will help to support possible ties between the various families.