Family and friend reunion

  The last Saturday of June each year is our family/friend reunion. Since we really don't very many family members we started asking neighbors and friends. This year friends brought friends! The count totaled 72. We have had between 12 (first year)  and 88 come in the last six years.
  One of the neatest things about this year was that I met a cousin through Ancestry.com. He lives about an hour and a half from us. He and his wife came to the picnic! I met a  cousin for the first time! We shared family info and pictures he had brought. I was on cloud nine all day.
  Also my sister was able to attend. I have not seen her for three years since our father's  funeral. Her husband has been in the Army as a Chaplin. He just retired in December. Now maybe they can visit more often.
  Many photos were taken, games played, and relaxation galore. It was a truly sensational Saturday.

New cousins

Today I call Marvelous Monday. I met a new cousin. It is so nice to come across names that you aren't even looking for and find a cousin. Then here comes tons more names from their branches.  Cousins are such cool people!

A war Veteran

Amos Wonsey(with younger brother,Ivan)

Amos was crippled at the age of twenty-one while in the Army. He turned eighty-four on May 22. He has been a source of inspiration to many people. He, like all the other veterans in our family, is a true treasure and hero.

"Child of God" by Harry Hunt

Lewis Wesley Cameron

Died at the age of sixteen in a farming accident.

Becky

This morning my cousin Becky lost her husband to cancer. I don't know too much about it yet, but my prayers and thoughts go out to her. I can not imagine her sorrow.

My Youngest

Tomorrow my youngest child will be thirty-two years old. Kinda feeling sad and happy at the same time.  It was a hard year for me when he turned thirty. No more teens and "young" adults. Thirty puts them in a whole new category. Just makes me feel older but not a lot wiser!

My Grandson, David Andrew Badgley

Summitt Cemetery, Williamston, Michigan

Surname Saturday

Surname Saturday-I've been reading lots of blogs to figure this one out. Do I just tell who I'm looking for? Do I try to find  a story about a name? Pick an ancestor to write about? This is all so new and I'm not the writer I'd like to be. So here goes..I think I want to list my Love ancestors.

1. Me
2. Dad ( Ivan wonsey)1928-2007 Born and raised in Kalkaska, Michigan. Died in Mason, Michigan.

3. Grandma  (Pansey Bell Love) 1905 -1983 Born in S. Boardman, Michigan, Died in New Port Richey, Florida

4.  ggrandpa  ( John Wesley Love) 1856-1939 Born in Tiogo, Co., Penn.  Died in Boardman Twnship, Kalkaska, Michigan.
5. gggrandpa  (John Miller Love) 1815-1894 Born in Lycoming,Pa.  Died in Tiogo, Pa.
6. Matthew Love  1774-1850
7. Robert Love   1734-1828
8. John Love   1706-1790   Born Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland   Died West Fallowfield, Chester, Pa.
9. Robert Love  1679-1741    Born  Antrim, Ireland.  Died Lancaster, Pa,
10. Robert Love  1660-1722  Born Antrim, Ireland    Died Antrim, Ireland
11. Robert Love   1637-1722  Born Antrim, Ireland   Died Antrin, Ireland
12. Robert Love   1610- 1684  Born Cooley, Ireland   Died Tanabirdy, Ireland
13. Willaim Love  1580- 1645   Born and died in Glassgow, Scotland
14. Robert Luiff  (Luiff)  1555- 1611   Born and died in Glassgow, Scotland
15. ------Luiff    Born 1530

 I have a long way to go to fill in all the siblings.  This week I hope to work on this line.

Grandpa Wonsey

For most of my life I remember Dad as a farmer. He also worked as a tool and dye maker but that is not how I remember him. My first memories were of him off the farm in Royal Oak and Farmington, Michigan working in a shop in Detroit. Memories of Dad in Farmington are of him developing pictures in his darkroom(aka bathroom).
 From there we moved to a dairy farm in Williamston, Michigan where Dad was the foreman. I "helped" in the barn whenever aloud following him all over while getting under foot. Dad started raising Angus cattle there and when we moved to our own fourty-seven acre farm in Mason, Michigan, the cows went with us. Though Dad now worked in the shop again I still thought of him as a farmer. After a few years the cows where sold and Dad started raising chinchillas. Two or three years of that and they also were sold off.
 After twenty-five years on the "farm" Dad and Mom moved to Rosman, North Carolina. There they stayed for fifteen years doing cabinetry. From there it was back to Mason because of health issues for both Mom and Dad.
Dad died three years ago and today would be his 82nd birthday. I am a farmer's grand-daughter, daughter, and wife and very proud of it.

Follow Friday

For me, I like to go to face book and look up family names. I have met some new Wonsey cousins through facebook. The saying goes (according to my grandmother) that if you are a Wonsey, you are related.
Some names are very common and some aren't. Hopkins and Hunt -too many to count! But I like to bug people anyway and ask about their family tree. Most are helpful, even if they only tell me there is no way they are related. Bugging is what keeps me doing genealogy. I had a lot of practice as a child bugging two older sisters! Why stop now?

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today my Dad would have turned 82 years old. I really, really miss him.Yesterday I honored him as my military person. Today I just say " I love you, Dad".

Military Challange #19

Ivan Wonsey U.S. Army

City and State of Residence: Kalkaska, Michigan

Enlistment date and place: January 9, 1946  Detroit, Michigan

Enlisted as Private, Regular Army

Stationed :  Camp Francis E. Warren,  Cheyanne, Wyoming

Term of Enlistment: Panama Canal Department

Education: One year high school

Civil Occupation: Farm hand

Marital status: Single without dependents

Discharged: July 1947 Fort Carson, Colorado as Corporal

Wordless Wednesday

David W. Badgley - age 7 years and one day -on the path to the first snake den in Narcisse, Manitoba.

Pictures of our trip to Manitoba, Canada

At the entrance of Lincoln Park Zoo.Never saw one.My big man.(Changed the battery, forgot to change the date).Couldn't wait to get to the snakes. Good thing the trail is in a big circle so he couldn't get lost. He was very good at answering me when I called him.Since she thinks her big brother is the cat's meow, she loved being on this trip with him. But then she also is a little sister which makes her want to tease him.Red sided gardener snakes-oh,ya-COOL! The reason for this whole trip!!This was a dead one Ali found. Didn't faze her a bit. Puzzle time!This was the third wolf we saw. First one was darting into the trees. Second one ran in front of us making Erin have to slam on the brakes. Just missed it. This one crossed the road. Erin turned around, drove back, and it was standing there waiting for me to take it's picture.American Bald Eagle. Flock of four were eating something yummy in the ditch. This one so kindly flew up in a tree letting Erin  get this nice picture.Oh ya. Can't forget to show you the huge town of Narcisse,Manitoba. Yes, this is the town! You are looking at the postoffice and that is all you will see!!

Back home again!

So happy to be home again. Had a good trip and all that, but home is home.
It really was a great trip. The Lincoln Park Zoo was awesome. I have only been to our local zoo so this much larger one was a real adventure for me. I saw animals I had never seen before. I was able to get some nice pictures of the animals, flowers, sky (with a storm coming in).
The children did very good for a seven day road trip. They loved the caves  and the snakes. Really loved all the junk food they were able to have living in a car for seven days.  It will take their mom another seven days to get the car cleaned! Ages 4 and 6 (oops-turned seven during the trip) = mess!
I'm tired, glad to be home, and wondering what the next road trip they will let me tag along on will be!

We only encountered a few sprinkles from this.

Thanks Lil' David for inviting me. I loved it, and I love you.

More Memories

Blue Mound Caves

Lincoln Park Zoo

We are now in Fargo, North Dakota. In our adventure to get here, we have visited the Lincoln Park Zoo in Ohio and the Blue Mound Caves in Wisconsin.
The zoo is the only one I've seen outside of our local zoo. Really neat. The polar bear was out and showing off in the water.
The Caves-beautiful and scary at the same time. The kids thought they were awesome and want to see some more.
Tomorrow we will go to the Narcisse Snake  Dens.  Here's hoping they are out, too.

Building memories

Tomorrow two of  my grandchildren, David and Ali, will finish packing to go to Manitoba, Canada. With their mother and myself, they are going to the Narcisse Snake Dens. David has been talking of this for the last year since he heard about it. He will have his seventh birthday while we are there. The Winnipeg and Chicago Zoos are on the list of things to do, also.(We are making a big circle around Lake Michigan.) We have always liked to just wing it when traveling. One or two things to do and the rest of the time just drive and stop where ever. It should be a relaxing-even though busy-time. A time to build a few memories with the two little ones.

Granddaughter Breanne Marie Badgley

Granddaughter Danielle Nicole Badgley

Grandson David William Badgley, Jr.

 

Granddaughter Alexandria Leigh Badgley

Grandson Gavin Lee Cameron

In Memory of Ivan Wonsey

Today is the anniverary of my father's death. I miss him so much. I was always one to follow him around on the farm. When Mom and Dad retired and moved to North Carolina, I was devastated. Fifteen years later they moved back to Michigan because of health issues. The next two years I again got close to Dad. He needed some care and I did it. Two broken hips and kidney stents to help with the high blood pressure. He was tired alot. Then Dad broke a leg. He became so anemic he was not able to make it through surgery. That was a Tuesday. Thursday we brought him  to my house. Friday he died with his family all around him.

Love Stories

Both sets of my grandparents have a story for their courtships.

Grandpa and Grandma Wonsey were twenty years apart.  They lives on either side of the pond on Hart Road, South Boardman, Michigan. Grandpa moved up there at the age of three from Bunker Hill, Michigan. Grandma was born there.

Grandpa took care of Grandma, babysitting alot. Grandma was eighteen when they married.

Grandpa Beers dated a woman named Emma Disbrow. Grandpa was away in the service and Emma was still in school. There was a school dance. Someone asked Emma to go with him since Grandpa was away. No harm--right? Well--maybe. The door bell rang and it was not her date. You guessed it! Grandpa was home on leave! Now he was so mad as Emma that they broke up.

Some years later he met Edith Gertrude Hunt. They married and had six children. One boy was still born and one girl died at six months of Rickets.

Edith, my Grandma, died at age 48. She had had 2 strokes. She was on her way to Ann Arbor, Michigan  from Bellaire. They went over first to Bay City to see her sister.  Edith had a sniffle, nothing major, but doctors said she died of pneumonia in her sister's home.

Now here comes the fun part. Emma had married also. But they devoirced. Grandpa and Emma meet up again. This time they marry. My mother has always said Emma made a good step-mom. She never pushed herself on any of the kids and never tried to get rid of anything of Edith's. To the day she died there were pictures of the kids, Edith, and Grandpa sitting around. She was a great Grandma to us kids.

memories from grandmas' houses

My Grandma Wonsey had a pig cookie jar that my brother has now. She always had it filled with homemade sugar cookies.

There was a closet at the end of the living room. It had a curtain for a door and  toys for us kids.

The bed my sister, Jackie, and I slept in sank in the middle. Grandma put a couple of heavy quilts on us. We had feather pillows to finish it off. We stayed toasty warm! A neighbor's rooster woke us up in the morning if the train whistle didn't.

My Grandma Beers always fed us canned peaches or pears for dessert. She had cobalt blue custard dishes to serve them  in.  We spent most of our time with Grandpa when we visited. We rode on his feet when we were little,watched the many birds in his feeders, and put jigsaw puzzles together with him.

They had a buffet which I inherited. I also have the rocker that my real grandma used while she was so ill. Mom does not remember it never being in the house.

Heritage

Here are the flags of all the nationalities of my husband, children, and myself. Like most Americans, we are mutts!
Top row:  Ireland, USA,
Second row:Scotland, African/American
 Third row:  England, Netherlands
 Bottom flag is Germany


Warren's ( my husband) father was Scotch and Irish. His mother was African/American, American Indian, and English. My father was German and English. My mother is Dutch and English.

Wesley and Margaret Cameron

This is picture of my husband's grandparents, Wesley and Margaret (Holton) Cameron on their wedding day.

Hey! This really works!!!!

Wednesday I asked for help finding someone and I got an answer!
I found someone I've wanted to meet most of my adult life. Now I just might If she will answer back. Here's hoping!

I was named after.....

Many years ago, in the mid 1940's, my father was stationed in Cheyanne, Wyoming while in the army. He went home to Michigan on leave because his mother was having gall baldder surgery. He had one week of leave and one very busy week! He not only spent time with Grandma, he married my mom! Together they traveled back to Wyoming. There they rented from a couple just a few years older than themselves.

The couple, Roy and Aspan Brenning, had a little girl named Georgia Lee. My folks fell in love with her and her name. So the first girl they had would be named after her.

Well, soon Judith Lorraine came along. Then Jacqueline Kay. Finally I came. They decided if they were going to use that name it had better be now! Good thing, too. The next, and last child, was a boy- Rex Allan.

All these years I have wondered about this other Georgia Lee. What is she like? Is she still alive? She would be in her mid 60's now. I would love to find out about her and maybe talk to her- if only though a blog or email.

So my quest now is to find out how I can find her. I spent most of today on Ancestry.com looking for her to no avail. Can anyone give me an idea where to start looking?

Wish me luck!

Ethel Mae Hopkins Cameron

March 3, 1920. The birthday of my mother-in-law. She died August 2004 at the age of 84.

She was a very smart woman, though she had a poor public school education experience. Mom quit school at the end of the eigth grade. She never had one full year at the same school. Her parents, Ernest and Sophia (Henry) Hopkins deviorced when Mom was very young. Neither of them wanted the responsiblity of two children so they gave them up for adoption. After years of foster care homes and living with relatives, Mom and Aunt Virginia were adopted by Uncle Ted, their dad's brother.  Uncle Ted was a Nazerene evangelist, so they moved around a lot.

Ernest remarried but did not have any more children. Sophia married Uncle Henry, another of Ernest's brothers, after Ernest died. Uncle Henry had a daughter named Cathlene. Sophia raised her. Cathlene told me Sophia made a great mother. Too bad her two daughters never got to no that.

But as for Mom she was a great mother and grandmother. She would always say she "would give all the tea in China" for my kids. She truely loved her grandkids. She is greatly missed.

My Mom

Today I put up two pictures of my mother. She has not changed a bit!

Mom was mostly a stay at home mom. She only worked part time off and on while we were at school.

For the most part Dad was a farmer, so we all were together a great deal.

Mom didn't help in the barns much, but she did a lot of gardening and canning. I remember hearing the jars seal way into the night. She didn't quit untill it was done! She was also big on having the wash hang out on the line just so. All of one thing together and color coded! She used a wringer washer until I was in my early teens.

One time we had to go out to the field to check on a new calf. We raised Black Angus. Number 5 had just delivered and we all wanted to see the new baby. So Dad packed us all in the station wagan, including our small WireHaired Terrier mix dog. Around the corner to the field we went. We got out and were a fair amount of the way back in the field when Number 5 saw us.  Boy could she run fast! Mom, very much pregnant with my little brother, rolled under the wire fence!  All of  us kids headed for trees. We still tease her about rolling under that fence. Meanwhile, as Dad was running for cover,  the little dog started barking at the big cow!  Dad had to run back out and save the dog!

I have a great Mom. She has always been there for me. She will be 82 years old in July.  Though  Dad is no longer with us, I am very thankful to still have my Mom.

Sarah Ann Merchant

1. B. 1845 in Ohio ,


2. Died (and was buried ) in 1896 in Vestaberg, Michigan


3. m. March 1, 1868 to Hiram H. Hopkins in New Haven, Gratiot co., Michigan.

They had about 15 children.

Sarah was not the first wife of Hiram. That was Mary Brown. I do not know anything about her yet. He was also married at least twice after Sarah died.

Today I am going to start with an ancester that has been left out by other family members because of her race. She was Sarah Ann Merchant. Thomas Merchant and Christina Lett where her parents. They were from Virginia. Sarah was from American Indian and African descent. This is why some have not done anything about her. One aunt said if she every found a picture of Sarah, she would destroy it. So sad. I am proud to know my husband and children can add African to their heritage. They have seven different nationalities in them! I have mutts! But then so am I.
Tonight I will gather everything I have on her and post it tomorrow. Sure wish I could find a picture. Maybe someone out there in Ancestry.com land can help me with that?