(Updated 1 Apr 2020 based on comments made by Carol Cook—see below) Personal letters can occasionally be a good source of genealogical information, but more often, they simply give us insights into the lives of the people who wrote and received them. If nothing else, they can help us to understand the everyday concerns of… Continue reading A Letter from Jesse Casbon
Tag: Valparaiso
Color!
At this moment, most if not all of my readers are practicing some form of “social distancing” because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. I hope you are all staying well and coping with the difficulties associated with this historic situation. With today’s post, I have a suggestion that will hopefully lift your spirits and alleviate… Continue reading Color!
A Visit to Ohio
aha moment noun informal. 1. a point in time, event, or experience when one has a sudden insight or realization.[1] Most of the time, genealogy research is fairly routine. You ask a question—“when was so-and-so born?”—and look for records that might answer the question. You either find the answer or you don’t, and then you… Continue reading A Visit to Ohio
“Short a hand”
This is my 10th post for the Guild of One-Name Studies blog challenge 2020. The challenge was to write ten blog posts in the first twelve weeks of the year. Today’s post features two newspaper articles about an unfortunate incident that occurred in 1889 in rural Porter County, Indiana. The boy who lost his hand was… Continue reading “Short a hand”
Sunday School
This is my eighth post in the Guild of One-Name Studies blog challenge 2020. Many genealogy researchers have learned that old books can be a valuable source of information about their ancestors. Many books that are no longer protected by copyright have been digitized and are available online. The three book sources that I use… Continue reading Sunday School
The Deaths of Thomas and Hannah Casbon
This is my fifth post in the Guild of One-Name Studies blog challenge 2020. One of my favorite sources of information about the Casbons who left England and eventually settled in Porter County, Indiana, USA, is The (Valparaiso, Indiana) Vidette-Messenger, or The Vidette, for short. For most of the twentieth century The Vidette was the… Continue reading The Deaths of Thomas and Hannah Casbon
More About Maggie
This is my fourth post in the Guild of One-Name Studies blog challenge 2020. I have written two previous posts about Margaret—“Maggie”—Casbon (1864–1903), who was born out of wedlock as Margaret Jackson, the daughter of Mary Jackson (abt. 1833–abt. 1875). Mary Jackson married James Casbon (abt. 1813–1884) at Stretham, Cambridgeshire in 1866, when Maggie was… Continue reading More About Maggie
Croydon
“You never get away from that thing in your hometown that it has over you. You don’t outgrow where you come from." – Brian Fallon As a child of a military family, I never had a hometown. We moved every few years to a variety of locations in and out of the United States. The… Continue reading Croydon
Grandpa’s Reader
This was my grandfather Leslie Casbon’s (1894–1990) Third Reader. I know it was his book, because he wrote his name inside the front cover. It must also have been used by his brother, Lynnet (1899–1983), whose name is written inside the back cover. Since Leslie was the oldest child of Lawrence (1865–1950) and Kate (Marquart, 1868–1959)… Continue reading Grandpa’s Reader
Obituaries: Charles and Mary Casbon
obituary (n.) "register of deaths," from Medieval Latin obituarius "a record of the death of a person," literally "pertaining to death," from Latin obitus "departure, a going to meet, encounter" (a euphemism for "death"), from stem of obire "go toward, go to meet" (as in mortem obire "meet death"), from ob "toward" (see ob-) +… Continue reading Obituaries: Charles and Mary Casbon