My pursuit of family history began in the early 1990s as a collaborative effort with my father. He had received an offer in the mail to purchase The World Book of Casbons, published by Halbert’s Family Heritage. We didn’t know it at the time, but this company was named as a purveyor of "scam" genealogy… Continue reading The Family Bible of Charles and Mary Casbon
Tag: Valparaiso
The Death Certificate of Mary (Payne) Casbon (~1832–1903)
Death certificates can be a valuable source of information, especially when other sources about a given person are limited or cannot be found. However, the accuracy of the information is often questionable, depending on how and by whom the information was obtained. Both of these statements apply to the death certificate of Mary (Payne) Casbon,… Continue reading The Death Certificate of Mary (Payne) Casbon (~1832–1903)
Leslie Casbon, Valparaiso High School Class of 1914
Getting distracted by “bright shiny objects” or BSOs is generally considered a bad habit in genealogy research. Such distractions can interrupt an organized plan of research, wasting valuable time and resulting in a disorganized mess of unrelated facts. While I generally agree with this view, I think a case can be made that pursuing BSOs… Continue reading Leslie Casbon, Valparaiso High School Class of 1914
Christmas Wishes
From The (Valparaiso, Indiana) Vidette-Messenger, December 23, 1949:[1] Larry, Roger, and Curtis are the sons of Delbert Keith (1916–2007) and May Dell (Ludington, 1918–2010) Casbon. Delbert Keith was the youngest son of Amos James Casbon (1869–1956). I hope they got what they wished for! Merry Christmas to all my readers! Our Casbon Journey looks forward… Continue reading Christmas Wishes
“Public Sale!”
Thanks to Ilaine Church for sending me a copy of this flyer. Ilaine is the wife of my third cousin, once removed, and shares my love of family history. The Church and Casbon families are related through the marriage of Thomas Hiram Church, Jr. (1866–1951) to Lodema Evaline Casbon (1871–1938) in 1890.[1] Lodema was the… Continue reading “Public Sale!”
501 Academy Street, Valparaiso, Indiana
My trip to Indiana earlier this month for a family reunion was a great time to meet people, dig into old records, and see many of the places associated with Our Casbon Journey in America. It was the first time I had spent any significant time here since childhood. The best part was being able… Continue reading 501 Academy Street, Valparaiso, Indiana
Sylvester on a Cart
This photograph is courtesy of Ron Casbon. The older man is Sylvester V Casbon, my second great grandfather. The man sitting next to him is unidentified – does anybody recognize him? The photograph is undated and location unknown. I wonder if it was taken near his farm in Deep River. [UPDATE: 14 May 2020: I… Continue reading Sylvester on a Cart
How Valparaiso Got Its Name
This will be a short post, because I am only writing it to inform my readers of a post in a different blog. Steve Shook's excellent blog, Porter County's Past: An Amateur Historian's Perspective, features an article this week, titled "Fact or Folklore? The Naming of Valparaiso." In this post he addresses a popular myth… Continue reading How Valparaiso Got Its Name
From England to Indiana, Part 5
This the fifth in a series of posts examining a handwritten family history of Isaac Casbon and his descendants. The date and authorship of the manuscript is unknown. So far we’ve looked at Isaac Casbon’s family in Meldreth, England; his son Thomas’ marriage, family, and emigration first to Ohio and later to Porter County, Indiana;… Continue reading From England to Indiana, Part 5
Why Indiana?
In a previous post I asked why Thomas Casbon left Ohio for Indiana. It seems that he was making a good go of things in Ohio. He owned his own farm. He raised his children to adulthood there. We’ll probably never know exactly why he decided to move, but it’s likely there was more than one… Continue reading Why Indiana?