I found him!

Photo by dynamosquito

Get a load of this - I found Emery Waller!

The past week has been a flurry of activity and a wealth of information has surfaced.  So much, in fact, that I can hardly keep it straight in my mind.  Right now if you asked me to tell you the sequence of events that led to this discovery, I couldn't do it.

What I do know is that I found a probate record for Emory L Waller in Franklin County.  I contacted the Genealogical Society by e-mail and after clicking the "check mail" button a minimum of 1447 times, 36 hours later I'd received no response.  I know these people are volunteers and I know their hours are limited but geez, didn't they realize how important this was to me?  So I sent off a written request with the probate number and a check which I figured would more than compensate them for their research time and copying as listed on their web site.  Finally, the next day I heard from them! 

Debi, I am chair of the research committee of Franklin Co. Genealogical Soc. & received your request for copies of the probate records for Emory L. Waller, #6605.  There were 3 pages & I had copies made. If you will send me your address I will mail them to you.

EUREKA!  Of course I couldn't stand the suspense so I quickly sent him a message back and asked for the date of death.  His response - December 11, 1891.  Now that was interesting since my records showed his date of birth as December 11, 1813.  Sure he could have died on his birthday ......OR, their records could be incorrect.

Next stop, Find a Grave.  Now I'd already looked for him in Franklin County but I decided to just search on E Waller, Kansas and see what might appear.  And there it was - E L Waller in McPherson County with a death date of 1890.  This had to be him!  And in the same cemetery was Clarina Waller, death date 1885, which was too close to his wife ClarinDa to be a coincidence.  I was getting close!  So I hit the 'request a photo' button in hopes that someone would help me.  And within an hour or so, my request had been 'claimed'.  I was so close now I could taste it!

This afternoon the e-mails really started flying and I knew I'd hit pay dirt.  A kind gentleman from Find a Grave sent me a link to the cemetery that had all of the information for those interred in McPherson Cemetery.  Quick scroll to the W's......and there it was.  WALLER.  One more click and I was there - Clarinda and E L Waller, Block 14, Lot 15, Graves 7 and 8.  My 3rd great grandfather and his wife!  And there was a Cemetery Location Map included. PAY DIRT!
Within an hour, the e-mail from Find a Grave I'd been waiting for appeared - SUCCESS!  Someone had been to the cemetery and photographed the graves for me.  And so I give you Emery and Clarinda Waller.

 

Emery Waller
Photo by Art Hoch, Find A Grave




Clarinda Waller
Photo by Art Hoch, Find A Grave

 



















But wait, there's no marker for Emery!  My 3rd great grandfather, who served in both the Mexican and Civil War, is lying in an unmarked grave.  This is unacceptable for anyone, much less a veteran who gave so much to his country.  I'm going to contact the Department of Veteran Affairs to see if I can't rectify that.

I've concluded that Emery and Clarinda moved to Kansas in 1882 and were living in McPherson County in 1885 when Clarinda died.  Based on Emery's pension records, I know they were there July 7, 1885 and Clarinda died in November of that year.  From there Emery must have gone to Ness County and, eventually, to Franklin County where he died in either 1890 or 1891.  I'm guessing that after his death his family took his body back to McPherson County for burial with Clarinda.  And they either didn't have the money, or didn't want to spend it, on a tombstone.

So the journey is complete.  Or at least will be when I'm able to get Emery's grave marked.  While the Pension File didn't directly give me the information I was hoping for, I was able to find Emery's final resting place.  In Kansas, no less.  Who knew I'd find him there?  And finding Clarinda was a bonus because I really hadn't given too much thought to ever finding her.
 
I'm emotionally drained.

 

I found a new great great great grandmother

One of the problems I have with researching my family is jumping around from ancestor to ancestor.  I'll start the day with my father's side of the family at the turn of the 20th century and by the end the day of the day, I'm working on my mother's side during the Revolutionary War.  And then when I throw in my husband's family, there's a real hodge podge of ancestors running through my brain!

So before I go back to the Gunzendorfers, I must stay with my Civil War guy, Emery Waller.  As I mentioned earlier, Emery was my 3rd great grandfather.  Emery's daughter, Rebecca, was my great great grandmother and her daughter, Mabel, was the only great grandmother I had the pleasure of knowing.


Mabel McAboy Fitzgerald


Mabel and her husband, Edward Fitzgerald, lived in Fresno near both sets of grandparents so we were fortunate to have them both in our lives until I was about 12 years old.  Plus my grandmother, Mabel and Edward's daughter, told me that her grandmother was named Rebecca the day she learned that our daughter had been given the middle name of Rebecca.  Who knew that almost 36 years later that name would become so important to my story?

Over the last year I've been researching Emery's clan and everything has pointed to his wife, Clarinda Meeker (or Epesson) as the mother of my 2nd great grandmother, Rebecca.  Every public tree I'd seen on ancestry.com, every census, every THING pointed to Clarinda as Rebecca's mother.  But was she born Meeker or Epesson?

As I continued with my search, I was able to locate a marriage record for Emery and Clarinda from July, 1845.  That was a bit confusing, though, as their daughter, Rebecca, was born February 7, 1845.  While I know it's possible that Rebecca was born prior to their marriage, it just wasn't adding up.

Until I went back to Family Search and found this.....

Yes, that's right.  Emery Waller married Rebecca Parker on January 31, 1833 in Hamilton County, Ohio!

What happened to that marriage?  Was this Rebecca the mother and namesake of "my" Rebecca?  What about Clarinda?  I had so many questions I didn't know where to start.

Which led me to the Warren County Historical Society in Ohio.  "My" Rebecca was born in Warren County and the marriage record for Emery and Clarinda was there.  A very nice researcher answered my call and quickly agreed to do some research for me for a nominal fee.  And this is what he told me the other day:

Hi Debi-

Well I have, what I feel, is some very good news. I have found the burial site of "Rebecca Waller consort of E.L." she died on Feb. 13 1845 at the age of 30 years 4 months and 3 days. The date of her death has her die 6 days after your great great grandmother was born on Feb. 7 1845. She, in all probability, died as a result of the complicated birth of your great great grandmother who was named Rebecca in honor of her mother.

I am prepared to send you the cemetery records and copies of modern and historic maps of of the cemetery's location. I also have the marriage record of Emery and Clarinda five months after Rebecca's death.

WOW!  Rebecca Parker was my 3rd great grandmother!  This woman lost her life because she gave life.  So now the name Rebecca has even more meaning for me.

Poor Emery must have been devastated.  Here he was left with an infant (and, perhaps, a toddler as there may have been an older child) and he turned to Clarinda.  Together they had five more children and Clarinda must have cared for all of them by herself while Emery was away at war. 

It's amazing how a little detail like this changes everything.  My mind can't stop thinking about those fateful days in February, 1845.  The complete joy of bringing a new life into the world followed almost immediately by the grief of losing a wife/mother/daughter/sister.  And then the new chapter that began just five months later with the marriage of Emery and Clarinda.

While I've not received the cemetery information from Warren County yet, I did find Rebecca's memorial at Findagrave and have contacted the memorial manager in order to update the information.  I hope there's not a lot of drama with that :-(

And that's how I found a new great great great grandmother!