Geiszler Genealogy

When I think of mothers on my family tree, Lura Smith tops the list of those I look forward to meeting in the afterlife. She is the adopted mother of my Grannie,  Louise Eleanor Long .  Grannie adored Lura. Lura was married to Harry Howard Long (1883-1937). The couple married in Columbus, Ohio on Jun 19, 1907. They were unable to have children and finally adopted their first child in 1916. In May 1920, a baby girl was born in Columbus, Ohio to an unwed mother. The mother died of preeclampsia. This baby girl would become my grandmother. Upon her mother's death, Baby Anderson became a ward of the State of Ohio Welfare Department. She had a caseworker, Ethel Huffman Ackerman, who wanted to place Baby Anderson in the home of Harry Long. The caseworker was a friend and classmate (at Ohio State) of Harry's sister Elizabeth Long. As Elizabeth retells the story, Ethel received Baby Anderson's birth mother's history and felt that Harry and Lura were just the parent...

I'm looking for information on Leon Philip Smith and Catherine Dague as well as their children. My genealogical connection is to their son Andrew Nelson Smith who is my second great-grandfather. Andrew Nelson Smith had two wives. The first is Emmeline "Emma" Ward of Michigan and the second is Mary E (possibly Smith as well) of Ohio. I some information about Andrew and his children. I have some information about Andrew's parents Philip Smith hand Catherine Dague. I would like to learn more about my third great-grandparents and their children. Here's what I know: Leon Philip Smith born 26 Feb 1834 in Amlin, Franklin, Ohio died 25 Aug 1916 in Columbus, Franklin, Ohio married first wife on 11 May 1852 in Amlin, Franklin, Ohio Catherine Dague born 11 Feb 1832 in Washington County, Pennsylvania died 12 Feb 1859 in Franklin County, Ohio Philip and Catherine Smith had the following children in Franklin County, Ohio: Smith (1853 - 1853), a daughter An...

In a previous post, I spoke of how the Dague Brick Wall Came Down.  This family belongs to my 3rd great-grandmother, Catherine Dague Smith. Since I knew this family was from Franklin County, I decided to see what records I could find about them. I found Dague families in the 1842 Jefferson Township Plat Map. 1842 Jefferson Township Plat Map In the northwest corner of the Jefferson Township plat map, I found several pieces of land worth investigating. 1842 Jefferson Township Plat Map close up I found three pieces of land for D. Dague, one for J Dague, and one for G Dague. I'm still trying to figure out to whom these parcels of lands belong to, but this is an exciting find. In 1856, I found a change in land ownership in the same northwest corner of the Jefferson Township plat map. 1856 Jefferson Township Plat Map 1856 Jefferson Township Plat Map Close - Up It seems the land to the west and south of Geo. Smith's land was sold. Now J Dague is John Dague....

Andrew Nelson Smith (1855 - 1933) was a barber at 1159 North High Street in Columbus, Ohio. His granddaughter Louise Long remembers him giving her Page Boy haircuts when she was younger. Andrew had two wives, Emma Ward, and Mary Etta Webb. But, the question I'm wondering about is where was he born. According to Andrew's death certificate, he was born in Central College, Ohio. A previous search for Central College turned up the following location: Central College, Delaware, Ohio, United States. I'm being a little vague on how I found this fact because quite honestly I don't remember whether this was work done by myself or someone else. In any case, when I was searching in the Franklin County, Ohio 1872 Historical Atlas, I found an interesting picture. Franklin County, Ohio 1872 Historical Atlas This is a map of Central College. I didn't find Andrew's family land in this photograph. I shouldn't find it here because, in the 1870 US Census, Andrew's...

I was feeling a sense of accomplishment in photographing the grave stones for my family members. I had one more cemetery to visit and then I would call it a day. I was hoping to find things easily at Walnut Grove Cemetery. Walnut Grove is managed by the City of Worthington and all of the burial lot information is easily found on their website. When I arrived at the cemetery, I found a nice man named Tom outside the office. He said he was willing to help me find the places as no maps were available for the cemetery. When he unlocked the office to grab a burial map book, I realized the office was actually closed and he was headed off for the day. Tom, I can't thank you enough for helping this crazy Iowan. Without Tom's help I wouldn't have found the two stones I sought.... Jane Fickle GORDON and Ollie Smith GILBERT . Jane is my 3rd Great-Grandmother on my mother's side of the family. (me -> Mom -> Lewis Brown -> Sherman Lewis Brown -> Martha Gor...

Although Section U was right next to V, I decided to skip it. For Columbus, it was getting extremely hot. I was feeling fatigued and I had additional sections to visit. Section U had one of those distant cousin's parents. Although I really wanted to get the photo, I felt best to skip it. Sorry Marion George BUSH, someone else will just have to visit you later.  Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio Section L I visited Section L looking for the father of my great-grand father Andrew Nelson SMITH's second wife Marietta Webb SMITH. The couple is buried in Section 35 and I have photos of their stones. However, I wanted to complete Marietta's story with a photo of her English immigrant father William WEBB (1816-1905). I was confused when looking at the map, so I knew I had ANOTHER map to take into the office. The reasons this bothered me was because I didn't think the staff at Green Lawn would be accommodating with a long list of names to look up. I also re...

After attending a Family History Symposium in my area, I learned that I might need to investigate probate records. The instructor further recommend that when I contact the County Court House that I ask for probate records on a particular person rather than their wills. If a person had a no will in the probate records, the court house will not give you any information though they may have something of interest to you. If you ask for the probate on said individual, you'll not only receive a will (if there was one) but further records for your research. With that in mind, I did not order the Franklin County, Ohio, 1803-1865 will index or the Will records, 1805-1918 ; Index, 1805-1905 that are available through the FamilySearch.org catalog. Instead I ordered Indexto probate records, v. 1-2, 1805-1932 . I had the following individuals to search. Index to Probate 1805-1932 Name Dates Found in Index Joseph Geiszler 1836-1863 no Conrad Grener 1822-1899 no Conrad Grener 1853-1905 no Henry ...

Whew!!! I can't say how excited I am. Let's just say I should probably video tape this happy dance. Here's how it all started. My ancestor Leon Philip Smith was a bugger to figure out because his posterity only knew him as Philip Smith. Once I figured out he was LEON Philip Smith, I was able to connect him into a line that has had work done for generations prior to this one. His wife was only known as Katherine for the longest time. Philip was buried with his second wife Mary Smith in the Green Lawn Cemetery. But where was Katherine buried? I forgot the step that lead me to realize that Katherine's name was Catherine Dague. But, I figured it out. In any case, when I found Leon's parents buried in Smith Cemtery (aka Union Cemetery), a Catherine Smith wife of Philip Smith was buried on their plot!  Kenneth Gilbert's photo for the Find-A-Grave listing of Catherine Smith Okay, so I have confirmed (documentation not listed in this narrative confirms) my connection of...

With a name like Charles Allen Smith, is there any wonder how easy it might be to mix him up? Never! Okay, that's wrong. Charles is the grandson of my 'newest' great+ grandfather David Smith . In family research, I had a Charles Allen Smith married to a Rhoda J Prickett. Charles was from Ohio but died in Michigan. The dates were pretty fuzzy, things like abt 1859. Using the GenSmarts program with RootsMagic , I came across a suggestion to look into the Michigan State Census of 1900. I don't know why hints like these come up and then I'm taken to Ancestry.com US Federal Census 1900, but I digress. In any case, a large list resulted from the name Charles Smith. That's to be expected. Since I don't like the filtering format on Ancestry.com, I decided to go over to FamilySearch.org . I really like their filtering system. I can fine tune a search quickly, casting narrow and broad scopes easily. In any case, I came across an entry for Charles A Smith and ...