Archive for the ‘Kansas Towns’ Category

Day 6 – 365 Days of Memories – My Earliest Childhood Memory

Today’s Question is;  What is Your Earliest Childhood Memory?

It was my intent to post a new question to write about every day for 2018.

Now, I’m writing the Memory for Day 6, and today is already January 13th.  I’m 7 days short already! So Sorry!  Maybe I should have tried for 52 weeks of memories!

One of my earliest memories was one between my oldest brother and I.  We were in the pasture, in the back of the old Chevy grain truck that Mom would later nickname “Wobble Knees.” It was cold.  We both had our heavy coats on, and we could see our breath, and the breath of the cattle that we were (well, he) was feeding, as he pitched ensilage over the side of the truck to our dairy cattle.

For some reason, he must have agreed to let me tag along. (Or maybe Mom begged him to take me.)  I had to be somewhere between two and three years old, so it was really nice that he let me go.

Dad usually fed the cattle. But that evening, my brother was the one pitching the silage down to them.  Maybe Dad was ill, but my brother was always good to help Dad, especially after Dad’s heart attack.

The reason that this sticks in my mind is because the question that I kept asking my brother was one that he didn’t answer, and couldn’t answer, to my toddler satisfaction.

I must have just been to Sunday School, and we must have studied how God made the world and everything in it, because the question that I continued to ask him was: “Who made God?”

His reply was that God was, and always had been, and always would be, and that no one made God.

My next question, and the next many questions, was: “But. Who. Made. God?”

I know that I asked him that question many times, and I remember that he was patient, if a little exasperated, by the time the cattle were fed.

I don’t remember how he got me sidetracked, nor if he ever convinced me that God was, and always had been, and always would be, and was the Creator, not the created.

In fact, it’s just that that little scene that has replayed in my memory throughout my life, and I’ve wondered if that exchange has played a part in my faith today.  And I’ve also wondered if my question might have helped trigger my brother’s desire to become a minister.

That last is a question that I can no longer ask him, as he went home to be with the Lord in December of 2012.

Bartlett Arboretum and Best Friends Forever

Best Friends Forever Visit the Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine Kansas

Sometimes, when you take a memory out and look at it again, and again, it gets better and better.  This time we four girls had together again after not being together for nearly twenty years, was just such a memory.

The day before we met up at our 50th Wellington High School Class of 66 Reunion. We shared hugs, and memories, photos of our kids and grandkids and got caught up.

We made plans the next day to meet and take in the beautiful Bartlett Arboretum and enjoy the lovely together before BFF Nancy and her hubby headed back home.

The day was one of those lovely Kansas Indian summer days in October that make you glad to live in Kansas. The sunlight was golden, the grasses still green and the leaves just beginning to turn gold.

It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful memory.

Day Three – 365 Days of Memories – What’s in a Name – Part Three

This will be my last post (for awhile) on names!

I promise!

It just seems only right to add the meaning and/or origin of my husband’s family, and the last name that I’ve shared with his family since we said our “I do’s” in 1968.

The KLINE name…

According to Ancestry.com, Kline is an American spelling of the name Klein, Kleine, Kleyn or Klehn, and can have German, Dutch, and even Jewish origins.

It is probably a nickname or topographic name, and could be derived from ‘wedge’ or ‘wooden peg.’

My husband’s family came from Germany.  Their name was Klein when they arrived in America, and was spelled “Klein” for a few generations in Pennsylvania.

Just why it changed to the “Kline” spelling, nor who decided that it should change, I am not certain.

I’m also not certain if all branches of the family, or siblings in the family, changed their name at the same time.

According to www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Kline, the word Klein meant “small” and was a descriptive nickname originally given to someone who was small or short.  It could also have been used to describe someone in the family who was younger.

Interesting, because my husband was about 5’6” tall, and his father was about the same height.   Makes me wonder, as I write this, how many generations of my husband’s Kline family were short in stature.

Wellington Daily News
8 July 1921
Pg 1

R. STOCKING INJURED

I love doing newspaper research, especially when I find ‘buried treasure’ about my Great-Grandfather, Roderick Remine Stocking!

Roderick Stocking – Wellington Daily News

R. STOCKING INJURED (transcription)

Wellington Daily News
8 July 1921
Pg 1

Roderick Stocking of Mayfield, father of Ralph Stocking of this city, is suffering from an accident which might havev proved very serious. He and his son Porter are threshing at the Fred Stayton farm near Mayfield and their machine is run by an electric motor. In some unaccountable manner Mr. Stocking took hold of a bunch of live wires with a current of 13,200 Volts. Ralph says that the situation is similar to that described by one of the Chautauqua lecturers last summer when he said that a great deal of electricity has just the same effect as a small amount; that is the person will be stunned but not seriously injured. Mr. Stocking was put to bed, and while he is still unable to be up today, it is thought that he will suffer no serious result. A peculiar circumstance of the affair is that a tack in one of his shoes burnt a hole in his heel.

Live in Kansas?  Have a Kansas Driver’s License?

If so, you can research (most) Kansas newspapers for FREE!!!

Thanks to the Kansas State Historical Society, Kansan’s can access most of the Kansas newspapers offered on Newspapers.com just by going to the Kansas State Historical Society website, click on “Research”,, then click on “Digital Newspapers” in the dropdown box. Then scroll down on the page till you see a box like the one here that says: “Verify Your Driver’s License.”

Verification Form for Digital Newspaper Access.

I am so glad that my Great-Grandfather was not killed in this incident.  He lived to be almost 98 years old, and I remember seeing him 3 different times, even though I was 2 1/2 when he passed away.  He was a tall, handsome gentleman and I guess what I remember most is how tall he was and how white his hair was!

When you’re hunting for information about your family, and especially if you are trying to find glimpses into their lives and create a word picture for your family, you want to look every place you can think of, so checking old atlases can add more information to your family tree.

The 1883 Historical Atlas of Sumner County, Kansas shared information about my Great-grandfather, Roderick Remine Stocking.

Some of it was information that I might not have found otherwise.

According to this Atlas (and not all have this information), my great-grandparents came from Michigan, and settled on their farm in 1878 where they farmed and raised livestock.

They lived near Mayfield, Kansas, in the NE 1/4 Section 13-32-3W.  From other sources, I know that they homesteaded that quarter section and raised their family there.

Their son, Roderick Porter, raised their family there until he was killed in a farm accident, and then the family moved to the small town of Mayfield.

See excerpts from the atlas below:

Historical Atlas of Sumner County, Kansas,
Compiled – Drawn – Published from Personal Examinations and Surveys;
John P Edwards,
No 31 South 6th Street, Philadelphia, and Quincy, Illinois, 1883,
Engraved by A. H. Mueller, 530 Locust St., Philadelphia, PA, Printed by F. Bourquin,
31 S. 6th St.,
Philadelphia, PA

List of Patrons – p. 14
Name: Stocking, R. R.
Post Office: Mayfield, KS
Section: 13-32-3W
Business: Farmer and Stock Raiser
Nativity: Michigan
Settlement in County: 1878

p. 67
R. R. Stocking
Township 32 South Range 3 West
NE 1/4 13-32-3W
R. R.Stocking

Oh, and don’t forget to add this information into your family tree program (if you use one) and be sure and cite your sources so you know where you found it!

Elizabeth Shown Mills has written the definitive source for citing your resources, and the following links to her book and “Cheat Sheet” can help you cite your sources correctly :

“Evidence Explained: History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace 3rd Edition Revised”  by Elizabeth Shown Mills

“QuickSheet: Citing Ancestry Databases & Images Evidence Style 2nd Edition” by Elizabeth Shown Mills

Disclosure: Some of the links included in this blog post may be affiliate links. This means that I receive a small commission for recommending this product.

This does not increase the price that you pay, and it helps support this genealogy blog.

I do not promote products that I do not use or do not believe in. However, it is always best to do your own research on products to make certain that they are a good fit for you and your family.

This winter was one for the records books for nasty little flu ‘bugs’ going around!  But whenever I found myself  down and out, I logged onto the digital newspaper site at KSHS.org and began typing in family surnames as keywords!

Below is just one of the many fun little family tidbits that I found:

Stocking – Hitchcock Family Reunion

Wellington Daily News
21 May 1913
Pg 1, Col. 2

Family Reunion

The home of Ralph Stocking, 612 North F, is the scene of a happy party being a family reunion.  The guests are Mr. and Mrs. Roderick Stocking, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Stocking and children, Mr. and Mrs. Porter Stocking and son, John Stocking all of Mayfield, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hitchcock, of Chicago.

Grand Army of the Republic

John Goldy Post #90 – Milan, Kansas

Muster Roll of Members of this Post Mustered or Admitted by Transfer During the Six Months ending the ______ day of _____ __ [this was not filled in in the digitized copy]

W. T. Boatright

B. L. Beebe

H. L. Benedict

M. L. Emery        Age: 58      Born: New York  Entry into Service: Aug 1864 Rank: Res           Co: D         3 Col Cavalry      Date: Dec 1864

C Breneman       Age: 59      Born: Ohio        Entered into Service:  Aug 1862    Co.:    105 Ohio      Date: Aug 1865

D. W. Gilbert

J Housworth

G. W. Sease

J. Sharr

C. Marshall

S. S. McClure

A. V. Worthington

M. T. Weller

C. Breneman      Rank: ?      Co. H         Reg’t 105 Ohio

M. L. Emery        Rank: ?      Co. D         3′ Col Cavly

My great-grandfather, Constantine “Tom” Breneman, was a blacksmith during the Civil War, and he was also a blacksmith after he settled in Kansas after the Civil War.  It appears that he taught one of his sons, Otto Breneman, this skill also, as Otto had a blacksmith shop in the tiny town of Mayfield, Kansas, and Otto and Constantine worked there together for a time before Otto’s death at an early age.  Otto and Constantine are pictured Here.

Other Links:

Constantine Breneman, George and Katie Jones, Carrie Jones & families

Otto Breneman & Constantine Breneman blacksmith shop – Mayfield, Kansas

Constantine Breneman and His Buggy Horse Photograph of Ott’s father, Constantine driving a buggy with his beautiful buggy horse.

Constantine Breneman’s Buggy Horse – Photograph of Constantine’s Buggy Horse

My Poem to My Ancestors

I re-did my membership with the Rutherford B Hayes library, www.rbhayes.org, recently, as I had found some interesting ‘stuff’ on their website, and I really like having access to the www.newspaperarchive.com site and also Heritage Quest, and that is included with the membership I have at that level.

Today, I was searching NewspaperArchive.com website for my uncle, Frank Stocking, and found a copy of my Aunt Peggy’s from the Hutchinson News digitized on the NewspaperArchive.com website.  And it never would have occurred to me to look at the Hutchinson News microfilms!!  Eureka!  I wasn’t doing genealogy when my lovely Aunt Peggy passed away, and so I had not saved it!

It was such a shock when Aunt Peggy died.  We knew she had a heart condition, but still, it was a shock.  My daughter had been born three weeks before, and we were all looking forward to visiting with Peggy’s brother and his wife when they came to visit in a few weeks, but that wasn’t to be.

I was still off work on maternity leave when we traveled to the funeral, and I took my 2 1/2 year old son and three-week-old daughter with Mom and I to her service.

Aunt Peggy was a ‘hoot.’  She also had a beautiful smile, a heart of gold, and an infectious laugh!  She was always cracking jokes, and I miss her.

Margaret E. (Peggy) Glaze Obituary
Hutchinson News
July 28, 1977
Column 1; Page 6

MEADE – Margaret E. (Peggy) Glaze, 62, died Tuesday at Meade Hospital.  Born Margaret E. Stocking, May 23, 1915 at Mayfield, she was a retired postal employee and lived here since 1945.

She was a member of United Methodist Church, Rebekah Lodge, OES, all of Meade.

Survivors include brothers: Carl L. Stocking, San Jose, California, Frank A. Stocking, Castro Valley, California, Herbert L. Stocking, Downeyville, California; sisters: Mrs. Frances Hill, Arkansas City, Mrs. Mary E. Metcalf, Colorado Springs.

Funeral will be 10 a.m. Saturday at the church; Reverend Dale Ellenberg.  Graveside services will be 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Mayfield Cemetery.  Friends may call 11 a.m.  Thursday until 9 a.m. Saturday at Fidler-Orme Mortuary, Meade.

Here is Peggy’s Find a Grave Memorial.

Obituary – Charlena Faye Isgrigg
Book “Obituaries – Argonia Kansas and Vicinity”
Volume IV
Freda Deen Earles

Charlena Faye Isgrigg, daughter of Frank and Susan Kline Holt was born October 19, 1915 in Bluejacket, Oklahoma.

She moved to Milan, Kansas with her parents at the age of 10 and lived in the Milan and Argonia communities until the time of her passing

On October 29, 1937 she married Earl Isgrigg and to that union was born one daughter, Connie Hodson.

She was preceded in death by both her mother and father, one brother, Olin Holt and one sister, Bessie Edwards.

She leaves to mourn her passing, her husband, Earl; her daughter, Connie Hodson and grandson, Brad Hodson of West Allis, Wisconsin; two sisters, Mrs. Mildred Carrico, Commerce, Oklahoma, and Mrs. Lola Blackett, Wichita, and one brother, Virgil Holt, Milan.

( Sherry’s Note:  The obituary did not state the date of death, but according to www.findagrave.com, Find A Grave Memorial# 38953421 Charlena passed away on 26 Jul 1971.)

Norwalk Daily Register
Norwalk, Ohio
20 Oct 1894
Pg 4 Col 6

After visiting friends and relatives a couple of weeks in Clarksfield and New London, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Stocking left on last Wednesday for their home in El Dorado, Kansas, via St. Charles, Illinois, where they halted to spend a few days with relatives, whence they would start direct for their home; but on Sunday evening, on retiring for the night, Mr. Stocking fell down a flight of stairs, rupturing a blood vessel, the blood flowing from his nose and ears; no bones broken, he never spoke, but lived one hour, when his spirit took its flight across the dark river to that “undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns.”  Mr. Stocking was one of nature’s nobility, a true and good man.  To Mrs. Stocking and their son, in their bereavement, we extend our sympathies.

John Hurlburt Stocking’s son, Roderick Remine Stocking, was my great-grandfather, and you can find a photograph of him here, as well as more information about him.

Roderick’s mother, Betsey Jane Ames, died in Oct 1856 shortly after Roderick’s little brother Bishop was born.  After Betsey’s death, John Hurlburt married Caroline Gates in April 1860.

In 1894, my great-grandfather, Roderick was living on the farm that he homesteaded in Sumner County, Kansas with his wife, Frances “Fannie” Hitchcock.

More Links:

Roderick Remine Stocking Photograph 
http://www.familytreewriter.com/2011/05/wordless-wednesday-roderick-remine-stocking-photo/

The J. H. Stocking Bible
Carnival of Genealogy – the J. H. Stocking Bible