Treasure Chest Thursday

Here's a gem I recently acquired.

This is the marriage license for my great-great grandparents - Charles Franklin Keeler and Susan Ann McGinley. They were married December 25, 1866, in Olmsted, Minnesota. Charles was born and raised in Minnesota, but Susan was originally from Ireland.

Wedding Wednesday

Wednesday is coming up, and I thought I might post about Weddings!

Culla Clayton Rogers and his brother, Royal (both born in Kansas), had homesteaded in Canada in the early 1900's, and, when the war broke out, they enlisted in the Canadian Air Force. They had a friend, Charles Baird, who enlisted with them. As the three prepared to leave for the war, a couple of Charles' sisters came from Nova Scotia to see him off.

Ruth Alice Baird met Culla Clayton Rogers, and they were both immediately smitten! So, on April 6, 1917, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, just before Clayton shipped out to war, they married.

Following is what is suspected to be either an engagement or wedding photo. I think Clayton is so handsome, and Ruth so pretty - I love this photo!






Clayton and Ruth had six children together - all boys! Sadly, in December 1932, Ruth miscarried and then lost her own life to pneumonia.

Two of their children died early - one in 1934 and one in 1939. Clayton passed away in 1976.

The last four boys lived very good lives - the last just passing in April 2009.

I'm fortunate to have some other pictures of my grandparents, and will share those from time to time.

Enjoy!

Culla Clayton Rogers

Several years ago, my Uncle shared with me a very special box full of treasures from my Grandfather, Culla Clayton Rogers. I scanned the contents of the box, and will share pieces occasionally. As a followup to my earlier post about visiting the West Bethany Cemetery in Parsons, Kansas, here is a portion of the letter containing my grandfather's instructions to be buried there.

Treasure Chest Thursday

My Dad was born in Parsons, Kansas. Since 1986, I have lived about 2 hours from Parsons, but never visited. Last month, my husband and I took off on a Friday, and enjoyed the drive to Parsons. I had some addresses of where my Dad's family had lived at various times, but nothing matched up anymore. We visited the cemetery (West Bethany) and took some headstone pictures, which I'll be posting over time.

It was a nice day for a drive, and I'm glad we finally took the time to go.

This is a picture of Parsons' Main Street, as you're heading east. It appears to be a quiet town, undergoing some renovation of the downtown area.

Blog change

I've decided to change this blog a little bit. It started out just for my Keeler family, but I've changed it to include all of the family names that I am researching. Seemed a better use - rather than have several separate blogs. I've included a list of all my family names on the left, and will label the posts accordingly so they'll be easy to find.

I've looked at several other family history blogs this past week, and have seen some commonality that I'm going to borrow from them.

Many have special days such as Wordless Wednesday, Tombstone Tuesday, and Treasure Chest Thursday. I like those ideas, so I'm going to try and post accordingly.


Thanks for reading!

Charles Franklin Keeler - Susan McGinley

Last week I received a copy of the marriage license between Charles Franklin Keeler and Susan McGinley. I'm always amazed that those documents were maintained and we are fortunate enough to be able to get copies!

Keeler Genealogy

Barb Poprac and I have both traced our Keeler roots back to Carlos Alonzo Keeler, but we're stuck after that. Many family trees posted on Ancestry.com refer to Carlos' father as Joseph Henry Keeler, however' we've nothing to substantiate that. If you have any information that would substantiate Carlos' parents, we'd love to see it!

Over the next year, I'll be posting bits and pieces of the Keeler line, and we should have a complete 'tree' at the reunion next summer.

If you're have any facts, pictures, etc. to share, please jump in!

2010 Date Announced

Just received an email from Jim Keeler, with the TENTATIVE dates of July 16-18, 2010. As in year's past, he cannot reserve the camp area until after January 1. If anything changes, he'll let us know, but start planning NOW for July 2010! You won't want to miss it! Here's Jim's email:

Believe it or not the time is drawing near to gather all of the family members who are willing, able or on work release and meet for the 2010 Keeler Family reunion.

Once again I can’t reserve the camp space until after January 1st, so the sight and exact date is not 100%. But, I have already talked to the Park office, and that date is not one that is historically reserved for a specific group. If we run into a problem with that sight, I am sure that we can get into another sight nearby on the same date.

I did talk about reserving the lodge at Camp Kawanis, but after checking it out it doesn't seem to fit our needs very well. There isn't any water or areas for activities, night life is restrictive because there is a private home next to the buildings and it requires a lot of time before and afterward to inspect all of the buildings and make sure that everything is cleaned, even if we don't use it. The cleaning fee is about double the rental fee if it isn't done right.

If anyone feels strongly about using the lodge, we could still get it if we wish. The campsite that we used the last couple of times worked pretty well in the past and I think will work well again. The biggest problem was for the family that didn't have campers and had to travel back and forth to motels. Let me know what you want.

Any ideas about menus, events etc are welcome. Last time I talked to some people about tours of some local attractions on Sunday, but it didn’t work out. So this time if anyone shows early maybe we can do them before the camping and picnic, just an idea. Unless someone has other ideas, we will probably just do potluck meals for those that can bring stuff, with a main course of something like deep fried turkey, or burgers etc.

Here's Jim's contact info:

223-24th Ave East
Havre, MT 59501
406-265-7731
Jvkeel@MSN.COM

Be sure and share this information with any KEELER relatives you're aware of. Jim and the other Havre Keelers put a lot of effort into this Reunion, and we should reward them with a large attendance! Hope to see you in Havre!