Obituary for Charlie Read

Thanks to some genealogical kindness from the Barren County, Kentucky list on Ancestry, I now have a transcription for the obituary of my 2nd-great-grandfather Charlie Read:

Glasgow Republican newspaper, 14 December 1916

After a long and painful illness of bone tuberculosis, Mr. Charley Read died last Wednesday night, at the age of forty years. He had been in the butcher business here all his life and was regarded as an honorable and safe business man, and was highly valued as a citizen. He leaves his wife and ten children, Messrs. Alvin, Lawrence, Stanley, Herbert, Carl and Misses Maymie, Ruth, Lillian and Pearl Read, all living with their mother. His father, Mr. Dudley Read, was a butcher here for more than half a century and died only a few months ago. The mother, Mrs. Dudley Read, died only recently. One brother, Mr. A. S. Read, died a month or so ago. Three brothers survive, all prominent citizens of town. They are Messrs. B. B., Eugene and Enoch Read. Mr. Read was a member of the Presbyterian church. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. A. S. Ewald, after which the remains were interred beside those of his brother, on the A. S. Read homestead at Dugantown.

AncestryDNA beginning to find connections

Ancestry recently made an update to their DNA functionality (or I just noticed it, not sure which). If you've taken an AncestryDNA test and haven't checked your Member Match results lately, they have begun to add the "shakey leaf" to matches that have common ancestors. This feature identified several cousins where we share a common ancestor at the 4th-great-grandparent level, one where we share a 5th-great-grandparent and another at the 6th-great-grandparent level. Pretty cool!

There are still many potential connections who have no family tree connected to their results. Perhaps as more people become aware of the possibility to more easily identify common ancestors, they may connect their trees to the DNA results.

It has been cool to find the connections have been on both sides of my tree. We have the additional information from my Mom's results and that helps quite a bit too. One connection appears to have a link somewhere in the tree from my Granny's Hermosillo, Sonora line, which is a part of the tree where I have a brick wall with my 2nd-great-grandfather Manuel Portillo. More research is needed, but the DNA results are beginning to pay off by identifying others searching for the same families.

A postcard between cousins

The postcard below was sent in March 1909 by eleven-year old Edna Pearl Allman, to her cousin Dewey Runyan (daughter of Dora Jane Allman Runyan) in Vermilion County, Illinois. Edna was the niece of my 2nd-great-grandmother.

Edna appears to have been a lively, fun kid. It is sad knowing that her time was cut short.

She fell ill to tuberculosis and died at the age of 15 on 30 July 1913. Her story made the Indianapolis Star in the 1 August 1913 issue (found this evening on Newspapers.com).

There are a few more photos in the Allman set. This is probably the most touching find in the package of photos and postcards. In 1913, the Heaton farm of her grandparents was located in Sugar Creek Township in Boone County. Agnes Allman Oyler, my great-grandmother Alma and her siblings, likely visited and would have experienced the pain of her loss. Alma and Edna were close in age (Alma was born four months before Edna in November 1897).

I post this as a memorial for Edna Pearl Allman, who died too soon, almost 100 years ago.

Sepia Saturday - Allman Family Portraits

I'm continuing with the set of Ura James Allman, wife Emma Heaton Allman, and children Edna and Roy Allman. Below is an undated photo of the family, in Thorntown, Boone County, Indiana.

Edna Pearl Allman was born on 17 March 1898 in Thorntown, Roy Davis Allman was born on 12 September 1900. Edna was the niece of my 2nd-great-grandmother Agnes Lydia Allman. Edna and her brother grew up playing with Agnes' children, my great-grandmother Alma among them.

A picture of Edna as a toddler is below, followed by a photo of Roy.

Edna Pearl Allman

Roy Davis Allman

Friday Photo - Edna and Roy Allman

This photo shows Edna Pearl Allman and Roy Davis Allman, the children of Ura James Allman and Emma Heaton Allman. There are more photos in the Allman set of Edna and Roy. I'll have more on Edna's story in future posts.