Genedocs: Family Research and Legacy Preservation

     I really do need to get in a blog more often, but with school, full time work, and Genedocs at facebook, I need to ensure I get some sleep and showers sometimes ;-).

    Anyway, I am back in today for my 15 followers to share a fascinating find on ancestry.com/institution found during break today at The National Archives.  Here are the images for starters...



At the left in the 1839 Sophomore class of Kenyon Theological Seminary College near Columbus, OH you will find great grandfather Edward Alexander Gause listed in his rightful place (alphabetical by last name). 

The Houston County TX mug book on Edward and family lore stated he was appointed Postmaster of Crockett,TX through the influence of his college classmate and later U.S. President James A Garfield  - today that was proven wrong after no luck finding Edward at Hiram where Garfield attended.  However, the page below of Freshmen Class for 1839 at Kenyon clearly lists Rutherford B Hays who was later elected as the 19th U.S Preesident and is likely the actual influence behind Edward and his son-on-law John's later appointment as postmasters in Crockett for several terms in the 1880's, 90's, and beyond.

This is a great research example where in less than 10 minutes on Ancestry )Searched full name OH and b 1819 only) and wikipedia (for Rutherford B Hays education details) can get you well past the speculation and even recorded errors in a County History book to the truth we genealogists crave so much! 

Thank you great Grandfather Gause (above) for attending this school, leaving record of it, and befriending a prominent official and notable man in much of susequent U.S. History.

Thank you President Rutherford B. Hays (above on his 1851 wedding day) for befriending my great grandfather and later finding him worthy of appointment to the postmaster position as did you for his son-in-law J.T. Dawes.

Most interesting are Hays words in retirement that reflect so much of present day sentiment:

"In retirement, Hayes was troubled by the disparity between the rich and the poor, saying in an 1886 speech that "free government cannot long endure if property is largely in a few hands and large masses of people are unable to earn homes, education, and a support in old age."^[203] The following year, Hayes recorded his thoughts on that subject in his diary:

"In church it occurred to me that it is time for the public to hear that the giant evil and danger in this country, the danger which transcends all others, is the vast wealth owned or controlled by a few persons. Money is power. In Congress, in state legislatures, in city councils, in the courts, in the political conventions, in the press, in the pulpit, in the circles of the educated and the talented, its influence is growing greater and greater. Excessive wealth in the hands of the few means extreme poverty, ignorance, vice, and wretchedness as the lot of the many. It is not yet time to debate about the remedy. The previous question is as to the danger—the evil. Let the people be fully informed and convinced as to the evil. Let them earnestly seek the remedy and it will be found. Fully to know the evil is the first step towards reaching its eradication. Henry George is strong when he portrays the rottenness of the present system. We are, to say the least, not yet ready for his remedy. We may reach and remove the difficulty by changes in the laws regulating corporations, descents of property, wills, trusts, taxation, and a host of other important interests, not omitting lands and other property.^[204] " "- Wikipedia