2013 Looking Back

As always, I apologize as a 2nd year Geneablogger for not committing more time to this blog, but my life is getting more demanding and as student loans come due and a better paying job with my fresh degree from DeVry University still seems distant despite their 90% hired in their field within in 6 months of graduating TV statistic.  So I return for a review of 2013 looking back...
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Amazing things in life this year that I never imagined me doing or finding, but they actually happened with the grand help of others!:
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1. Finally made it to Rootstech!  Woo - hoo!
Among the many great folks and fellow Geneabloggers I crossed paths with, I met with Kathy Meade who was essential in digging up some much sought after vital statistics and a few new ancestor names on my Swedish Lines in Tveta and Kraksmala!  Thank you so much and I hope you found what you needed for your Native American research with NARA!
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2. Finally finishing my Bachelors Degree!  Amazing and third out of four in immediate family graduating Magna cum Laude!  I applaud my wife Lori and Sister Lisa for their ongoing essential support of completing this long desired academic endeavor.

3. Discovering 2nd Great grandpa Edward A. Gause actually attended Kenyon University with classmate later to be Rutherford B. Hays instead of another President per family lore, but still likely the key contact who could have appointed him as Postmaster of Crockett, TX for a few terms in the 1870s and 1880s.

4. Stumbling on the fact that Edward Gause also served in the U.S. Military under Captain Rush Elmore in the 3rd AL volunteers during the War with Mexico.  All from a Google hit about his 2nd wife filing a widows  application for a $4/mo increase of pension granted by the U.S. Congress!  This is EXACTLY why you keep Googling every ancestor in your tree at the beginning and end of each new year - you can't imagine what will turn up!  NARA provided 89 pages of service and mostly pension related records!   Hats off to Trevor and team at NARA!

5. Another NARA his via Ancestry.com/institution in Fort Worth on break time yielded the find that Edward's father John was actually listed as Captain John Gause on one of his wife Flora's death tax records.  Again NARA came through with a simple entry for the war of 1812 service for Edward's father!  Again Trevor and his coworkers did John proud!

                       c. 1776   Locket Sketch of Rev War Captain Benjamin Mills (1757 - 1810)

6. Alabama ancestors into NC seemed to be worth digging around some more and indeed it was when I found Edward Gause's mother Flora Mills was the daughter of Revolutionary War Captain Benjamin Mills of the North Carolina Armed Dragoons (Cavalry).  This was astounding to find out, but my heart skipped a beat when I saw their was a portrait of Benjamin from about 1776 astonishingly from a large locket - for those of you familiar with my Hall, Laspeyre lines in Wilmington, Ira R Hall has been my oldest image find with a sketch of him in a large locket shared by cousin Mike Fitzgerald back in 2001.  The similarities can be seen on the Genedocs Enhancements Facebook wall for November 2013.  It's time to e-mail Trevor at NARA again!



7.  We finally made it to Galveston after about 3 years in Texas - what a great vacation spot right after the Labor Day Weekend (except for the Vampiric swarms of mosquitoes!)  I forgot to replace our detergent with DEET - LOL!

There is still more to do and brick walls and many new questions to ponder!  Maybe 2014 will be teh year I can finally tackle Edward Dawes' parents info!??