My Flanders Connection to Architect John James Flanders

  A few days ago my cousin Veva Young posted the photo below at left and asked if we were related to John James Flanders, the famous architect in Chicago, Illinois. The chart I drew up shows our relationship.

Cemetery Photos Bring Me Cousins and Stories

My husband and I frequently visit nearby cemeteries to photograph headstones that I add to individual accounts on FamilySearch. Recently as we were slowly driving through the Weiser, Idaho Cemetery, I noticed this small headstone with the name "Mudd Main" on it. 

Odus Olen, Lonnie Loren, Byard Bolen, Made Marian, Nina Noble, Harry Harmon, Carry Clifford, Flo Fountain, --Main (1891-1891), Rell Rencie, Mudd Marble, and Eela Elas. 

I don't think I've ever seen that pattern in naming each child with the same letter starting the first and middle names. 

The "Memories" on Family Search offers this photo of Mudd Main, at left with his brother Flo at right.

Cecil (1908), John (1910), Kenneth (1912), Gladys (1914), Clarence (1917), Claudia (1920), Elmer (1921), Laura (1922), Pearl (1924), Clifford (1028), Edith (1929), and Beulah (1933-1934).

So when Lily and her 11-mo-old daughter Beulah were burned to death in the house fire, their 11 children, ranging in age 26 to 5, lost their mother. And if the 4 oldest were out of the house, living on their own, that still left 7 children at home for the father to care for. 

I don't know the family's circumstances, but this story really hit me hard. When we see headstones in the cemetery, we see only a tiny fraction of the family's story!

As I reviewed the pedigree charts of the family members, I discovered that this Lily Jones Main who died at age 46 was the half-6th cousin, two times removed of my husband, as shown in the chart. 

Another Sterling Sill Book Reveals a Cousin Connection

I seem to be on a roll here with Cousin Connections discovered in my purchases of books by Sterling W. Sill. During my most recent visit to the Deseret Industries Thrift Store in Nampa, Idaho, I found 3 books by Sterling and of course grabbed them up at $2.00 each. In my previous blog post I explained my discoveries from my research into a book's former owner, Ross E. Butler. 

Today I'm sharing what I discovered from my purchase of the book The Upward Reach. 

Amazon offers this introduction to the book: This volume is made up of fifty-two different, interesting, uplifting and highly motivating discussions based on Victor Hugo's thought that, "Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come." It is thought that for many people who are interested in raising the spiritual level of their lives and in bringing about a more substantial general success, that a regular weekly association with this stimulating book will prove most valuable.

After I lifted the book from the bookshelf, I opened it to leaf through it. I saw this name label inside: 

Sure enough I found a connection! This chart shows that I discovered that my (adopted) son is a 4th cousin, two times removed of Darrell D. Fullmer.