I suppose I am breaking all the rules of a good genealogy book by not beginning with the earliest known ancestor and doing a descension; or starting with the present generation and doing an ascension, but my main purpose here is not necessarily to write a good book. I just want to write a book that will inform, and maybe entertain, future generations; and since I am the one doing the writing, I guess I will begin any where I want to begin. And I want to begin with my great-grandparents, Silas and Rachel Newland, because at the moment they are presenting me with my first challenge. I do not know who Silas and Rachel were.
The first part of this book was easy, at least the part listing the names. The dates and places of birth required a little supplemental support. The first source of information is, as always, living relatives. They can usually remember important dates within their own families.
Another source for birth dates came from three small calendar-date books which had belonged to my mother. One was a Hallmark dated 1964 with compliments from Graves Self Service Drugs of Blackwell, OK. There was a Norcross Blue Book from Blackwell Paint and Wallpaper Co., dated 1960, and the other was a RustCraft calendar of memory from 1954, courtesy of Woodburn and Mt. Angel Variety Stores, of Woodburn and Mt. Angle, Oregon. You never know where you will find information of value!
Family Bibles are one of the best sources of information, along with birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, deeds, and most legal papers.
And of course, there is the internet!
When my brother, Harold and I discussed the possibilities of putting together a book for our descendants, I had no knowledge whatsoever about genealogy and very little about computers. It did not take long to learn enough to get started.
We already knew who our parents and grandparents were of course; but when we got the Grandpa Newland's father and mother we were stumped. We knew his name was Silas and hers was Rachel, and I thought, but I was not certain, that her maiden name was Botts.
We knew that he had made the landrun into the Cherokee Strip outlet of Oklahoma Territory and had staked a claim on land new Numa township.
We knew who their sons were and that they had lost one son and their only daughter when they were infants, and we knew they were buried at Caldwell, Kansas.
Armed with this information, I alerted some of the cousins to start looking through old papers, photos, bibles, etc; and then I went to my computer...and I discovered a universe of knowledge and information that was mind-boggling!
Imagine going online and finding a picture of your great-great-grandmother whose name you could not even recall! Oops! That is another branch which we will get to later.
Back to Silas and Rachel. We found lots of information on Silas and Rachael Newland who lived in Oklahoma in the right time frame. They had a son named Charles...my Grandad's name. But they had a 14 year old daughter on a census list along with other children whose names were unfamiliar. This Rachael spelled her name with two a's and ours had only one. Back to the old drawing board!
The Latter Day Saints have much information. Unfortunately, nothing on our Silas and Rachel.
I visited Newland forums and chat rooms and learned a lot about the Newland family, but nothing about Silas and Rachel.
I went to Askjeeves and requested a list of genealogy sites. (I still have not visited all that were listed there.)
It seems that every branch of the family has one elusive person who just cannot be found without a lot of problems. It is like butting your head against a brick wall! The genealogical term for this is "Brick Wall!"
Silas and Rachel were the brick walls of the Newland family.
Then, I got my first clue. My Dad's cousin, LaVera Sheets, found copies of the obituaries of both Silas and Rachel among papers that had belonged to her mother, Mable Anthony. From these I learned that Silas had been born in Schuyler Co., MO., on Feb. 1, 1851, he had married Rachel in 1875 also in MO., and he had two sisters surviving, one in MO, and one in OK. Unfortunately they were listed as Mrs. Sam Prince and Mrs. John Baker...no given names mentioned. I also learned the exact date and cause of his death.
Rachel's obit was not much help. All I managed to learn from hers was a birthdate, but considering what I had up to the time, it was a lot of information.
I sent Harold and e-mail with the news.
The next clue was found in the 1900 census report of Grant Co., OK. where Silas had claimed his land. I found the family there with the information that his parents had been born in Missouri. Rachel had been born there also, but her father had been born in Kentucky and her mother in Indiana.
Armed with these new findings, I went back to the computer forums and learned...NOTHING!
I searched through the early census records from Missouri, and althought I could not find them there, I did notice a few names that repeatedly appeared, first in Boone County and then in Schuyler. Unfortunately the census reports in Schuyler are not very complete on the internet; and visits to our neighboring library for futher information was not something I could do on the whim of the moment.
So, I decided to send for Silas' death certificate to see if I could learn anything else. Silas was struck by a car just before this 75th birthday. He was taken to his home, treated by a doctor for a week, and then died from his injuries. The funeral was a private affair, conducted at home by his minister with no mention of a funeral director. That was 1926 and I was not certain if a death certificate was required at that time, but it was worth a try.
