Sunday, January 11, 1976
I had returned home with my five month old son to live with my parents while my husband was stationed at King Salmon Air Force Base, Alaska. Considered a remote assignment, it was no place for a baby. On this particular Sunday my dad was home and catching up on the week's newspapers when he suddenly tossed me the Oregon Life section and asked if I had read the cover story on genealogy. He said he had always wanted to know more about his mother's family since she was orphaned at a young age. I had heard that her parents were dead, but had not heard that they died when she was a child. The newspaper article interviewed a local genealogist and included a pedigree chart so I thought I would see what I could learn for my dad.
Grandma had dementia, and couldn't help me out, so I found her brothers and sisters and wrote them asking for information on their parents. It took a while to hear from them, but I received the names of their parents, grandparents, and a few dates. I moved to the Oregon Coast that fall and was able to write letters and subscribed to the Genealogical Helper. Waiting weeks and months for replies was not a lot of fun for me but a toddler kept me busy.
Lillian Dell McJimsey was born 26 December 1898 in Decatur Co.Iowa. Her mother, Caroline (Newell) was born 10 April 1869 in Polk Co., IA and died 7 Dec 1905, Decatur Co., IA, shortly after the birth of her 10th child, Clarence Riley McJimsey. Caroline is buried in the Van Wert Cemetery, Decatur Co., IA. She was preceded in death by three children, one named Eldrado (the best I can make out), a male born 28 Dec 1898, and appears to be the twin brother to my grandmother. No birth record exists for Lillian Dell who was called Dell as a child, but one does exist for her twin. He died shortly after birth. The other two deceased children were gone before the 1900 census.
My grandmother Della, the name she went by my entire life, had turned 12 years old just a month before her father, William Riley McJimsey, passed away on 26 January 1911, aged 62 years, 2 mo, 19 days according to his headstone in the Van Wert Cemetery. William and his twin sister, Sarah, were born 7 Nov 1848 in Jasper Co., Indiana.
So far I have not been able to confirm who my grandmother lived with after her father's death. In May 1914 Della's oldest sister Bessie Maude McJimsey Hammond applied and was appointed her guardian.Bessie, who was living in Humboldt Co., CA, had left home at age 16 immediately after the death of their mother Caroline.
There is much more to tell about this family, but I will leave that for another day.
Notes:
Lundeen, Kay (1976, January 10). Holmes-ing in on Heritage. Eugene Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, p.1. Retrieved from http://.news.google.com.
