2024 52 Ancestors: Step

2024 52 Ancestors: Step - Pop Cole

On 19 August 1961, William Martin Cole married Beatrice Bethel (Dixon) Dean in Lawndale, Los Angeles, California and officially became the step-father to her five grown daughters, one of which was also getting married that very same day in Palos Verdes! He would from then on be known as "Pop" Cole.

William Martin Cole arrived in the world just one year and one day after his parents, Jessie Washington Dillon and Alach Henry Cole, were married. He was born 16 May 1893 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. His younger sister Margaret was born five years later.

Margaret Ellen Cole, undated.

The Cole family rented a cabin on Big Wheeling Creek, near where the Deans lived, so William grew up alongside Chester Dean (Beatrice's first husband) and the two men were friends. This is how William and Beatrice first met organically, while they were each married to their first spouses: William to Wilma Strautman and Beatrice to Chester Dean. William was known to the Dean family as Willie at that time.

In 1930, William's sister, Margaret Cole, married a man named Thomas Gilmore Hogg. He went by "Tommy." They had one child together in 1932, Alach Henry Cole (named after his grandfather), but their marriage quickly dissolved after their son's conception (hence Alach carrying his mother's maiden name of Cole). Funny enough, in 1936, Tommy went on to marry Mary Lucretia Dixon, Beatrice (Dixon) Dean's sister!

Thomas Gilmore Hogg and Mary Lucretia Dixon, 6 Jul 1936.

Fast forward to August 1961, Beatrice's brother-in-law's ex-wife, Margaret, became Beatrice's sister-in-law when she married William.

William Martin "Pop" Cole and Beatrice Bethel (Dixon) Dean Cole, 1 Jan 1965.

There's a saying in these parts..."It's all relative in West Virginia." At least in this case, those relatives are all by marriage. "Pop" and Beatrice remained married the rest of their days, and their combined families showed nothing but love and support for their union.

(Left: Sheila (Dean) Pendleton, Thelma (Dean) Mays, Beatrice (Dixon) Dean Cole, William Cole, Edna (Dean) Millhouse, Mary Ruth (Dean) Marsh, Aug 1971; Right: Charlotte (Cole) Bailey, William Cole, Alach Cole, Dorothy (Cole) Boyd, Aug 1971)

William "Pop" Cole and Beatrice (Dixon) Dean Cole, 10th wedding anniversary, May 1972; collage made by daughter Sheila (Dean) Pendleton.

While known as "Pop" to Beatrice's kids, he affectionately became known as "Pap Pap" to his grandchildren and the generations following. Beatrice took on the nickname of "Mamoo" when her granddaughter Cindy couldn't say "Grandma" and the other grandchildren fell in line.

And now that younger offspring are joining the family tree branches, the grandparent names of "Pap Pap" and "Mamoo" are being passed down, too! Beatrice's granddaughter, Beatrice (named for her, of course) is now known as "Mamoo" to her granddaughter!

2024 52 Ancestors: Origins - Physical Traits

Ever wonder who you inherited your dashing good looks from, those cute dimples, or how about that thinning hair line and thick love handles? This week, I'm exploring the origins of physical traits in my family tree. The first one that instantly comes to mind are my eyes. I know exactly who I got the color from versus the shape of them! Many babies' irises can be seen changing colors for their first six months or so. I was told my parents thought for sure I was going to inherit my dad's blue eyes, because they stayed that way even nearing the 2 year mark. However, they ended up turning hazel -- the color of my mom's eyes. (Left) Beatrice (Millhouse) Foltz; (Right) Kira Foltz Now, as for the shape of my eyeballs, I have my dad to thank for that! And I know this, because we have the same football-shaped stigmatism in each of our right eyes. Plus, a lazy eyelid over it, to boot! (Left) Gary Foltz; (Right) Kira Foltz My long lashes definitely came from my maternal side. But

"Newsworthy" Trip Overseas

When one imagines staying on a tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with the beach at their fingertips and palm trees canvassing the horizon in front of picturesque, cotton candy-colored sunsets, it's likely not to be in the thick of a world war. However, my grandmother, Edna Arlene (Dean) Millhouse, could recount just such a memory. Edna Dean on Tinian Island, 1945. During World War II, she utilized her training as a registered nurse to serve in the U.S. Army as a 1st Lieutenant. Edna Dean during World War II. While part of her service remained shoreside at Newton D. Baker General Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia, one of her wartime assignments brought her to the island of Tinian, part of the Northern Mariana Islands to the east of the Philippines and mainland Japan. Edna Dean in between her parents, Beatrice and Chester Dean at Newton D. Baker General Hospital. After Saipan was invaded, Tinian became the next target for the marine forces. The name Jig Day was

2024 52 Ancestors: Changing Names - Grandfather Foltz

During my grandfather's lifetime, in 1936, social security numbers were invented by the government in order to keep track of employment wages and histories of United States workers in an effort to determine their entitlement to benefits out of the social security fund. Harry Foltz, Portland, Oregon, 1930. This new line of bureaucratic red tape may have been the reason my grandfather and his mother went on the hunt for a record of his birth. The same issue appeared to crop up when it was time to apply for a passport as well. Although they were both certain he was born 3 February 1910 on their homestead in Fort Rock, Oregon, there was no extant documentation claiming so. Oregon State Board of Health, "Birth Record Application," 8 Mar 1958. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, copy of 1920 U.S. federal census enumeration details for Foltz, Harry A., 27 Aug 1942. His mother had to write up a deposition testifying to the details of his and his siblings' births in

Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

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