Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

It's ironic that the most colorful character in my family tree was born with the surname of White! Related to me only through marriage to a great granduncle, Gertrude was anything but plain, white bread. "Grandma Dean, 1912"; Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 Nov 2024), user-submitted photo by Shannon Katz-Dean on 11 Feb 2018. The images left behind of Gertrude clearly shine a light on this woman's wild and free spirit. She certainly didn't maintain societal norms for her day.  "Gertrude White";  Ancestry  (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 Nov 2024), user-submitted photo by Shannon Katz-Dean on 29 Aug 2017. Born in 1893 in Upshur County, West Virginia to farming parents of modest means, the U.S. censuses show her education spanned at least from age 7 through 17 reaching the 8th grade, which is already far superior to the majority of the men in my family tree who typically dropped out of school around the age of 12 or so to begin earn...

  Although my mom's father was older than her mother, he was held back a year in school, placing the two in the same graduating class at Sherrard High School in Marshall County, West Virginia, back in 1940. Their "meet cute" did not spark an instantaneous love connection, as they each went their separate ways after school wrapped up, but this was where their paths first crossed. Edna Arlene Dean & Raymond Lee Millhouse, circa 1947  (after both had served separate tours of duty overseas in World War II) I wrote a previous blog all about Sherrard High, which included all of the school portraits, class pictures, and classmate/teacher names I could find in my grandparents' albums. You can read that one here: https://contagiousgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/10/sherrard-high-school.html However, at the time the blog "went to print," I had lost track of my grandparents' own graduation pamphlet. I've since recovered said document and decided this article wo...

  NOVEMBER 06, 2021 In an age before most everyone was literate, spelling and grammar didn’t count for much – and that went for people’s names as well. Week 41: Changes In my family tree, I’ve recorded my maternal 2nd great grandmother as Phoebe Ann (Yoders) Millhouse. She was born 1 November 1873 in Woodruff, Marshall County, West Virginia to parents Samuel Zachariah Yoders and Lucinda Ott. She was one of at least 13 children. Out of a brood that big, you’re bound to get somewhat overlooked, and perhaps part of that plays into the fact that Phoebe’s name on records never seems super solid. While I personally determined the “official” spelling of her name to be Phoebe Ann Yoders, I know that there’s no right answer. Depending on the informant and their literacy, their preference, her preference, and their circumstances, Phoebe’s name tended to change a lot over the years. In 1880, at the age of 6, she was enumerated on the federal census as Pheby A. Yoders – likely information giv...

  OCTOBER 26, 2021 Located in Marshall County, West Virginia about halfway between the cities of Wheeling and Moundsville, Sherrard High School was active from 1911 to 1968 (until it was consolidated into John Marshall High School). Sherrard High had actually been the first consolidated school in all of West Virginia. The area (and school) was named for local landowner Sherrard Clemens, who happened to have been a cousin of the famous author Samuel L. Clemens (aka Mark Twain). Undated photo of Sherrard School. Unknown photographer. Week 35: School Both of my maternal grandparents, Raymond Millhouse and Edna Dean, attended Sherrard, so I’ve heard the school mentioned during several conversations with family members. Plus, I have amassed a small collection of class pictures from family photo albums, which I’ve included in this post. Sherrard School 7th grade class photo, 1936, Marshall County, West Virginia. Standing from left to right is: Pat. Ray, Lee, Tony, Edna Arlene Dean, Glady...