Sunday Search: Holiday Opportunities

The holidays are always a great opportunity to get together and simply enjoy the company of friends and family. While we may not be completely conscious of it at the time, it is a means to strengthen the bonds that we have with one another and take stock of the changes that have happened in our lives since the last time that we all gathered together. The most important thing about these times is to be in the moment and to spend time with those you love but there are opportunities that come about naturally from time to time that we, as family historians, must remain cognizant of and remember not just for ourselves but for the family as a whole the for the future when things have a tendency to be forgotten.

It is inconsequential how one gets to a subject but there are moments when we must be opportunistic and learn a little more about those around us. Furthermore, if we are able to ask questions we must do so to fill in some of the details that may have been glossed over. At the same time, when possible, we must be ready to recall what we know in order to offer that information in the hopes of jogging someone else’s memory or adding dimension or perspective to the story being told.

For some, including myself, this is sometimes the hardest part of trying to find out everything I can about the family. There is a fine line between conversation and investigation which we must respect during the holidays because, again, this is a time for family not about family. After all, we are all guilty from time to time for focusing more on the past than the present. Sometimes it is during occasions such as this while other times it is about not taking the opportunity, setting aside the time, and talking to family members about their own history and about what they know about others in the family.

Today I learned a few more details and was given a few more documents. Thankfully, I learned a lot with little effort. It was more about being in the right place and keeping my ears open to the conversations taking place. I knew some additional details and I asked a few questions but it was part of the natural flow of the dialog. Maybe I have finally found some kind of balance to this holiday conundrum. Of course, it helps that everyone knows about my passion for the family history and the respect that I have for our history. That can sometimes be the difference between being given, entrusted, with personal information and histories and not ever being told what happened.

Sunday Search: The Samuel Ardis Mystery

One of the first things I noticed when I initially began compiling my family tree was how many ancestors grew up not knowing either their mother or their father. One of the other examples that I have previously written about was that of Jacob Worth who remains interred with his fellow Union soldiers at the bottom of Mobile Bay having fallen victim to a Confederate torpedo while aboard the USS Tecumseh. This is a tragic tale but one which has the documents and facts by which we can determine exactly what happened. That isn’t always the case which is what I faced when looking at the life and death of my great great grandfather Samuel Warner Ardis.

The day following his early demise, on Monday, September 1, 1902, The Philadelphia Inquirer printed a story under the sensationalize headline “DEATH USED PHILADELPHIA AS A TARGET” with one of the many bulleted subheads stating “Element of Mystery in Case of Samuel W. Ardis Dispelled by Investigation”. Having been printed only a day following his death, the coroner’s inquest was still pending but the details suggested that heart disease played a factor. However, some of the details remained a bit fuzzy.   

To that point the investigation suggested that Samuel Ardis, who was employed as a clerk with the Reading Railway Company, was taken in by a stranger on his way home after falling ill shortly after his departure from work. Early the following morning, Sunday, the police were notified that Samuel Ardis had died suddenly at the house at some point during the night. When questioned later, my great great grandmother stated, according to the report that she was in “total ignorance of her husband’s movements since Saturday”.

While the autopsy later revealed, and was recorded on his death certificate, that the cause of death was pneumonia, we will never have a complete picture as to what transpired that night. The only facts that we know are that he died just over a month after his 3 month old son, Thomas J. Ardis, passed away and left his wife to care for their only remaining child, my great grandmother, Sarah Mabel Ardis, who turned three only four days after he baby brother died. In the span of just over a month, my great grandmother lost her father and her brother with her birthday falling in between. I can’t imagine what must have been going through her, or my great great grandmother’s, mind as all of this is happening.

We know a little but the mystery, and questions, still remain… Did he knock on a door or was he found and brought inside? Did he know the people / person who took him in? If so, how did they know one another? Did he know that he was sick? Did anyone notice at the office or was he seemingly ‘fine’? Why weren’t there any signs that this could happen? All these questions I want to have answers to but know that will probably never happen.

Car Conversation

William Edgar Yeagle's World War I draft registration card...
after the marriage but before the divorce.

On my way home from the office last week I decided to take a chance, pick up the phone, and follow up on a letter I had sent the previous Monday. It was sent in the hope of finding a few missing pieces on my mom’s side of my family tree. After a few rings a woman picked up the phone clearly not recognizing the number. On the other end of the line was a woman who was a bit surprised by my correspondence but happy to share everything that she knew about my great grandfather, William Edgar Yeagle.

My great grandparents were married in 1914 and soon after had my grandmother. Within a few years they had divorced and not long after that, in about 1920, my great grandfather had remarried and had another daughter, Alma. The woman I spoke with was Alma’s daughter who, as it turns out, was raised by her grandfather and still lives in the same house that he did many years ago. She knew her grandfather well and was raised by him when her father left. She knew that he was married once before but she was told a complete different story as to what happened in the first marriage. As it turns out, after my grandmother refused to have anything to do with him or her half-sister Alma, my grandmother’s name was forgotten. Only the story remained as to what caused the marriage to dissolve.

The facts passed down in my family were rather clear cut… William was an abusive drunk disliked by my great grandmother’s family. Having a child did not change that fact and, in the end, divorce was the only option. After that, my great grandmother took her child and moved in with her father. He would serve as the male figure in my grandmother’s life until his death in 1941 at the age of 92 (more about him in a later post).

It should be no surprise that this was not the same story that was passed down in William Yeagle’s second family. The story that I was told over the phone was that William owned a bakery but was working too many hours for my great grandmother. So that he wouldn’t work so much, she forced him to sell the bakery. Not long after that she left him despite his efforts. Not liked by my great grandmother’s family, he was cut off from his daughter.

So, the only commonality between the stories is that my great grandmother’s family didn’t like him. But let’s take a step back and look at the other facts that we have. While there is a William Yeagle who owned and operated a bakery during that period of time it was not the man that we are discussing in this post. It was his uncle, William Ludwig Yeagle. Furthermore, in every census record and directory listing from 1900-1952 at no point was he ever listed as a baker. Seems like that part of the second story doesn’t really hold up.

What about the version of the story that was passed down in my family? Well, in those same census and directory records, interspersed between various other occupations, we can see that on several occasions William Edgar Yeagle lists his occupation as Bartender (basically be bookended the Prohibition Era with official listings as a bartender). Makes you wonder what he was really selling as a ‘salesman’ during that time of illegality. While that alone is not enough to verify this version of the fact I tend to believe my family’s story. Why? Because of a simple fact that my three times great grandfather was a Philadelphia Police Officer for 54 years and there was probably good reason for him not liking him.

While I look forward to meeting this woman and discussing some of the missing branches in our tree, I do so carefully knowing that many of the initial ‘facts’ already don’t add up. Of course, this is part of the process when researching your family. Sometimes you will have two sets of information completely different from one another and investigate to see which option makes the most sense. It is all part of the process of filling in and pruning the family tree.

WTF Of The Week: California Hypocrisy

Hey look, another quality California politician and official donkey cave.

Seems as though talk radio was blowing up a little more than usual this morning. I can’t really say I blame them for ranting the way that they have been doing lately. In addition to the national scams and acts of severe dishonesty there are also the local debacles. And I really don’t know which one is worse at this point.

First you have the overblown traffic jam from New Jersey which started as just that, a means to try and blow a traffic jam way out of context in order to make Christie look bad. Honestly, I don’t even know why the other party even started this whole thing. Christie is one of those people that if you just let him talk for long enough he is going to hurt himself. Just like with this ‘scandal, the longer that it has gone on the more crap that Christie gets himself into. Recently he decided to spend over a million taxpayer dollars to hire his personal lawyer to prove his innocence. Let me see if I understand this… you hired someone you know, from a firm you are affiliated, to conduct an unbiased investigation which in the best case demonstrates that you have limited control over your own staff. You have got to be freaking kidding me.

The other situation going on is, unfortunately, in my state as the attorney general is lawyering up and threatening a defamation suit in order to ‘prove’ that she did not sweep a corruption investigation under the commonwealth’s carpet. This is the type of over-reaction that almost proves that you are guilty. What gets me is that this was allowed to just go unchecked for so long and that no one said anything, especially those in higher political offices.

While Kane and the fat man are enough fodder for a blogs worth of rants, there is another story that broke early this morning that easily overshadows all the aforementioned BS and so much more. Here is the first two paragraphs from the Forbes story by Greg McNeal:

California Democratic State Senator and candidate for California Secretary of State, Leland Yee, a gun control advocate, has been charged with conspiring to traffic in firearms and public corruption.  The charges are part of a 26 person criminal complaint and a major FBI sting operation.  The full criminal complaint is a massive 137 pages that tells the story of Yee’s involvement with a broad ranging conspiracy that includes firearms trafficking, murder-for-hire, drug distribution, trafficking in contraband cigarettes, money laundering, and honest services fraud.

Yee is charged with “conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and to illegally import firearms” as well as six counts of honest services fraud.  Each corruption charge is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, while the gun-trafficking charge is punishable by up to five years and $250,000.

That’s right, the gun control advocate is essentially an arms dealer. If he is so comfortable with dealing firearms, it makes you really wonder about his motivation to ban and control firearms. After all, I am certain that he didn’t restrict himself to selling six shot revolvers. There isn’t much more I can say to highlight the hypocrisy and heinous acts. However, I will say this… why is there such a light sentence for gun trafficking? While I am against the restriction of the legal ownership of firearms of all kinds, I am a firm believer in the harsh punishment of those individuals who so blatantly break the law and deal in illegal firearms. If anything, the penalty should at least be equal to the sentences doled out for the other corruption charges.

Well, with the mid-term campaigns about to warm up along with the weather, put some thought in to who you are really voting for. Don’t let a despicable donkey cave like Lee hold public office and open your eyes to the hypocrisy that might be as blatant. It is all around you and, in fact, you probably voted for some of the ones that pride themselves on this practice. A traffic jam doesn’t seem so important now, does it?