Wednesday's Child - Niles City (Union) Cemetery

This past Memorial Day weekend, I wandered around the Niles City Cemetery (or the Union Cemetery) while my mother and grandmother planted flowers at family grave sites. I was mostly looking for family members, but I took some pictures of other headstones that interested me.

The first child is my Great Grandfather's, Harrison Davies, brother. Howard and Harrison had a sister named Harriette and their parents were Gwylim (William) and Sarah Davies. No one knows anything about him except what is on his headstone. I'm hoping that I can at least get his birth and death records.

Howard Davies 1887-1887

Margaret Lou Randall is the daughter of a great great aunt, I believe.

Margaret Lou Randall
1944

I believe that Jonathan Woodford is another distant cousin on my maternal side.


Jonathan Woodford
1870-1872

 Another child is the sister of the 25th President of the US, William McKinley, Jr.


Abagail C.
Daughter of
William & Nancy McKinley
Died Jan. 26 1846
Aged 7 mo. & 26 Dy's



This child is a mystery child. Beyond taking a rubbing (which I had no tools for) all that I could decipher is "Little Willy." As the picture below shows, his headstone is behind Abagail McKinley and her maternal grandmother, Anne Allison. I can only guess that Little Willy is a member of the McKinley family somehow.

Little Willy



Abagail McKinley, Anne Allison, & Little Willy


These next group of head stones are in the old part of the cemetery, or what's left of it. On May 31, 1985, Niles, Ohio and surrounding areas had a F5 tornado go through the city and also the cemetery. All of the large trees were destroyed or damaged severely and most of the oldest part of the cemetery was wiped out completely. As you can see in the picture above, there is an open grassy area behind the headstones. There used to be many headstones in that area. If the tornado didn't go through the cemetery, more than 9 lives would have been lost in Niles that day; possibly my grandparents who live a few blocks SE of the cemetery.

Anyways these headstones were not only visually interesting, but genetically interesting too. There are Heatons in my family tree (although I'm pretty certain I'm not related to this family). These Heatons, particularly James Heaton (the father), are the founders of Niles, Ohio. To lose 5 children in 10 years must have been devastating.

John Heaton son of James & Margaret Heaton died Apr,l 10th, 1813 in the 9th year of his age. Also James son of James & Margaret Heaton died Sep,t 12th, 1816: aged 4 hours. And Owens Heaton son of James & Margaret Heaton died Au,g 11th, 1819: in the 12th year of his age.



Hannah Heaton daughter of James & Margaret Heaton died Fe,b 2nd 1806: in the 6th year of her age. And Shelby Heaton son of James & Margaret Heaton died June 8th 1812: in the 2nd year of his age.





Talented Tuesday - Uncle Lute (Yes I know it's not technically Tuesday)

Luther Paul VanGilder (1896-1986)

I decided to use GeneaBloggers.com's blogging prompts for a post.



Out of my relatives, my Great Great Uncle Lute ( or plain Uncle Lute as I've always called him) is one of the ones I know the most about, but also is one of the most mysterious. 



Uncle Lute was born Luther Paul VanGilder in 1896, in West Virginia, the youngest of nine children. His parents James VanGilder and Miriam (Molly) Brane VanGilder were both born in Virginia (now West Virginia) a few years before the American Civil War started. From birth to age 14 there is not much documentation other than the US censuses.

Uncle Lute has a draft registration card on file, other than what is listed on the card I don't know much about his military history. (One thing that I would like to do is to get my rear in gear and request his records.) Another interesting item listed is is occupation. He says he is employed with the moving picture show with C.L. Gillis in Clarksburg, WV.

Luther Paul VanGilder possibly Luigi Paule Sabatino at this time - Head shot Dec. 1937

From what my maternal grandmother (Lute's niece) says, he helped with the construction of the Pentagon. There are no records (as of yet) that prove this, but I believe it to be true. Also family lure says that Uncle Lute may have been in the CIA. This is not hard to believe when you look at the big picture.

The 1930 US Census is a strange one when it comes to Uncle Lute. His mother (or I'm pretty sure it's her) is found in Dallas, TX three years after her husband died after being run over by a wagon. Ancestry.com mistakenly has her with another household, but when you look at the digital copy, it is clear that she is the head of a separate household. Within her home are two men; one named Lewis P. VanGilder and the other Andra A. Carter. Both are 31 years old and both are listed as artists being employed by the "general public". From what I can surmise, Lewis is Uncle Lute.



A small painting by Uncle Lute. The family has more of his paintings. If I can get pictures I'll put more up.



Somewhere between 1930 and 1942 Uncle Lute legally changed his name to Luigi Paule Sabatino. Again my grandmother says that he changed it because he fell in love with an Italian woman and her parents wouldn't let her marry a non-Italian man. To be honest, I never asked if it worked or if they got married. All I know is he didn't change his name back and he never had children. He was also buried as Luigi Paule Sabatino and registered for the WWII draft under the same name.

So for Talented Tuesday, I have an uncle who was an artist, acted, and helped construct a US icon.

When the 1940 US Census comes out I hope to find some more information. I also haven't been able to find him in the 1920 US Census.

If anyone has information about Luther Paul VanGilder or Luigi Paule Sabatino, C.L. Gillis in Clarksburg, WV, how to find if someone worked on the Pentagon, or how to find out if someone worked for the CIA please comment.





1. United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.

2. United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.

3. Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration





Me time sometimes = tree time

I sit here writing this after midnight. One of the few times of the day where someone or something doesn't need or want something from me. My 2 1/2 year old (R) can entertain himself pretty well, but my almost 6 month old (C) is, as babies are, pretty needy.  When C wants something then so does R. Eventually I hope that things will calm down and I pray that they take naps at the same time.

So when I'm not being begged for attention, making dinner, or cleaning the house, I try to do some thing for myself. One of those things would be researching the family tree. A lot of the time I end up letting C nap in my arms while I search. It's not easy to type one handed, but I'm getting decently proficient.

In my last post, I said that I was considering becoming a professional genealogist. At this point I realize that doing things like on-line classes, searching other people's family trees, and going to seminars are going to have to wait until the boys are older.

Being a stay-at-home mom will always come first, but it would be nice for "Mommy time" to last longer than a "Thomas" or "Bob the Builder" movie.

How I got started

So I guess I should explain how I got started with all of the family history and genealogy stuff.

Somewhere around 6th grade (which is '95 or '96 for me), my brother had a biology project dealing with genetic traits. You were to look back in your family tree (or make one up if you didn't know) and map out hair and eye color using the dominant and recessed genes. Well my mother and maternal grandmother both researched family history and kept records, so my brother had an easy time with his project. While he put together the family tree to present his project, I got real nosey (as a little sister does) while my mom helped him.

Three years later it was my turn. My interest in family history renewed and, after that never really went away.

Fast-forward to 2008. I had my first son. I really started getting serious in my search for past relatives. I also had my husband's family to research, now that I had a child who may be interested in where he came from someday.

Now in 2011 I have two sons and am still very into my family history. Not only that, I'm also thinking about becoming a professional genealogist.

Next time I'll write about trying to research while taking care of two kids (under three), a husband, a dog, and a house.