Cousins meeting and John F & Julia J Breshears family

I have been pleasantly sidetracked the last couple of weeks.  Due to a new DNA match on Ancestry I have been corresponding with a newly found second cousin.  We are related through the William Carroll Green Breshears line.

This past Saturday we were able to meet.  Julia, my second cousin and her parents (her mother is my first cousin once removed) met with my sister and myself and we visited the cemeteries in the Breshears valley of Missouri.  We were also able to meet up with some other Breshears cousins (from the state of Oregon) while we were there.  They were vacationing with other relatives here in Missouri.  It was a beautiful day for our outing and we were able to visit for some time.

In preparation for the outing I have been working on the John F and Julia J Button Breshears family this past week.  This was the line that cousin Julia came from.  I tried to put as much information together for her in the time that was available.  I have updated my Ancestry working tree and matched with Family Search.  Much work on this family is still needed in Family Search.

Still looking for birth parents for WILLIAM CARROLL GREEN BRESHEARS - DNA tests taken

We have taken DNA tests in hopes of finding additional cousins that may help us unravel the mystery  of our GGGranfathers birth parents.  My sister, Janet and I have both tested with AncestryDNA.  We have numerous cousin matches.  I have been in contact with some of the second - third cousins and we are trying to find our common ancestors now.  So far no luck in breaking through our William Carroll Green brick wall.

 Don's AncestryDNA ethnicity results
Janet's AncestryDNA ethnicity results

In addition to Ancestry, I have loaded mine to FTDNA and gedmatch.  I also took a Y-DNA37 test at FTDNA for the Varner surname project.  My dna matches closely to some of those on the Varner surname project so that part of the family tree I'm fairly confident on.  Also lot's of Breshears matches on Ancestry.

I really need to do a lot of studying on this dna matching process.  Fairly complicated and very involved.  I'm sure I am missing lot's of things that are staring me in the face simply because I don't know how to compare my results with others.  Matching distant ancestors on our trees is extremely difficult.

Continue working on BRESHEARS, HENDERSON, HOSTETLER families

This past week I continued the research of my granduncle Francis Breshears, Jr. family.  I was able to wrap up this family for the most part, still need to find one marriage record and one death / burial record.

This is a copy of the narrative report out of Roots Magic.

Francis Marion BRESHEARS Jr. was born on 1 May 1884 in Missouri, United States. He appeared in the census on 15 Jun 1900 in Benton, Missouri, United States. They lived in Alexander Township. Francis Marion showed in the census as Marion Breshears. He appeared in the census on 13 May 1910 in Fristoe Township, Benton, Missouri, United States. On 12 Sep 1918 Francis was a laborer for California Portland Cement Co in San Bernardino, San Bernardino, California, United States. He lived at 560 WI in Colton, San Bernardino, California, United States on 12 Sep 1918. He appeared in the census on 3 Jan 1920 in Colton, San Bernardino, California, United States. In Apr 1930 Francis was a motor oiler at a gas plant in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States. He appeared in the census on 2 Apr 1930 at 128 Wilshire Drive in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States.⁷ He lived at 128 Wilshire Drive in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States in 1935. In Apr 1940 Francis was a maintenance worker at an oil well in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States. He appeared in the census on 3 Apr 1940 at 128 Wilshire Drive in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States.⁸ He died on 26 Feb 1958 at the age of 73 in Patton, San Bernardino, California, United States.³ The city information was obtained from family search family tree.  This was an sourced entry based on the California Death Index, however the city was not shown on this source. Francis was buried on 28 Feb 1958 in Redlands, San Bernardino, California, United States. Obtained from family search family tree.  This was an unsourced entry.

Francis Marion BRESHEARS Jr. and Cora HENDERSON were married on 12 Jun 1904 in Hickory, Missouri, United States. The marriage date and location were obtained from family search family tree.  The entry was not sourced. 

Cora HENDERSON was born on 25 Jan 1887 in Benton, Missouri, United States. Exact date and location obtained from family search family tree unsourced entry. She appeared in the census on 13 May 1910 in Fristoe Township, Benton, Missouri, United States. She lived at 560 WI in Colton, San Bernardino, California, United States on 12 Sep 1918. Cora appeared in the census on 3 Jan 1920 in Colton, San Bernardino, California, United States. In Apr 1930 she was a citrus packer at a citrus packing plant in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States. She appeared in the census on 2 Apr 1930 at 128 Wilshire Drive in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States. Cora appeared in the census on 4 Apr 1940 at 128 Wilshire Drive in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States. She died on 3 Mar 1970 at the age of 83 in Redlands, San Bernardino, California, United States. Exact date and location obtained from family search family tree unsourced entry. She was buried on 5 Mar 1970 in Redlands, San Bernardino, California, United States. Exact date and location obtained from family search family tree unsourced entry. Cora was also known as Cora Breshears.

Francis Marion BRESHEARS and Cora HENDERSON had the following child:

Juanita "Fay" BRESHEARS, born 5 Jan 1908, Missouri, United States; married Rolland HOSTETLER, abt 1927, California, United States; died 6 Oct 1993, Yucaipa, San Bernardino, California, United States.

More information on Juanita "Fay" Breshears may be found on my previous post of 1/7/14 on the Breshears family.

Still working on my Breshears line - Juanita Fay Breshears (Hostetlers, Odenbaughs)

For the past week I've been working on my first cousin (once removed) Juanita Fay Breshears.

Fay was the daughter of Francis Marion and Cora Henderson Breshears.  She married Rolland Hostetler around 1927 in California.  I still need a marriage record to support this.  They lived in California their entire lives.

Rolland and Fay had two children.  Sharon and Duane Keith Hostetler.

Sharon married Leonard Odenbaugh in San Bernardino, California in 1956.  They had two children Keith and Kelly.

I really enjoy working in the state of California.  The available records on line is amazing.  The California Birth and Death indexes are great.  Between those and the SSDI and Find A Grave I was able to piece together a lot of information on this "lost side" of my family.

Due to the distance my immediate family was never really close to this family.  Fay Breshears was a first cousin to my mother.  Years ago Rolland, Fay and Duane use to come to our home in Missouri for summer vacation.  They visited all of the Breshears relatives in the area while they were here.  I remember they had a camper for their pickup that they traveled and stayed in.

In the above photo:

Front: Alberta Shepard, Lula Breshears, Zelma Varner. Rear: Charlie Breshears, Duane & Fay Hostetler and James Varner.

Working on the Breshears - Marilla S Breshears and Henry S Henderson family of Fullerton, CA

The past few weeks I've been working on my Grandaunt Marilla "Rilla" Breshears Henderson and her family.  I have discovered five new first cousins (once removed).  Rilla was the daughter of my Great Grandfather Francis Marion Breshears.  Rilla and her husband Henry moved from Missouri to California in around 1929.  For that reason our families were never that close.

Again, Ancestry.com came to my rescue.  The amount of information that I was able to find on Rilla, Henry and their five children was unbelievable.  Using census records, birth, death and find a grave records I was able to trace their births in Missouri, move to California, deaths and burials.

The family as far as I can reconstruct it is as follows:

Henry S Henderson - Father
Marilla (Rilla) Breshears Henderson - Mother
Neva Pearl Henderson - daughter  >  married Wilbur Weaver
Mabel Henderson - daughter
Willetta Henderson - daughter
Samuel Henderson - son
Mary Henderson - son

As usual I'm willing to collaborate with anyone who is working on this family.  Simply post a comment here or send me an email.  It would help if you stated your relationship to the family

New family names - GAMBLIN & BONDS

I have finally cleaned up my converted (Family Tree Maker 2012) database.  Existing sources have all been redone and linked as well as all photographs have been linked.  Earlier this week I shared the database on Ancestry.com.  I do all database updates on FTM then sync those to Ancestry, so far it has worked like a charm.  It can be found here Varners.

I've also been able to resume researching this week.  I've found many new census records and a marriage record on Ancestry.com.  Finally getting to do some much needed work on expanding on my sources.  

The really good news this week is that I have found my maternal 2nd ggrandparents.  I have found my maternal grandmothers (Martha Breshears COBB) maternal grandparents (Madison BONDS and Elizabeth Hamblin BONDS).  This is my great grandmother (Mary Ann Bonds BRESHEARS) parents.  They were both born in Kentucky in the early 1830's and had relocated to Missouri sometime between 1850 - 1860.

In addition to the 2nd ggrandparents I was able to find my 3rdggrandparents.  I was able to find Madison BONDS parents.  William and Mary Ann (?) GAMBLIN.  William was born in North Carolina in 1794 and Mary Ann was born in Maryland in 1797.  They have relocated to Missouri by 1850.

New family line found. Maternal gggrandfather was a GREEN.

Well the holidays and all the birthdays are over for awhile.  The last month and a half have been incredibly busy.  Little progress has been made on the family history.

I have spent some time trying to prove my information on my maternal gggrandfather.  His name is William Carroll Green "Breshears".  The following was written in the History of Benton County, Missouri (vol 1).

"In addition to their own children, Henry and Atsey raised William Carroll Green Breshears as their own. He was 13 years old when he was orphaned on the trip to Missouri and joined the Henry Breshears family."  This occurred in 1838.

I have been trying to find William's birth parents with no success whatsoever.  I can find no adoption records for him nor can I find him in any of the earlier census records.  Family stories indicate that William was born in either Tennessee or Virginia. He died during the civil war and I have been unable to find a death certificate  I am now trying to find information on his military service.  Next step will be any information available on the wagon trains that would have taken this route.

At any rate it appears that my "Breshears" line doesn't go back very far.

With the start of the new year I hope to be able to concentrate more on my family history research and updating this blog.