Compiling My Research

I'm undertaking the ambitious project to compile all my research, as well as more accurately document it.  Currently, my research consists of a total of several hundred pages (I think, might be closer to a thousand), split into four documents (one for each grandparent), of typed research, organized in my own fashion which pretty much only makes sense to me. My goal is to (1) get all of my research into genealogy charts (starting with five generation ancestor charts and I'll probably also do family group charts) (2) re do all my typed research into detailed research for each chart, including stories if I have them (3) document anything I can and include copies and (4) also include decent photocopies of all my family photos.  All of this is going to be organized into binders. I'll start with one per each grandparent, and break it down as necessary.

Speaking of, my mother just gave me a whole bunch of old photos! Including what we believe is Minerva and William G. Fink's wedding picture. She's one of my favorites. And one of William G. with his railroad crew, wearing a fantastic outfit. I may also be undertaking an ambitious sewing project of attempting to recreate Minerva's wedding outfit...

Gravestones 9 to 12 - Ridgewood Cemetery in Wellston Ohio

 

My great grandmother Calfernie (nee Braley) Fink. Also known as Granny or Grandma Fern. She's the original owner of my sewing machine and the reason it's named Fern.

 

Fern's parents: Cora (nee Gleason, daughter of Levi and California) and Ripley Braley, my great great grandparents on the Fink-Braley line. 

 

William and Minerva (nee Dupre) Fink, my great great grandparents. 

 

My great aunt Esther Jo, my grandpa Bill's older sister. Not a direct ancestor, but a favorite relative and probably the one that I got my obsession with genealogy from. 

All of these graves are in the Ridgewood Cemetery in Wellston Ohio. 

Gravestone #6 John and Annette Fink

Annette (nee Ewing) and John Franklin Fink, my third great grandparents on the Fink side. Dixon Run Cemetery, Gallia County, Ohio.

Annette's the daughter of Mary from the previous post.

This cemetery was probably the most difficult to get to -- up a narrow winding guardrail-less 'road' at the top of hill. Next time, we park at the bottom and walk up.

Gravestone #2 Richard Deckard and Hannah Eagle

Richard Deckard and his wife, Hannah (nee Eagle) Deckard, my 5th great grandparents on the Fink-Dupre line. They are buried in Brush Cemetery in Gallia County, Ohio. If I remember rightly, they're over to the left side, surrounded by a bunch of other Deckard graves.
 

Close up of the grave.

Cemetery Research Weekend!

This weekend, my mother and I have big plans -- we're leaving early Sunday morning and traveling to eastern Ohio to visit cemeteries on the Fink side of the family, then driving to Anderson IN (and spending the night somewhere along the way) to do the same for the Cookman and Forkner sides. My aunt is off Monday, so she's going with us. I'm so excited!

Cemeteries on the visit list:

Ohio - Brush Cemetery, Mount Tabor Cemetery, Franklin Cemetery, Ewington OH (there's a cemetery there that doesn't want to come up on Google maps, plus it was founded by my family), Gilboa Cemetery, Thurman Cemetery, Dixon Run Cemetery, Salem Cemetery, and Ridgewood Cemetery. We'll be in Gallia and Jackson counties. We'll probably take a lunch break between Gilboa and Thurman and go down to Rio Grande to visit the first Bob Evans. There's a lot of cemeteries but they're all pretty close together.

Indiana - Grovelawn Cemetery, West Maplewood Cemetery, Otterbein Cemetery (supposedly near the airport but doesn't show on Google maps), Nelson Cemetery, Penniston Cemetery (doesn't show on Google maps either).

I have directions to all the cemeteries, a word document with details on each cemetery's location and some pictures, and a spreadsheet with all the graves we're looking for.

The Dupre Family

My maternal grandfather William Fink was the son of Homer Dupre Fink. Homer was the son of Minerva Jane Dupre, who was the daughter of Abraham Francis Dupre and Minerva Alice Clark.

Abraham Francis Dupre was born Sept 1834 in Huntington Ohio and married Minerva on the 20th of Sept 1855 in Gallia Co Ohio. He died in 1912 and was buried at Mount Tabor Cemetery in Huntington Twp Gallia Co. OH. He was the son of Abraham Dupre and Polly Deckard.

Abraham Dupre was born around 1810/11 on the Isle of Jersey in the Channel Islands. He married Polly on December 5, 1833 in Vinton, Gallia Co. OH and died on September 25, 1894 in Sciotoville, Gallia Co. OH. He's also buried at Mount Tabor Cemetery. The son of Abraham Dupre and Marie DuMaresq, he was seven years old when his family immigrated to America.

Abraham Dupre was born May 5 1774, married in 1808 and died March 14, 1869. He was the son of Abraham Dupre and Jane Lacouter. Marie DuMaresq was born June 5 1787 and died July 12 1852. They had eleven children: Abraham, Mary, Jane, Mancy, Eliza, Philip, Susan, Elizabeth, Ellen, Rufus, and one that died young. When Jane, their third child, was just four days old, they left Jersey for America. The crossing took nine weeks.

Abraham Dupre was the son of Philip Dupre, who was the son of Charles Dupre. Around 1720, Charles and his family left France for the Isle of Jersey. He owned a farm in France, but the only property his family could take with them was what they could carry because of the persecution of Protestants in France. They traveled through the countryside by night and hid in the woods during the day until they reached the Channel, where they found a boat. The boat was chained to a rock, but they broke the chain and rowed to the Isle of Jersey.

My assumption is that the Dupres were French Huguenots. My great aunt Esther Josephine always said that they were the only family line with naturalization papers because everyone else was already here when the United States became a country.

My Irish Ancestry

I'm taking a break from my Fearless Females posts to celebrate my Irish heritage in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

First up, the Forkner side of the family and the Hollingsworths. They were Quakers.

Robert or Valentine Hollingsworth was born in England in 1547 but died in Ireland between 1599 and 1601. He may have been a settler. According to Wikipedia, he was in an English militia and went to Ireland as a planter for the Ulster plantation. His wife, Joan Parker, was born in Ireland and their son Henry Hollingsworth was born there as well, sometime in the 1580s. Henry died in Ireland, probably in or around 1675. The family lived in Ballyvickcrannel in the Parish of Segoe, County Armagh.

Henry married Katherine Cornish, who was born in 1590/1602 in County Armagh, Ireland. She died there in 1675. She was the daughter of Henry Cornish, the High Sheriff, and his wife. Henry Cornish was born in Ireland probably around 1576, but died in London.

Henry and Katherine had a son, Valentine Hollingsworth Sr. He was born in County Armag in 1632 and married in 1655 to Ann Ree. He married again in 1672 to Ann Calvert. The first marriage took place either in Tanderagee or Lurgan, County Armagh; the second in Drumgor. In Oct of 1682, he immigrated to America on the "Antelope" and died in 1710 or 1711 in Newark, New Castle County, Delaware. He's buried at the Friends Burying Ground, New Ark Monthly Meeting, New Castle Co, Newark DE.

Ann Ree was born about 1628 in Tanderagee, Parish of Ballymore, Armagh County, Ireland and died in 1671 in Ballyvickcrannell, Seagoe, County Armagh, Ireland. She was buried 1671 in Friends Burial Ground, Moyraverty, Co Armagh, Ireland. She was the daughter of Nicholas Ree

Nicholas Ree was born in the late 1570s in Ireland and was Christened 2 Oct 1597 in Tandergee, County Armagh, Ireland. He married and died in 1631 or 1641, possibly killed in an Irish rebellion.

Valentine and Ann had a son, Thomas Hollingsworth, born in 1661 in Ballyvickcrannell, Seagoe, County Armagh, Ireland. He immigrated in 1682 (presumably with his father and stepmother) and married in Pennsylvania in 1692 to Grace Cooke, who's father was born in Ireland. He died in 1727 in New Castle County, PA (now DE) and was buried at the Friends’ Burying Ground, Centre Meeting, Chester Co. PA.

From there, the Hollingsworths went to the Carolinas, Ohio and finally to Indiana where Daisy Hollingsworth married Hadley Clifford.

My ancestor James Savage (Fink side of the family, they married into the Braley line) was born in Ireland in 1673 and died in Maine around 1745. He's the last of the Savages I have in my research so I don't know anymore about him or his family.

Also in the Fink line, my research shows that the Ewings originally came from Ireland as well. William Ewing was born in Londonderry about 1690 and his son James or Charles was born there as well in 1720. He immigrated to America, married in Virginia in 1740/41 and died in 1800/01 in what is now West Virginia. His son would be Swago Bill who was mentioned in my first Fearless Females post which was about his wife. Swago Bill's mother was Margaret Sargeant and she was also born in Ireland.

Fearless Females March 6 - Heirlooms

March 6 — Describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor (wedding ring or other jewelry, china, clothing, etc.) If you don’t have any, then write about a specific object you remember from your mother or grandmother, or aunt (a scarf, a hat, cooking utensil, furniture, etc.)

I have several family heirlooms.

I used to have my great grandma Fern’s wedding ring but I lost it. It was a gold band with flowers and leaves on it. My mother said it was cursed. Apparently my great grandfather had bought it at a pawn shop and the owner had told him that the original owner had divorced. My great grandparents also divorced. I wore it for years and in my senior year of high school, took it off during art class while working with clay and left it (and my graduation ring) on the table. Never saw either one again. I still miss my rings. I also have a gold locket with a diamond in it that's engraved that was Grandma Fern's and a gold pocket watch as well. Its also engraved. The locket has flowers, the watch a cross (I think). Oh and I almost forgot the most important thing! My sewing machine was Grandma Fern's as well! I use that more than I use about anything. And its even named Fern after her.

I also have furniture from the Fink side of the family – a dresser and a mirror. They were Aunt Nora’s but I got them when I was about seven. Nora was the daughter of John and Annette Fink, my 3^rd great grandparents, so I guess that makes her my 3^rd great aunt. From what my great aunt Esther Jo said, they may have been brought to Ohio from Pennsylvania when Jacob and Nancy Fink (my 4^th great grandparents) migrated.

I also have a huge woven basket and an abalone shell that belong to my great grandmother Edna’s on the Cookman side (she was a Groff). It took me years to get that basket from my mother. My argument was that I should have it because she was only a Cookman by marriage, not blood. I wonder what she used the basket for...

I don’t know if it’s really an heirloom, but today I’m wearing a top that my grandma Jenny made while she was in the hospital. My mother wore the top and now I wear it. It’s a 70s cream polyester pullover with hand embroidery.

How Long My Family Has Been in Ohio

Growing up, my mom always told me that I was the tenth generation of her father's family to be in Ohio. I always figured that maybe we'd been French trappers (we have a lot of French blood) and that we'd definitely intermarried with the Native Americans. So today I looked through my research and started tracing back. First I did those born in Ohio and got back seven generations which is still pretty respectable. If I add in those who died in Ohio, I only get to nine generations - on more than one branch of the Fink family. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to ten but that only means that I need more research, right?

So here we go:

Family #1 - Carson, Savage, Braley, Fink, Cookman

9. Alice Carson was born in Hallowell, Maine around 1752. She married Joseph Savage in the same town and he died in Augusta Maine in 1809. Alice died sometime before 1840 in Rutland, Ohio.

8. Alice and Joseph had a daughter, also named Alice. She was born in 1782 in Belgrade Maine and married Amos Braley in Sidney Maine in 1800. She died in 1848 in Rutland, Ohio.

8. Amos Braley was born in 1776 in Augusta Maine and died in 1840 in Rutland, Ohio.

7. Amos and Alice had a son named Newell. He was born in 1810 in Sidney Maine and died in 1884 in Rutland, Ohio.

My guess is that Alice Carson came with her daughter and son in law to Ohio sometime after her husband's death and her grandson Newell's birth.

6. The first Braley to be born in Ohio was Rufus, son of Newell and his wife Susannah Palmer. He was born about 1834 in Ohio and married in 1858 in Jackson County, Ohio.

5. In 1873, Rufus and his wife Euclid had a son - Ripley McClintock Braley. He was born in Milton Township, Ohio; married in 1899 in Jackson County, Ohio and died in 1969 in Jackson County, Ohio.

4. Ripley and his wife Cora had a daughter - Calfernie Euclid (named after both her grandmothers, the poor thing) born in 1902 in Wellston, Ohio. She died in 1986, in Ohio.

3. Her son was my grandfather - William Ripley Fink. He was born in 1928 in Wellston, Ohio and died in 1982 in Hamilton, Ohio.

2. My mother Helen Marie Fink was born in Hamilton, Ohio.

1. And then there's me - Jennilee Cookman, born in Hamilton, Ohio in 1981.

Family #2 - Palmer, Braley, Fink, Cookman

9. William Palmer was born in New York and died in Jackson County, Ohio in 1820.

8. His son Austin was born in New York and married Sarah / Sally Frazee in 1811 in Gallia County, Ohio. In 1851, he died in Jackson County, Ohio.

7. Remember Susannah Palmer, Newell Braley's wife? Well, she was the daughter of Austin and Sally and was probably born around 1812 in Ohio.


Family #3 - McClintock, Braley, Fink, Cookman

Remember poor Euclid, wife of Rufus Braley? Well she's a sixth generation --

6. Euclid McClintock was born in Jackson County, Ohio in 1836. She died in Milton Township, Jackson County, Ohio in 1910.

Family #4 - Macomber, Bishop, Gleason, Braley, Fink, Cookman

7. Sarah Ellen Macomber was born in Ohio around 1824 and married a man named Thomas Bishop. She died in 1909.

6. Their daughter Calefernie was born in Ohio in 1843 and died there in 1910.

6. Her husband Levi Gleason was also born in Ohio, in 1835. They married in Gallia County, Ohio in 1859 and he died in 1897 in Ohio. The 1880 census entry for Levi says that both his parents were born in Ohio, but I haven't found their names and information (yet). But that gives us two more seven generation.

5. Levi and Calefernie had a daughter, Cora Evangeline Gleason. She was born in 1877 in Gallia County, Ohio, married Ripley Braley and died in 1952 in Jackson, Ohio. Her daughter, Calfernie Euclid is mentioned above.

Family #5 -- Henger, Eagle, Deckard, Dupre, Fink, Cookman

9. Maria Elisabetha Henger was born in Virginia in 1754. She married George S Eagle and died in 1847 in Racoon Township, Gallia County, Ohio.

9. George S Eagle was born in 1751 in Berks County, Pennsylvania. He married Maria Elisabetha around 1753 and died in 1831 in Racoon Township, Gallia County, Ohio.

8. Maria Elisabetha and George had a daughter named Hannah. She was born in the late 1700s (either in 1781 or 1791) in Greenbriar County, West Virginia and died in 1862 in Gallia County, Ohio. Hannah married Richard Deckard in 1798 or 1802 in Greenbriar, Virginia.

7. And they had a daughter named Mary (Polly). She was born in 1814 in Greenbriar, Virginia and died in 1888 in Huntington Township, Ohio.

7. Mary Deckard married Abraham Dupre in 1833 in Vinton, Gallia County, Ohio. He was born around 1810 on the Isle of Jersey. Abraham died in Sciotoville, Gallia County, Ohio in 1894.

6. Mary and Abraham had a son, also called Abraham. And he is the first Dupre born in Ohio. He was born in 1834 in Huntington, Ohio and married Minerva Clark in 1855 in Gallia County, Ohio. He died in 1912.

5. Minerva Jane was the daughter of Abraham and Minerva. She was born in 1879 in Huntington, Ohio; married William Golden Fink in 1901 in Gallia County, Ohio and died in 1951 in Columbus, Ohio.

4. Minerva and William's son Homer was born in 1902 in Rocky Hill, Bloomfield, Jackson County, Ohio. He married Calfernie Euclid in 1923 in Wellston, Ohio and died in 1968 in Hamilton, Ohio.

And we're back to my grandfather, my mother and me to round out our nine generations of this list.

Family #6 -- Ewing, Fink, Cookman

9. William aka Swago Bill Ewing was born in Bath County, Virginia in 1756. He married in 1783 in Greenbriar County, Virginia and died in 1822 in Ewington, Gallia County, Ohio.

8. William's son also named William was born in 1792 in Swago, Buckeye, Pocahontas County, Virginia. He married Sarah Mannering in 1818 in Gallia County, Ohio and died in 1847 in Ewington, Gallia County, Ohio.

7. William and Sarah had a son, also called William (wow my family likes that name, don't they?), born in 1823 in Ewington, Ohio -- the first Ewing born in Ohio. He married Mary White in 1847 in Gallia County, Ohio and died in 1899 in Weir City, Cherokee County, Kansas. I think I remember reading that he was visiting a daughter that had migrated west when he died.

7. Mary White was born in 1829 in Pennsylvania and died in 1890/92. She likely died in Ohio, as she is buried here.

6. William and Mary had a daughter named Annette. She was born in 1853 in Buckeye Furnace, Milton Township, Jackson County, Ohio. In 1872 she married John Fink in Jackson County, Ohio and she died in 1942 in Bloomfield, Ohio.

5. John and Annette had a son, William Golden (shocking another William), born in 1876 in Bloomfield, Ohio. He died in 1944 in Wellston, Ohio. He was the first Fink born in Ohio.

And once more, we meet people already enumerated above -- Homer, my grandfather, my mother and me.

Family #7 - Mannering, Ewing, Fink, Cookman

Remember Sarah Mannering? Well she was the daughter of Jordan Mannering and Elizabeth Clark...

9. Jordan Mascall Mannering was born in 1760 in Sussex in the Delaware Colony. He died in 1837 in Thurman, Ohio.

9. Elizabeth Clark was Jordan's wife. She was born in 1764 in Sussex County, Delaware and died in 1839 in Ohio.

8. Their daughter was Sarah Mannering. She was born in 1796 in Surrey County, North Carolina and died in 1877 in Hancock County, IL. Presumably, she lived in Ohio at some point considering that she was married in Ohio and had children born in Ohio as well.

Family #8 - Foy, Fink, Cookman

7. Nancy Foy was born about 1816 in Pennsylvania. She died after 1880 in Ohio.

7. Nancy was married to a man named Jacob Fink. He was born in East Brunswick, Schuykill, Pennsylvania in 1809. He died after 1880 in Knox, Ohio.

6. Their son John Franklin Fink was born in 1847 in Pennsylvania. He died in 192 in Bloomfield, Ohio.

Jacob and Nancy came to Ohio in the 1850s with John Franklin in tow. John's son William Golden is discussed above, all the way down to me.

Wow, my family has been in Ohio for a long, long time.

Find A Grave Website and Travel for Family Research

I get nothing from pimping their website, but findagrave.com is amazing. I found a ton of graves on my maternal grandfather's side today, including Jacob and Nancy (nee Foy) Fink who were the first of the Fink line to come to Ohio. They came from Pennsylvania in the 1850s. I don't even remember who all I found but I totally started a spreadsheet to keep track of where who is buried. I didn't have as much luck with my maternal grandmother's or my paternal grandfather's sides though. I'll probably have to give them another look. And I think Grandma Jenny's family needs more research. I have one or two lines traced really far back but most of them end pretty quickly. More research is necessary!

In other news, the reason why I'm doing all this burial research is because I want to travel around and take pictures of as many graves of my ancestors as I can. Right now, I'm just looking at Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Then maybe later on I can look at Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia...you get the point. I would love to travel to New England at some point, especially to Plymouth.

My mom and I are already planning a trip to Jackson and Gallia counties for the Fink side. And we'll probably be heading down to the Powers reunion this summer so while we're down there, we might as well hit the Menifee and Bath county cemeteries....

I'm combining my love of travel with my family obsession. Awesome.

Tonight my mom was telling me about the old family homestead in Gallia. Apparently when great aunt Nora passed away, no one paid the taxes on the property and it ended up sold (for strip mining) for back taxes. How sad is that? I'm a little determined to find where the land was, maybe go take a picture while I'm over there. But land records (at least historical ones) are beyond my current research abilities. I may have to do some major research to even find out where to start looking. I tried tonight, but with no luck. I may contact the Gallia County Genealogical Society for help.

Mother to Daughter - The True Bloodline

Not that everything doesn't matter to some extent, but I personally feel that the best way to trace your blood is mother to daughter. After all, there's no proof that 100 years ago man fathered child, but you know that woman was the mother. One of the first things I did when I first got into genealogy was to trace my maternal line, mother to daughter. I traced back six generations before I hit a wall, one that I still have yet to break through.

I am Jennilee Cookman. I was born on Dec 21 1981 in Hamilton Ohio. My mother is Helen Marie Fink.

She was Born on June 3 1958 in Hamilton Ohio, at the same hospital I was born at actually - Fort Hamilton Hughes. She married my father, Clifford Ray Cookman, onJuly 13 1979 in Hamilton Ohio at Pleasant Ave First Church of God. She is the daughter of Virginia Lee Curtis.

Virginia (more commonly known as Jenny or Jenny Lee - guess where I got my name?) was born on September 27 1930 in Middletown Ohio. She married William Ripley Fink on 9 March 1953 in Middletown Ohio. She is the daughter of Sarah Helen Fox. (Guess where my mother got her name?)

Sarah Helen (also known as Helen or Sarie Ellie like her father called her) was Born February 1897 in Menifee County, Kentucky. She married Floyd Benjamin Curtis and died 22 December 1949 in Middletown Ohio, from tuberculosis. She was the daughter of Leah Powers and I think she was named after an aunt.

Leah (who my grandma Jenny was named after) was Born 1855 in Bath Co KY OR 8 Aug 1854 in Blackwater Morgan Co KY. She married James T Fox about 1883 and died March 30 1936 in Mt Sterling, Montgomery Co, KY. She was the daughter of Amanda Lyons. Children of Leah and James – Mariba, William “Billy”, Lizzie, Nannie and Helen.

Amanda was born September 11 1834 in Bath Co KY. She married Gilson Powers on September 25 1853 in Bath Co. KY and died between 1900 and 1907, maybe in 1903. She was the daughter of Martha Ann Jones. Interesting fact - Gilson's mother was named Leah, so its likely that they named their daughter after her.

I have never found very much information on Martha Ann. I don't know when she was born, I don't know when she died. All I know is that she married John Clark Lyons on March 11, 1833 in Bath County, Kentucky. My research has told me that this was probably a second marriage for her. Martha Ann already had a daughter named Lucy when she married John Clark Lyons and Lucy ended up married to a man named Jack Bashford. The fact that it was a second marriage is what gives us the problems -- No one seems to know what her maiden name was. Without knowing her maiden name, there's no way to know who her parents were. And that, my dear readers, is the brick wall.

So there you go. Six generations of my direct maternal line (well, seven if you count me). And the family tradition of naming our daughters after our mothers.

End of Paternal Lines

One thing I find interesting is that I have traced quite a few of my family lines back really far, but both of my grandfathers' lines - the direct Fink line and the direct Cookman line - end after a few generations. The exception to this is my straight maternal line - it ends after about six generations as well, but I'll explore that in a later post.

Fink -- I am the daughter of Helen Marie Fink. Her father was William Ripley Fink (Born May 27 1928 in Wellston Jackson Co Ohio, Died July 26 1982 in Hamilton Ohi). He was the son of Homer Dupre Fink (Born 6 June 1902 in Rocky Hill Bloomfield Jackson Co Ohio, Married 24 March 1923 in Wellston Ohio to Calfernie Euclid Braley, Died 10 April 1968 in Hamilton Ohio). Homer was the son of William Golden Fink (Born 7 July 1876 in Bloomfield Ohio, Died 23 Aug 1944 in Wellston Ohio). Interesting fact - William Golden worked for the railroad. He was the son of John Franklin Fink (Born 14 Apr 1847 in Pennsylvania; Died 8 Jan 1926 in Bloomfield Ohio, Buried in Dixon Run Cemetery). John Franklin, also a railroad man, moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio in the 1850s with his parents - Jacob Fink and Nancy Foy. Jacob and Nancy are as far back as research has led me. Jacob was born 28 May 1809 in East Brunswick Schuykill PA or in 1805. He died after 1880 in Knox Ohio. He may have been from Allegheny or Tyrone PA. Nancy was born about 1816 in Pennsylvania or in 1814. She died after 1880 in Ohio. They had several children -- Elizabeth born Jan 1840, Nancy J born 1842, Martha Ellen born Aug 1846, John Franklin born 4 14 1849 and James T born 12 15 1851 .

The story is that the Finks were Jews from Germany that came over and changed their name when they arrived in America. However, we have no idea what the original German Jewish surname was. Someday, I would love to discover what the original family name was, I just have no idea how to go about it.

Cookman -- I am the daughter of Clifford Ray Cookman, son of Donald Lee Cookman. Donald is the son of Willard Clement "Clem" Cookman. Clem was born 6 Dec 1882 in Anderson IN and died 22 May 1943. He was the son of Minter Bailey Cookman Jr. Minter (Born 23 Dec 1849, Married 15 Aug 1874 in Anderson IN to Sarah Jane Meade, Died 20 Oct 1911 in Anderson IN, Buried: 22 Oct 1911 Place: Westmaplewoodcem, Anderson, Madison, IN) was the son of Minter Bailey Cookman Sr. Minter Sr. was born about 1820, married Margaret Elizabeth Reeding / Reel in January of 1847 and Died 20 Oct 1849 in Anderson IN. Minter Sr. is the last of his line. I have no story to explain the end of the Cookman line.

So on the Fink side, I have traced back six generations to Jacob Fink born in 1809. On the Cookman side, I've only gotten back five generations to Minter Bailey Cookman Sr born about 1820.

I just find it interesting that both direct male lines end in the early 1800s while other lines go back to the Middle Ages in Europe.

Thanks for reading!

Jennilee