Gravestones 30 thru 32 East Maplewood Cemetery, Anderson, IN

 Edna (nee Groff) and Willard Clement Cookman, my great grandparents. East Maplewood Cemetery, Anderson IN.

 

Belle (nee Sharpe) and Martin Luther Forkner, my great grandparents. East Maplewood

 

 Samuel Forkner's obelisk, my great great grandfather. East Maplewood. He's near his son Martin.

 

Close up of Samuel Forkner

Gravestones 21 thru 28, West Maplewood Cemetery, Anderson, IN

 

Daisy (nee Hollingsworth) Clifford, my great great grandmother on the Forkner-Clifford line. West Maplewood.

 

Hadley Clifford, my great great grandfather on the Forkner-Clifford line. West Maplewood.

 

Hannah (nee Irish) wife of Alfred Makepeace, my 4th great grandmother on the Forkner-Clifford line. West Maplewood.

 

Letitia (nee Makepeace) Clifford, my third great grandmother on the Forkner-Clifford line. West Maplewood.

 

Lieut. Emery Clifford, my third great grandfather on the Forkner-Clifford line. West Maplewood.

He served in the Civil War, in Company G of the 17th Indiana Infantry. From my research, it looks like he was promoted twice (sergeant to 2nd lieutenant to 1st lieutenant) and he served for several years. The 17th was part of Wilder's Lightning Brigade. As I'm sure you can imagine, I was beyond happy to find a Civil War veteran in my family tree!

 

Mary (nee Sangston) wife of Isaac Clifford, my 4th great grandmother on the Forkner-Clifford line. West Maplewood.

 

George and Sallie Groff, my great great grandparents on the Cookman-Groff side. West Maplewood. Sallie's name was Sarah Elizabeth Dobell, but they called her Sallie.

 

Minter Bailey and Sarah Jane (nee Meade) Cookman, my great great grandparents. West Maplewood Cemetery, Anderson, IN. Minter is pretty much the farthest back I've found on the Cookman line.

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.

Burial Records

I just found burial records on Spring Grove Cemetery's website for four ancestors: Edwin Bishop Dobell, Harriett Luck Dobell, William Luck and Lucy Luck.

Such an unexpected find!

Most Recent Immigrant Ancestor

Most recent immigrant ancestor - Edwin Bishop Dobell. He was born in 1818 in Staplehurst, Kent, England. He married Harriet Luck on Oct 5 1840 in Cincinnati Ohio and died in the early 1900s there. He was a furniture maker and his parents were Joseph Dobell and Mary Ann Bishop.

Edwin and Harriet had a daughter named Sarah Elizabeth who married George Albert Groff. They had a daughter, Edna, who married Willard Clement Cookman. Edna and Willard are my grandfather Donald's parents.

So my 3rd great grandfather is the most recent immigrant that I am aware of.

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.

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