Most family historians read a lot of blogs, and this genealogist is no exception. Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN) is one of the oldest, and the best for keeping up with news and resources in the genealogy field. Another favorite is Amy Johnson Crow’s newsletter/blog, as she posts on a variety of topics, including very useful tips for specific websites, types of genealogical searches, and even DNA. There are so many good genealogy blogs to follow- sometimes it is hard to stop reading them and get back to researching and writing!

My current first-read, however, is the blog of Roberta Estes: DNAeXplained. I started reading her blog as we are just so confused about the heritage of Wiley Anderson Murrell (1806-1885).  He was deposited by aliens (had to be) at age 28 in Botetourt County, Virginia when he married Mary Magdalene Honts in 1834- we cannot find a mention of him in anything before that marriage bond date, even after a trip to the Botetourt County Courthouse. So we have had a lot of DNA (both autosomal and Y-DNA) analyzed to try to find his parents, but now things are even more confusing as we have a whole lot of connections that really don’t connect. Roberta’s blog has helped me to better understand the types of DNA and the caveats for different tests and results, as well as their strengths, though we still don’t understand the DNA results we have been getting. Roberta is able to translate the complex science of genetics to something understandable, however our Wiley remains, well, ‘wily’ in his elusiveness to his descendants.

So why would I write my first blog about a blog I love to follow if it hasn’t answered my questions?? It is because Roberta’s posts can be so informative, but also absolutely beautiful. As a writer who truly appreciates traditional good writing techniques, Roberta’s discourses please my ears/my mind/my heart. (Do you ‘read’ with your ears too?)

Roberta’s blogs provide carefully chosen words to convey information, whether it be the intricacies of DNA or the biography of an ancestor. But Roberta also blogs from her heart when sharing her personal family history journey. Her recent post, “Mom’s Joyous Springtime “Mistake” – 52 Ancestors #189” had to be read twice, then again, just to savour. (And yes, that is spelled the British-English way, because it seems that ‘savor’ is the US fast-food way to enjoy something, whereas the British ‘savour’ seems to mean more time to relish each word, each thought, each emotion…)

In this post, Roberta begins her travels with the angst of the day- ‘Will spring EVER come this year??’ Then she journeys along a road that becomes a reverie of the past. Her loving family and the generations of women with their rituals of looking back at their history resonated with me and touched my heart. I ‘savoured’ those moments along with her. At the same time I was transported from my own distress with this never-ending crazy cold and wet weather to earlier years in my own family, and the trips to the attic and closets to look at the treasures of the past. An old box from the back of the closet or a big trunk in the hot summer attic gave up the ghosts of the past, and my dear family gave them flesh and character as they told the stories. Those stories became a part of me, and have helped me through dark times, challenging times, and the times when one just does not know what to do next. “You come from strong pioneer stock- you can do anything you set your mind to” and “She was so full of love- she gave to anyone who needed it, even when they did not have enough themselves” will always stay with me. The feeling of connectedness that Roberta describes in her post stays with me, too, and reflects my ties to my own ancestors.

Those ties push me to do family history research and tell the stories of our ancestors, so they are not forgotten. I am glad that you read these tales, my dear family!

And thank you, Roberta.

(Can I please be President of your fan club??)

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Photo from family treasure chest. Thank you to the wonderful photographer who took it so long ago and shared it more recently.
2. Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN)– https://blog.eogn.com
3. Amy Johnson Crow’s newsletter/blog– amyjohnsoncrow.com
4. DNAeXplained– dna-explained.com

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Helbling Family (Click for Family Tree)

Actually, this mystery has been solved, even before it was published.

Here is what was written last week:

This image was shared by a cousin, but I do not have a record of who the man in the center might be. I checked my emails, because that is where I would have received the image, but many of the emails I exchanged with this cousin have disappeared from my mail service. (WHY??) It reinforces the fact that one needs to document well, and save to their hard drive, the cloud, or even such an archaic thing as paper. We can no longer expect these companies to keep things available to us forever, and WE are the losers if we do not ‘back-up’ information in a format that cannot be easily eliminated by a computer. And don’t forget to share– LOCKSS— Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe.

Back to the photo- do you know this mystery man? He looks to be younger than Edgar, who would have been about 26 when this picture was taken; as a guess, perhaps our Mystery Man was born around 1915?

Edgar did the driving on some family trips to Illinois and other places. Note the car to his right- does that belong to the Helblings? Or to the Mystery Man?

It is hard to tell where the photo may have been taken- was it St. Louis and they were being visited, or were they off visiting somewhere? Checking the old Helbling photo albums to see if there is another picture of this young man or the background might give us more information.

Please do let us know if you can tell us the identity of our ‘Mystery Man!’

An email to what I thought might be an old, defunct address of the cousin actually worked! It has been a number of years since we corresponded, but she did answer the above questions. I still thought it might be helpful to list some of the thought process that one can go through in trying to identify a photo. Posting information about LOCKSS is important, I think, as well.

So back to our photo. Our dear cousin Mary Lou, who so generously shared her detailed research on the Helbling family (all done the hard way- before the internet!), explained that the man in the center was Robert Albert “Bob” Geier. He was the son of Laurelda Colette Helbling and her husband Bernard Adam Geier. Laurelda was the daughter of William Helbling, brother to our Francis Xavier Helbling (Jr.). So Bob’s mother and G.W. Helbling were first cousins. That makes their children, Bob Geier and Edgar Helbling, second cousins.

Mary Lou went on to explain that Bob drove across the country in 1935, so that is probably his car in the photo. He likely started in his hometown of Avalon, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh), and one of his next stops was St. Louis to visit his Helbling cousins. Remember, the interstate highway system as we know it today was not built until Dwight D. Eisenhower was President, authorized in 1956 but not completed until 35 years later. So no four- or six-lane I-80 for Bob! He may have taken the Lincoln Highway west to the Chicago area and then south to St. Louis, or possibly just taken smaller roads that were more direct. (The Lincoln “Highway” was only two narrow lanes in some places back then, and just a dirt road in others, as paving was not completed until 1935. So there might not have been much difference in quality of the road back then between the two routes.) The St. Louis Helblings had travelled to Pittsburgh by car (as well as train), so they probably knew the best route.

From St. Louis Bob could have taken the famous Route 66 west to California.

What an adventure that trip must have been for a young man of 23!

Bob’s adventures continued, as he learned to fly small planes and started a flying school with his younger brother Bernard Geier. There was a story in a 1940 Pittsburgh newspaper about Bob’s plans to fly from Santa Ana, California, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a biplane that was 15 years old and only cost him $300. The story stated he was a superintendent at a fruit canning plant, but also held a commercial pilot’s license. He had been an aeronautical student at the University of Pittsburgh prior to his move to California.

Bob married and had children, and ran for Congress in Orange County, California.

Bob passed away 19 September 1990 in San Diego, California.

If you are a grandchild of G.W. Helbling, you are a second cousin once removed to Bob. It was nice to get to know one of our distant cousins!

Thanks, Mary Lou!

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest of photos.
2. Robert Albert “Bob” Geier (1912-1990); Laurelda Colette Helbling (1888-1961); Bernard Adam Geier (1887-1961); William Helbling (1841-1896); Francis Xavier Helbling (1840-1919); Bernard Geier (1924-2007)
3. Highways– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_of_the_Lincoln_Highway

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Helbling Family (Click for Family Tree)

“Dinghy” was the dog that was hit by a car in front of their home on Hampton Ave., in St. Louis, Missouri. Mary had married the love of her life, Edward A. McMurray, Jr., who was attending St. Louis College of Pharmacy. (Most people called him “Mac.”) They had very little money, so they lived with Mary’s parents, G.W. Helbling and Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling. One day they heard the screech of tires in front of the house and rushed out to the busy street. A car had hit a black dog, so they carefully carried the dog to the vet’s office. Thankfully the dog survived, and he was a loving member of the family for over ten years. They took him on their honeymoon to the Lake of the Ozarks:

They loved the Ozarks, and took a number of trips there.

He was the sweetest dog- loved swimming in the lake and running, and tolerated four young children pulling and poking at him, trying to ride him, dress him up, etc. If there is sainthood for dogs, he definitely deserves it!

The brand new home that Mary and Mac built in Glasgow Village, in north St. Louis County, became home in 1953 or 1954. This may be one of the last pictures with Mary and her dog before children were always in the pictures too!

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest of photos.

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Helbling Family (Click for Family Tree)

[These have been posted before, but when talking about Mary’s dogs, we can’t forget the beloved cocker spaniels. Sadly one died in a house fire, and Mary was still upset about it many many years later- thats how much she loved her dogs.]

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest of photos.

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Helbling Family (Click for Family Tree)

This image was just posted recently, but there is more to it than just Mary and the family dogs.

Tuesday’s Tip: Look beyond the subject of a photo to learn more about the event and the family.

Looking at the above photo, we notice that there is a shadow at the bottom, obviously of a person. The shape of the shadow suggests, by the silhouette of the hairstyle, that it was a woman taking the picture. We cannot be sure, but most likely it was little Mary’s mother, Anna “May” (Beerbower) Helbling (1881-1954), taking the picture. That shape of shadow would not have been cast by Mary’s father, Gerard William “G.W.” Helbling (1882-1971). In 1929, young women were cutting their hair- and their skirts!- short, but since May was 48 years old that year (she was 43 when she had Mary), she wore her hair a bit more old-fashioned, as she did in the nineteen-teens. The Edwardian styles were poufy on the sides and flat on the top so they could wear the big hats of the day. The shadow reflects (actually the opposite?? Wordsmithing is fun.) that style.

Analyzing the picture further, we also note the woman in the background, at the screen door. (No air conditioning in those days!) Too bad we cannot see her face, but that woman was most likely Mary’s beloved maternal grandmother,  Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower  (1854-1939).  Why do we think that? We found Anna Missouri in Indianapolis, Indiana, with her husband Edgar Peter Beerbower at the time of the 1910 census. He died in 1916 but we cannot find her in the 1920 US Federal Census- not in Indianapolis, St. Louis, nor with her other children. There is a picture of Anna holding her granddaughter Mary as a baby (see previous posts) so she was at least visiting in 1925, if not living in St. Louis with the family. We do find her listed with her daughter and son-in-law and their family (including Mary) in 1930, the year after this picture was taken, at the house at 5154 Page Ave., St. Louis, Missouri. So checking censuses can help us learn more about what is in the background of the photo.

Anna’s son, Edgar Springsteen Beerbower (1876-1940) lived with them too as he was divorced. He was Mary’s “Uncle Edgar.”

That must have been a very full house at 5154 Page Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri! The Helbling house appears to have been since demolished, (see Google Maps link below) but neighboring houses are about 2,000 sq. ft. Zillow lists the one next door as multi-family, with 2 bathrooms. The lot size is about double the size of the house, at just over 4,000 sq. ft. In the 1930 census,  the residents of the house were G.W. and May Helbling (who is listed as age 46, not 49), their children Edgar B. Helbling, the oldest at age 22; Anna “May” Helbling; Viola G. Helbling; Robert “Bob” Helbling; William “Bill” Helbling; and Mary Helbling, age 5. Anna Bierbower was listed as G. W.’s mother-in-law, and Edgar Bierbower is listed as his brother-in-law (his wife’s brother). Emma Johnson was their servant. (They definitely were not ‘rich’ money-wise, but May had health problems- likely diabetes before there was insulin, so needed help at home.) So there were 10 people in that house and since it was built in 1895, at that time there was likely only one bathroom. A 2,000 sq. ft. house is considered a ‘starter home’ in the suburbs today, but is the norm for many city areas. The home was very near Forest Park, and even back then was considered city.

Although this information about the home and occupants is not something we directly learn from the photo, the research was inspired by it, to add more to the story. So always analyze more than just the subject of a photo, to understand more about your ancestors.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Google Maps for 5154 Page Blvd– https://goo.gl/maps/TP2PpBgu4dH2
2. Zillow listing for 5156 Page Blvd, St. Louis MO–https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/5156-page-blvd-st-louis-mo_rb

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