Tuesday, November 29, 2005

RSS Feed

I forgot to mention that this blog has an RSS feed. It uses an Atom formatted XML site feed.

The URL for the feed is in my sidebar, and is below:

http://carothersgenealogy.blogspot.com/atom.xml

New Database Reports Added

I added some new reports to my online Carothers Genealogy database. Click on the link below to try them out. You will need to login to view the information of the living individuals in the database.

New Reports!

Monday, November 28, 2005

WWI Draft Registration Cards

The following are some WWI draft registration cards. To view a larger image, click on the image.









Minnesota Links

Minnesota Historical Society

Friday, November 25, 2005

Colorado Links

Denver Public Library Online - Genealogy and Obituaries
Boulder Genealogical Society
Jefferson County

Bessie Herring - Social Security Record

There is a Social Security Record for Bessie Herring and it contains the following:

Name: Bessie Herring
SSN: 527-34-4160
Last Residence: 80303 Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
Born: 7 Nov 1886
Last Benefit: 80262 Denver, Denver, Colorado, United States of America
Died: Dec 1976
State (Year) SSN issued: Arizona (Before 1951 )

This Bessie is a good candidate for Melvin Herring's wife. The SSN was issued in Arizona before 1951, and we have a birth certificate for her daughter Doris in Phoenix, Az in 1928. And her birth year is right, I'm not sure if I have her exact birth date anywhere else, I'll have to check on that. Her last benefit was in Denver, CO and last residence was in Boulder, CO, which is where Gordon, her son and Bob her grandson are associated with automobile racing in the Denver, CO area.

Bessie lived to be 90 years old! I noticed she was listed as being born in Fort Scott, Kansas on Doris' birth certificate. Dinklage, Bessie's maiden name, seems familiar to me. I've looked over a lot of Fort Scott records, so it could just be from that. Perhaps I've seen the name associated with Melvin in Fort Scott. Another thing to check into.

I've been to Boulder a couple of times and didn't even know any of this history. I can now start tracking down this new information on Bessie. Her obituary, death certificate, SSN request form. She may be buried in the Boulder area. Perhaps I will be able to locate some information about Melvin's death and burial. Also, I wonder if Bob is still alive and in the area.

Bob and Gordon Herring and Racing

I sent an email to the Colorado Automobile Racing Club (CARC), and received a friendly response to ask around about the Herrings and this link to the Colorado Racing Memories website. It has pictures and articles about Bob Herring's racing career running from 1964 to 1977. Bob is Gordon Herring's son. And I believe Gordon is Melvin Herring's son.

There is a death certificate for Gordon in the Minnesota state records:

Name: Gordon Kenneth Herring
Birth Date: 8 Aug 1920
Death Date: 24 Aug 1964
Death County: Olmsted
State File Number: 013957
Certificate Number: 013957
Certificate Year: 1964
Record Number: 1578573

I will send off for it soon. Here's the link for the Minnesota Dept. of Health webpage with the information for requesting a death certificate.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Gordon Kenneth Herring

Gordon Kenneth Herring is listed as a son of Melvin M. Herring and Bessie in notes written by my grandfather, Gerald Carothers. He also writes that he was born in 1920 and died in August 1964 in Rochester, Minn at a racetrack. Gordon was my grandfather's cousin.

I found a Gordon Herring in the Social Security database as having been born on August 8, 1920 and dying in August 1964.

Googling around there are references to Gordon Herring who is involved in racing sprint cars, and that he died in a racing accident at a racetrack in or near Owatonna, Minnesota in August 1964.

Here is a Gordon Herring who is a lifetime member of CARC, the Colorado Automobile Racing Club. I should check into this to see if it is the same Gordon.

Rather than list these references, I'll just leave the google link. I'll have to look into Gordon some more. There must be some information out there about him. I also need to look into whether he was married and had any children. Being 44 when he died, it is quite likely.

Gordon was Doris Joan Herring's older brother. That's two kids for Melvin and Bessie. Given that Doris was born in 1928 and Gordon in 1920, he would be the other child referred to if Bessie is also Gordon's mother. I will assume that is the case for the moment.

I have left a obituary lookup request and newspaper articles relating to the accident and death of Gordon on a message board for Steele County, Minnesota. Owantonna is in Steele county.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Another branch revealed

I received a letter from my Aunt Lana containing a filled out family record for her descendants, 3 sons, all married, and 2 grandchildren. Time to update my database!

Sallie and Della Herring obituaries

Thanks to William Hall of Missouri, I have received two obituaries for Della Herring, and two for her mother Sallie Alice Herring (Byers). I also have a copy of information about Sallie from a document titled "Klingner Funeral Home Records".

From this, I have learned the following about Sallie:
Died: 25 Oct 1938
Born: 25 Jul 1864 in Michigan
Father: Joseph C. Byers, born in Ohio
Mother: Catherine Lynn, born in Ohio
Survivors: Melvin M. Herring, Prescott, AZ and Della M., Springfield, 3 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild

1 of her grandchildren is my grandfather, Gerald Carothers, and the 1 great grandchild is my father, who was born in Dec of 1937 in Prescott, AZ.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

A Family Visit

My family and I visited with my Aunt Lana. It is the first time she and I have been together since I was a child. I gave her some family pictures, some she had never seen of her father and his parents. I also gave her a personalized pedigree chart and descendants of Clark and Rachel Carothers. I asked Lana to fill out and return a family sheet on her children, so that I can add them to my records. This will fill in another branch of the descendants of Clark and Rachel Carothers.

Lana had some notes her Dad, my grandpa, had written regarding our family. She also shared a letter from Della Herring, grandpa's aunt, in which she detailed her funeral arrangements, and the fact that her mother, Sallie Alice Herring (Byers), is buried next to Della's plot in the Greenlawn Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri.

I have also received an email from someone who has offered to send me a copy of Della and Sallie's obituaries. I have a copy of Della's obituary, although it may not be the only one. It was pretty brief. I do not have a copy of Sallie's obituary, so it will be great to get a copy of it.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Birth Certificate of Doris Joan Herring

I found a copy of the birth certificate for Doris Joan Herring.

Who is Doris Joan Herring? She is the daughter of Melvin M. Herring and Bessie M. Dinklage. Melvin is my grandfather Gerald's uncle, and Doris is my grandfather's cousin. Did you follow all of that? Doris is also Della Herring's niece.

Melvin was born in Yolo County, CA and Bessie was born in Fort Scott, Kansas. They also have another child.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Della Herring's Cemetery Marker

I called Greenlawn Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri, and they were kind enough to go out into the cemetery and visually inspect Della Herring's grave site to determine whether she had a grave marker or not. She does! The marker is about 8 x 14, it has her name and birth and death dates.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Della Herring's SSN application

I have received a reply from the Social Security Administration regarding my request for a copy of Della Herring's Social Security Application form. The form confirms information I already have, and provides some new information.

Name: Della Minnie Herring
Address: 331 West Locust, Springfield, Missouri
Employer: Hamlin, Hamlin & Hamlin
Employer Address: 212 1/2 E. Commercial St., Springfield, Missouri
Age at last birthday: 43
Birthdate: September 10, 1893
Birthplace: Clinton, Missouri
Father: Marion Francis Herring
Mother: Sallie Alice Byers
Sex: Female
Color: White
Date signed: December 4, 1936
Signature: Della M. Herring

This confirms Della's parents, and that I have the right Della Herring. Also, it confirms the birth date and place.

New information is that Della's middle initial stands for Minnie. Also, her address and information about her employer at the time. There is a possibility that some information about her can be had from that source.

It looks like Della was living just a few blocks from her place of employment at the time.

Greenlawn Funeral Home reply about Della Herring

I have received a reply from the Greenlawn Funeral Home regarding my request for information about the burial of Della Herring. The only information they had was the location of her burial:

Section 04, Lot 07, Grave 6

I will call and see if she has a marker. If so, I'd like to get a picture of it.