A JOURNEY BACK IN TIME ..


Wecome to Bertha's Bed and Breakfast. Come on in .. grab a cup of Coffee and one of Bertha's delicious Cinnamon Rolls .. they're fresh out of the oven .. ummmmm .. can't you just smell them!!! Sit down .. relax .. and read about my adventures in finding my ancestors.

This will be a work in progress as I will be posting articles I typed and information I have found since I began this delightful search back in the year 2004. The stories will be posted as I originally typed them .. and some will have more pictures and information added as I go along.

I hope you enjoy taking this journey back in time with me!!








Friday, March 6, 2009

WE BEGIN OUR JOURNEY ..

This will be a "Journey Back In Time"!!

My mother, Leona Mae Shrider Grissom, was born January 24, 1909, the daughter of Levi and Etta Blanche McCurdy Shrider. Mom knew very little about her mother’s family as she was only 13 years old when her mother died. There had been a big upset in Blanche’s family and the only family members her mother ever talked about were her brothers, Arthur and Ernest and a sister, Esther. She did remember that Blanche’s mother’s name was Dollie. She thought Dollie’s last name was Bowen but she wasn't sure. She has also told us that her mother went to Ohio and brought Arthur’s daughter, Helen, back to live with them when her mother died and that when Arthur remarried and she took Helen back to live with him it broke her mother’s heart. When the family went to Ohio they always visited Uncle Arthur and his children, Helen and Richard. This is the information I had when I started out on this quest to get to know my ancestors.

This will be an ongoing process .. I spent two years deeply engrossed and very excited about researching not only my McCurdy ancestors but also the paternal side of my Mom's family, the Shriders, and on my Dad's family .. the Winnett's and the Grissom's. This was one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done!! I have many notebooks of information and pictures. The hard part of doing this blog and probably the most time consuming part .. will be figuring out the best way to present it to you .. but I will do my best!!

Collecting this information was a labor of love for my parents. Posting the information will be a continuing labor of love in memory of my parents and for my family .. the descendants of Noble and Leona Shrider Grissom.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

WELCOME TO MY BLOGSPOT!!!

Good Morning All ..

I guess I will start out this venture by explaining why I named this spot "Bertha's Bed and Breakfast" when my name is actually Elizabeth!! A few years ago I was spending most of my hours on the computer working on the genealogy of my family. In doing so I discovered that my Mom's mother had a sister who had been killed in a horse and buggy accident when she was very young!! Believe it or not .. on Ancestry I actually came up with the newspaper account of her death!!!

_____________________________________________________________


The Daily Herald (Delphos, Ohio) August 1, 1901
_____________________________________________________________

FELL FROM WAGON
_______________

Mrs. Jacob Fifer Killed Near
Southworth, Wednesday
___________________

Trampled To Death Under Hoofs of Horses
Report Of Fatality Proved
To Be Too True
____________________

Last Wednesday afternoon a report was received here that a lady had been killed and another badly injured near Southworth. The report proved to be only too true, save that Mrs. Bowen was not badly injured.

The HERALD man this morning visited the log cabin home of Jacob Fifer and learned the particulars of the harrowing accident. Mrs. Dollie Bowen, wife of John Bowen, who lives just east of Southworth, drove to Delphos Wednesday, accompanied by her eldest daughter, Mrs. Bertha Fifer, wife of Jacob Fifer, who lives about a mile south-east of Southworth on the Spencerville Road. They came to town in a wagon drawn by two horses. After completing their shopping they started home. When they arrived at the Fifer house Mrs. Fifer alighted, taking from the wagon some flour that had been gotten at one of the mills here. The horses were restless, being annoyed by flies. Mrs. Bowen had started on toward home with the team when one of them got a leg over the tongue of the wagon, and Mrs. Bowen became frightened and jumped out of the wagon after the horses had started to run. She was not injured beyond being shaken up pretty lively. Mrs. Fifer evidently feared that the horses would break up the wagon, although they could not run fast, on account of one of them having a leg over the tongue. Mrs. Fifer ran and overtook the wagon, scrambled into the wagon box at the rear end, crawled over the spring seat and reached down toward the double trees to get hold of the lines, when those who were watching her were horrified to see Mrs. Fifer plunge forward and fall between the horses. When the team had passed on Mrs. Fifer lay in the road. Mrs. Bowen and others ran to her and found that she was seriously injured and unconscious. The accident occurred at 3 p.m. about three hundred feet south of her home. Mrs Fifer was taken to the house and expired about 40 minutes later.

It is supposed that she became over-balanced when she reached down to get hold of the lines. The right side of her head was crushed in, causing her death.. Her left ear was torn off, her right arm mangled and her right side bruised. It is thought that the hoofs of the horses inflicted the fatal injuries. The grief of her husband was pitiable.

Mrs. Fifer would have been 22 years old October 23rd next. She was married three years ago and besides her husband, leaves a little daughter, two years old.

The deceased lady’s maiden name was McCurdy. Her father is dead and her mother was married to John Bowen. She has four brothers and three sisters, all of whom are with their parents, save Miss Blanche McCurdy, who has been working in Lima and came to Delphos Wednesday in response to a telephone message apprising her of the fatality that befell her sister.

The remains were interred this afternoon at Hartford, the cortege leaving the house at 1 o’clock. The services were conducted at the Hartford Christian Church by Rev. Simon Martin, a Dunkard minister.

_________________________________________________________________

Isn't it amazing the information they put in the news stories way back when??? And isn't it even more amazing that I was able to find that story on the internet more than 100 years later!!!!



The Miss Blanche McCurdy in the story is my Grandmother .. I never knew her .. she passed away when my mother was only 13 years old .. but in doing the family genealogy I felt like I got to know her!! Bertha was her oldest sibling and only sister. Bertha's middle name was May .. my mother AND her sister, Dorothy, were both given her middle name!!!



My blogspot is named "Bertha's Bed and Breakfast" to honor this young lady's memory .. I like to think that if this unfortunate accident had never happened Bertha might one day have began a Bed and Breakfast of her own.

About Me

My photo
Blogging is one of my favorite things to do .. in fact .. I have FOUR blogs .. LOL!! "MY BIT OF MORNING BLATHER" .. is just that .. a bunch of blather!! My way of keeping up with friends and family. "BERTHA'S BED AND BREAKFAST" .. this is an ongoing project about my ancestry. RAGGEDY ANNIE'S GRANNY .. is about fun things Ken and I have done and travels we have made!!! KEN AND LIZ'S BIG ADVENTURE .. is about our latest adventure .. selling our home and buying another home!! If you want to check any of them out let me know and I will send you a link!!

Followers