Cecelia May McGee King..Where are You??

Cecelia May McGee King is my maternal great grandmother.  My "brick" wall. (Or should I say one of my brick walls.) 

Cecelia Mae McGee

My grandmother, Helen Louise Wise King, who started our family history/genealogy, is wanting information on my grandfather's mother Cecelia May McGee King.  I really don't have any information for her.  Cecelia  has been one of my biggest brick walls since I started my journey back in the 80's.  My grandmother knew Cecelia remarried a man named Jack Monroe, information that I did not know until this week.  That is all the information that we know at this time.

• Cecelia May McGee
• Birth 03 May 1900 in District of Columbia, USA (or so we thought)
• Married Elmer Joseph King Sr in 1915
• 1920 Census lists the family at 11th St. S.W., Washington City, District of Columbia
• Divorced from Elmer Joseph King Sr in 1925
• Married Jack Monroe
• Died 12 Apr 1936

We had a search done for Cecelia's birth certificate and this is what we received.

"Cecelia May McGee - alleged date of event 3 May 1900.  There is no listing under this date of birth, but we may be able to locate siblings with parents names.  This search of six years covers the period of 1898 through 1900, inclusive."

"May be able to locate siblings with parents names"?  If I had that information, I probably would have correct info and a birth certificate.  

Why can I not find you anywhere?  My grandmother told me years ago that Cecelia one day just up and left her family.  My grandfather was very young when she left and never really knew what happened to her.  It's been a mystery, and I intend to find out what happened to her.

Nothing new on Ancestry.com.  

Looking in Find A Grave, I search and search with no results.  As you can see, I have tried all the different variations of her name that I can think of.

• Cecelia McGee, Cecelia May McGee, Cecelia Mae McGee
• Cecelia King, Cecelia May King, Cecelia Mae King
• Cecelia Monroe, Cecelia May Monroe, Cecelia Mae Monroe
• Cecelia MacGee, Cecelia May MacGee, Cecelia Mae MacGee 
• Cece McGee, Cece May McGee, Cece Mae McGee
• Cece King, Cece May King, Cece Mae King
• Cece  Monroe, Cece May Monroe, Cece Mae Monroe
• Cece MacGee, Cece May MacGee, Cece Mae MacGee
• May McGee, May Cecelia McGee, 
• Mae McGee, Mae Cecelia McGee
• May King, May Cecelia King, 
• Mae King, Mae Cecelia King
• May Monroe, May Cecelia Monroe
• Mae Monroe, Mae Cecelia Monroe
• May MacGee, May Cecelia MacGee
• Mae MacGee, Mae Cecelia MacGee

I went to FamilySearch.org and only found the 1920 census, which I already have.

Nothing at Heritage Quest.

The 1920 census on Google, again, I already have that.

( The above list of websites that I researched, are not the only sites I have looked on.  These are just a few. )

I have to expand my search.  Hmm, I am thinking that I will search in Maryland or Virginia.  I don't seem to be getting anything in Washington, DC.

Where are you Cecelia???

I have no idea who the other 2 women are in this picture with my great grandmother.  All I do know is that the woman in the middle is Agnes and the woman on the right is Edith.  Sisters maybe?  Friends?  Cousins?  I wish I knew!  I wish I knew where you went?  Why you left?  So many questions, and not very many answers.

Debbie





      

Attention all Medlock Family Members!!

I recently received an e-mail from my 4th cousin Sarah Matthews Pongracz regarding Tommy Medlock's  90th birthday on 15 July 2014.  Tommy Medlock,my 2nd cousin 2x removed, is the last surviving child of James Wade Medlock Sr.

Here is a portion of the letter that was sent to Sarah Matthews Pongracz.

Hey Dear Medlock Relatives,

A big benchmark in our family is Uncle Tommy Medlock's birthday in a couple of weeks, and his daughter asks that cheer him with a barrage of birthday cards. He turns 90 on July 15.

It would mean EVERYTHING to him to get birthday cards from the larger family of Medlocks. Tommy's daughter, Tommie Lynn, writes: "It's not a big request but it would make his year. The cards can come anytime within the month of July as far as he is concerned.  I just know how much he appreciates cards and this year has not been the best, health wise. He is trying to get over the shingles and it has really taken its toll."

He would enjoy any kind of card, snarky or sentimental. If you included some of your thoughts and memories about this great man, he would be thrilled even more.

Thank you all,

Wade Medlock

If anyone is interested in sending Tommy Medlock a birthday card I do have an address available.  I did not want to post the address here, so if you are interested you can request it one of two ways.  1) Comment with your email address and I will email you Tommy Medlock's address.  Or 2) if you prefer, send me an email and I'll send you the address.

I love this idea!  And yes, I have a card I will be sending out in the next day or so.  With my card, I will include how I am related to him.  Maybe, just maybe we can exchange some family history!  

Happy Birthday Cousin Tommy!!!

Debbie

OK back to work time.

I've been trying to do more Spring cleaning with my "office".  I hate clutter!!  So, I have been organizing and cleaning things up.  

With that in mind I also wanted to get all my research better organized.  Not an easy task, but it must be done.  

I have been hard at work organizing my photos, my computer, my binders and all those scraps of paper that just seem to accumulate everywhere you look.  I sat and thought of how I could better my time and research and came up with several ideas.  

First off, I thought why not make technology work for me.  It would make things so much easier, not to mention quicker.  So I sat down and got to work.  Here's what I came up with: 

I have discovered Google Drive and I love it!!  With Google Drive I can make my own forms/charts/spreadsheets to fit me.  And the best part?  I can pull it all up on my phone, so no matter where I am at I have access to it.  Check it out and see if it is something that could help you and your researching.  You just might be surprised!

Here is what I made, a research log in spreadsheet format.  However; I didn't stop there.  I added several other charts/forms/worksheets/logs to the spreadsheet as well.  All in one place!  No more searching for a particular chart or form.  I am happy with the results so far, and am excited to get back to researching.  This is what my spreadsheet looks like.  

          page/sheet 1 - research log
          Progress  Priority  Date of Search  Name of Person  Research  Website/Book/Place  Outcome

          page/sheet 2 - research check list
          Name  Date searched  Ancestry  Find-A-Grave  FamilySearch  Notes

          page/sheet 3 - research check list 2
          Name  Relationship  Birth  Place  Birth Certificate  Marriage  Place  Marriage Certificate  Death  Place                 Death Certificate  Burial  Place  Obit  Headstone  Will  Deeds  Religion  Immigration  Naturalization

          page/sheet 4 - census check list
          name 1790  1800  1810  1820  1830  1840  1850  1860  1870  1880  1890  1900  1910  1920  1930 etc

          page/sheet 5 - correspondence
          date  name  ancestor  relationship  contacted by  answered  notes

          page/sheet 6 - wars
          name  colonial war  revolutionary  civil  WWI  WWII  Korean  Vietnam

          page/sheet 7 - military service
          name  relationship  branch war  registration card  service years  medals  notes

          page/sheet 8 - books
          title  author  ISBN

All of this is basic and self explanatory.  The good thing about this is you can customize this to fit YOU and the way you research.  It is that easy!  If later on I should decide that I need something more on my pages, I can add it.  Or if I don't use/need something that I do have, I can delete it.  

Now when I come across an ancestor or name, I can gather the information, input the information, and begin the verification process of the data anywhere I am.  Why did I not think of this sooner??  

If you should make your own spreadsheet, please let me know!  I would love to see how other people make their own and how they use it.

I have also been busy copyrighting my photos.  This will take some time as I have over 3000 photos.  And as you can see, I have several copyrighted photos on this blog.  I don't want just anyone taking my personal photos.  So, I protect them with a watermark copyright.  Any good photo editor will work.  

Good luck in your research!

Debbie