Adamson Family Reunion 2012

July 21, was a beautiful day.  Not to hot and not to cold.  Though it was just us "locals" as everyone started showing up, it was so wonderful to see everyone.  The "old folks" gathered around the kitchen table, working on the potatoe salads and talked things over.  It was great to see everyone gathered around and having a good time.  Afterwards, we moved it all outside.  It was a good day.  We missed all those that were unable to make it and happy to see the ones that made it. Here are a few pictures from that day.

Family Reunion 2012

"The Old Folks" Richard & Tina, Robert & Sandy, Ronee & Richard Bybee, Judie & Lyle

The Adamson Boys- Robert, Richard & Lyle

Hanging out!

Grandpa Ralph and a new lead....

So I have been working hard on trying to figure out what happened to Grandpa Ralph. I will someday solve this mystery that plague's my every waking hour and sometime my sleeping ones too. But in the meantime I had planned on working on Grandma Nina's family to whittle away some time till I can make a trip to Montana to do some "on the ground" research. And I found some very interesting things about the relationship between the Adamson's and the Coen's. They were a lot closer than I realized. I have gotten copies of the pages from the Coen Family Bible that is in my Dad's possession. In it was, the birth & death dates of Grandma Nina and her siblings and her parents marriage record....sweet! right?!?! So armed with this information I have been diligently trying to verify and prove all this information. Also learn as much as I can about her brothers and sisters. I have learned a lot but am still working.

But in my search I notice two things: One, that when trying to find a place of death for Nina's father Levi Coen, I was searching in the wrong places. He had a farm in South Dakota at the time of his death but had just barely moved there and still had family living in Minnesota...so I was looking those two places and North Dakota thinking maybe he had gone for a visit to Nina's. Well turns out I was so wrong. He died in Portland, Ore. Wow ! wasn't expecting that. And so I sent off for his death certificate and find out that Grandpa Ralph was the informant on his death cert. and possible the undertaker! What! Crazy is what I said. What was Levi and Ralph doing in Portland, Ore. in 1908?? Where was the rest of the family?? So here we have them in Portland from Jan-Feb 1908. Wow.

The second thing I notice is that Grandma Nina's twin brother's Roy and Ray stayed pretty close to the family. Even following Nina to North Dakota. Where Roy lives with his wife and son. Ray living either with Roy and his new family or right next door. I can follow Roy for the rest of his life. Along with most of the brothers. But Ray disappears about the same time as Ralph does!!! So do they go off together leaving behind their families??? I haven't quite figured it all out. All I know now is that I now have to find two people who just vanish. :)

Another brother disappears for quite a few years until he gets married in 1943. Then I can follow him for the rest of his also. Interesting no?!?!

I am deeply interested in the relationship between Ralph and his in-laws. What were they all doing in these years after North Dakota?? I want to find Ralph and Ray now. Someday I will to.....

Family Reunion 2012

HI all! Well we have set the date for the family reunion this year. It will be:
July 21st, 2012 at Lyle & Judie's house in Reno. I have made the flyers and will hopefully get them sent out the first week in April....so look for it in the mail. If you didn't get one last year but would like to please email me your address and I will pop one in the mail. I am so excited for this year's reunion. Well, really, I am every year. I have learned a lot in the last year and can't wait to share with everyone. :) So mark your calendar's and plan on coming. It's a blast every year!! :D

Ralph & Nina

Hi all, OK so here is the most if not exciting to all, at least interesting find I have had in the last year. I am still not sure what happened to Ralph when he "disappeared" from North Dakota. But I have found a most interesting document... While all the family stories I have managed to gather talk about how Ralph left North Dakota sometime after 1916, that was about all they had in common. I will not get into the details of each story as I have heard many, with many different details. But here is one thing I have learned, that there is a possibility that Nina knew where Ralph was after he left. In June 1925, while living in Billings, MT she files for divorce. And in July she was granted her divorce. The interesting part is that she claims he was living in the nearby town of Harlowton, MT. She states in her complaint that he was guilty of "habitual intemperance", which I had to look up (shhh don't tell anyone lol)...it means that he was drinking and it interfered with taking care of business. And that he was like that the last year they lived together. And in June 1925 they had not lived together for 9 years, since 1916....interesting huh? Ok, so two things can be taken from that, that either she kicked him out because he wasn't taken care of them properly and then told the kids that he just left them. And never spoke of it again. OR he really did just disappear in North Dakota. Later, meeting Chester and knowing she needed to get a divorce so that they could get married. Told them what she knew, which was that he was last known to have lived in Harlowton, MT. And it is possible she didn't know if he was there and just gave the name of a town nearby.

I had hit a brick wall with Ralph and Nina after considerable time talking to everyone I could think of in North Dakota. So I conferred with another genealogist who said I should look around where Doug & Goldie were living in 1920. Doug & Goldie lived in Musselshell County with Nina's brother William and his family. And see if I could find a divorce record. I wondered why I didn't think of that in the beginning. :) Well, so I called a few courthouses and finally hit pay dirt in Billings which is located in Yellowstone County. And wow what a find. Now the next step is for me to try to find out if Ralph was ever actually in Harlowton and if so for how long and where did he go from there. I have made a few cursory phone calls to see if he was there but nothing came of it. I am wanting to try to get up there this summer but in the meantime I will see what I can find from home. :)

While that might not seem like a big deal to lots, to me though...oh what a find. While it is possible that nothing will come out of Harlowton, MT...it is also possible, it might just be the lead I was looking for. :D

If you would like copies of their divorce record please just email me. :)

Ralph Henry Adamson

UPDATE!!!!

Sooooo.....a few months ago (or longer...) I was contacted by a distant cousin, who had found our little blog here by googleing Nina. :D Yay, for us!! Well he has helped me find more info on Nina & Chester, which I will share at a later date. :) But on to the picture, so he was able to identify the other folks in this very wonderful photo... R-L Chester, Nina, Agnes Rimel (Chester's sister), William Rimel (Bill - Agnes's husband), Lois Rimel (Agnes and Bill's daughter-in-law) wife of Agnes and Bill's son Raymond (who probably took the picture)

Yay!!!! :) so THANK YOU! to our "cousin" for his help in identifying this photo. Oh, btw, he is related through Chester's sister Carrie. :) More to come on them also.

HELLO PEOPLE!!

Hi there all...ok so I know that it has been a while...ok over a year...since I last posted anything. Funny, how that thing called life gets in the way. Geez so much has happened since my long ago post that I don't know where to start. So I won't...lol. Just kidding. I am going to go through my "stuff" and see where I need to be to get going on this again. I have some very cool and interesting finds from the last year. So sit back and wait...lol some more. :D