The Long Lost

There is almost no bigger thrill than when I'm able to re-attach to the tree a previously snapped-off twig or branch. Over the past few years I've been able to find a number of "long lost" cousins. 4th and 5th and 6th cousins, once or twice removed, or more. This is great! Suddenly there are pictures and records and, very importantly, recollections of people who were previously only names on a census or worse, totally unrecorded.

My methodology, if it's not immediately apparent, is to try to start with the oldest provable ancestor and then try to find ALL descendants from that person. In my case this ancestor is George Sheffler born around 1779.

So I have thick bulging files for some of his kids, and absolutely nothing but a birthdate and christening for others. I start working top down, finding George's kids records and attempting to stick with each succeeding generation down each line.

But with the long lost 6th cousin, now I can move bottom up, and gain whole families and places of birth, etc, for people whose records are not yet public.

The best part about this, though, is sharing common histories with each other.

Recently, I've spoken to CRIPE family members. Levi Sheffler ( Frederick2, George1) married Maria Culberton. They had a son who died yound, and two daughters. Ella Sheffler married a Whitten, and Jesse Mae Sheffler married Jesse Cripe. I was finally able to make contact with Jesse's great grandson Duane Cripe, and he put me in touch with Marylee Olson, his cousin.

Jesse and Jesse's oldest son Claude, born 1892, recorded an audio tape in 1967 with his wife Maybelle Ort Cripe,. On the audio he recounts his life, as well as one can do so in an hour of recollections. A number of times he mentions his "Uncle Henry", my great-grandfather, and added a couple of "new" insights to what I knew of Henry already. Later, both my father and his Uncle Bud both recalled Claude and Maybelle from many many years back, and told me a few things that even they had really forgotten about over time.

Thanks to Marylee and her son for sending a copy of that tape. I am in the process of transcribing it in order to include it in the records.