Heartland Genealogy

Do you remember sitting at a microfilm reader, turning the handle as you scrolled through page after page of an old newspaper looking for a marriage announcement? When you finally found what you were searching for, did you print a copy, transcribe the entire article, or simply jot down the information that seemed important at the time? I have to admit that I sometimes chose that last option. Printing an article from microfilm wasn’t always convenient. At the library where I was researching, I had to rewind the roll, move it to a separate reader/printer, relocate the article, and then spend a quarter to make a copy. Apparently, that was enough of an obstacle for me to decide that handwritten notes would do! One of those sets of notes concerned the marriage of my great-grandparents, Charles O. Mentzer and Nettie E. Wells . Their wedding announcement appeared in the 20 October 1893 issue of The Yates Center News . Fortunately, genealogy research has changed considerably since I made those...

Charles Mentzer and Nettie Wells Marry in 1893 Have you ever looked at a marriage record and realized how much more it tells you than simply the date of the wedding? As I continue digging through the records in my genealogy files, I came across the marriage record for my maternal great-grandparents, Charles O. Mentzer and Nettie A. Wells . They were married in Woodson County, Kansas, in October 1893. While I already had their marriage date in my family tree, the actual record adds several details about the beginning of their married life. The Marriage License The license was issued by the Woodson County Probate Court on 14 October 1893 . At the time, both Charles and Nettie were residents of Yates Center, Kansas . Charles was listed as 24 years old, while Nettie was 20. The couple did not marry on the day the license was issued. Instead, the certificate on the lower portion of the record documents their marriage four days later, on 18 October 1893 . The completed license was then retur...

Nettie Adell Wells was born on 5 Feb 1873 in Woodson, Kansas, United States. 1 – 18 She lived in Liberty Township, Woodson, Kansas, United States on 1 Jul 1875. 19 She was found on the 1875 Kansas census as a 13 year old female and was listed as Nettie Wells. She lived in Liberty, Woodson, Kansas, USA on 1 Mar 1885. 20 Nettie Adell Wells and Charles Oliver Mentzer were married on 18 Oct 1893 in Yates Center, Woodson, Kansas, United States. 2 , 7 – 10 , 12 , 21 , 33 – 55 She lived in North Township, Woodson, Kansas, United States on 1 Jul 1895. 22 She was found on the 1895 Kansas census as a 21 year old female born IN who came to Kansas from Ind and was listed as L.O. Mentzer.

Have you ever had trouble documenting a father/son relationship? Or, have you had trouble separating records for men of the same name? My go to source in these situations has been the land records. In Kansas, we are lucky in that most counties maintain what is called the Range Index. Basically, this is an index of the land transactions for the range. What is nice about this index is that each quarter section has its own page. Thus, it is easy to see how land was transferred over time. Last August, I was able to travel to Woodson County, Kansas to track down a court case and to obtain copies of the land records for my Mentzer, Wells, and Ricketts families. Below is a transcription of the information found in the index for Range 14. Woodson County, Kansas Range 14 Index

While going thru Ancestry Hints for my Wells line, I found an intriguing military record for a distant cousin, Byron Peake (Cleo Byron Peake). The records said he was reported missing in action on 28 April 1944. ("World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas." Database. Ancestry.com . www.ancestry.com : 2018.)

In trying to help a fellow researcher with their Wells family, I’ve been going back thru my Wells line to make sure that I have the census records on the descendants of Ozias Wells from 1850 to about 1900. In the process, I have finally found Thurston Kennedy Wells in 1860 — AND — he is in Kansas! This supports family legend but I hadn’t been able to prove it before. Tonight, I did a search for William Wells born in 1857 and lo and behold there is a William Wells born in 1857 and a Franklin Wells born in 1854 and a K T Wells born about 1830 living in KANSAS TERRITORY! They are living in a household with James Londers age 60 who was born in Pennsylvania and his daughters, Martha age 15 and Sarah age 17. Also in the household is Benj. M. White age 42 who was born in Indiana. My initial reaction is that James Londers and Benj White are not relatives but I will have to do more digging to verify that. The census verifies that William Wells, age 3, was born in Kansas. It also indicates that ...

A fellow researcher is looking for proof of residency for Nathaniel Wells who was married to Alinda Swain to complete an application to DAR.  The son of  Nathaniel and Mary Thurston Wells , the family was living in Saratoga County, New York in 1790. George, a brother to Nathaniel, married Eunice White in 1784 in Hadley Massachusetts. Reference to military service from American Ancestors DAR Patriot Index Information for Nathaniel and Polly (Thurston) Wells