Genealogy Is An Adventure

Tag: Photo

  • Every Photo Deserves A Home Clara, Edith & Alice Hagerty

    I recently went to an antique mall and bought old photos of three sisters who used to live near San Jose, California. I am trying to return them to their descendants, hopefully keeping them together.

    The three girls are from left to right, Clara, Edith and Alice Hagerty. Their parents William and Theresa were owners of an orchard according to the 1900 Census.

    The girls were all born in California. Clara was the oldest, she was born in 1891, Edith in 1893 and Alice in 1896. In the 1910 Census the family still lives together in Fremont which is near San Jose. All of them were working on the farm.

    The girls’ father died 31 August 1931 in Sacramento.

    The Father had lived in Penryn. No mention of their Mother. Edith lived in Penryn, just like her father and her last name is Locklin. Clara, the oldest was living in Palo Alto near San Jose and was not married. The youngest, Alice lived in Hornbrook, Siskiyou County, California, which is north of Sacramento, near the Oregon border. From this information it’s most likely that Clara doesn’t have any descendants. I was able to find an obituary for her. She died 9 August 1982 in Santa Rosa, California.

    Now I have to focus on the other two sisters. Edith Locklin was alive in 1982 and lived in Placerville. Her sister Alice was not.

    In the 1930 Census, Edith is married to George Locklin and they have two daughters, Virginia age 8 and Delores age 7.

    Edith died in 1988 in Auburn California. I found her obituary in the Sacramento Union Newspaper. Besides her husband and her two daughters Virginia and Delores, she had eight grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. That’s good news for me trying to return the pictures to family.

    Edith’s daughter Dolores Voska died in 1994 in Grass Valley. Dolores had two daughters and five grandchildren.

    Dolores’ sister Virginia Pritchard died 2012 in Fresno. She had five children, nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren. As this obituary is more recent, I will not post it here for privacy purposes.

    Now I will take look at the youngest daughter Alice Hagerty and her possible descendants.

    Alice was married to Harry Hubert Chapman. She died very young at the age of 43, 13 July 1939 in Hornbrook, California. She was survived by her husband and three children, William, Madeline and Marilyn. I found her obituary in the Siskiyou Daily News.

    Her son William was born in 1920 and died in 2009 in Lodi, California. He had son and a daughter, however I have no names for them. I couldn’t find an obituary. Daughter Madeline married Edwin Burtner of Grass Valley in 1944.

    They had four children, Russ, Kathi, Carol and Ann. Madeline died in 2018. There is a good chance I can make contact with her family.

    Her daughter Marilyn was born in 1930 and died in 2016. She was married to Herbert Dungey in1948. Their children Mary, Jane Ann, Christopher and Eric live all over the world. Marilyn has 5 grandchildren.

    I have already contacted several potential descendants of the girls. Hopefully Clara, Edith and Alice will be reunited with their families very soon.

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    Thank You!

    Update 18 August 2025

    The photos are on their way to family!

  • Favorite Photo

    I am participating once again in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 ancestors in 52 week challenge. This week’s theme is about a favorite photo.

    The photo shows my two times Great Grandparents Peter Johann Sevenich and Josephine Odilia Gröbbels with their young family. The family lived in Heerdt, Germany nowadays is a part of Düsseldorf.

    Peter Johann and Josephine were both born and married in Brachelen. A picture below shows the church.

    His birth date was 13 September 1838 and hers 24 March 1842. They were married 8 November 1867. He died 10 July 1910 in Heerdt and she passed away 27 April 1920 in Neuss.

    The oldest daughter, I believe is on the right side of the picture. Her name was Josefine. She was born in Brachelen 29 June 1868 and died 8 October 1945 in Neuss. Josefine was married to Michael Bolton. They had 7 children.

    The oldest son, my Great Grandfather, Franz, is the handsome young man standing behind his Father. Franz was born 4 Jan 1870 in Brachelen, died 26 August 1950 in Heerdt and he was married 9 June 1893 to my Great Grandmother, Anna Catharina Steinhaus. They had nine children together, including my Grandmother, Adelheid. A picture below of my Great Grandparent on their 50th anniversary in 1943.

    Johann, Josefine and their young family moved around 1870 to Heerdt. There Johann worked for the rail road. The first child born in Heerdt was Adelheid, on the left side of the picture. Her birth date was 16 September 1871 and she died 17 May 1943. Adelheid was married to Stefan Lenzen. They had a bakery in Heerdt. According to her obituary below, they had four sons and five daughters.

    Adelheid Lenzen was also the Godmother to my Grandmother Adelheid Sevenich, born 1899 in Heerdt. Below is the baptismal entry.

    The next child is Gerhard Sevenich. He was born 9 March 1873 and died 16 December 1948 in Heerdt. Gerhard was married to Gertrud von Mertz. They had eight children together.

    Next comes Wilhelm Sevenich. He was born 1 October 1874 in Heerdt and died 8 February 1964 in Battersea, London. The death location and date was a total surprise find on Ancestry’s England and Wales Death Index.

    I found this information in 2014 and was easily able to order the actual death certificate from London.

    The question now presented itself why he was in London to begin with. I found out that he had a daughter Katharina Sevenich who was married to Thomas Baldwin whom I also found in a marriage index. I will write about all these finding in a later post. Back To Wilhelm and his sibling.

    We know where Wilhelm was born and where he died. Wilhelm was married 4 February 1902 to Clara Franzisca Derendorf. They had seven children, one of them was Katharina mentioned above.

    Next up was Andreas Josef Sevenich born 4 July 1877 in Heerdt. He was missing in action in France in 1915 during WW1. Below is the notification that he was missing. I do not have a death certificate.

    He was a corporal when he went missing. Josef was married to Anna Welbers. They had four children, lived in Büderich and had a milk delivery service. I do have a picture of Josef delivering the milk.

    After Josef came Sibilla Sevenich. Sibilla was born 22 May 1879 in Heerdt and died 17 September 1954 in Neuss. She was married to Lorenz Moor. They had no children

    Then came Heinrich Sevenich born 28 February 1881 in Heerdt and died 1 February 1940 in Meerbusch. He was married to Luise Vogel. They had one child.

    After Heinrich came Fredericus Adamus also known as Fritz Sevenich, born 7 February 1883 and died 1 February 1969 in Heerdt. He was married to Elisabeth Struth. They had four children.

    The youngest child was Mathilde Sevenich born 6 December 1885 in Heerdt and died 28 Februray 1863 in Neuss. She was married to Michael Klasen. They had four children.

    So why is this a favorite picture of mine. When I first starting doing genealogy, I didn’t even have the names of my Great Grandparents or my two times Great Great Grandparents. To have this picture and being able to tell a few stories about their lives is so awesome. The icing on the cake is that I have the same picture taken about 25 years later.

    My two times Great Grandfather, Johann Peter Sevenich, died in 1910, so this picture must have been taken before that date.

    I want to thank and give credit to my second and third cousins, Gabi, Annemarie, Hermi and Ursula for their continued support, as this post would have not been possible without their help.