[Genealogy] Moon People, Consultations, Twenty Years Elsewhere

[Michael John Neill]

Moon People
Genealogy Research Consultation Holiday Sale--save $40
Twenty Years Elsewhere

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Moon People
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We all have them: someone who appears to have lived on Earth for only a few
years. They arrived as an adult from the moon, appeared in a few earthly
records, and then vanished.  They leave no other apparent trace except for
mention in records in a short, narrow time frame.

Barbara (Siefert) Bieger Fennan Haase Haase has two such moon people in her
life. One of them was supposedly her “husband.”

Barbara was apparently “married” to a “non-legal” husband in Warsaw,
Hancock County, Illinois, by the spring of 1856.  At that time, her
husband, George Fennan, appears as guardian for her children in county
court records. His Germanic signature appears on two documents in the
guardianship records, one of which is on a letter asking to be relieved
from his duties a short time after being appointed guardian. He appears in
no other local records.

The second moon person is Lawrence Knaeble. He was apparently a tenant in
an apartment attached to Barbara’s tavern in Warsaw in May of 1858 when he
shoots an overly aggressive and drunk William Donahue who was a patron of
Barbara’s tavern. Knaeble was convicted on a manslaughter charge but was
pardoned by the Illinois governor before serving his entire sentence. His
only appearance in local records is his criminal conviction by a Hancock
County court.

The moon people matter because there might be something on them that leads
me to more information on Barbara. She’s a German native whose origins have
been difficult to research.

I need to write up and organize what I have on Fennan and Knaeble. Fennan
is known to have left the local area–or at least refers to his departure in
his letter requesting he be relieved of his guardianship duties. It’s
possible that Knaeble never returned to Hancock County after his pardon.
It’s also possible that neither of the men knew Barbara before they met in
Warsaw and that there is no “clue” about her origins to be gleaned from
information on them.

But I won’t know if I don’t look.

Unless I look on the moon. Maybe that’s where all the answers I cannot find
are located.

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Twenty Years Elsewhere
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It all depends upon your angle.

Louis Demar was born in Clinton County, New York, in the 1850s. He lived
there until approximately 1900 when he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he
stayed through 1920. Most of the time he worked for the Pullman Car Company
and it’s likely job opportunities were what brought him to Chicago. After
his retirement, he returned to Clinton County, New York, in time for the
1930 census. He died in Clinton County in the 1930s.

Two of Louis’ daughters never left upstate New York and were still living
there when he returned. Many of his siblings (and there were many) stayed
in the Clinton County area. But three of his children left Clinton County.
His two youngest daughters followed him to Chicago, raising their own
families in the Midwest. His son Levi spent time in Montana and Oregon
before finally settling down in extreme northwestern Wisconsin.

Researchers of Louis approach him from one of two angles–the “Illinois”
angle or the “New York” angle. The angle they approach him from depends
upon their relationship to him.

And that angle impacts what they know about him. It’s easy for the Illinois
angle people to find him in the Chicagoland area in the 1910 and 1920
census and in city directories during that same time period.  He’s living
in the same general neighborhood where his two daughters are living during
that time. Then he seems to disappear after 1920.

Those researching him from the New York angle, easily find him in 1860-1880
census records and in the 1930 census. He’s in Clinton County where his two
daughters and numerous other family members are. It’s the intervening years
where he seems to be lost.  One could even conjecture that he simply was
overlooked in those census years where he cannot be found or that his last
name, which gets spelled Demare, De Mar, Demarrah, Dmarra, Desmarais, etc.
was simply listed in a way that is not recognizable.

It is not known why Louis returned to Clinton County, New York. It is
possible that after he ceased working for the Pullman Car Company in
Chicago, he simply wanted to return to the more rural lifestyle in upstate
New York where he had spent the first forty years of his life.

What are the genealogy lessons from Louis? Perspective obviously impacts
how we research and what we know. In this case, initially Illinois
researchers were missing the New York information on Louis and New York
researchers were missing the Illinois information. People can “go home”
after spending a decade or more in a new location, even if children live in
that new location.

And the reason why we may be “missing” a person in a census year may be
because that person has moved to a completely different location. It’s not
always the census taker’s fault. Sometimes people move around.

Michael
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
http://www.genealogytipoftheday.com
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