Frances Minnie (FUHRMAN) HALL 1913-1987

Frances Hall, my maternal grandmother on the left and Bill Hall, my paternal grandfather on the right. This picture was taken at my graduation from Martin Luther Academy, New Ulm, Minnesota.

Frances was born February 21, 1913 in Bowden, Wells County, North Dakota to Fredrick Fuhrman and Christina (Nagel) Fuhrmann who along with Frances' oldest brother, 5 months old at the time, immigrated to North Dakota from Russia in the late 1893. They were also accompanied by several members of the Fuhrmann family. Frances's mother died when Frances was 13 and Frances went to live with her sister Fredricka (Fuhrmann) Holte in Aneta, Nelson County, North Dakota, not far from Cathay.

Frances met her future husband during one of the North Dakota wheat harvests. Bill Hall had come to work for the wheat harvest during the early years of the Dustbowl. They married in Cathay and after the wheat harvest, Bill returned to Iowa with his new wife.

Bill and Francis  were married for 55 years and raised 4 children, three boys and a girl.  After the children were grown, Frances held several jobs in Castana, Turin and Onawa. In Castana, Iowa, she worked for The Sweet Shoppe and as a cook at the Castana School before becoming a secretary for the school. She also worked for a time as a cook at Bennett Nursing Home in Turin, Iowa and several years as a waitress at the Happy Chef in Onawa, Iowa before retiring in December of 1984.

Frances died July 1, 1987 and was buried July 3, 1987 at Center Cemetery, Castana, Monona County, Iowa. 

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William Jonathan “Bill” HALL 1910-1989

 

Grandpa Bill Hall is on the far right. In the middle is Fred Fuhrman, his father-in-law and my Great Grandfather. On the far left is Fred Fuhrman, his brother-in-law and my Grand Uncle.

Thanks to my Aunt for this picture, it is one of my favorites.

Below, I have shamelessly copied Bill Hall’s biography which was written by his wife, Frances M (FURHMAN) HALL. She can tell his story better than I could. Names of anyone still living have been removed out of respect for their privacy, if I have missed anyone, I apologize. Otherwise this is unedited and exactly as Frances HALL wrote it sometime after her son Ron HALL died in 1985 and before she died in 1987.

William Jonathan “Bill” Hall 1910-1989

Below, I have shamelessly copied Bill Hall’s biography which was written by his wife, Frances M (FURHMAN) HALL She can tell his story better than I could. Names of anyone still living have been removed out of respect for their privacy otherwise this is unedited and exactly as Frances wrote it sometime after Ron Hall died in 1985 and before she died in 1987.

William (Bill) J. Hall -- Frances M. Fuhrman - Wife

Bill was born in Onawa, Iowa, August 26, 1910, the second son of J. Richard and Hannah Shellenberger. Bill's father, Richard, often called Jerry or Dick, was born on a farm near Smithland, Iowa. Bill's mother was born in the rural Blencoe area. His father worked in a lumber yard a few years and went to farming near Castana when Bill was a small boy. Mr. Hall played the violin and often played for country dances in family homes.  The first car they owned was a Model T. Ford. Bill's dad did not drive a car, horses were to his liking, so Sam and Bill did the driving of the family car. In later years when the older boys were gone form the home, Mrs. Hall did the driving. Bill's parents farmed near Castana until 1952. They retired and moved to Onawa in November of that year. Bill has seven sisters and five brothers: Anna (JENKINS) of Austin, Minnesota; Margaret, died in infancy; Doris (COLLETT) of Onawa, died in 1984; Nellie (RODGERS) of Onawa; Betty (GEORGIOUS) of Denison; Eileen (SICK) of Onawa; STILL LIVING of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Samuel R. of Castana; Clarence (Bud) of Venice, Florida; Glen, deceased; Richard Eugene Jr., died in early childhood; James Calvin, of Amarillo, Texas. In the fall of 1932 (the lean thirty years) Bill went to North Dakota for the harvest. He worked on a farm that winter and next year. He met Francis and in April 1933, they were married. In September 1933, they came to Iowa. Bill worked as a farm laborer on farms near Turin and Castana. He worked for Bill Hussell of Turin for many years. He started farming for himself in the early forties and rented a farm from Mr. Hussell near Castana.

Bill and Frances had four children: Ronald William, deceased March 20, 1985; STILL LIVING of Arvada, Colorado; Roger Gene, of Onawa, Iowa; STILL LIVING of Elizabeth, Colorado.  All four children graduated from the Castana School. The boys were active in sports and STILL LIVING was active in sports and vocal music. They attended the Castana Community Church. After graduation from high school, the boys joined the Navy.

[Removed out of respect for privacy of the living. Bill HALL’s biography is affected minimally by this removal.]

While raising the family, Bill had several jobs along with and after his farming. He worked on construction, drove the Castana school bus, and was custodian of Castana School for a few years. A farmer at heart, he quit the job of custodian and went to work on a farm south of Castana for Thayer E. Brown II of Turin. We have lived on this farm for about twenty-five years and are semi-retired. As a hobby, Bill raises watermelons.

After the children were grown, Francis worked at various jobs. Operated the Sweete Shoppe in Castana for a few years, was cook at the Castana School for several years, was secretary of the school for a couple of years, was a cook at Bennett Nursing Home in Turin for several years, and a waitress at the Happy Chef in Onawa for several years, retiring in December of 1984. In April 1983 we celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary. All four of our children and their families were able to be there. Our children hosted the reception and Castana Ladies Aid served. The reception was in the Castana Community Church.

We have eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

by F.M.H.

Bill HALL died February 10, 1989 in Castana, Iowa. He was buried at Center Cemetery, Castana, Monona County, Iowa on February 13, 1989.

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Ruth Mary (WILLHITE) HALL 1933-1995

 

Ruth Mary WILLHITE was my mother. She was born March 16, 1933 to Clarence Galan WILLHITE and Gertrude Bertha RAUSCHKE in New Ulm, Minnesota. She grew up in New Ulm with her parents, an older brother and a younger sister.

Ruth attended St. Paul's Lutheran School in New Ulm, Minnesota. She continued her education in New Ulm, Minnesota at Martin Luther Academy and Dr Martin Luther College to become a teacher. Due to a teacher shortage at the time, she left college after two years to teach parochial school in Tucson, Arizona. Ruth married Ronald William HALL on May 19, 1956 in San Diego, California and continued to teach as a substitute parochial school teacher in many of the places she lived while moving with her husband, Ronald HALL and their son and daughter.

After Ruth and Ronald settled in New Ulm, Minnesota, Ruth took up riding again and kept a horse on a farm near New Ulm for several years. She also continued using her teaching skills and tutored several local students, specializing in dyslexia.

Ruth and Ronald parted ways and were divorced on November 16, 1984 in Brown County, Minnesota. She never remarried and lived in New Ulm, Minnesota until she died on January 15, 1995. She was cremated and her ashes were buried with her parents in St Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery, New Ulm, Minnesota on January 17, 1995.

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Ronald “Ronnie” William HALL (1934-1985)

Ronald HALL was my father and was born to Jonathan William HALL and Frances Minnie FUHRMAN in Kennebec Township, Iowa. He grew up with his parents, two brothers and a sister on a farm in Castana, Iowa where he graduated from Castana High School in 1953.

On December 28, 1954, Ronald enlisted in the Navy. Most of his time in the Navy was spent being stationed on the west coast in California although he was also stationed in Minnesota, Tennessee and Illinois for a time. He also went on cruise twice as an electronics specialist, sailing to South America and around Cape Horn aboard the USS Ranger and to Asia aboard the USS Hornet.

On May 19, 1956, he married Ruth Mary WILHITE, the daughter of Clarence and Gertrude (RAUSCHKE) WILHITE, in San Diego, California. Ronald and Ruth had two children, a son and a daughter. Ronald moved his family to each place he was stationed until he retired from the Navy on September 22, 1975.  Ronald and his family then settled in New Ulm, Minnesota, his wife Ruth’s hometown. Here he worked as a parts manager at a local car dealership for a number of years.

Ronald and Ruth would remain married for 28 years until they divorced November 16, 1984, in Brown County, Minnesota. On December 26, 1985, Ronald married Katherine (SEATON) WEBER in Elk Point, South Dakota. They made their home in Mapleton, Iowa but shortly after they were married, Ronald died. They had been married for just under 3 months before he had a heart attack and died on March 20, 1985. Ronald was buried March 23, 1985 at Center Cemetery, Castana Iowa. 

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 ANCESTOR PROFILES

After careful consideration, I have decided to change the direction of this blog once more and I will be posting ancestral profiles. Now I realize some people do not find reading about their ancestors much less someone else's as interesting as I do. If that is the case, this blog may not be for you. I hope you will at least give it a chance because you never know who you will find in any family tree. 

People I will not be doing profiles on here are any of my relatives who are still living out of respect for their privacy.  I plan to start with my parents, continuing with my direct line of ancestors and eventually branching out to include aunts, uncles and cousins. Information you can expect to see here would be birth dates and locations, marriage dates and locations (including who married who) and death dates and locations along with burial locations if known. 

Call this a labor of love and of trying to connect to my family's past in a meaningful way. I know that a lot of this information is quite easily accessible, some not so much but I still want to share what I have found with whoever is interested in seeing it.

Looking forward to sharing and as always,

Happy Hunting! Roni

DNA and Your Tree

DNA in genealogy is a very new concept for me. The relationship between cousins (which I struggle with) can be very important to DNA matches simply because they can connect you to distant ancestors for several generations. As a result, I have struggled with this post and after considering just passing over it and starting a new post, I decided to “power through” and create the post as best I can. The first step was to understand cousins a little better with a “cousin calculator” which I have included at the end of this post. [1] I also want to say at this point that this post is based on autosomal testing which pulls from both parents rather than one or the other.

While there are plenty of records out there, the accuracy completely depends on someone putting the information into that record and how that record is read and understood.  All these records can prove or disprove family stories and legends and DNA can be an excellent companion to these records. Just remember that while the DNA might prove you are related to a specific person, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are automatically related to that match's entire tree. By understanding the degrees of cousins, you can get an idea of where to look in a family tree for your match and see how are related to them.

Just as important when comparing DNA matches is whether or not the trees being compared are sourced well, whether the sources are correct, whether there are any sources or a tree at all. There is a way around this. Understand your DNA information. Learn what the numbers mean and how they indicate what the relationship is. Most DNA matching sites have names attached to your DNA matches. Sometimes if it is enough of a real name, you only need to use DNA numbers as confirmation. If there is a less than complete name or a nickname, you may be able to figure out the relationship they share with you using the DNA. As I said before, DNA is a great companion for records and I am not suggesting that you rely on only DNA as a source for you family tree. 

Most autosomal tests use percentages and centimorgans to determine how closely your match is related to you. Percentages are pretty self explanatory. For example, you are 100% you. Your parents will be a 50% match because you carry half the DNA of each parent. Your grandparents would be a 25% match to you and a 50% match to your parents. As you can see the percentage match halves itself in each generation.

Centimorgans or cMs for short also measure how close or distant a match is related. The number of cMs shared indicate the degree by which each DNA match is related.. A child’s cMs are made up of one half of each parent’s cMs and one quarter of their grandparents cMs. The cMs halve themselves over each generation much like the percentages do but with a large range of specific numbers. By this I mean that the cMs may not be exactly halved or quartered and there may be more or less cMs depending on what was passed down to each match genetically. On average a person will carry approximately 7400 cMs. I have included a link that explains cMs in more depth as well as containing a downloadable chart. [2]

Both percentages and cMs go through the ancestral line and the descendant line of your tree and halve themselves in each generation. In the same way your parents carry 50% of your DNA, your children will carry 50% of your DNA, grandchildren like grandparents will carry 25% and on down the line.

Hope you find these links useful and as always, Happy Hunting!

Roni

[1] FamilySearch Blog; https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/what-is-a-second-cousin contains a cousin calculator.

[2] FamilySearch Blog; https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/centimorgan-chart-understanding-dna contains a chart showing relationships by cMs.

FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/en/  is a free site with a wealth of information.