Wally's Great Missouri Adventure

Edith and I went on an exciting "Pilgrimage" to Missouri seeking our ancestors.  Here is a link to our wonderful adventure:

      WALLY'S GREAT MISSOURI ADVENTURE

John Conway Odell

I have been communicating with a cousin, Sarah, who shares a common ancestor with me.  Our common ancestor is John Odell and Sarah Conway.  One of their sons was John Conway Odell and another was Martin D Odell.  Martin D Odell is my direct ancestor.

I feel very blessed to have made contact with Sarah who has given me valuable information about John Conway Odell and his son Elias Abraham Odell.  Here is a picture of John Conway Odell.

John Conway Odell

It is difficult to see, but it looks like John is wearing a Union soldier's uniform.  The Odell family is a tragic example of the impact of the Civil War on families in Missouri.  John joined the Union cause and Martin joined the Confederate cause.  John fought nearly the entire 5 years of the war and was wounded in the arm and discharged a few months before the war ended.  He never fully recovered and was never able to do much physical work.  Martin on the other hand left his farm in Missouri and went to Pocahontas, Arkansas to enlist in September 1861.  In January 1862 he is listed as "died".  He was undoubtedly a victim of any one of the many diseases prevalent along the banks of the Black River.  We do not know where he is buried or anything else.

The following is from email correspondence with Sarah.

 "My Grandpa (Paul O'Dell) and Great-grandpa (Elias Abraham Odell) built a cabin near Eminence, Missouri (I attached a picture of it) and I just wondered if maybe that was it. Nobody still living knows exactly where it was. I'm also attaching a the first page of a short autobiography paper my grandpa wrote.  It has a brief mention of our common ancestor, so you might find it interesting."

The following is a continuation of the same letter authored by Paul.  But I interject here so you know that the yellow highlight is speaking of John Odell, the father of John C Odell and Martin Odell.

John Conway Odell had a son named Elias Abraham Odell.  Sarah provided me with a copy of an autobiography written by Elias that I found extremely interesting and a picture of a cabin built by Elias and Paul.

Elias Abraham Odell's handwritten autobiograph is next followed by a typed transcription.

A Typed transcription of the above hand written autobiography follows:

Is Joshua Hodges in Texas my ggggGrandfather?

In Chapter 24 of my book "Johanna Hodges and Beyond" I make an analysis of all the records I have been recording of evidences of the life of Joshua Hodges with the purpose of determining whether the Joshua Hodges who family members have been tracing is our ggggGrandfather.

Get your own copy of Chapter 24: "Johanna Hodges and Beyond" here:

CHAPTER 24: "Johanna Hodges and Beyond"

Get your own copy of the spreadsheet where I make my final analysis here:

Joshua Hodges analysis

I have concluded Joshua Hodges in Texas is our man.  What does that mean?

If we research his children in Texas it is a possibility one of the them will mention the name of their mother who would also be the mother of Johanna.

THAT WOULD BE A MAJOR BREAK THROUGH!!

Ruth Maxine Cooper

With Brenda's help I completed a life story of RUTH MAXINE COOPER entitled "Mother in Zion".  If you are a family member and want to download a PDF copy of the story to your computer or your ipod, ipad or other electronic device for viewing or to print your own copy, please send me an email and I will give you the link to Drop Box to be able to do that.  Only family members will be permitted to download the story.

Sarah ??????

Sarah ????  PID L443-4PT

Download the documents related to Sarah and familiarize yourself with what we know. 
A good place to start looking is in Moniteau, Missouri.  She was alive and with the family in 1850, but was not there in the 1860 census nor in the Probate record for her husband Samuel McDonald in 1869. 
Look for marriage records for Samuel McDonald and Sarah ???? married about 1822 probably Moniteau, Missouri.  You might look to see what was happening in Moniteau, Missouri in 1820---were there white men even living there at that time?  What were the migration routes---look there.
If you can solve this mystery, it will open up a huge amount of descendancy research.

Charles C. Conway

Charles C. Conway:  PID  R9-WL9

Father of Jane Conway (wife of John Odle). 
Please download my documents and document extract to familiarize yourself with what we know at this time.  Charles C. Conway died in Moniteau, Missouri.  His probate mentions Jane, the wife of John Odle so we have a pretty definite connection to Charles C. Conway as our direct ancestor, but we need more information to be able to resolve a major looping problem in nFs.  The looping results because Charles C. Conway father's name was likely Charles C. Conway.  People have him sealed to the wrong spouse.  Elizabeth Roberson is shown as both his wife and his mother.  There isn't much reason to try to resolve the looping until we have documentation to justify our request.   Let me know what you find.

David's Searchology

This is a spreadsheet with macros to facilitate research on the web.  The spreadsheet was prepared by David.  Give it a try!
GENEALOGYSEARCHOLOGY