Oh My Goodness

I've been working on my genealogy this week, filling in gaps of cousins. I know my direct line pretty well. I've been working on Stonebacks and Keims who moved from Pennsylvania to Kansas in the late 1870s.

Now how weird is this? Carole at Mt. Pleasant Acadamy is hosting Adventure Mouse right now. Carole posted about their trip to French Creek State Park. I clicked on Carole's link to French Creek State Park and sprayed my coffee on my computer screen.

Lo and behold, Carole, her kids and Addie Mouse were at the very place where my 2nd great-grandparents (and 3rd, and so on) lived and worked! Hopewell Furnace is a part of French Creek State Park and that is where my Samuel and two of his brothers worked before traveling to Kansas.

I never thought I'd be green with envy over a mouse's adventures. The mouse gets to meet all my blogging friends, travel the world, and now the mouse sees my ancestors' homeland. Oh Addie, wish I could go with you!

What a small world it really is.

Found in my research:

John Millard married Sarah Stoneback, the daughter of George and Anne Stoneback. Sarah also had a brother John. It is believed that John Millard or John Stoneback and his sister Sarah Millard moved to Mulberry Creek Kansas in 1878, and purchased a 140 acre farm for $900. It is documented that a John and Sarah left on April 2, 1878. A party was held at the Bethesda Church near Hopewell Village for them prior to their leaving. The three Stoneback brothers (John Jr., Jacob and Samuel) had worked at the Hopewell Furnace as had John Millard. A few days later 30 people including Samuel & Jacob Stoneback, the brothers of John Jr., loaded two boxcars which were part of the mail train, and headed to the same location in Kansas. The two brothers purchased each a 160 acre farm within sight of John and Sarah's farm.

John, Samuel and Jacob lived the rest of their lives in Kansas.

The Pioneers:


This is supposedly a photo of my third great-grandparents, Anne Houck and George Stoneback. A very distant cousin sent this to me but he wasn't 100% sure of its authenticity. I wonder how it felt for them to have four of their children up and move to Kansas?



This is my second great-grandfather, Samuel Stoneback, the pioneer.



This is Samuel's wife, Susanna Keim, who traveled with him to Kansas.



This is Samuel's brother, Jacob, late in his life.