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Chester Ellis Lighter

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From Dodge City to World War II and Beyond One of the things I enjoy about genealogy is discovering how the various records I've collected can be combined to tell the story of an ancestor or relative. Census records, military records, city directories, and newspaper articles may each provide only a small piece of information. However, when those pieces are brought together, they can reveal a much larger story. Recently, while reviewing my research on the Lighter family, I decided to take a closer look at Chester Ellis Lighter (1908–1969) . Chester was the son of Alvin Hamilton Lighter and Lida Crawford, making him a member of my Crawford family. Using RootsMagic 12, I generated a narrative report that brought together the information I had collected about Chester. That report provides an interesting look at a man whose life took him from Kansas to Missouri, into military service during World War II, and eventually to Illinois. Growing Up in Dodge City Chester Ellis Lighter was born...
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Veteran's Day Transcription Project

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Remembering Company E in Holton, Kansas Have you ever stopped to read the names engraved on a veterans' memorial? Have you wondered about the people behind those names, where they lived, or what happened to them? For several years, I've participated in the Veterans Day Transcription Project , an initiative started by Heather Wilkinson Rojo of the Nutfield Genealogy blog. The purpose of this project is simple: encourage genealogists and local historians to photograph and transcribe veterans' memorials so the names engraved on them become searchable online. In previous years, I've contributed to this project by sharing photographs and transcriptions of military monuments in Nemaha County, Kansas. This year, I'm venturing beyond Nemaha County to share a World War II memorial located in Holton, Kansas. What makes this monument particularly interesting is that it doesn't honor only soldiers from Holton or Jackson County. Instead, it remembers soldiers from communiti...
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George Mentzer's Civil War Pension

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  A Story of Service, Illness, and Disability When researching a Civil War ancestor, have you looked at their pension file? While military service records document a soldier’s time in the army, pension files often reveal what happened after the war. I’ve been working with the Civil War pension file of my ancestor George Mentzer , who served in Company C of the 24th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The file contains information about his military service, but it also documents his struggles with illness, his efforts to support his family, and his attempts to obtain a government pension. What I found particularly interesting was that George initially applied for a pension based on illnesses he believed were caused by his military service. However, he eventually received a pension under a law that did not require him to prove that connection. George Mentzer’s Military Service George Mentzer was born on June 12, 1838, in Stow, Massachusetts. On September 25, 1861, at the age of twenty...
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More than a Soldier's Story

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Family Connections in a Civil War Pension File When researching a Civil War ancestor, have you looked beyond the military service information in their pension file? I've been working with the Civil War pension file of George Mentzer , who served in Company C of the 24th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. While the file contains information about his military service, health problems, and pension payments, it also provides valuable clues about his family. In fact, some of the most interesting information isn't about George at all! George Mentzer and His Family George Mentzer was born on June 12, 1838, in Stow, Massachusetts. He enlisted in the 24th Massachusetts Infantry in September 1861 and served until September 1864. Following his military service, George lived for a time in Northborough, Massachusetts, before moving to Kewanee, Illinois. On January 1, 1868, he married Emiline Minnick in Kewanee. According to the pension file, the ceremony was performed by Rev. Applebee. The...
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Friday Find

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Chester Lighter's Obituary Have you ever gone back through your genealogy files and discovered information that you had collected years ago but never fully incorporated into your family tree? That is what happened when I came across my handwritten transcription of the obituary for Chester Lighter. Years ago, before digitized newspapers became widely available, I spent time at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka researching the Dodge City newspapers on microfilm. Instead of printing every article, I often copied the information by hand. Sometimes those notes were complete transcriptions, while other times they were simply summaries of the information I thought was important. One of those handwritten documents was the obituary for Chester B. Lighter, published in the Dodge City Daily Globe on Thursday, May 1, 1969. The Obituary According to my handwritten notes, Chester Lighter died on Wednesday, April 30, 1969, in Roscoe, Illinois, following his involvement in a highway a...
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Silas Dooley

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A Pioneer Life in Kentucky and Ohio Early Life and Family Background Silas Dooley was born on March 8, 1786, in Harrod's Station, Lincoln County, Kentucky, the son of Captain Moses Dooley and Mary Body Dooley. His birth occurred during the early years of Kentucky's settlement, when families moving west from Virginia and other eastern states were establishing new communities beyond the Appalachian Mountains. The family had made that journey several years before Silas was born. According to Silas's obituary, published in the Eaton Democrat on July 19, 1877, Moses Dooley moved his family from Bedford County, Virginia, to Kentucky in 1781. The obituary describes the journey as a difficult trip across the mountains, with Silas's mother carrying her youngest child in her arms. The family initially lived within a fortified settlement because of the dangers associated with frontier life. They eventually settled in Kentucky, where Silas was born. Silas was born six years before...
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Twice Connected

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The Lighter Family and My Crawford and Ralston Ancestors Have you ever found a family history that connects to more than one branch of your family tree? That's exactly what happened when I looked at Genealogy and Family Histories of the Lighter and Wilhelm Families . I was interested in the Lighter family because of their connection to my Crawford ancestors. However, as I examined the pages listing the children and grandchildren of Jacob Henry Lighter, I realized that this family was connected to two different sides of my ancestral tree ! One connection was through my Crawford family, while the other was through my Ralston ancestors. The Lighter Family Genealogy The book, Genealogy and Family Histories of the Lighter and Wilhelm Families , contains information about the descendants of Jacob Henry Lighter and his wife, Sarah Ann Strickler. Pages 66–68 provide information about their children, including birth dates, marriages, residences, occupations, and the names of their children....
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From Militsary Records to Music

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Telling George Mentzer's Story with AI Have you ever considered turning your genealogical research into a song? Recently, I've been experimenting with using artificial intelligence to tell the stories of my ancestors in different ways. My latest experiment involved George Mentzer , a Civil War veteran who served in Company C of the 24th Massachusetts Infantry. What started with his military service record eventually became a song—and then a YouTube video! Starting with a Military Service Record As genealogists, we spend considerable time locating, transcribing, and analyzing historical documents. While those records provide valuable information about our ancestors, they aren't always particularly interesting to family members who don't share our enthusiasm for genealogy. George Mentzer's compiled military service record consists of 28 pages documenting his service in the Union Army during the Civil War. The records contain information about his enlistment, military ...
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Monday's Diggings

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The Story Behind an Obituary — Pauline's Notes for Her Father Have you ever wondered how much information gets left out of an obituary? Or whether the information published in a newspaper matches what the family originally provided? Among my family papers is a collection of handwritten notes created by my grandmother, Pauline Mentzer Briles, following the death of her father, Charles O. Mentzer, in August 1955. At first glance, these pages appear to be several attempts to write an obituary. However, as I examined them more closely, I discovered that they contain much more than biographical information. They also include notes about the funeral service, the pallbearers, and relatives and friends who attended. Fortunately, I also have newspaper obituaries from the Iola Register , Yates Center News , and Emporia Gazette , along with Charles's Kansas death certificate. Together, these documents provide an opportunity to compare what Pauline wrote with what was eventually published—...
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