the same picture that was in Grandma's box

Steve went to high school and played basketball with Ray Goodwin. Ray was and is a gentle giant. He married Sue and as young couples we became good friends. Sue loved genealogy so we shared experiences and stories. Sue and Ray moved to San Diego so he could go to law school and we visited them there when Stephanie and Brett were very young. After law school they moved to Denver, Colorado and we didn't see them very often. One day we got a call that Sue had been killed while on a genealogy trip back east. She had been hit by, I think a flat-bed semi-trailer truck. I have said that I am often alone on these trips and so this particular experience moved me. They had waited a long time for children and now she was gone. Steve couldn't go to Denver so I thought I would drive and while there look for my Great Grandmother Hannah Groat Lillie's sisters, Abigail Groat Fennell (Thomas), Winnifred Groat Whitney (William), Henrietta Groat Riley (Thomas), who had moved directly from Ontario to Denver, and Louisa Groat Knowlton (George) who it appears, had moved to California, before she moved to Colorado. From the census she was the first to immigrate in 1884, the rest in the early 1900's. I had found their names in their mother, Elizabeth Adams Groat's, will. There were ten girls and many, many years later I found a son James, on the records of the Norfolk Church in Guelph. I don't know where he went, but probably he died early, as he wasn't listed in his mother's will. Ten girls are very hard to track, they marry and leave not a trace, and who would have thought that they moved all the way to Colorado, four of them, none the less. One Mary Jane Groat Clos lived and died in Bellingham, Washington. That was another adventure, but this time for my sister-in-law Myrna and I. Well I had small children so I knew I could only be gone a few days. I love to drive and after all I was going with the "Cruiser." I almost need a moment of silence at this point. A ten hour trip is not daunting ... a time to think. I got there late and checked into a motel. The next morning I had a few hours so I headed to the Denver Public Library with the name of one descendant, Carl F. Schumaker, who may possibly be still living. In 1983 I had looked through Denver Directories and Census records and in the 1920 Census was Carl 1 8/12 year old living with his 19 year old mother Olive Shumaker and Thomas and Abigail Fennell (Abigail and Olive are to the right), sixty three and sixty year old. I might have had two hours for my library search and from the moment I entered until I left everything fell in place. Every book, every film gave me information. I never touched a source that didn't provide details of the family. In the Rocky Mountain News I found an obituary for Carl Fred Schumacher, who died at forty-seven of cancer. He was my one lead, or so I had hoped, but in addition to the names of his children and spouse was the name of a sister Mrs. L.W. Herren of Lakewood and a brother William R. Schumacher of Denver. I didn't know where Lakewood was so I went to the phone book to see if I could find William (Bill). Yes, he was there. I dialed his number and yes this was his family, but he told me his sister Frances (Herren) knew more of the family than he did and promptly gave me Fran's number. I called and went to her home and she had stories and pictures of all the family, all the sisters of Hannah and their family. Abigail's son Bob had been the first to come to the United States, first to Arizona because of his asthma, and then to Colorado, when Arizona hadn't brought relief. When Bob was situated, Fran said Abigail left Canada and her husband and brought the children to Denver. The census records indicated they immigrated the same year, 1907. Winney (Winnifred) had died in Pueblo after being institutionalized for female problems, something that would never happen now. I have her medical records. Louisa or Lou had a daughter Jennie (Jennie Adams Knowlton West), who was married briefly to Claude. Fran called her Aunt Bannie. Aunt Etta had a dog who wouldn't bark and a parrot who swore. ... Charlie , Abigail's son, married Ethel May Hill (May) in Canada, but lived for many years in Los Angeles. Fran told me that he was a developer and a builder and one of his daughters married first a man who struck oil and then she married Russell Tracy, Cecil B. DeMille's business manager. The internet says the business manager was John Fisher ... more research to do. When Fran went out there they ate at the Brown Derby and they knew all the stars. Well there were lots of stories. The one of the Lord of the Manor and the young maid I will leave for another post. I love a good story! When we went into Fran's bedroom she had all her family pictures laid out on the bed and amongst them was one picture that was very, very familiar. The same picture that was in my Grandmother Lillie's box (above on the left) and I never knew who they were. On the back of the picture is written, "Dad's cousins Finals." Who were the Finals? I had examined the picture so many times. I had wanted to put names to faces, but I didn't know how I was going to do it. One of the pictures was of Abigail and Olive, another of all the Fennell, not Final, "kids." Fran and I went to the Crown Hill Cemetary where are buried, Abigail and Thomas, Robert , Louisa and Jennie and I am sure others. Henrietta (Etta) not there! It seemed like she was a "wanderer." It took me many years to find Etta. In fact, that piece of the puzzle was solved only in the past two years and after many frustrating hours and years of research. I have now found all of the them ... those Groat "girls" and their children. All the way from Ontario to Colorado. Not one wrong film, not one wrong book, not one wrong phone call in two days. So close to me for so many years and it took the death of a sweet friend to get me there. Fran has since passed away. I haven't been back to Denver, but one trip was worth the drive for so many reasons. These searches may sound obsessive to some. I think it is a wonderful journey and I have met so many wonderful people along the way.