Researching the Origin of Dingman, My Mother’s Surname

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I recently accessed the website NomOrigine looking for information on the genealogy, meaning, and origin of the Dingman surname, my mother’s maiden name. The link for my search: https://en.nomorigine.com/origin-of-surname/dingman/

Screen shot of the NomOrigine Website. NOTE: A small fee is charged to create a report on the origins of a surname.

What is the origin of the surname Dingman?

The last name “Dingman” is of Dutch and German origin. It is derived from the Germanic personal name “Dingeman,” which is composed of two elements: “ding,” meaning “thing” or “assembly,” and “man,” meaning “man” or “person.” Thus, the name “Dingman” originally referred to someone who was associated with a court or assembly of people, suggesting a person involved with legal matters or administrative duties. Over time, the name may have undergone variations in spelling and pronunciation as it was passed down through generations and across different regions.

The meaning and origin of the name Dingman

The surname Dingman is of Dutch origin with various spelling variations like Dingmans, Dingemans, and Dingemens. It is a patronymic surname derived from the given name Dingeman, which itself is a combination of the Germanic elements “ding” meaning “thing” or “assembly” and “man” meaning “man.” The name Dingeman was commonly used as a personal name in the Middle Ages, particularly in the Netherlands and Flanders regions. The Dingman surname suggests that it originally designated someone who was associated with an assembly or meetings, possibly indicating a role as a judge, official, or someone involved in local governance. Over time, the surname has spread across different parts of the world through migration and historical events. Today, individuals with the Dingman surname can be found in various countries, particularly in North America, where Dutch settlers brought the name during colonial times.

Geographic distribution of the surname Dingman

The last name Dingman has a fairly limited geographical distribution, primarily concentrated in the United States and Canada. Within the United States, the majority of individuals with the last name Dingman can be found in the Midwestern states, particularly in the states of Michigan and Wisconsin. Other states in the Midwest, such as Ohio and Illinois, also have a notable presence of Dingmans. In Canada, the last name Dingman is predominantly found in the province of Ontario. Outside of North America, the distribution of the last name Dingman is quite sparse. However, there may be a small number of individuals with this last name scattered in other parts of the world, possibly due to migration or familial ties. Overall, the geographical distribution of the last name Dingman is relatively localized, with its strongest presence in the United States and Canada, particularly in the Midwest region.

Variants and spellings of the surname Dingman

The last name Dingman, although relatively uncommon, does have a few variations and potential spellings. Some variations of the name include Dengman, Dangman, Dingham, Dangeman, and Dangmann. These variations may have originated from different regions, dialects, or cultural backgrounds, resulting in slight modifications to the spelling over time. Additionally, regional accents and pronunciation differences can further contribute to variations in the name’s spelling. While Dingman is the most commonly used spelling, it is important to note that surnames can evolve and change throughout generations due to immigration, migration, or personal preferences. Thus, it is possible to encounter alternative spellings like Dinkman, Dinkmann, Dinkmon, or even Dinckman. Ultimately, despite the existence of different variations, all these spellings are likely to represent genealogical branches of the same ancestral name.

Famous personalities with the last name Dingman

One well-known figure with the last name Dingman is James Dingman, a prominent American entrepreneur and investor. He gained recognition as the founder and CEO of Dingman Company, a successful investment firm based in New York. James Dingman is esteemed for his astute business acumen and his ability to identify lucrative investment opportunities. His expertise in the field has earned him a reputation as a trusted advisor and influential figure in the world of finance. Another notable individual with the last name Dingman is Robert Dingman, a former professional ice hockey player from Canada. Robert Dingman enjoyed a prolific career as a forward in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was known for his exceptional speed, agility, and scoring ability, making him a valuable asset to the teams he played for. Throughout his career, Dingman contributed significantly to his teams’ success, earning him a place among the celebrated athletes in the history of ice hockey.

Genealogical research on the last name Dingman

The Dingman surname can be traced back to its German origins. It is believed to have originated from the personal name “Dietmar,” which means “famous and renowned” in German. The name Dingman has evolved over time, with variations such as Dinkmann and Dinkelman. The earliest recorded instances of the Dingman name can be found in the 14th and 15th centuries in Germany. The Dingman family likely resided in the region of Westphalia, where many individuals with the surname were found. Over time, some Dingmans migrated to other parts of Europe, including the Netherlands. In the 17th century, a group of Dingmans immigrated to North America, specifically what is now the United States. They settled primarily in the colonies of New York and Pennsylvania, later branching out into other parts of the country. Many Dingmans were engaged in farming and agricultural work. Today, the Dingman surname can still be found in various countries around the world, although it is most commonly associated with the United States. Many individuals with this surname may have diverse ancestries and family histories, contributing to the rich tapestry of the Dingman name.

Surname distribution maps

It is sometimes possible to infer the origin of a surname by examining geographical distribution maps of names. These maps visually show the places where surnames have appeared over time. For genealogists, this method provides a starting point for research in the country of origin, especially when it is difficult to find this information in the documents of the new country of residence. This approach is particularly effective for rare surnames and in the case of families that have lived in the same regions of Europe for centuries.

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Tragedy in Orebro, Sweden

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Sometime during the 1970s, I made a trip to Sweden as engineering editor of Foundry Magazine. One of the stops I made was at the iron foundry where Volvo made its engine castings.

Another stop was at a training center in the city of Orebro in central Sweden. Today a New York Times news item popped up on my computer under the headline “At Least 10 Are Killed at School Shooting in Sweden.” The article reported that the shooting took place at a center for adult education in the city of Orebro on Tuesday (04 Feb 2025). The police said they believed that the shooter was among the wounded in the attack.

At a news conference, the Swedish police said they believed that the shooter was among the wounded, but did not offer further details on a motive or the person’s identity. They said the shooter most likely acted alone and was not affiliated with a gang and was not known to the police.

According to the Times report, images in Swedish news outlets earlier in the day showed dozens of police cars surrounding the center’s campus. The police reportedly locked down several other schools in the area as part of their response.

While we in America have experience many such incidents in recent years, school shootings are relatively rare in Sweden.

Certainly this situation is far different from the peaceful area that I remember from my brief visit decades ago.

RIP NEOCAG

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NEOCAG has been one of the genealogical groups that I have belonged to for several years. The acronym NEOCAG stands for Northeastern Ohio Computer Added Genealogy.

NEOCAG held its last meeting on Saturday, 08 Jun 2024 (I am using the preferred genealogical date format, in case you are wondering). NEOCAG is merging into CAGG, which is the Computer Assisted Genealogy Group. CAGG was founded first and met in the Rocky River Library on the Westside of Cleveland. NEOCAG was formed for genealogists who lived on the Eastside of Cleveland and didn’t want to make the 10 to 15 mile drive to the Westside.

One of the founders of NEOCAG was Rus Cooper, and I considered him a mentor early on in my pursuit of my family history. Near the end of his life, he moved to Rochester, New York, and that is where my daughter and her family live.

Although I never met up with Rus after he mov ed to in Rochester, I did learn from him what resources were available at the Rochester Public Library for possible research. This was important because I have many family members and ancestors who lived in New York state. And I was researching them before New York birth and marriage records were available online. And guess what, the Rochester Public Library had them on microfilm. I was able to access some important records for family members during a couple of visits with my daughter and her family.

Sisu Comments Two Days in a Row

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Twice in two days people have commented on the Sisu sticker on the rear window of my Honda Odyssey. What a coincidence!

Yesterday (25 May 2024) , a visitor at my neighbor’s said she had seen the movie Sisu produced in Finland. We discussed the various meanings of the Finnish word Sisu such as guts, determination, and perseverance. She agreed that all these words were depicted in the movie, which had a limited run in Cleveland movie theaters in April 2023. Synopsis: The hero was a Finnish military veteran who was prospecting for gold in northern Finland. He found gold early in the movie (created and filmed on location in Finland with mostly Finnish actors) and the rest of the movie depicted his desperate attempts at protecting it until he could get it to a bank.

For a discussion of the term sisu, go to Sisu – Wikipedia. Wikipedia also had details on the creation of the movie at Sisu (film) – Wikipedia

This morning (26 May 2024), while I was on a shopping trip, a car pulled up next to me at a stop light and the driver gave me a thumbs up sign. When I rolled down my window, the young man said he liked my window sticker. He said his mother was of Finnish Ancestry and he knew about Sisu. I explained that my Finnish ancestry was on my father’ s side (his parents emigrated to America from Finland in 1902 and 1903).

The stop light turned green and he held up his fist and said “Sisu Strong” before driving off.

Doing Deed Research in Cuyahoga County from Home

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Recently I became interested in learning the details of the sale of an empty lot near my home in Brecksville in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

When I became involved in genealogy nearly three decades ago, I visited the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s office in downtown Cleveland and did a bit research in the deed books.

Later, the deeds in Cuyahoga County were digitized all the way back to the formation of the county in 1810. The digitized deed database was eventually made available online and I did a little more research. Those research efforts didn’t amount to a lot because very few relatives lived in the county before I arrived in 1960.

In 2011, the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Office became part of the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Office, along with the Auditor’s Office, in a sweeping reorganization of the county governing structure. The resulting website covers all the functions of county government, and I found it a bit confusing when I tried to find how to search for deeds. Finally, fellow Genealogical Committee member Jean Hoffman supplied the link directly to the Property Search function. It is https://cuyahoga.oh.publicsearch.us/. The resulting search window is very user-friendly. And there is a note at the top of the opening page that all document downloads are free unless a certified document is needed.

I was able to satisfy my curiosity about the details of the neighboring lot sale.

I then I decided to check on my step-grandfather Don A Stafford and whatever property he might have owned in Cleveland. My Grandmother Grace married Don in 1943, and I had visited them at their home on East 89th St in about 1946. She passed away in 1948.

Don married a total of five times with Grace being the middle spouse. He kept in touch with our family following her death and I later met his two additional wives. Don moved to Florida in 1959 where he passed away in 1967.

I inserted Don A Stafford in the search window and came up with 47 listings for him between 1914 and 1956. He filed many deeds to list his wives — including Grace — and two sons and a daughter — as co-owners. Others listed him as a grantor in a property sale.

I am now in the process of looking at each document resulting from the Property Search. It will take some time to analyze all 47 items.

Researching My Connection to The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia

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A couple days ago, I asked the Chat feature of Microsoft Bing to write a short report on “Greenbrier Resort Through the Years,” Here is the result:

“The Greenbrier Resort is a National Historic Landmark and world-class resort that has been welcoming guests from around the world since 17781. The resort is located in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia2. The Greenbrier was known by the name White Sulphur Springs for the first 125 years3. It was the chosen place for relaxation by several Presidents through the years, and it also served as a secret fallout shelter for the US Congress during the Cold War4.”

The Greebrier Resort, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia

Why was I interested in The Greenbrier, a high-end resort? I had just learned that the Cleveland Browns professional football team was undergoing their 2023 National Football League preseason training camp at the Greenbrier. Apparently, other NFL teams have done the same in earlier years.

In a Jul 22 2023 interview on WKYC Channel 3 (the NBC affiliate in Cleveland) I saw Coach Kevin Stefanski explain that the team decided to hold the training camp at the resort to foster teambuilding. Apparently, the team believes that having the players and staff living together away from home for several days would help players and coaches learn more about each other and build togetherness.

When I first learned that the Browns were going to the Greenbrier for teambuilding, I had a flashback to 1963 when my employer, Penton Publishing Co, based in Cleveland, decided to take the entire staff of Foundry magazine to the Greenbrier for a sales meeting.

The stated goal for the meeting was also teambuilding. The president of Penton and various magazine staff members gave presentations to the group. And, of course, many of the staff members brought their golf clubs and enjoyed afternoon rounds of golf during the meeting.

At the time, I was a relatively new employee, with the title of Engineering Editor. I had graduated from Case Institute of Technology in June of 1960 with a degree in metallurgical engineering. As an undergraduate, the focus of my study was foundry technology, and I had a small scholarship from the Foundry Educational Foundation to help with tuition.

To round out my research, I asked Bing Chat to create a brief history of Foundry magazine: Here is that additional report: “John Augustus Penton was an iron molder by trade who began developing a trade publication to serve the casting industry. In 1892 he published the first issue of Foundry in Detroit. In 1901 John Penton moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to head the Iron and Steel Press Company. It published Foundry magazine and another magazine then called the Iron Trade Review, which eventually became Industry Week1,2.” 

I was interested to see that both Bing Chat “reports” included superscripts linking them to information sources. I have left the superscripts in the reports above, but removed the links to the sources, which include the Greenbrier website and Wikipedia.com, among others. The inclusion of sources in Bing Chat differed from my experience with the AI chatbot ChatGPT, which didn’t provide footnote links in the few cases I have used it.

For comparison, I opened a ChatGPT conversation with the following: “Greenbrier Resort through the years.” The result was longer than the Bing Chat report and included some interesting discussion about the resort in the American Civil War and details of the Cold War Bunker (see the reference to the fallout shelter above). Here is a link to my ChatGPT conversation: https://chat.openai.com/share/9c59c9a0-ecb2-49aa-ae2d-354ca6e29335

A historical note: The paternal grandparents of Mary Jane VanCourt Huskonen (my late wife) came to Richmond Center in Ashtabula County, Ohio, from the tiny town of Ellenboro in Ritchie County, West Virginia. I used Google Maps to learn that the drive time from White Sulphur Springs to Ellenboro would be about 3 hours covering a little over 160 miles.

Another historical note: The only other time I have been to West Virginia was also related to my employment at Penton when I went to Parkersburg in northwestern West Virginia. That was before I became involved in family history and knew about Ritchie County and the homestead of Daniel S. VanCourt (MJ’s great grandfather) and his large family. Sadly, we never visited any distant relatives in West Virginia.

My Introduction to ChatGPT

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Today, I was introduced to the power of ChatGPT by my grandson who is an IT professional. He is convinced that it is an important demonstration of the power of artificial intelligence (AI). “

He signed into it on his iPhone and asked me to suggest a question to ask. I suggested: “What is Pymatuning Lake.” I grew up in Andover, Ohio, which abuts the state line between Ohio and Pennsylvania in Ashtabula County. It prides itself on being the “Gateway to Pymatuning Lake.”

Quick Search Result from ChatGPT

Within seconds, the app came back with the following statement:

“Pymatuning Lake is a reservoir located in the northwestern part of Pennsylvania in the United States, along the border with Ohio. It was created in 1933 by the construction of the Pymatuning Dam on the Shenango River. The lake covers an area of approximately 17,000 acres and has a maximum depth of 30 feet.

“The lake is a popular destination for recreational activities such as boating, fishing, camping, and hiking. It is home to a wide3 variety of fish species, including walleye, bass, catfish, and muskellunge, and is known for its excellent fishing opportunities. The Pymatuning State Park,. Located on the lake’s shore, offers many amenities such as campgrounds, beaches, and picnic areas, making it a popular destination for families and camping enthusiasts.”

That was a concise overview of the subject, containing 123 words. It would be sufficient for many situations.

Versus Wikipedia

Normally, I would look up such a question on Wikipedia.com. Here is Wikipedia’s entry:

“Pymatuning Reservoir is a man-made lake in Crawford County, Pennsylvania and Ashtabula County, Ohio in the United States, on land that was once a very large swamp.[2] Much of it is incorporated into two state parks: Pymatuning State Park in Pennsylvania, and Pymatuning State Park in Ohio.[1]

“History —The first known inhabitants were the Mound builders. Two of their mounds were flooded by the creation of Pymatuning Lake. The Lenape were living in the area when European settlers first came there. The lake is named for the chief who lived in the area at the time, Pihmtomink. The Lenape were pushed out of the area by the Seneca tribe, a member of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Seneca were defeated by General Anthony Wayne’s forces during the Northwest Indian War and left the area under the terms of the Treaty of Greenville. This treaty marked the end of Native Americans inhabiting the area.[3]

“The first settlers to the area were farmers, whose life was not easy, as the land was very swampy and very difficult to reclaim. Farm animals that wandered off were often lost in the quicksands of the swamp, or fell prey to predators like foxes, bears and mountain lions. The swamps were infested with mosquitoes that brought yellow fever to the settlers.[3]

“An unsolved murder case is associated with the then Pymatuning Swamp: in 1932 by herpetologist Norman Edouard Hartweg, while he was searching for reptiles, ran into a body of a lady. The police concluded that she had been murdered elsewhere, but her identity was never confirmed, nor the murderer identified.[4]

“Dam and lake–“Building a dam on the Shenango River was first explored in 1911. A massive flood in 1913 caused $3 million in damage and took several lives. The Pennsylvania General Assembly approved a budget of $1.2 million to build at dam across the Shenango, but Governor John K. Tener slashed the budget to just $100,000.[3]

“The Pennsylvania legislature took action again in 1917, this time approving a $400,000 budget under the condition that the needed land in Ohio be purchased by the private sector. The Pymatuning Land Company was formed and raised the funds to purchase the needed Ohio properties. The land was finally acquired in full by 1931 when Governor Gifford Pinchot approved $1.5 million to complete the dam. 7,000 men began work on the dam in 1931 and the project was completed in 1934, with a final total cost of $3,717,739. The lake now holds 64.3 billion US gallons (243,000,000 m3) of water, covering 17,088 acres (69.15 km2) over a length of 17 miles (27 km) with a width of 1.6 miles (2.6 km) at the widest and 70 miles (110 km) of shoreline, with a maximum depth of 35 feet (11 m). The lake has served to provide a water supply for the Shenango and Beaver valleys, it has lessened the damage caused by floods, and provided recreation for the people of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Two state parks, each named “Pymatuning State Park”, are on the lake in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

“A scenic 2-mile-long causeway bridge spans the middle of the lake, connecting the towns of Espyville on the Pennsylvania side of the lake and Andover on the Ohio side. The bridge is crowned in the middle, with tall pillars and broad ducts underneath to allow lakewater to flow freely across the reservoir, and to permit the passage of sailboats and other pleasure craft travelling from one half of the lake to the other. The bridge is also equipped with small concrete and earthen pull-offs large enough for several vehicles apiece, with concrete staircases and walkways below the parking spaces to allow travelers to stroll down and fish or sightsee beside the bridge.

“The Pennsylvania portion also has a spillway separating the (higher) upstream-most portion of the lake from the rest. A parking area along the spillway serves a popular warm-weather attraction commonly known as “where the ducks walk on the fish” because visitors throw bread to the thousands of carp and Canada geese who congregate there.”

That explanation consists of 677 words and might be better for certain research situations, with its more comprehensive discussion of facts and history. Also, it has several references listed for additional review.

I will continue to refer questions to Wikipedia, especially ones involving geography. I find that Wikipedia has the information I am looking for about a town, a city, a county, or a state for genealogical research. But I will be checking the free version of ChatGPT for quick searches.

But What Is ChatGPT?

Using Google, I found this simple explanation by ZDNet.com, an online computer testing and researching website: “ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by AI technology that allows you to have human-like conversations and much more with the chatbot. The language model can answer questions and assist you with tasks like composing emails, essays, and code.

“ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, an AI and research company. The company launched ChatGPT on Nov. 30, 2022.

“Usage is currently open to the public free of charge because ChatGPT is in its research and feedback-collection phase. As of Feb. 1 (2023), there is also a paid subscription version called ChatGPT Plus.”

New Online Databases Reveal WWII Cousin Casualties In Finland

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OK, so the online databases I’m writing about aren’t brand new; they were just new to me. Finding them recently reminds me to check online from time to time for records of interest.
Here’s the back story: In June of 2018, I visited Finland for the annual gathering of Finnish Americans known as FinnFest. It was to be the first time it would be held outside of the United States. I lined up some visits with Finnish cousins to create my Heritage Tour of a Lifetime.

One of the sites we visited was the church and cemetery in Vesanto, the town and parish from which my paternal grandparents emigrated to the U.S. early in the 20th century. Heli, my second cousin, showed me the headstones of her parents and grandparents.

Wally Huskonen and his cousin Heli in Vesanto Cemetery

Next to the church (see below) I noticed rows of neatly maintained headstones. Heli and the others I was touring with weren’t fluent in English and I speak almost no Finnish, so I didn’t ask any questions about the rows of headstones.

Vesanto Parish Church with memorial headstones in the foreground.

With the current events in Ukraine, and Finland’s decision to join NATO, I decided to do some research on the Winter War in 1939-1940 during which the Soviet Union attacked Finland. Though vastly outnumbered and out-gunned, the Finnish forces managed to fight the Soviets to a standstill.

Were those headstones in Vesanto part of remembering casualties of the Winter War? Did I have any cousins who lost their lives in this and two later conflicts through 1945?

After stumbling around on the internet, I accessed the FamilySearch Wiki and clicked on Military Records under Record Types. I found two sets of Online Resources:

• 1938-1944 Finland, Second World War Casualties at MyHeritage – index ($)
• 1939-1945 Finland, WWII Military Casualties, 1939-1945 at Ancestry – index & images, ($)

Clicking through to the Ancestry.com resource, I came to “Finland, World War II Military Casualties,
1939-1945;” a database provided to Ancestry.com by the National Archives of Finland, with the caveat
that the records were in Finnish. I entered into the search box only the terms: Huuskonen (my family
name in Finland} and Vesanto (see above).

This search resulted in 48 Finns from Vesanto and nearby towns who were military casualties in 1939
through 1945. Wow! What do I do next?

I created a research or speculative tree in Ancestry.com entitled “Vesanto WWII Casualties.” My process would be to add one person by name with birth and dates as the home person in this tree. I would add each additional subject as a brother to the home person, then remove that sibling relationship. Even-
tually the result would be 48 free-standing persons in the tree. The objective would be to see what “hints” I might get from Ancestry.com with information about each person and his family connections. Hints for online public family trees would be especially valuable. Ancestry.com also has other Finnish record collections that might be useful in learning about each person.

Using this approach, one of my first searches was for Pentti Ilmari Huuskonen. I got a hit for him from a tree created on Ancestry.com by Riikka, a cousin, so I knew the system worked. Her tree provided Pentti’s parents and other relatives. Soon I learned that Pentti’s younger brother also was a casualty. Pentti Ilmari and Simo Aulis Huuskonen were two of five children of Ville and Hilda Gustava Huuskonen. Losing them must have been devastating to this family.

Death record of Pentti Illmari Huskonen from the National Archives of Finland. Image retrieved from a database on Ancestry.com

How was I related to Pentti and Simo? After I transferred the brothers’ profiles into my main Ancestry.com family tree, Ancestry.com calculated and provided the answer. I was a fifth cousin once removed. Our common ancestor was Johan Pehrsson Huuskonen who lived from 1688 to 1764 in the same area of Finland. The MyHeritage data search yielded similar results since the source data was the same, provided by the National Archives of Finland.

When I followed up with a Google Search for Finland WWII casualties, I learned about the website
WarSampo: Finnish World War II on the Semantic Web. This website is a project of Aalto University in Finland. It uses the same database of WWII casualties from the National Archives of Finland but transcribes the records into English. And it is free!

Source: Casualties database: http://kronos.narc.fi/menehtyneet/

In addition, WarSampo has created a searchable database of military cemeteries complete with the names of “Buried People.” For Vesanto, it provides four photographs of the church and the nearby memorial headstones that I saw on my 2018 visit. Included in the associated listing of 134 “Buried People” are Pentti Ilmari Huuskonen and his brother Simo Aulis. Many of the family names in this list, such as Korhonen, Hytönen, Liimatainen, and Simonen, among others, occur in my family tree, so I will be working to see to whom I might be related.

I wish these online resources had been available five years ago before I made my Heritage Tour of a Lifetime to Finland. I would have been more prepared to discuss this aspect of family history with my
cousins.

I’ll conclude by repeating this takeaway: Keep checking for new databases and resources. They are being added online regularly.

Searching for Ada in the 1950 Census

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Ada Stokes was a good friend of my mother, Mary Jane Dingman Huskonen. For some reason, I became interested in trying to find Ada in the 1950 Census a couple months ago. This was more of a problem than I expected. It turns out I didn’t recollect her family name correctly. My other key fact was that I believed she lived in Kent, Portage County, Ohio. Also, I was guessing that she was born in 1908, since that was my mother’s birth year. Using Ancestry.com with its updated indexing of the 1950 Census, I tried what I thought I recollected, but came up with no results.

I was sure that I recollected her name as Ada Burton, and her husband was Richard or Dick. I had met them when my mom and dad visited them, and they visited us during my growing up years in Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio,. In that first search, I used Ada Burton; living in Kent, Portage, Ohio; female, born in 1908. But obviously my recollection wasn’t perfect, hence no success.

A few days ago, something clicked in my memory bank. Could their name have been Stokes rather than Burton? How that popped up, I don’t know. Anyway, I tried looking in the 1950 Census for Ada Stokes, female, born 1908, living in Kent, Portage, Ohio. Still no success.

I tried a different approach: looking in the 1950 Census for Ada (using only her first name); female, born in 1908; living in Kent, Portage, Ohio. Using just these bare facts, I found her misindexed as Ada Stoker <sic> in the 1950 census, the eighth listing in the results list. When I opened this entry, I knew I had found Ada.

The listing provided this information: Ada M Stoker <sic>, Age 43, Birth Date 1907, Gender Female, Race White, Birth Place Ohio, Marital Status Married, Relation to Head of House Wife, Home in 1950 Kent, Portage, Ohio, Street Name Walcatt Ave, Dwelling Number 140, Occupation Cook, Industry Fraternity House, Occupation Category Working, Hours Worked 36.

Household members: included Robert B Stokes, head of household, age 43; Richard E Stokes, son, age 13; and Virginia M Stokes, daughter, age 12. (Note: I’m correcting the misindexing of these entries from Stoker to Stokes.) There was one more important family member: Edna B Schmitt, age 68, mother-in-law, which gave me a possible maiden name for Ada.

So with this 1950 Census information, I was able to find records for Ada’s birth as Ada Marie Schmitt and her marriage to Robert B. Stokes.

Ada M Schmitt, from Ancestry.com

In searching for information on Robert, I learned that his middle name was Burton and he often went by the nickname of Burt. Whoa! I wasn’t completely misremembering, just off a little.

I created the Schmitt-Stokes Family Tree on Ancestry.com to research for ancestors and descendants of Ada and Burt. Ancestry.com yielded everything I needed. They appeared in family trees created by others, but after a few hours of research, I believe that my research tree has more complete information.

Thanks to Ancestry.com and the 1950 Census, I longer have to wonder about Ada.

This article was originally posted by the author on his blog at http://www.collectingancestors.com/