Daniel Wenger, 5th Cousin or So

I had an opportunity to work with the Amgen Tour of California, a professional bike race, February 14-17. My assignment on Monday was Santa Cruz, a coastal town in northern California.

I had corresponded with Daniel Wenger a number of times over the years. Since he lived in Santa Cruz I made a point to alert him to my presence and my assignment (Bay @ Anthony). Ture to schedule, he showed up to say hello but had to leave before the race came through.

Barry and Daniel

Daniel and I are 5th cousins, once removed, through Rev. Christian Wenger and Maria Weaver and through Henry Light, Jr., and Magdalena Funk. And we're also 7th cousins, once removed through Hans (John) Wenger and Ann Shirk. And maybe through two different lines. Not quite sure how that one works. But it was a great to meet another cousin.

More Questions about George

George Lowmaster, the son of Frederick's Laumeister/Laumaster, left York and eventually settled in Indiana Co., Pa. But when did he leave and when did he arrive? And where was he in between?

His son, my third-great-grandfather, John Lowmaster, was born in Va. or Pennsylvania. On the 1860 and 1870 census he was listed as having been born in Virginia. The other census records lists Pennsylvania.

I long suspected that around 1813-14 George and his brother John left York and went down the Shenandoah Valley into Virginia.

I will reformat this...
Record of Geo. Lowmaster - 2 x x x 1 x 2 3 x 1Males under 10 - 2 (Levi, John)10-1616-1816-2626-45 -- 1 (George)45+FemalesUnder 10 - 2 (Catherine, Magdalena)10-16 -- 3 (Rebecca, Mary Ann, Leah)16-2626-45 - 1 (Mary Magdalena)

This also establishes the birth date for the twins. If they were born in 1802 as some researchers and the Indiana (Pa.) Gazette claimed (in 1904), they would have been on this census as 16-26 years old, not in the 10-16 year category.

This record is for the town of Bath, Va. And it all is starting to come together.

Bath is also more commonly known by the post office in the town. Since there already was a Bath, Va. in Bath Co., Virginia, this Bath also went by the name of the post office -- Berkeley Springs. Yes, the same Berkeley Springs which is on Rte 522 about 12 miles south of Hancock, Maryland.

I have to find a reference but I have one to John (brother of George) Lowmaster who was living in Berkeley Co., Virginia. Until 1820, Bath was part of Berkeley Co. Morgan Co wasn';t formed until 1820. This means a new place to look for our Lowmaster ancestors. I always assumed Martinsburg (WV) was their home since that is Berkeley Co. but now it looks like Berkeley Springs is the place.

More to come...

Seger

My interest in the SEGER line is with Annie Seger, 16 Dec 1854 - 17 Apr 1915, in western Pennsylvania. Annie's full name was Maria Ann Seger. She married Aaron States in 1871.

She is the daughter of Samuel Seger (1822-1889) and Eva Whitaker (1828-1903).

Annie was my grandma's grandma. I have a plate (ceramic?) that belonged to Annie. It was simply marked by my grandmother (my Grandma's plate).

I defer questions of research on this line to Bill Seger of St. George, UT. His email is redhen at infowest dot com (put it all together). Bill is my third cousin once removed (through Samuel Seger). He's also 3c1r thru John Lowmaster, 5c thru John Christopher Rishel, and 4c1r thru George Lowmaster, Sr. I guess we're related many ways.

Who the heck is David Forry Laumaster?

Connecting all these names is much like working on a 500 piece, well, 2,000 piece (sometimes it seems like 10,000 piece) jigsaw puzzle. You trust that you have all the pieces and eventually they all fit. But once in a while you get a strange piece that doesn't seem to fit.

...Yet you know it must...

David Forry Laumaster was born 9 Aug 1884 in York, Pa. A Laumaster from York in the 1880s is enough to establish likely probability that he is from the family of Wendel.

We don't know his father -- only his mother. His mother was Mary L. ________ who was born ca. 1863 and died between 1920 and 1930, probably in Baltimore. We find David, a fireman, living in Baltimore between 1910 and at least 1941. Around 1920, David married Rose T. ________ and apparently did not have children.

Mary remarried Charles Long around 1905.

I had hoped that by 1880 the 17 year old Mary was married to our Laumaster and they would appear on the census but I could not find such a record. The 1890 census, of course, is not available.

Any information would be greatly appreciated