--Hello list: I am looking for records of my great great grandparents,
Ernest SHANKS, b. 12-25-1867 in Clear Creek, who married my g grandmother
Vesta MEADER, b. 8-23-1869 Prarie Center, Illinois. The marriage was most
likely in Huntington. I do not have the marriage date but my g grandmother
left Ernest SHANKS and married Henry Lee VAN CLEAVE. Ernest and Vesta had
two sons, Everett, who lived in Baltimore and Paul Thomas, my grandfather,
b. 1-19-1896 in St. Louis, Michigan. They never saw their father again
although Tom and both father and stepfather moved to Monterey county,
California. Ernest and my grandfathers stepfather died the same year in
1944 in California. Their destinies seem entwined.
I have traced the MEADER line back to John MEADER, b. 1713 in Franklin,
Maine. The MEADERs are in Bank's History and I was very excited when I
started researching a year or two ago on the web and found real stories of
my ancestors. Thanks to my g grandmother Vesta, I had her father's exact
birthdate, place and full name. It has spurred my quest so I am hoping to
find a birth certificate for Ernest SHANKS and hopefully a marriage and
divorce certificate. They must have married around 1890. I think Vesta
re-married by 1910 so Ernest and Vesta must have been together long enough
to have the two boys.
I would love to find any SHANKS and heal this rift a little and anything on
Charles MEADER's family. Charles', b. 4-28-1827 in Maine, father Frank
died when Charles was 18 so he moved many places with his siblings before
settling on a 300 acre farm in Huntington. He was in the 1860 census and
his death certificate and grave should also be in Huntington. I know that
Ernest SHANKS father's name was Thomas SHANKS and his mother's name Barbara
Elizabeth but that's it. Any help appreciated -- can't afford
Ancestry.com,
Thanks, Donna Deiss, POB 7484, Santa Cruz, CA., tenantsrights(a)sbcglobal.net