Nancy H. Vest, Writer

Sharing Stories and Wisdom from Generation to Generation

  • Home
  • About Nancy
  • Growing Up Years Journal
  • Blog
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Marking Your Milestones

in Uncategorized

52 Ancestors: A Surprise Uncle

Share

The prompt for this week is: Surprise!

One of my early surprises in genealogy research involved my dad, Charles L. HEISER (1913-2001).

Not long after I became interested in family history, my parents took me on a road trip to York County, Pennsylvania to do some research. This was in the dark ages when we had to actually go to where the records were. LOL

Pennsylvania Welcomes You highway sign. Sign is blue with white letters and a green symbol

Why York County?

My dad’s mother, Goldie Price HEISER (1893-1919), died in 1919 when my dad was five. You can read about it here. My widowed grandfather, Dan HEISER (1882-1974), took my dad’s sisters with him to York County where his own parents had relocated to several years before. Dan married a widow there with children of her own, Maria KERCHNER HESS HEISER (1880-1951), and a blended family was formed.

My dad didn’t go with them. Instead, he lived with his mother’s parents, Montgomery and Sallie PRICE, in Frederick, Maryland. It’s unclear why he stayed with his grandparents, but there are a few theories.

Back to the trip and the surprise

We went to the York County Historical Society, I believe. I was flipping through a folder of papers. I don’t know if it was a surname folder or what, but I came across a newspaper clipping of some kind.

Whatever it was, the clipping named an Elmer Heiser (1921-1925) along with my grandfather and Maria. Wait a minute, I thought to myself. I knew Dan and Maria had a son together named Ralph because I’d met Ralph a few times as a child. You can read about him here. I didn’t know about Elmer.

Color photo of young blonde boy in a gray vest, pink shirt, and blue pants holding a book. He has mouth open wide like he's surprised.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash unsplash-logo
Ben White

“Dad,” I said. “You didn’t tell me you had another brother.” My dad looked at me dumbfounded. “Elmer,” I said.

Dad looked like he was searching his mental filing cabinet for the information. “I guess I forgot about him. I never met him. He was born and died before I saw my father and sisters again.”

Afterthoughts

I honestly don’t remember what document I saw that day, but I remember seeing the names on the paper and the look on my dad’s face when I brought up Elmer. I’ve found documentation about Elmer since, and I wrote about him here.

Frankly, at the time I was stunned that a person could forget about a brother, but as I matured I understood it. My parents lost a premature son several years before I was born. He only lived a few hours. I often forget about him, probably because he wasn’t ever a part of my life.

What surprises have you come across in your family history?

Copyright © 2019 Nancy H. Vest   All Rights Reserved

Share
Click here to subscribe to my nearly weekly newsletter and receive a free e-book, Write Your First Life Story Today
« Unusual Middle Names
Romance in the 1910’s »

Comments

  1. Charles Moore says

    February 13, 2019 at 12:42 pm

    That was a great find. I have had way too many surprises while doing my family research. By the way much of it in Pennsylvania, Potter County. I write about them once in a while in my blog. It was the hidden secrets that got me started as neither my mother or father would talk or answer questions about their family, so I started digging and have been for about 50 years now.

    Reply
    • Nancy H. Vest says

      February 13, 2019 at 4:51 pm

      Thanks for you comments! Family secrets can spur on a lot of research, can’t it. I’ve uncovered some doozies over the years. I bet you have, too.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to my nearly weekly newsletter via email and receive a free e-book, Write Your First Life Story Today.

Most Used Tags

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Baltimore Carroll County Chesterfield County Christmas Civil War Columbia Cotton mill farmer Farming Fort Jackson Frederick Frederick County Ft. Jackson grandparents Keeping Grandma Alive Keepsakes Kershaw County Lexington County Marlboro County Maryland Monocacy Cemetery Montgomery County North Carolina Pennsylvania Photos Richland County South Carolina Surname: Burroughs Surname: Davis Surname: Futrell Surname: Grant Surname: Griffin Surname: Heiser Surname: Hillard Surname: Jeffords Surname: Lee Surname: Martin Surname: Price Surname: Pyles Surname: Terry Surname: Thomas Virginia World War 1 World War 2

Archives

Categories

GeneaBloggers

Share:

Share

Copyright © 2023 · Market theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2023 · Created and maintained by Bakerview Consulting