VISITORS AND QUERIES
BY KAREN HANSEN
Nelson Borden from Kansas City was looking for 3 FLIES children, Gustav, Herman and Anna, who he thought were buried at the Layton Township Cemetery. I found that they were buried in the Hillsdale Cemetery at Glenwood, Iowa and are on findagrave.
Neal Hubbard from Minnesota visited looking for more information on the DERMYERS of Lincoln Township.
Joyce Hansen visited looking for the obituaries of Karstens family members, Anna MORITZ, Christina PETERSEN, and Vina WELCH.
Three Furby brothers and their wives came to the library looking for information on their ancestor John CASEY who married Margaret Neville. One Furby couple was from Florida and the others were from the Omaha area. John or Jack Casey had a saloon on the west side of Central Street; it is now 210 Antique City Drive. After it was destroyed by the February 10, 1881 fire, he moved to the east side of the street. That location is now the south half of the Post Office at 217 Antique City Drive. He sold that property on August 27, 1883 and moved to Genoa, Nebraska. On January 26, 1893, a telegram was received at Walnut saying, “J. Casey died this evening. If he has any friends there please inform them.”
John and Teresa Griffith from Ames, Iowa stopped in to inquire about his GRIFFITH family, who were from Ohio and originally from Dublin, Ireland, being related to the Griffiths at Walnut. They had already talked to Bill Griffith, so we referred John to Mary Ellen Griffith Woltmann.
Member Wayne Paulsen was a visitor to the genealogy room and was given copies of information on his STOFFELS relatives.
I helped Jay Johnson of Chanhassen, Minnesota when he came to Walnut. He is trying to discover how his wife’s great-grandfather Jeppe ANDERSEN happened to come to Walnut. In the 1880 Census he was a blacksmith living here with the Peter CARSTENSEN family. Both were listed as blacksmiths, so did Jeppe work for Carstensen in his business? Could they have met in New York?
David Osborne from Dayton, Ohio was sent obituaries and the marriage record for Andrew SCHOENEWE and Emma DREYER. Jolena Shamblen from Council Bluffs was sent many pages of information on the John ANDRESENS.
I received a phone call from David James, a new resident of Walnut, who wanted help in finding information on his great-grandfather Michael LALLY. David found the death certificate of Michael from Boston, Massachusetts and would like to prove that he was born in Galway, Ireland.
Jim Hansen worked on the query from Dennis Craney of Nashville, Tennessee. He sent a photo of the house in Walnut where his CRANEY ancestors lived, hoping to find it when he visited. Jim thinks that the house is no longer here, but found where Eliza Craney owned property by visiting the Avoca courthouse.
Manuel Gaona would like to find photos of his mother’s cousin Dolores Muñoz, who married Fred PETERSON, and lived here between 1968 and 1975. Jim Hansen was able to find photos of their son Jose Peterson in the 1972, 1973 and 1975 Walnut yearbooks when he was in 4th, 5th, and 7th grades.
KH