Six Degrees of Separation

According to Wikipedia, Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the "Human Web") refers to the idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in six steps or fewer. So this page highlights family links to well known people, candy and / or sports teams.

I started researching my family history in 1993. Most of the family elders are gone, several lived into their late 80's and even 90's. A couple are near 95 with failing memories. I often feel I'm running in slow motion against the clock before those who remember our family stories from the 19th century, but lived in the early 20th century will all be gone - it's too close already! I would like to ask several of them about these Six Degree Relationships, but no one is left who would remotely know anything. The reality of family history - we value it after those who knew are gone - taking the first person stories with them.

I have separate pages for the following family connections

Charles Follis the first paid professional football player.

Henry Landis House is a stone house built in 1750 by sixth great-grandfather Heinrich LANDIS in Ringoes, Amwell Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey has a Historic Landmark sign in front since it was a meeting place for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Another early resident was Johann Peter Rockefeller, ancestor of John D. Rockefeller 1839-1937 the oil tycoon - biography.com has Rockefeller videos. In 1932, what journalist H. L. Mencken called "the biggest story since the Resurrection" unfolded in East Amwell when Charles Lindbergh's son was kidnapped from his estate.

Place Names for Follis and Zeigler Families are on separate pages, others like Oliver Lake are included as part of the Foreman Families page.

George Washington page discusses evidence of family connections with the First President of the United States of America.

Ziegler Meeting House shows photos of the Brethren Ziegler Meeting House which celebrated its 250th Anniversary in 2007 Berks County, Pennsylvania on the immigrant Philip ZIEGLER's family farm.

Names Needing More Research

3rd cousin 4 times remove John Richard Fallis, "King of the Craw" called "the Al Capone of his era" in this oral history for Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky - Oral Historian Takes Readers Back in Time to the 'Craw' | UKNow. Frankfort is the Capital of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. His photo is here: http://www.crawfishbottom.com/wp-content/uploads/wppa/41.jpg Does it show a Follis-Fallis look? Find A Grave has John Follis 1880-1829 - killed in 1929. His Fallis grandkids discuss their grandfather in the book - Crawfish Bottom discussed here: Book shows another side of Frankfort's lost Crawfish Bottom | Books | Kentucky.com. The Google book is partially readable Crawfish Bottom: Recovering a Lost Kentucky Community by Douglas A. Boyd.

Antietam Brethren Church in the Civil War

Famous Brethren Church found online in many discusisons, books, likely even movies when mentioning the famous Civil War Battle of Antietam in Maryland. Our family connection is found in many online discussions of Elder Jacob Miller the "first Dunker Elder of Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana" ordained at the Antietam Brethren Church in 1763 Conococheague congregation. Elder Jacob Miller migrated to Franklin County, Virginia, then Montgomery County, Ohio, with Elder Hart of Twin Creek Preble County, Ohio, where my EIKENBERRY families lived, in 1809 helped organize the Four Mile Brethren Church in the Indiana Territory where my KINGERY families lived. A wider image of the 1862 battlefield is here.

 

The National Civil War Musem on Facebook is documenting the Civil War 's 150th Anniversary with these 2 photos. Little Dunker Church - A Silent Witness For Peace is the Brethren perspective of the church as witness of the famous Antietam Battle of the Civil War fought September 17, 1862, as one of the bloodiest battles in the history of this nation from the National Park Service. There is even a 3D model at Google 3D Warehouse.

Bethlehem Steel - Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant Meltdown
Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania KELKER Family Links

Many of the following locations can be seen on my Lebanon County, Pennsylvania Google map

• Content for class "imgright" Goes Here
  2nd cousin 5 times removed, Rudolph KELKER, great-grandson of Henry and Regula, of the Harrisburg KELKER's was a well known abolitionist during the slavery days. The Harrisburg KELKER's are mentioned in many early Dauphin County, Pennsylvania histories. Engletown, located in the Old Uptown Harrisburg historic district, between Harris and Kelker Streets and between N. Second and N. Third Streets, is a turn-of-the-century neighborhood and features ornate buildings primarily of Queen Anne and Italianate design. Rudolph F. Kelker was a trustee of Franklin and Marshall College in 1865. He was a Trustee and Elder of the German Reformed Church in their One Hundred and Twentieth Annual Sessions Act and Proceedings on page 15 and 16. The land he bought April 1, 1830 became Steelton and eventually Bethlehem Steel.
• Kelker Street in Harrisburg is near the Pennsylvania Governor's mansion, it separates Midtown from Old Uptown, and near Broad Street Market the oldest continually operated street market in the United States.
• Rudolph Kelker's home at 9 S Front Street, known as the Kelker Mansion, housed the Kelker family collections and The Historical Society of Dauphin County until it was torn down to build the Dauphin County Courthouse in 1941.
• Rudolph Kelker owned a barn at Barbara and River Streets where it is thought he housed runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad
• Henry A. and Rudolph F. Kelker - Harrisburg City Pass Ry in Poor's directory of railway officials and manual of American street railways, page 1234
• Rudolph F Kelker listed as owning a Sauer bible in the Early Bibles of America: being a description account of Bible published in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, by Rev John Wright DD , 1894, page 381
• John Kelker, nephew of Rudolph, and his family owned land on the Susquehanna River that became the Pennsylvania Steel Works - his photo is on page 48 Harrisburg by Linda Ries, I assume is talking about the same land Rudolph bought April 1, 1830. The Hygenic School mentions the Kelker brothers extensive land holdings in its history.
• In the History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, by third cousin four times removed Luther Riley Kelker page 44, outlines the History of the Kelker Family on page 42a, and includes descendants who named their children's middle name as Kelker such as Frederick Kelker Schwartz on page 200 and John Kelker Royal on page 219.
• Friedmanpedia photo
  
  Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, the infamous 1979 nuclear meltdown site, is only 3 miles southeast of where Rudolph Kelker lived and the current Dauphin County Courthouse. Nuclear World Association information.
• A dramatic 2010 You Tube video Meltdown at Three Mile Island Part 1
• The Walter Cronkite broadcast from 1979 is below:

Daniel Boone of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri

Daniel Boone the famous frontiersman helped clear the Wilderness Road into the Cumberland Gap which may very well be the path my FOLLIS and FOREMAN families took from Frederick County, Virginia to late 1790's Kentucky.
Some claim an Ann Fallace as the unconfirmed mother of the American Boone's a known variation of Follis

There is no direct connection with Daniel Boone found so far, but our family paths cross in many places.

Daniel's mother was Sarah Morgan of Welsh extraction. Daniel Boone was born in 1734 Berks County, Pennsylvania only 10 miles from my Christian KUNTZI family. Daniel Boone's wife Rebecca Bryan was born in 1739 Frederick County, Virginia where my FOLLIS family first surveyed land in 1749, also near where my FOREMAN families were living. Morgan Morgan was the neighboring land owner of my Thomas FOLLIS in Virginia and possible relative of Sarah Morgan. Daniel and Rebecca Boone died in St. Charles, Missouri where my Jacob FOLLIS' brother Isaac FALLIS' family moved in the 1790's when it was still owned by Spain. Some of Isaac FALLIS' family stayed in Kentucky, so have to wonder if Isaac FALLIS lived in Kentucky briefly before moving to Missouri. Daniel's brother George and Edward Boone also married women from Frederick County, Virginia. Edward Boone's wife Martha Bryan born in 1737 is likely an older sister of Daniel's wife Rebecca Bryan. There is also a Mary Boone of the 5th generation married to John Webb, although there are lots of Webb's at this time, John Webb could be a distant WEBB relative. Find-A-Grave has photos of memorials in Missouri and Kentucky.

In 1796 fourth great-grandparent Benjamin FOREMAN bought 227 acres of land on the waters of the 4 Mile and Stoner Creeks a few miles south of Winchester the Clark County, Kentucky county seat. This is only 5 miles east of Boonesborough founded by Daniel Boone in 1775. Very few white people lived in Kentucky at this time so it is highly likely they would have known each other or at least some of the Boone's who stayed in Kentucky.

6th great-grandparents Christian KUNTZI 1700-1774 and Sarah Unknown 1705-1789 both from Switzerland to Berks County, Pennsylvania, built in 1734 a log cabin in Oley Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania which is still standing. Daniel Boone was born in Oley Township in 1734 and one must assume the Boone family was known by local families. See the Daniel Boone Homestead.

I recently found that a fellow high school classmate is a descendant of Daniel Boone.

The Boone Society	Clark County KYGenWeb	Daniel Boone
Daniel Boon Adventures	Daniel Boone Biography	Daniel Boone Homestead
Daniel Boone Homestead Berks County, Pennsylvania	Henry Nash Smith: Daniel Boone	Fort Boonesborough Foundation
Fort Boonesborough map	Fort Boonesborough State Park	Whitewater Rafting 4 Mile Creek
Winchester County Seat info

Bob Evans Restaurants in Ohio

Bob Evans Restaurants are related through Nehemiah Wood Jr. son of Abigail Grigsby and Nehemiah Wood of Shenandoah County, Virginia.

Nehemiah Wood Jr.'s brother Benjamin WOOD was the husband of 4th great grandaunt Sarah FALLIS of Shenandoah County, Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley. Sarah FALLIS was a sister of my fourth great-grandfather Isaac FALLIS. Benjamin Wood was a Revolutionary War veteran, a D.A. R. plaque was placed on Benjamin's grave in 1970 on his former residence then known as Cedar Point, now Rileyville, Page County, Virginia. Benjamin's father Nehemiah WOOD is listed by the D. A. R. as a patriot. Benjamin's brother and my Isaac FALLIS' brother-in-law's brother Nehemiah Wood Jr. moved to Gallia County, Ohio where he built the Nehemiah Wood Homestead also known as Old Wood Homestead, Wood's Tavern, Old Homestead and Homestead in 1820 at 1253 Jackson Pike Rio Grande, Ohio now on the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 1987. It was bought by Bob Evans in 1953 for his Bob Evans Farm, where he built his first restaurant, and is now his Bob Evans Homestead Museum with a Virtual Tour online.

 

 

Deuter - FOLLIS - TIMMONS - Foellinger Foundation
of Fort Wayne, Indiana

Harry Deuter, 1904-1970, an early barnstorming air plane pilot, business owner, auto mechanic and owner of a Classic Deusenberg automobile, was husband of Helen Pressler, 1906-1988, a first cousin twice removed, a descendant of my TIMMONS family. An uncle and some Timmons' Reunion attendees remember Harry giving plane rides at reunions scaring the daylights out of the little kids and racing his Deusenberg down country roads. Helen's father Willard Pressler worked at The News-Sentinel newspaper. It would be nice to find photos of Harry's airplane and automobiles if anyone has any!

Harry's first cousin was Helene Foellinger, graduate of Depauw University, who died March 25, 1987, daughter of Esther Deuter, Harry's aunt, who died July 24, 1969, and Oscar Foellinger, who died October 8, 1936, publisher of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel newspaper. A photo is on Great Memories and Histories of Fort Wayne, Indiana Photos on Facebook. Esther Deuter Foellinger and her daughter Helene Foellinger established the Foellinger Foundation - be sure the watch their video, then established in 1949 the Foellinger Theatre at Franke Park in honor of her father Oscar, in 1979 funded the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory to honor her mother, and at Helene's death in 1987 a very generous gift was given to the Foellinger Auditorium at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where Helene was in the Class of 1932.

Harry Deuter was certainly inspired to fly by local aviation hero Art Smith whose life is recalled in "The Smash-Up Kid: Fort Wayne Aviator Art Smith" By Rachel Sherwood Roberts whose forthcoming book-length biography of Art Smith will be published by McFarland & Company.

 

Jacob Groff Clock at Winterthur, Delaware in 2011

According to The Groff Book: Volume 1: A Good Life In A New Land page 31 the clock at Winterthur Museum "The Story of Winterthur's Jacob Graff Clock" made by Jacob Graff is likely an unnamed grandson of my seventh great-grandfather Hans Groff who lived in Philadelphia from 1704-1715 and likely had contacts in Germantown where a grandson could have served a clock maker apprenticeship. It is unlikely this Jacob was a son of Hans' son Jacob Groff as The Groff Book supposes since Dwayne Wrightsman shows my Jacob died in 1776 not 1740 as the Groff Book states.

Henry Francis du Pont founded Winterthur in Winterthur, Delaware, the premier museum of American decorative arts, reflecting both early America and the du Pont family’s life here with its 60-acre naturalistic garden.

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Eli Harvey Sculptor and friend of Norman Rockwell

Eli Harvey an Internationally known animal sculptor 1860 - 1957 was a Quaker sculptor and is buried in Springfield Friends Cemetery Clinton County, Ohio. Eli was a son of Nancy Moore and William Penn Harvey, Eli's grandmother was Sarah FALLIS a second cousin five times removed married to grandfather Eli Harvey of Clinton County, Ohio.

Famous Quakers from Southwest Ohio ~ Eli Harvey, Sculptor by Karen Campbell of Quaker Genealogy of Southwest Ohio has nice details in his biography.

Famous Residents & Graduates from Alhambra, California state that Eli Harvey, "trained in art in Paris, is considered to be one of the finer American Western sculptors. He was a good friend of Norman Rockwell." The Clinton County History Center collection of paintings and sculpture shown in the gallery at Rombach Place by Eli Harvey sculptures include "a bronze copy of a bull elk, symbol of the Order of Elks, commissioned in 1904. Specializing in the sculpture of animals, Harvey's credits include Brown University's mascot, "Brown bear," the J.C. Penney bull for mail order merchant James C. Penney, and decorations for the lion house at the New York Zoological Park." Eli was the animal sculptor of New York City when he made Brown University's The Bronze Bruno. National Museum of Wildlife Art has an Eli Harvey biography. Lehman College Art Gallery has additional information in their Eli Harvey biography. Luxury Bazaar lists many of Eli Harvey's awards.

 

Joe Royer - Milton S. Hershey Candy Makers

Fourth cousin three times removed Joseph ROYER a confectioner in Lancaster, Pennsylvania taught Milton S. Hershey, the chocolate king, how to make candy. From page 97 in the Royer Family in America book. This is confirmed by various sources such as the The First Million is the Hardest at the Milton Hershey School in paragraph 7 "Next, his mother found him an apprenticeship with Joe Royer, a candy and ice cream maker in Lancaster. It was here that he learned the basics of candy making." Joseph was also said to have the first glass front store in Lancaster and the first delivery wagon.

Franke - Komets

Komets Hockey on July 11, 1990, the Franke brothers - Stephen, Michael, David - announced they had purchased the defunct Flint Spirits and moved them to Fort Wayne as the new Komets. They are descendants of Aunt Millie's Bakery founder John B. Franke in 1901 as Wayne Biscuit Company, later changed to Perfection Biscuit Company bakers of Sunbeam bread and the locally famous Sunbeam sign. John Franke was killed in a 1927 car accident and his grandson John F. Popp took over as President. His 1914 house is remembered as the J. B Franke house in the Lakeside neighborhood. He donated land for Franke Park located at 3411 Sherman Road at 329.4 acres is the largest park in Fort Wayne, which also contains the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo a top 10 zoo in the United States. 3rd cousin once removed Gordon Franke the former Allen County Coroner is a cousin of the Franke brothers who own the Komets, his mother was Alma Kelker a great-granddaughter of my ancestor David Kelker.

James Whitcomb Riley

His most famous poem "Little Orphant Annie" was written about Mary Alice Smith who was born near Liberty, Indiana September 25, 1850 while the FOLLIS family was living in Union County, Indiana. Whether my ancestors knew and were aware of the poem's inspiration is unknown. I have read that thousands of people would gather to hear Riley read his poem's at picnic like gatherings similar to music concerts today.

James Whitcomb Riley wrote a couple of poems somewhat connected to the my Union County, Indiana families. He wrote a poem called 'Mongst The Hills O' Somerset which some claim is Somerset, Wabash County, Indiana where he worked a summer as a sign painter. Most believe he was referring to Somerset, Pennsylvania which probably has the hills not really found in the flat to rolling land near Somerset, Indiana. In 2011 Suzy Smucker Wert sent me an article in the April 14, 1890 Philadelphia Inquirer reprinted from the Pittsburgh Commercial-Gazette that shows that Riley was in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Gazette offices when he was inspired by a conversation with John Black on the romantic features observed while riding over the hills of Somerset, Pennsylvania.

Which KINGERY family the following poem was written about is unknown. James Whitcomb Riley born Oct. 7, 1849 near Greenfield, Hancock County,Indiana, due east of Indianapolis, would have written this poem well after my last direct KINGERY ancestor Martin KINGERY died in 1865.

• The James Whitcomb Riley Collection IUPUI
• Find-A-Grave Mary Alice Smith Gray information

Kingry's Mill

On old Brandywine-- about
Where White's Lots is now laid out,
And the old crick narries down
To the ditch that splits the town--,
Kingry's Mill stood. Hardly see
Where the old dam ust to be;
Shallor, long, dry trought o' grass
Where the old race ust to pass!

That's be'n forty years ago--
Forty years o' frost and snow--
Forty years o' shade and shine
Sence them boyhood-days o' mine--!
All the old landmarks o' town.
Changed about, er rotted down!
Where's the Tanyard? Where's the Still?
Tell me where's old Kingry's Mill?

Don't seem furder back, to me,
I'll be dogg'd! Than yisterd'y,
Since us fellers, in bare feet
And straw hats, went through the wheat,
Cuttin' 'crost the shortest shoot
Fer that-air old ellum root
Jest above the mill-dam-- where
The blame' cars now crosses there!

Through the willers down the crick
We could see the old mill stick
Its red gable up, as if
It jest knowed we'd stol'd the skiff!
See the winders in the sun
Blink like they wuz wonderun'
What the miller ort to do
With sich boys as me and you!

But old Kingry--! Who could fear
That old chap, with all his cheer--?
Leanin' at the window-sill,
Er the half-door o' the mill,
Swoppin' lies, and pokin' fun,
'N jigglin' like his hoppers done--
Laughin' grists o' gold and red
Right out o' the wagon-bed!

What did he keer where we went--?
"Jest keep out o' devilment,
And don't fool around the belts,
Bolts, ner burrs, ner nothin' else
'Bout the blame machinery,
And that's all I ast!" says-ee.
Then we'd climb the stairs, and play
In the bran-bins half the day!

Rickollect the dusty wall,
And the spider-webs, and all!
Rickollect the trimblin' spout
Where the meal come josslln' out--
Stand and comb yer fingers through
The fool-truck an hour er two--
Felt so sorto' warm-like and
Soothin' to a feller's hand!

Climb, high up above the stream,
And "coon" out the wobbly beam
And peek down from out the lof'
Where the weather-boards was off--
Gee-mun-nee! w'y, it takes grit
Even jest to think of it--!
Lookin' 'way down there below
On the worter roarin' so!

Rickollect the flume, and wheel,
And the worter slosh and reel
And jest ravel out in froth
Flossier'n satin cloth!
Rickollect them paddles jest
Knock the bubbles galley-west,
And plunge under, and come up
Drippin' like a worter-pup!

And to see them old things gone
That I onc't was bettin' on,
In rale p'int o' fact, I feel
kindo' like that worter-wheel--,
Sorto' drippy-like and wet
Round the eyes-- but paddlin' yet,
And in mem'ry, loafin' still
Down around old Kingry's Mill!

William Shakespeare
and LBJ Lyndon Baines Johnson through my Webb Families

These WEBB Family connections need a lot more research.

The WEBB Family Genealogy site claims we are descended from a long line of British Knights who served the Kings of England including Henry VIII. The most interesting claim is our relationship to the famous British writer William Shakespeare whose grandmothers are both WEBB sisters in our WEBB family line. He would be my second cousin 15 times removed. The WEBBS of Warwichshire, England - The Early WEBB Families and many other web sites like Answers.com support Alexander WEBB as the one who emigrated to America.

 

 

 

William Shakespeare	Lyndon Baines Johnson 36th USA President
William Shakespeare Biography and Works	LBJ Biography LBJ Library Austin, Texas
Shakespeare Biography online	Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum
Shakespeare Resource Center	Wikipedia
William Shakespeare Complete Works
Descendants of Sir Henry Webb

ZEIGLER connection with The Wright Brothers First Flight

Joseph Zeigler had a brother John Ziegler and wife Ann Mary Harner, their daughter Mary Ann Ziegler and husband Benjamin Miller, had a son Clinton Miller and wife Effie Stover, whose son Harold S. Miller married Ivonette Wright in the Wright mansion shown in the You Tube video above. Harold S. Miller was co-executor of the Wright Brother's estate. Harold's great-great-grandfather David Ziegler is buried less than 15 miles northeast of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. My father served at Wright-Patterson in the late 1940's when the Air Force became a separate branch of the services. He never knew his ancestors were buried less than 10 miles away in Fallis Pioneer Cemetery near Bellbrook, or that his future wife was a "shirt-tail relative" of the Wright Brothers through Harold S. Miller.

Wilbur Wright April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912 and brother Orville Wright August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948 were born in Montgomery County, Ohio. Their brother Lorin had a daughter Ivonette Wright who married 3rd cousin once removed Harold S. Miller in the Wright Mansion shown in the screen shot to the right from the 4:35 mark in the You Tube video 'a "Wright Brothers first flights- a niece remembers" above. Harold was co-executor of the Wright Brother's estate. Ivonette Miller was their unofficial historian. At their death the Wright brother papers were distributed under the guidance of the Millers and other heirs. The Historical Background of Wright State University named in their honor describes the details. Harold Miller died July 24, 1991 a short obituary from the Orlando Sentinel states "Miller, who was married to the niece of aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright, died Sunday in Dayton, Ohio. He was 95. Miller, a World War I Army Signal Corps pilot in France, began a 50-year career with the Provident Loan Co., becoming owner and managing partner in 1943. He was executor of the estate of Orville Wright, who died Jan. 30, 1948. Miller's wife, Ivonette Wright Miller, is the city's chief living link to the Wright brothers, but friends said her husband was mainly responsible for protecting the brothers' heritage."

Wright Again states " One of Orville Wright's estate executors, Mr. Harold S. Miller (the husband of Orville and Wilbur's niece Ivonette Wright Miller) wrote the Library of Congress in October, 1948. He asked that those documents be "published in a comprehensive record [I] whether or not it appealed to general readers". The result was the two volume set titled "The Papers of Orville and Wilbur Wright" edited under the guidance of Marvin W. McFarland and the Aeronautics Division of the Library of Congress, published in time for the 50-year anniversary of flight in 1953. This two volume set is acknowledged by many experts as the definitive (the "authority") work on the Wright's development of the airplane." Write Again has photos of young Ivonette Wright.

• The Bishop's boys: a life of Wilbur and Orville Wright a book by Tom D. Crouch
• Dayton Innovation League's Orville and Wilbur Wright—Inventors of Powered Flight
• Dayton Metro Library The Wright Brothers Collection - Introduction
• History For Sale web site August 19, 2010 had a check signed by Ivonette Wright Miller for sale for $1,999!
• Library of Congress The Wilbur and Orville Wright Timeline, 1867-1948
• Dayton History Books Online Mabel Beck's Story Part of Wright Brothers' Story - the assume executor of their estate surprised to learn it was Harold Miller and Harold Steeper
• Wright State University Library Department of Archives and Special Collections MS-216 The Ivonette Wright Miller Papers
• NASA's Biography of Orville Wright
• Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Orville Wright
• U.S. Centennial of Flight Wright Brothers History The Other Career of Wilbur and Orville WRIGHT & WRIGHT PRINTERS
• What Dreams We Have The Wright Brothers and Their Hometown of Dayton, Ohio - mentions Harold and Ivonette Wright Miller a lot
• Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company A Virtual Museum of Pioneer Aviation
• The Wright Brothers Scrapbooks at the Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library has lots of links to scrapbooks and photos
• PBS American Experience The Wright Stuff
• Where is the Wright Brothers' Patent? Wright brothers’ patent for their 1903 Flying Machine, application number 821,393, is among several aviation-related items lost or stolen from the Archives discussed on the Air & Space Smithsonian blog November 8, 2012
• You Tube Video Wright Brothers first flights - a niece reminiscences - Ivonette Wright Miller (niece of Wilbur and Orville Wright) and her husband Harold S. Miller

Granville Webster Ziegler

1881-1930 of South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana, son of Hulda GEIGER and Daniel ZEIGLER of Noble County then Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana was only 47 years old. Granville died of blood poisoning from an automobile accident. Blood poisoning is sepsis meaning bacteria in the blood stream easily treated with antibiotics likely preventing infection today. His home at 322 S. Lafayette Blvd. is now a parking lot near the main St. Joseph County Public Library.

A first cousin twice removed, he was president of four lumber companies, at one time president of St. Joseph Building and Loan Company and president of Conservative Life Insurance Company. It turns out his father-in-law Dixon W. Place founded the insurance company in 1910. The Ziegler family also includes Granville W. MINNICH his second cousin son of Katherine daughter of John ZIEGLER of Miami County, Ohio and Granville W. COOK his first cousin once removed son of grandaunt Elizabeth ZEIGLER COOK of Noble County, Indiana.

John Webster Ziegler

Second cousin once removed of South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana, son of Mabel Place and Granville Ziegler of South Bend, grandson of Hulda GEIGER and Daniel ZEIGLER of Whitley County, Indiana. John W. Ziegler is the 1st Detective in the 1964 Alfred Hitchcock TV drama Ten Minutes From Now. His father Granville's obituary referred to him as Jackie.

John's obituary in the South Bend Tribune November 16, 1999 states "April 8, 1925 - November 14, 1999, John Webster Ziegler, 74, born on April 8, 1925, in South Bend, Indiana, passed away on Sunday, November 14, while playing the piano at his church service. He was a graduate of DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. John was program director for the very first educational television in the United States. While in Pittsburgh he received a Peabody Award for the Heritage Series that he produced. He then moved to New York where he acted and taught theater. He then moved to Los Angeles where he acted in the Alfred Hitchcock television series and over 40 films.

Later he moved back to South Bend where he taught television production and theater at The Stanley Clark School. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Zanna; brother, Granville; and by a sister, Marion. John is survived by Gary Umphrey and Twila Shively of Douglas, Michigan, along with many friends.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. on Wednesday in the Unity Church on the lakeshore, Douglas, Michigan, followed by services at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. Burial services will be at 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon in the Highland Park Cemetery, South Bend. The Dykstra Funeral Home, Saugatuck, Michigan, is handling arrangements."

• PSI PHI OF DELTA KAPPA EPSILON Active Chapter 1931-1950 lists Granville Ziegler class of 1931 as stepbrother of John Webster Ziegler class of 1949
• 1955 South Bend Newspaper Clippings Sunday July 3, 1955 page 36 RITES TO OPEN BLIND PROJECT Fragrance Garden To Be Dedicated July 7. A Garden of Fragrance, designed specifically for the pleasure of blind people, will be formally dedicated here at 2 p.m. Thursday July 7, in Leeper Park....The original idea was inspired by Mrs. Granville W. Ziegler, who had read of a similar garden for the blind in England.  The South Bend garden is thought to be the only one of its kind in this country." I assume this is John Webster Ziegler's mother Mabel widow of Granville Ziegler, not brother Granville for whom no marriage information has been found. Mueller Record August 1955 on page 2 has a short paragraph about the Fragrance Garden for the Blind. CardCow.com has a Leeper Park garden photo.
• Peabody Awards Collection Search or Search page or Search Tips or Search GIL - searched but could not confirm John W. Ziegler winning a Peabody Award, but not all awards are online.