I was lucky enough to have two years with my husband’s grandmother before she passed. Shirley (Gingg) Pope was a loving and caring woman. But don’t be fooled, she had a well of strength in her bones. We shared the love of genealogy. Shirley gets all the credit for doing her research via mail. She wrote numerous letters to people and repositories.
Shirley left a treasure trove of family history documents. After my husband’s grandfather left us to reunite with Shirley, we found even more amazing treasures. These included physical items such as fraternal order pins, military medals, and handwritten notes.
After going through so many pieces of paper research, I believe I found some of Grandma Shirley’s first handwritten notes. There are two sets. The first is one page of notes regarding Grandpa John’s ancestors. The second is 10 pages (some have notes on back) of the summary of what Shirley knew at the time. The 10 pages are on notepaper approximately 4″ wide and 6″ tall. They are held together by 2 staples.
I find it incredible to have Grandma Shirley’s handwritten notes. Her handwriting feels like a hug.
I have digitized the notes as part of my emergency preparedness push. I am including the first page in today’s post. All of the information has been added to both my personal research and online trees (FamilySearch and Ancestry). The only item that is inaccurate on this note is the father of Anna Hink. Further research completed by Shirley found Anna’s parents to be Johann Hink and Anna (Last Name Unknown).
Note* The children are listed as birth events. Elfrieda Johanna and Claus Alfred were twins.
John Pope m. Catherine Offerman
Pope side
- Anna Louise Pope Robinson
b Nov 29, 1895 (?)
d June 1961
2. John Rudolph Pope died 19 yrs.
Flu epidemic in S.F.
3. Elfrieda Johann Pope Fancher Sept 19, 1901
Claus Alfred Pope Sept 19, 1901 – June 23, 1971
There was a baby born (the (1st one) who died early
and his name was John.
Poppe side – Sandbostal, Germany
Offerman side – Hechthausen, Germany
Catherine Offerman
Claus Henry Offerman Anna Hink
Adolf Hink ?