I "Called the Out" The Mom's I know

     So we this week has been full of new things to do.  I've just been called as the Young Women's secretary.  For those of you who are not of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faith, this means I keep the records for the young women 12-18 in our ward congregation.  (Yes, this is a genealogy/family history post... keep reading).  There are about 30 girls.  Not a HUGE job, but for someone who has all boys, who has for the most part served in Primary (president & teacher), Relief Society (counselor and teacher) and in the Scouting organizations in various jobs ... this is a bit scary.  The last time I served in Young Women's, Brian was a toddler!!  Brian will be 27 this month, so it's been well over 20 years since I've served in the YW organization.
     Add to that, the fact that I've NEVER been a Secretary in any organization (kept some scout records), and this figures into a huge learning curve for me!
     A few weeks ago while getting things in order for my mothers' last few days/weeks/months her with us, I recalled her serving as a secretary many times in many organizations.  This remembrance came to me as I was organizing some thoughts to put in her obituary.  I mused on it for awhile and that's when I realized that I'd never served as a secretary in any organization... and then I thought "boy, I bet that would be a fun calling"!!  HA on me!!!  The Bishopric counselor came last week and asked me to serve as the secretary for the YW and I could hardly believe I said "YES" before I knew what was coming out of my mouth.
     With these new thoughts of my mom and with a new set of digital books Greg bought for us to read as "bedtime stories" (yes, most of the time we read bedtime stories together!), (it's called "True Miracles With Genealogy"), I did as one contributor suggested:  TALK with a deceased relative.  Kinda weird I thought, but why not, nothing else has given me the answers I'm looking for.
     I've also told Greg on occasion that I'd like to "slap some dead people"... this is usually when I obtain a record on someone, and the person (usually deceased by this time) who filled out the form or record left a big BLANK in the spot for the part of the record I was looking for an answer to.  So if I feel like slapping a dead person for leaving information off a record, I guess I could also TALK to a dead person!
     So on Thursday morning I left for work with the intention of talking with some dead people!  I first started when I left to go to Salt Lake City (I drive there twice a day from Springville). I had to go to the Orem store, so my plan was to first have a prayer to my Heavenly Father for all my blessings (one of which was that we got Ole Blue running after 9 months).

     That prayer took up the 15 minutes to get to the Orem store.  Then my plan was to TALK (not pray) to my deceased relatives.  That would take the better part of the rest of the trip 30+ minutes.  By this time, I was pretty grateful for a lot of things and covered them in the prayer, so I felt quite brave and bold and decided that this would be a CALL THEM OUT kind of talk.  Yep, I started with my grandmother Jane Elizabeth Wooley who married George Bogner Jr.  I told her how grateful I was for all the things she did while she was in my life.  She was an AWESOME mom, grandma and great grandma.  Grandma Jane raised 4 families!!  Her own kids, her own brother and sister after their mom died, then she raised her daughter's kids (us) and then she raised my brother's kids (her great grandchildren)!  My own mother raised her own 3 children after her divorce and then helped raise my brother's children after he divorced!  They were baby raisin' women.  I told them I'm not quite that good and that I didn't think I could ever take on that kind of task, how you ladies did it ... I'll never know, but I thanked Grandma Jane and then reminded her that she is sealed to her daughter (my mom) and that she is sealed to her mother  Minnie Rhea Adams.
     Then I called out Minnie Rhea Adams, who married Alfred Erwin Wooley.  I told her I knew her life was hard too.  That she raised 3 children after the death of her 40 year old husband when she was not even 38 herself!  She then got in an ugly marriage and divorced, and then a 3rd marriage.  Poor little lady was all worn out at the age of 46.  So I reminded this sweet great grandma that She had her children sealed to her and that she was also sealed to HER mother, Elizabeth Anna Joseph.
     Then I called out Elizabeth Anna Joseph, my great great grandmother who married George Washington Adams.  I told her what I knew about her.   She had 13 children!!  She also died young at the age of 43 shortly after the birth of her 13th child.  I reminded her that her children were sealed to her and that she was also sealed to her mother Elizabeth Henrietta Booz.
     Then I called out Elizabeth Henrietta Booz, my 3rd great grandmother.  She married William McGowen Joseph.  Elizabeth became a mother the instant she married William.  William had 2 children from a previous marriage and Elizabeth raised those boys as her own!  Then she added to her family, 3 children, one child died early and the other two were girls.  Elizabeth worked for a time as a "chambermaid" in the Clarendon Hotel in Zanesville, Ohio.  Times must have been tough for a married woman to work outside the home in 1890 at the age of 40!  I also reminded her that she was sealed to her children, and her mother Mercy Ann VanHorn.
     Then I called out Mercy Ann VanHorn, my 4th great grandmother who married Charles Booz in Pennsylvania about 1837 and traveled to Ohio about 1838-1839 before her 2nd child was born.  I'll bet this wasn't easy.  It also wasn't easy to give birth nearly every other year for 30 years!!!  Yes, she had 15 children spanning a 30 year period. Not only that, but in 1880 one of her children had TB.  Louisa (her daughter) survived and had children of her own, but Mercy Ann was her caregiver in 1880.  In 1892 Amanda Booz (another daughter) died of TB and only months later Amanda's daughter (Mercy's granddaughter) Lillie died of the same dreaded disease... Lillie was living with Mercy Ann when she passed away!  In 1893 John Booz (her son who served in the Civil War) died of TB as well!  3 other children died early as well.  Mercy probably nursed all of them during this time... how in the world, grandma Mercy, did you survive 4 children with TB and still outlive them?  What kind of mother was she???  Well one of her nicknames was LOVE!  Does that give you an idea?  So again I reminded Mercy Ann of the trip to the Salt Lake Temple to seal her to her dear husband Charles Booz and then we spent the next hour sealing all of her 15 children to her.  What a day that was...  But then, for the first time in my "calling out" of my moms I had to pause and with a sad heart reminded her that although she is sealed to all 15 of her children, she is NOT sealed to anyone.  Not because the desire on my part to do the work is not there, it's because I don't know who her mother and father are.  And I called out Charles for the same reason:  I don't know who his parents are either.
     So EVERYONE was asked to help with this mystery.
     My gratitude grew for each of my grandparents in each generation.  As I recalled all I knew about each one, all their joys, sacrifices and heartaches, my appreciation for each of them grew.
     No one has come to "visit" me, and I don't expect them to.  But I know they are there to help me find the sources I'm going to need to finish this puzzle.  Someone needs to step up :}!!  I really don't want to get to the other side of the veil an have to "slap" any of you!

New information revealed with "old" eyes.

   A wonderful thing happened a few months ago.  I was trying to find several things pertaining to the Bogners and especially my grandmother Jane Elizabeth Wooley-Bogner.  Mom and Grandma did loads of genealogy, but for some reason, no name had been attributed as the 2nd husband of Minnie Rhea Adams-Wooley.  Minnie Rhea is my great grandmother and the mother of my grandma Jane Elizabeth Wooley.   The love of Minnie's life, (Alfred Erwin Wooley) died when he was not even 40 years old.  Mom & Grandma put a space for a spouse for her in between Alfred and her 3rd husband, John Walker... but for years that space just remained.  In fact while cleaning up my files, I thought surely there must NOT have even been a middle or 2nd spouse for her because in 10+ years of my research (not counting mom & grandmas time)... nothing turned up.

   More than a year ago I found Grandma Jane's marriage record had been transcribed on NewFamilySearch Labs.  I only had the transcription not the actual image.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with genealogical work, transcriptions are records that are typed by common people like you and I.  Their job is to fill in the blanks on a form.  In the case of marriage records usually it has you fill in the blanks for Grooms name / Brides name / parents of each / possibly their birth date or at least how old they were at the time of marriage and other such information.  I copied the transcription down from the website and walked away from searching again for quite a while.  A few months ago I went back in to NewFamilySearch and now they had digitized records of marriage for West Virginia AND there were IMAGES!!!  Oh my gosh, I thought... I get to download a copy of grandma's marriage record!

   I opened this document below and my mind went reeling!!

   See the little snipit of paper in the upper left area of the document????  It says Minnie Harshfield (mother) gives her consent to Jane Elizabeth's marriage to George Bogner.   OH MY HECK!!  Really?  Harshfield, the name of her 2nd husband!

   Family lore was that her 2nd husband was abusive and it was quite a bad marriage.  Some accounts are that he was looking for some money Minnie might have had due to her husband's accidental death from a fall from a telegraph pole.  

Alfred Erwin Wooley at work

   Whatever the reason.  "Mrs. Minnie Harsfield" was Minnie Rhea Adams-Wooley-Harsfield... my great grandmother.  And this document shows she was still married to Roy Harshfield at the time her daughter Jane married George.  Only 4 months after Minnie's  husband Alfred died she married Roy on 23 Sep 1933 (this record is in my possession), and sometime later divorced him.

   Minnie's third marriage was to John Walker.  They married about 1937 but I haven't found the record of their marriage yet.  Minnie died in New Albany, Floyd County, Indiana while she was still married to John.  I'm not sure what became of John after Minnie's death.

   Another Bogner story began about 1940 and still goes on today.
   George Bogner Jr. (my grandfather) had a brother Frank Christ Bogner.  Frank had been married 3 times, and I didn't have much information on the first two wives.  I had the pleasure to meet his last wife Ann, when I was in Jr. High. Mom & grandma took us kids out west for vacation from Ohio.  We went to Frank & Ann's house in Colorado and I remember only two of their children: Linda and Gary.  Their oldest, Donald I don't remember... he may have been married at the time as I believe Gary was already in High School.
   Though I had 3 wives and not much info, I left it that way for years... until I purchased an Ancestry.com account and began adding information and photos to the site.  One photo was this one:

of Frank in his Military uniform for WWII.

   It was the 2nd week of April, 2011 and I received an email from a lady stating that  I had a photo of her father on my page.  I went to my ancestral file and sure enough, there was NO CHILD listed for the first marriage.  WEIRD, I thought, mom and grandma were super accurate on family history and why isn't Sharon here?  I searched and quickly found her birth certificate and it confirmed her story and the next email she sent me had that birth certificate attached!  She is definitely the child of Frank!

   Since that time we have corresponded back and forth and in only 6 weeks I get to meet her in the flesh!  In the last year while corresponding, we've solved another mystery together.  The name of Frank's 2nd spouse.  I only had "Naomi", but continued to dig.  I was able to obtain Frank's divorce papers from the probate court from Naomi and found that she wanted her name restored to "Karchner" a quick search in the Mansfield News Journal revealed that Naomi Karchner was the widow of Willard N. Karchner who died in Belgium during WWII.  Further research revealed that she was the daughter of Clarence Buell, a prominent photography shop owner in Mansfield.  The name of his business was Buell-Kraft Studios located in Mansfield, Ohio... and is still in business today!

   Oh, and my goodness, look at the photo above of Frank clearly:  It was taken at Buell-Kraft Studios.

   These are only two of the "journeys" I've been on over the last few years.  They've netted loads of secrets, surprises and blessings in my life that I still can hardly fathom!  I'm so grateful for all the doors this work has opened up and for all the help I've received from relatives here on this side of the veil and on the other side of the veil as well.  I know for a fact that those on the other side are "happy" with these finds and that they've actually had a hand in guiding me to the records I need to confirm all the facts.

   Never dismiss anything, never think you have EVERYTHING just because you have one document, and never neglect to go over and over and over those documents again and again and again... you never know what your OLD eyes will see for the first time on a document you've looked at a thousand times!!

Research for THE BOOZ IN OUR BLOOD

        The line I researched for the book would be the descendants of my 4th Great Grandparents: Charles Booz & Mercy Ann VanHorn... thus the title of the book: "The Booz in Our Blood"  
         Charles Booz and Mercy Ann had 15 children... their 6th child: 
Elizabeth Henrietta Booz is my 3rd great grandmother... she married William McGowen Joseph. 
         William and his 1st wife, Susan Martha McDonald had 2 boys together: Austin and Oliver. Susan must have died in childbirth of Oliver, or shortly thereafter. Oliver was born March of 1865. There is no trace of Susan after his birth and on 15 August, 1867 Elizabeth Henrietta Booz married William McGowen Joseph. She was just 17 and now stepmother to 2 boys. She raised Austin and Oliver and and while doing that, had her own 3 children. One died before 1900 and the other 2 were girls. Minnie and Elizabeth Anna. 
        Minnie married Peter Perone and Elizabeth Anna Joseph married George Washington Adams... 
        Elizabeth  Anna Joseph and George Washington Adams are my 2nd Great Grandparents. 
        Elizabeth Anna and George Washington Adams had 12 or 13 children.
        Minnie Rhea Adams was their 4th child. Minnie Rhea married Alfred Erwin Wooley who are my great grandparents. Minnie and Alfred had 6 children total... 3 of whom lived. 

        Their first child Edward, was stillborn 27 March, 1915 in Cleveland Ohio while Alfred was there trying out for the Cleveland Indians team ... he played ball professionally with the Cambridge, Ohio team and was scouted by the Indians, but I guess either wasn't recruited or played for a very short time. Edward is buried in the West Park Cemetery in Cleveland Ohio. 

        Their next child Levina Rhea was born 5 Dec 1915 in Cambridge (showing they had not stayed in Cleveland a long time). She was a stillborn child. 
        My grandma Jane Elizabeth Wooley was their 3rd child born 30 May 1918. 
        Their 4th child Evalyn Marie was born 9 November 1920. 
        Their 5th child was also stillborn on 22 August 1923. 
        Their 6th child was Alfred Erwin Jr. born 23 November 1924. 
        My 4th great grandparents Charles Booz and Mercy Ann VanHorn were from Pennsylvania. I have studied the family for about 7 years DAILY and can still find not PROOF of who their parents are. Absolutely NONE for Charles Booz ... but for Mercy Ann, I believe her parents are Arthur VanHorn and Lydia Featherby. There are 5 strong clues for this reasoning, but no PROOF. I've studied the family all this time to try to discover who they were. All the work that went into the book did not uncover (with proof) who their parents were. 
        I've searched cemetery records, probate records, no will was filed either for Charles Booz or his wife Mercy Ann and Arthur VanHorn never had a land purchase recorded... nor did he leave a will!! He might have, but they lived in Licking County as of the last Census record and the court house burned down, so if there was a will in that county, we'll never know the details. Also contacted were the fraternal organizations to which John Booz and Elmer E. Booz belonged to. Many of those fraternal organizations require a family lineage to join ... in the case of the "Odd Fellows" organization to which John Booz (5th child) belonged... there is no record of him. 
        Elmer belonged to the "Modern Woodsmen", "Fraternal order of the Eagles" and the "Maccabees". None of these organizations have records either old enough for them or do not exist. I really have lost track of how many avenues of research I've tried to verify Charles and Mercy Ann's ancestry... but nothing has worked. There are no others who have even put Charles and Mercy Ann together into a "FAMILY UNIT" until it was done by myself 5 years ago! 
        Many doors seemed to open that might reveal a clue, but then the door was shut again and NO INFORMATION was gained... there is one last chance to find out information and that's in Zanesville in the basement of the old J.C. Penney building where they have some old records. I hope to uncover something there that will let me go farther back on Charles's line and on Mercy Ann's line. 
        Family lore states that Mercy Ann is descended from a Hessian Soldier that served in the Revolutionary war. Also that there was a "Grandpa Featherby" in the family. Lydia's maiden name is Featherby. Charles and Mercy Ann and Arthur and Lydia took both of their families from Pennyslvania about 1838 and moved to Muskingum County, Ohio AND settled 7 houses away from each other!! 
        100 years later there was a family reunion in 1924 for the Booz / VanHorn family. In attendance at this reunion were descendants of Charles Booz and Mercy Ann VanHorn. ALSO in attendance were descendants of Arthur VanHorn and Lydia Featherby... I'm SURE that Arthur and Lydia are the parents of Mercy Ann... why else would their descendants gather together in ONE reunion unless they were? 
        This one of the reasons I'm going back home in August 2012 to do further research. I can't even start in Pennsylvania as I'm not even positive which county in Pennsylvania they came from... though Arthur came from Bucks County for sure. 
        I had originally planned to go back just as a research trip in the Spring of 2012, and then some of my immediate cousins planned a family reunion in Loudonville, Ohio on August 4th & 5th. I wanted to do both, but budget wouldn't allow. So I put off going in the Spring so I could go to their reunion. As I did, the NEED to finish "The Booz in Our Blood" wasn't so imminent. With the death of both Greg's parents in 2011, I found it hard to fit all I had to do to finish the book before Christmas of 2011 so they could be given as Christmas gifts. 
        I planned for going to the Cousins Reunion on August 4th and then started planning all the things I needed to do for the research. I realized that visiting ALL the relatives I've contacted over the years in the Booz research would be nearly impossible to do in the 10 days I had for the whole trip and the 7 days I had in the Zanesville, Ohio area. So I planned a Booz/VanHorn family reunion... the first one in 82 years! How exciting. Then, the major contributor for the Harriet Susan Booz chapter of the book informed me by mail that he had to attend his Deavers Reunion and wouldn't be able to attend MINE!! I was quite devastated, but decided to call him and chat again. Quickly he realized that he was off by a day... My reunion is on Saturday, his Deavers Reunion is on Sunday... so we both get to attend each of the reunions together!! 
        Then I invited a cousin the family didn't know about (this cousin is from another line not related to the Booz or VanHorn family) to the Cousin's reunion on the 4th. She's coming from Florida! I've chatted with her many times over the phone and she decided to come to the reunion in Loudonville. To facilitate her in getting to meet as many BOGNER'S as she can, we set up ANOTHER family reunion on the 5th. She was born into the Bogner family and her parents divorced soon after she was born. We believe that her grandmother (my great grandmother) did not welcome this marriage or birth or maybe she wasn't informed about it at all... but this birth was kind of a family secret. When Sharon contacted me via Ancestry.com about "Frank" being her father... I was STUNNED! I didn't have a child for Frank other than his kids whom I knew and visited in Colorado when I was a kid. How did my own mother and grandmother NOT have Sharon in their files that I inherited and had by this time fully sourced and verified??!! I saw Sharon's birth certificate... yep, she belongs! So I called my mom and asked her what she knew. She said she could never verify anything and couldn't get any information, so she did not include a child in the records! 
        This journey I've been on for the last 6-7 years has been incredible. I've found good people and though I've seen to good and the bad in behavior, mostly the line I come from have had long lasting marriages, strong children and a God loving and serving people! Taken from one obituary in 1908: 
"She was a true believer in God and his power to save." 
        My heart truly has been "turned" as the scripture Malachi 4: 5 & 6 states: "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers...." I have truly felt their guiding hand in my life, and with so many family deaths recently and even the death of 3 close friends last year ... I honestly envy them that they get to meet these people I'm so fond of, on the "other side"! I have no Death Wish, but OH, how I wish I could visit... just for an hour on the other side and ask my million dollar question: 
WHO WERE YOUR PARENTS?

82 years since the last Booz / VanHorn Family reunion

It's time... it's been 82 years and it's time for the Booz and VanHorn families to reunite. I'm still in the process of planning and this means I have to do it from my location in Utah and the event will be in Zanesville, Ohio.

The first Booz/VanHorn family reunion was in 1924 and the last known one in 1930. Below is a copy of the 1924 reunion article with highlighting I did when the research was done about which attendees belonged to the Booz family and which ones belonged to the VanHorn family.

The research on this article and all 85 names took more than a year to complete, with other fragments of knowledge coming later.

Mother's Tree project

Here's one of 4 Mother's tree cross stitch projects I've done. One of the others was was for my husband's mother for Mother's Day 2009. Her tree had 9 names on it and dates back to Elizabeth Hardiker who was born in 1707 in England.

My mother's tree (not counting myself) included only 5 names until I did some research. My mother and grandmother had done some genealogy and discovered that Elizabeth Henrietta Booz who married William Joseph was my mother's 2nd great grandmother. The research laid dormant for many years until I began the task of putting it all together after obtaining my mothers files when she was put in a retirement/rest home.

I thought I'd do a tree for my mother and one for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day in 2009. When I looked at the 9 names on my mother-in-law's tree compared to the 5 on my own mother's tree, I thought it was unfair and began in earnest to do some research to see what else I could find to get more names for my mothers tree.

Research began early in 2008 and within a few days I found Elizabeth's parents who were Mercy Ann VanHorn and Charles Booz ......... and I found siblings. If I had only searched the Census records I would have only come up with 13 childen for Charles & Mercy Ann. Because I splurged and purchased an Ancestry.com membership, I was able to find two obituaries that led me to PROOF that there were actually 15 children in the family. Two children (Elmer E. and Mary S.) were never listed on the Census's with the family!

Since that time, I have tried to find the parents of my 4th great grandparents ........ and the search is still on. I do not have a clue who Charles Booz's parents are ... but Mercy Ann VanHorn looks like she may be the daughter of Arthur VanHorn and Lydia Featherby. The Featherby name was a hint given to me by another descendant of Charles and Mercy Ann. Then, after finding the 1924 family reunion article entitled Booz & VanHorn family reunion ... I did about a years worth of research on all 85 names given in the article as having attended the reunion. What I found was that many names were familiar from my research already done on the family ... but other names were not at all familiar ... so I researched them and found that they all were descendants of Arthur VanHorn and Lydia Featherby. Since these two families are the only two represented by the descendants ... I assume there is some relationship between Mercy Ann VanHorn and Arthur & Lydia VanHorn ... Mercy Ann is probably their daughter, but this is not proven.

Both mothers were thrilled with the trees ... and before I do one for myself, I hope to find out (by PROOF) who the mother of Mercy Ann VanHorn is ... and if it IS LYDIA FEATHERBY ....... my next chore will be to assertain WHO HER parents are as well. At this time I think they are Nathaniel Featherby and Jane Harvey ... but this is also not PROVED. There is much work to do to make this happen ... but for now, the trees hang in my mother-in-law's living room and in the room of my mother who is in a rest home.

Here's for the Bogner's

Photo of George Bogner Jr. in his home office on Blymer Street in Mansfield, Ohio
Photo of Jane Elizabeth Wooley-Bogner

Today while catching up on some Family History I ran across a paper tucked in the back of the Bogner file. It appears to be sent to Brother Acomb (I remember the Acombs in Mansfield, Ohio) from a Mr. Christiansen. It appears to be a transcription of a telegram as there are STP's at the end of sentances ... Here's what the transcribed paper says:

The following message was received from Art Allen in South America:

"Advise whoever is attending George Bogner's funeral that George was one of the best builders in South America STP He was dedicated to the work, knew construction and required all who worked for him to do good work STP He was careful in his buying, was strict with Sub-Contractors and suppliers to see that the interests of the Church were protected STP His job in Porto Alegre is the finest job we have in South America STP In Arica he was doing a wonderful job, was loved by the people and gave his all to the work of Building the Kingdom of God STP All here send their love and simpathy (actual spelling) to Sister Bogner and Family" 1-10-67 5pm.

We just had a Family Home Evening about the Pioneers in our Family History Sunday night in preparation for Greg and Connor leaving on the Martin's Cove Trek in Wyoming Wednesday morning at 4am!!

Greg's family has pioneer roots back to Joseph Smith's era and Connor Benjamin Thredgold is named after Benjamin Taylor who was a bodyguard to Joseph Smith. But my family who were not early pioneers of the church were PIONEERS in a different way! Greg and I shared 4 Family histories Sunday, two from his side of the family and two from mine ....... one of the stories shared was of George Bogner Jr. and his darling wife Jane Elizabeth Wooley ... my grandparents:


George Bogner Jr and Jane Elizabeth Wooley History:
George was one of 8 children born to George Bogner Sr. and Theresia Grauer, They were both born in Yugoslavia. George met Jane Elizabeth Wooley and they were married on the 16 of June 1934, George was 24 and Jane was 17 days past her 16th birthday.

Jane was born to Alfred Erwin Wooley and Minnie Rhea Adams. Jane was the third child born. The first was Edward 15 March 1915 and Levina Rhea on 5 Dec 1916...were still born. Jane became a big sister to Evalyn Maria 22 Aug 1923 and another girl Gertrude Sara stillborn. Then Alfred Erwin was born on 23 Nov 1924.

Their 1st heartbreak was the stillbirth of their 1st child, James Lee Bogner. He was born 5 April 1935. Their next child also nearly died. Joan Jane was born 8 March 1936 and now resides in Utah. (My mother) Kenneth George was born on 12 April 1938 and passed away from heart failure on 16 April 1991. Rex Erwin was born 28 May 1944 … he lives in Ashland, Ohio. George built homes and other buildings for a living. He was able to afford a high quaility surgeon for his youngest son's cleft palate.

They were baptized into to the Church Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on 14 June 1958. On 16 June 1959, George, Jane and their youngest son Rex traveled to the Salt Lake City Temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. Joan their oldest child had been informed about their baptism but was not baptized until June of 1960. Kenneth never joined the church.

George became builder of the new Chapel located at 1951 Middle Bellville Road. The Chapel was dedicated by a General Authority by the name of Harold B. Lee (future president of the church). Bro. Lee went back to Salt Lake and told the brethern that George was the person they wanted to go to South America and build chapels. According to the book: MULTIPLY AND DIVIDE A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS IN CENTRAL OHIO, page 154; "The chapel was unusually well constructed, in part because George Bogner a master builder, supervised the work sessions."

They left on their mission sometime in early 1964 ... just 6 years after joining the church ... They sold everything ... including their home to finance their 3 year stay. During their time in South America, they built and repaired chapels in Arica, Chile and Soa Palo, Brazil and in other areas of South America. George became ill in 1967 and went to a doctor near the town of Porto Alegre in Brazil. It was determined he should go home immediately. On the plane George Passed away ... Jane was left with George until the coroner from Peru came and filled out the paperwork. Jane flew home to New York and stayed with her daughter Joan. She finally moved to Mansfield, Ohio where she made her home with her newly divorced daughter Joan and Joan's three children: Cindy, Lyman and Jody.

Jane gave all and then some ... 33 years 1 month and 9 days later we were absolutely JOYFUL when she passed on...all we heard growing up with her was how she wanted to go and be with "George"... and on 13 Feb 2000 she did. How could we ever deny her joy to be with her beloved. Sure we cried at her funeral ... that's because we all missed her ... but it certainly was not because we wanted her to stay ... she finally earned her reward.

They certainly were pioneers …….. giving up most of their families, leaving for a mission soon after joining the church … then dying while giving their all ………. Like the early pioneers, NEVER ONCE in all the time living with my grandma did she EVER complaing about the sacrifices they made … EVER.

Their descendants have a rich heritage ... their heritage is of far more value than the houses they lived in ... the cars we drove ... and the vacations we took. Our heritage and legacy lies in those who've come before us ... who have given us EVERYTHING we have that's good in the world!!
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Bogner!!

BOOZ / VANHORN FAMILY … ATTENDEES AT THE 1924 FAMILY REUNION AND THEIR ROOTS AND BRANCHES

The tree on Ancestry.com was compiled with hopes that in searching the attendees at the Aug/Sept 1924 BOOZ /VANHORN reunion, I would come up with some more solid ideas about the origins of Charles and Mercy Ann’s families. In searching Rebecca VanHorn and tracing her … she had been married to Jack Thornley (Thorn) VanHorn. I traced his line and that’s how I came to Burr (or Burris) as Jack’s father. I concluded that since Jack Thornley VanHorn (he passed away 1915 and not at the reunion) was related to the Booz family who were also in attendance at the reunion, and looking at the birth date of Burr, I figured that Burr and Mercy Ann could be brother and sister … or he might have been a cousin or uncle.

Jack Thornley VanHorn's father Burr ...(he is referred to here as “Burr”, though he is refered to in different places as “James Burris”, “Burris”, “Burrous” and a few other variations) is the son of Arthur VanHorn and Lydia Featherby. Since Descendants of Arthur VanHorn and Lydia Featherby and also descendants of Charles Booz and Mercy Ann VanHorn were at the same reunion ... it is another clue to my assumption that Mercy Ann is the daughter of Arthur & Lydia.

In compiling this tree, I looked up as much as I could. I researched each of the 85 attendees and searched census records, birth and death certificates and newspaper articles to fill in all the little gaps. I came up with a family tree that leads to more evidence and clues as to the parentage of Mercy Ann VanHorn. This research of the 85 names took about a year to complete with hours a day being spent. The research is still ongoing. The families continued to have reunions together ... the last date of a reunion was Aug 31 1930 and is billed as the "Booz, VanHorn, Deavers Reunion" and is listed as the "seventh annual" reunion. Most of these reunions Carl Joseph was president of ... I have contacted descendants in the Joseph family and they don't seem to have any mementos from the reunions. I was hoping that someone had the keepsakes from the reunion that might solve the WHY and HOW these families were related. I even contacted the Market Street Baptist church to see if Reverend Stokes speaches might be archived ......... no luck!

The connection of the The King family (mentioned in the Reunion article) to the Booz family has now been figured out: (November 15, 2009) Roe King’s wife, Eva M. Bodkin is the daughter of Mabel G. Penn-Bodkin-VanHorn. Mabel was the wife of the above Franklin Arthur VanHorn. She had been married previously and her daughter from that marriage attended with her husband and infant child Roe Jr. … they are NOT related by blood to either the Booz or VanHorn families … only by virtue of Mabel’s second marriage to Franklin Arthur.