David Van Buren Wampler (1837 - 1917)

I garnered David Van Buren Wampler's birth date, of 1 Mar 1837, from his death certificate (on Ancestry's Indiana Death Certificate collection) and his death notices (which appeared in 2 local Spencer, Owen county, Indiana newspapers after his death (16 Aug 1917) and burial). Per his death notices and his sister, Elizabeth Wampler Cline, who was the informant for his death certificate, David Van Buren Wampler was born in Owen county, Indiana versus Monroe county, Indiana as he is often listed with as a birth place. He was buried in Chambersville Cemetery in Spencer, Owen county, Indiana area.

Only names shared, besides David's own name, in either notice was only in one of the two, and in that one his surviving siblings were listed by name. He is mentioned, in both obits, to being survived by a wife, one son and one daughter. However on David's death certificate his sister, Elizabeth, has him listed as "widowed". One of the two death notices also shared David V. Wampler had been married three times prior to his death, "with his last wife surviving" him in 1917.

Per my research, David Van Buren Wampler first married Emily Ann Edwards in May 1862 in Indiana. I am still working on her side of the information, as some have her marriage to David being her second marriage and some others have her still living in 1870s which would mean that she and David V Wampler had divorced. David Van Buren Wampler, for the 1870 US census, is listed in his parents' household without a spouse but with a young child, named Samantha, which could be assumed, with the child's estimated age on that particular census, to being David's daughter from his marriage to Emily Ann Edwards.

In July 1871 I have David Van Buren Wampler marrying, for his second time, to Mary E. Allen in Owen county, Indiana. Per online trees, including the one world one at FamilySearch, David's second wife died in 1877.

I have a daughter, Dollie Arabell Wampler, born in Aug 1877 for David Van Buren's second marriage. Dollie likely may been a nickname, but she used Dollie on her marriage records and what was used for her later 1953 death certificate as well. Thanks to Dollie's marriage and death certificate records, I also have Mary E. Allen's middle name being Elizabeth.

For the "one son", that is stated to surviving David V. Wampler, I have only come across one male child being attributed to David - and that male child was supposedly named Robert and stated in some online trees/sources to being born in 1872. That is all I have for Robert Wampler, and this scant information would have his mother being Mary Elizabeth Allen thereby having two children resulting from David Van Buren's second marriage before Mary Elizabeth Allen's death in 1877.

In 1879, in Morgan county, Indiana, a David Wampler married a Nancy Wiatt. This is possibly the record for David Van Buren Wampler's third, and final, marriage as he is listed in 1900 and 1910 census reports with a spouse named Nancy and their marital information, in one of those two census reports, backs up the 1878/9 marriage year thought. No children are stated to resulted from this marriage.

Referring to the death notices's information in with my research, to sort out the unnamed individuals within both versions of those notices, this has me with the elusive Robert Wampler (b. 1872) being the "one son" stated to surviving his father in 1917 ... and with Dollie Arabell (b. 1877) as the "one daughter" since Dollie passes away in 1953. I already have David with a wife named Nancy in his 1900 and 1910 census reports, so this points to Nancy being the surviving wife in 1917 and a Nancy Wampler who passed away in 1934 in Owen county, Indiana is listed, on her death certificate, as being a widow of a David Wampler - this may be the death record for David Van Buren Wampler's 3rd wife. Nancy Wampler, who died in 1934, was buried in Chambersville Cemetery as well.

Which this above collection of dates and names would also, sadly, point toward that the inferred daughter, named Samantha from the 1870 US Census and attributed to David Van Buren Wampler's first marriage, had died before 16 Aug 1917.

In reference to Dollie Arabella Wampler, as I shared above on how her own paper trail was used on my side to help sort out and narrow down "who was 'likely' who" for the unnamed individuals within her father's death notices, she was born Aug 1877 in Owen county, Indiana and died 1953 in Bedford, Lawrence county, Indiana. She had married three times during her life. Her first marriage was to Elisha Chambers and that child resulted in one child, a daughter named Floy L. Chambers born in 1901, before the marriage ended in divorce. Appears that Floy L. Chambers resided with her father per census reports and a couple newspaper mentions for Floy Chambers. Dollie then married a Otho Thomas Stimson and no children are listed resulting from this marriage prior to his death. In 1951 Dollie Arabella married a Thomas Jeremiah "Jerry" Waggoner and he was the informant for her 1953 death certificate.

Floy L. Chambers was a seamstress for L. S. Ayres and lived in Indianapolis, Marion county, Indiana. Floy died in 1983 and was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. She is stated to never married.

Franklin Levi Fahnestock (1807-1854) & Sarah L. Fahnestock's (1827-1906) Mystery Children

On FamilySearch's one world tree, and some other online family trees, somehow somewhere along the way Franklin Levi Fahnestock was given the powerful 'gift' of being able to successfully posthumousely impregnate his wife, Sarah L. Fahnestock, and not just once but twice.

I am including screenshots, taken today (4 Jan 2021) from the one world tree, to help provide some visuals as I lay some of this out there for perusal:

Let's start with the most obvious and "in your face" item that mathematically the dates for the older male and two younger children, attributed to him, does not "add up" to being possible. Franklin Levi died in 1854 ... Charles Jeremiah was born in 1863, 9 years after "his father"'s death and then Nellie is born in 1879, a mere 22 years after "her father" died. This is just based off the math, so not including science where freezing sperm and eggs, and artificial insemination, was not possible in the 1850s. Now Sarah L. Fahnestock, in her late 30s to mid-40s, may have been physically able to have a child in the very early 1860s, but Nellie was born in 1879 when Sarah would've been around 52 years old, so may be 'pushing it' a bit. And then there's Sarah L. Fahnestock's obit that doesn't mention Charles nor Nellie among the children as to surviving her passing:

Mrs. Sarah Fahnestock.
Mrs. Sarah Fahnestock, widow of Levi Fahnestock, of Baltimore, died yesterday morning at the residence of her son-in-law, Thomas C. Pears, 6706 McPherson street, East End. She was born in Menallen township, Adams County, 81 years ago, and at the death of her husband she made her home with her father in Lancaster, Pa., where she lived until his death in 1877, when she came to Pittsburgh and resided with her daughter, Mrs. Ada F. Pears, who survives her with three grandchildren, J. Palmer Pears, Harry C. Pears and Thomas C. Pears, Jr. Funeral services will be held to-morrow afternoon at 3 o'clock and the interment will take place in Baltimore.
-- Source: Pittsburgh Daily Post - 8 Mar 1909 - Page 5

Screenshot Number 2 sharing some details shared for Charles Jeremiah Fahnestock:

Secondly, Franklin Levi and Sarah L. Fahnestock's own paper trail have them placed being in Maryland and western Pennsylvania area. Furthest west, in location thoughts, I came across for either one was for Sarah L. Fahnestock and that was in regard to her moving in with her daughter, Ada, family in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Nothing remotely hinting that the couple, or Sarah (by herself), went to Illinois or Missouri for any reason (to live, visit someone, or whatever). This is important as Charles Jeremiah Fahnestock, on the FamilySearch One World Tree, is listed being born Dec 1863 in Missouri,,United States and, on my side, I have him being born in McLean county, Illinois, United States. Charles is not mentioned, anywhere, as to ever living in Pennsylvania. So the location thoughts don't work on helping to support the thought of Sarah L. Fahnestock being Charles Jeremiah's Fahnestock's mother.

Screenshot Number 3 for the minamal details shared for Nellie Fahnestock on FS:

I personally have not been able to 'prove' where Nellie Fahnestock was born, but it does lean toward she was probably born in Illinois. I came across an obit for her sharing she had died 4 Dec 1966, appears to have never married, and she did have a sister who was still living - but her sister's name was Etta (married surname of Massena), not Ada Fahnestock Pears (the daughter that Sarah L. Fahnestock moved to Pittsburgh to live with until her death in 1906).

Appears that the only thing that Franklin Levi and Sarah L. Fahnestock shared, or had in common, with Charles Jeremiah Fahnestock or Nellie Fahnestock was having the same last name. That is not enough to have Levi and/or Sarah deemed the 'biological parents' though, and I've shared only 2 to 3 thoughts debunking that Charles nor Nellie were Levi and Sarah's children. Hopefully this posting will help have others, who copied that erroneous information, detach Charles and Nellie from having Levi and/or Sarah L. Fahnestock as their parents and instead look for the 1870 and 1880 US Censuses that may help place the two children with the right parents and siblings versus right now 2 to 3 families, plus countless online family trees that unhesitantly copied the wrong familial connections someone else shared, not having the correct information shared for some of the people in those families.

Keeping Track Of The Intermarriages and DNA Matches Within My Family Tree

I work on the family tree primarily within a program. I do have a of woefully outdated online family tree, from 2016, on Ancestry. The online tree is kept private as my method of updating it is through deleting the older version and uploading a new gedcom which means I have to create a new tree then re-invite people to the newer copy. Not the most advisable method of 'updating', I agree, but an online copy of a tree has not ever been my primary, or main, tree.

That being said, in the program, I have created my own 'citations' that I add to some folks within the family tree. More for my personal research thoughts.

The first of these personal citations is for keeping track of the intermarriages and, therefore, any changes in relationships that those may cause. For example, I have "Descendant of Hans George Wampfler/Wampler, son of Hans Peter Wampfler, Sr." which, naturally, I add for his children and their descendants. of him. I have created similar worded citations for Hans George's siblings, including his sisters, and also for his wife and her siblings. I also have "Descendant of Blaney Palmer, Sr., son of <unknown> Palmer" and similar one for his brother, John, descendants. As their father and mother are still unknown, the citation is able to edited at a later date when I have come across something (beyond a debunked "naming tradition theory" thought or a blank certificate that is turns into being used for a "set of twins", that is).

Using the citations have helped me to follow the intermarriage thoughts to a fairly decent degree. This method doesn't highlight more than one intermarriage between the same two branches, but it can help share when a new one comes in and how that may change some relationships, in terms of between their then-cousins and/or myself. So it's not perfect, but does what I wanted for the most part as, in using this citation guide, thanks my great-grandparents' marriage that has me being a descendant of Hans George and Hans Michael Wampfler/Wampler and Elisabeth Steffan/Steffey ... and my grandparents marriage had me also being a descendant to another person, Elisabeth's brother, Heinrich/Henry Steffan/Steffey. However, by others, I would be considered, or listed, as a descendant of Hans George and Elisabeth within books or the Wampfler/Wampler database type thoughts thanks to the male ancestors had more Hans George and his wife's 'connection' as it was more in thanks to the female ancestors, who married those particular males, who helped bring in the other descendancy thoughts.

Now all this may not seem all that scintillating of information, until looking over at my first husband's side of the tree and unbeknownst (to either one of us), he was also a descendant of Hans Michael Wampfler/Wampler (so far in my research) and at least two twigs of his side married into Hans George's side. So he and I were distant cousins when we met and later married. Also, when hopping over to my mother's side of the tree, it appears that even though her branches came to America almost a 100 years after the Wampfler/Wamplers and Steffan/Steffeys did, and also settled more toward the midwest from almost the get-go, there appears to been two intermarriages between some of her side and my paternal side of the tree as well.

For the DNA matches, I add those to the offline tree using a "DNA Match Ancestry - <name of person tested>" or "DNA Match MyHeritage - <name of person tested>". I didn't personalize or individualize the citations further to include the person's match's name. I didn't feel the need to do so at this time. For the URL/page of the source, I list the match's profile page from the particular site they shared a DNA test with. If the match's DNA is managed/maintained by another family member, then I list the managing person's profile URL and, in notations where I share a cut & paste of how many cMs and such info, I share the match page's URL. With my above described usage of citations of who is who's descendant, for trying to track the intermarriage thoughts, then I also know which side and what branch of the tree the match stems from as well. This has also helped me to see, when not on a particular site, who matched with a person and who didn't share a match with a particular person, as that has also been interesting to see on my side of the researching thoughts.

Anyway, that is how I try to keep track of some thoughts on my side of the deal within my family tree work. As my citations for tracking the descendants or DNA matches is not likely a type of source that would be included in something like a genealogy/family research book type of thought, that has me being a bit more lax with their wording and not worrying about having each one individualized. Since I am a heavy cut & paster, I have enough info kept with the tree that I could individualize them, if feeling a need to, at a later date.