![]() ![]() It looked like William kept his wife shopping close to home. In the 1900 census (before Aunt Marion was born in 1903), I have since found William and Nellie with a son, Harvey, born in 1894, living two doors down from Thomas and Bridget Green, and their daughter, Frances. I had Aunt Marion’s parents recorded as William Walter Witten and Nellie Cummings. Of course, I didn’t have my data file, or any internet access! The names and dates engraved on the base didn’t mean anything to me then. ![]() Could that headstone possibly be related to her? We had no other leads, so we got out. I remembered Uncle Fred’s wife, Marion, had a maiden name of Witten. You’re probably thinking, “That doesn’t look much like Schweiger,” right? Nope, but when I saw it, a vague memory popped into my head. The names are Harvey William Witten, Frances Green Witten, Thomas Green, and Bridget Green. Headstone for inlaw relatives of the brother of my grandmother, Victoria Barbara Schweiger. ![]() Out the left-hand window, close to the road, was this headstone: Ascension Catholic Cemetery, 1920 Buckley Road, Libertyville, Lake County, Illinois. We hadn’t gone far when I told my dad to stop. Of course, any flush-to-the-ground headstones were invisible to us, as well as anything any distance from the road. Dad drove slowly, while we kept our eyes peeled on either side for the names on headstones. One of Dad’s favorite sayings was, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” So we gambled and decided to just drive down the main road (between sections 1 and 2), hoping to get lucky. We didn’t have this while we were there, and had no idea where the headstones we were looking for were located! Map of Ascension Catholic Cemetery, 1920 Buckley Road, Libertyville, Lake County, Illinois. Trying to “walk” that cemetery would have taken forever. Naturally, the Schweiger and Witten headstones are still in the 48% not documented! Even with fewer people buried there in 1996, Ascension was still a big place. The current stats at Find A Grave indicate there are 14,519 memorials at Ascension, with 52% of them photographed. We’d gone out of our way to drive there, but had no clue where to start searching for the headstone we knew was there. The self-serve kiosk now at the cemetery wasn’t even a twinkle in a programmer’s eye in 1996. I had no idea where Uncle Fred was buried. Unfortunately, it was Sunday, so the cemetery’s office was closed. It’s farther north than the others, and I’d never been there before. I knew my grandmother’s youngest brother, Frederick Hugh Schweiger, was buried in Ascension Catholic Cemetery, in Libertyville. We hit the old standbys of Ridgewood and Sacred Heart (where my grandparents are buried), but had also decided to visit other cemeteries, with more distantly-connected relations. My parents and I made the rounds of the cemeteries that weekend. It was an odd time of year to visit, but my 20th high school reunion must have been scheduled, so I was up for that. In October, 1996, I found myself visiting my parents. We don’t always realize when or how that work will pay off. Fortunately, genealogy doesn’t usually require heavy sweating though it involves plenty of work. Thomas Alva Edison said, “Success is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration!” That’s not far off from Jefferson’s comment about hard work. ![]()
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