To all concerned:
This note attempts to document the information that led to the knowledge concerning the connection of the two family lines; the lines identified by Ellis, his widow, Hazel (Indianapolis, Ind.), and his brother Gary (Linesville, Pa) and the lines associated with Robert of Cortland, Ohio.
Prior to the Summer, 1996 time frame, the Author's research had identified two family lines (trees). There was no know connection between them. The remaining portion of this document is in the first person as written by the Author.
My wife, Carol, and I visited Robert Giering at his home in Cortland, Ohio on August 15,1996. While there some of the things that we learned was that his Grandfather was named Fredrick(sic), his Father was Norman and Norman had a brother Elmer. Fredrick's Father was not known, but he, Fred's Father, had a brother whose son, William was known. I posted the information to my genealogy records in late September.
Two days before the Cortland visit, August 13, 1996, we had visited Gary Giering at his home in Linesville, Pa. While there we discussed his ancestors. He had his Father's family bible containing a significant amount of information on the early Gierings. One of the notes in the bible indicated that Gary's Grandfather, John (born in 1864), had a brother named Fred. Since, at that time we had not yet visited Robert, the name, Fred, did not register as being significant.
Gary and his wife also had a number of old photographs (that had belonged to Gary's Grandfather John), some of which they gave us to copy for our records. One of the pictures is:
As a result of the two pieces of information and the information from the back of the picture, I am able to conclude that the two family lines are actually one.