All, It’s certainly been an interesting 48 hours. First off, I want to thank all that wrote privately with words of support. But I want to especially thank those several folks that told me that my little tale was inspiring enough to encourage them to continue looking for their ancestors even though, like me, they hit brick wall after brick wall. Those were very very heartwarming emails to receive. I’m not ashamed to publicly say that a ‘misty eye’ occurred now and then when reading those emails. Thank you. Now on to this tale… I joined the Navy out of high school and went off to a ship that was homeported out of Yokosuka Japan. Christmas time 1970 found me amongst the crowd of sailors at the Post Exchange in Yokohama during “men’s night” – supposedly so the men could buy their wives and children gifts without giving the “secret gift” away. There was a drawing – I won a girl’s bicycle. Not needing a bicycle as a 20 year-old – especially a girl’s bike – I sold it to some sailor for $20. I probably had more than a few drinks on the $20. Fast forward about 20 years. Washington State started a lottery and I “invested” $5 twice a week when the prize was more than 2-3 million – figuring that just a measly million or two wasn’t enough to justify the ‘investment’. One Wednesday I had a meeting in the evening. My young daughter copied down the results of the 7 pm drawing and left it on the side table at my easy chair. I got home from the meeting and compared the numbers on my lotto ticket to the numbers Jennifer had written down. Let me tell you that should you ever be fortunate enough to hold a winning lotto ticket in one hand and a list of the winning numbers in the other – they will flash just a brightly as the gaudiest Las Vegas neon sign! I don’t remember exactly what the first 5 numbers were – doesn’t matter, they matched. But that doggoned sixth digit – sigh. My ticket said 44. The winning number drawn was 42. Two stinking digits off of a $6 million lotto prize. The ~$750 consolation prize was certainly worth the 2 hour drive to the nearest state lotto office – but it would never be as nice as having that last number be two digits lower. This entire sordid tale to make the point that my “luck” has never been spectacular. But you’ve either known people or have heard of people with fantastic luck. I don’t know what the prize pool is worth this Saturday night here in Texas, but maybe I should go “invest’ $5 just in case. Why should I do that? Please read on. If you remember my tale from my posting called Serendipitous Find from Thursday: “Now… Dad was born near Golden Missouri and they apparently migrated to Washington in 1888. Leo E’s father – my grandfather - apparently died sometime in 1889 – we believe of an accident. Granny Perphene, re-married after my Hill grandfather died – She married a Herbert Dart. But, ass-u-ming that granny and grandpa hill were close to the same age - ± a few years – that means that Grandpa Hill was born sometime between 1855 and 1865.” Then my post where I related what my 92 year old sister-in-law had to say about middle names and how they were changed for reasons unknown. Add in the typos in the 1958 “History of the Lewis River Valley” book and things started adding up. Granny Perphene – my grandmother – apparently was named at birth Perthena but later was called Perphene – probably pronounced nearly the same. A bit more research on Friday resulted in finding the marriage link that my niece mentioned in the phone conversation from Thursday night. Grandmother and Grandfather were married – according to this link - http://www.rootsweb.com/~mobarry/data/MarBookF_m-z.htm - 20 - Strait, Parthena A. - Hill, Elgin - Oct. 10, 1886 - Ernest Klenn, J.P. As you can see, “Parthena” and “Perthena” aren’t so far off – so it’s most likely the same woman as my grandmother. And that fits with the family records from out in Washington. My father was born 10 months and 2 days later - 08/12/1887. Elgin – now he’s another kettle of fish. Google all ya want and there ain’t enough to spit at on a hot Texas summer day! So we approached it from a different avenue. Perthena. From my cousin Dick Strait – http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/STRAIGHT/1997-06/0866330482 James Strait born 28 Aug 1798, Virginia, occupation: farmer, married ABT 1820, in Brown Co., OH, Perthena Hayes, born 9 Jan 1800, Virginia, (daughter of Benjamin Hayes and Sarah Pindell) died 5 Jun 1875, Harrison Co., MO, buried: Fairview Cm., Harrison Co., MO. James died 31 Aug 1884, Harrison Co., MO, buried: Fairview Cm., Harrison Co., MO.2 Then: - III. Eli Strait born 23 Aug 1824, Washington Twp., Brown Co., OH, occupation: farmer/miller, married 13 Aug 1846, in Wabash Co., IN, Mary Ellen Sigler, born 8 Sep 1825, Ross Co., OH, died 30 Dec 1896, Cowlitz Co., WA, buried: Lone Pine Cm., Cowlitz Co., WA. Eli died JAN 1921, Cowlitz Co., WA, buried: Lone Pine Cm., Cowlitz Co., WA. Then from: http://www.lewisriver.com/pt2-page4.html “STRAIT, ELI Eli and Mary Strait with their children and grandchildren settled on Lewis River, where Woodland Park now stands, in 1889. They bought the place from Charley and John Page. Their children were Homer, Eugene, Perphene (Aunt Attene) and Laura. Homer and Louisa Straits children were: Alvin, Amos, Clemetine, Alf, Addie and Vesta. Eugene (Gene) never married Aunt Attena married Elvin Hill, their son, Leo, now lives in Woodland and is married to Thelma Eaton Hill, daughter of Courtney Eaton.” So we have an unbroken chain from me back to James Strait on my father’s mother’s side. We see where grandmother Perthena got her name – from her grandmother – my gg grandmother. We also see how they are tied into Missouri – albeit in a county in the northwestern part of the state instead of the southwestern corner. Connecting more dots. So on my Friday searching I kept running into Elgin G. Hill – especially here: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mbonsal/hill/hillwilliamc.html And then an additional link: http://www.rootsweb.com/~modade/dadehill.html Right at the very top is a listing of one Elgin Gernade HILL was born 1817 in Rhea County, Tennessee. He died 1881 in Fannin County, Texas. Elgin married (1) Didamy about 1840 in Missouri. So once again a phone call to my 92 y/o SiL to see if she knew the G in my grandfather’s name was Gernade. The answer? Yes, she was pretty sure that it was. Spelled how? Don’t know. Grenade, Granade or Gernade? Could be any or the three. So let’s go with Gernade for arguments sake. Any idea where our branch of the Hill’s came from? Not sure – but thought Tennessee. Tenuous, but all I have to go on. So back to the Dade/Hill link. Most of these folks were born in Tennessee before they moved west to Missouri – Cedar and Dade Counties. These two counties were in place by the 1840’s and remain so today. OK – back to the Strait side of the family at this link: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/WACOWLIT/2004-02/1075699793 Just before my name at the bottom is Granny’s name and her husband - Elgin Grenade Hill d. 27 Mar 1889 - Married: 10 Oct 1886 in: Missouri. OK – consistent with family lore – Elgin died in Washington State – Now I have a date. Marriage date consistent with other records. Once more to Perthena: F Child 7 Perthena Ann Strait also known as: Perphene died at age: 90 Born: 23 Dec 1863 in: Livingston Co., MO. Livingston County IS NOT close to Cedar and Dade counties. But people to move around – so the connection is at least in the same state. Once more back to this link: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mbonsal/hill/hillwilliamc.html Near the bottom we have: 3. JOSEPH H3 HILL (WILLIAM C.2, JOHN1) was born Abt. 1828 in Rhea County, Tennessee. He married MIRA ELIZABETH LEE Abt. 1848 in Owens Cross Roads, Alabama. Children of JOSEPH HILL and MIRA LEE are: i. ELIZABETH A4 HILL, b. Abt. 1850. ii. MARY A HILL, b. Abt. 1852. iii. MARGARET G HILL, b. Abt. 1854. iv. ELGIN G HILL, b. Abt. 1856, Cedar County, Missouri. v. MARTHA J HILL, b. Abt. 1859, Cedar County, Missouri. As you can see, child #4 is Elgin G. Hill. Birth year just about right from my earlier supposition from Perthena’s birth year. We also have a Gernade namesake in the same family tree – without mapping it on paper it appears to be an uncle – from a generation earlier Perthena was 22 years, 9 months old when she married Elgin. Elgin was about 29-30 years old – IF this is the same Elgin – at marriage. More dots. Barry County MO is two counties due south of Cedar County and only one county due south from Dade county. My father was born in Barry County. Confirmation. I’ve gotta see if I can get a death certificate from Cowlitz County Washington for Elgin. NO – NO – NO! It CAN’T be this Serendipitous – can it? After years of frustration – can it be so simple as to fall into a complete family tree like this? If this doesn’t pan out then it will be just another false hope and brick wall. But if this turns out to be verifiable and true… Stunned would not be too strong of a word to use. So… Am I this lucky? Do I need to go buy a lotto ticket? And please – forgive me if I haven’t strung the logic together so that it is easily followed. Any (potential) cousins reading this thesis? Best to all, Leo Carl Hill Veteran. Patriot. Democrat.