Madison County Genealogical Society
Minutes of the Meeting – April 23, 2023
On April 23, 2023, the
Madison County Genealogical Society held a meeting at the Edwardsville Public
Library.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the
meeting to order.
GIFT MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE
Do you have a family member that is
interested in (or even obsessed with) genealogy? A membership in the Madison
County Genealogical Society would be a very thoughtful gift. A gift card will
be sent to the recipient of any gift membership.
The following memberships are available:
Individual/Family Annual Membership $25.00
Patron Annual Membership $35.00
Institutional Membership $25.00
Contact our Correponding Secretary, Lynn Engelman, at [email protected],
about a gift membership.
April
Meeting
This meeting was a Show and
Tell session. Members were requested to bring a story, photo, or other memento
of an ancestor that has an interesting story or is an intriguing mystery.
Mary Westerhold
brought and talked about a pair of wooden shoes found in her father’s home when
cleaning out after his passing. Farmers used wooden shoes out in the fields of
their farms in the Effingham area.
Robert W. Ridenour brought a
portrait of his Great Uncle Freddy (Frederick Singleton Ridenour). Robert W.
obtained the portrait and a family Bible from the daughter-in-law of the
youngest daughter of Robert Singleton Ridenour .
Uncle Freddy was the oldest
son of Robert S. (Robert W.’s Great Grandfather).
Robert Singleton Ridenour had three sons and five daughters. Two of the
daughters died before the age of 6. Robert W.’s
grandfather was the youngest son of Robert S.
According
to his death certificate, Uncle Freddy was born in Jersey County, Illinois, on
21 August 1881. His death certificate lists his date of death as 30
December 1914 in St. Louis, Missouri at the Missouri Baptist Sanatorium, with
the date of burial as 2 January 1915, in Rosedale Cemetery, Rosedale, Illinois.
However,
his obituary (newspaper and date of publication unknown) gives his age as 25,
which would make his birth date in 1889. The obituary also gives his death date
as 24 December 1914 and funeral as 26 December 1914. According to my
calculation, he died at over the age of 33 years.
The
family Bible lists his birth date of 21 August 1882. However, it appears that all the entries up to 1932 were written by the same person.
There are a few later entries written by someone else.
Other
than the confusing dates, there is another mystery. Ridenour. Uncle Freddy
shares the same middle name as his father (Singleton); but no one else in the
family has that name.
I
have been unable to find any clue as to where the name Singleton comes from.
Any suggestions as to where I should look?
