Cattle mutilation story

I recently came across a cassette recording of a telephone conversation that my dad and his brother, Eldon Cornelius, had in 1975. Uncle Eldon had farmed in the Madrid area for many, many years. One day in September 1975, he came across a dead cow in his pasture that had been thoroughly mutilated. He told my dad the story and my dad wanted to record the conversation. They agreed upon a date and time to talk.

The conversation took place on October 28, 1975 and lasted for about 65 minutes.

My recollection was that Dad made several copies of the conversation and arranged to give a copy to Dr. Allen Hynek of Northwestern University. Dr. Hynek was one of the best-known UFO researchers at the time and had studied other incidents of cattle mutilation. As far as I know, there was no follow-up with Dr. Hynek and the tape was never returned. He died in 1986.

Anyway, I found the cassette tape in a box and figured out how to hook up my old tape recorder to my PC. The transfer went fine and I burned a few CDs, including one for Eldon who is now retired and living in North Platte, Nebraska.

Cornelius Cemetery, Christian County, KY

I found a website the other day that contains information about a number of my direct ancestors. It’s a cemetery website for the Cornelius Cemetery near Sinking Fork in western Kentucky. My fourth great-grandparents – John and Martha “Patcey” Cornelius – are interred there.

What was also interesting are the names of some of the other relatives. On this page, I found  a Woodrow Wilson Cornelius and a Chester Arthur Cornelius – the latter apparently named after President Chester A. Arthur.

What was really interesting was a John Wilkes Cornelius. John was born in 1875 -- ten years after the Lincoln Assassination -- and passed away in 1876 after only six months of life.

Here is the link: Cornelius Cemetery Christian County, KY.

Military photos

I recently came across a cache of photos that my father took in 1945 while in Okinawa. I have scanned several of the photos and have created a Flickr set to contain these photos. I will be adding more photos as time permits.

Class of 1958

In the interest of fairness, I present my 1958 kindergarten class photo for comment! Earlier I posted my dad’s 1942 high school class picture so I thought I should provide some “transparency.”

I’m the well-dressed young lad in the far left of the top row!

Class of 1942

I recently came across a class photo for my father’s high school. He graduated in 1942 from Madrid High School. Dad is in the top row, third from the right.

Twitter

If any of my family members – or anyone reading this blog – would like to follow me on Twitter, I’m at http://twitter.com/sscornelius.

Winter of Death

I recently blogged about my great aunt, Emma Kostal Psota, who died at a young age as a result of the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919. This week I received a copy of a new booklet by local Ravenna author, Valerie Vierk, that chronicles the flu pandemic.

The booklet is called Winter of Death: Ravenna Area Victims of the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic. Readers of this blog who may be interested in obtaining a copy of the booklet can do so by contacting Valerie directly by e-mail. The cost of the booklet is $10.00 plus $1.50 shipping.

[Disclosure: I provided Valerie with some material for her book. I have no financial interest whatsoever.]

Brad Tilsch

A “shout-out” to my old neighbor, Brad Tilsch. He and I lived in the old Northbrook neighborhood in the ‘50s and ‘60s. I spoke to him on the phone a few days ago and he told me his daughter had read this blog!

Welcome!!!

Emma Kostal Psota

My grandfather, Edward Kostal, had four step-siblings and three full siblings. He was the only boy among his full siblings. Two of his three sisters grew to adulthood and lived long, long lives. I knew both of them.

While in France with the AEF, my grandfather learned that his third sister, Emma Kostal, contracted Spanish Flu during the great pandemic of 1918. Even though The Great War ended on November 11, 1918, my grandfather was severely wounded and did not return to the states until the following spring. It was too late as Emma succumbed on April 2, 1919. She was 23 years old.

Emma married Fred Psota and they had a daughter together named Jeanette. After Emma’s death, my great grandparents took care of Jeanette. Fred remarried another Emma and moved to Fairbury, Nebraska.

Emma is buried in the Ravenna cemetery. This photo has been in the family for a very long time. Back then, it was common practice to hire a studio photographer and have him/her take photos of the deceased with all of the floral decorations. For a small town like Ravenna, this was a lot of flowers!

I’m unsure if this was photographed at a funeral home or in a private residence. I know that some memorial services were held in the home rather than in church or a funeral home. For example, the service for my great grandmother (Emma’s mother) was held at her home.

Nebraska “Rocks!”

I thought it would be fun to post a slideshow of photos taken during my ancestral homeland visit to Nebraska. Here are photos of Courthouse, Jail, Castle and Chimney Rocks. Flickr has a new slideshow application that I wanted to try.