I am headed into the final stretch of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks blogging challenge. After this one (#47) I only have five more to go!

I chose to write about Dewey Loudermilk (1898-1957) because he has just about the coolest name in my family tree! I like the way it rolls off the tongue. (You just tried it, didn’t you?)

Here is his obituary from the Terre Haute Tribune (Indiana) on February 21, 1957.

As far as I can tell Dewey is my 1st cousin 3x removed. He comes from the more gnarled branch of my family tree, the Myers line.

As I have written about before, my great grandfather Arthur Bryan Myers/Sears (1900-1964), was born to an Oliver Edgar Myers (1873-1935) and Clara Rachel Miles (Myers) Sears (1875-1934). Oliver did not stick around long, and Arthur was raised by his mother and step turned adoptive father, John Alfred Sears (1861-1951). Arthur took the Sears name and until I began working on the family tree a few years ago the Myers name was unknown to any living person in my family.

Arthur and Dewey were 1st cousins. Arthur’s dad (Oliver) was the was the younger brother of Dewey’s mother, Flora E. Myers Loudermilk (1871-1951). Dewey and Arthur shared a set of grandparents: Joseph M. Myers (1842-1900) and Nancy Lee Adkins Myers (1850-1922), who were my 3rd great grandparents.

Here is what this section of my tree looks like.

This obituary in the previous day’s paper gives more details about Dewey’s family.

Dewey is buried at Roselawn Memorial Park in Terre Haute, IN. He is buried with his second wife, Mildred. Thanks to Darrelll for the Find a Grave memorial and photos.

One of the greatest benefits of this blogging challenge is learning about parts of my family tree that would likely go unnoticed otherwise. Learning just a bit about Dewey’s story has already helped me clarify some information from the Myers lines. It has also provided helpful new leads to explore in the coming months/years/decades!

What is the coolest name in your family tree? I would love to know!

Featured Tag: INDIANA