Erin Family History

08/22/2026

I have just received a wonderful gift of photos from Dennis Cast. Dennis is my second cousin, with our shared ancestors being Thomas William "Will" Stone (1881-1961) and Lottie Mae Sigman Stone (1887-1968).

Here is the oldest photo of the bunch. It's very exciting because I've never seen a photo of Thomas Wood Stone (1849-1930), my 2nd great-grandfather, before. I have seen one of Mary Lucinda Earl Stone (1854-1930), his wife and my 2nd great-grandmother, but only a snapshot in later years.

This was taken around 1911, based on Lois' hair and outfit. Ages given are based on that year.

Standing, left to right (Dennis has this labelled, but I believe that the order is not exactly right -- I've compared known photos of the siblings and have determined that they are in birth order):

Joseph Anthony "Joe" Stone (1879–1942), age 32
Thomas William "Will" Stone (1881-1961) (my great-grandfather), age 30
Luther Elbridge "Bridge" Stone (1883–1964) (my great-grandmother, Lottie's partner after Will died), age 28
Lyal Stone (1884–1967), age 27
Otis Stone (1886–1966), age 25
Marion F. "Gint" Stone (1892–1934) (Murdered by his brother-in-law in D.C.), age 19
Lois Viola Stone (1895-1963), age 16

Seated:

Thomas Wood Stone (1849-1930), my 2nd great-grandfather, age 62
Mary Lucinda Earl Stone (1854-1930), my 2nd great-grandmother, age 57

This is a scan of a photo print of the original, so there is a lot of noise that resulted from me brightening the image up for clarity. Hopefully, I can scan the original some day.

How absolutely awesome is it to see this?! Dennis, thank you so much!!!

08/10/2026

Here are more photos of the John and Teena McCarty family I wanted to share before sending them on to Patrick McCarty.

08/10/2026

I am sending these photos to Patrick McCarty, but I wanted to share them with you all first.

This is Silas Bea "Bea" McCarty (1880-1952) and his son, John George McCarty (1925-1987).

Bea was the son of John Robert McCarty (1854-1919), the second son of my third great-grandparents, James S. McCarty (1825-1902) and Nancy Jane Hull McCarty (1832-1908).

Bea was also the first cousin of my great-grandmother, Clara Light Schlotman (1805-2001). She and my great-grandfather, Daniel Franklin "Dan" Schlotman (1903-1981) would go down to Gulfport, Mississippi to visit Bea and John and later John and his family.

Silas Bea McCarty is who Silas Bea Light (1933-2023) was named for. Silas Bea Light was raised by his grandmother, Margaret McCarty Light (1866-1946) from infancy. I believe that Margaret may have been the one to give him his name.

These Photomatic photo booth photos were taken between the Fall of 1947 and the Spring of 1948. https://phsc.ca/camera/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Photomatic-dating-guide-v1.1.pdf - Pages 2 & 8 ).

Bea McCarty would have been 66 years old at the time of his photo and his son John would have been 22,

07/27/2026

Joseph Anthony "Joe" Stone (1879-1942) was the eldest child of Thomas Wood Stone (1850-1930) and Mary Lucinda Earl Stone (1854-1930).

He was the older brother of my great-grandfather, William Thomas "Will" Stone (1881-1961).

Joe was likely named after his paternal grandfathers, Joseph S. Stone (1826-1917) and Anthony Wayne Earl (1834-1913).

Joe married Anna Cathryn Funk (1884-1938) in 1908 and they had two (known) children, Paul Joseph Stone (1911-1980) and Nellie Elizabeth Stone Bomersback (1916-2000). She predeceased him in 1938.

Joe died on 15 Feb 1942. His obituary appeared in the Journal and Courier, Lafayette, Indiana on 16 Feb 1942.

Here is what it says...

JOSEPH STONE

Fowler, Feb. 15.--Joseph Anthony Stone, 62, died of myocarditis Saturday at 9:30 p. m. at St. Elizabeth hospital in Lafayette. He had been ill a year.

Born in Fountain county, he was married to Anna Funk in 1907. He was manager of the Lochiel elevator for 35 years. He lived at Lochiel for 40 years. He was a member of Sacred Heart church and Holy Name society.

Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Nellie Bomersback, Lochiel; a son, Paul Stone, Fowler; a sister, Mrs. Robert Price, Wadena; and four brothers: William, Watseka, Ill.; E. L., Lochiel; Lyal, Freeland Park, and Otis, Fowler.

Friends may call Monday afternoon at the L. E. Stone residence, one mile east of Lochiel. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday at 9 a. m. from the Sacred Heart church, Rev. Father Emil Schweir officiating; burial in Fowler cemetery.

Source: The Lafayette Journal and Courier, Lafayette, Indiana, Monday, February 16, 1942
https://www.newspapers.com/article/journal-and-courier-obituary-for-joseph/48162198/

I am not in touch with descendants of Joe Stone and I've never seen a photo of him. If you're a descendant, I'd love to hear from you!

07/22/2026

EDIT: I made two errors on the image description and the images were printed and mailed out before I realized it. Thank you to Rose Nutter, a Sigman cousin, who pointed out that Lottie's dates were wrong. The printed images say 1887-1868, but it should be 1887-1968. Also, I messed up Will's name. He's Thomas William "Will" Stone, not William Thomas. It is William Thomas in a few places, but most records have it as Thomas first. Anyways, I have fixed the information here and uploaded a new corrected image.

Something else I failed to mention is that this was probably taken in Watseka, Illinois, where they lived at the time. It may have been taken at their house at 519 N. 3rd St.

Original Post:

I know it's been a long time coming, but I'm finally back to where I can start working on family history stuff a little. These Stone family photos are very overdue, so I'm starting with them.

This is a portrait of the Will & Lottie Sigman Stone Family, circa 1936. They were my great-grandparents, though they were gone before I arrived. Their son, Charles, was my grandfather on my father's side.

Marion V. Stone (Stein)(1910-1976)
Mary Lucinda Stone (Cast)(1905-1995)
Henry Otis “Hank” Stone (1917-2018)
Florence Alice Stone (Lavoie Ellis)(1913-1990)
Royal Clements “Roy” Stone (1908-1992)
Thomas William “Will” Stone (1881-1961)
Charles Elbridge “Chuck” Stone (1916-2004)
Lottie Sigman Stone (1887-1968)

Source: Fran Sigman, grandson of Roy Sigman (1888-1964), Lottie’s brother

I asked months ago who wants a copy but since so much time has passed, ***please tell me again.*** I can have them sent straight to you from CVS.

Thank you to Fran Sigman for sending these to me. I am long overdue in sending copies back to him.

05/02/2026

Busy, busy, busy and none of it fun stuff, unfortunately!

BUT -- I wanted to get the family out of the house for a bit to we went up to Decatur, TX for their Celtic Festival which was nice. Lily gets tired easily, so we left after a couple of hours. I wanted to see their downtown and so we went there before coming home. Their town square is really nice with a gorgeous 1895 courthouse and lots of shops and restaurants. A lot of local folks had their cars on the square. It's not our family history, but was still nice to see something new.

01/01/2026

Okay, I've done what I realistically can with this and have sent an order for print proofs. Progress!

If you don't remember me posting this, see my previous post. here:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DBF5bQBdn/

12/22/2025

I find this young man's videos very enjoyable. You might enjoy them, too!

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566131573318&sk=reels_tab

Hi, I'm Daniel, a student of architectural history, and welcome to my new page, where I will be giving virtual tours of historic buildings across Britain.
(Credit : IG - Greatbritisharchitecture)

12/20/2025

I've been dreading this post, but here it is. If you haven't figured it out already, I've blown the ornament thing for this year. I just couldn't find the time to spare. I will resume next year.

I am determined to make the time to get all of these photos shared to anyone and everyone because they do us no good if they're just sitting on my computer. So, this is my new year resolution.

I am truly sorry. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Send a message to learn more

10/05/2025

There are many pages on Facebook which show an old photo and tell you a story about the person in it which is 100% made-up horse pucky. "History Haven" is one. History Haven, more like Liar's Lodge.

I have a deep annoyance at this kind of thing. Real history has enough fascinating stories. They're everywhere. Why tell tales?

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084063335506

We bring the past to your present. Powerful, emotional, unforgettable.