2023 #1 I'd Like to Meet

My great grandmother, Elizabeth Deborah Fletcher, is one of my ancestors that I would love to meet.  

Lizzie as she was known, as born 4 July 1858 in Covington, Tioga County, Pennsylvania.  Her parents were  John Fletcher and Deborah Theresa Ramsdell.  She was the youngest of their 6 children.

My first question would be to ask Lizzie where she met John Martin Shaffner.

John Martin Shaffner, my great grandfather  was from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  Which is 2 hours  and 20 minutes south of Covington or about 138 miles.

Lizzie married John Martin Shaffner on 16 September 1880  in Whitesville, Allegany County, New York.   Lizzie was 22 when she married and John, who was 25.

Why did they choose Whitesville, New York to get married? 

Whitesville, New York is about 1 hour and 10 minutes or 51.5 miles from Covington, Pennsylvania.

(Google maps provided the distance & time)

John & Lizzie's marriage certificate

The original certificate has a spot for pictures but didn't contain pictures

A company in Billings digitized the original certificate & added the pictures.

The original certificate (1880) is very large and very fragile.

The certificate was in John Fanoit Shaffner's family collection.

This is the only picture of John Martin Shaffner in the collection, but he was in a group photo.  The company was able to extract his picture from the group photo,

John & Lizzie had 6 children.  Their first child Willard Fletcher, was in July 1881,  Ettie Viola born in 1883,  Lida Lorene in 1885, John Fanoit (my grandfather) in 1887, Bert Lawrence in 1889 and the 6th baby, Walter Ruskin was born in 7 September 1899.

Lizzie died 17 November 1899.  The death certificate listed her cause of death as kidney trouble and that she was ill for 2 weeks.  Elizabeth Deborah Fletcher was 41 years old.  Her 6th child, Walter Ruskin was 2 months old.

The death information from the John Fanoit Shaffner Collection.

The Funeral notice in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania paper

Lizzie was buried in the plot with her father in law.  The location of grave was finally located when I visited the East Harrisburg Cemetery.  She does not have a headstone.  

My grandfather, John Fanoit Shaffner,  was 12 years old when his mother died.  His collection of family history, including stories he wrote about his life does not include very much information about his mother.  There are a couple of pictures, the death information
and the wedding certificate.  There was no information about his mother’s family.  

I hope further research will answer some of the questions.