When Ada was nine years old, her oldest sister, Alice, died in childbirth at age 19 after marrying Alton Chaney in the Gold Hill area. Alton soon left to start a new life with his new son, William. The family never heard from them again.
Ada had always felt a yearning to find her brother-in-law and nephew, William, feeling she owed that attention to her sister’s memory. Her daughter, Marvene, and Ada made more than one trip to Southern Oregon to research their whereabouts, but they never found any traces.
Around 2007, I (Marvene’s son, George) was exploring Ancestry.com and came across an extensive Dungey family tree completed by Maggi Rackley, an avid genealogist. We communicated and she mentioned a cousin of mine that lived west of Portland that was part of the Dungey family and was also researching our family. I contacted Candy and in our friendly exchange, she invited me to an upcoming family gathering. She was generous enough to let me bring my mother, sisters and niece, Kim.
The night before the gathering, my mother asked what the connection was to Candy and family. Not being fluent in family tree yet, I showed her Ancestry.com and pointed to the tree limb that led to Candy. It was Nonnie’s sister, Alice. Mom started crying softly. We had found Alton and William.
Candy had already shared that her grandfather William had passed as well as her great grandfather, Alton. Mom was unable to tell either of them about Ada’s wishes, but the completion of this search was something she could look up to Nonnie and say “We found them, Mother”.
