This is from a comment I’m hoping to post at Stella’s place here:
General Discussion, Thursday, August 2, 2018
Since there is a lot of “fun” family history here I’m also saving it as a blog post for I don’t know if the comment will post at Stella’s with so many links….Enjoy!
Thanks for featuring the states, Stella. The West is truly amazing! My husband Michael & I spent the night in Tucumcari, NM on the way home from our honeymoon (in CO’s Rocky Mountain National Park) & he found a Huge beetle in our room in the morning. He left it under a plastic water glass w/ the ice bucket on top so it wouldn’t escape. We actually got a letter from the hotel manager about it–a fun & bizarre honeymoon memory. He found it while I was taking a shower so I was Extremely glad he’d contained it before I got out!
By way of history, one of NM’s governor’s was a great uncle of my husband’s, Herbert James Hagerman, son of JJ (he also was considered as a VP running mate for Teddy Roosevelt, I believe, & was an ambassador to Russia for a time). My husband also had a great grandfather who was governor of Colorado (Oliver H. Shoup). His 2nd great grandfather J. J. (James John) Hagerman was also a big deal in CO & NM in mining, railroads, finance, & irrigation.
There are several places in several states named for JJ or his descendants, I believe. Hagerman Lake in Michigan’s UP is near where JJ got his start in mining, near the border with Wisconsin. Hagerman Pass in the CO mountains named for JJ’s son Percy (Michael’s Great GF) who was a founding member of the “14,000 club” (I believe) a group of early mountaineers who summitted the 14,000+ peaks of the Rockies. There is some Hagerman place in NM (& a bad guy in an old John Wayne movie was loosely based on JJ there, I think) & also in ID if not elsewhere. There used to be a link to JJ’s memoirs (scanned typewritten document) that was fascinating from the magnitude of life experiences & iconic American dream material shared…I found it!…memoir is here:
Click to access J.J.Hagerman_autobiography.pdf
from this site w/ links to Percy’s memoir & more:
http://hagermanlake.org/?p=history
above should be a picture of Hagerman Lake, Iron River, MI
Oliver’s son, Verner R Shoup, & JJ’s daughter, Anne Hagerman married in the early 1920’s I believe & were my husband’s mother’s parents. We don’t know much about these people from family info for Michael’s mom died during his youth. From records searching I found Verner & Anne were both 1st class passengers on the Luisitania (I think–a sister ship of the titanic). They were travelling with servants but not other family members & both in their teens then. We don’t know if they knew each other socially from the Colorado Springs area or if they may have met on the ship, but they were married & parents within a couple of years (if my memory is accurate).
Percy Hagerman was an artist, as was his granddaughter, my husband’s mom. We have a lithograph by Percy & several works by Anne Shoup (Kamins Curren Winstead) in ink, watercolor, pastels, & oils. Our daughter, Clarissa, appears to have gotten that Hagerman/Shoup artistic gene!
above should be “Hagerman’s Peak by Percy Hagerman”
from this site: http://www.actionmatrix.com/History/html/Rosamont_Corporation/Rosamont_Main.htm
JJ & Percy are both mentioned liberally on the above page for any history buffs…
above should be an image of JJ Hagerman from this site (with other info on his life & links to his family’s sites)…
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/85447891
Well sorry for going on so long here. Thinking of NM & CO from yesterday & this just bubbled up! Having a couple of “famous” relations can make genealogical searching slightly easier but finding those obscure relations is probably much more rewarding & challenging…Blessings to all!
PS On a more personal note, JJ was known for his effort to bring physical water to the desert, in NM particularly, though he appeared to have turned his back on God…Michael, JJ’s descendant & his/our family are more inclined to provide “streams in the desert” by providing spiritual sustenance to others…as all our kids are walking with the Lord & being more a part of the solution than of the problems! We are blessed with this heritage of faith & are thankful to see our kids impacting The Kingdom of God in myriad ways…
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