Down the rabbithole: Following the Hedge's roots!

I'm trying to consolidate my genealogy information into one area of the house and specifically into a four drawer file cabinet. Slowly I'm going through papers. Not an easy task because I'd rather be on Ancestry winding my way through family trees looking for connecting branches of the family.

I haven't looked at the Hedges/Jamison Family Bible for many years. It's so fragile, that many years ago I copied the family information and carefully put it back in its place. I came across the copies this week and while looking at them I saw a name whose place in the family I'd never been able to discover:

Who was this Mary Shoemaker? I asked myself. This search necessitated me to really use my genealogy detective skills. If she was in this Bible she must have been a Hedges or Jamison so I went to Ancestry and began my sleuthing about the site. It didn't take long for me to hit pay dirt, using Find a Grave :

I quickly went back to the Family Bible and confirmed Mary's birthdate:

And almost at the bottom is the entry, Mary E. Hedges was born July the 1st 1842. The connection was made! Mary had married a Shoemaker and my next task was to find out more about Mr Shoemaker...

 

Mary E. Hedges and William F. Shoemaker were married on 12 Feb 1867 at Coles, Illinois, USA

The 1880 census placed them in Shelby, Prairie Co., Illinois:
William was a minister,  and they had two children: Loura Dona 11, Franklin Thomas 7.

Loura Dona grew up to have a daughter Loura who had a daughter Loura who is still living and has been identified through DNA as my third cousin!

Ancestry continues to amaze me!