52 Ancestors in 52 weeks
Random
One definition for random is "happening or chosen without method or conscious decision". That is exactly what happened nearly two years ago when first beginning to search my family history My father always told me there was "nothing to tell" about his family history. Imagine the shock when randomly putting the Fueston name in Newspapers.org expecting to find "nothing" to have hit, after hit, after hit, of my surname pop up. The story that unfolded has been intriguing and still is unfolding. I’m imagining my father knew a lot of the history, and I think no wonder there was "nothing to tell".
The photo I shared from "The Great Outdoors" prompt has been an example of a touchstone of intrigue and wanting to find out who this family, my family, was. The eldest in the previous week’s story is my 2X great grandfather. He and his wife Ursley had 10, perhaps as many as 14 children, per Ursley's comments in 2 different census reports. I've been able to verify 10 of them. My goal has been to find descendants of each and perhaps share stories. It has been a long 2 years of sleepless nights searching from randomness in the beginning of this venture.
The first of many random hits was the arrest of Charles Fueston (son #3) and his nephew James Porter Fueston in Spokane, Washington in 1905. The article calls them out as brothers when in fact they are uncle and nephew.
FUESTON Son #3
Spokane Chronicle, 1913 Spokane Washington
They were accused of murder. After their trial they were eventually aquitted but not until after I was treated a photo of their faces, photos of their home, accounts of the jury going to Ursley's bedside for her testimony and finally an article written many years later by Charles about basically how his life was turned upside down and that his only judge was God.
Since randomly searching my surname and getting my first hit, the hits kept coming. The history of crime began to come to light suddenly and quickly. It sees that 7 of their 10 children had an arrest record of some sort with accusations and sometimes guilty verdicts of lewd acts, thief, forgery, rape, murder, assault and more. A lot of the time there were multiple arrests from various states including Indiana, Nebraska and Washington. The most telling article I’ve read about their continued trouble is from Missouri :
“They are a tough set and the country is not improved by such a class of citizens”
A direct comment about my great grandfather who my father said there was “nothing to tell” becomes clearer as I find more and more.
The Windsor Review, Windsor, Windsor, Missouri Sept 1896
Worth repeating:
“They are a tough set and the country is not improved by such a class of citizens”
These first findings are just a very tiny glimpse into the articles and stories that I’ve since found after my first random hit nearly 2 years ago. There is plenty of sad among the history of the Fueston’s family story and good reason for a father to now want to share these stories with his daughter. One story is that one of the sons of Ezekiel and Ursley, while on his dying bed, 3 of his own sons were in prison for various reasons and all at the same time in Walla Walla Washington. And to wrap up this week’s story, one final situation to mention here is about a son of one of the 10 children. His crime was so heinous that his ashes remain un-claimed by family at a mausoleum in Spokane, Washington and he is not viewable by the public.
Randomness has led me into a glimpse of my Fueston family story, about our history, our ancestors and a road most don’t want to travel. No wonder my father was so protective. And me being the curious one as well as the matriarch of my Fueston family, will continue to cobble the stories together the best I can.
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