Sgt Francis Eugene Carnrike was born to John H. and Velma (Wilson) Carnrike in Corry, Erie County, Pennsylvania, on 09 Jun 1916. He led a pretty normal life in the small city of Corry as siblings and cousins abounded in the area. He graduated from Corry Area High School in 1934. Frank went to work in a Corry furniture manufacturer.
On 07 Dec 1941, war broke out. Frank joined up on 21 Feb 1942 and was assigned to Company F, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division in the European Theatre. Frank made it through the bulk of the war and was on the front lines for one of the most famous landings of the war—D-Day, 06 Jun 1944, known by the military as Operation Overlord.
The troops had practiced for months prior to the action. But, the weather and the earlier strafing of German strongholds entrenched above the beach did not assist in the success of landing day activities. The 116th Infantry Regiment was charged to lead the landing and 16th Infantry to its east.
Company F had one of the lucky landings and landed where planned. Other companies in the regiment
29th Infantry Regiment
did not. Company F found itself without the support it had hoped for because of those missed landings. It also found its machine gunner sergeant killed within minutes of landing, and their commander, Capt. William Callahan, was seriously injured. The Germans pounded the beach with ground fire from their bunkers. Losses were heavy. Among those losses that first morning was Sgt. Frank Carnrike.
By the end of the three days on the beach and inland, there were over 35,000 casualties killed/injured. The only bright light of this horrific event is that this engagement would spell the beginning of the end for the Nazis.
Age 8, plaid shorts set and a Pike's Peak Bavarian cap Colorado Springs
I was pretty lucky, my mom loved to travel. According to my dad, she always brought her friend Nancy with her on long trips, because she liked traveling too. I think that was a bit of grousing on his part, but who knows?
I have snippets of memory from our first trip to Alexandria, Virginia, and the east coast after Germany. We visited Jim & Elsie Blankenship, with whom my parents lived when Dad was going to advanced technical training. They lived in a Civil War officer rowhouse near the shore. They were very nice. I made a friend of their granddaughter Michelle. About 25 years later I went to see Elsie and Michelle visited too. It was pretty sweet.
We went to places like Jamestown, the Hermitage (Andrew Jackson's house), Jefferson's house, Washington's house, and I'm sure other places. I have memories of Jamestown, the Smithsonian, and Washington's house, but nothing else. I remember it was fun. We must have gone to a Civil War site, because we each got a Civil War cap - my cap was Union and Angee's was Rebel - they both flew out the window of the non-air conditioned 1965 Pontiac Bonneville somewhere while zooming along windows-down along the newish I-74. We camped along the way. We had a stinky old green tent and blow up air mattresses. Good thing Dad had young lungs. A slightly musty smell from the tent burned indeliby into my nostrils.
I also remember the trip we took with Grandma & Grandpa Hansen with Mom to Colorado Springs. All during the long 2-day drive, we played silly games that my Grandpa came up with. His favorite was, "What color will the next car be?" We were amazed that he always got it right, not realizing he had a rear view mirror and was clearly cheating. Anytime we drove past a smelly farm or dead skunk, he'd loudly breathe in, and say, "Ah, fresh country air." I was startled when found myself doing the same with my children.
We went to see Great Grandpa Perrin's brothers and their wives. That included Walter and Florence, Stanley and Olive, and Gertie, the widow of another brother. They all lived in a triangle. Olive in a small house, across the street were Walter's house and Gertie's house. Gertie was related to my Great Grandma Perrin and her husband had been related to Great Grandpa Perrin. Gertie and Great Grandma used to go on traveling trips together. I never thought of Great Grandma being cool enough to road trip, but I was young and she no longer was. Too bad it's so hard to see the young in people.
The entrance to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Admission was $1 in 1969. This is how I remember it
We got to see the Garden of the Gods and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Pike's Peak, and some other things I don't remember so much. This was right at the base of Cheyenne Mountain. We all stayed in Grandma & Grandpa's Airstream trailerat the back of Gertie's property. It was pretty sweet as compared to other camping methodologies.
I, of course, got a cap from Pike's peak. I remember having plaid clothes that Grandma made for me. I thought I was super styling. I liked Gertie best because she talked to me like I was not 8. I have very fond memories of this trip.
I remember a trip to Clear Lake, Iowa where we camped with the Gerald Getty family and swam in the lake. We also somehow had a pontoon boat, which we used to go fishing. I caught my first fish - a sunfish, far too small to keep.
I remember the trip the Gerald Getty family took with us up to Wisconsin. We stayed in a campground in Baraboo and there was a lake up there and lots of cool things to see like the German Shepherd who could jump between two tall rocks. We went to the House on the Rock (which I revisited a few years ago--it was awful) which charges a fortune for entry and it's so dreary and depressing I can't figure out why anyone goes there. I remember one night the adults got a babysitter from the campground (thankfully not a serial killer) and they went into town to watch the last episode of The Fugitive, where the one-armed man was revealed.
On that trip I got in trouble and I learned I was a dumb-ass. Tammy Getty and I were told not to go in the water at the lake. People were swimming there and paddling around in little paddle boats and having fun, but we could not. I had an idea. Let's ask the guy with a small, flat wood raft to paddle us out to the center where the big platform was where people jumped off into the water. He did. Then we heard: "Lori! Tammy! Get out of there!" We got paddled back and got a paddling on our butt in public. They asked us why we did it when we were told not to. I said, "You told us not to go IN the water, we were ON the water."
Just before we were ready to head back to Iowa, Gerald said to me, "Don't put your finger on your head, there's a bee there." So I did. And I got stung. It hurt.
The final childhood family vacation we had was to Dubuque. I remember we were borrowing Gerald Getty's pop-up camper. Mom and Dad had been fighting a lot lately. It was 1971. The song, "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," played on the AM radio along with "Saturday Morning Confusion." I thought the Bee Gees song was so sad. I later thought how appropriate it was as we spent a not so happy last getaway as a family.
I think I'll cover my personal childhood vacations as a little addendum. See you soon.
Last month, a few days after my mom died, I hit the road for a little genealogy mystery solving in Whiteside County, Illinois, about four hours from home. I was generally, well, completely disappointed with the results of the trip.
This couple connects to people in my tree a couple different ways, as things tend to go. I'm just talking about one connection point today.
William Miller (1789-bef.1840) from England married Lorraine Fountaine (1793-1881) and lived in upstate New York. William died and Lorraine traveled with the children to Ohio, Indiana, and on to Illinois. There are a lot of blank moments. They arrived in Whiteside County in Illinois. Peace Macomber Linsey and her children, including Oscar, left Washington County, New York and also ended up there as well.
William and Lorraine's son, Edrick Miller (1816-1868) married Eleanor Flavel (1820-1880).
Their oldest child, Almira Elizabeth Miller (1839-1924) married Oscar Linsey (1836-1916) in 1854. In about 1859, they had a son, James (or John) Franklin Linsey.
Peace Macomber seems to have died in Whiteside County - but may not have. She died in about 1884. Lorraine Fountaine, I believe died in Iowa. I am going to go to the Linn County Courthouse to suss that out imminently. I received a call this week from the sexton of the Prophetsville and Portland township cemeteries. The bad news was as I thought - there are many lost/broken stones and burials that cannot be identified. Another dead end on the burials. This would apply to Peace Macomber.
I have always believed Almira Elizabeth Miller died young as I had not found a trace of her when I first started this, but have since learned she and Oscar divorced (of course there are no records) and she remarried to Calvin Jerome Bunnell in 1866, had four more children, and died in Oregon in 1924!
So, to the things I learned on my trip. Whiteside County is deeply rural. No big towns anywhere around. The courthouse was a total bust. Here's why. Illinois didn't capture any births, deaths, or marriages, unless it was voluntary, until 1916. There are a smattering of pre-1916 records, but not a one for any of the family who moved to this area. After 1916, these certificates were required and recorded, but this is long after what I needed to find.
I knew that the Dorathy family (who were the children and grandchildren of Oscar's sister Sarah Linsey) were long-time residents in this area. The early generations of Dorathy's were buried at the Sandy Town Cemetery in Portland Township. The folks at the courthouse hadn't even heard of the cemetery. It is home to the remains of about forty people and many of them are Dorathy's. Eureka! There has to be a record of who is buried in all the area cemeteries (Prophetstown and Portland Townships were really of interest).
I got the name of the person responsible for the Sandy Town Cemetery from the courthouse folks. I was given both an address and a phone number. I drove forthwith to that address, which I assumed was a township office - but no, it was her house. She was a bit surprised about my showing up on her doorstep, but was as helpful as she could be. She didn't really know who kept the records of the burials, she just sold people plots in the cemeteries. She didn't know where Sandy Town Cemetery was. I have a couple leads, but nothing so far.
I also poured over the plat maps with owners available from 1872 and 1896 and don't see any of them. So not land owners, I guess? No answers thus far, but I will update if I get any.
The one good thing that happened out of this is I nailed down information on Oscar & Almira's son, who is listed as James, John, or Franklin depending on the document. I found he and his second wife buried up in Tripp County, South Dakota. Twice widowed, he died at 93 in 1952.
Going to need to get busy and get to the Linn County Courthouse!
