Remembering my beloved dad, David Bauer (1945-2025).

Family history has intrigued me since I was a young child listening to my dad reminisce with my great-grandad in Jewell County, Kansas, and my mom visit with my great-grandmother, Louise  (Springer) Yust, in Newton, Kansas. I hate the idea of people and their stories being forgotten over time, especially those I love. This site is a great way to document our ancestors' grave locations and, perhaps, provide glimpses of their lives.

Feel free to use anything you find on the pages I have added. To me, the beauty of this website is the ability to easily share information with others. It is also nice to connect with distant cousins.

The biggest mystery in my ongoing genealogy hunt is the identity of my great-grandfather Frederick Shuster's parents. At birth, Fred Shuster's name was Frank HAMILTON. He was committed to the Wichita Children's Home in Wichita, Kansas, by his biological mother on June 24, 1891, about 2 months before his 2nd birthday. He likely lived with his parents during the 1890 U.S. federal census. Unfortunately, the 1890 census is the only U.S. federal census almost completely destroyed. [After fire and water damaged the 1890 census records on January 10, 1921 (prior to the construction of the National Archives Building), Congress authorized destruction of the 1890 census on February 21, 1933.] Frank / Fred was adopted by John & Mary E. ("Nellie") (Halstead) Shuster on Sept. 28, 1892.

Other family names I am always interested to learn more about on my maternal side include YUST / [originally JUST] (Reno Co., KS/ origin: Gräfenhainichen, Germany), SPRINGER (Rice Co., KS/ origin: Prussia, Germany), ALLINGER (Evansville, IN/ origin: Württemberg, Germany), KREIE (Reno Co., KS/ origin: Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany), HARTMANN (St. Louis, MO/ origin: Braunschweig, Germany), OATHOUT (Sumner Co., KS/ origin: the Netherlands), and KELLY (Iowa City, IA/ origin: County Cork, Ireland).

On my paternal side, I love to hear from relatives connected to these surnames: BAUER (Clay Co., KS – originally from Bavaria, Germany), NEMNICH (Clay Co., KS/ origin: Hessen, Germany), HEGETSCHWEILER (canton of Zürich, Switzerland), DEMARAY (Ontario, Canada/ origin: France), RUSSELL (Athens Co., OH/ origin: Ireland), MOONEY (Athens Co., OH/ origin: Ireland), PRICE (Athens Co., OH/ origin: Ireland), HOWARD (Jewell Co., KS/ origin: England), REYNOLDS (Jewell Co., KS/ origin: England), RANDLE (Clay Co., KS/ origin: England), & DUFFER (Clay Co., KS/ origin: England).

Family history is a puzzle I will never complete, but I enjoy searching for the missing pieces.

* * * * *

In case you've made an error while sending an edit to someone, you can correct it using the following method: Navigate to your profile (located in the upper right corner, click on your name, and select 'profile'. Adjacent to your Bio, under the 'Contributions' section, find and click on 'Suggested Edits'. This is where you review and approve edits submitted by others. There are two tabs available - 'Suggestions for Me' and 'Suggestions I've Sent'. Access the latter tab, 'Suggestions I've Sent', and from there, you can undo your errors.