As most of you know, I am obsessed with finding new family members. For the most part, they are long since deceased but within the last few weeks a new, and very much alive, cousin has come into my life. Sarah’s great grandmother was my paternal grandfather’s sister (Nelle and Raymond Dellinger) so we are Dellinger 2nd cousins, one generation between us. We have been excitedly sharing information and photographs to help build a picture of our most interesting family. Sarah had never seen a photo of Raymond, or I of Nelle, so that was very exciting. If you look at Sarah’s gravatar image you will see a resemblance in our smiles. To my astonishment, Sarah thought that I look like a Dellinger. As an only child with little connection to my paternal side, this is all manna from Heaven. Curiously, we both have WordPress Blogs and write similarly. Now we are pondering whether the writing gene comes from the Dellinger side…and why do we have so much Swedish DNA???
Please enjoy this beautifully researched genealogy post below on Sam Houston Dellinger (my great-grandfather) and have a look at Sarah’s blogs – Stories of my Family and A blog dedicated to my love for books
The Dellinger side of the family is full of of fantastic stories. Samuel Houston Dellinger and his wife, Lillie (née Dillingham) were quite the characters and it is not surprising that their independent, pioneer spirit rubbed off on their children (though it manifested quite differently in some of them).
Postcards from Kerry 
Thank you so much for this share! I love that we found each other. School has started, so I won’t have as much time for genealogy for awhile…. I haven’t finished reading your posts, looking forward to doing that in my free time. 🙂
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You are most welcome – I have just discovered your other blog. Lots of reading. K x 😁
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My three loves – reading, writing, and genealogy!
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Wow pretty cool Kerry. Glad you are able to find some of your relatives and to share stories. Is the any relation of Sam Houston Dellinger to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Tx?
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In a way, Gary. We think that our Sam Houston was named or named himself after Sam Houston. There is one record where his name is spelled as Huston. My Dad’s name was Earl Houston Dellinger.
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I thought at first you might have had a little gangster in you. Now I see it’s DELLinger….
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LOL! Just remember that….😁
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Gosh that’s amazing Kerry! You have a very interesting family history.
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Thank you, Liben. ❤️
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What fun. My mother is the researcher in our family and she has uncovered photographs and letters sent through family member she had no idea existed. She also had her DNA analyzed and it really had some surprises.
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Letters are so wonderful, like historical essays with a true connection. If it were not for the DNA tests I would not have known about my long Mexican heritage. Thank you!
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Thank you Kerry…I enjoy your posts. I checked out Sarah’s blog and followed her. Thanks.
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How cool that you two met via WP!!
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Sarah contacted me via Geni and then discovered our WP blogs. It is the strangest coincidence – the writing gene seems to be on that side of the family. Do you have artists in your family?
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Indeed I do! My mum is an artist, as was her dad, though he kept it private. She´s a painter too, but also awesome with clay, and he was also very apt at painting and a wonderful singer. These kind of things definitely are in the genes! 😀
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That’s amazing, Sarah. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. My mum said that my Dad sold his watercolors in San Francisco but I have not inherited that…😃
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It’s always so interesting to observe which characteristics we inherit and which not, isn’t it? You might not have got the painting-gene but you’ve got the wrtiting one instead! Your Dad might have lacked that.
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I also have many artists on our side. Grandma (Evelyn Hansen Frohmberg) was quite talented; I have several of her water colors. My parents and uncle have the portraits she did of her children and grandchildren. My parents are talented, too, though they haven’t done much with “art” in years; dad does a lot of building and mom is way talented with embroidery, sewing, and quilting. My brother, David, is talented like grandma plus he is a fantastic make-up artist and hair stylist. We’re a creative bunch! I guess it comes from the Dellinger DNA!
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One of our Lungren cousins is a hairdresser. Most of the rest work on film sets including Pirates of the Caribbean. I guess there is a creative gene…❤️ I need to meet David so that he can make me camera ready!
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David is amazing. If you’re ever in Naples Florida…
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Great story👍🏼
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Teşekkür ederim!
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