Katie (Dacy) Regnier 1878-1949

Some people are doing 52 Ancestors, blogging about 1 ancestor per week for this year. Well that seemed like a bit much to me to jump right into, so I am trying 12 ancestors this year (one per month). Plus I didn't hear about the 52 Ancestors until January 10 so I was already a week or two behind. Anyway, one per month for this year 2014. Maybe next year I can do 2 per month, or one per week. We will see.

For January, I picked my great-grandmother Katie (Dacy) Regnier

This picture I have labeled Katie Dacy, Cornelius Dacy and Lucy Dacy. Lucy was her mother and Cornelius "Con" was her brother. So she would've been young in this photo as her parents died when she was young. I'm guessing this was taken around 1890, soon before her mother passed away.

This is what I know (have) on Katie. She was born Katherine Dacy to James and Lucy Bridget (Crahan) Dacy on 7 April 1878 supposedly in St. Louis, Missouri. I don't know much about her early life, other than they moved to Oklahoma at one point. Her father James supposedly worked on the railroad so I think they moved west quite a bit. She was the second youngest of about 7-9 children. Her father James died in 1891 in New Mexico, and her mother a year earlier in 1890. So she would've been 12-13 years old when her parents died. Family members say she was then taken into an orphanage until she was of age, and then her siblings arranged a homestead for her. She had an aunt who was possibly a nun, so I wonder if she was in an orphanage where her aunt worked. So I would like to know more about her early life, find some records that would support these stories.

Then in June 1903 she married Roy Regnier in Springfield, Colorado. I believe this is their wedding photo:

They lived near Springfield, Colorado for more than 20 years, until 1926, when they moved to Fairbury, Nebraska. They had nine children, 2 of whom died as infants, one who died as a teenager, and the other 6 lived many, many, many years. Most of those 6 lived well into their 90s, the youngest (Juanita Regnier) just passing away this month. The oldest of the 6 was Paul Regnier who lived to be 98 years old. She raised her family, and she passed away in 1949 in Fairbury, Nebraska. 

So reviewing what I have for documents about her, I have her obituary, death certificate, cemetery photo, and have found her in the following Federal censuses: 1920, 1930, 1940 and possibly 1900. I also have a few photos of her, the two I included here plus a family photo and a photo of about graduation age. So what I would like to find is her baptism certificate (as I don't think a birth certificate will exist), marriage license and any school or orphanage records. 

Killing 2 birds with one stone with this post, for #genchat we were supposed to review a document we have to see if we could find anything "new". So I am choosing to review Katie's obituary which I have read and transcribed previously. I'm not sure that I find anything "new", but it does help lead me to places to look for documents. The obituary says they were married in Springfield, Colorado so I need to look there for a marriage license. The obituary says she lived in Kenton, Oklahoma as a child so I should try there for school records. I could also try tracing her siblings, and working with a couple known Dacy relatives I have. 

Rest in peace great grandmother. Please contact me if you are related, or if you are able to help with finding those early documents. Thanks for reading.