My Grandfather, William Chester Harwood was born August 4, 1886, 1887 or 1893, in Allport, PA. At this time all three years have shown up on various documents as his year of birth. His father's name was also William Chester and he died at age 38 of an accidental death. One of the documents Uncle Jim has is the original guest book from Grandfather William's funeral. In it, his father's name is listed as Jeffers Harwood. His mother's name was Mary Hallabough in 1912 and Mary Elston in 1937.

In 1912, Grandfather William was living and working in St. Louis, MO and was unmarried. Sometime between 1912 and 1917 he married a woman named Flossy from Ohio. In approximately August or September 1916, they had a daughter named Ethel. Flossy and Ethel show up with Grandfather William on the 1920 Detroit, MI Census records. At this time, it is not known what happened to Flossy and Ethel, although I am trying to locate Ethel, as she may still be alive! I wrote to Ohio and Michigan trying to locate a birth certificate for Ethel. I have recently heard from the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Ohio and they conducted a search for the years 1916-1918 and could not find a birth certificate. Now I know that she was probably born in Detroit, and unfortunately, the state of Michigan charges a fee of $13.00 to order a birth certificate. In November of 1998, I did send a check for $13.00 and a request for a birth certificate for Ethal Harwood. As of this time (February 11, 2000), I have not received anything back from the state of Michigan. They cashed my check in December 1998, and I have written to them again 4 times and have never received any response.

After speaking with my father, he advised me that he and his older brother have decided that they want to try to find their older half sister. They are going to assist financially in the search for documents that will hopefully lead to her whereabouts. I have also found a wonderful website called Genealogy's Most Wanted
where amature researchers from all over the country volunteer to assist others in searching for documents. I have sent several requests for assistance to various people who listed books and CD's that I thought might have information. I already received on response back and unfortunately nothing can be found on the Social Security Death index for Grandfather William or Nana.

My father suggested I try contacting William "Bill" Harwood, the news correspondant for NASA and John Harwood, who is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. I have contacted Bill Harwood, through his web page Bill Harwood's Space Page.
He does not know much about his branch of Harwood's but will ask his mother to contact me as she has done some research on them. At this time I have not tried to contact John Harwood yet, but will soon.

I have received some new information from my Uncle Jim. He has various papers that belonged to my Grandfather, such as his military discharge papers, his concealed handgun license, and some postcards issued in 1911 by Willis Art Gallery in Big Springs, TX. Some of the postcards are addressed to Dear Dad and signed Loving Will. The Dad addressed was a Mr. R.C. Hollobaugh and also to Mary Hollobaugh. I believe the R.C. may have been Grandfather William's step-father, since his own father died at age 38 of an accidental death.

I just returned from a vacation in Florida where I spent two days with my Uncle Jim and Aunt Mindy. I would like to thank them for their monetary contribution to this research. Jim showed me all the documents he has about his father, as well as pictures and his father's Masonic Sword. I was able to make copies of the documents and also the pictures that showed William, or people we think may be his mother, sisters, and possibly his first child, Ethel. Mindy also lent me a book about Eddie Rickenbacker's life that has a picture in in of him and the officers of the 94th Aero Squadron in France in 1917. One of the officers is supposed to be William. At this time I am not convinced that it is William, but I will show it to other members of the family and see what they think.

The documents that Jim has are very interesting. He has William's original draft letter, two discharge letters, his original license to carry a concealed handgun, the guest book from Grandfather William's funeral and various other documents. Also while I was in Florida, I went to the cemetary to visit Nana and Williams' graves. Once I finally located Grandfather Williams' grave, I realized that not only does the headstone have the wrong rank, (it says PFC) but it has the wrong year of birth. It says 1883. When I went to Nana's grave, I was unable to find it at all. I finally received help from one of the grounds keepers and we realized that Nana's headstone had been completely buried in sand from another grave. I was very upset. They told me that her headstone had never had cement put under it to keep it elevated. After 10 years, they finally put the cement under it. But her headstone had been buried since sometime in 1998.

I learned another interesting fact while I was in Florida. While visiting my Aunt Ethel, she told me a story about her paternal Grandmother trying to kill her while she was just an infant. She always wondered why her Grandmother seemed to hate her so much. I think we have figured it out. During the course of my research, I found Nana's marriage license to her first husband, Jack Sellman. Jack Sellman was Ethel's father. One the marriage license, Nana lied about her age and said she was 21 and was born in 1907. She was not. The date of marriage on the license was in July, 1928. Ethel was born six months later in January, 1929. It seems Nana was three months pregnant when she married Jack Sellman. We think that was why Jack Sellman's mother hated Ethel.

On February 18, 1934, Grandfather William married Madeline May Wise (Nana) in Parma, OH. Grandfather William and Nana's first child, William Chester, Jr. was born in October, 1937. They had a total of six children together before Grandfather William died on August 5, 1955.

I finally received a response from the Military Personnel Records Department in St. Louis, MO. Unfortunately they did not have much information. They state that all the records concerning Grandfather William were destroyed in the fire there in 1973. The information they did have states that William C. Harwood enlisted as a Private First Class in Michigan on January 22, 1918, and was discharged in Cambridge, MA on March 14, 1918. It does make me wonder though why they have this much information and nothing else.

I also received a call from a Frederick Harwood in NYC. He just received a letter that I mailed about two years ago to all the Harwood's in PA. He has two books that were given to him by his Grandfather and they were written in 1911. These books are about his branch of the Harwood family. He has photocopied the books and is sending them to me. I promised him that if I was able to trace our branch of Harwood's to his that I would let him know. I received the information that Frederick Harwood sent me. Unfortunately it is information that I already have and have not been able to tie our family into.

During his life, Grandfather William was a pilot during WWI. He was supposed to have flown with Eddie Rickenbacker and Charles Lindburg. He was co-founder of the Self-Ridge Field Flyers in Michigan with Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a member of the 94th Pursuit Squadron and a member of the Army Signal Corp. At this time I have been unable to locate his military or VA records. I have recently found out that he may have been a reservist in Michigan and will begin searching to see what records if any I can locate. I am also waiting to hear back from the Veterans Administration concerning his medical records. They have contacted me and advised they are still researching his records. I will update as soon as I hear from them.

Grandfather William spent most of his adult life working as a Railroad Switchman for railroads in Missouri and Florida. He also worked for awhile as a Forman in the Auto Industry in Detroit, MI during the 1920's. I have written to the Chrysler Corporation (previously known as Dodge Brothers) and I am still waiting for a response. One of the documents Uncle Jim has is a letter signed by one of the Dodge Brothers, of the then Dodge Brothers Motor Cars, dated July 24, 1917 stating that "W.C. Harwood has been appointed First Lieutenant in M.S.T. and I have found him to be a good executive and instructor in military tactics." It goes on as a letter of recommendation.

Grandfather William was also a Mason. He was involved in at least three Lodges that I have been able to locate. He was a member of Home Lodge #342 in Ft. Wayne, IN, Lodge #506 in Ferndale, MI, and possibly Lodge #133 in Saline, MI. I have been told that he was either a 32nd degree Mason, or a 14th degree High Priest with the Scottish Rite. At this time I have received basic information from the Grand Lodge of Michigan and I am waiting for more detailed information from Home Lodge #342 and the Grand Lodge of Indiana.

While researching Grandfather William's Masonic background, I have subscribed to a Masonic email list and have learned quite a bit about Masons. I have learned that they are very kind, giving and helpful people, who will go above and beyond to help a complete stranger This tells me a lot about the kind of person Grandfather William was.