The obituaries for Merel and Clara gave me the names of their children. I was then able to determine that Clara had one child out of wedlock, Kenneth Leroy Glasgow.

Merel H Wakenight

Born: 9 OCT 1909 in Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois

Father: Harry Norman Wakenight (1873 to 1929)
Mother: Margaret Louise Hill (1880 to 1918)

Spouse: Clara V Glasgow (1921 to 1979)

Married: 3 JUL 1939 in Clinton, Clinton County, Iowa

Children:

Merle Wakenight (18 SEP 1940 to 23 JUL 1996)
Ruth Mae Wakenight (22 AUG 1943 to 18 JAN 1994)
James D Wakenight (1952)
Kim E Wakenight (1953)

Died: 13 JAN 1978 in Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois

Burial: Daysville Cemetery, Daysville, Ogle County, Illinois

Obituary:

Rockford Register Star, Sunday, 1-15-1978:

Oregon- Merel H. Wakenight, 68, 327 Marquette Road, Rockford, a former Oregon resident, died Friday night in the Park Strathmoor Nursing Center, Rockford, following a short illness.

He is survived by his wife, Clara; four sons, Kenneth, Cambia, Wis., Merel Jr., Rockford; James, Eminence, Mo., and Kim, Rockford; a daughter Ruth Webb, Caledonia; 14 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; two brothers, Raymond, Galt, and Leroy, Dixon, and one sister, Edna Dusing, Dixon.

Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. Monday in the Farrell Funeral Home, Oregon. Burial will be in Daysville Cemetery. Friends may call from 7 to 8:30 tonight at the funeral home.

Timeline:

1910 Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois
1918 Death of mother, Margaret
1920 Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois
1929 Death of father, Harry
1939 Marriage to Clara
1939 Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois
1940 Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois
1940 Birth of son, Merle
1943 Birth of daughter, Ruth
1951 Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
1951 Death of half-brother, Roland
1952 Birth of son, James
1953 Birth of son, Kim
1961 Death of brother, Floyd
1978 Death and burial

Occupation: assistant janitor (1939), foundry worker (1951)

Records:

1910 and 1920 US Census Records
Iowa, Marriage Records, 1923-1937
The U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Church Records, 1781-1969
U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947
The U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta)
Winnebago County, Illinois, Deaths, 1844-1992
Social Security Death Index
The U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

Variations of Surname: None

Spouse:

Clara V Glasgow:

Clara was born on 31 OCT 1921 in Michigan. She died on 8 MAY 1979 in Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois.

Clara’s father was Taylor Wilson Glasgow. He was born on 23 JUN 1889 in Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois. He died on 30 DEC 1946 in Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois.

Clara’s mother was Hattie Mae Messenger. She was born in 1899 in Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois. She died on 5 AUG 1960 in Winnebago County, Illinois.

Clara had one brother and one sister, both born in Ogle County, Illinois:

Ruth Glasgow (1916)
Harry Wilson Glasgow (1919)

Before Clara married Merel, she had one child out of wedlock:

Kenneth Leroy Glasgow was born on 16 FEB 1937 in Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois. He died on 15 DEC 1991 in Cambria, Columbia County, Wisconsin.

Clara’s Obituary:

Daughter:

Ruth Mae Wakenight:

Ruth was born on 22 AUG 1943 in Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois. She died on 18 JAN 1994 in Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois.

Ruth married Dwight D Webb in 1958 in Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois. From Ruth’s obituary, three known children were born to this marriage:

Larry L Webb (1959)
Peggy S Webb (1964)
Pamela K Webb (1967)

Ruth’s Obituary:

Notes:

For more information on this part of the Wakenight family, please visit Sharon Strow’s website, “Descendants of Daniel Wakenight.”

Creating Your Family Tree

Interested in building a great family tree? Remember these important steps:

Look in your photo albums. You may have old pictures that your parents or grandparents gave you. Or, ask them for copies of photos that they have in their possession. Many people will write names and dates on the backs of photographs. Letters, diaries, and family bibles are also an excellent source for births, marriages, and deaths.

Talk to your older relatives to find out about your ancestry. They may relate stories about an ancestor that you can add to your family tree. Family history is usually not found in newspapers. It is more of a verbal memory that is passed down from generation to generation.

Find the right family tree builder that suits your needs. You can choose one that has a paid subscription like Ancestry.com. There are also free sites like FamilySearch.org.

When you start building your family tree, add documentation to your ancestor’s profile. The records can include birth, marriage, death, census, military, city, and county directory listings. Any information that you can find will help create a life story about your ancestor.

If you have a unique surname, like Wakenight, you may find databases on the internet that are useful in your search. I use SurnameDB.com for my English surnames. There are many others on the internet for other countries like Ireland, Italy, and Germany.

Genealogy is the study of a person’s “line of descent.” As you create your family tree, you would typically start with one individual and go “back into time.” You would add their parents, grandparents, and so on. There are also family trees that go “forward into time.” Many of these family trees start with a famous person, such as a president or royalty, and move forward into the present time. The purpose of this type of pedigree is to establish a person’s bloodline to that famous person.

There is no limit on how big your family tree can grow. The blank canvas is there for you to use. Cherish your family history, and it will be there for generations to come!