Welcome to our Family

                                        "Isett and Gorman", etc.

          The Isett and Gorman Family Website is intended to be a fun and interesting place for family and friends to visit and keep up on family happenings and family history. It's main focus is genealogy, but as the site evolves I hope it will develop into more diverse aspects of our family.

Remember:  "You can't know where you are going until you know where you came from".

You may contact me with questions or information at: bonniekgorman@comcast.net

Visit each section by clicking on the blue button with the name of the page that you are interested in.

     Over the years I have dabbled in genealogy research of my family, setting it aside whenever other family matters intervened. Which meant that most of the time the research was lying in a drawer somewhere. Now in 2006, I find myself with only two kids and a husband at home, the kids both in high school, and the husband looking forward to retirement, and finally a time to spend on my own hobbies.  The advent of the internet has allowed family history research to expand exponentially. And as my family knows, I love my computer, so I have had lots of fun with this.

The best part of this journey has been all the contacts I have made with 'cousins' I had never even heard of. Some I have met now in person, others over the phone, and many online. My genealogy database can be viewed online at www.rootsweb.com. I am always happy to share my research with family members. My database at Rootsweb does not include any of my notes or sources so please contact me if you have any questions regarding persons listed or if you have information to share. I truly love hearing from all of you. So many persons have helped me with my own family history research that it is great to be able to pass that help on to others.

Updates:

Feb 2011-I have started an Isett/Isacks DNA surname project at Family Tree DNA. If you are an Isett male that is interested in pursuing this avenue of research, I encourage you to check out this link. https://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Isett. More information can also be found on the Isett page of this website.

August 2010-My Robb cousins were in town this week and it was great to be able to visit with them. Kevin came from Spain, Jeff from New Mexico, and Rennie from Michigan. Their mom, Mary, was visiting from Arizona. We hadn't all been together in about thirty years.

June 2010-Dennis and I, Tory and Evan, and baby Donovan, traveled back to Washington D.C. and New York City. I talked my family into a detour over to Lancaster, Pennsylvania so I could get a quilting fix in. It was neat to see the contrast between an area like Lancaster and the two big cities we visited.  I didn't discover until we got home that our Eby ancestors originally lived in Lancaster when they first arrived in America. Theodorus Eby's home is actually still standing. I so wish I had visited. Guess I will need to make another trip out there now.

March 2009-Several Robb descendants have contacted me recently regarding our shared family history. Therefore I have started a Facebook group, titled Alexander Robb descendants, as a way for people to connect. If you are interested in sharing Robb information, you may contact me either through my e-mail address, bonniekgorman@comcast.net, my facebook page, Bonnie Isett Gorman, or the facebook group Alexander Robb descendants. I look forward to hearing from you.

June 2008-It's time to do some updating of this website. I will be working on the family Military Page and would love to hear from you if you have military info to add.

   It has been a busy year in genealogy and I have been having fun corresponding with persons all over the globe. I have new Warn contacts in Sweden, Robb contacts in the United Kingdom, and  Isett contacts in Florida, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Ohio, and of course Pennsylvania.

December 2007-I have been corresponding with a 'cousin', Lesley Forrester, in Canada regarding the Robb family. We both descend from Alexander Robb. Her grandfather, Aubrey Robb, and my great-grandfather, Walter Robb, were brothers.

July 2007-I took a drive down to visit the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Quite a few of my family members chose Forest Lawn as their final resting place. It was a unique adventure to say the least. I spent some time looking for the headstone of James B. Cowley d. 1937. After a few hours of searching (this place is huge) it was discovered that a headstone was never purchased. I was able to find the site though and had to be satisfied with a picture of the grass. It was nice to visit my Isett grandparent's site. As I left, I was offered a 'plot' for the price of $650,000 with an 'easy payment plan'. Think I will pass on that one. But I am still considering chipping in for James B. Cowley's headstone-anyone else interested?

Here are two of the photos I took. You can click on the picture to enlarge

. Edward Bell Isett b. 1880 d. 1949 and Emma Agnes Severs b. 1884 d. 1978

James Oliver Isett b. 1886 d. 1940

May 2007-Several other 'Isett' researchers and I have joined forces and we have been exchanging data regarding that line of family.

February 2007-I connected with two more great-grandchildren of Margaret Cowley and Edward K. Eby, Scott Cooke and Kurt Irvin. I have enjoyed exchanging photos and information with both of them and Scott's mom, Corinne, has been very kind and sent me memories and stories that she remembered about my own mom.

     June 16, 2006- I made a quick trip to Turlock, California to visit the Turlock Memorial Cemetery, and the Turlock Library, searching for information on the Warn and Gustafson families. In genealogy research, cemetery headstone photos are used as a way of documenting information, as well as to assist others searching for answers regarding their own families. Therefore, it is common to see headstone photos online now. When I first heard of this I thought it was just plain bizarre. But I now understand their importance and have a new-found respect for cemeteries. Finding an ancestor's headstone can give the descendant a  real, physical connection to their family. I have found that walking through a cemetery where your ancestors are laid to rest, can be a peaceful, and for some reason, comforting experience.

The following photos are a few of the monuments and headstones I found in the Turlock Memorial Cemetery. You may click on the pictures to enlarge them. I am only posting a few, but if you are interested in finding persons related to the Warn's or Gustafson's buried in this cemetery, please contact me and I will see if I have the ones you want.

  May 2006-Through the internet I just met Mary Powell Roy, who was born in 1920, the same year as my mom. Mary was very kind to send me her memories of my mother, as well as my grandparents and great-grandmother, "OoHoo". We discovered that we live only a one-hour drive from each other so perhaps we will be able to get together and share our common history.  William Powell and Elizabeth Ann Robb are Mary Roy's great-grandparents, and my great-great grandparents.

Below is a photo of myself with my cousin Bill Wallace and his wife Janice, in San Francisco. Bill and I met at the Sutro Library, in San Francisco, to search for our common ancestors, George F. Remington and his wife Lovinia Knapp.  Bill and I had not seen each other in over fifty years so it was fun to get reacquainted.

February 23, 2006

     I have been blessed with a family that saves their written word. As a result of that, and others' previous research, I have been able to read many stories, letters, diaries etc., from my ancestors' lives. I am always happy to share what I have found, and I love to hear where others have been on their journey.

    In the summer of 2001, Dennis and I, and our youngest children,Tory and Evan, traveled the Great River Road from Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to New Orleans, Louisiana. We made a detour to visit the Wapello Cemetery in Iowa and took these pictures of the Isett family burial sites.

   Bonnie K. Gorman

My e-mail address is: bonniekgorman@comcast.net  I would love to hear from you.

My database can be found at www.rootsweb.com.