Cheryl (Smith) Hess
Honor Code SignatorySigned 31 May 2018 | 85609 contributions | 11662 thank-yous
Signed 31 May 2018 | 85609 contributions | 11662 thank-yous
tested
Born 1950s.
Ancestors 
Daughter of Harold Smith
and [private mother (1930s - unknown)]
Sister of
Diane (Smith) Billadeau and [private brother (1960s - unknown)]
Descendants 
Mother of
Michael McGowan Jr. and
[private daughter (1970s - unknown)]
Profile last modified
| Created 30 May 2018 | Last significant change: 7 May 2021
16:11: Jan (Breault) Cartmill posted a comment on the page for Cheryl (Smith) Hess [Thank Jan for this]
This page has been accessed 21,075 times.
Cheryl was featured in a Meet Our Members Post on the WikiTree Blog!
Cheryl (Smith) Hess is a member of the Hess Name Study Project.
Cheryl (Smith) Hess is a member of the Germany Project.
Cheryl worked on the best profile of the week during week 11 of The WikiTree Challenge
Contents |
Biography
- Cheryl Jean Smith was born 22 May 1951, in Kankakee, Illinois, the eldest child of Harold Smith and Janet Leinen. She married Michael Joseph McGowan, Sr. on 30 Mar 1968 in Momence, Kankakee, Illinois, United States.. They had two children, Michael Joseph McGowan, Jr., who died from a heart attack on May 17, 2015 and Nicole Renee Helsegon They divorced in May, 1971. She married Michael Hess on 22 May 1987, in Kankakee, Illinois, and they renewed their vows at the First Baptist Church of Momence on May 21, 2017. She has one brother Kevin Eugene Smith and one sister Diane Rae Smith who died in a car accident on November 3, 1991. Cheryl is still alive and lives in Momence, Kankakee, Illinois, United States.
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| 52 Ancestors - 2019 |
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| 52 Ancestors - 2020 |
Personal
- College: Fresno State
- Married a hometown boy
- Career: Worked as a Federal Compliance Officer, then went local to Branch Manager, and Safety Manager at a Bank with five locations
- Lived in: Hightstown, NJ, Wichita Falls, TX, Tucson, AZ, Fresno, Ca., and Momence, IL.
- Husband: Worked for the Veterans Center at Manteno, IL. USA
- Children: Son and Daughter (Son died 17 May 2015)
- Grandchildren: 5 (2) Granddaughters, (3) Grandsons
- Great-Grandchildren: 3 G-Granddaughters, Madison, Brooklyn and Gwendolyn.
- I am married to the love of my life, and I thank God that my mother (88) is still going strong and is healthy.
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My Story
- When I asked my grandmother, Minnie where our family came from, she replied: Germany - period. I thought that was the end of it, until one Sunday after church. She asked if I wanted to go for a ride with her. She took me out to the cemetery where her family was buried. It was the first time I had ever seen a cemetery on Church property. It was a small little cemetery. The rows were crooked, and I couldn't read the names on the headstones. She showed me her mother's headstone. Everything was written in German. I saw her sister's, a brother's and we kept walking, until we stopped in front of a very old headstone. It was hard to even see the writing. Grandma told me it was her grandma's. I got choked up thinking about it. I thought to myself, here are four generations of women all in the same area, and until today, I didn't even know two of them existed. I began my genealogy journey..
- In 1987, I married my fabulous husband. His family's history was rich. They were early settlers of Momence, IL. USA, so pictures of them were very easy to find.
- I started a site on Facebook dedicated to the History of our home town which has 3200 citizens. I soon had over 2000 members. It seemed that everyone was interested in history. As soon as I would post old pictures, the timeline would fill with questions, and the more research I would do.
- I found some of my husband's relatives on the east and west coast, and some up north. I joined them and began writing a history book on the Hess family. I covered the mid-section of the country. We have traded pictures back and forth as we discover new family portraits. I also have a page on Facebook called Hess Genealogy.
- I am the historian for our church - The First Baptist Church of Momence. I just finished writing it's history. First Baptist was the first church in this area having been founded in 1852. Most of my time is spent researching either history or genealogy. I love what I do, and wouldn't want to do anything else.
- It has been quite a journey, these last thirty years. I have discovered that most of the time it is not the Hess family interested in the research, it is the Hess women (those of us who have married into the family).
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Mayflower Relatives
Sorry to say that on Feb. 20, 2020 I found out that I am not related to anyone on the Mayflower. :(
United States President Relatives
- President Millard Fillmore and Cheryl are 10th cousins four times removed.
- President Grover Cleveland and Cheryl are 7th cousins four times removed.
- President Warren G. Harding and Cheryl are 14th cousins.
- President Calvin Coolidge and Cheryl are 12th cousins once removed
- President George Bush and Cheryl are 11th cousins twice removed
British Prime Ministers
- Winston Churchill and Cheryl are 13th cousins
- Alec Douglas-Home and Cheryl are 13th cousins once removed
Cheryl's WikiTree Team Relatives
- Mickey Bailey: 26th cousin 3x removed
- Claire Chapel: 14th cousin 2x removed
- Laura DeSpain: 15th cousin 2x removed
- Ginny Fields: 16th cousin
- Chandra Garrow: 15th cousin 1x removed
- Debi Hoag: 14th cousin 2x removed
- Johannes Jooste: 26th cousin
- Cindy Leisure: 17th cousin 1x removed
- Karen Lowe: 14th cousin 2x removed
- Emma MacBeath: 11th cousin 3x removed
- Peggy McReynolds: 14th cousin 2x removed
- Greta Moody: 15th cousin 1x removed
- Mary Richardson: 8th cousin 2x removed
- Azure Robinson: 16th cousin
- David Selman: 10th cousin
- Pip Sheppard: 17th cousin
- Mindy Silva: 16th cousin
- Butch Smith: 15th cousin
- Astrid Spaargaren: 17th cousin
- Natalie Trott: 8th cousin 2x removed
- Eowyn (Langholf) Walker: 17th cousin
- Rhonda Zimmerman: 11th cousin 2x removed
Magna Carta Sureties Relatives
- William d'Aubigny is the 24th great grandfather of Cheryl
- Hugh & Roger le Bigod is the 24th great grandfather of Cheryl
- Henry de Bohun is the 25th great grandfather of Cheryl
- Gilbert & Richard de Clare is the 24th great grandfather of Cheryl
- John Fitz Robert is the 24th great grandfather of Cheryl
- Robert FitzWalter is the 26th great grandfather of Cheryl
- William de Huntingfield is the 25th great grandfather of Cheryl
- John de Lacy is the 24th great grandfather of Cheryl
- William de Lanvallei is the 25th great grandfather of Cheryl
- William Malet is the 25th great grandfather of Cheryl
- William de Mowbray is the 24th great grandfather of Cheryl
- Saer de Quincy is the 25th great grandfather of Cheryl
- Robert de Ros is the 25th great grandfather of Cheryl
- Geoffrey de Say II is the 23th great grandfather of Cheryl
- Robert de Vere is the 26th great grandfather of Cheryl
Public Records
- Cheryl J Smith, United States Public Records, [1]
- Name: Cheryl J Smith
- Alias: Cheryl Mcgowan
- Second Alias: Cheryl Jean Hess
- Event Type: Residence
- Third Alias: C Hess
- Event Date: 13 Nov 2000
- Event Place: Kankakee, Illinois, United States
- Event Place (Original): Kankakee, Illinois, United States
- Phone Number: 468-2351
- Previous Residence: Kankakee, Illinois 60901
- Previous Residence Postal Code: 60901
- Birth Date: 22 May 1951
- Second Previous Residence Place: Momence, Illinois 60954
- Third Previous Residence Place: Clovis, California 93612
- 2nd Address Date: 01 Sep 1992-01 Jan 2009
- 3rd Address Date: 1 Jul 1986
- Cheryl J Hess, United States Public Records, [2]
- Name: Cheryl J Hess
- Event Type: Residence
- Event Date: 1 Nov 1998
- Event Place: Manteno, Kankakee, Illinois, United States
- Event Place (Original): Manteno, Illinois, United States
- Previous Residence: Manteno, IL
- Previous Residence Postal Code: 60950
Sources
- ↑ "United States Public Records, 1970-2009", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KBLJ-RKV : 29 January 2020), C Hess, 2000.
- ↑ "United States Public Records, 1970-2009", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJWF-RHL3 : 22 April 2020), Cheryl J Hess, 1998.
My DNA
- 79% England, Northwestern Europe
Cheryl (Smith) Hess has English ancestors. - 9% Scotland
Cheryl (Smith) Hess has Scottish Ancestors. - 6% Norway
Cheryl (Smith) Hess has Norwegian ancestors - 5% Germanic Europe
- 1% Ireland
Cheryl (Smith) Hess has Irish ancestors.
Cheryl is a participant of the Integrators Challenges
Cheryl (Smith) Hess participated with Team Virginia during the 2021 Clean-a-Thon.
Cheryl has participated in 52 out of 52 weeks during the 2020 52 Ancestors Challenge.
Cheryl has participated in 52 out of 52 weeks during the 2019 52 Ancestors Challenge.
Cheryl has participated in 52 out of 52 weeks during the 2018 52 Ancestors Challenge.
Cheryl has participated in 52 out of 52 weeks during the 2020 52 Weeks of Photos Challenge.
Cheryl has participated in 52 out of 52 weeks during the 2019 52 Weeks of Photos Challenge.
Cheryl has participated in 52 out of 52 weeks during the 2018 52 Weeks of Photos Challenge.
Cheryl (Smith) Hess participated with Team Virginia during the 2019 Source-a-Thon, adding some sources to profiles.
Cheryl (Smith) Hess participated with The Great Lakes Region team during the 2018 Source-a-Thon, adding 365 sources to profiles.
Cheryl (Smith) Hess participated with The Great Lakes Region team during the 2019 Source-a-Thon, adding 391 sources to profiles.
Cheryl (Smith) Hess is participating with Team Tennessee Volunteers during the 2019 Connect-a-Thon, and has added 216 connections.
WHEN I'M RESTING The time will inevitably come for my rest and relief from life's hectic cycle. It may be, though I do hope not, that I will one day merely be unable through physical or mental illness to continue my research and recording into my family and other profiles of interest.
At that time, I place the profiles that I manage into the caring hands of the Wikitree Admin. If any member/s of my family have the desire to continue what has been started, I ask that they be allowed to manage those profiles whether or not they are currently on the Trusted Lists for those profiles and be shown the guidance to continue in the proper manner.
I also manage many profiles of people unrelated to me. Those profiles that are locked for privacy reasons I would desire to see transferred to someone with an interest in those projects or sub-projects.
- Cheryl J Smith Hess 2 Aug 2019.
Only the Trusted List can access the following:
- Cheryl's formal name
- full middle name (J.)
- e-mail address
- exact birthdate
- birth location
- personal memories about Cheryl (2)
- images (11)
- private siblings' names
- private children's names (2)
- spouse's name and marriage information
Sponsored Search
DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships by comparing test results with Cheryl or other carriers of her ancestors' mitochondrial DNA. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Cheryl:
It may be possible to confirm family relationships by comparing test results with Cheryl or other carriers of her ancestors' mitochondrial DNA. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Cheryl:
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100.00%
100.00%
Cheryl (Smith) Hess:
AncestryDNA, Ancestry member oldsoul1968
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~1.56%
Betty Davis
:
AncestryDNA, Ancestry member bettyjbarnes1946
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~1.56%
~3.12%
Carol Whelan :
AncestryDNA, Ancestry member CarolWhelanT
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~0.78%
~1.56%
Teresa Triplett :
23andMe
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Genealogist-to-Genealogist (G2G) Forum posts about Cheryl:
- Cheryl Hess is a Wonderful WikiTreer May 1, 2021.
- Cheryl Hess is a Wonderful WikiTreer Apr 12, 2021.
- Cheryl Hess is a Wonderful WikiTreer Mar 25, 2021.
- Cheryl Hess is a welcoming person and I thank herfor her encouragement. Mar 17, 2021.
- Cheryl Hess is a Wonderful WikiTreer Mar 17, 2021.
- Cheryl Hess is a Wonderful WikiTreer Mar 17, 2021.
Cheryl is 20 degrees from Michael Collins, 21 degrees from Judith Resnik, 24 degrees from Ellison Onizuka, 35 degrees from Michael Phillip Anderson, 21 degrees from Sally Ride, 29 degrees from Wubbo Johannes Ockels, 23 degrees from Neil Armstrong, 21 degrees from Virgil Grissom, 20 degrees from Christa McAuliffe, 23 degrees from Dick Scobee, 20 degrees from Edward White and 27 degrees from Frances Piercy-Reins on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
S > Smith | H > Hess > Cheryl (Smith) Hess
Categories: German Roots Project Members | En-3 | German Roots | Integrators Challenge Participants
Thanks for reaching out. I am loving WikiTree! There's so much information and so many "helps" here. I'm discovering new things each day. Actually, I have a large tree on Ancestry which I'm planning to work on moving to WikiTree but it will take me a long time. I'll be sure to contact you when I have questions. And, I know there will be many! Thanks again, Jan (Breault) Cartmill (Breault-188).
————————————————————————► YOU ALWAYS SHINE !!
Thank You for your work on Week 11 of the WikiTree Challenge, especially for the work you did on our profile of the week Eleanor Martha (Hobbs) Welty (1836-1918). Here is a special sticker that you can add to your profile.
Janet and Joan.
The majority of my work was with the LDS library locally. So much easier now.
Wiki Tree helps a lot.
Thanks again Tom
I used the RootsSearch function a bit last week. The other help features have been a great reference. I blew it in the 1st 10 minutes by putting in my Grandfather and Grandmother and not seeing the duplicate warning pop up. I learned quickly how to look for that. It was not exactly where I expected it. The owner has not seen the merge request yet. It should only take me two or three months to enter the info I have already. And in the process just the last couple weeks I have discovered probably 40 bits of detail, like extra wives! that I had not known about. Thank you again, I will stop being so windy. Mel
Thank you very much.
Don
Just looked over your page and realized we are very similar in age and have both been researching our family tree for 30 years or more. You are so lucky to have been able to find out so much about your family. I, too, know a lot about my mother's line (Herrings and Horn(e)s) but my Dad's grandfather is my brick wall with steel and concrete reinforcements! Can't get beyond his marriage to my great grandmother on October 31, 1889, in Fort Smith, AR. Her family are Freeds and, again, I know a lot about them and have corresponded with a number of cousins, but that Davidson wall is really thick!
Hope to learn a lot from you that will help me chisel through to information on William Bell Davidson, 1849/54 Scotland and died in Indian Territory in July 1906.
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that we all have a happy and healthy New Year!
Barbara Davidson Norkus
I am new here. I am wondering how to source myself. For example, I am not going to upload my own personally identifying documents such as birth certificate, etc. Also, the only sources I have were downloaded from Ancestry.com. Do those sources travel with a GEDCOM file? Thank you< LE
It's that time of the year again: check-in time! As England Project Leaders, we like to check in with you every six months or so to see how things are progressing. Back in May, we didn't ask for a response due to the rapid emergence of Covid-19 because we understood that people's lives were changing rapidly. While we are still living in a Covid world, we do need to hear back from you this time around.
First of all, how are you doing? What are you currently working on?
Secondly, we're looking for some feedback on the Google Group and our Discord server. Do you use either or both of these? If you don't use either, why not? Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve participation and collaboration, either generally or for you personally?
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Amy, Joan & Lizzie.
I have been busy, thank you for asking. I live in Illinois, and we have just been moved back to Stage 2. It seems like I am on WikiTree 24/7 since Covid started and I am jumping around everywhere, since I was promoted to PC, and it takes a lot of time. I have my computer set to open discord as soon as it turns on, so yes, I love keeping up with everything on the Discord server, and I also have notifications on, so if I am working on something else, the notification pops out the side. I love it.
I don't have any suggestions to improve participation, but know that once I started to actively participate, I can't imagine not having it on. Such interesting facts and useful information pop out, and I will glance at it , and then have to pop into the server to see what everyone is talking about. It is unbelievable to describe the amount of new information I have gained by just being on the server, and talking to everyone daily almost seems to make Covid disappear for awhile.
Thanks for checking in with me, and please stay safe.
Cheryl
It's good to hear that you're staying safe in Illinois! I have a friend of mine who works in an emergency service who also lives there, so it's good to hear that you're keeping well amongst it all. Here in New Zealand we haven't had it as bad, thankfully, but I do come from an immunocompromised household so constant vigilance (to quote Harry Potter) has been a must.
I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying using Discord! I completely understand where you're coming from, haha.
Stay safe, and let me know if there's anything I can do for you in the future!
Regards, Amy
Thank you for the welcome. It's all new to me so I will contact you again if I need some help.
Kind regards, Steve.
Edwin
Thank you for your participation in October 2020’s Source-a-thon. Your contributions helped us to clear over 57,000 profiles that needed sourcing. This makes our Shared Tree all that much better.
Keep up the great work!
Pippin Sheppard WikiTree’s Appreciation Team
Sarah
Thank you for your message about my DNA relationship confirmations. I'm quite new to this field, so will hasten slowly and hope to do more in the near future. Thanks again, Barbara
Nigel
Is there a project or similar around that period? I find reading the Domesday book hard!
Not to mention the constant use of different names especially pre 1300 based on either or both son of (e.g. fitz) or home town (I seem to originate from Mellor, Derbyshire (not Lancs as we always guessed).
When I eventually start rolling my branches forward it’s going to “find” a vast number of Mellors. However, for now my interest lies in wayback in time. When lives were short and often violent. I recently watched a TV series titled “The Last Kingdom” and being dated around 990-1045 with names that sounded familiar to my searches it added a whole wider experience to my viewing. The last kingdom turned out to br Northumbria.
Anyway, if there are others exploring the same roots I’d like a chance to share findings. I am new to this of late as a distraction from Covid-19.
Kind regards
Anthony
Does it prevent me from going forward or around it with my research?
Let me see how that goes.
Thanks for your welcome. I am going to remain as a Guest Member for now. I will look at what to do to put my tree onto the site. I have been researching for about 20 years. I am a member of the NZ Society of Genealogists and Treasurer of a sub group, NZ Genealogical Computing group (www.gencom.org.nz) I volunteer at NZSG main branch helping others with research and also run a small U3A Genealogy group.
My Ancestors came to NZ in the 1860'sand 70's from Cornwall, Scotland and England and from Wales in the 1940's.
Currently extending my earlier research into my St Just, Cornwall tribe. Kind regards Bryn Smith
Your England Leaders are completing the six monthly check in with all team members. Thank you for your work on English Profiles and participating in the Orphan Trail.
These are unprecedented and difficult times, and we understand as Project Leaders that your situation may have changed somewhat in the last few months. What we are all able to/ wish to contribute on Wikitree has changed. Please let me know if you are happy with your current role and team choice, or if you wish to do something additional or different. Thank you again on behalf of all the Project Leaders for everything you do.
Jo
I am still working on English Profiles and participating in the Orphan Trail. Yes, these are strange times we are living in. I have a wonderful guide, Ian - and he is very helpful.
I plan to continue the Orphan Trail through to completion.
Thank you for checking in with me.
Cheryl
Zatím se tu pouze rozkoukávám a zaučuji.Vaše stránky i komunita se mi velmi líbí.Omlouvám se,že neumím Váš jazyk,takže naše komunikace bude trochu ztížená. Narazila jsem tu na menší problém,kdosi tu už přede mnou zpracovával rodokmen mé rodiny,většinu údajů si zkopíroval ode mě z mého rodokmenu na Geni.To by mi nijak nevadilo, ten dotyčný tu ale svůj projekt opustil,většinu mých předků jsem si již "adoptovala"....Ale profil-stránka mé babičky - Blažena (Koudelková) Pacáková (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Koudelkov%C3%A1-20) a mého dědečka - Josef Pacák (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pac%C3%A1k-15) jsou UZAMČENÉ a NEMAJÍ ŽÁDNÉHO správce. Chtěla bych je také adoptovat a hlavně upravit CHYBNÉ údaje. Mohla byste mi, velmi Vás prosím,poradit,jak mám postupovat? Mockrát děkuji za odpověď. Mirka Vodáková
John Williams
Wikitree Appreciation Team
edited by Anonymous Williams
The Global Cemeteries Project is currently undergoing our member check-in and wanted to verify that you are still active and interested in being a member of the project. Are you currently assigned to or working with one of our Cemetery Teams? If not, is there a particular Team or area you are interested in participating with? I would be delighted to help you get setup in one or more of our collaborative teams!
We use Google Groups for internal project collaboration, so if you are not yet setup for access feel free to submit a join request and we will get that approved as quick as possible. We also ask that members check their follwed tags to make sure you are following the correct project tag (CEMETERIES) so you don't miss any disucssions in G2G.
Last, but not least, we would like to thank you for all of your contributions to WikiTree and let you konw that any ideas or suggestions for improvement you may have for the Global Cemeteries Project would greatly appreciated!
I look forward to hearing form you soon!
Steve ~Global Cemeteries Project Leader
Congrats on the Super Star Badge!
I truly appreciate your welcoming words and advice. You must have guessed that I am having problems with entering sources. I shall take your suggestion to heart. and take advantage of the tips you have given me!
Greg