A long-time Ponca City resident, Royce Caldron, will be a guest on a program titled “Identity Quest” that is produced by KTWU-TV in Topeka, Kansas. This series features guests who are selected to have their genealogical brick walls researched. In genealogy, a brick wall refers to when someone has reached a dead end in their search for someone on their family tree.

“I saw this information about a program that this tv station and the Topeka City-County Library were doing for people with brick walls,” said Royce Caldron.

Caldron is a member of the Topeka Genealogy Society as well as the local Pioneer Genealogical Society of Ponca City. He submitted information to Identity Quest about his great-grandfather, Patrick Caldron, who seemed to disappear from historical records after 1903.

“The last record I had of him was in 1903 in Purcell, Indian Territory. Then he disappeared,” said Caldron. “So I submitted everything I had about my grandfather up to that date. I think they chose about seven or eight people to follow up on their brick walls, and they assigned me a genealogist.”

The researcher assigned to Caldron was Marty Flanagan of Topeka. As research continued to learn more about Patrick Caldron, a connection was made with a possible second family that Caldron’s ancestor may have had following his disappearance due to similarities with Patrick Caldron’s story and that of this other man. There were no records of this other man before Patrick’s disappearance, and both had similar work histories as engineers for Santa Fe Railroad, and having been involved in a serious train accident This accident occurred around Guthrie in the late 1890s, when two trains collided. Patrick Caldron was initially declared dead when the boiler exploded, and he had burns all over his face. However, the newspaper published the next day indicated that he actually survived.

“That happened in the late 1890s, so I know he did survive that crash,” said Caldron.

The other family discovered through the research shared that their ancestor, the one suspected to be Patrick Caldron, was in a train accident and treated for injuries. This man would end up marrying the person taking care of him during his recovery and got a similar job as well.

One of the people from this other family has decided to take a DNA test to see if there is a connection between Patrick Caldron and this other man.

The brick wall remained despite the research, but this wasn’t the end of information Royce Caldron would receive. The genealogist assigned shared that they were able to trace Caldron’s maternal line back to the Mayflower.

This passenger was George Soule, who can as an indentured servant to the family of fellow passenger Edward Winslow.

“I’ve always loved history, in fact my undergraduate degree was social studies education. I’ve always loved history, historical novels…so once I got into genealogy and the family history, and being able to see where some of my ancestors were in certain times in history…it’s been just an interesting topic for me to pursue,” said Caldron.

While the research hasn’t overcome the brick wall, Caldron has been satisfied with the information that he could trace his lineage to the Mayflower.

“I’m still working on putting together my Caldron ancestry, and putting together in written form, then providing copies of that to two or three places that I know could make use of that for research purposes in case someone wants that down the line,” said Caldron.

The episode in which Caldron appears will be aired on Thursday, June 15. Following the initial broadcast, the episode will be viewable on the KTWU website or by use of the Public Broadcasting System.

For those interested in genealogy and the local group, the Pioneer Genealogical Society of Ponca City typically meets on the first Monday of a month, and they also have a presence on Facebook and a website at www.pgskaycntyok.org.