The Best Christmas Gift (DAR and Genealogy related, of course)

It was in December of 1989 and I had only been working at the DAR for about a month, but when she walked in, I was soon in shock. I was presented a large white box about 20" x 14" and tied up in a big red bow. What could it possibly be? It was as light as a feather, and when I shook it, there was a rustling noise inside. With my few quizzical looks at her big smile, I realized it was indeed for me. A quick pull on the ribbon and pushing apart the tissue paper revealed a mass of papers. Some not the least familiar to me. She had done generations of research on my family! A few weeks earlier, I had provided her with a six generation ancestry chart, done by who knows whom in my family, which showed most names and years, but there were also lots of blanks. It was all she needed.

My very new friend had spent a lot of time doing my census look-ups, not on Ancestry.com mind you or a computer, but by the old fashioned method. She made some actual copies of the censuses and a timeline of censuses for a good many ancestors. Some I never heard of! I can't remember how many sheets she did, but I am showing an example below. I am so glad I saved a few of her original work. I hadn't even gotten to that point yet in my research, so she had to explain the timelines. Where we worked, all the censuses for New England were housed in one room, so she didn't have to leave the building. Except for the 1920 for Evanston, Illinois, which showed my father at age 1, that she made a special trip to the NARA in Washington, DC. I was indeed blessed to have this genealogist friend do this for me.

In addition, there was a 27 1/2" x 24" ancestry chart, for nine generations filled in with all the information she found; names, dates and locations! There were no genealogy software programs back then. Looking back, I marvel at her dedication and all the time it took to do this. Almost immediately, I made copies of each section of the huge chart, constantly reducing the size, and then taped it together. Eventually, I got the chart to a 8 1/2 x 10 size, which I carried with me for years, as my point of reference, copy is above.

For many years, I kept the box, but three years ago, it just fell apart. However, I have her original chart, my small reduced one, and several copies of her timeline of census records.

It is indeed the best gift ever, something totally from the heart, and didn't cost much, except for her hours, and hours and hours of time. Thank you Ann.

In the past 21 years, I have run into her at a national genealogy conference and at least three times at the NEHGS library in Boston. I am sure she has never forgotten that gift to me either.

 

Originally posted December 10, 2009

Congratulations on the Birth of Newell

From:  Our Jenkins Heritage by John F. Jenkins  (Greenfield, NH: 50 copies Privately Printed, 1980).  Page 81.


"Among the letters written by Newell Sill Jenkins one dated June 20, 1917 was sent to Hildreth (Smith) and William Robinson Brown upon the occasion of the birth of their son, Newell Brown, my contemporary:


'With all our hearts we rejoice in your happiness that unto you a son is born. May be be worthy of his ancestry!


'The name you have chosen for him has come through five generations to reach him. Dr. Mark Newell was the great grandfather of Rob's Mother (Emily Hart Jenkins). Her Mother Phebe Bishop was left an orphan in her early childhood, and her two grandfathers, Dr. Mark Newell and the Rev. Elijah Sill, two well known personages in Connecticut in Colonial and Revolutionary times, adopted her and cared for her education, and brought her up in the nature and admonition of the Lord. In gratitude and reverence my Mother gave me the names of her honored grand parents and so one of them has come to your precious gift of God.


'May his blessing abide with the child and his parents for evermore.


Your affectionate
Uncle Newell'"
__________________________
Newell Brown was my fourth cousin, once removed. We share ancestry with two individuals listed above: Elijah Sill and Dr. Mark Newell.

With a little investigating, I located an obituary in the New York Times. I believe he lived up to his name!

"Newell Brown, 82, a Labor Aide In Eisenhower's Administration
By Wolfgang Saxon  Published: May 01, 2000 in The New York Times.

Newell Brown, a labor official in the Eisenhower administration and an aide to Gov. Sherman Adams of New Hampshire before that, died on April 14 at his home in Keene, N.H. He was 82 and had moved there from Dublin, N.H., weeks ago.

The cause was congestive heart failure, his family said.
From 1963 until he retired in 1980, Mr. Brown worked at Princeton University, where he established and then directed its career and counseling services. In that period he published two nonfiction books, ''After College, What?'' and ''To Call It a Day in Good Season.''

Born in Berlin, N.H., he graduated from Princeton in 1939. In World War II he was an Army lieutenant colonel in the Office of Strategic Services, commanding a guerrilla force of Kachin tribesmen operating behind Japanese lines in central Burma toward the end of the war."

Rice University Helped Me

Just two years ago, I had a haphazard email correspondence with somebody who wasn't the least interested in my genealogy, but she was interested in Sam Houston of Texas. As I reread our emails, I was amazed that I continued writing for several weeks, because none of what she said made sense, and she mentioned a Grace Spaulding. But, it was a good thing, because, during that time, I decided to google the name Grace Spaulding, who had a connection to Sam Houston, the surname "John," and the name "ADAMS," since that was the line I was working on with. To clarify, I googled "Grace Spaulding", "John" and "Adams". I almost fell off my chair with all the hits. Grace's 2nd husband, Alfred John was a great-grandson of Gen. Sam Houston. What else did I discover from my Google search with the Spaulding and Adams names?

The Guide to the Grace Spaulding John Papers, 1890-1977 appeared as a google hit, it is a collection at Rice University. What? Why? I was confused until I scrolled down and saw all the Adams information. It was one of those times you could almost cry.  Box 12, folders 8-12 looked very interesting.  I had to get my hands on this information, so a quick email, a mailed check to Rice and some waiting. Within 10 days I had copies of the contents of folder 8. There were 18 pages all for $7.50! Now I had all sorts of documents from my 2nd cousin once removed, Don Hugo Adams Jr. and he was into genealogy! Don was the grandson of John Anderson Adams of the Vanilla Story movie. 

That was the only time I had ever contacted a University to inquire about their holding. Actually, I didn't even have to call, it was now all online! I soon found out about the Houston connection, Grace Spaulding's husband was a direct descendant of Sam Houston. The majority of the papers, however, appear to be related to her impressive art career.

What did I receive? For starters, a fan chart, a 13 page typed genealogy manuscript of the Adams family, including information about my Anderson line and Spaulding / Spalding family, and a two-page Bibliography and References list. Two weeks ago, I contacted them again about some of the other folders, a day later a reply came. But with the statement, "If you wish to have the staff make copies for you, there is a flat $25.00 fee for staff time, plus an additional fee of $0.25 per page for photocopies, which can be mailed to you for an additional fee. Alternatively, we can create pdfs for $0.50 per page and email the files to you upon completion." I wanted way over 50 copies, just because I was curious of the stuff. However, because of the much higher fees, I decided that the genealogy information was all I really needed.

This method of requesting the information is yet another way of adding sources to your genealogy. It also was one of the simplest ways, because I didn't have to go to a library or historical society or subscribe to a database. Finding the information was free and the cost minimal.

Jacob Scramlin's Obituary (New York to Michigan)

The below obituary is similar to any other obituary I have. Jacob Scramlin was my 3rd great-grandfather. When I received this, I already had his death certificate...with a different death date. The death date was April 9, 1886, and the below obituary stated April 9, 1881 (a five year difference). The original requested death certificate was 12-21-98. At some point, I received the obituary, and it probably sat in a pile of papers. It took over two years (March 2001) before I wrote the State of Michigan for a review of the death certificate and requested, that if they made an error, I would like a corrected copy. They issued a new death certificate on March 13th, now the date of the obituary and the death certificate are the same. I don't need to tell you how important it is to check all documents and make sure they agree pertaining to dates, and if not, why not. I learned an important lesson. Now FamilySearch has it online for free...I would have been so happy to see the actual image eleven years ago.
________


Obituary from Battle Creek Journal newspaper from the Willard Library in Battle Creek's Collier Collection, 67.302, dated April 4, 1881.


Obituary of Jacob Scramlin.
To the editor of the Battle Creek Journal.
   Jacob Scramlin was born in Oneonta Otsego Co. N.Y., May 16th 1810 and died at his home in West Leroy, Calhoun Co., Mich., April 9th 1881, consequently his age was 70 years, 10 months, and 23 days.
   He removed to Leroy, Mich. about 1853 (28 years ago) where he remained up to the time of his death.
   He was married to Miss Sally Van Wert in Oneonta, N.Y., ___1831. He had 5 children by her, 4 of whom, with the wife of his youth, preceded him to the land beyond the river.
   He was united in marriage to his 2nd wife, Miss Olive Eldred, Sept. 27, 1855, 15 years ago at Charleston, Mich. She with his youngest daughter, Mrs. Annie Clark and two grandchildren of his immediate family, one brother and one sister, still survive to mourn their loss and to rejoice at his eternal gain.
   He was soundly converted to Christ and united with the Free-will Baptist Church, in his early manhood, in the home of his childhood, and continued an active earnest consistent member of that church until he removed to Michigan. As there was no Free-will Baptist Church near his home, he never united in any branch of the visible church in Michigan, although most of the members of his family became members of the of the Methodist Episcopal church at West Leroy, near his home. Although not formally affiliated with the church, and he contributed $200 to West Leroy and $200 to the Climax churches. He was a regular attendant upon the means of grace until failing health necessarily kept him at home.
   He was an industrious, hard-working man, a prudent, successful manager of his temporal career.
   When his health began to fail, some 7 or 8 years ago, he sold his large farm; retaining a few acres, where he built a comfortable house and out-buildings, for a home where he patiently spent the remaining years of his slowly wasting life, amid feebleness and pain, while confidently waiting for the coming of his Lord to take him home, to the land of rest and to the society of his loved ones gone before. Long before his death he had carefully arranged all of his business matters and made his peace with God, so he had nothing to do but watch and wait for his coming.
   Such an honest, earnest, Godly, hopeful, helpful life could have no other, but a successful termination. His sun of life went down in a cloudless sky to rise amid the glorious realities of the excellent glory.
   May the dear Savior help us to appreciate and profit by his Godly life, and example; to sympathize with his grief stricken family and ultimately to meet and greet them in the land where shadows and parting never come.
   His funeral was largly attended April 11th from the West Leroy M.E. Church, Rev. L.M. Edwards officiating. His pastor, Rev. E.D. Bacon being sick. The sermon was based on a text rendered in Phil 1, 21, after which a large portion of the congregation followed his remains to the local cemetery near his home where loving hands deposited them beside the remains his loved ones gone before.
   L.M. Edwards.
   Climax, April 11th
______________

Looking Back - November 2010

A year ago I began posting my cemetery stone photos for the Tombstone Tuesday entries on my blog.  It became a huge project, since none of the 10+ year old photos were scanned and I had no organization whatsoever. In addition, I added them all into Find-A-Grave. That project is now complete and if I hadn't begun a blog, none of that would have been accomplished! Today, I posted my last Tombstone Tuesday posting. I've already begun a list of cemeteries to visit in spring. Did you know that Find-A-Grave now has 54 million grave records online?


Although, I haven't yet ordered a flip-pal (see 2-part blog review by Susan of Long Lost Relatives), I did subscribe to GenealogyBank thanks to Greta of Greta's Genealogy Bog and thanks to Elizabeth of Little Bytes of Life who mentioned the half price special at Footnote, I subscribed immediately before the deal expired. I've learned one thing from my blog friends, if somebody orders something, then we all seem to want it...I could go broke soon. But, it is so much fun.


A follow-up on my post about Historical Societies, this post now contains more photos of Historical Societies in New England. Recently, I took additional pictures, they are from Massachusetts: Sawyer House (The Bolton Historical Society), and from Keene New Hampshire is the Cheshire County Historical Society.

Sawyer House

Bolton Historical Society, Bolton, Massachusetts

Historical Society of Cheshire Co., Keene, New Hampshire

Tombstone Tuesday -- CLANCY -- (2 Generations) New York

Byron Cemetery.  Byron, Genesee Co., New York

Pierre L. Clancy, son of Milton and Phoebe Clancy

Born:  July 1859, New York

Died:  1932, Genesee Co., New York

Husband of  Helen Mann

Helen Mann, daughter of Dwight J.  Mann and Emily J. DeWolf

Born:  July 1864, New York

Died:  1924, Genesee Co., New York

Their daughter, Ina May Clancy

Born:  1894   Died:  1895

Descendants of Pierre L. Clancy

Generation No. 1

1.  PIERRE L. CLANCY  (MILTON) was born July 1859 in New York, and died 1932 in Genesee Co., New York.  He married HELEN MANN 1894, daughter of DWIGHT MANN and EMILY DEWOLF.  She was born July 1864 in New York, and died 1924 in Genesee Co., New York.

     

Child of PIERRE CLANCY and HELEN MANN is:

                   i.    IDA MAY CLANCY, b. 1894, Genesee Co., New York; d. 1895, Genesee Co., New York.

Amanuensis Monday -- History of the Eastern Townships

Amanuensis Monday was begun by John Newmark of the TransylvanianDutch blog. The term means, "a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another." Many bloggers like doing this because it allows them to freely copy something that has been written. Below is a copy of  a few pages from a book about Dunham, Quebec. I have mentioned Dunham before, as well as the Eastern Townships. Many probably don't have a clue as to where I am talking about. Hopefully the small amount of information will help. My ancestor's names are in green. This is my 4th Amanuensis, three previous ones were wills; Delight A. Benham, John Adams and Horace Adams, one about a pirates kidnapping my ancestor. Below the written article is a great map of the Eastern Townships.

History of the Eastern Townships, by C. M. Day
Pub. 1869, Reprinted, 1992,   Pages 292-293


"DUNHAM
A tract of land lying within the district of Montreal, containing 57,252 acres, 3 roods, and 30 perches, bounded north by Farnham, east by Brome and Sutton, south by St. Armand, and west by Stanbridge, was erected into a township named Dunham. The petition for this grant was dated April 28th, 1795; the warrant of survey issued August 27th of the same year; and in 1795, the township was granted to Thomas Dunn and his associates, viz., Josseph Buck, John Heliker, Jacob Heliker, George Saxe, Mathew Hall, William Ferrand, David Ferrand, Joshua Chambers, Amos Woodland, David Reychart, John Clark, Thomas Best, Daniel Mills, Jeremiah Reychart, Daniel Trever, Alexander McDougall, Thomas Pell, Andrew Ten Eyck, Henry Ten Eyck, Archibald Henderson, Henry Hall, Elisha Dickinson, Jacob Best sen., George Waymore, Abraham Lampman, John Mills, Stephen Jenner, Jacob Best jun., Adam Deal, Frederick Streit, Samuel Mills, Philip Ruiter, and Jacob Ruiter.


It is said that Dunham was the first township erected in Lower Canada. Among the earliet inhabitants if not the very first to locate within its limits, was Andrew Ten Eyck from New Jersey, who settled in the south-western part of the tract, in 1793. He was a U. E. Loyalist, and came to Canada as the forerunner of a numerous influx of the same class of settlers."

Eastern Townships Map

This map shows "roughly" what townships fell into what counties about 1871. A friend maintains the Eastern Townships site for RootsWeb, and gave me permission to copy here.  "My area" is colored in tan, located at the lower left side, just above Vermont.

Owl Hoot Maple Farm -- What Surprises Awaited Me

We, my husband and I, were in an area far from home and in an country he had never been. We passed a sign for the Owl Hoot Maple Farm and I knew I had to stop. Because I really love maple candy and syrup, we decided to check out the store. The owner, Dianne Jones came to the door, and invited us into her kitchen. Unfortunately, no candy was available, but within minutes, I found out a wealth of information.


I told her how my aunt once owned a 144 acre maple sugar farm many years ago, and Dianne asked her name. Yes, you guessed it, they had met. Pretty amazing, since Dianne was in Quebec, Canada and my aunt then lived in Vermont. I was already excited, until I learned that she knew a lot about my family genealogy, that being of the Ten Eyck line, and pointing to the large photo in her kitchen she said it was of the Ten Eyck property. That was thrilling. But, it gets better.


Since Dianne knew some of my genealogy (which I was in the process of discovering my Canadian roots in 1999), she verbally gave me some of her husband's lineage. Her husband, John is my 6th cousin! And, it get's better...their son is married to my 2nd cousin!


Throughout the years, Dianne and I have kept in touch, and sharing bits of information. My cousin called several times this fall expressing an interest in her ancestry. That was very exciting.  In one email, Dianne wrote, "Did you know our sugarbush is part of the first TenEyck settlers property. We still can see stone foundations of at least two building sites, and some old bricks that was used for a chimney."


For the past 18 years, Dianne and John have been hosting their Owl Hoot Sugaring Off Party in April, to raise money for the local hospital. Last year over 500 people attended.


Other link about the event.
Brome Missisquoi Perkins Hospital (additional pictures)
Below is the flyer I took from my visit in 1999, I'm so glad I saved it, and especially glad I stopped in.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

MAY YOU ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Some Hartford, Connecticut Old Cemetery Stones