ADVENT CALENDAR: IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR REDUX

Every Christmas Mom would break out the Andy Williams
Christmas Album to play on the stereo. There was also a Nat
King Cole album and a Mitch Miller “Sing Along With Mitch”
Christmas edition. But for me, even rock and roll dinosaur
that I am, it’s the Andy Williams album that “feels” like
Christmas to me.


As I’ve gotten older and my musical tastes expanded, I find
myself listening to New Age and Celtic Christmas music. And
Josh Groban just put out a holiday album that we’ve played at
the bookstore since Thanksgiving and it’s easy on the ears.

As for caroling, well, there are some things that one should
never do in public and in my case, singing is one of them!

Originally posted in 2007.

This post was written for Thomas MacEntee's Advent
Calendar of Christmas Memories over at the GeneaBloggers
website on the topic of Christmas Music.

Be sure to go over there and check out the links to other posts
from my fellow genealogy bloggers!

BELATED ADVENT CALENDAR: THE HAUNTED FRUITCAKE REDUX

Ah, fruitcake! The Food. The Myth. The Legend.


We’ve never had any of the perpetual fruitcakes hanging about
for weeks or months in our family. We’re a practical bunch. If it
tastes good, we eat it. If it doesn’t, well, out it goes!


I have, however, invented a mythical fruitcake named Margaret.


Like distant cousin Tim Abbot over at Walking the Berkshires I
have been a role-player for years although mine has been online
instead of tabletop Dungeons and Dragons. One of my characters
is an eccentric Scotsman and last Christmas he gave another
character Margaret the Fruitcake as a Christmas gift.


It seems it was baked by a female relative who passed away
while doing so and the Scotsman believes (he says) that her spirit
inhabits her final fruitcake. Margaret has been exchanged
between family members each Christmas but last year it was
given to a young squire. Various adventures ensued including a
jailbreak where Margaret was used as a weapon and then the
disappearance of the haunted fruitcake sometime around
midyear.


Yeah, I know.


I’m nutty as a fruitcake

Originally published in 2007.

2009 Update-Margaret's location is unknown at present, although
rumors persist that she is being used as a curling stone by a team
of dwarves.

This post is part of the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories
at the Geneabloggers website. Visit it for more links to the Christmas
memories of other genealogy bloggers!

COUSIN QUEST: THE FAMILY OF ASA ATWOOD WEST

This is my second post in search of other descendants of John Cutter West and
Arvilla Ames.

Asa Atwood West was their eldest son. He was married three times, his first wife
being Matilda Barker Marston, the sister of his brother in law Abel Gage Marston.
Asa and Matilda's first three children were daughters who all died young. One
died in infancy, the other two died in the diptheria outbreak of the winter of
1861-1862. Their two youngest were born after the epidemic and both lived
to adulthood and married, but only their daughter Lizzie seems to have had
children.

Asa remarried after Matilda's death in 1877 but his second wife Maggie Hoyt
died after only three years of marriage without having a child. His third
marriage, with Alda Bryant, took place twenty years later and likewise was
without issue.

Typing this I was struck by the fact that while my grandfather Floyd Earl West
Sr was facing the Spanish Influenza outbreak at Camp Ayers , Ma., his cousin
David Richards, Lizzie's son, was succumbing to it at Camp Green in North
Carolina.

1. Asa Atwood West (b.11 Mar 1830-Canton,Oxford,Maine;
d.31 Jan 1909-Ridlonville,Me.)
sp: Matilda Barker Marston (b.3 Feb 1829-Andover,Oxford,Me.;m.18 Mar 1854;
d.20 Apr 1877)
2. Arvilla West (b.18 Jun 1854;d.18 Feb 1862-Andover,Oxford,Me.)
2. Diantha West (b.20 Aug 1859-Andover,Oxford,Me.;d.1859)
2. Anna Pearl West (b.12 Aug 1860-Andover,Oxford,Me.;d.20 Feb 1862-Andover,Oxford,Me.)
2. Lizzie F. West (b.5 Nov 1863-Andover,Oxford,Me.;d.15 Sep 1907-Andover,Oxford,Me.)
sp: David Parsons Richards (b.22 Sep 1858-Upton,Oxford,Me.;m.23 Apr 1882;d.1 Feb
1940-Andover,Oxford,Me.)
3. Bertha May Richards (b.9 Feb 1883-Andover,Oxford,Me.;d.3 Mar 1933-Andover,Oxford,Me.)
sp: Hervey E. Hall (b.25 Oct 1880-Andover,Oxford,Me.;m.13 Feb 1904;
d.23 Apr 1924-Andover,Oxford,Me.)
4. Richard N. Hall (b.29 Apr 1909-Andover,Oxford,Me.)
4. Herbert Hall (b.16 Jul 1914-Andover,Oxford,Me.;d.May 1970)
3. Harold West Richards (b.7 Sep 1887-Andover,Oxford,Me.;d.27 Nov 1938)
3. David Alton Richards (b.26 Apr 1890-Andover,Oxford,Me.;d.22 Jan 1918-Camp
Green,Charlotte,Mecklenburg,No. Car.)
2. C. Scott West (b.21 Sep 1865-Andover,Oxford,Me.)
sp: Maud Blaisdell
sp: Maggie Hoyt (b.1851;m.25 Dec 1878;d.8 May 1882)
sp: Alda Bryant (m.3 Jun 1906)

I NEED TO POST THIS BEFORE I GO OUT AND DISAPPEAR INTO A SNOWDRIFT OR SOMETHING!

Last week my sister Cheryl sent me three links she found googling
"John Cutter West" and asked me if I'd seen them before,which I had.
But it had been some time since the last time I'd checked them so I
took a look again. The first two were posts on forums from several
years back that have not had any recent responses. The third is
a Griffith family genealogy website created by Richard Griffith.

Now John Cutter West's wife Arvilla Ames was the daughter of
Jonathan Phelps Ames and Polly Griffith/Griffeth.When I'd visited
Richard's site before I was primarily interested in my direct ancestors
and hadn't as yet widened my research to include their siblings and
cousins. This time I looked at the Index of Names, and there under West
I saw "Josiah (b.10 May 1734, d.16Feb 1803)". I clicked on it and found
that Josiah West had married Elizabeth Griffith in Plymouth, Plymouth
Co., Ma, on 28Nov 1755. Elizabeth was the daughter of Jesse Griffith
and Elizabeth Bent and a third or fourth cousin of Polly Griffith.

A while back when I'd discussed my John Cutter West brickwall here,
Randy Seaver did some searching and came up with Josiah West as
possibly being of the right generation to be JC's grandfather. I hadn't
been able to find much about him and somehow or another I'd missed
the fact his wife was a Griffith. The biggest question is did any of his
children migrate to Maine? So far I've found his son Josiah Jr. moving
to N.Y. But there seems to be more evidence that Josiah West MIGHT
be John Cutter West's grandfather, or that he MIGHT have had a
relative who was.

At least it's a lead!

GENEABLOGGER BLUES

Well, it's late in the evening,
And I sit here and stare
Instead of researching
I surf here and there.

All day I've been working
To earn my daily bread.
So tired I'm shirking
All ambition has fled.

I got the geneablogger blues,
I'm as tired as can be
Lord I'm so tired.
I can't climb up my family tree!

((I'd write another few verses, but I'm too tired!))

A MOMENT OF SANITY

We're in the midst of the Christmas shopping rush at the bookstore
and let me tell you folks, it can get pretty hectic at times, as it was today.

I was at the information desk looking up a book for a customer when
an older lady who was waiting nearby asked me if I could just point
out where she might find the new book about the Baker Chocolate Factory.
I told her it was on a display next to the local history section, that it
was a great book, and that if she couldn't find it I'd be glad to help her
after I finished helping the other customer. She thanked me and moved
off to find the book.

About twenty minutes later I was on my way up to help at the registers
when the same lady stopped me to tell me I'd helped make her day. I
thought she was referring to finding the Baker Chocolate Factory book,
but it turned out it was something else.She'd found the book alright, but
afterward she browsed my local history section and found the Images
of America book about the history of the Milton, Ma. fire department.

And in that book, she found a picture of her great-grandfather.

Now, she already had a copy of the picture in the book, but it was
a group photo and uncaptioned,so she hadn't know which firefighter
was him. But the copy in the book was captioned, and now she
could point directly to the man on the page who was her ancestor.
She teared up a bit but smiled when I told her how great that was
and that I knew how she felt because I'd had similiar moments
researching my own family history. She thanked me again, we
wished each other a Merry Christmas and then both of us moved
on to the cash registers, me to ring sales and she to purchase her books.

It was a long, hard, tiring day. I was very tired by the time my shift
was up, and my legs were aching and stiff.

But when I started to write about this encounter I found myself smiling.

I might have made that lady's day, but she made mine as well!

GENEABLOG CAROLING 2009

footnoteMaven's invited us to join her in geneablog Christmas
caroling, so I'm going to contribute once again my favorite
carol:

I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And what was in those ships all three,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day?
And what was in those ships all three,
On Christmas Day in the morning?

The Virgin Mary and Christ were there,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
The Virgin Mary and Christ were there,
On Christmas Day in the morning.

Pray, wither sailed those ships all three,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
Pray, wither sailed those ships all three,
On Christmas Day in the morning?

O they sailed into Bethlehem,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
O they sailed into Bethlehem,
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And all the bells on earth shall ring,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
And all the bells on earth shall ring,
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And all the Angels in Heaven shall sing,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
And all the Angels in Heaven shall sing,
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And all the souls on earth shall sing,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
And all the souls on earth shall sing,
On Christmas Day in the morning.

Then let us all rejoice again,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
Then let us all rejoice again,
On Christmas Day in the morning.

CELEBRATE!

Most of the births and anniversaries during the holiday season in my family belong
to siblings of my direct ancestors.But there are a pair of marriages that especially
stand out to me and as it happens, they are in my Abbott line.

The first is the marriage of George Abbott and Hannah Chandler on 12Dec 1646
in Roxbury, Suffolk, Ma.They were among the first settlers of Andover, Essex, Ma
and were prominent in town affairs, as also was Hannah's brother Thomas Chandler.
The Abbots had twelve children and were married for 35 years until George Abbot
died on 24Dec 1681.

Some 150 years later their 3x great grandaughter Zerviah Abbot married John Ellingwood
on 29Dec 1789 in Andover. The Ellingwoods started off their married life in Lyndborough
New Hampshire but eventually settled in Bethel, Oxford, Me, where John held several town
offices over the course of his life. Together they had seven children and many descendants,
including myself.

And as I've mentioned several times, it's through these lines that I'm related to Tim Abbott,
Chris Dunham, Janice Brown and others!

The list of December births and anniversaries that RootsMagic generated for me runs over
six pages long, so I won't reproduce it here. But I'll try to get it into a more manageable
form and add it here with an update.

Written for the 86th Carnival of Genealogy

COUSIN QUEST

I've written before about how I've been contacted by distant cousins
as a result of my blog or because of Facebook. Last week I mentioned
my distant cousin Michael who shares my descent from Minuteman
John Ames had found me through West in New England. A few days
after I posted that, I heard from my cousin Betty. She's the great
granddaughter of Hiram West, brother of my great great grandfather
Jonathan Phelps West. And earlier this year through Facebook I connected
with Zac and Farell who are descended from Jonathan's brother Leonidas
West.

I was sitting here trying to come up with something to blog about today
and a thought struck me: there were other children of John Cutter West
and Arvilla Ames and perhaps their descendants might someday come
looking for their ancestry. So I'm going to post what I know about my
West ancestors' siblings in hopes that one day another cousin will find this
blog.

First up, Anne Matilda West, the oldest daughter. She married Abel Gage
Marston and here's pretty much all I know about their family so far:


1-Ann Matilda West (4 June 1828-23 March 1913)
+Abel Gage Marston (19 April 1817-27 October 1883)
. . . . 2-Leander A. Marston (19 October 1847-)
. . . . 2-John W. Marston (5 May 1849-29 April 1910)
. . . . +Susie Duran Bigelow (-)
. . . . 2-Celinda G. Marston (1 August 1851-12 March 1912)
. . . . +Llwellyn Hall (-)
. . . . 2-Francene F. Marston (24 July 1853-)
. . . . +B.L. Akers (-)
. . . . 2-Nora Matilda Marston (4 January 1855-8 April 1943)
. . . . +Joel L. Merrill (-)
. . . . 2-Arvilla W. Marston (-)
. . . . 2-Walter E. Marston (4 December 1860-)
. . . . +Esther Austin (-)
. . . . 2-Laura C. Marston (21 March 1862-)
. . . . 2-Martha A. Marston (25 July 1864-)
. . . . 2-Ellen I. Marston (21 January 1867-)


I'll post one of these "Cousin Quest" articles every Sunday for the next
month or so,and maybe move on to the West great granduncles next.

ADVENT CALENDAR: CHRISTMAS GIFTS REDUX

It’s funny how some Christmas memories fade and some endure,
especially when it comes to gifts.



We weren’t poor but we weren’t exactly well off either when I
was young. Santa’s gifts were often determined by budget
concerns but he always managed to leave us clothes and some
toys. (although one year I got a note with the other gifts:
“Dear Bill, I owe you one telescope. Santa Claus”)


Ads for a forthcoming movie bring back more memories. One
Christmas eve my sister and I could hear Alvin and the
Chipmunks “Christmas Song” play over and over while our
parents laughed. When we asked why the song kept playing we
were told it was the radio and to get to sleep before Santa came.
(of course by now I already knew the Awful Truth). It turned
out Santa had left us a portable record player along with a copy
of the record!


I still have the gift my sister gave me one year: a wooden chess
set, the kind that doubles as a box to hold the chessmen. It’s
over thirty years old now.



As I grew older I learned that giving gifts was as much fun as
getting them. We didn’t have a color tv so one year when I was
working at the toy warehouse I put a portable Magnavox color
tv on layaway and gave it to my folks for Christmas. That tv lasted
for years, even after my folks got a larger console set. It migrated
from bedroom to bedroom passing from my kid brother to my
sister’s kids back to my brother’s kids until it finally gave up the
ghost.


And then last year, I got a gift from a group of great friends, the
computer that I’m using right now to preserve these memories.


Oh, yeah! I eventually got the telescope!

Originally published in Dec 2007
This post is part of the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories
at the Geneabloggers website. Visit it for links to the Christmas
memories of other genealogy bloggers!