CLEARING UP THE PICTURE A LITTLE.

This is a picture of my 2x great grandparents Jonathan P West and Louisa (Richardson)
West with my grandfather Floyd West Sr and my granduncle Clarence West. It was
taken from The History of Wilsons Mills and the Magalloway Settlements
(Wilsons Mills, Me.: The Town of Wilsons Mills, Maine 1975.). As you can see,
it's somewhat faded:

Last night I was looking through a cd that my West cousin Lewis Wuori had sent me
sometime ago and found another copy of the picture:

 

I fiddled with it a bit with Irfanview and this is the best version I ended up with:

Seeing the picture holder on the cd version makes me think that multiple copies of the picture
were probably made and handed out to family members. Both versions show damage but the
cd had much less than the one used in the book. Louisa and Jonathan's clothes are darker
and so are the boys. It's possible now to see that is a white blanket on the rocking chair and
not a blank spot from damage. Also, I can see the picture hanging on the wall behind Louisa
more clearly now and I am positive it is this one of her father Philip Richardson:

 

I wonder what those pictures are on Jonathan's desk?

NAMING PATTERNS:THE J.P.'S & THE P.J.'S

Today is the 206th wedding anniversary of my 4x greart grandparents Jonathan Phelps
Ames and Polly Griffith. Besides the personal significance of that happy event(I would
not be here if they hadn't married), it's also significant for setting up a naming pattern
in my family.

Jonathan was the son of John Ames and Lydia Phelps.

Jonathan and Polly's daughter Arvilla Ames married my 3x great grandfather John
Cutter West.

They named their fourth child Jonathan Phelps West(my 2x great grandfather).

Jonathan Phelps West married Lousia Amata Richardson, daughter of Philip Richardson
and Esther Laughton. They named their second child Philip Jonathan West in honor of both their fathers. He was my great grandfather.

The name then skips two generations until my younger brother was born. He's named
Philip John West after our great grandfather.

And his oldest son is Philip J West, Jr!

Do you have a story about how names have been passed down in your family?

A CLUE FOR A BRICKWALL?

Waaay back here in 2007, I wrote a post about my ancestor Lydia Phelps, detailing
how I'd had to revise the information I had on her. I'd discovered  that her parents
were not Jonathan Phelps and Lydia Parker, but were Scottish immigrants whose
names I have yet to discover.I also discovered that my 5x great grandfather John
Ames was Lydia's second husband.  She was the widow of Sampson Read.
(Thanks again to Larry Overmire for allowing the use of his research)

This morning I was looking at the newly released Sons of the American Revolution
Membership Application files at Ancestry.com and checking out the names of my
ancestors who served in the Revolution. Then I tried a few that had lived in the right
period but that I've never discovered any records to indicate military service. One of
them is my 4x great grandfather Philip Pierce Richardson, another brickwall
ancestor. The search brought up the name Lydia Phelps Richardson. Now that
piqued my curiosity, as you might imagine, so I clicked to see the image, and this
is what I saw:

This the application of one Ralph Joseph Richardson who claimed descent from
Sampson Read and his wife Lydia (Phelps) Read . Ralph's grandparents were
Joseph Richardson and Lydia Phelps Read.  Could there be a connection to my
Philip Pierce Richardson, or his son Philip Richardson?

I'll let you know what I find out.

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN: TIME TRAVEL

It's Sunday afternoon and it's time for Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun
over at Genea-Musings.

Okay, I'm a tad late with it but I wanted to give a little thought to this one. This week
the challenge involves time travel:

"Let's go time travelling: Decide what year and what place you would love to visit as a
time traveller. Who would you like to see in their environment? If you could ask them
one question, what would it be?"

I knew who I'd want to see, of course: my 3x great grandfather John Cutter West. But
what year should it be? At first I thought of 23Sep 1827, the day he wed Arvilla Ames.
But what red-blooded man would want to talk family history on his wedding day?

So I slept on it overnight and came back to the problem exactly 20 minutes ago after
taking a sip of coffee.(Caffeine is a wonderful igniter of my thought processes.) I was
looking at my PAF pedigree chart and inspiration smacked me up the side of the head.

It wasn't John Cutter West I'd want to visit: it was his son, my great great grandfather
Jonathan Phelps West and his wife Louisa Almata (Richardson)West. It would be at
their home at Upton, Oxford County, Maine, and probably in the year 1870. They
would have been married five years with their two oldest sons already born(including
my great grandfather Philip J. West). My question would be a simple one: "Tell me about
your parents and grandparents."

I can't imagine that John Cutter West wouldn't have told his children about his parents.
Perhaps Jonathan had even met them, and would know not only their names but their
parents and where the West family had lived before settling in Maine. And by asking
Louisa the same question, I'd break down another brickwall, my Richardson line, since
I can only go back as far her grandfather Philip (Pierce?) Richardson who married Lydia
Dow. I have no vital records at all on Philip, so Louisa might be able to tell me that
information.

And with one question, I would bring down two brickwalls.

Maybe I should wait to ask the question until after we'd all had cup of coffee!