AH, THE PRESSURE!

So I took a month’s membership to Ancestry.com recently
and started researching some of my lines when I found
something that sort of discombobulated me, and at my age I
can’t afford to lose my combobulate.


I won’t say which line it was but I was checking the “Stories
and Articles” category and well, one of my posts here on a
particular family member showed up on another private
Ancestry tree.


It’s not that it’s posted on Ancestry. This has nothing to do
with the controversy of last year. And one of the main
purposes of my blog is to get my family’s history out there
and accessible. It’s just that I never expected to have
something I wrote quoted as part of someone’s
research.


Nor am I objecting that the person did it as long as it’s not
cited as a source in and of itself. (I do give the sources for the
anecdote within the article itself.) What does give me pause is
that it reminds me that I need to be as accurate as I can when
writing about my family history and genealogy because it will
be read by others and if I mess up, there might well be a ripple
effect as the error appears elsewhere.


So, folks, whoever you may be, please read the warning under
my blog’s title and verify what I’ve written for yourselves. I
try to cite my sources when I post and if you find I’ve made an
error in one of my posts I’d like to hear from you!

LINCOLN DAYS IN HINGHAM. MA.

We all know the story of Abe Lincoln growing up in the log
cabin in Kentucky. But what many Americans don’t know is
thatLincoln’s ancestors lived in Hingham, Massachusetts, a
small coastal town that is only one town away from me here
in Abington.

You can read about Hingham’s 20th annual Lincoln Days
celebration here. And make sure to look at the two
comments!

THE 42nd CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY

The 42 Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is up over at
Jasia’s Creative Gene blog and it’s the first annual Igene
awards in which Jasia asked genealogy bloggers to nominate
what they felt were the best articles they’d written in 2007 in
five different categories. 23 of us responded and if you are
new to the geneablogging community or are just trying to
catch up on what’s been done out there, this is a great way
to sample some fine reading!


And of course with each new CoG comes the Call for
Submissions for the next edition:

The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy
will be: Technology. What technology do you most rely on
for your genealogy and family history research? Select
one piece of hardware (besides your computer), one piece
of software (besides your internet browser), and one web
site/blog (besides your own) that are indispensable to
you. Resist the urge to dilute the impact of your 3 choices
by mentioning several others you use and appreciate as
well. This is an exercise in appraising the technology you
use/recommend the most.

The deadline for submissions is March 1st.

THOMAS LUKE MCFARLAND

My grandmother Agnes(Aggie)McFarland was one of a large
Irish Catholic family, but was one of the younger children. So
by the time I was born and was old enough to interact with
adults, most of her older siblings were deceased. I only have
memories of three: her older brothers Frank and Tommy,
and her younger sister Margaret ( Peggy). I’ve already
written a bit about Frank, and a future post will be about
my Aunt Peggy, but today I’m posting my memories of
Uncle Tommy.



Thomas Luke McFarland was born on 14 Jun 1893 in Boston,
Suffolk County, Massachusetts to John and Annie McFarland.
He was their seventh child, one of the nine who would survive
to adulthood. He appears on the 1910 Federal Census as a 17
year old office boy for a “diamond office”, probably the Arthur
A. Crafts Company at 125 Summer St. where he worked for
most of his life. By the time he registered for the World War
1 draft in 1917 he had worked his way up to tool maker. He
had a slim build and was of medium height with brown eyes.



Sometime in the early 1920’s he married Frances. (I don’t
know Aunt Frances’ last name as yet. I’m in the process of
tracking down the marriage’s date) and by 1930 they had
moved out of Boston south to the town of Milton. By now
Tom was a diamond cutter at A. A. Crafts Co. which
specialized in industrial diamonds and so he and Aunt
Frances were able to buy a house at 58 Sunnyside Road.
Frances was like most women of her times a homemaker, and
at some point her sister Katie came to live with them in the
small white house with the fenced in yard.



My earliest memories of Uncle Tommy, Aunt Frances and
Aunt Katie involve food, books, and their dog. Frances and
Katie would take my sister and I out to the kitchen where the
table folded up into the wall and serve us homemade ice
cream, chocolate cake or apple pie with a glass of milk. Tom
and Frances didn’t have any children and they always spoke
to us in a way that made me feel a bit more grownup, and
boy, could Frances and Katie cook! That chocolate
cake still ranks up there as the best I’ve ever tasted.


I envied Uncle Tommy’s living room: it had a glass door
bookcase. I can’t recall if it went the length of the room’s wall
but I do know it held a set of encyclopedias. What really
sticks in my mind is that on several occasions there were
copies of Analog Science Fiction Magazine and since I’ve been
a lifelong sf and fantasy reader, I wish I had talked with him
about his interest in it. When did he start reading it?
Who were his favorite authors?


Lastly, there was Tommy and Frances’ dog, Chips. (There
may have been a Mr. in front of the Chips.) He was a little
Boston Terrier and had the buggy eyes common to the
breed. He also liked to carry around in his mouth one half of
a pink rubber ball which sometimes would be held so it
covered his nose and made Chips look very funny.



I don’t recall ever seeing Tommy drive a car or if they even
had one. There mighty have been a garage next to the house
but I seldom spent time outside when we visited them. I’d
usually grab something to read and go sit in the other room
while the adults talked. There were family picnics, like in
the picture above, where my parents would pick Tommy and
Frances up in our car and they’d ride along with us


Time passed in that sneaky way it has of doing. One of the
first times I noticed was when at age 13 or so I realized that
I was now taller than Frances and Katie. The younger
McFarland and McCue adult relatives visited Uncle Tommy
for his expertise when they purchased their wedding rings.
I never had cause for that service, so as I grew to adulthood
the visits to Tommy and Frances grew fewer and fewer.

Uncle Tommy passed away in 1977 and Frances followed
ten years later. The picture of them with this article is pretty
much as I recall seeing them: Tommy in a white or light blue
shirt smoking his pipe and Frances every inch a lady.

I never heard either of them say a cross word, either to each
other or to anyone else.

MEME FOR REVIEW

Lori Thornton at Smoky Mountain Family Historian tagged
me with this meme:


What issues/topic interests you most--non-fiction, i.e,
cooking, knitting, stitching, thereare infinite topics that has
nothing to do with novels?

Well, history and genealogy, as well as mythology and folktales.


Would you like to review books concerning those?

Sure. In my earlier days I used to write book reviews for a few
sf fanzines.


Would you like to be paid or do it as interest or hobby?
Tell reasons for what ever you choose.


Money is always a good thing but I didn’t get paid for the
reviews I’ve done in the past so it’s not a problem.


Would you recommend those to your friends and how?

I’m a bookseller by trade. I recommend favorites and hand
sell to customers all day. I also refer some of my customers to
my blog if they have an interest in New England genealogy.


If you have already done something like this, link it to your
post.

There was my Haunted Books Store series at Halloween and
one I did on When In Boston by Jim Vrabel. They aren’t very
long, though.

Now I need to tag ten more folks:

Jasia

Terry

Thomas

Craig

Randy

Janice

footnoteMaven

Becky

Janet

Lidian

METER MADE

Alright, like a squirrel burying acorns I've been
leaving limericks all over the place at other
geneabloggers' sites and then forgetting where
I'd left them. So these are the ones I could find
after a quick check of my bookmarks:



A Berkshire greenman named Tim,
Will often just on a whim
Post old family photos
And then ask us just who knows
Funny captions to put upon them.


I finally managed to capture
A phrase that would rhyme with CowHampshire.
How could I know Tim Abbott
Would already grab it?
And now I can’t use it for damn sure!

Aw heck. I recycled it. Tim will approve!


If at blogging you want to succeed
Then it’s AnceStories you need
Miriam never stints
With great writing hints
For a blog that is pleasing to read!


Jasia hosts the COG
A blog where you’ll always see
A selection inviting
Of genealogy writing.
A Creative Gene-ius is she!


Oh how I wish I could be
As clever as Tom MacEntee
But I just couldn’t do
A decent haiku!
This was all I could do, as you see.



If it’s source accuracy that you’re cravin’
Check them out with our friend footnoteMaven.
She’ll quickly commence
And consult EVIDENCE!
To help get your citations behavin’!


This one was for Randy:

An ace genealogy mister
Who lives out in old Chula Vista
Climbs family trees
With greatest of ease
Without even raising a blister!

There once was man name of Terry
A talented lad was he, very!
With the knowledge he’d bring
He could blog anything,
And that made our man Terry merry!


A gal from the `poke name of Liz,
Said "Look here,the truth of it is
I'm just not a poet,
My writing will show it!"
Then she wrote one and she proved that she is!


Come along with me now and we’ll go
To the Virtual Dime Museum Show
If it’s rare or unique
Knowledge that you seek
Lidian is the one in the know!


And these are the ones written about yours truly:

Tim Abbott:

Three cheers for Bill West in New England!
And his penchant for distant kin minglin!
(Though this meter his tongue sets a tinglin')
A droll wit, ever wry,
Geneaologist spry,
So with poetic praise him I'm singlin'!


Terry Thornton:

Hello Cutter.
Hello Mutter.
Bill finds nutter ---
Flutaphone fugues
Fishing for togues
To fry in butter.

It was west to New England
Not east badland nor south gangland
Where Bill struggled with longhand
To write his fanfare fugue,
Flutaphone Common-man Togue,
Not trout but togue a la Copland.


Janice:

Not last, Bill West with Flutaphone,
For research he can hold his own.
Tho music talent is overblown.
He claims a poet he is not,
Blaming Thornton on the spot,
Who needs to learn of sticks and stone.


Thomas MacEntee:

Limerick:

There once was a man from New England
an invite he wanted to extend
flutaphones he did dream
parade floats was the scheme
a great meme, fans did love without end

Haiku:

A book-sellng guy
"Young man go West" he knew
great blogging ensues



For those I haven't graced....er...inflicted with
a limerick, my apologies. I think my brain has
overdosed on bad rhyming!

LIGHTS! GEDCOMS! ACTION!

I was going to play a number on my flutaphone, but let’s just
get to the awards instead!


BEST COMEDY: would have to be the ongoing and seemingly
never ending quest for 49 GENEALOGICAL USES FOR A
FLUTAPHONE, the most recently updated list being this one.
Of course, I couldn’t have done it without contributions from
some other writers: Janice, Terry, Apple, and Schelly


BEST SCREEN PLAY: I’m torn, so I’m cheating. For best
screenplay, I think ORPHA would make a great movie. I’d
choose Daniel Day Lewis for Jonathan Phelps West, Scarlet
Johansen for the doomed Orpha, and Hillary Swank for
Louisa Almata Richardson.


BEST SCREEN PLAY MINISERIES is presented to the
AMES MURDER posts. Emil Hirsch and Glenn Close would
play the roles of Jonathan Eames and his mother Elizabeth
Eames. Paul Giammati who is playing John Adams in the
upcoming HBO special would reprise that role with perhaps
Viggo Mortenson as the prosecutor and Sam Waterson
for the strangely silent Jonathan Eames, Sr. (we’d have to
write him some dialogue since there’s no testimony on record
from him).


BEST PICTURE: The winnerof this is the picture of my
grandmother Agnes McFarland that accompanies the post
AGGIE. It’s the oldest photograph in the family album and
shows her as a young beautiful girl. I only knew her for a
short while before she died and by then she’d had a difficult
life but in this picture she’s happy and looks ready for a bright
future. Everyone should have that feeling in their lives and I'd
like to think Aggie did.


BEST BIOGRAPHY is actually an autobiography: AUNT
DOT'S MEMORIES, written by my Aunt Dorothy. I learned
things I never knew about my Dad’s childhood as well as
Dot’s. Also it was the beginning of many new discoveries in
my family history.


That concludes the First Annual West in New England IGene
Blog Awards. Thank you for coming, and drive safely!


This was written for the 42nd Carnival of Genealogy for which
Jasia asked us to choose winners for the awards in the above
categories!

BEDTIME RHYME

Terry, it’s becoming quite plain
The sestain causes pain to my brain,
So I think I’ll just stick,
With the old limerick,
In the main I will gain far less strain.

BEDTIME GENEALOGY 22

Some interesting genealogy related articles:

This author talks about organizing his genealogy research:

http://www.walletpop.com/2008/02/11/packrat-pruning-the-family-tree/

Jim Breidner talks about reaction to his “Big Bang” column
and quotes, among others, Thomas MacEntee’s blog post at
Destination: Austin Family:

http://www.ldnews.com/columns/ci_8229752

Lastly, this story about a Massachusetts elementary school class
project exploring genealogy made me grin, especially the part
about what material one student used to make a small-scale river:

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080211/NEWS/802110343

HEY! I"M A GENEALOGiST, NOT A POET!

A geneablogger named West
Was put to the ultimate test
Late at night he would mutter
“Where ARE you, John Cutter?
`Til I find you I simply can’t rest!”


Blame it on Terry Thornton. This is for his Poetry Challenge!

BY THE LETTERS

Sometimes in the course of pursuing genealogy something
reminds me of the passage of time.


I recently ran across one instance while looking at the 1920
U.S. Census for part of my McFarland family lines. While the
parents, my granduncle and his wife, were correctly listed as
Michael and Mary McFarland, their children were listed as
McParlands.


This straightaway led to a “huh”? on my part.


So I looked at the actual images. Michael and Mary McFarland
are the last two entries on their sheet. Their children are at
the top of the next page. Both pages were enumerated by the
same person and as I looked at it, I at first could see no reason
why their name had been listed as McParland in the Index.


And then I saw it. It was all Palmer’s fault, the Palmer
Method, that is.


Most students nowadays are taught the Modern Cursive or
the Zaner-Bloser styles of cursive writing, but most of their
19th and 20th century ancestors wrote in the Palmer
handwriting method. The census enumerator wrote
McFarland in the Palmer style.


The picture above is of a capital letter F written yes, badly;
my writing stinks. The top character is Modern Cursive and
the bottom is an example of the Palmer capital F. The
enumerator had made the F a bit too large and the top
crossbar is nearly obscured by the heavily printed top line of
the census form. The middle crossbar has a bit of a small loop
and the effect makes the F look like a P if one doesn’t look
at it carefully. I suspect that happened when the page was
transcribed for the Index.


So once again an example why it is important to check the
variations of spelling when researching a name.


Oh, and it was the description I found online of Palmer as
antiquated that made me aware of how old I am.


I was taught the Palmer method when I went to school.

GENEALOGY ON PARADE!

Welcome to the Genalogist’s Parade, brought to you by
Acme Lawn Food, because Lawns Have Roots, Too!


Leading off our Parade is the Family band unit entered by
Janet the Researcher. What a talented family it is, too,
led by her BandMaster grandfather William! Janet's Family
is awarded the King Family Award for Most Musical Family
in the parade.


And here comes our first float, entered by Lori Thornton,
the Smoky Mountain Family Historian displaying her
heritage from the Perkins Family of Ipswich, Ma. Centerpiece
of her float is a model of the Great Migration vessel the
Lyon, a true case of floating one’s boat. Lori’s entry holds
the "We're Number 1!" award as the first float entered in
the parade.


Now rounding the corner to pass before the review stand on
the hill before the Dyer Memorial Library is Schelly Talalay’s
Family Float. Winner of the coveted Golden Flutaphone
Award for the Best Use of Decorative Flutaphones, Schelly’s
entry celebrates her family’s achievements in the latex foam
rubber industry and in cancer research and is easily one of
the most colorful floats in our parade.


Wait! Wow! Look at that! It’s Elizabeth’s Mother Ship float
complete with mysterious passengers and a shamrock to
symbolize the mystery surrounding some of Elizabeth’s
ancestors. Elizabeth wins the FinalFrontier award for best
use of an intergalactic spaceship!


From one grand mode of transportation to another as
Elizabeth is followed by Colleen’s Oration’s of OMcHodoy
float. Collen wins our Casey Jones Award for the first entry
using a Train Car.


Our transportation theme continues with Tex’s float from
All My Ancestors, which features a tractor, a wheat field, and
music! Tex receives the Wheaties Award for Best Use of A
Cereal Grain Ingredient.


The next unit is Apple’s depiction of her family’s ties to the
Erie Canal, featuring a flutaphone and chorus rendition of a
great American folksong. Apple is awarded the Borax Award
for Best Use of a Mule Team in a Parade.


Jessica from Jessica’s GeneJournal has chosen to celebrate
her family’s connection to the state of Michigan and wins the
Wolverine State Award for Best Use of Michigan History.


The sweet strains of “Amazing Grace” played on flutaphone
precede the passing of Becky’s Kinnexion’s display of her
Phend and Wiseman heritage and has been presented the
Swiss Miss Award for Alpine ancestry.


A chorus of beeping car horns and flashing lights heralds the
approach of Lisa’s classic automobile unit from 100 Years in
America honoring her Toth and Ujlaki families and winning
our Motor City Award for celebrating our nation’s love of cars


They are followed by another convertible bearing our Grand
Marshal, footnoteMaven!


Lidian of the Virtual Dime Museum ‘s float is a colorful
invocation of a day in a city park and easily wins the Mitch
Miller Memorial Award for Multilingual Three Part
Harmony Perfomances.


And their music is followed by Jasia's PolAm Parade
Float, a proud presentation of Polish American
Heritage and the winner of the Janice Brown Award for
Best Genealogical Themed Dancing!

Now come the two largest floats in the parade. First is Terry
Thornton’s Hill Country of Monroe County Mississippi which
depicts….well…pretty much all of Monroe County. It’s one
fine float and winner of the King Cake Award for the Largest
Float in the Parade.


Next is Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings entry with scenes
from four different time periods that his ancestors lived
through. Randy receives the Orville Redenbacher Award for
Most Original Harvesting Of Corn (with a flutaphone).


And finally, last but not least, is my own West family float,
which wins the award for Last Float in the Parade.

I hope you enjoyed the parade, and I thank one and all for
their particpation!

BIG NEWS!

The 41st Carnival of Genealogy is out over at Jasia’s Creative
Gene . This one is on the topic of which four ancestors would
you like to have dinner with and asks questions about what
you’d eat, what you’d discuss, and other details of what would
be a momentous occasion for anyone tracing their family
history. The number of contributors is large and the quality
of their posts is as ever high!

Then Jasia issued a call for the 42 CoG:

“The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy
will be: The Best of The Best! It's Academy awards time...
time for the Academy of Genealogy and Family History aka
AGFH (an esteemed organization that all genea-historian
bloggers who participate in this next edition of the COG will
become founding members of) to honor their best blog posts
of 2007* in the following 5 categories:

Best Picture - Best old family photo that appeared on
your blog in 2007. Tell us which you liked best and why.

Best Screen Play - Which family story that you shared in
2007 would make the best movie? Who would you cast as
your family members?

Best Documentary - Which was the best informational
article you wrote about a place, thing, or event involving
your family's history in 2007?

Best Biography - Which was the best biographical article
you wrote in 2007?

Best Comedy - Which was the best funny story, poem, joke,
photo, or video that you shared on your blog in 2007?

*We're going to define "2007" to include any posts written
in 2007 as well as those written Jan. 1-Feb. 15, 2008 as
well (so that new bloggers can participate).”

So bring out your best and share them with us!

Even better news: footnoteMaven, who suggested the dinner
with ancestors topic for this latest CoG, has been absent from
the genealogy blogging scene for the past few weeks is
recovering, and was able to write a new post on her blog.

Welcome back, ftm! Keep getting better!

AFLOAT IN GENEALOGY

Hmm. I almost forgot to enter a float myself!

Of course mine would be entitled “West in New England”
and the sides of the float would be painted to make it look like
one of the log jams I’d see on the Androscoggin River when
we visited up home. My grandfather Floyd E. West Sr. and
his father Philip Jonathan West worked around the lumber
business in their lives.

There’d be a large map of Massachusetts and Northern New
England (so far there is no evidence of any connection to
Connecticut or Rhode Island.) with three ships touching the
shore: The Mayflower at Plymouth, another 17th century
sailing ship to the north of Boston to represent my Essex
County ancestors of the Great Migration, and a 19th century
steamer between at Boston to represent my Irish McFarlands
and Whites and German Offlinchers.

My West ancestors would stand in a line down the center of
the float with the Elusive John Cutter West shrouded in a
cloud of steam(no smoking!!) since nothing is known of the
family before him, and off to either side would stand members
of the other branches of the family: Abbott, Ames, Barker,
Benson, Barrows, Coburn, Dunham, Edson, Ellingwood,
Griffith, Haskell, Hastings, Houghton, Laughton, Packard,
Richardson, Upton, and the others.

When the line reached my father, he would be joined by my
mother. Behind her would stand the assembled McFarlands
Whites and Offlinchers.

And at the front of the float would be my sister and my
brother in law’s family as well as my brother’s.

There’d be small model buildings as well to represent what
sort of work they’d done in life: a sawmill, a smithy, and a
farmhouse for my New England lines and a small elevated
railway train model to since John McFarland helped in
the construction.

And from a speaker in the back, there will issue the strains
of “Hot Cross Buns.”

As played on a flutaphone.

HMMMM......

61%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

BEFORE THE PARADE PASSES BY

Just a quick reminder that the float entries for the
Genealogists' Parade should be entered by
midnight tonight, Feb.3.

Who am I kidding? It's Superbowl Sunday. If you
get an entry in after midnight I'll take it.

But please, if you have already posted about it, send me
the link. I've gotten the ones from the blogs I subscribe to
but I've had some new folks enter a float as well and I wouldn't
want to leave anyone out by mistake!

ANNIVERSARIES

Yesterday, January 31st, was the wedding anniversary date
for two couples among my ancestors.

The first couple are Nathaniel Barker and Huldah Hastings.
They were the children of Revolutionary War veterans
Jonathan Barker and Amos Hastings and are my 3x great
grandparents. They were married 189 years ago on 31 Jan
1819.

The second couple are Jonathan Phelps West and Louisa
Almata Richardson, my 2x great grandparents who were
married on 31 Jan 1865. I’ve written a bit about them before
on my post on Jonathan’s first wife Orpha and the diphtheria
outbreak of 1861-2. I have some pictures of them but they
are in a book and I’m not sure if posting them here would be
a copyright violation so I prefer to err on the side of caution
and not post them. I think I admire them most out of my
West ancestors since they kept the family going after a
horrendous event when many other families ended.

THE THIRD CARNIVAL OF IRISH GENEALOGY IS OUT!

The Third Carnival of Irish Genealogy is out and I spent some
time reading it at Lisa’s Small-Leaved Shamrock as I had my
toast and coffee It’s the first time I’ve contributed to it
and I hope I’ll have more for it in the future especially if I
make some progress in tracing my Irish roots.

It’s also been a good morning of reading great posts from my
fellow genealogy bloggers on the “dinner with four ancestors”
topic for Jasia’s next CoG and on floats for the forthcoming
Genealogists’ Parade. You all not only are fun to read but you
also display a lot of creativity! I’m especially impressed by all
the mentions of flutaphones. It seems we all got in touch with
our inner flutaphonist.


Or is that flautaphonist?


Two corrections on the 49 Genealogy Uses for a Flutaphone list:

Schelly’s float has broccoli sprouts, not cauliflower heads,
sitting in flutaphone holders. Sorry, Schelly!

And I forgot that #29 was using a flutaphone as the parade
baton. So that is now #34:

#33 Genealogy CD holder. Crazy glue a flutaphone firmly to
the top of your computer desk (vertically so the mouth piece
is at the top). The open center of your genealogy CDs should
fit over the mouthpiece with some room to spare). -Janice

#34 - Baton- What could be more appropriate to use when
you're leading the Genealogist’s Parade?

I’ve gotten great entries into the Parade, but if you haven’t
sent yours in yet, you still have until midnight Feb 3rd to
submit one!

GENEALOGY BRUNCH...WITH FLUTAPHONES

Today is the 280th anniversary of my 6x great grandparents
Jonathan Barker and Mary Abbott. Mary is from a different
line than the rest of my Abbott relatives, being the daughter
of Joseph Abbott and Sarah Devereaux and granddaughter of
Thomas Abbott of Marblehead.


I’ll have much more to say about Jonathan at a later date,
thanks to the information I’ve received first from N. and then
from H. (They’ll just be initials here until and unless I get
their permission to use their full names.) At one time I knew
less about my Barker line than any others on my Dad’s side
of the family and now thanks to what I’ve learned I know
more about them than any of my ancestors except the
Abbotts and Ellingwoods. In fact today I received in the mail
a cd from H. with even more Barker history. It’s going to take
a few days to digest all this!


I’ve been on vacation this week and I hate cold weather so
I’ve had time to spend on printing and organizing family
sheets, do some digging online and redo the labels here on
the blog.


And since Janice asked a few days ago where we were on the
49 Genealogy Uses for a Flutaphone, I present:

#28 Measuring Instrument
“... as a measuring instrument in genealogy cemetery
searches during the summer: Just how long was that snake
among the headstones? How many flutaphones long?” -Terry

#29 Decoration- as a holder for broccoli sprouts on
Schelly’s float in the Genealogists Parade.

#30 Prybar- To help remove your backside from the chair
you’ve been sitting in for hours as you stare at the screen of
the computer tracking an elusive ancestor.


#31 Physical therapy- When your hands and wrists begin to
ache from hours of typing, do the following exercise: hold the
flutaphone with both hands at either end and extend your
arms straight out, hands palm side down and flex your wrists
downward. after three repetitions, turn your hands palms
side up and still grasping the flutaphone, flex your wrists
back towards your chest. Repeat three times Then still
grasping the flutaphone bend your arms up and down over
head and then thrust them out and in vigorously in front of
your chest. (WARNING:DO NOT DO THIS WHILE SITTING
WITHIN ARMS’ LENGTH OF YOUR COMPUTER
MONITOR!!) Not only is this therapeutic but it is good
practice for...

#32 Stage Prop -in a “Syncopated Genealogist” dance
routine for Talent Night on your next genealogy cruise.
Combine the moves from the physical therapy exercise with a
nifty soft shoe dance!(see Janice, our Music Director for more
details.)

Man, 17 more to go.

Sigh.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARVILLA!

I have some ancestors' birthdays and anniversaries coming
up over the next few days, starting with today, which is the
198th birthday of my 3x great grandmother Arvilla Ames
West.

Arvilla was born in 1810 in Oxford County, Me. and died
25 Apr 1907 in Hermon, Oxford, Me. and was 97 year old
when she passed. In her life, she lived through some
very interesting times:Maine becoming a state, the
Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the diptheria
epeidemic that claimed children and grandchildren,
the Industrial Revolution, and the Spanish-American War
to name just the ones I can think of as I type this, plus the
unions of the West family with the Richardson and
Ellingwood in my line and other s through the marriages of
her other children and grandchildren. That's why she was
one of my choices for the "dinner with four ancestors"
post for the CoG.

Boy, I wish I knew if she'd kept a journal or wrote letters.
Can you imagine what a treasure trove of family history
and genealogy information that would be?

ANOTHER PARADE ENTRY

Okay, for some reason Elizabeth's addy for her entry in the
Genealogist's Parade has been chopped up a bit in my
comments section.

So here's the link . Go read and grin and enjoy!


UPDATE-Another reason to check it out. Look at the
comments to Elizabeth's post to see how an Apple a day
keeps the aliens away and another example of why genealogy
blogging is fun.

A BIT OF IRELAND IN NEW ENGLAND

You’ve probably noticed that wild skirling Irish music that the
networks play during the opening videos of the Patriots’
football games. It’s the same song Red Sox pitcher Jonathan
Papelbon did his famous jig to after victories in the AL
playoffs and World Series: “Shipping Up to Boston” by the
local Irish punk band the Dropkick Murphys. To me, the song
represents how much the Irish culture has blended into the
fabric of New England and especially Massachusetts.

The lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie, the quintessential
American folksinger, in the stlye of a Yankee sea chantey.


A few facts here from the U.S. Census Bureau. A press release
dated March 10th ,2006 in observance of St. Patrick’s Day
included the following facts:

24%
Percentage of Massachusetts residents of Irish ancestry —
about double the national percentage. (The estimate of
people of Irish ancestry excludes people living in group
quarters.) (Source: American FactFinder)

348,978
Number of Middlesex County, Mass., residents who are of
Irish ancestry. Among the 54 counties where Irish is the
largest observed ancestry group, Middlesex had the highest
population of Irish-Americans, with Norfolk County, Mass.,
second, with 203,285. (Source: unpublished data)

31%
Percentage of the population of Plymouth County, Mass.,
and Norfolk County, Mass., that is of Irish ancestry. Among
the 54 counties where Irish is the largest observed ancestry
group, these two counties had the highest rate.
(Source: unpublished data)


The store I work in is in Norfolk County. Not a day goes by
where I don’t hear at least three customers speak to me with
an Irish accent. Celtic music is the leading category of world
music cds that we sell. The New England Irish Cultural Center
is a few miles away in Canton, Ma.


I live in Plymouth County in the town of Abington where 33%
of the residents claim Irish ancestry. The town government
reflects that with18 out of the 53 elected officials having Irish
names and many more serving on boards and commissions.
John L. Sullivan of bareknuckle boxing fame retired to a farm
in West Abington where he ended his days and the St.
Brigitte’s Catholic church is one of the oldest on the South
Shore. The high school sports teams are known as "The
Green Wave" and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade(one of the
largest in the Boston area) will be on March 16th this year.
I’ve written before a bit about the history of the parade here.



And of course, there’s Boston itself, with the neighborhoods of
SouthBoston, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury
where the Irish immigrants first settled and many of their
descendants still live. There may be other cities with larger
Irish American populations but I doubt that there was as
much impact in those cities as there was and is in Boston. Nor
do I think the transformation was as dramatic anywhere else
than here. New York and Chicago were largely cities of
immigrants of many nationalities. Here there were fewer and
the Irish endured years of anti-Catholicism and “No Irish
Need Apply”. But they persevered and in the 20th century a
sea change began in the politics and culture of all of New
England. I’d like to say that Irish charm won over those
conservative Yankee hearts but it was really the result of
years of hard work and struggle.



In my own case, I have four hundred years of New England
ancestors on my Dad’s side. On my Mom’s side, three of her
four grandparents were Irish immigrants, possibly all from
Roscommon. (Mom’s paternal grandmother was German). So
our family is an example of that melding of two cultures, and
why “Shipping Up to Boston” seems to symbolize that so well.


I’ll probably never go to Ireland. But every day, in the people
I talk with, the music I hear, the towns I live and work in,
Ireland touches me.

ONE YEAR LATER...

So I’m celebrating my blog’s first anniversary by adding some
more genealogy blog links from the latest CoG and revamping
my labels list so it’s alphabetical by last name instead of the
first. As an aside I find myself irritated by not being able to
use the comma, as in “Ames, John”.


So far Janet, Lori, Schelly and Colleen have entered in the
Genealogist’s Parade. I’m going to put a Feb 3 deadline on the
entries and the parade will march on Feb 6, so there’s still
plenty of time before then to get your float into the parade!


It’s been a good day for browsing genealogy blogs. There are
some thoughtful posts from Jasia and Terry on the “Big Bang”
article post by Denise that are well worth a read as are the
comments to each.


And I want to mention the Sandusky History website which is
a service of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.
Sandra Paul of the staff emailed me after they posted an article
about a Marcia Coburn of Southbridge Ma. and I assume a
search for her relations led here because of my posts on my
own Coburn ancestry. While I don’t haveany relation to Marcia
Coburn I found the whole site informative and well done and
recommend it under our “Blog Spotlight” topic.


Alright, back to label editing!

A SMALL FAMILY DINNER

Choosing who to invite to dinner was the hardest part, well,
at least on my father’s side of my family. My mother’s side
was easier:I invited my two great grandfathers John
McFarland and Edward J.White. I wasn’t too sure how
friendly they might be with each other but I needed to speak
with both of them about their families’ histories in Ireland.
Great Grandfather White might also be able to provide me
with information on his wife’s German family as well, so
inviting the two of them was a no-brainer.



Dad’s side had some tempting choices: witches, Minutemen,
Puritans and Pilgrims, even that possible Plantagenet
connection. So many temptations for someone with a love of
history! But in the end I settled on two logical choices: John
Cutter West and his wife Arvilla Ames West. I could find out
who his parents were and perhaps more family history, while
Arvilla had lived for 97 years and would have to know a lot of
anecdotes about the family. Besides, having a woman present
might help keep the two Irishmen on their best behavior
when I broughtup the subject of the end of their children’s
marriage.


Next, the menu.


I don’t cook much myself so I hired a caterer who’d delivered
the food a short while ago. Reasoning that it was best to keep
it simple, I settled on steak, potatoes and various side dishes
of vegetables for the main meal. But there is also a small
buffet table with some dishes that might seem exotic: a
Chinese food pu-pu platter, spaghetti, and other ethnic food.
There is also a Ham and Pineapple pizza. Why? Because I
like any excuse to eat Ham and Pineapple pizza. Also, French
fries. I figured if there was one thing two Irishmen and
two people from Maine would had to have in common, it was
potatoes and they might enjoy a differnt way to eat them.



The beverages are red wine to accompany the meal, coffee,
tea, and beer. If Arvilla is anti-alcohol there are bottles of
lemonade in the refrigerator. No need for her to know it is
hard lemonade. Who knows? She might like it.



With the food all set, there's time before their arrival to run
down the list of things I want to ask them about besides
family history. My ancestors might notice that they have
much in common there, too.What was it like for them to
leave the places they were born to start new lives in a new
place? What had their childhood been like? What was it like
for Edward’s and John’s parents to live through the Great
Potato Famine and for John and Arvilla to live through the
epidemic that had claimed many of their children? What was
life like on a Maine farm and in a bustling city in the 19th
century? What had they thought about the great world
events of their times?



If they could, would they change anything in their lives?



After that, I’ll show them some of the things in my apartment.
The telephone and electricity would be familiar to my Irish
relatives and perhaps explaining the tv and radio might be
easier if they have seen some silent movies. Arvilla might also
have had some experience with them and could help explain
them to her husband.



Then I’ll show them my bookshelves and tell about my job at
the bookstore. I’ll talk about my brother and sister and their
families and answer any questions my ancestors might have
on their own children.



I expect the awkward part between my great grandfathers
White and McFarland might occur about then so I plan to
move them along out to the car to drive them over to my
sister’s house to meet Cheryl, Peter, Phil and the kids.


Along the way we’ll stop at the Dairy Queen drive-up window
and I’ll see what astonishes them more: banana splits or girls
in halter-tops and shorts.


Alright. It’s nearly time. I hope that man with the Acme
Temporal Transportation knows where….and when he’s
going.


Ah wait! Here they come now!

((written for the 41st Carnival of Genealogy))

WHERE THEY WERE IN 1808

After Lisa’s meme asking where our ancestors were in 1908,
Donna over at What’s Past is Prologue has taken it a step
further back and asks her fellow genealogy bloggers where
their ancestors were a century earlier in 1808!


Well, on my Mom’s side my brick walls are high. All I can say
with some certainty is that the McFarlands and Whites were
in Ireland and the Offlingers were in Germany.


On my father’s side the veterans of the Revolutionary War
had moved from Essex, Middlesex, and Plymouth counties
mostly to what would eventually become Oxford County in
northwestern Maine.

Jonathan Barker and his wife Nancy Swan were in Newry,
Maine along with at least three of Jonathan’s brothers:
Benjamin, Jesse and Symonds Epes Barker. Jonathan and
Nancy's son Nathaniel Barker would be turning 14 years old
that year.

Moses Coburn, his wife Esther Spaulding and their son
Westley Coburn (Wesley) were also in Newry


Nathaniel Barker’s future bride Hulda Hastings and her
parents Amos Hastings and Elizabeth Wiley were living in
Bethel, Me.


John Ellingwood and Zerviah Abbott and son John
Ellingwood Jr. likewise resided in Bethel.


Amos Upton and son Francis had settled in Norway, Me.
with their wives and families.


Moses Houghton and Martha Haskell had moved from
Western Massachusetts with Martha’s parents Mark Haskell
and Ruth Safford. Moses' father Elisha Houghton remained
behind in the town of Adams in Berkshire Co., Ma. Sally
Houghton was not born yet, but hermarriage would be one of
those that brought the families from northern Massachusetts
together with those from southern Massachusetts.


Philip Peirce Richardson and Lydia Dow were living in Bow,
Hillsboro, Nh where their youngest son was born in August
1808. Middle son Philip Richardson (Jr?) was around 9 years
old. His future wife’s parents John Laughton and Amata
Greenleaf were still teenagers living in Mercer, Me.


John Ames and Lydia Phelps had been in Canton, Oxford
Co., Me. for sometime now and their son Jonathan Phelps
Ames had married Mary “Polly” Griffith the year before.
Polly was the daughter of John Griffith and Mary Boyden
who’d moved to Oxford County from Windham County Vt,
but John was originally from Rochester, Plymouth County,
Ma.


James Dunham and his wife Cynthia Packard were also from
southern Massachusetts and were living in Hebron, Oxford
County, Me. Their son James Thomas Dunham was born
there in 1805 and he would marry Sally Houghton.

Asa Barrows and Content Benson had been among the
early settlers of Oxford County and daughter Rachel
Barrows had been born there in 1795. Her marriage to John
Ellingwood Jr. was the other meeting of my northern and
southern Massachusetts ancestors.


As to my ancestor, the Elusive John Cutter West, he was 6
years old and ….well… somewhere in Plymouth County…

…being elusive.

THE 40Th CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY IS HERE!

This is the 40th Carnival of Genealogy and the topic is living-
relative connections we’ve made through our genealogy
research and there’s 21 posts to peruse. Lucky for me I have
vacation next week so I can go back for a second helping of
each next week!


Along with her usual great job of putting the CoG together,
Jasia (thanks, Jasia!)has issued a call for submission for the
41st Edition:


“The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy
will be: If you could have dinner with four of your ancestors
who would they be and why? Here's a chance to exercise
your imagination... Would you have dinner in the present day
or in one of their eras? Would you dine out or opt for a home
cooked meal? What would you discuss at the dinner table?
What would you most like to share with them about your
life? This topic was suggested by footnoteMaven who I'm
sure you've heard is feeling poorly. Let's cheer her up with
some interesting reading while she's convalescing! The
deadline for submitting articles is February 1st.”

Hmmm…gotta think on that one.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading the Carnival of
Genealogy before, start now! Even better, write an article
and submit it !

BEDTIME GENEALOGY 21

I intended to do a post on the Great Molasses Flood but the
MassMoments website beat me to it and did a much better job
of it than I would have. I will say, though, that I’ve met Stephen
Puleo, the author of the book Dark Tide: The Great Molasses
Flood of 1919. My bookstore hosted one of the first signings for
the book and I highly recommend the book. My mother was
born eight years after the Molasses Flood and lived in a different
district of Boston, but often said that on a hot day you could smell
molasses if you were anywhere near the North End.


Today, January 16th, is the 174th birthday of my great-great
grandfather Jonathan Phelps West who I’ve written about before
in the story of his first marriage to Orpha. I was thinking about
this earlier tonight and realized that Pop, Grandpa West, would
have known his great grandmother Arvilla Ames West, Jonathan
P.’s mother, who lived from 1810 until 1907. I wonder if she ever
told him about her parents and grandparents who were born in
the century before!


Last but not least, congratulations to Randy, Chris, Jasia, Blaine,
Sally, and J.D. for making Kimberly Powell’s “Top Ten Blog List”
and to Terry, Craig, Miriam, Tim, Tim, Denise and Shelly for
being also mentioned by Kimberly as among her favorites. All
of them are terrific writers and if you haven’t read their blogs
yet, follow the links above to catch up with them now!

BLOG SPOTLIGHT

Denise Olsen over at Family Matters has issued a
challenge to genealogy bloggers to write a post
spotlighting local or family history blogs to help
widen the genealogy online community and
broaden our collective knowledge.

Many folks don’t know that along with
The Genealogue, Chris Dunham has several
several other blogs that focus on Maine. The one I
look at most often is The Oxford County Genealogy
Notebook since most of my West family lines come
from that part of Maine and there are excerpts of
diaries and records posted there that are useful to
me. Chris also has the Maine Genealogy site, and
All Things Maine, and is a contributor to
Strange Maine.

And Janice Brown of Cow Hampshire has her
New Hampshire Genealogy & History site with
loads of great links and resources.


Two newer blogs are ones I discovered the other
night on Chris’ Blogfinder: The Maine Genealogical
Society blog and Pennycook: A New England Family
History. Daniel Wing is the owner of Pennycook and
it focuses on the Rumford, Maine area that was
familiar to my family.


I haven’t any new Massachusetts blogs to post
about because the ones I have found haven’t
posted anything for awhile now so I’m nit sure they
are still active. As for on a more local level I’ve yet
to find anything for my area of Plymouth County.
Nor have I seen any blogs on any of my surnames.
(West, Barker, McFarland, White, Coburn, Ames,
Ellingwood, etc.)

But I’m still looking!

49 GENEALOGY USES FOR A FLUTAPHONE ON PARADE!

#29 - Baton- What could be more appropriate to use when you're
leading the Genealogist’s Parade in the immortal musical
“The Genealogy Man?”

Come on, sing it with me:

“76 Laptops lead the big parade
With 110 PDAs close at hand
They were followed by rows and rows
Of folks who wisely know
To keep their gedcoms close at hand!”


So. A challenge to my fellow genealogy bloggers. It’s the
Genealogist’s Parade and you have a float in it. It can
be on anything or anyone in your family tree or it can reflect
your heritage. It can be serious or humorous.


What’s on your float? Post it here or on your blog but let me
know so we can run them here past the Review Stand!

49 GENEALOGY USES FOR A FLUTAPHONE MARCHES ON!

#27 Measuring instrument: To measure the amount of snowfall
when you visit the grave of 3x great uncle Oswald, as in,

"I had difficulty in finding Oswald's headstone as the grave was
buried in snow over two flutaphones deep!"

BEDTIME GENEALOGY 20

So I write a post about Winter and snow and guess what? There’s
a big storm heading this way!

Genealogy wise, it’s been a productive week with email with two
newfound Barker relatives, an exchange with Apple about our
Towne and Barker lines, and the discovery of, I think, my
grandmother Barker’s brother who died in infancy and who is
buried next to their father, Frank W. Barker. The boy’s name
was Earl and one of grandmother Cora’s uncles was named Earl
Blanchard Barker. I’d wondered why my grandfather and father
were named Floyd Earl West but unless Earl Barker knew my
great grandfather I can’t see how he might be the reason for the
Earl part of their names.

I did pretty well with the list of things I needed to get written
here that I posted last Tuesday, getting 5 ½ out of 9 done so far.
That half is because while I was able to email Lisa about the
possible McCue connections we might have, I wasn't able to the
same with Colleen. Colleen, contact me at the email at the top of
the page please and I'll send you what I know about the McCues
in my family as well.

I'll see if I can get some more done from that list before this
coming Tuesday!

WINTER

Winter….ah, talk about how time changes the way you look at
things!

When I was a kid and we were living in the Dorchester section of
Boston, Winter was fun! We lived near the corner of Capen and
Selden Sts. and after a good snowfall most of the neighborhood
kids broke out their sleds to coast down Selden St. Somehow or
another the snowplows never seemed to get many of the streets
down to bare ground right away so we might have a whole
afternoon if school was out to enjoy it.


Another activity that I took part in occasionally was street
hockey. No, not the type they play on playgrounds nowadays
with plastic balls and roller blades. This was played out in the
street with your regular shoes because the street was slippery
enough already for you to “skate” on it. Real wooden hockey
sticks were used as well and either half a “pinky” or “pimple” ball
or a real puck, depending on who might want to risk hitting a
neighbor’s car with a puck. I didn’t play this one often because
the adults in the neighborhood weren’t too thrilled with the idea.


I never learned how to iceskate because it seemed I spent more
time falling down than standing up. My sister Cheryl was better
at it and her daughter Sara even competed on a statewide level in
later years.


Then we moved out of the city to the suburbs in Abington and
Winter and snow became …gulp…work!! It’s amazing how
quickly snow loses it’s charm when you have been shoveling
out the length of the driveway. I was content to go back inside
and read a book afterward!


Adulthood brought on the new challenge of driving to work and
back in snowstorms. The two most memorable instances were in
the Blizzard of `78 and the April Fool’s Day Storm of 1997. I’ll talk
about the Blizzard in a later post to mark the 30th anniversary
next month.


On the night of the April Fool’s storm, I was at work at the Silver
City Galleria Mall in Taunton, Ma. which was about twenty miles
south of South Weymouth where we were living at the time. The
mall decided to close early at around 8pm but by the time we got
the bookstore closed and the cash drawers counted it was 8:30
when I started for home. I drove up an unplowed Rte24 that had
very few other cars on it and then took my usual exit off at the
smaller Rte106 through West Bridgewater, then turned off onto a
shortcut that comes out at Rte 18 in East Bridgewater Square.
When I reached that point I saw that there were no traffic lights.
In fact, there were no lights anywhere.

I turned north on Rte 18 and by now I was driving into the snow
so there wasn’t much to see ahead of me beyond the headlights.
There were no streetlights either so I drove slower and kept as
close to the center of the road as I could since without streetlights
or houselights to either side there was the possibility I could drift
off the road to my right. In fact, the power was off all the way up
18 through the towns of Whitman and Abington. A drive that
normally takes about 15 minutes took nearly an hour.

South Weymouth hadn’t lost electricity so I thought the worst
was over. Then I reached the parking lot of the apartment
building and found that not only had it not been plowed out yet,
the entrance was also blocked from the snow bank left by the
street plows. I wasn’t sure parking out on the street would be a
good idea, so I backed my car (a Pontiac…nothing better than a
good sized car in a snowstorm!) and gunned it forwards. I made
it through the snow bank into the parking lot and off the street
and then the car stopped about 5 feet in.


After a few more tries to move it further in, I did the sensible
thing. I left it there for the night and went inside to warm up.
Next morning when the contractors finally arrived to plow out
the lot I went and shoveled my car out and moved it to my usual
parking place.


I will admit that in my family I’m one of the few who doesn’t like
the Winter season all that much. My folks had a camper trailer
that they kept in a trailer park up at Holderness N.H. and Dad
owned a snowmobile. By that time I was already an adult and
didn’t care to drive up there so I only took a ride once or twice.
My younger brother Phil had much more experience with it
than I did.


But with all that said, I can’t imagine living someplace without the
change of seasons that we have here in New England. After all, it’s
getting through all that cold and snow that makes us appreciate
the coming of Spring so much!

RELATIVELY SPEAKING

When I started this blog my main objectives were to record as
much of our family’s history that I knew and remembered and
to talk about the discoveries I’ve made while researching our
genealogy. There was the hope that by putting that information
on line I might find other relatives from either the West or White
sides of the family.


It’s been nearly a year now(my first posts were on 23 Jan 2007)
and while I’ve yet to hear from or discover any White relations,
I’ve found or been contacted by some very interesting folks on
my Dad’s side including fellow genealogy bloggers. A link on
Boston 1775 led me to Walking the Berkshires and Tim Abbott.
Besides the pleasure of reading his blog, I also discovered in an
exchange of comments with Tim that we’re related through
several of our family lines, some of which Tim detailed on a
comment to my post here. I’ve learned much from Tim’s posts
about the Abbotts and the Barkers at WtB and I’ve had fun
with his family photo caption contests.


I’ve also learned much from Janice Brown at Cow Hampshire,
another Abbott descendant, who among other things set me off
on the quest for The 49 Genealogical Uses of the Flutaphone and
has given me some sound advice and suggestions in my research.


Another connection I discovered is with Chris Dunham of The
Genealogue who is my 6th cousin through my Dunham line and
with whom I’ve traded some images and discussed the tangle of
the different Dunham and Donham lines.


Recently I think I’ve found some connections with Randy Seaver
through his Hildreth line but I haven’t finished running down all
of them as yet.


And as anyone who has read their blogs knows, all four have
great senses of humor!


I mention Tim, Janice and Chris first because they were the first
connections I discovered since starting my blog and surfing those
of others. I’ve also had two significant genealogy finds by
searching on RootsWeb’s WorldConnect sites. The first was at
Larry Overmire’s site which led to my learning that ancestress
Lydia Phelps had been married to Larry’s ancestor Sampson
Read but was a widow when she married my ancestor John
Ames, and that the pedigree I had for Lydia was wrong.
Some pruning of the family tree had to be done.


Another was N.’s site. I sent an email with a question about the
spelling of a surname and the ensuing correspondence led to
more information on the Barkers and Coburn/Colburns in our
family trees.


Some research on my Ellingwood/Ellinwood/Ellenwood lines
brought me to D.Balcro’s website. D. and I are related also
through the Ballard and Stone families.


The two most recent contacts include one from J. about a family
related to my Ames line. I didn’t have much that was of help I’m
afraid but she filled in some information about Sally Ames’ family
for me.


Lastly, I heard recently from H., another Barker relative who has
given me a lot of information about our ancestor Jonathan Barker
and his brothers Jesse and Benjamin. You’ll be seeing that in
upcoming posts I’ll be doing on the Barker Brothers. H. has also
given me the means to contact two other Barker relatives.


Before my blog, I had made a contact with a West descended
relative through Family Forums who shared some files on the
family of Louisa Almata Richardson, Jonathan Phelps West’s wife.
I am ashamed to admit that I can’t recall his name; it and his
email address was on the computer I used at the time which has
long since gone to Computer Heaven and I hadn’t yet added his
name to my printed backup list of email addresses beforehand.
So if that person ever reads this, thank you again and please get
in touch with me again using the comments link so I can share
some of what I’ve found with you!


So far all my contact with these newfound relatives has been
through the email, which I think is the least intrusive. I’ve
learned a lot I hadn’t known before and I am more than glad to
share anything I know in return with them or anyone else,
related or not, because I believe that knowledge should be
shared.


There are some folks who I have alluded to with just an initial
because for privacy issues I won’t give full names unless I have
the person’s permission.


It’ll be a year on January 23rd since I started this blog and given
how many relatives I’ve found met in the first year, I look
forward to meeting many more in the years to come. I may
never become rich or famous through my blog but that wasn't
the reason I started blogging, and the knowledge and contacts
I've gained have made it well worth the effort, relatively
speaking!

UPDATE 1/17: I've just made another connection, this time with
someone who is descended from my Griffith and Boyden lines!

((This post was written for the Carnival of Genealogy. Check it
out for links to other genealogy bloggers and great reading.))

ARVILLA AMES FAMILY BIBLE 2

The image above is of the Deaths page from the Family Records
section of the Arvilla Ames West bible. I’m posting this page

because it’s the most easily readable one of the four records

pages and because it also shows the change of handwriting in

the entries.

So I have these images with important family genealogy

information on them from a family bible. How do I cite this

source?

In her “Evidence: Citation and Analysis for the Family

Historian” (1) , Elizabeth Shown Mills gives some criteria to

establish the credibility of information recorded in a family bible.

Paraphrasing her, they include:

What is the bible’s publication date, and does it match the date

of the first event recorded, or has someone entered events that
occurred before the bible was published?

The bible was published in 1859, and while there are earlier
events recorded, they are the birth dates of the owner, Arvilla

Ames West and her husband, John Cutter West and their

children. This would be logical for a wife to make in

recording her family’s history in a newly aquired bible.

Are the ink and handwriting for entries the same throughout,
which would indicate that they were all entered at the same

time, or are the entries made with different style or quality of

handwriting (which would mean they might have been written

by several writers or by one over the course of their lifetime)?

As the image above shows, entries were made by more than one
person, starting about 1900. Arvilla Ames West was 90 years old
then and the entry for Clarinda B.(ritton)Goodwin’s death in

1900 is in a different hand than the previous entries.

Since I haven’t seen the actual pages I can’t comment on the ink
used on the entries. But I had no doubt as to the authenticity of
the bible to begin with. I wanted to show how it can be proven
to someone else.

So, how to cite the source?
Back to Evidence! The example given is for a Family Bible
with provenance (p65) but while I know it was Arvilla’s
in 1859 and I know who had it before they passed it on to
Aunt Dot, there is still a question on who had it in between
the two. I think it was Arvilla’s eldest daughter, Ann Matilda
West Marston, but I need to confirm that. So, without

provenance, my citation for the above image would be (I think):

Image File “Arvilla Ames West Bible Deaths" scanned

1/10/2008 by William West from a photoimage provided by

Dorothy____ in December 2007 of the Arvilla Ames West

Bible, “The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ” (New York: American Bible Society, 1859) original

owned in 2007 by Dorothy ___. Image has been retouched by

West but he attests that no information has been altered.”

Phew! That’s a mouthful, isn’t it? I left my Aunt’s last name
blank here for reasons of her privacy. And when I have the exact
provenance established I’ll post an update.

Of course, since it’s a bible it would have to be divine provenance!

(1)
Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the
Family Historian , 17th printing (Baltimore: Genealogical

Publishing Company, 2007) p.54

THE ARVILLA AMES WEST BIBLE

One of the items my Aunt Dorothy sent me recently is a set of
photocopied pages from the bible that belonged to Arvilla Ames,
our ancestress and the wife of John Cutter West. It previously
belonged to another of their descendants who gave it to my
Aunt and the images she gave me are of the “Family Record”
section of the book.



The first two images above seem to be the inside front and back
covers of the bible. On the front inner cover is written
“Arvilla Ames West, Upton, Me Oxford Co. 1859”


On the inside back cover, the name Arvilla West is written in
two different styles with the second version being the better of
the pair. The first seems closer to the inscription in the front. Perhaps
someone else wrote the sample on the right for Arvilla to copy in
her own hand on the left?


The third image is of the title page of the bible and gives the
date of publication as 1859, which would confirm the date
given in the inscription.


When I first read the recorded family information I noticed that
it has the same entries as the transcription of another family
bible but there are additional entries to the Births and Deaths
pages for members of the family of the relative who had the bible
before my Aunt. I also noticed that the handwriting seems to be of
two or perhaps as many as four different people and may indicate
when the bible had a new owner.



Next post I’ll discuss how I should cite this.

FLOYD E. WEST SR. AT CAMP DEVENS, SEPT,1918

When journalists talk about the possible “bird flu” epidemic, the
historical event they draw parallels to is the Great Influenza
outbreak of 1918. But by the fall of that year there had not been
any large number of cases since the spring.


Then on 8 Sept. 1918 the first case was reported at Camp Devens
in Ayer, Massachusetts. By the end of the month there were
14,000 cases of the illness and over 700 deaths attributed to it.
Camp Devens was placed under quarantine but the whole state
of Massachusetts was already swept by the disease as the
figures on this site shows.



Camp Devens’ hospital surely was not meant to deal with such a
catastrophic event and the accounts I’ve read while horrific must
pale in comparison to what my grandfather must have seen and
experienced. I wonder what he must have thought as he went
about his duties at the hospital. Growing up he must have heard
about the diptheria outbreak that had caused the deaths of six
relatives forty years before. Now he was in the midst of
something much worse where hundreds could die in a single night.
Did he wonder when he himself might begin to show symptoms
and end up a patient himself?


And yet he survived and was given a furlough at the end of
November. From what I’ve read, the epidemic began and
expanded quickly but subsided within a month and a half. By the
end of October it was over for the most part and by November
the authorities must have felt it was safe enough to allow Private
West a furlough to visit home in early December.


I can’t imagine they would have allowed it if he’d been stricken
with the pneumonia during the height of the epidemic, so my
guess is that he came down with it sometime after he returned to
Camp Devens. The Army doctors must have felt the damage to his
lungs was sufficient to keep him from his duty as a hospital
orderly and so my grandfather was given an honorable discharge
on 12Mar 1919.

Some soldiers in World War I saw hell on a battlefield.

Others, such as my grandfather, saw another sort of hell in
hospital wards full of comrades racked with the Spanish Influenza.

I used a variety of sources researching this post. One of them is
“Fever of War: The Influenza Epidemic in the U.S. Army During
World War I” by Carol R. Byerly, (NYU Press, 2005) which you
can preview at GoogleBooks.

WHERE THEY WERE IN 1908

I think it was Lisa who threw out the question to other
genealogy bloggers as to where their ancestors were 100 years
ago.

So, here’s my list as it now stands to the best of my knowledge:

In 1908 my mother’s future parents would each have been 9
years old.

Aggie McFarland no doubt was living at 950 Parker St with her
parents John and Anna (Kelly)McFarland. Edward F. White was
living with his parents Edward J. White and Pauline Offlincher,
possibly still at 33 Ridge St which the 1905 Boston Street
Directory gives as Edward J.’s residence. As to the whereabouts
of their grandparents I do not as yet know or if they were even
alive back in Ireland.


According to Aunt Dot, the Wests were living in Upton, Oxford,
Me. That would have included my 15 year old grandfather Floyd
Earl West Sr., his 13 year old brother Clarence Philip West, their
father, 40 year old Philip Jonathan West, their stepmother, 30
year old Alphonsene Turgeon, their grandfather, 74 year old
Jonathan Phelps West and 71 year old grandmother Louisa
Almata Richardson West.

Great-grandmother Arvilla Ames West had passed away at the
age of 97 the year before while staying with one of her
daughters in Hebron, Oxford, Me.


And my future grandmother Cora Berthella Barker was 9 years
old and probably still living at Vernon St in Bethel, Oxford. Me.
with her father Frank W. Barker and mother Charlott Lovenia
Barker, 43 and 28 years old respectively.


There. One down on my list from last night!

BEDTIME GENEALOGY 19

Things I need to write:

A post about Grandpa West stationed at Camp Devens during
the Spanish Influenza Outbreak DONE

A post about the family bible images Aunt Dorothy sent me.
DONE
A post on where my ancestors were in 1908. DONE

A post on my memories of Winter. DONE

A post for the next CoG on contacts with hitherto unknown
relatives resulting from my genealogy research. DONE

Multiple posts of transcriptions of the Revolutionary War
pension files that I haven’t done as yet, especially those of the
three Barker brothers.

Posts about my McFarland and White relatives.

Letters to Lisa and Colleen about a possible McCue connection.
HALF DONE(emailed Lisa)

More flutaphone genealogy uses.DONE

I know there’s more. Just can’t think of them this late at night
just before bedtime.

And to think I was worried I’d run out of things to blog about!

THE 39th CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY IS OUT!

The 39th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is out and once
again Jasia has a collection of great genealogy blog reading. This
edition dealt with the New Year’s resolutions of genealogists and
includes my own earlier post on the subject. Usually there are
some posts I’ve already read but there are also usually some new
ones from blogs that I end up adding to my links list, and this
time is no exception. All in all, 22 participants and all good
reading!


Ironically, the call for submissions for the 40th edition concerns:
“…Living-relative connections made during your research
processes and/or blog. Who found you or how did you find
them? Were they helpful or did they send you on a wild goose
chase for further information? How much and what kind of
information did they share with you? What did you share with
them? What kinds of contacts have you had... in person, via
phone, online chat, email, snail mail, web casts? (If you're not
comfortable using their real names you might want to consider
using pseudonyms.)”


I say ironically because the same night the CoG came out I
received an email from another descendant of my ancestor
Jonathan Barker who gave me information on how to contact
two other Barker cousins. And later the same night, I emailed
someone who shares my ancestors John Cutter West and Arvilla
Ames concerning the family tree. While I haven't heard anything
back from the latter as yet, the exchange with my Barker
relative has been interesting and fun!


So that CoG topic is timely indeed!

THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS...

I’ve been reading some of the other genealogy blogger’s picks for
their favorite things they’ve posted this year so I thought I’d
mention mine.


The first is something I didn’t even write. That would be my
Aunt Dot’s Memories that I posted back in August. My Dad
never talked with us much about his childhood so getting this
memoir from my Aunt is easily my favorite thing on my blog
this past year.


From my own stuff, I enjoyed writing the posts on Orpha
Reynolds and on my maternal grandmother, Agnes “Aggie”
McFarland. I also enjoyed researching the Ames Murder
although I don’t think I did a very good job writing it up.

The one thing I can say with surety is that I can do better and
I have plenty of good examples to follow among other genealogy
bloggers to follow!

MY GREATEST GENEALOGY FIND EVER...SO FAR

Craig Manson over at Geneablogie has posted about his greatest
genealogy find ever and asked other genealogy bloggers what
theirs might be.


Without a doubt, it would have to be the genealogy research my
Aunt Dorothy sent to us years ago. Without that work that she
and her daughters Diana and Louise had already done I would
have been starting from scratch. They did it the old fashioned
way, driving from Ohio to New England to visit the family
uphome and making stops to find records at various towns.


But in the strictest sense of Craig’s question, then the greatest
find I’ve ever made so far are the Revolutionary War Pension
files I found over at Footnote.com of seven direct ancestors and
three siblings of ancestors. I knew one, John Ames, was a
veteran and by checking the names of other ancestors who lived
in the same period I was able to find the others. It’s been a
cornucopia of information about their lives and made those
names come alive for me.


You’ll notice that I italicized “so far” in the above paragraph.

That’s because I like to think the my greatest genealogy find ever
is going to be found and will break down the John Cutter West
brick wall!

MOSES B. COBURN

So a new January and a New Year has begun.


I checked to see if there were any New Year’s Day babies in the
family tree and found several, but the one that caught my eye
was Moses Coburn(Colburn, Colborn, Colbourne, etc.) who was
born 1 Jan 1702 in Dracut, Middlesex County, Ma. I wrote before
about his son Moses who emigrated to New Brunswick with other
New Englanders after the French and Indian Wars. His grandson
Moses was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and I’ll be blogging
a transcription of his Pension Request File sometime this year.


I hadn’t googled the name and variations on Coburn for a bit and
when I did it last night I came up with yet another Moses
Coburn, this one Moses B. (Bradstreet) Coburn, a Revolutionary
War veteran and probably a first or second cousin to my Moses
…er…Moseses…Mosi…er…my ancestors.


I found a letter describing the sad condition of his final resting
place, one which is all too common now in many cases. Even
sadder is the inexplicable fact that the newspaper the letter was
sent to, the Lowell Sun, chose not to publish it.


Moses B. Coburn’s grave lies in an forgotten cemetery in Lowell,
Claypit Cemetery in Lowell, Ma. You can find Rebecca Duda’s
letter about Moses B. Coburn and more information about
Claypit Cemetery, Dracut, and Lowell at this page. It's part of
an educational website, PrimarySearch, and the whole site is
well worth your attention.

How many other of our veteran and other ancestors now lie in
unknown graves here in our country? It’s shameful.

They should not be forgotten.