THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD

 Today is the 246th Anniversary of the Battles of Lexington & Concord which
started the American Revolution on 19Apr 1775.

These are our colonial ancestors from our Dad's family lines for whom I have
so far been able to discover records that they took part in those battles and served in the
Revolution:



Jonathan Barker Jr. My 5x great grandfather
Was a Minuteman from Methuen Ma with rank of Sergeant.
He responded to Lexington and Concord with his sons
Served in Captain Samuel Johnson's Company in
Colonel Titcomb's Regiment for 2 months in 1777 in Rhode
Island and then with Nathaniel Gage's Company in Colonel
Jacob Gerrish's guards from Dec 1777 to l Apr 1778 guarding
the captured troops of General Burgoyne.


Jonathan Barker 3rd  My 4x great grandfather
Enlisted on 19 Apr 1775 in Continental Army, Capt. John
Davis' Company, Col. James Frye's Regiment, in the
Massachusetts line for 8 months in Cambridge, Ma. At the
conclusion of the term, he reenlisted for another 3 months in
Capt John Allen's Company, Colonel John Waldron's Regiment,
General Sullivan's Brigade in the New Hampshire Brigade at
Charlestown, Ma. He then enlisted a third time in June 1778
at Methuen, Ma., joining Captain Samuel Carr's Company, Col.
James Weston's Regiment, in General Lerned's Brigade at
White Plains, N.Y. and serving for another 9 months.

John Ames   My 5x great grandfather
Was a Minuteman under Capt. Asa Parker on April 19th,
1775. He then enlisted in the Continental Army under Captain
Oliver Parker, Col. William Prescott's Regiment and
in the Brigade that was commanded in turn by Generals
Putnam, Lee, and Washington and served for 8 1/2 months.

 

Asa Barrows    My 4x great grandfather
A member of the militia from Middleborough , Ma. (south of
Boston) in the Company of Captain Joshua Benson, in Colonel
Cotton's Regiment, and General William Heath's Brigade for
8 months during the siege of Boston. In December 1776 he
joined a militia Company commanded by Captain Joshua
Perkins and marched to Barrington, R.I. and was stationed
there for 6 weeks. In July 1780 he again enlisted, this time
in a militia company commanded by Captain Perez Churchill
that marched to Tiverton, R.I. .

Moses Coburn  My 4x great grandfather
Moses Coburn got into the War late and by reason of being
"hired by a certain class of men in the then town of Dunstable
to go into the Continental Army in the summer of 1781."
When he reached Phillipsburgh in New York he was placed in
Captain Benjamin Pike's Company, in the Regiment of the
Massachusetts line commanded by Lt. Colonel Calvin Smith in
which he served for nearly two years until it was broken up.
He then transferred to the Company of Judah Alden in the
Regiment commanded by Colonel Sprouts until his discharge
in 1783.

Samuel Haskell   My 5x great grandfather
Samuel served in Captain Joseph Elliott's Company in Colonel
William Turner's Regiment and then under Captain Hezekiah
Whitney in Colonel Josiah Whitney's Regiment.


Amos Hastings   My 5x great grandfather
Amos  responded to the Lexington Alarm as part of
Captain Richard Ayer's Company and Colonel William
Johnson's Regiment. He later served in Captain Timothy
Eaton's Company in Colonel Edward Wigglesworth's Regiment
and was at the taking of the British General Burgoyne at
Ticonderoga.

Elisha Houghton   5x great grandfather
Enlisted at Harvard Ma as a Private in May of 1777 in the
Massachusetts militia and was at the Battles of Bunker Hill
and Stillwater. He then enlisted for three years in the infantry
company commanded by Captain Joshua Brown in Colonel
Timothy Bigelow's 15th Regiment of the Massachusetts line.
and took part in the Battles of Monmouth and Newport and
was at Valley Forge. He twice was promoted to Sergeant and
twice was busted back down to the ranks.

Amos Upton    My 5x great grandfather
Responded to the Lexington Alarm and marched there from
his home in Reading. He later joined the militia company
commanded by Captain Asa Prince as an orderly sergeant
and then enlisted for eight months in the Continental Army
under Colonel Mansfield. He was at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
He was discharged in October of 1775.

John Griffith  My 5x great grandfather
Enlisted in 1781 as a Matross (he swabbed out the barrel of
the cannons after they fired, or so I've been told) in Captain
William Treadwell's Company in Colonel John Crane's
Artillery Regiment.


Reuben Packard   My 5x great grandfather
A Sergeant in Captain Josiah Hayden's Company in Colonel
Bailey's militia. They marched to Lexington at news of the
Alarm. He also responded several more times as a Minuteman
for a total of nearly 8 months duty.


Jonathan Abbott   My 5x great grandfather
Served as a Sergeant in the Militia under Captain Henry
Abbott and responded to the Lexington Alarm


Samuel Stowe  My 5x great grandfather
Minuteman from Sherborn, Ma. Served in Capt. Benjamin Bullard's
Company in Col. Asa Whitcomb's 5th Massachusetts Bay
Provincial Regiment.


Besides those direct ancestors, these other relatives fought
in the Revolution:

Moses Barrows, brother to Asa Barrows.

Samuel, Jesse, and Benjamin Barker, sons of Jonathan
Barker, Jr. and brothers to Jonathan Barker 3rd.

James Swan, brother in law to Jonathan Barker.

52 ANCESTORS 3: PAUL WEST OF LIVERPOOL, NOVA SCOTIA

I know very little about Paul West. What little information I do have is from a NEHGS publication,  The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Any other documents out there are behind paywalls  which I don't have the money to get past right now,

My 4x great grandfather Paul West was born on 28Jan 1765, in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada. He married Hannah Crowell on 15Dec, 1791 . I don't know where the marriage took place yet but since both families originally came from the Cape Cod region of Massachusetts it's a good  possibility it happened there. They were married 33 years and had 10 children, all but one of whom was born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia:

Robert was born on 18Oct, 1792,
Abner was born on 22Aug, 1794
Mary was born on 17Feb, 1797
Malinda was born on 12Jun, 1799
John Cutter was born on 8Oct,1802 in Plymouth, Ma.
Isabella was born on 16Dec, 1803
Samuel was born on 17Sept, 1806,
Thomas Hatch was born on 3Apr, 1811
Edward was born on 3Apr, 1814
Joseph was born on 9May, 1816

I have yet to find a record of Paul West's death.

That one child born in Plymouth, Ma. is my 3x great grandfather John Cutter West.

THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS: OTHER PARTICIPANTS

 (( This week is the 329th anniversary of the start of the Salem Witch Trials.I made several lists of relatives involved in the trials and am reposting them  to mark that anniversary))

This is the last of my "witch lists" of ancestors and relatives who had some connection to the witch trials: I made the lists with the help of  In The Shadow of Salem: he Andover Witch Hunt of 1692 by Richard Hite and by using Custom Tags I created on my Ancestry.com  tree using the MyTreeTags app:

CONSTABLE

Joseph Herrick-8x great grandfather


JUROR

Henry Herrick-9x great grandfather


VICTIMS (supposedly killed by witchcraft)

Ralph Farnum Sr-9x great grandfather

Elizabeth Phelps-8x great grandaunt

A few thoughts:
The lists are a work in progress. As I add  more siblings and extend consanguineous lines I suspect I will find more relatives involved with the witch trials.

As it is, I am struck by how many of my ancestors were involved. I knew about a few of them already, especially Rebecca (Blake) Ames/Eames and Mary (Towne) Easty/Esty who were my direct ancestors. But there were other things that came as a surprise, such as the death of Ralph Farnum Sr. supposedly being  a result of witchcraft. I also was unaware of my connection to Martha (Allen)Carrier.

As I find other connections, I will be blogging about them here.

THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS: THE OPPOSERS

 

(( This week is the 329th anniversary of the start of the Salem Witch Trials.I made several lists of relatives involved in the trials and am reposting them  to mark that anniversary))

Here's the list I've made of my ancestors and relatives from Andover, Ma who opposed the witch trials by signing petitions  There are some who earlier had made accusations of witchcraft against others,

I made this list using Ancestry.com's MyTreeTag function

Thomas Chandler Sr.-9x great grandfather
Thomas Chandler Jr-8x great granduncle
John Chandler-8x great granduncle
William Chandler-10x great granduncle
Francis Dane Sr.-9x great grandfather
Francis Dane Jr-8x great grandfather
Nathaniel Dane-8x great granduncle
Phebe Dane-8x great grandaunt
Oliver Holt-7x great granduncle
Mary Holt-8x great grandaunt
Joseph Herrick-8x great granduncle
Thomas Johnson- Mary Holt's husband
George Abbott-9x great granduncle
John Abbott-8x great grandfather
William Abbott-9x great granduncle
Ephraim Stevens-8x great grandfather
Joseph Stevens-9x great granduncle
Benjamin Stevens-9x great granduncle
Hannah (Poor)Dane-8x great grandmother
Henry Ingalls Sr.-7x great grandfather
Henry IngallsJr.-6x great grandfather
John Ingalls-7x great granduncle
Samuel Ingalls-7x great granduncle
John Barker-7x great granduncle
Ebenezer Barker-7x great granduncle
Samuel Endecott--8x great grandfather
Christopher Osgood-Hannah Barker's husband
Nathaniel Felton-9x great grandfather
Joseph Robinson-married to Mehitabel Ames.

THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS: THE ACCUSERS

 (( This week is the 329th anniversary of the start of the Salem Witch Trials.I made several lists of relatives involved in the trials and am reposting them  to mark that anniversary))

 

Here's the list of my ancestors or relatives who were witnesses/accusers in the Salem witch trial. I made this using the MyTreeTags on my family tree at  Ancestry.com. Some of them would later sign petitions to support the prisoners.

Thomas Chandler-9x great grandfather
Hannah (Brewer) Chandler-9x great grandmother

Sarah (Farnum)Abbott-8x great grandmother 
 Benjamin Abbott-8x great grandfather
Jeremiah Swain-9x great grandfather
Ralph Farnum-8x great grandfather
John Farnum-8x great granduncle
Samuel Farnum-8x great granduncle
Joseph Ballard-9x great granduncle
Elizabeth Ballard--9x great grandaunt
Sarah Phelps-7x great grandaunt
Robert Swan-6x great granduncle
John Swan-6x great granduncle
Timothy Swan -6x great granduncle
Hannah (Foster) Ames- 8x great grandaunt
Ephraim Foster-married to Hannah Ames
Allen Toothaker-2nd cousin 7x removed

SALEM WITCH TRIALS:THE ACCUSED

 ((Today 1Mar 2021 is the 329th anniversary of the start of the Salem Witch Trials.I made several lists of relatives involved in the trials and am reposting them  to mark that anniversary))

 

Here's the list I've made of my ancestors and relatives from Andover, Ma who were tried for witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Three of them were executed. I made this list using Ancestry.com's MyTreeTag function

Accused Witches

Mary (Towne) Estey-9x great grandmother- (executed)
Rebecca (Towne)Nurse 9x great grandaunt (executed)
Sarah (Towne)Cloyce 9x great grandaunt
Rebecca (Blake) Ames-9x great grandmother
Sarah (Hooper) Wardwell-widow of 10x great grandfather Adam Hawkes
Samuel Wardwell husband of Sarah (Hooper)Wardwell (executed)
Sarah Hawkes-9x great grandaunt
Abigail (Wheeler)Barker--wife of 8x great granduncle
William Barker Sr-7x great granduncle
William Barker Jr.-1st cousin 8x removed
Mary Barker-1st cousin 8x removed
Daniel Ames-8x great granduncle
Abigail (Dane)Faulkner-9x great aunt
Elizabeth (Dane)Johnson-9x great aunt
Dorothy Faulkner-1st cousin 9x removed
Abigail Faulkner-1st cousin 9x removed
Elizabeth Johnson-1st cousin 9x removed
Stephen Johnson-1st cousin 9x removed
Rose Foster-1st cousin 9x removed
Deliverance  (Hazeltine)-wife of 9th great-uncle
Mary (Allen) Hazeltine-1st cousin 8x removed
Martha (Allen)Carrier 1st cousin 8x removed
Roger Toothaker-Mary Allen's husband
Mercy Wardwell- step 10x great aunt

 

TRAVELS WITH CHERYL 4 PT2 : LIGHTHOUSES OF SALEM, MA.

 The next stop on our February roadtrip was Salem,Ma., another town where several of ancestral families lived in early colonial times. The light houses we were looking for were built long after those families had left the area. Bells and perhaps fires were used back in their day.

Our first stop was at  Derby Wharf Light Station. Unfortunately we couldn't get in to get a close shot, but Cheryl found a small street (near the House of Seven Gables, no less) and we got some photos from a distance.

 

Next was the Winter Island Light, also known as the Fort Pickering Light. We were luckier here, because we were able to get some nice photos from the parking lot.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And with that we headed home. We hope to get out more often now that Winter is almost over and the warm weather is near!

TRAVELS WITH CHERYL 4 : LIGHTHOUSES OF NEWBURYPORT, MA.

 My sister Cheryl and I have a plan to photograph covered bridges and lighthouses as a way to get out and about during these Covid-19 days. We wear our masks and social distance from others, and because of travel restrictions we are limited to just Massachusetts at the moment. But it's a few hours out of her house and my apartment and we enjoy each other's company

We started last fall and so far we've seen more lighthouses than bridges. We took five weeks off because of the weather and the holidays, but last week we rode up to the north of Boston and visited lighthouses in two towns, Newburyport and Salem. Both  towns are places where our ancestors lived.

Newburyport Front Range Lighthouse  was our first stop and here it became evident that winter was going to make photographing it a bit difficult. When we found a parking lot with a view of it our view was partially blocked by a snow bank.

From a Google search I found out the Front Range light is a bit squat. So maybe we can get back in the warmer weather and get a better view.

 

We'd passed  by a brick building with a square tower attached to it when we'd entered the parking lot. Cheryl thought it looked like a lighthouse, so we took some photos.

 

 When we got home Cheryl looked it up online and discovered it was indeed the Newburyport Rear Range Lighthouse. It's maintained by the Lighthouse Preservation Society, and you can make reservations to dine at the top of the lighthouse. You can find out about that at the Society's website.

Next, we moved on to Salem.

 

JONAS PRESCOTT & MARY LOKER

((This was first posted on 7Jul 2008. It's a nice story with probably a
little truth to it, but true or not it makes a good Valentine's Day story)).


I mentioned in my previous post about John Prescott that
there is a romantic (and probably romanticized) story about
his son Jonas Prescott's courtship of Mary Loker. I've found it
recounted in several different books on Google Books, and
while I'm not entirely sure it's true, it does make for another
interesting family tale.

The story is that Jonas and Mary fell in love but her parents
John Loker and Mary Draper had other plans for their
daughter. They wanted her to marry a lawyer, a man of
prospects, not the son of a blacksmith who was following his
father in the family trade and they forbade Mary from any
more contact with Jonas. One version told by Caleb Butler in
"The History of the Town of Groton" says the Lokers even
went so far as to install gratings on the windows of her room
and would lock her inside if Jonas was nearby. But even this
drastic measure didn't stand in the way of love:

"He (Jonas) took opportunities when the cold wind blew
and the pelting storm raged when no listener could overhear
the soft whispering of true lovers to place himself beneath
her grated window and there enjoy sweet communion
with his dearly beloved ."

But eventually Mary's parents found out about this trickery.
Perhaps Jonas' idea of a whisper in a storm was a bit too loud?
At any rate, Mary's parents next decided to send her away to
a secluded village so Jonas could not find her while they looked
for a more suitable prospect for Mary's hand in marriage.
They sent her off to the small frontier town of Chockset which
is now Sterling, Massachusetts.


Jonas searched for Mary until one day while traveling near
Chockset he met some men of his own age and asked if they
knew of any pretty girls in the area. They told him there was
a quilting and a dance that night in Chockset and invited him
to come along.

You can see where this is going, I bet!

Jonas found Mary Loker and they continued to meet in secret
for some time until her parents once more found them out.
Mary's stubborn insistence that she would never marry any
man but Jonas Prescott at last forced her parents to give in,
although they did so with the angry condition that they would
provide no dowry for the bride. Legend says that the young
couple set up their household with so few essentials that
Mary used a large hollowed out pumpkin shell for a washpot!

I'm a bit skeptical about that pumpkin part but I think the
opposition of the Lokers to Jonas Prescott pressing his suit for
their daughter might have some truth to it. After all, although
Jonas' father John was well off, he was not exactly in the good
graces of the Puritan government, and the Lokers might have
had their hearts set on young Mary marrying someone who
could eventually rise to a position of power. Ironically, the
Prescotts eventually became one of Massachusetts' most
distinguished families.

I am descended from Elizabeth Prescott b 23Jan 1676,
d. 18Mar 1744.

She married Eleazer Green about 1694 or 1695. Their daughter
Elizabeth married John Ames(Eames), and their descendant
Arvilla Ames married my ancestor John Cutter West

THE BLIZZARD OF `78

 

It's the 42nd anniversary of the Blizzard of `78. I was house sitting in Abington for my sister and brother in law who were on a trip in Maine at the time. The Blizzard started in NY on Feb 5 but didn't hit this part of Mass. until midmorning on the the 6th. I was a garment worker at Collegetown in Avon at the time and they sent us home around noon, I think. My usual route home was a straight shot down Rte 139 east through Holbrook and it usually took about 15-30 minutes depending on the traffic. But on that day it was backed up from the hill at Holbrook Square. The road was already slippery and cars were having trouble getting traction. I was driving a Chevy pickup back then which my Dad had advised me to fill the truck bed with sand. So when I got to the hill I moved slowly and there was enough weight in the truck to give me traction. I passed several cars who were stuck. Still, the ride back to the house took over an hour in the driving snow.

 

That's the most vivid memory I have of the whole thing. I remember there was no electricity for a day or so but the house had a fireplace and I cooked hot dogs there. I walked to the convenience store in North Abington Center and bought some milk and junk food. When the power came back on I ate dinner one night with my brother in law's Mom who lived next door and shoveled her car out for her. Most of the rest of the next few days have faded in my memory. My sister and brother in law came home and I went home to Marshfield. 

 

Oddly enough, my memory of the April Fool's Day Blizzard of 1997 is mostly about driving home from work in Taunton in that storm.

ONCE MORE INTO THE GENE POOL

 Ancestry.com is out with new Ethnicity Estimates and once again mine shows changes. 

 

This time the pie chart shows three larger segments and two smaller. They break down like this:

 

 

 

 

At one point I had four smaller segments but the ones for Spain and Norway have vanished.  I admit that  only two percent for Germanic Europe puzzles me since my Mom had German grandparents. But The large segments for English, Scots and Irish ancestry jives with the paper trail for my family history.
What's new is the additional classifications of my New England settler ancestors:

 

 

 

Again, the locales match up with what I know about my family and the documents I have found over the years.

While the Ethnicity Estimates are always interesting, I don't take them as the final word and view them as a helpful tool

52 ANCESTORS 2: THOMAS WEST OF KINGSTON, MA. AND LIVERPOOL, NOVA SCOTIA

There's two generations of the West family that I don't know much about. This is due to they were residents of Canada for all or part of their lives, so access to things like probate records are behind paywalls which is a problem for me. But I will keep looking and share whatever I can find here.

My 5x great grandfather Thomas West was born on 29Mar,1726, in Kingston, Ma. His mother Mary (Bearce) West died two years later, so Thomas was raised for most of his childhood by his father Elisha's second wife Martha (Ransom) West. Then when Elisha died in 1739, Thomas and his brothers became the wards of their legal guardian, James Bearce.   

The next record is of Thomas' marriage to Sarah Hamilton in Chatham, Ma.,  on 21Nov, 1754. They had six children together, the first three of whom who born in Chatham:
Bethia was born on 28Jan, 1756,
Thomas was born on 6Jul, 1757
Sarah was born on 22Sept, 1760

Sometime between 1760 and 1762  Thomas and his family moved to the town of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada, where three more children, all boys, were born:
Peter was born on 15Sept, 1762
Paul was born on 28Jan, 1765
Abner was born on 5Mar, 1768

Thomas died there in Liverpool on 16Feb 1804.

I don't know exactly why Thomas moved to Nova Scotia. It was well before the American Revoution, so he wasn't a displaced Loyalist. He may have been one of those New Englanders who took advantage of land made available to English speaking settlers during the French & Indian Wars.
I've been trying to locate a probate file for him but no luck as of yet.

14TH BLOGIVERSARY

 As of last Saurday, January 23rd, this blog is 14 years old! There were times last year when I wasn't sure how much longer I would be able to continue, But I did, and here we are. I'm surprised I haven't run out of material to blog about; there's still a bit more and it's more a matter of me having energy that has kept me from blogging more frequently the last year. That's why I used more reposts  than writing more original items. I'm hoping that will change for the better in 2021.

Here's some blog stats as of today:

 2696 posts
283 followers
3284 comments
1,375,741 views (mostly webcrawler apps, I'm sure) viewed posts

 And here's my all time viewed posts: 

The post on Malden where I lived as a child still tops the list.

Thanks again to cousins Tim Abbott, Chris Dunham, and Randy Seaver whose geneablogs inspired me to start one of my own.

And as always, a big thank you to those who read my blog and to those who leave comments

52 ANCESTORS 1: ELISHA WEST OF KINGSTON MA. PT 2

 I came across an unexpected possible connection to my own life when I was researching  my 6x great grandfather Elisha West.

Elisha was married twice, first to Mary Bearce, and then to Martha Ransom. When he died in 1739, the guardianship of his eight children was divided between two men.

James Bearce was appointed the guardian of the four boys. He may have been their uncle or grandfather.

The four girls were put in the guardianship of Timothy Ripley. The Ripley and Ransom families were connected. I suspect Timothy may have been Martha's father or brother. Here's the image I found of the the guardianship document for one of the girls.

 

 

Plymouth County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1686-1881.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)
 
 

 

So, what's the connection to my life?:

Well one of my high school classmates and friends is Jeff Ripley, whose family has been here as long as my Dad's. So it's a good possibility that he's related to the Timothy Ripley  in 1739 helped take care of my ancestor's four daughters! 

Genealogy is full of surprises!

52 ANCESTORS 1: ELISHA WEST OF KINGSTON MA. PT 1

Elisha West was born on 2Mar, 1693, in Duxbury, Massachusetts, the son of Patience and Peter. He married Mary Bearce at Plympton, Massachusetts, on 10Dec , 1718  and  had four sons. She died on 29Aug, 1728. He then married Marta Ransom on 17May, 1729 and they had four daughters together. 

Peleg was born on  21Sept, 1719, in Plympton, Massachusetts.
Peter was born on 10Jun, 1721, in Plympton, Massachusetts.
Elisha was born on 22Feb,  1724, in Kingston, Massachusetts.
Thomas was born on 29Mar, 1726, in Kingston, Massachusetts.
I descend from son Thomas.

His four daughters with Martha:
Mary was born on 29Jan, 1732,
Sarah was born on 10Mar, 1733
Fear was born on 4Oct, 1734,
Hopestill was born on 29Mar, 1736

Elisha 's will was presented at court on 4Apr 1738, I found the images of it at AmericanAncestors.org and it's fairly interesting. He left his widow , Martha at least fifty pounds and sums of money for each of his living children.   I can't say for certain if any of them actually received the amounts he bequeathed, though, because while there is an inventory of his estate, there is no list detailing the debts he may have owed.



I also found some documents regarding the guardianship of his children that have a connection to my own life and I'll discuss that in the next post.

Plymouth County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1686-1881.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)
 

MY GENEAPLANS FOR 2021

So my geneaplans fpr 2021 are the same as they were for 2020. Luckily they are all things I can do online since I am no longer driving. And getting anything done depends on my health, so we'll see how this goes this year.
The geneaplans:
1.Continue adding more of my ancestors siblings and their lines to my database.

2. Again.this year I'm  going to set a goal for my blogging: to try to reach 200 posts in this blog and to post anything, anything at all, in my Graveyard Rabbits  blog. But anything over 50 posts will be an improvement over this year.

3. Post more photos for Find A Grave from the many I still have sitting in folders on my computer..

4. Continue to stay organized:  Keep putting images  I download into  the folder they belong in immediately,

5. Transcribe more of the wills and probate files I've downloaded already.

6. Find and download the wills and probate files of female ancestors.

7.  Keep working  on  the timeline for my ancestors who were involved in the Colonial New England Indian wars, including those who were captured.

8. Go back and finish the series about the "Hot Mess" probate file of ancestor Nathaniel Stowe which I forgot to finish in May 2015. (Probably because it's such a "hot mess").

9. Write more  about my ancestor Gov. John Endecott. I keep pushing it aside, I think, because he did somethings that were nasty.

10. Make more use of the MyTreeTags feature to make lists of things my anestors were involved in .

11. Keep having fun with genealogy

MY 2020 GENEAPLANS: HOW DID I DO?

 2020 pretty much was a washout for me genealogy wise because of health problems. I barely blogged, and becuse I gave up driving anything involving a  roadtrip to ancestral towns was out. So were my trips to cemeteries.  I didn't get much done online research either because of low energy.
 

However, things could have been much worse. I'm still breathing! :) And the past few months I've started blogging and researching again, albeit not at the same level as before.

For the record these were my geneaplans for 2020. I'll discuss 2021 in my next post.

1.Continue adding more of my ancestors siblings and their lines to my database.

2. If and when my car is back on the road, visit the places my ancstors lived and are buried here in Massachusetts

3 Again.this year I'm  going to set a goal for my blogging: to try to reach 200 posts in this blog and to post anything, anything at all, in my Graveyard Rabbits  blog.

4. Post more photos for Find A Grave from the many I still have sitting in folders on my computer..

5. Continue to stay organized:  Keep putting images  I download into  the folder they belong in immediately,

6. Transcribe more of the wills and probate files I've downloaded already.

7. Find and download the wills and probate files of female ancestors.

8.  Keep working  on  the timeline for my ancestors who were involved in the Colonial New England Indian wars, including those who were captured.

9. Go back and finish the series about the "Hot Mess" probate file of ancestor Nathaniel Stowe which I forgot to finish in May 2015. (Probably because it's such a "hot mess").

10. Write more  about my ancestor Gov. John Endecott. I keep pushing it aside, I think, because he did somethings that were nasty.

11. Make more use of the MyTreeTags feature to make lists of things my anestors were involved in .

12. Keep having fun with genealogy

DEAR GENEA-SANTA 2020

 9ear Genea-Santa,

It's been a difficult year but then again, it has been for everyone, hasn't it? For health reasons I didn't do much research or blogging this year, so my wishes this year are mostly the same as last year's.

 I could still  use some help finding and translating documents on Mom's German ancestors, and I could use some help on the Irish side of her family, too.

I still haven't had much contact with DNA matches on Ancestry. I think if you could sort of nudge them into being more willing to share information that would be a big help!

Most of all I could use more energy and a kick in the pants to get back researching and blogging!

That's all for this year, Santa. Thanks and travel safe tonight in this rainstorm we are going to get!

CHRISTMAS: IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR 2020

  ((originally posted in 2007))

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. I need to hear that "It's the Most
Wonderful Time of the Year."


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!

2010 Update: I splurged this year for the "Now That;s What
I Call Christmas Essentials Collection." It has the Andy Williams
song and Nat King Cole's version of "Christmas Song" on it,
and I plan to play it Thursday afternoon on my day off!

2011 Update Now that Borders has gone out of business and
I avoid the radio stations doing the "All Christmas, All the Time"
since mid-November, I haven't burned out on Christmas music
as early as previous years. But unfortunately, I am now tired of
"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". Staples use of it
in the back to school ads was funny. But this year, the song has
been overused by retail stores and car dealerships so much
that it's like beating a dead reindeer! Bah, humbug!

2012 Update: My favorite piece of Christmas music this year
is this performance by Jimmy Fallon, The Roots, and Mariah
Carey. It makes me smile.

2013 Update: One of the things I've noticed since I no longer
work at Borders is I don't find Christmas music as grating as
I did for all those years when I heard it all day long at work. I
have some Celtic Christmas music collections Cds I will start
playing soon here at home, I think. There's also a local PBS
radio show "Celtic Sojourn" that puts on an annual live stage
and this year there is a tv special of it I want to see. 

2014 Update:
WGBH is showing a taping of "A Christmas Celtic Sojourn"
from a few years ago this year on tv. If you can find it, I think
you'll enjoy it:
  

2015 Update

 I've been listening to Christmas music on Pandora this year while working on my genealogy research. I haven't any new favorite this year so far, but if I find one I'll blog about it here.


  
2016 Update

This year my favorite piece of Christmas music is Loreena McKennit's :In Praise of Christmas"

2017 Update:
Things have come full circle. I have a Kindle Fire tablet and I'm listening to the
Andy Williams and Nat King Cole Christmas albums. I even found some Sing Aong
with Mitch Christmas songs!

2019 Update:
I have an Amazon Echo Dot no and I've been listening to a  A Celtic Christmas music playlist put together by Brian O'Donovan of WGBH Radio's A Celtic Sojourn program. You can find it here:

Brian O'Donovan's Christmas Playlist

2020 Update:  

This year I've added two playlists to my Amazon Fire. One is of the 100 best Christmas songs and the other is Irish Christmas music.

TRAVELS WITH CHERYL 3 PT2 NOBSKA LIGHT AT FALMOUTH, MA.

 The third lighthouse we visited on Cape Cod was Nobska Light in Falmouth, Ma.,  not far from Woods Hole. It was the most scenic of the three we visted that day. Although it wasn't open to the public there were several people there to take pictures outside, including what looked to be one couple having engagement or wedding photos done. I got some shots while still sitting in the car while Cheryl took hers from outside.

By the time we were done it was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to set over the water. Cheryl took these photos for me with my camera.

 

All in all, it was a great day out and I enjoyed  the ride. Thanks, Cheryl!

TRAVELS WITH CHERYL 3: THE LIGHTHOUSES OF EASTHAM AND CHATHAM, MA.

  My sister Cheryl and I have a plan to photograph covered bridges and lighthouses as a way to get out and about during these Covid-19 days. We wear our masks and social distance from others, and because of travel restrictions we are limited to just Massachusetts at the moment. But it's a few hours out of her house and my apartment and we enjoy each other's company.Our third trip out was the Sunday before Thanksgiving and took us down to lighthouses in Eastham, Chatham, and Falmouth on Cape Cod. Interestingly, we have ancestors from all three towns.

The first lighthouse was at Nauset Beach in Eastham. The weather was beautiful and we got some nice photofrom the parking lot since the lighthouse was closed to visitors due to the Covid 19 restrictions.

Next we went to the Coast Guard Lighthouse in Chatham. The parking lot was across a busy road so I didn't get as many photos there.

 

 Our next stop was in Falmouth at Nobska beach. I'll talk about that in another post. 

GENEA-BLOG CAROLING: "GAUDETE"

 

 

Fellow geneablogger footnoteMaven began the Blog Caroling tradition. I'm carrying it on this year byharking back to my choice in 2008 with the 16th century hymn "Gaudete" which I heard played everyday at work over the store speakers as performed by the Irish choral group Anuna. Enjoy!

You can hear Anuna's performance on YouTube here.

 
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Tempus ad est gratiae hoc quod optabamus
Carmina laetitiae devote redamus

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Deus homo factus est natura mirante
Mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Deus homo factus est natura mirante
Mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Ezekelis porta clausa per transitor
Unde lux est orta salus invenitor

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Ergo nostra contio psallat jam in lustro
Benedicat domino salus regi nostro

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES: A CHRISTMAS CONFESSION

 

As you can see, I had a very formal relationship with Santa.No laps for me. A simple solemn
pose would do, thank you, for the photo-op.

Formal attire was also worn when visiting Santa’s Village up in New Hampshire. A sports
jacket was de rigeur for the feeding of reindeer but one was allowed to be more casual
when posing with the sled and full team. The girls are my cousin Terry and my sister Cheryl.


Actually, I think we might have been there on a Sunday. We’d have attended Mass in Berlin,
NH and probably continued on home to Boston with a stop to visit the Village along the way.

But by the time those pictures were taken, I’d fallen from grace.

I no longer believed in Santa Claus.

I’m not sure how I figured it out but I do know I must have been around six or seven years
old because we were still living in Malden in the two family house that my folks and my
aunt and uncle co-owned. I know this because when I found out there was no Santa Claus,
I shared my knowledge and I heard about it for years afterward.


Yes, I told my cousins who lived downstairs. I think that was theyear I got a lump of coal in
my stocking (but there were still presents under the tree).

I may have told my sister the awful truth later or she found out some other way. I do know
I didn’t tell my kid brother. After all, I was an adult of 17 by then and I had a greater appreciation
for what Santa meant to little kids!

But there it is.

I squealed on Santa.

Originally published in Dec. 2007.

TRAVELS WITH CHERYL 2: THE LIGHTHOUSES OF SCITUATE, MA.

 My sister Cheryl and I have a plan to photograph covered bridges and lighthouses as a way to get out and about during these Covid-19 days. We wear our masks and social distance from others, and because of travel restrictions we are limited to just Massachusetts at the moment. But it's a few hours out of her house and my apartment and we enjoy each other's company.

We didn't have far to go to visit two lighthouses. The coastal town of Scituate is only 15 miles to the east of here, so one Monday morning in mid-November we went there and took some pictures. First we stopped at the Scituate Lighthouse which sits on a beach over looking the water. It was a bright sunny day and very windy, so windy I thought it would knock me over at one point.

 

Next we wanted to get a shot of Minot's Light which sits out in the water and has been the subject of some truly spectacular photographs taken during big storms. It took a bit of exploring to find a clear view from the shoreline because of the private homes along the road, but finally Cheryl found a spot and took this photo for me since the view was from the driver's side of her car. It's a great shot.



So we had two lighthouses done for our list of those we had photographed.

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES: PARTIES- OBJECTS IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR...

((First published in December, 2007))


I don’t recall many holiday parties from my earlier childhood. In our family folks were too busy working or shopping at Christmas time. And when we lived in Dorchester the apartments weren’t
really big enough to hold large parties in, although there might have been one or two. If so, they would have followed the rules of other adult parties my folks had: after saying hello to the adults,
my sister and I would be sent off to our beds to eventually fall asleep while listening to the adults
in the other room laughing at Rusty Warren records. We wondered what "roll me over in the clover" meant.

As an adult, most of my Christmas party experience has been at work, including one at a now
defunct toy chain warehouse(more on that job later) when I was in my early twenties. It snowed
when I left for home. My car at the time was an Olds 98 and being in a hurry to get home, I didn’t completely clean the rear windshield. I backed up, turning the car around….

…and smashed my rear windshield by backing the car up under a tractor trailer box front end as
if it were a big rig hooking up.

The good news was, my Dad worked in the auto glass repair business.

The bad news was I had to call him and tell him what I’d done.

It was an …umm…interesting conversation.




2013 Update: I think this is my favorite out of all the things I've posted every year about past Christmases. I remember the windshield incident with a smile now but at the time I was a nervous wreck waiting for Dad's reaction, especially since I'd had a few highballs at the Christmas party which probably had a lot to do with my backing into the trailer. I also had to drive the car home 
with no rear windshield in a snowstorm and I was worried I'd get pulled over by the police. When 
I got home we covered the broken window with something, probably a cut open garbage bag and masking tape, and a few days later Dad found a replacement at Goldy's, a local junkyard. 

Most of all, I remember Dad getting out of his car when he drove up to the  Child World warehouse, taking a puff on his cigarette, and  giving me The Look before asking me "How the hell did you manage to do that?"


 

AUNT DOT REMEMBERS CHRISTMAS

 This was originally posted back on 25Jul 2007. I thought I'd repost
 it again because of the Christmas memories:

This was the first in a series of posts which are my transcriptions
of 13 handwritten pages. They were written by my Aunt Dot
(Dorothy West Bargar) and given to me yesterday when we attended
my nephew Paul's wedding.

Some explanations of the names mentioned: Phillip was
Phillip Jonathan West, Dot's grandfather and my great
grandfather. Bud is my Dad, Hazel was her older sister
and Flossie(Florence) the youngest.

"Dingle" is a new term to me and sounds like a shed.


"Our family lived on Back Street in Upton from about 1830 to
1927. I have a picture of Bud and Hazel, taken Aug., 1926 that
was given me by Pop’s cousin Louie West (his dad was great
uncle Paul -Philip’s brother). This was the first I heard that I
ever lived in Upton. My birthday was in April of that year.

From conversations, I think I remember we probably moved
to Magalloway for a short time, then to Wilsons Mills. Phillip
stayed in Magalloway.

The first place I remember living was in a little square cabin on
the shore of Azichoos lake back a trail from the dam house.
There was a wagon trail past an old stone quarry and a foot
path along the lake shore. The quarry was home of the bear
that we always looked out for. The cabin was partitioned off in
one corner-a room big enough for a white iron double bed and a
built in double bed with a bunk (half size) up under the eaves.
There was a path between the beds wide enough for a dresser.
The remainder of the cabin was one L shaped room (except the
L was upside down & backwards) (end p.1)


The back door opened to a covered walk that led to a dingle
where we kept outdoor tools and dry wood for the fire. The
space from the door to the dingle was about the width of a
standard sidewalk. I have always remembered the dingle
because that is where the bag of toys that Santa brought was
kept. I only remember one Christmas that we received presents
and must have been when I was three because Flossie was not
yet in the family.

Don’t remember what Hazel & Mother got. Pop got a necktie,
Bud got pocket knife. (he would have been 5 years old) and I got
a pull toy -it was a green platform with red wheels & a red pull
string and had a white celluloid lamb on the platform. We also
got a tiddle wink game, which at my age was a great failure at,
but liked it anyway. That was probably 1929.

In years later we always decorated the house and had fun
making our decorations from newspapers and magazines. For
many years we had carefully saved the few fold out paper
Christmas bells and a few pieces of red & green rope that had
come with the family before any time that I recall."(end p 2)

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES: OH APPLE TREE, OH APPLE TREE!

(originally published in Dec. 2007)


My family was fortunate in that we never lived in the sort of place
where Christmas outdoor decorations becomes a blood sport.
Yes, people strung lights in their shrubbery or along their house
gutters but there was never anyone determined to turn their
front yard into the North Pole’s Southern Branch Office.

Now for light shows back then you went to someplace religious,
like Our Lady of La Sallette Shrine in North Attleboro or the local
cemetery with it’s entrance lit up, or even just cruised a stretch
of highway to look at the neighborhood lights that might be seen
from a distance as you drove by.


We didn’t really have outside lights ourselves until we left Boston
for Abington. Up until then the only lights other than on our
Christmas tree were the electric candles we put on windowsills.
But at the house Dad did the obligatory shrubbery and gutter
displays as well as one other spot: the apple tree in the front yard.


Dad had experience both with wiring and tree climbing so putting
a string of lights up in a small apple tree was a piece of cake. It
was the taking down part that didn’t seem to work at least for
the tree. One year, long after the other outside lights were down
and packed away, the lights still were hanging in the apple tree.
I’m not sure exactly when he took them down but I do know it
was well after Spring had sprung. I think they were even plugged
in one or two nights. I don’t know the reasons why they were
still there: my Dad’s sense of humor, perhaps? Or maybe an
instance where Dad’s Maine stubbornness and the Irish
stubbornness of my Mom brought about some impasse on the issue?


On my way home the other night from work I noticed at least
three of those large hot air snow globe scenes on front lawns.

Those families must have big electricity bills!



2010 Update: As I discovered in 2008, the apple tree  in
the front yard of the house is long gone. But a news report
the other night made me think of Dad. The holiday
lighting ceremony at Braintree has been postponed a week
because squirrels had eaten through the wires.

The lights had been left up all year since last Christmas!


2011 Update: The big snowstorms last winter had one
interesting effect. Some of the homes with heavily
decorated outside yards remained that way until
the snow melted. One home in particular had an inflatable
Santa and other decorations buried under snow drifts
and you could  just see the tops of them as you drove by
the house. I think they were there until mid-March!


2013 Update: It's a bit early yet apparently for the lights
to go up for Christmas around here. I don't work anymore
and haven't driven around much after dark so I haven't
seen any houses lit up yet. I did, however, spot two of
those big inflatable figures on someone's front lawn yesterday
afternoon.


2014 Update
 I'm not sure there be many houses lit up this year, or that they
will be many elaborate displays. The electric companies in the
New England area have raised their rates over 30% and that
may be too much for many people to afford to put up Christmas
lights.


2015 Update
There's only a few homes along the main streets in the area that have put up
their outside lights so far this year. But there are some in specific neighborhoods
and I've noticed word gets out via Facebook on where the best displays are to take
your kids to see them.


2016 Update:
Since my retirement I don't drive much after dark any more, so I haven't seen
any houses decorated so far. But there's a contest for best decorations going on,
and a Christmas Tree lighting going on at Island Grove as well,



2018 Update: 
There's a really good Christmas display over on Lake Street by Island Grove that gets a lot of  visitors every year. It looks like a lot of work to put together. But unfortunately some unusually high winds knocked over the big Christmas tree at Island Grove after it was lit just the week before.
 

TRAVELS WITH CHERYL 1: THE PEPPERELL COVERED BRIDGE

 

My sister Cheryl and I have a plan to photograph covered bridges and lighthouses as a way to get out and about during these Covid-19 days. We wear our masks and social distance from others, and because of travel restrictions we are limited to just Massachusetts at the moment. But it's a few hours out of her house and my apartment and we enjoy each other's company.

 We visited our first (and only) covered bridge so far in early November. It's located about 60 miles northwest of here in Pepperell,Massachusetts and crosses the Nashua River..It was built in 1845 nd is still in use today. It was past peak foliage season when we visited but it was a fairly nice day and a pleasant ride. We got some good pictures, too.

One covered bridge down!

 

CHRISTMAS: DEALING WITH CARDS

 I don’t get a lot of Christmas cards, mostly because I don’t send
out a lot myself. I get some from the family and a few from friends
but since I’m not much of a social animal there’s no more than perhaps
a half dozen each year sitting atop my tv.

In years past the amount of cardage fluctuated. When I
was a kid there were a lot of cards, usually taped to the
door frames or sitting atop the end tables in the living room.


When we moved to Abington they were displayed across the
mantel piece or taped around the edges of the mirror above it.
The years when my folks were actively involved in the VFW
brought the highest number of season’s greetings. Mom would
spend a few hours herself signing and addressing cards to be
sent out. But as she and her generation of family and friends
grew older the flood of Christmas cards dwindled. Several years
Mom even had some unused cards left over when she finished.


I tend not to like sending “mushy” cards so I usually try to find
something funny. Although this year I may be giving people a
look at a certain dancing elf via e-mail!

2010 Update: I'm going to see what sort of selection we have at
the store tomorrow and hopefully find something funny, although
last year I sent out cards that were more "New England-y"

2011 Update Since Borders has closed I'm going to have to take
a long walk over to Target soon to get some boxed cards!

2012 Update I'm waiting for my box card order from B&N
to arrive.

2013 Update I haven't bought any Christmas cards yet. I'm also
trying to figure out what to do with the leftover cards from the
last few years.

2014 Update:
I'll probably buy my cards this weekend. I don't really start thinking
about Christmas cards until right about now, although I've already
received one this holiday season. 

The past few years I've taken to displaying the incoming cards on my
bookcase, as in this photo from a  few years ago:

2015 Update
I still have several boxes of leftover Christmas cards from previous years, so this year
I'm going to send those instead of buying a new box.


2016 Update: 
I was a bad boy again this year and never sent out any cards.And I feel a bit guilty as
I received a bit more than usual:

 2019 Update: I received a few cards so far this year,, and I actually sent out mine earlier than in past years so hopefully they have arrived at their destinations  before the holidays.


2020 Update: I sent some cards out today (8th Dec), and have already received a few. I might take a photo of them if more come in.


((Originally posted in 2007)) 

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES: OH CHRISTMAS TREE, OH CHRISTMAS TREE

 Originally posted in 2007 as part of Thomas MacEntees's Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.



You know that part of the movie A Christmas Story where
the family goes out to buy the tree and the parents have a little
argument over it? Well, I laugh every time I see it because
like so much in that film it echoes my childhood.

Every Christmas when I was younger either we’d go shopping
for a tree or Dad would buy one on his way home from work.
Now as regular readers of this blog know by now, my Dad was
from Maine. But even more than that, he had experience in trees.
He’d helped his father cutting down trees, and he’d worked for a
landscaper in the Boston area when he’d first come home from
the war. Mom would remind Dad of his experience every year
when the tree was fixed into the tree stand, the rope cut from
the branches and the inevitable big empty space was discovered.
Usually the problem was solved by rotating the tree so the empty
spot was in the back facing the wall. The lights were strung(and
here we differed from the film. We never blew out the fuses.),
then the garlands, the ornaments, and the icicles. Finally the
angel went up on top of the tree and we were all set. With
judicious watering the tree would last us until around “Little
Christmas” at which time it would be undecorated and deposited
curbside to await the dump truck.

Of course our tree paled in comparison to the giant my Mom’s
Uncle Tommy and Aunt Francis had in their home down in
Milton. It was so big they cut the top off and the branches didn’t
taper at the top. They were all the same size: large. I could
never believe they'd gotten that big a tree into the house in the
first place!


Then the first artificial Christmas trees hit the market and Mom
began vowing she was going to get one as she vacuumed up pine
needles from the rug. Eventually we did but that provided us
with new challenges, such as assembling the tree.


As we all grew older the prospect of trying to get the tree
together became less enchanting and so it too was replaced, this
time by a small ceramic musical tree that was lit from within by
a light bulb. I used that tree myself for several years after Mom
died although I felt no great urge to wind it up for the music. It
lasted until a few years back when I dropped it and the base
cracked.

Its replacement is a small artificial tree that I bought at work with
my employee discount along with a garland. Last year some
friends sent me some snowmen ornaments for it. I haven’t put it
up yet but think I will this weekend. It fits on top of the tv.


And at some point over the holidays I’ll see that scene from A
Christmas Story again and grin.

2009 update: I bought a small string of battery powered lights
to add to my tree last week!

2010 update: I lost my Christmas stuff in my move last April so
I'll be picking it up another one at work soon.

2011 update
I bought another teeny Christmas tree with lights and ornaments
at Borders. Since the company closed, it will remind me of my
store when I set it out each year.


2012 update
I haven't put up my teeny Christmas tree yet but plan to do it this weekend.


2013 Update
I'll be putting the tree out tomorrow. I may have to buy a new string of
lights this year since some of the teeny weeny bulbs may have died last year.

2014 Update
I haven't put the teeny Christmas tree up yet again. I think I will do
it tomorrow, though.

2015 Update
The teeny Christmas tree will go up this weekend as soon as I decide 
where it will go this year.   


  

2018 Update:
I still have the teeny Christmas tree which I haven't put up yet.. I may spring for maybe a few of those electric candles for my apartment window, though.

2019 Update: 
I'll probably put the teeny tree up this coming weekend.

2020 Update:

My windows are being replaced this week so I'll put the tree out after the mayhem is over.