THE BARKER BROTHERS

One of the warnings I've seen given several times to
beginning genealogists is this: if you have heard stories
about how your ancestor and his siblings were the first
settlers and founders of some town, it's probably not
entirely true.


What then am I to make of the Barker brothers? There is
the "Petition for Grant of Land Later Newry" that can be
viewed over at Chris Dunham's Oxford County Genealogy
Notebook. Jonathan Barker Sr and five of his sons are among
the signers. And numerous editions of Oxford County
histories and Maine Registers credit Benjamin, Jesse, and
Jonathan Barker 3rd as being first settlers of the future
Newry in 1781 along with Ithiliel Smith.

Apparently in some cases there are exceptions to the rule
about legendary stories!

But I'm not surprised. The Barker brothers and their
ancestors are an interesting bunch and in the next few
weeks I will be posting transcriptions of the Revolutionary
War Pension Files of Jonathan, Benjamin, and Jesse Barker
and discussing some of the family history they reveal. I'd like
to acknowledge the help given and research of my Barker
family cousins Mitch Barker, Nancy Downey, and Howard
Kaepplein.

I hope those who read their stories will enjoy them as much
as I've enjoyed researching them!

A THOUGHT ON PATRIOTS DAY

Most of what I know about my Revolutionary War ancestors
comes from their Pension Application Files images. While this
is fortunate for me, it was not a happy circumstance for them.
Those who applied were elderly and poor and in some cases
were the widows of deceased veterans. They needed help
and a grateful country provided it to the men who'd helped
bring it into existence.

It's ironic, to say the least, that 233 years later some men and
women who have served their country in the present action
in the Middle East have in some cases been treated with less
care than they deserve. Stories of VA hospitals in disrepair,
of soldiers having difficulties in receiving treatment or
disability checks have called attention to that fact. If these
Americans have done their duty in their country's armed
forces at the behest of our government, shouldn't our
government do its duty by them?

We can show our respect for our Revolutionary War era
ancestors best by ensuring that those who follow in their
footsteps today are given the respect and care they deserve.

"THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD"

Thomas McEntee over at Destination:Austin Family asked
his fellow geneabloggers to join him in posting about our
Revolutionary War ancestors as a way to observe the 233
anniversary of the Battles of Concord and Lexington. These
are my direct ancestors who took part along with a few of
their siblings. Most of the information I have comes from
the Revolutionary War Pension Files images on Footnote.com
and my Barker cousins Howard Kappelin and Nancy Downey
helped sort out the Jonathan Barkers.

I'll have some more thoughts on these folks in the next post.
For now here's just the list:

Jonathan Barker Jr.
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 tol April 1778 guarding
the captured troops of General Burgoyne.


Jonathan Barker 3rd
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
Was a Minuteman under Capt. Asa Parker on April 18th,
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.
For a more detailed account of his service see my posts
about his Revolutionary War Pension File starting here.


Asa Barrows
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. I posted about his
Revolutionary War Pension File starting here.


Moses Coburn
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
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
Amos was 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
Enlisted at Harvard Ma as a Private in May of 1777in 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
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 for 8 months. He was at the Battle
of Bunker Hill. He was discharged in October of 1775.


John Griffith
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
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 nearly8 months duty.


Jonathan Abbot
Served as a Sergeant in the Militia under Captain Henry
Abbott and responded to the Lexington Alarm

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.


There may be more but that’s all I’ve found so far and I
don't know about John Cutter West's father or grandfathers
as yet.

THE 46th CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY IS OUT!

Well, the 46th Carnival of Genealogy is up over at Creative
Gene and Jasia's done it again, gathering together some
great posts about the personal or physical traits we might
(or might not in my case!) have inherited from our ancestors.
Once again a mix of the usual geneablogging suspects and
some first timers that will keep me busy reading. And I need
to add some more new links from the last two CoG's to my
link list!

As with every new CoG, there's a call for submissions to the
next one:

"The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy
is: A Place Called Home. It's time for a geography lesson.
Pick out a city/town/village where one of your ancestors
once lived and tell us all about it. When was it founded?
What is it known for? Has is prospered or declined over
the years? Have you ever visited it or lived there? To a
certain extent, we are all influenced by the environment
we live in. How was your ancestor influenced by the area
where they lived? Take us on a trip to the place your
ancestor called home. The deadline for submissions
is May 1, 2008.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the
Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form."

Hmm. I'll have to give some thought to that one My
ancestors lived in a lot of different places here in New
England!

IS THAT A POEM I SEE IN YOUR POCKET?

Lisa has challenged her fellow geneabloggers
to post a poem in observance of National
Poet in Your Pocket Day.

I took a course in English Romantic Poetry in
college and this one by William Wordsworth was
my favorite. I used to be able to recite it
or most of it.

The world is too much with us; late and soon
by William Wordsworth:


The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

-1806

BIRTHDAY? WHAT BIRTHDAY??

Yesterday was my sister's Cheryl's birthday and also my Aunt
Emily's. I've already wished Cheryl her Happy Birthday, but I'm
doing it again here so I can post this picture. Obviously, it's from
only a few years ago!

AVERAGE

In trying to write a post for the next Carnival of Genealogy
blog, my problem isn't how many family traits I've inherited
but how many I didn't. This is a tough one to write and it will
probably not be a long one!


Physically I get my height from my Mom's side of the family.
My Uncle Ed and his sons as well as my brother and myself
are all over 6ft tall (I'm the shortest at 6'1") and I think my
blue eyes are from that side as well. The weight could be
from either side. Although Mom and Uncle Ed were thin,
my Grand Uncle Frank (who taught me how to make
tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches) was a good sized
man and on my Dad's side I could get it from the Barker
family.


I think I've already established the fact that I have no
artistic or musical talent, and I sure can't dance as well as
either of my parents did. Nor do I have my Dad's ability with
tools. I once got a blood blister from a vise handle in shop
class in school!


Athletically, I enjoyed playing baseball and football when I
was a kid but I was about average, which does seem to be
the family tradition.


I do like to write, but judging from the dearth of material left
by those thatcame before me, I don't come from a long line of
writers and diarists.

The one habit that I do share with my parents is reading. My
mom had me bring home books for her when I went to the
library, usually historical novels by Taylor Caldwell, Frank
G. Slaughter and others, and she liked to read mystery and
romance novels as well. Dad was a Louis L'Amour western
fan and would borrow my sf and fantasy paperbacks out of
my bookcase. If I couldn't find one I knew to check the
headboard of my folk's bed to see if Dad was reading it.

And I do share an interest in genealogy with my Aunt
Dorothy and cousin Diana out in Ohio!


Of course, since I still know very little about my Grandfather
White's family I don't know if there's any traits I might have
or haven't inherited from that side.


I suppose the main trait I have in common with my ancestors
is being an average everyday human being who gets up
every morning and goes about the business of living his or
her life!

PING AND I VISIT THE FAMILY HISTORY CENTER

So today was my first trip to a Family History Center.


Last night I did some research on the Family Search website
and found some microfilm records and cd rom file numbers
which I wrote down in a small notebook. I then printed up
some of my pedigree chart in a five generation /page landscape
format to go along with the older six generation/page version.
I only printed out fifteen pages of each because the full report
is over three hundred pages.


When I went to add them to the three-ringed binder I use for
my family group sheets I found there wasn’t enough space, so
I slid them into the pocket inside the front cover of the
notebook. Note to self: buy a few more binders. Or at least
start using the one of the very large ones.


Next, I checked my flashdrive, backed up any new files from
my desktop to it and deleted some older ones that were
replaced by updated versions.


Finally, I Googlemapped the Family History Center address
at 379 Gardner St. in Hingham from my home here in
Abington. When I saw the suggested route and the map, I
shook my head. I’d expected the FHC to be in the older part
of Hingham closer to the coast but instead found it was much
closer. The map suggested a route that would take me north
on Route 18 and then by a series of turns to Derby St in
Hingham where the far end of Gardner St joins it, a trip of
7.9 miles and about(it said) sixteen minutes. Except that
anyone who lives in this area knows how congested Route 18
is at certain times of day and also knows how many traffic
lights that route entails. I looked at the map and figured out
a much quicker, shorter route using the back roads I know
which would take me to Gardner St on its southern end
where it joins Pond St


Of course, that all depended on whether Ping would behave.
Ping is the name I’ve finally given to my 1992 Ford Taurus
that I just spent $1800 dollars repairing and comes from its
new annoying habit.


You know how your car chimes if the door is open or you
leave the keys in the ignition or your seatbelt is unbuckled?
Recently, the car has given that sound when I first start it up
and then continues non-stop until I reach my destination
and turn the car off. Talk about a ringing in my ears! It also
stalled out once on the way to work after I got it back which
was more what I was worried about for this trip.


This morning I got up later than I planned because my post
nasal drip acted up and it took awhile to fall asleep. Eventually
I gathered all my things(flashdrive, notebook, binder, three
pens) together and got in the car. It was (and still is) a
beautiful day outside and it is definitely a day to drive with
your car window down. Ping behaved herself and there was
no bell so I was relieved that as I drove I wouldn’t have kids
run out to the curbside thinking my car was the approaching
ice cream vendor. I turned on the radio and three commercials
and two Neil Diamond songs later(“Cherry, Cherry” and
“Sweet Caroline”) I pulled into the driveway of the FHC. It’s
in the rear of a LDS church in a quiet residential area that I
had driven by in the past over the years without paying
attention to the sign!



I found the entrance, went inside, and a very nice woman
volunteer was there along with another woman viewing
records at one of the microfilm machines. There were about
six of these spaced around the walls of the room and at least
two computers, one of which was being used by the volunteer.
I explained I was new and asked if I could see what films
and fiches they had there, as Miriam had suggested in
her comment to my earlier post. We checked some of the
film numbers I’d written down but didn’t have any luck,
and apparently the Plymouth records were in use already,
so I took a reel for the vital records of Livermore, Me. instead.
John Cutter West’s wife Arvilla Ames had been born there;
perhaps they filed marriage intentions there as well as in
nearby Sumner where they married in 1827?


The volunteer showed me how to load the microfilm on the
machine and I spent the next hour or so looking at the
images but didn’t find a mention of the marriage. By the time
I was done it was 12:30 and the room was closing at 1pm,
so there was little point in loading up a new film. I rewound
the microfilm, turned off the machine and returned the film
to its drawer in the cabinet. I thanked the volunteer for her
help and told her I’d be back next week at an earlier time
and then left. On the way home I picked up a burger, and
one Elvis Presley and one Doors song later(“Suspicious Minds”
, “Light My Fire”) I was home.


So, while I hadn’t learned anything new about John Cutter
West(and I hadn’t expected to right away anyway!) I did
acquaint myself with how to get to the FHC, what resources
and equipment they had available and with their changed
hours.(The Family Search site said it closed at 2pm but they
now close an hour earlier at 1pm.) When I go back next week
I’ll explore a bit further and perhaps order a roll of microfilm
from the Family History Library. All in all, a good few hours
out of the apartment and I look forward to more visits to
the FHC.


And that concludes Bill and Ping’s Excellent Adventure!

ROCKS IN OUR HEADS

Janice’s recent post at Cow Hampshire about the Viking Rock
at Hampton, New Hampshire put me in mind of several other
sites surrounded by mystery here in New England: Mystery
Hill in Salem, N.H., (the “American Stonehenge”); Newport
Tower in Newport, R.I., and Dighton Rock here in
Massachusetts.


The Dighton Rock controversy’s history resembles that of the
Viking Rock. Speculation on the origin and meaning of the
characters carved into the rock include Ancient Phoenicians,
Vikings, Portuguese explorers and Native Americans and was
a popular topic in Europe during the 1800’s. Scholars made
their fame and fortunes advancing one theory after another.

It would be easy to write it off as a 19th century hoax until
one learns the fact that no less an historical personage than
Cotton Mather made a drawing of the carvings in 1712 and
had described them in a book 22 years earlier in 1690. With
the exception of a few scribblings left by curiosity seekers
over the years, the markings remain just as Mather copied
them. You can see a picture of them taken in 1853 here on
Wikipedia.

Better still, you can read all about it here on the Archives
webpage of American Heritage Magazine. I’ve bookmarked
that site, let me tell you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AUNT DOROTHY!

Yikes! I make it a habit to check my Family Tree Legends
birthday and anniversaries list to see which relative’s
birthdays are coming each month. This is a good way to keep
track of the ancestors, but since I deliberately left living
relatives off that program, it’s not a very good method of
remembering the birthdays of my present day relatives.

And so, I managed to make a blog entry noting Asa Freeman
Ellingwood’s 180th birthday but missed congratulating my
Aunt Dorothy on her birthday which she shares with Asa.(Of
course, she’s considerably younger than Asa!) Without her
earlier research and help I’d never have gotten into genealogy
and obviously I wouldn’t be writing this blog, so I owe her a
great deal of thanks for inspiring me and for the hours of
enjoyment I’ve had climbing up our family tree.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Dot, and many more to come!

WHEN THE WORLD CHANGED

Friday, April 4th, was the 180th birthday of my great great
grandfather Asa Freeman(or Freeland) Ellingwood. He’s one
of the ancestors whose census images I’ve been downloading
recently and I was struck by a thought as I was looking them
over.


I think I discovered the point when the world changed during
Asa’s lifetime. Or at least I narrowed it down to one decade,
sometime between 1850 and 1860.


On the 1850 census for the town of Milan, Coos County, New
Hampshire he’s listed as “Asa Ellenwood”, 21 years old, with
his 17 year old bride of less than a year, Florilla (Dunham).
His occupation is listed as “wheelwright”. Now being a
wheelwright was, as were most occupations in that earlier
age, not just a job but a craft. It required skill in carpentry
and knowledge of timber as a wheelwright had to pick the
wood used for the rim, spokes, and hub of the wheel and
then fashion and assemble the parts into the finished
product. A more full description of the process can be found
at the Wheelwright’s Craft page of the Witheridge Historical
Archive website.


Asa’s cousin Hiram G. Ellenwood was a hotel keeper in Milan
and it may have seemed like a possible steady source of
business for the young married couple. There would be
stagecoaches, carriages, and freight wagons that might have
need of repairs to wheels or perhaps a complete replacement
from a skilled craftsman. The future must have seemed
clear cut and secure for Asa.


Ten years later on the 1860 Census that future had changed.
Asa and Florilla were now living in the town of Paris in Oxford
County, Maine with the first five of what would eventually be
their eleven children.And Asa’s occupation had changed. He
was no longer a wheelwright.

He was now a mechanic, one of six listed on the two pages
of the census that contain Asa’s family. A bit further up the
first page is a hint as to how the world had changed. A farmer
named William Moony had seven men staying on his farm,
and the occupation for all of them is given as “Railroader”.
The railroads had begun to expand their rail lines in Northern
New England during the 1840’s and by 1850 the Grand Truck
Railroad had a station in Paris.


With the arrival and expansion of the railroads, there was less
need for wheelwrights. While horse drawn wagons, carriages,
and coaches would continue to be used for another fifty years,
the commercial uses would lessen as people traveled more by
train and businesses shipped their supplies and merchandise
over the faster rail line.


There were less jobs for a wheelwright. A time honored craft
was no longer in as great demand, and a man with a young
family to support had to earn a living.


So Asa became a mechanic, perhaps for the railroad or maybe
at one of the mills or factories in Paris.

Asa’s world would shortly change again with the outbreak of
the Civil War. He enlisted in June 1861 but was discharged in
December with a disability. By the 1870 census he was a
farmer back in Milan, New Hampshire.

Of course, our world nowadays seems to change everyday,
with jobs and professions dying out even as new ones are
being createdfrom the latest scientific and technological
advances; it’s become the norm to us. I can think of a dozen
or more ways my own life has changed over the years
because of them.

I wonder if Asa and my other ancestors who lived through
the Industrial Revolution ever looked back and marveled at
how their lives had changed so quickly?


Probably not. They most likely were too busy trying to
survive to have time to be philosophical about it!


It is one of those little coincidences that about the time I
was mulling over what I wanted to say in this post I received
a commenton a previous entry from another descendant of
Asa Freeman Ellingwood!

THE CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY HAS HIT THE ROAD!

Jasia backed up a car trailer and loaded up the Carnival of
Genealogy 45th edition with 43 blog arcticles on family from
36 authors (some folks had multiple posts). It’s a mix of
veteran CoG’ers and some new faces and I’m looking forward
to reading it all.

The submissions for the 46th edition are due by April 15th
and the topic is “What traits run in your family? Which of
them did you inherit?”. So put your thinking caps on and
submit your own answers here.

Meanwhile, I’ll be taxing my brain for my own family’s
traits, other than a tendency to have persnickety cars.

ADVICE WANTED ON VISITING THE FAMILY HISTORY CENTER

Alright, now that the car is repaired I can wander a bit away
from my computer keyboard in search of records. One of the
places I plan to visit in the next few weeks in the Family
History Center in the nearby town of Hingham.

Since I’ve never been to a FHC before, I thought I’d ask
some of the more experienced genealogists and geneabloggers
out there for any tips or words of advice that might be helpful.
For example, am I allowed to download anything to my
flashdrive?

My next available window of opportunity for a visit is
next Thursday, so I’d like to be well prepared before I go!

AN UPDATE

My cousin Diana, one of Aunt Dorothy’s daughters, reads this
blog and will occasionally send along a comment on what I’ve
written which are always fun for me because I learn something
new.

In my post about family cars I mentioned how my Dad said
he’d learned to driveon the back roads up in Maine but I
wasn’t sure if it was with a Model A or Model T Ford.
Diana sent me this:

"Bill,
Was just reading your most recent blog....and thought you
might find this tidbit interesting. When I was about 10 (so
we're talking 45 years ago!) My parents went to Maine and
towed Pop's old Model A Roadster all the way to Ohio. A
guy that lived in Freeport had bought it to restore and paid
my parents' gas expenses to go up to New England and
bring it back here ....thus rescuing it from rusting away in
the field where it had been located for years! This is
probably the same Model A that Uncle Bud learned to drive
in!

A few years ago, the man from Freeport got desperate for
money and sold the body off the car to someone else....the
other guy had a coupe and wanted a Roadster so he bought
only the body. Then, the man from Freeport died. Well, to
make a long story short, my husband and I ended up with
the chassis and engine to Pop's car and Gary is currently
building a Speedster out of it. He took pictures of early
speedsters and picked all the points that he liked best and
is building this car completely from scratch! It won't be
Pop's Roadster but at least we'll have Pop's "car" running
again, hopefully later this year!
Diana"

When I emailed Diana back to ask if I could post her
comments here, she included another great bit of
information in her reply:

"By the way..........when Gary restored our Model A Town
Sedan, Mom bought us a Flying Quail radiator cap
(traditional dressy cap) in honor of Pop. So I've always
called the Quail, Floyd!!!

Diana"

So that Model A from Maine lives on in Ohio!

CARS:CAN'T LIVE WITH THEM, CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THEM!

It’s ironic that the topic for the next Carnival of Genealogy
should be about the cars in our families’ histories. I’ve just
had my present car, a 1992 Ford Taurus, repaired and boy,
did it put a dent in my wallet. It’s not that I’m attached to
the thing or that I’m an aficionado of the old Ford Taurus
cars, mind you. It’s more a case of not finding a dependable
used car with an affordable price that I could buy to replace
it, so the money went into repairing the Taurus instead.


My family has always had a love/hate relationship with cars.
My Dad was the only one of us who understood the mechanics
of how a car runs and what needed to be done to keep them
running. He learned to drive while still in his teens in an old
Model A or Model T on the dirt roads up home in Maine.
Over the years we went through a succession of used cars
because of family finances such as when Mom and Dad
bought the house in Abington. The one car that they bought
brand new was a 1956 red and black colored Oldsmobile `98
which lasted us until just before my brother was born.


The first memory I have of one of our cars was watching Dad
drive a late 1940’s model Pontiac in the wake of a motorboat
down the flooded Beach Street in Malden. It was after one of
the hurricanes of the mid 1950’s and Dad was working at
Atlas Engineering in Roxbury but made it home anyway.
The Pontiac was one of those big old time cars with a high
engine block and by following along behind the boat he made
it right into the driveway. One of the neighbor kids pointed at
it and called it “Mr. West’s submarine!”


When we moved out of the city to the “suburbs” (as Dad
called them) and there was no public transportation handy it
became necessary to become a two (and eventually four) car
family and with house payments and then a new baby, buying
a new car was not affordable. Dad liked GM cars so most of
the cars would be Oldsmobiles, Buicks, or Chevys, and some
of those cars were characters in themselves. There were the
two mid 1950’s Chevy Bel-Airs. One of them was green and
white and supposedly had been owned by a nurse but had a
tiger decal and a skull with eyes that lit up in the rear window.
The other was the one I called the “Butterscotch Bomber”
because its color was sort of a butterscotch pudding yellowish
orange. That was the car Dad was driving the day my kid
brother was born. Dad threw Mom’s bag into the car but
nearly drove off without her as she stood yelling at him from
the back door.


I’m not sure which of the two was the car Dad was driving
when he and I drove up to Maine to see his father. I do recall
the drive home where the brakes weren’t working very well
as we came down through the Notch and Dad used the road’s
shoulder to help keep the speed down.


Then there was the Buick some years later that we were in
during a vacation trip. We were on the way to a White House
tour when the right front wheel well started smoking and
we spent a few hours in a garage while wheel bearings were
replaced. We missed the tour.


When I finally got my driving license I followed the family
tradition. My first car was a used Olds `98, and when I
replaced that it was with a Pontiac Bonneville with twin
mufflers. I’ve never forgotten that second car, because it
seemed liked those mufflers took turns falling off. I think
those are illegal now. If they had been back then it would
have been much easier on my bank account!


Then there was my Chevy pickup truck. This was back in the
mid to late 1970’s and when I needed a new car Dad went
along with me to check out the choices. I’ve always suspected
his pointing out the truck had ulterior motives since soon
after I bought it I was hauling seaweed and chicken manure
in it for the garden compost pile!


I was driving that truck during the Blizzard of `78 when a
normal10 minute drive became an adventure. Our dogs Sam
and Gigi (Don’t ask. West Family pets are an epic in and of
themselves.) liked to ride in it although in Sam’s case it was
sometimes a case of running along behind it. But my most
vivid memory of that truck was how the left side panel of the
truck bed rusted away and when I took left hand turns it
would sway out. Or the truck gate fell off.


And once, the tire fell out. Luckily it was on the long access
road from Route 37 down to the warehouse where I was
working at the time. It flew out and rolled back down the
whole length of that road in a straight line. One of my
coworkers was leaving work with his wife and family at the
time when the tire came rolling by his car. He told me his
three year old applauded and wanted the tire to do it
again!


For all the clunkers and all the adventures we’ve had with
cars, we’ve been extremely fortunate as a family that any
accidents we’ve had were not serious ones.


But I’ve oftimes thought that maybe our ancestors had it
better with their horses than we do today with our cars.
After all, for all their advances in technology, cars today can’t
produce a new model for their owners every few years or so
like a horse could!

PAHK ING THE CAH IN THE YAHD

Thomas McEntee over at Destination: Austin Family took
this accent test so I gave it a shot.

Hmm. No surprise here:

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Boston You definitely have a Boston accent, even if you think you don't. Of course, that doesn't mean you are from the Boston area, you may also be from New Hampshire or Maine.
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The West
The Inland North
The South
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

For some reason the red bars won't show but
on the results page the red bar for the Boston
accent is about 2/3 of the way across over the
black line.


I might comment more on this later but it's wicked late
and I'm gonna pahk my cahcass in bed before it's don..er..
dawn.

BEDTIME GENEALOGY 23

I’ve blogged before about cemetery vandalism and expressed
how angry such idiocy makes me. Lori Thornton over at
Smoky Mountain Family Historian recently discovered that
cretins had vandalized a cemetery where some of her
ancestors are buried and is justifiably upset.

I hope somebody catches whoever was responsible for it!

Then a little while ago I ran across this article on the website
of the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus newspaper in Vermont
concerning a different sort of danger to a small family
cemetery. It has some interesting facts about cemetery laws
in the Northeastern states.

This case bears watching in light of the importance that such
graveyards have to those of us interested in genealogy.

GUMDROP!

A common term for a married woman in the 17th century
was “goodwife” which oftentimes was shortened to “goody”.

One of my ancestors, William Marston was married to a
Sarah Goody.

Which meant she would have been the daughter of…yes…

“Goody” Goody.

A FLUTAPHONE LULLABYE

45. Family Reunion Picnic Bug Repellent- Use
flutaphones as citronella candle holders. Stick the sharp
end in the ground and balance the candles on the wide
mouth end.

46. Family Reunion Game Part Replacement- If for
some reason the goalstick thingy from the croquet set
should be missing, the flutaphone can be used as a
substitute! Again, sharp end into the ground!


47. Family Reunion Etiquette Instruction Device-
When two or more of your younger relatives reach for
the last piece of cornbread for themselves, rap their
wrists gently and firmly while commenting on the lack of
manners in their generation. Then, reverse the flutaphone
for the next step…

48. Family Reunion Food Fetcher- Use the flutaphone
to pull the plate with the last piece of cornbread closer to
you. If someone else tries to take the last piece, spear it
with the mouthpiece.(NOTE-Be sure you have cleaned
off the mouthpiece end if you have used it as a citronella
candle holder or as part of the croquet game.))

and FINALLY….

49. Family Reunion Picnic Fanfare Instrument-to
announce the end of the picnic, and to let everyone know
that you have at last finished the list of 49 Genealogical
Uses for a Flutaphone!!

SOME THOUGHTS ON UNCLE CLARENCE'S MEMORIES

I meant to post these comments yesterday but sleep won out.

The blacksmith P.C. Ripley that Clarence mentions was Percy
C. Ripley who apparently is a local legend. He ran away to sea
as a boy for three years and then on his return spent four
years living with the Indians and learning how to trap and
live in the woods. He settled in the Magalloway area where
he worked as a guide and blacksmith and had quite an
illustrious career befuddling the local game wardens who
sought to catch him hunting and fishing out of season.

The mention of the Brown Paper company brings memories to
me of our own visits “up home”. We’d pass through
Berlin, N.H.where the paper mill was on the Androscoggin
River and there was the faint smell of rotten eggs in the air,
caused by whatever process was used to make paper.


Reading Clarence’s stories of his time at the Azicohos Dam
made me go back and read my Aunt Dorothy’s memories of
her childhood there. The quarry “up back of the barracks”
must be the one Dot mentions as being home to a bear.
The log sluice that Clarence thought was the “slickest piece
of work I ever saw” may the one at whose end my Dad
liked to fly fish.


And Clarence’s final comment about rarely using his boats to
visit the “head of the lake” only ten times in fifty one years
brought to mind Dot telling how she napped in the boat
“Kiko” while her father was still building it, and of its state
when she saw it years later as an adult.

I’m fortunate to have their accounts of their lives in Maine.
How I wish some of my other ancestors had left behind some
of their own accounts as well!