Archive for the ‘family history’ Category
remembering place: a gift on a spring day
~
When I was a teenager, my family lived in Lower Sackville in Nova Scotia. I went to Junior High and Senior High there and began my university days.
~
I have many great memories of living in our house … of spending time with friends and family. I remember painting the kitchen cupboards with my Dad, painting a huge seascape on the living room wall, decorating the Christmas tree with the ‘help’ of our dog Snoopy, and doing homework and learning to sew while watching Audie Murphy movies. One of my earliest ‘projects’ was raising wild violets from seed along the back fence. I can remember spending hours on the phone with my friend Donna, pulling the long telephone cord down the basement stairs so I could sit and giggle in privacy.
~
On that same phone, my sister and I practiced for days how we would be the tenth caller to win tickets to see Elvis Presley in Halifax. When the moment came, we counted the time just as we had carefully calculated. Then I dialed in, at the precise moment. They answered! And, in my excitement, I HUNG UP. My sister was so put out at me. And we will never know if we were the lucky tenth caller! We never did see Elvis in person.
~
As an exercise for a writing class I am taking, I wrote a little about attending my best friend’s wedding after graduation in 1972. I walked to the church which was just at the bottom of our street. As I wrote the story, I thought how I would like to see that street, to better remember the walk I took. So, I went to Street View (Google Earth). I began at the top of the hill and virtually ‘walked ‘ along the street where I had lived. At the first of the walk, I saw our house in July of 2012, when the Street View image was taken. I was amazed to see how the trees we planted had grown … the house is hard to see !
~
the house where we used to live, the trees all grown
~
A few more ‘steps’ and Street View switched to an image taken in May of 2009. I turned back to ‘see’ the house. And this is what I saw …
~
Forsythia in bloom in front of the house where I used to live
~
My Mom loved the big Forsythia that grew in our front yard. She always said it reminded her of my grandmother (her mother). And there it was, in full bloom and grown huge over the 40 years since we lived there. What a lovely gift on a spring day!
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
I’m from Canada …
As I have been building my family tree, I am discovering how many ‘places’ my ancestors have called home.
~
my grandmother and her brother and four of her sisters appear in this photo at a school in Nova Scotia in the early 1900s
~
The people I would call grandfather or grandmother (with greats added) include people who came to Canada or to the United States from England, Scotland, France, and Germany. Some of their parents came originally from the Netherlands.
- John Winslow (b. 1597) Droltwich, Worcestershore, England (1620)
- Mary Chilton (b. 1607) St. Peter, Sandwich, Kent, England (Mayflower 1620)
- Patrick McMullen (b. 1704) Scotland
- Peter LeValley (b. 1675) France
- William Spavold (b. 1810) England (Trafalgar 1817)
- Eliza Greenfield (b. 1790) England (Trafalgar 1817)
- Stephen Hopkins (b. 1581) Upper Clatford, Hampshire, England (Mayflower 1620)
- Elizabeth Fisher (b. unknown) England (Mayflower 1620)
- Francis Cook (b. 1583) Gides Hall, Essex, England (Mayflower 1620)
- Hester Mahieu (b. 1585) Canterbury, Kent, England (1623)
- William Latham (b. 1608) Chorley, Lancashire, England (Mayflower 1620)
- Conrad Hawk (Sr.) (b. 1744) Germany
- Conrad Kresge (b. 1730) Amberg-Sulzbach, Bayern, Germany
- Johan Ulrick Kohl (b. 1702) Pallatine, Germany
- Solmey Cooll (b. 1702) Germany
- Johann Nicholas Borger (b. 1720) Nassig, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
- John Clark (b. 1793) Straiton, Ayrshire, Scotland
- Jane Cooper (b. 1799) Greenock, Scotland
- Margaret Miller (b. 1798) Hoddam, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
- William Aitcheson (b. 1794) Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland (1832)
- — Wayborne (b. 1836) Rockbeare, Devon, England
- John Johnson (b. 1780) England
~
To make me, how many different people from so many different places had to get together!!! As my aunt used to say, just being here, we have already won the greatest lottery of all …
~
One of my next genealogy / virtual cycling project will be to track down when they came to Canada or the United States. Immigration records and passenger lists of ships will help me in this endeavor.
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
the tale of a marriage certificate
Of my eight great-grandparents, I have found myself most drawn to the story of Ella Hawk and Frank Norman. Before I became interested in them, my aunt did a considerable amount of work, so I have only had to fill in small gaps of information. If you follow my Blog, you will know I have looked diligently for information on their lives before 1886 when they married in Laramie, Wyoming (for a poem about Ella’s early life, see https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/occupation-shoemaker/
~
I know several bits of information about the day Ella and Frank married – July 24, 1886. For one thing, I have stood in the Methodist Episcopal Church where they were married (see https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/sacred-spaces-2/ ). Also, the newspapers for July 1886 are a great source of information on Laramie and the people living there at the time.
~
I also have copies of Ella and Frank’s Application for a Marriage Licence and their Certificate of Marriage. On the documents, Ella identified herself as Mary Ellen Rhoderick since she was previously married.
~
Marriage Licence Application for Frank Norman and Ella Hawk (Mary E. Rhoderick)
~
Certificate of Marriage for Frank Norman and Mary E. Rhoderick
~
Who were the people who signed my great-grandparents’ marriage documents?
~
George W. Fox, with the very elegant signature, was the County Clerk in Laramie from 1885 to 1888. An 1875 history of Laramie describes him as a ‘city alderman’, who, in 1866 crossed the Plains with an ox train, by way of Fort Laramie and the Big Horn’ to eventually work in the Laramie meat and vegetable market, and in the sales of dry goods. The history says: ‘by fair and honorable dealing has very much endeared himself to our citizens. In fact as a benevolent, high minded, business gentleman Mr. Fox has no superior’ (History and Directory of Laramie City, Triggs, 1875). George W. Fox is also known for his diary, kept in 1866 as he crossed the Plains (Annals of Wyoming 8 (3):580-601; https://archive.org/details/annalsofwyom8141932wyom ). His stories of encounters with stampeding cattle and rattlesnakes vividly portray the wild west.
~
S.H. Huber was the Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. According to the July 10, 1886 Daily Boomerang newspaper, Pastor Huber had been in Laramie for two years. He was in poor health and would stop preaching and leave for Illinois within the month. Another article says he performed the Sherriff’s marriage the week before Ella and Frank’s marriage. The First Methodist Episcopal Church, which still stands at 150N Second Street, was constructed in 1860 and was eventually moved across the street where today it is the oldest church building in Laramie.
~
Although there are other possibilities, it is likely that Lizzie Langhoff was a friend or acquaintance of Ella. Among three Langhoff families in the Laramie area in the 1880s are Charles and Almena Langhoff with their children Lizzie, Emma, Anna, Louis and Minnie. By 1884, this family had come from Plattsmouth, Nebraska (1880 US Census) to live in Laramie. Lizzie, Louis and Anna appear in the Roll of Honor for schools in the Laramie area several times from 1884 to 1886 (Daily Boomerang). Lizzie was born January 6, 1871, so she would have been 15 years old in July of 1886, perhaps old enough to witness a wedding. Lizzie Langhoff died in Laramie on April 25, 1892 (Wyoming: Find a Grave Index 1850-2012) at the age of 21.
~
Methodist Episcopal Church in Laramie in 2002 – this is the back and side of the original church which was rolled across the street to its present position
~
Ella and Frank did not stay in Laramie for long. In the 1890s they lived in Denver Colorado where my grandfather Leo was born in 1890.
~
Leo Norman, born 1890
~
Unfortunately, Ella and Frank’s marriage did not last. I have the paperwork for their Divorce Decree in 1896. Nevertheless, I owe my existence to their decade-long marriage and the sense of adventure their short time in Laramie has brought to my own life.
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
searching the newspapers #2
Using the search features available, I have been looking in the Wyoming newspapers of the 1800s for any item about my great-grandfather. It is slow work, partly because I don’t want to miss anything, partly because I am easily distracted by various interesting adds and articles.
~
You may recall that I already know of an item about my great-grandfather in the July 26, 1886 edition of the Laramie ‘Daily Boomerang’ (page 4). On July 25, 1886, he fell from his horse and broke his collar bone, only a day after he and my great-grandmother Ella were married.
~
~
If only to show that I am being careful about my search, I have now found a corroborating article in the ‘Cheyenne Daily Sun’ for July 28, 1886 (page 3).
~
~
I will never know if Frank was riding his own horse, or if he had to hire one from a place like Emery’s Livery Stable (in the add just to the right of the article).
~
When we visited Laramie in 2002, I misread the article slightly and talked non-stop about how my great-grandfather had ridden his horse into the hills. Do you see any mention of hills in either article? Nevertheless, I was anxious to drive up into the hills east of Laramie, to see the landscape he might have seen. The road cuts there showed a orange-pink bedrock and I brought a small chunk back with me to remember Frank’s unfortunate ride. Looks a little ghostly under the scanner …
~
~
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
searching the newspaper archives
Still on the trail of my great-grandfather, I have turned for a short time to the wonderful source of the newspaper archive. This may not uncover any new leads about my relative, but it is a fascinating way to search.
~
I know from my Aunt’s earlier search for information, my great-grandfather (Frank Norman) and great-grandmother (Ella Hawk) were married in Laramie, Wyoming on July 24, 1886. I have written before about my great-grandmother Ella and her father, Josiah Hawk, who was a shoemaker in Pennsylvania (https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/occupation-shoemaker/). In 2002, we drove out to Laramie as part of a vacation adventure, and saw where Frank and Ella were married. It was amazing to know I was standing where they did so long ago!
~
My present search for Frank has taken me to the pages of the ‘Daily Boomerang’, a newspaper in Laramie. This was a four page daily paper, reporting local and national events and providing advertising for Laramie in the 1880’s and 1890’s and beyond. It included lots of local tid-bits in the ‘Personal Paragraphs’, ‘Personal Points’ and ‘About Town’ sections. The ‘Laramie Boomerang’ continues today.
~
~
In 2002, when I visited Laramie, I spent part of the day looking at the fragile paper archives of the ‘Daily Boomerang’. Although my time was short, I was able to find out a little about the Minister who married Frank and Ella.
~
Now, a little more than a decade later, I am able to access, online, every page of the paper. This is thanks to the Wyoming Newspaper Project. The project has converted over 800,000 pages of Wyoming newspapers into searchable digital format. Today, all I have to do is type the searchword ‘Norman’ to find if Frank or Ella are mentioned in the pages of any of over one hundred Wyoming newspapers ! To search these papers, have a look at http://www.wyonewspapers.org .
~
I know this effort may turn up some results since I already know of one article, found by my Aunt, about my great-grandfather. On July 26, 1886, only two days after their wedding in Laramie, Frank receives a short mention in the ‘Daily Boomerang’.
~
~
Just a little below the center of the page above, under ‘About Town’, it says:
Frank Norman, while out riding yesterday, was thrown from his horse and had his collar bone broken.
I know from later records that Frank made his living as a ‘hod carrier’, part of a bricklaying team. The ‘hod carrier’ is the worker who carries bricks on a hod – a v-shaped wooden carrier with a handle, carried over the shoulder. A collar bone injury would have been a hard turn of events for someone whose work involved carrying heavy loads. It must have been a tradgedy for the couple newly married.
~
I have a little work ahead of me since I want to look at all possible entries in the newspaper about Frank or Ella from the time of their marriage to about 1892 when Frank and Ella were living in Denver, Colorado. There may be nothing more to find, and the search is made complicated because a common breed of horse for sale in Wyoming at the time – the ‘Norman’ !
~
I will keep you up to date on my search for information about my great-grandfather. Have you ever used newspapers to search for information about a member of your family?
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
snags in the search for my ancestors
I have spent a lot of the weekend searching the genealogy records for information on the whereabouts of my great-grandfather before 1887 when he married my great-grandmother. It seems he had a common name and a simple search turns up a bewildering array of possibilities. Also, some of the facts do not seem to aid in the search. For example, I know he was born in Bethany, Missouri, but the only person in the census record with his name is about 10 years too young.
~
To find my great-grandfather, I have looked at endless family trees, searched through long lists of possible relatives on http://www.Ancestry.com and looked at every person who lived in southern Wyoming and vicinity in 1880! I have come to know, quite well, at least three families associated with a person of the same name and age as my great-grandfather only to discover a fact that makes a connection with my family impossible.
~
My post for today is only to appeal to you to think of your future family when you keep the records of your own life. Someday, my descendants will look for me (I hope they will be interested) and they will be frustrated by three mistakes I have made in record-keeping:
~
1. they will be disappointed to learn I have not been very consistent about my name. First, in my work, I used my maiden name as well as my married name. Second, I have always been called by my second given name but government documents refer to me by my first name. Only last week, I was almost turned away for an appointment at the hospital because I forgot they might list me by my first name.
~
2. they will be dismayed to see that, although I have nice, legible handwriting, I have not always been careful about filling out forms. In fact, I know I have been very sloppy on several occasions.
~
3. they will cry when they find all the photos I have taken over the years. I have only identified people and dates in a small percentage of our home photos. When I look over our photos, I try to add information, but often I only scribble the first names of the people in the photos and I frequently have to guess at the date a photo was taken.
~
When I look at my own assemblage of family information, I encounter these problems quite often. For example, who were the young women whose photos I have in my family history collection? My Mom thought perhaps they were friends of her grandmother at nursing school in Boston. I treasure their photos, but I will never know who they were.
~
And I may never find, with any certainty, the whereabouts of my great-grandfather in 1860, 1870 and 1880.
~
~
~
~
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
family history – the Johnson brothers
If you have followed my blog for a while, you may be wondering what has happened to my virtual biking along the northern coast of New Brunswick.
~
Well, this is what happened. As I cycled one day, I took a side road. It was a narrow road I had not travelled in quite a few years. And as I cycled, I felt drawn further and further into the past. I began to explore this past, lured by wiggling leaves that popped up as I biked along. Yes, you have guessed it … I found myself at http://www.Ancestry.ca , building a forest of family trees.
~
I discovered I could learn about my family quite quickly… thirty minutes of biking gives me time to explore an ancestor or two … I can travel back in time to the 1880 USA Census to search the byways of Wyoming or the country roads of Pennsylvania … I can discover great-grandparents I have known for some time, or great-great grandparents I have never encountered before.
~
So, for a little while, my exercise program will not be about discovering new places, but about discovering new family members. I promise to return to the present and my virtual geographic travels eventually.
~
The first people I have met on my new travels are the Johnson brothers, my great-granduncles. They are the sons of my great-great-grandfather James Johnson. My Mom was very interested in this part of our family and worked to leave us a little of their history. I have photos of most of them, including a family grouping in a sepia tin-type. The original tin-type is small, about 2″ by 3″. Tin-types are photos imprinted on a metal surface. Most tin-types are on iron, coated with black paint or lacquer. This type of photo was popular from the 1860s through to the 1910s.
~
some of the Johnson brothers in an old tin-type photo
~
The brothers were John (born 1849 ), Daniel (born 1851), James (1854), Alexander (1857), and Isaac (1866). They had two sisters Kate (born 1847) and Mary Jane (my grandmother, born 1859). There is some question about which of the brothers are in the photo, but my Mom had it figured out based on the boys’ ages, and photos of them at an older age.
~
Only a few details survive for the brothers. I know birth and death dates, as well as the names of wives and children. John, James and Alexander were farmers. John and James were adventurers and visited the west. Daniel and Isaac were doctors.
~
So much information is lost, but for now, I am enjoying small discoveries about their lives.
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
the unknown thousands – family history
Today, I will divert a little from my usual topics and mutter about genealogy. Along with my other projects, I try to keep learning about my family. Fortunately, I have a lots of materials to look at: family letters, post cards, diaries, well-researched family trees and so on.
~
I am always surprised at how much is lost. Some of this is due to the loss of records, some is due to the overwhelming numbers of people involved in the family history of just one person. When I first became interested in family history, I thought about how many lives have contributed to make ‘me’. The numbers of ‘grandparents’ add up quickly as I go back in time.
~
| Generation | Numbers of parents/‘grandparents’ |
| 1 (me) | |
| 2 (my parents) | 2 |
| 3 (my grandparents) | 4 |
| 4 (my great-grandparents) | 8 |
| 5 (great-great-grandparents) | 16 |
| 6 | 32 |
| 7 | 64 |
| 8 | 128 |
| 9 | 256 |
| 10 | 512 |
| 11 | 1024 |
| 12 | 2048 |
| 13 | 4096 |
| 14 | 8192 |
| 15 | 16384 |
| 16 | 32768 |
| 17 | 65536 |
| 18 | 131072 … and so on … |
~
So, to make any one of us, it took thousands of people. I knew this before, but knowing I have 131 thousand ‘grand-parents’ in 18 generations is unsettling.
~
I began by just trying to know the names of those 16 great-grandparents in the 5th generation. I have them almost figured out. Those with an * beside their name have a published family tree. Those with a ? are uncertain.
~
Charles Clark (*) (farmer)
Margaret Aitcheson
James Johnson (farmer)
Mary MacIntosh
Lewis Norramon (?) (farmer)
Mary ……. (?)
Josiah Hawk (*) (shoemaker) https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/occupation-shoemaker/ )
Sara Kresge (*)
William Spavold (carpenter) (shipwrecked off Briar Island) (https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/briar-island-rock-2-the-shipwreck/ )
Phelena Warner
Robert Manzer
Eleanor Evan
George Cook
Eliza Jane Smith
George Sabean (*)
Jane Mullen
~
~
About some, like William Spavold, I know quite a lot (thanks to the efforts of my Dad). I am also gradually assembling a history of my great-grandmother Ella Hawk (daughter of Josiah and Sara) (thanks to the efforts of my aunt). The sad thing is, all I will ever know about most of these people is a name. In spite of this, I owe them my existence.
~
my drawing of William Spavold, his mother and brother after their shipwreck
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
small scale economy – picking berries
~
~
small-scale economy
~
my box of berries spilled
on the footpath,
between leaves
of Kalmia and wintergreen
hawkweed and cow pies
~
the cousins, their boxes brimming,
stood gawking, dismayed,
I was certain they were thinking
dumb city girl, spilled her berries
box only half full anyway
~
instead, they gathered around me
sympathy in every hand
scooped most of the berries
into the box
added a few from nearby bushes
~
seventeen cents he paid me
half the value of a box at full
the cousins had picked a crate or more,
remembered the wasted berries, left on the trail
and wept at the loss
~
~
Published as: ‘small scale economy’, Canadian Stories 16 (94), December 2013/ January 2014
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
beekeeper
~
beekeeper
~
1.
~
bees smoke-drowsy rag smoulders swung slowly protected thick
in net and cotton wicking folds into beeswax candle flame
pours golden through panes in the honeycomb
streamers sweet circles sink into bread
~
hollows
yeast-filled
and honey
~
2.
~
bee sting
unexpected
~
beekeeper
never flinches
~
flicks the bee
from his fingers
~
spit and mud
for a poultice
~
~
Published as: ‘beekeeper’, Canadian Stories 17 (95), February/March 2014
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
nichepoetryandprose 