nichepoetryandprose

As I look into my family history, I am often amazed by the changes that occur in families in short periods of time.  An example is found in the early life of my great-grandmother Ella – Mary Ellen (Hawk) Norman.  In the ten years from 1860 to 1870, she experienced dramatic changes in her family.

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The 1860 US Census shows Ella’s family living in Chestnut Hills Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania.  The family included Josiah Hawk (Ella’s father, a shoemaker), Sallyann (Sarah Ann) (Ella’s mother), Owen and Ella (Ellen).  Mariah Hawk, Ella’s paternal grandmother was also living with them.

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In the next decade, the family underwent remarkable change.  First, five children were born – Flora, Sarah, twins Edwin and Otto, and Emma.  Of these, Otto and Emma did not live (Josiah and Sallie had already lost a child in 1957).  Then Josiah died on June 28, 1865, a month and a half after Emma.  Also, sometime during the ten-year period, Maria Hawk, who lived until 1880, went to live elsewhere.

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John Franklin       born Sept. 15, 1855     (died Dec. 26, 1857, two years old)

Owen                       born April 21, 1857 (death date unknown)

Ellen                        born January 4, 1859   (Ella, my great-grandmother, died 1933)

Flora Alice              born June 25, 1860 (death date unknown)

Sarah Ann              born Dec. 11, 1863  (Sadie, my great grand-aunt, died 1921)

Edwin W.               born 1864 (Ed, my great grand-uncle, died 1940)

Otto                         born 1864 (death date unknown, before 1870)

Emma Lydia          born Jan. 7, 1865 (died May 9, 1865, 4 months old)

From: Atwood James Shupp, 1990, Genealogy of Conrad and Elizabeth (Borger) Hawk: 1744 – 1990, Gateway Press, Baltimore).

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In 1870, Ella’s mother, Sallie, married again to Joshua Popplewell.

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The 1870 US Census shows the results of all this change.  In 1870, the family is living in Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.  The family now includes Joshua Popplewell (step-father), Salie (Sara Ann) (mother), Owen, Mary (Ella), Flora, Edwin and Sarah (Sadie).

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The person most affected by these changes must have been my great-great-grandmother, Sara Ann (Sallie).  During the decade she gives birth to five children (including a set of twins), her husband dies, she remarries, and she changes the location of her home at least once.  In the only photo I have of her, she seems a formidable woman, steeled to withstand all manner of disruption in her life.  I also see great sadness in her eyes.

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my great-great-grandmother Sallie – Sarah Anne (Kresge) Hawk Popplewell (1835 – 1910)

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Our lives are dynamic, full of change.  New people enter our lives, others leave.  The place we call home shifts to a new location.  We go to school and graduate, we take a new job, we retire.  Our focus changes, along with our point of view.  Some change is dramatic, some subtle.  Some change makes us laugh, some makes us cry.

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What changes do you see in the decades of your life?

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Copyright  2014  Jane Tims