I am very pleased!

A little while ago [ okay, last  two years - I really need to remember to hit the publish button] I met my cousin in Boston for one our routine visits to NEHGS for a two day marathon of genealogy, exploring, shopping, dining and catching up. First of all, I love being able to take the train or bus into Boston! I really don't mind driving in Boston, but I really dislike parking there.

Then there is the hotel where we always stay. I'm sorry I can't tell the name or location of it. I will say that there are no night long parties or errant fire alarms ringing at this hotel. Which pretty much makes it ideal.

I was amazingly focused on this trip. My three top research topics were: where did my 6th ggf John Mack come from, where did he land, and what was he like? Legend has it that he came from Inverness, landed in the new world about 1680 settling in Amesbury/Salisbury, Massachusetts by 1681. The first record of John Mack that I have found, is his marriage to Sarah Bagley in 1681. I know, there ought to be more information, but it is hiding I think.

With the help of the staff at NEHGS, I found books that vaguely recorded his arrival and existence. I think I found two. As an aside, I have been looking for John Mack for about twenty years now, and still have little to show for it. I do have the bare bones: birth, marriage, children, locations, and death records. But there are also speculative writings that I just cannot add to my family tree. Great stories, but no evidence to back them up.

John Mack allegedly comes from wealth and postion - even has a crest and a motto. His history is astonishing in some writings. But there are no records to back any of this up. So, I searched and searched. And I was rewarded.

I decided to look for mention of John in the towns where he lived. I started with the the local history section of the library and went chronologically through the towns he and his family lived in. Amesbury/Salisbury, MA, Concord, MA, and Lyme, CT.

Here is the short form of the results:

Amesbury/Salisbury: marriage record, birth of first child (I had already found these years ago, so I moved on to see where his inlaws and their relatives lived. So they - the Bagleys, and Colbys are on the maps and listed in the rosters. I will have look deeper into these records and genealogies and hope there will be more than a mention of John's surname.

Concord, MA: For such a small town (in 1693) one would have thought there would be a mention of John and his family. Beyond birth records of the next five children, I did not find any mention of John. I will have to explore Concord on my own. I did find a little book that describes the houses of early Concord and the people who built and lived in them. Not John, of course. Not a total waste of time though. There just isn't much in the library of pre-revolutionary Concord.

Lyme, CT: John and family moved to Lyme by 1697, the year my 5th ggf was born, and where John and Sarah lived out their lives. Aside from fathering six more children, I found out the following tidbits from the records:

From the book Lyme Records 1667 - 1730 A Literal Transcription of the Minutes of the Town




Meetings with Marginal Notations, to which hath been Appended Land Grants and Ear Marks. Compiled & Edited by Jean Chandler Burr. Published by the Peqout Press Inc. Stonington, Connecticut Anno Domini 1968: [ I have spelled everything the way it was written]

Before the 8thJune 1702:  "At the same metting John Macke was admitted an inhabitance"

Before the 15th of December 1702: "New Highway Voted  At the same metting it was voted that land betwixt goodman persons land  and Henory benets shall lay for a perpetuall High way leading to good man Macke lott of 35 acres at Chestnut"

The 14th of Desember 1704: " Town Officers for the coming year... At the same metting John Mack was chose Constable for the year ensewing. Sworn."

This 11 Desember 1705: "At the same metting Aaron Huntley and John Mack Sener was Chose to be Constabls for the year ensewing- Sworne."

Before This 16 December 1706: "At the same metting John Mack wase Chose Comstabell for the year ensewing."

This 16 December 1706:
Eleven Year's  Arrears Due Minister :"... It was voated that the Constabell now Chosen John Mack senr shall gather Mr. Noyes present Rate for this year ensewing and that the said Constabell is hearby impowered to gather the arrears of the Reverent Mr. Noyes old arrears from the yeare 1695 to this time be paid the said Mack to have fees according to Lawe of thos parsons that are delinkquent that is to pay all thos that are now inhabitance.

This 21 Desember 1708: "at the same metting John Mack and John Harvey was chosen collectors of Mr. noyes Rate this year. At the same metting... John Mack Sr  was Chosen survaiers of the highways to sarve in there severall quarters or in all the Towne."

This 24 December 1708:" At the same metti John Mack Sener refused to sarve in the place of a collector and was fred in this present towne metteing and Timothy was Chose Collector for the year ensewing in John macks Rownes"

"School Committee Chosen- At the same metting it was voated that there shall be a Committy Chosen to settel a Town schole accoeding to law: the Committy are Leftenant Brunson, old John Mack, Gorg Waye, John Marvin old goodman Brockway: voated"

And so on until his death in 1721. John Mack Juner was chosen survayer of the highway in 1709, while John Mack Sener was chosen as lister. In the following years John Mack Sener still was involved in the Town's working as second Constable for the year 1714, still collecting the Reverend Noyes' Rate. He declined the position in following years. John Mack Sener was appointed to the position of Lot Layer in 1714 when all of the current Lot Layers were replaced.His job was to lay out all lots or lands granted by the town and legally enter in the town book.

Thanks to this little record book, I certainly gained a bit more insight into my 6th ggf's life, in his later years. I am pleased to know that he was civic minded, and felt rooted in his last hometown.

I just wish my ancestors kept diaries.

When I was a kid...

my whole world was only a couple of acres big. Most of my neighbors were my closest relatives. We lived on our great-grandfathers farm. Our house was in the middle of an apple orchard. Oh, how I loved those trees! All decked out with a profusion of blossoms in the spring, that smelled like nothing else in the world. The trees hummed with the busy little bees gathering nectar and spreading pollen. The lovely shade in the summer, and fabulous limbs for climbing and swinging from. In fall there were sooo many apples! And again the humming, but this time it was yellow jackets buzzing around windfall apples, so ripe they squished between your toes. Cider, apple pies. Mmmmm.

Just a little reminder that things were pretty great in the early 50s.

Okay. I'm reduced to begging now.

Are you a Russell or a Tirrell/Terrell/Terrill? Does your family hail from Connecticut in the late 1600s? Do you have a Ransom R. Russell or a Loly Terrell in your family tree? IF you do, would you please contact me - I am trying to find my 3x grandparents.

Thanks to Ancestry.com I have been combing through the probate packets, and so far have not found the Russell connection. Haven't gotten to Terrill, Terrell/ Tirrell yet.

You would make me one happy camper if we were related.

Thanks!

p.s. Yes I have poured through census data and B, D, M vital records of Waterbury, Prospect, New Haven County, Cheshire and Naugatuck. I only have one record that ties them together. Their marriage on 27 November 1820 in Waterbury, Litchfield, CT USA. And Ransom's probate records.

Well, this is interesting.

I had a few minutes to wait for the coffee pot to finish perking before starting my morning reading ritual, so I went to ancestry.com on my ipad, because, sometimes it is nice to cut out all the page clutter, right? I started with my tree, and began to review the information - a kind of refresher on the lesser knowns. I got as far as the Dikemans, reading through nodding to myself, checking sources, eliminating those annoying factoids that ancestry likes to add to fill in the gaps, and came upon this.

My great uncle Russell Stanley Dikeman was born in Afghanistan?

What? Ancestry.com you've got some explaining to do. I'm 99.9% certain he was born in New Haven, CT, where his parents were living at the time of his birth. (Although it would conveniently explain a certain ethnicity that keeps showing up in my dna mix).

This is a new development.

Well, let me put it this way - I would have noticed it before now, had I put Afghanistan in the record of Russell S. Dikeman.  Russell was born in 1875.

I have always felt a little sad about him. He died at the age of two in 1877. In New Haven. He is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery with his parents Oscar and Lillian Russell Dikeman.

Oddly, when I went to my computer to look into this, I found that Russell Stanley Dikeman was not listed as being born in Afghanistan. And he was also listed as Infant son Dikeman. Ooops time to clean up his record. I think everything is as it should be now.


I wonder if there are any more jewels in my ipad family tree?

Ever check out your own birth certificate?

I was sorting through papers the other day, as one does in an effort to clear a workspace, or try to fit just one more piece of paper onto an overstuffed pile of to be filed papers.

Ah, that's where I put my birth certificate! 

For some unknown reason I read it through again - though, honestly, I do remember the particulars of my birth day. What I had not registered in my brain before, is what my father's occupation was at the time.

My father was a sales engineer with Revere Corporation of America. Huh, that I did not know. The Revere Corporation of America was based in Wallingford, CT. Not too far from where my family lived at the time in Woodbridge. According to the Smithsonian Libraries Trade Literature Collections, the corporation designed and manufactured "electronic weighing and force measurement systems for industry; load cells for industrial and aerospace electrical engineering applications; readout and control instrumentation; inventory control systems." Later, my father went to work for Northeast Engineering Co., also based in Wallingford. By the 1960's, my father had gone off on his own to build a small company manufacturing fluid dynamic control switches - some of which I actually assembled on school vacations. He later sold the patent he had and moved on to other interests. 

Ah, the things we learn when we really read our documents!

Kiss me I'm 32% Irish!

Or so says Ancestry.com. 

So I start thinking about how this came about. 

My parents are both US born.
My grandparents are 3 US born and 1 NS, Canada born.
My great grandparents are 4 NS, Canada born and 4 US born.
My 2x great grandparents are 8 NS, Canada born and 8 US born.
My 3x great grandparents are 16 NS, Canada born and 16 US born.

Then it gets a little messy. Some of the older Canadian ancestors came from Scotland, Ireland,  Germany and the US. Most of the US ancestors are old New England ancestors, and therefore English generally speaking, except the Dutch and French ancestors.

So why is about 1/3 of my ethnic makeup Irish? My guess is that the "Scottish" family ancestors could be as much Irish as Scottish. Same for the English I suppose, but to a lessor degree.

It's a mystery. But one that I will embrace as I continue to learn how to play my celtic harp, drink Guinness and sing lovely ballads.

Sláinte na bhfear agus go maire na mná go deo!

Hi. My name is Sally and I am a procrastinator...

Actually, I tend to procrastinate, but I also get right on things when it behooves me to. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference because I do this all in my head first, then decide to act, or not.

So, I was in the basement recently, looking for my cheapo rock tumbler, that is filled with not so cheap stainless steel rods and shot. (Otherwise I would go out and buy another one so I can move forward with a jewelry project I started in November). Well, I did find a lot of stuff that wasn't a rock tumbler.

But I did find a Cool Thing. Amongst my mother's treasures there was a portfolio that I realized I had not even peeked into. Good thing I did.

In Memory of 

Mr. Israel Stoddard

who died August 8th AD

1794 in the 63 year of 

his age.

I wondered if he was a relative. It would make sense, but my mother has been know to record gravestones, just because she liked them. So, I spent a little time looking through my family tree, and yes, he is my 6th great grand uncle, according to Ancestry.com.

In the same packet was this interesting rubbing:

HERE LYES BURIED THE BODY

OF LIEV MEHUMAN HINSDEL

DEC. MAY Y 9 1736

IN THE 63 YEAR OF HIS 

AGE. WHO WAS THE FIRST 

MALE CHILD BORN IN THIS

PLACE AND WAS TWICE CAPTIVATED

BY THE INDIAN SALVAGES.

This gravestone rubbing is from Old Deerfield, Massachusetts. Not a relative, I'm pretty sure, but here is a peculiar thing. Three days after the discovery of these gravestone rubbings, I received an email from my cousin relating the experiences of our 8th great-aunt Eunice Mather Williams. The email contained a document from the Deerfield History Museum - it is a harrowing account of the capture and death of Eunice and a number of their children. If you are interested, the link is:

http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/popups/people.do?shortName=EuniceMWilliams

It still gives me the shivers when I think about it. Not only the story, but the timing of finding the rubbings and hearing from my cousin.

It also reminded me of the family factoid that someone in the family was Indian. This may very well be the link to that fact. Eunice's daughter Eunice survived the capture and journey to Canada, married a man from the Kanienkehaka tribe, and had three children.

Maybe I should spend a little more time in the basement.

I cannot believe that it has been over a year....

I am sorry.

Ever hear about writer's block? Life getting in the way? Well, it is real. On the up side, I have continued to search for family and actually succeeded in several ways. I am also a Marine Docent with the University of New Hampshire's Sea Grant Program. Yay. I think it is in my genes - the ocean that is. I spent this past summer volunteering on the Blue Ocean Society's whale watches. Amazing creatures out in the ocean! Learned some new skills, learned a lot about the ocean, it's environments and it's inhabitants. I now know enough to know that we hardly know anything about our ocean.

On the homefront - we remodeled the kitchen; a new grandbaby was added to the family; we went to Sicily for a month with granddaughter #1; we started harp lessons and built two new harps. I have my lampworking studio set up and running finally.

Well, enough about me...

I'm really excited about Ancestry.com's newest enhancements. No, sadly, not the way it looks. I find it tiresome to have to find the information I am looking for with all the bells and whistles that they have added. It takes up so much room on the screen! However, it is a done deal, so I am making great use of the additions that I do enjoy, namely the Wills and Probate database and in the dna department - Shared Matches. I have been looking up all of my heretofore virtually unknown ancestors - unknown because I know so little about them... I certainly have a much better understanding of a few of my ggfathers now. I also have a will or two from some older ancestor ggmothers. There is nothing like pinning down the children once and for all!

On the dna side, I made a wonderful discovery a couple of days ago using the Shared Matches function. I was able to find the common ancestor from someone I had no previous clue who the common ancestor was - we are 3rd cousins. Yay! I also discovered a 2nd cousin, and made that connection. I can't say it wasn't hard work along the way. I don't fully understand how it all works, but I am making baby steps towards understanding how to get information out of all the data one gets from taking a dna test. Do it. I really don't think you will regret it. If you need some more encouragement, please read these blogs:

http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/category/dna/

http://dna-explained.com/

http://segmentology.org

www.thegeneticgenealogist.com

Just to get you started.

So, I just ordered my mtdna full sequence test from FamilyTreeDNA. Most of my discovered matches have been on my paternal side, so now I want to see if I can find some maternal connections.

While I can't make any promises to jump right back into regular blogging, I am going to make the attempt. It's a big busy world out there, and I am just one little person. All I can say is I will do my best.

Cheers!

Meglio tardi che mai!

Or... better late than never.

So, how have I passed the time since my last posting? Well, studying Italian language for one thing. Love the duolingo app! Why, might you ask? On the off chance that we go back to Italy for a vacation to visit my husband's family and/or do a bicycle trip to Sicily with the oldest granddaughters.

Other than that, I have been seriously researching my brick wall people for whom I will add details (as much as I know) in the hope that someone out there recognizes them and can offer a bit more information on them. So, in no particular order, since they all are lacking biographies...

Ransom R. Russell - my 3rd great grandfather
b. abt 1796 in Connecticut [perhaps]
d. 31 August 1847 in Prospect, CT, buried in Hillside Cemetery, Naugatuck, CT
m. Loly Terrill/Terrell/Tirrell 27 November 1820 in Waterbury, CT
ch: Lucius, Rufus Gustavus, Henry, Edwin, Henry Dwight, Caroline
He was a CT state representative 1841-1846.
No idea who his parents are.

Loly Terrell[etc] my 3rd great grandmother
b. abt. 1802 in Waterbury, CT
d. 7 August 1874, buried in Hillside Cemetery Naugatuck, CT
m. Ransom R. Russell 27 November 1820 in Waterbury, CT
ch: as above
No idea who her parents are.

Caroline Anne Robinson/Robertson - my 2nd great grandmother
b. abt. 1838 in Nova Scotia
d. ????
m. William (John) Mailman 7 April 1860 at age 22 Tumbling Dam, Lunenburg, NS Canada
ch:Minnie, Howard Brenton, Joseph Archibald, Caroline, Beatrice
step ch: James Albert, Louisa, Eliza, William, Martha, William, Isabella, Albert.
Lived in Mill Village, NS until the 1891 census, then no longer appears. No death info found.
Have not found her in US either, where her three daughters and possibly one or two son(s) emigrated to the Boston area.

Emma Georgina Young - my great grandmother
b. 26 July 1860 in Nova Scotia, Canada
d. 23 July 1947 in Pinellas, FL
m. James Brinton Johnstone (b. in Shelburne, NS img. Winthrop MA) 23 July 1881 in Boston, MA
ch: Maude Sherlock, Blanche Evelyn
She immigrated to the US in 1881.
Her parents are listed on the marriage record as John and Ellen.
They lived in Winthrop, MA for the rest of their lives. They are buried in Reading, MA

Helen Gilpin Sherlock
b. 23 January 1831 poss. Yarmouth, NS Canada
d. 13 July 1906 Winthrop, MA
m. 28 January 1849 James Pervis Johnstone in Shelburne, NS Canada
ch:Eunice, Helen Norah, Catherine (Kate) Elizabeth, James Brinton, Agnes West, Emma A.,
    Emma Maria, Charlotte Mitchell, Frank Sherlock, Addie Yerxa.
No idea who her parents are. Gilpin? Sherlock?
She lived in Winthrop and Chelsea MA, USA

Oh, there are plenty more, but these are the most bothersome at the moment.
If you know anything about any of the above mentioned, please let me know!

Thanks!

I'm feeling rather pleased with myself...

I know I have been grumbling a bit about how I can't access my Ancestry.com dna information on my pc (it has been since before the holidays!) - and all I get is this:

;-[

Luckily for me, I enjoy cuddling up with my iPad and a cup of coffee in the mornings to read the various blogs I subscribe to. A few days ago, after reading my favorite blogs, I meandered over to my Ancestry.com app to see what havoc I could cause trying to add records to my tree from the shaky leaves. 

[A note to Ancestry.com - I'm sorry, but I do not like the way information is added from records on the app. Much to my dismay, and way more often than not, the result is I get duplicate ancestors. How about a nice little YouTube video on how to add records within the app, without compromising what is already properly placed in the tree?]

So, I was sitting there by the wood stove, generally enjoying life in New England in winter, when I went to Ancestry.com and, before it actually loaded all my information, I was thinking, hummmm, I wish the app had my DNA information so I could at least look at the new dna information that I just received an email about. The app opened, as usual, with the last shaky leaf hint for one of my Ives relatives - one I didn't want to add. So, in trying to figure out how to back out of it, I spied a most wonderful surprise!  

Not only do I get to see the dna matches, but I can sort them. By shaky leaf! Do you know what that means? In most cases, the shaky leaf means we share an ancestor! For sure! Except the bogus one I got that matched "Joseph" instead of Joseph Ives. The matching tree didn't have anyone with the Ives surname at all, which leads me to wonder, once again, how the matches are really made.

The really exciting news however, are the matches themselves. I am slowly working my way through the list of matches. Here is the product of a few days work.

1st Cousin match: 

No surprise here - it's my cousin who lived next to me growing up. Needless to say, we share my mother's and her father's side of the Stoddard family.

4^th cousins:

father's side - Johan Frederich Hahn, Eva Maria Hahn/Hamm –  4^th ggp

father's side – William Kelly Cohoon, Elizabeth Gallop 5^th ggp; 

                       possibly Eliza Mehlman 1813-1905

mother's side – Samuel Ives, Ruth Atwater,6^th ggp; 

                        Mary Yale 7th ggm; Ruth Peck 7th ggm

Distant cousins:

mother's side - Eliakim Stoddard, Joanna Curtis 6th ggp

mother's side – Samson Stoddard, Susannah Nettleton 4^th ggp

father's side – Samuel Mack, Lydia Brainerd 4^th ggp

mother's side – Samuel Hawley 6^th ggf,  but different ggm

father's side – Abner West, Jane Look Cottle  7^th ggp

father's side – Aaron Huntley, Deborah DeWolf 6^th ggp

father's side - Aaron Huntley, Deborah DeWolf 6^th ggp;

                      John Mack, Sarah Bagley 6^th ggp

mother's side - Frederick Dyckman, Ann Chapman Sturges 5^th ggp

father's side – John Mack, Sarah Bagley 6^th ggp

father's side – John Philip Spannagel, Anna Maria 5^th ggp

mother's side – John Stoddard, Mary Atwood 5^th ggp

mother's side – Samuel Hawley, Patience Nichols 6^th ggp

mother's side – Rev. Anthony Stoddard, Prudence Goodrich Welles 7^th ggp

mother's side – Samuel Hawley, Patience Nichols 6^th ggp 

father's side – David OKilley, Anna Bills 7th ggp

mother's side - bogus leaf match "joseph"

A good haul, if you ask me!

I know I have a ton of distant cousins in the queue to go through. If you don't hear from me it's because a) you don't have a family tree; b) you only have a few people, and the ones that are not listed as private do not match anyone in my tree; or c) I can't see if we have matches because your tree is private; or d) we really are not dna related - as far as today's technology is concerned.

So, thanks to the cousins that are sharing their information! You are enriching both of our genealogical experiences.

Now, I do have a question. I did the mitochrondial dna test with Ancestry.com, so why do I get father side matches? Are these based more on shaky leaf rather than actual dna matches - in essence, simply coincidence? It isn't that I am not pleased with the results - I am very pleased. But what about all the people who haven't taken dna tests that do have shared shaky leaves? Couldn't we be matched with them as well? Perhaps outside the dna forum? The DNA thing is confusing enough, without clouding the issue with shaky leaves. In combination though, I do have very good results, so I wouldn't dare advise Ancestry.com to not do it anymore. Just wondering if they could also match shaky leaf people as a general rule without the DNA.

I know, it's been ages!

First, I apologize to you for temporarily abandoning my blog. Life got in the way.

I have had a very busy 10 months. Mostly packing up the household and moving it to the seacoast. There were some executive decisions concerning renovations and additions made as well. Living in two houses at one time is not something I would recommend. So, here I am, sitting in my house near the sea with a nice fire burning in the woodstove. Life is good, yet often complicated.

It is a new year and it is full of promise. Hopefully not promises that I cannot keep, but the exhilarating promise of finding new relatives, discovering more about the known and unknown, and most importantly, maybe, just maybe, finding the missing link.

In the past year, if you recall, I had my DNA tested. Twice. The initial testing was done through Ancestry.com. I have three confirmed matches on my mother's side of the tree the Ives and Stoddard families, and one on my father's side, the Gallup/Cahoon family.  It is very exciting. There may be more, but I have done a lot of comparing of trees and not come up with the person that ties someone to me. It's frustrating to have a genetic match, but not an obvious visible one.

I also did a second DNA test with 23andme because my sister wanted to do that one - I decided to take that test so that we could compare results. I have had fewer confirmed matches with 23andme, but more conversations with folks who come into the radar (so to speak) of the DNA results. With one person I have checked my tree against his and found some really surprising close calls. The wife [Lydia Brainerd] of my 4th great grandfather [Samuel Mack] - but not my 4th great grandmother - was the sister to his X-great grandmother - but not through his direct line either. There were a lot of folks who came from the same town Samuel lived in, so I knew a lot of the names. Sadly, no genetic match there yet. We may have a connection with Nathaniel Spencer or his wife Ruth Purple. Or one of the Spencer family members. Or Purple family. I just can't find it. A different person's match goes so far back into the Dyckman family, but I'm not absolutely sure of the connection. But, I guess genes don't lie.

 I do appreciate all of the matches that have links to their family trees. I am, however, surprised with the number of Ancestry.com matches where the surnames might match, but the locations do not, or vice versa; the locations match, but the surnames do not. I often wonder about the criteria used. Just how much comes from the wealth of data within the banks of information of Ancestry.com. What - you didn't know I was a skeptic? Genetics - what a wild and interesting place to explore!

New discoveries this year! I found a copy of a family chart that came in a box of photos from my uncle. It starts with people I don't know, but within a generation does involve the Russell family (a familiar name in my family) and the Starr family (not familiar) by the 6th generation, the Dikemans and Fairchilds  make an appearance and the rest looks a lot like my family tree. I have been busily checking out the people in the chart and comparing it with my family tree. As a result, I have more family members and a lot more records added to my tree. I don't know when the chart was created, but the starting person was born in 1922, so it isn't that much older than mine.

I found another Mailman relative living in Massachusetts. Joseph Archibald Mailman is Minnie Mailman Mack's brother, my great grand uncle. He died in Everett, MA in 1907. I'm still looking for Caroline, the mother of these children. She disappeared in Nova Scotia after the 1891 census, when she was 53 yrs old.

I went to Reading, MA to find my great grandparent's gravestone. I had already located my Mack grandparents- Harold Dean Mack and Blanche Johnstone Mack with my sister's help a couple of years ago.  A few months after that, I found out that my great grandparents were also buried in the same cemetery. When I got to the cemetery I searched all over the graveyard for them. Eventually I found them - I'm a little embarrassed to admit - actually, their names are on the back of Harold and Blanche's gravestone. I couldn't believe it! We took pictures of Harold and Blanche's headstone when we were there the first time. I don't know why we never walked around the stone to see if anything was on the back. Lesson learned!

Smart Matches and Shaky Leaves. I have family trees on both Ancestry and My Heritage. I like them each for different reasons. My simpler tree is on MH as I was making sure my info was correct as I was entering the data. I decided not to have all the siblings in MH, as I find it a little harder to put the information in, and more difficult to go back and edit. However, the biggest benefit so far, is a lot of my Canadian relatives are on MH and I have been Smart Matching as fast as I can. That said I have several hundred left to go on any given day. Naturally, given the way things work, I have many, many more matches with the older ancestors, which, now that I think about it, maybe it is a good thing we have a collective brick wall in 1653 the proposed date for John Mack's birth. I couldn't calculate the number of common relatives that I have for any of my 6^th great grandparents, not to mention the 13ths.

So, I say to you, dear xth cousin, I will get to your match as soon as I am able.

Shaky leaves on the other hand are a different matter. As of this morning, I have 5,541 hints – a veritable forest of shaky leaves. While most hints turn out to be related to my person of interest, I am finding more and more that do not. Similar names, but different circumstances from what the other 5-8 record hints are showing. Dates in particular are up to 50 yrs off. I think A.com needs to tweak that filter.

As of this time, I have stopped adding names in index records to my people. I just don't see how it will be useful. Particularly if I already have good vital records and a couple of local ones, including census records and tax bills, etc. I know it is good to get a lot of corroborating evidence, but is an index really evidence? I suppose if you have nothing else…

I am happy to report that my first attempts at using Evidentia have proven to be very successful. I chose to use a census record of a not well known family member. I did spend a lot of time my first go around. I am happy though, that for all the entry work I did, I got a really good understanding of what was going on with that person and his family. I did solve a mystery while I was at it - one I didn't even know I had. I think one of the most important parts of Evidentia is slowing down and having to answer questions about a person and having to commit to a reasonable conclusion. I also like having to mindfully judge the evidence as well. Each and every time.

It is way too easy, a convenience really, to put evidence into a niche, and think of it as a thing that carries a certain weight of authority, instead of what it individually is - just a record. Let it speak. Now tell me what is says.

I continue to volunteer at the New England Historical and Genealogical Society. I have had a lot of fun over the past few years working for NEHGS. I do computer entry work for them. You know all those handy dandy databases you like to search? Someone has to put all that data into a searchable file. You're welcome, it is my pleasure. I now can add proofreading and data mining to my rez. I must have inherited this ability from my son the computer expert. Hmmm, can inherited traits go both ways?

DNA is a tricky thing when you are starting out.

I did it again. I took another dna test with 23andme. I wanted my sister to also take the dna test, and she chose 23andme, so to get any sort of decent comparison going I decided to take it too. We also would like our nephew to take this test, but don't you know, he can't have it done. Oh, he is willing enough, but because he lives in Maryland, he can't take the test through 23andme (or Ancestry.com I bet). Seems there is another firm in MD that has the dna testing service all sewn up in that state. Which is a bummer for us, as he is the only direct line male left in the our Mack family. I hope 23andme gets that sorted out sooner than later.

So, I did get different results. Probably because the test wasn't identical to the Ancestry.com one. Oh, I am still about 99.9% European, but my British and Irish percentage has dropped to 15.4%. No Persian/Turkish/Caucasus. But 1.4% Scandinavian, 1% French and German, 72.4% unspecified Northern European, .5 non-specific Southern European and 9.2 nonspecific European. Oh and 2.7 Neanderthal.

My sister only shares 50% of my dna. And she is 3% Neanderthal. It's very interesting to compare our genetic makeup.

 I have four bonafide cousin matches with people on Ancestry.com - one first cousin I already knew about her - we grew up next door to each other- and three other folks I did not know about. We share 4th great grand parents, mostly. There are a lot of matches of surnames on Ancestry.com, but the locations are way off. It will be challenging to find the exact relative that we are supposedly connected by.

The matches on 23andme are more obtuse. The genealogy isn't touted as the most important. But one can see that we are indeed matched genetically. But finding the connection beyond the gene is a much larger challenge. I do like the health report aspect, and I am glad that I have participated in the surveys and contributed my dna results that may positively impact folks health-wise. Luckily I am a relatively healthy person, and the stats show that if I behave myself, I will have a good future health wise.

As for figuring this dna stuff out.... I hope those who have will continue to write about it and publish their thoughts online. It really helps. So thank you all who have, and all who will in the future. Just be sure of your data, and don't make things up please, I am really tired of all the nonsense that has made it to the internet.

I made a promise to myself...

... every day that it rains too hard to go outside, instead of going weeding the garden, I will scan some of the many photographs in my collection into the computer. A different kind of weeding shall we say?

Trying to organize (again) my digital genealogy data, I've decided on Family file folders nested into Surname file folders. I also have Census, US and Census, NS folders for records that are not already filed away in the family files. And, lastly - if I can't remember what file to use - I have the catchall Miscellaneous folder, the General History folder,  a General Map folder and a General Data folder. It might work - if I keep up with it with a weekly "sort and file-it-properly" day, that is.

In the midst of scanning photographs, I did learn a few new things. This particular batch of photographs came from my mother's desk. I always knew my mother had a quirky sense of humor and a decidedly artistic view of the world, but many of the photographs that she took of her children and grandchildren were pretty artsy. She seemed to have preferred a low-light from the side and a straight on shot - or a profile not quite silhouette, but pretty close. She definitely thought her grandchildren were interesting, as she often chronicled them doing things like this - an activity she totally instigated - she loved to get the grandkids outdoors and looking at neat things:

 Ian, Ives and Sarah out and about checking out some really cool 

stuff while their mothers are at work, ca. 1988?

The next find was a small bible - pocket sized and in a box. It is a bible given to my grandmother and grandfather on the date of their wedding. Clifford Ives Stoddard and Mildred Russell Dikeman were married on Saturday the 13th of October in 1906 in the New Haven Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church. James D.W. Perry Jr, the Rector of St. Paul's Church performed the ceremony.

Primary source ;-)

My mother didn't talk much about her years at Rollins College in Winter Park Florida. From what she did say, she really enjoyed the time spent there. She was a small town girl from Connecticut who ventured out of her element into Winter Park, FL and obviously flourished. The graduation ceremonies - apparently lasted a week from the few remnants I found - were held in 1940 and my mother received a few honors and participated in the ceremonies as well.

The headline below shows Joe Justice being awarded major honors...the reality is my mom shared being selected as an outstanding atheletes of the year. 

                                                                                            

Mom also made outstanding achievement in the study of art. Growing up, we could not look past our noses without seeing something Mom had created or designed. Although she did work for a while for an advertising company, after she married Pop, she gave up her work to become a mother, and created what she could while moving around the country and raising kids. She wasn't much of a writer, sadly; I would love to read what she thought of things. She did leave lots of little touches that so exemplify who she was and what was important to her.

 

The last photo is a mystery. There I am peeking over the back of a donkey. I know who owns the Mustang convertible, but for the life of me, I don't know where we are or what we are doing in the midst of these donkeys. Or are they mules? And how the heck could I forget an experience this out of the ordinary for me? I remember most of my travels - I even kept diaries during the momentous journeys, but this one has me stymied.

My guess is that it is in New England somewhere - that would tie in with the Mustang and its owner. Aviator type sunglasses dates it around early 70's. Maybe a spaceship scooped me up and gave me a drug to make me forget this?

I have no memory of this at all, but I do have the evidence. I expect, as the years roll on, there will be many more instances of forgotten photos. That is why I am in such a hurry to scan my photos!

Hmmmm..... very interesting!

While I have been waiting for my Ancestry.com DNA test results, I have been thinking about my first cousins. How alike we are in stature, and somewhat in our facial features; and yet we each have a different "stamp" on us from the non-Stoddard parent in the family. I think our most notable likeness is our toes. When got together during the summer a couple of years ago I noticed, since we were all wearing sandals at the time, that our toes were very similar.

I'm not sure, genetically speaking, what this means other than we are related and this toe shape is a dominant theme, but I would say our feet came from the same mold. Years ago, I thought my toes made me a freak of nature- everyone else I knew had toes that were shoe-shaped. I was pretty upset that my feet were not shoe-shaped; at least not in the then current fashion mode. Fifty odd years later, I look at my sister's feet, and my two girl cousin's feet and realized I wasn't all that unique. At some point over the past twenty years I did discover that my foot shape had a name and it is called Saxon. I have known all along that we came from Scotland and England, so the discovery was not a momentous one, but a nice confirming one.

So, you can imagine that I could hardly wait to open Ancestry.com email yesterday announcing the DNA test results were ready. Frankly, I wasn't expecting any big surprises, since I already had a pretty good idea where my ancestral families come from. So, the 92% British Isles ethnicity was not earth-shattering news to me. 

I did not expect this though - the other 8% was Persian/Turkish/Caucasus. 

Huh? 

I would have bet the farm on European, Other or Unknown; but not Persian/Turkish/Caucasus. I immediately thought about the Mehlman family, who fled "Germany" in 1752 - perhaps the family did some traveling before they left Germany?

Then I noticed that I had one match from that 8% ethnic group. Whoopie!

I have to say I was really excited - at last, some confirmation of speculation!!! But no. The match was from my Stoddard family. We have a new 5th cousin once removed!- we share Samson Stoddard, my 4th great grandfather! We also share some other families, understandably; Atwood, Cooke, Nettleton, Richards and Turner. It turns out that my match person and I also have British Isle shared ethnicity, and it would make sense, since Anthony Stoddard came from England. 

So, why did the match came up under the Persian/Turkish/Caucasus ethnicity and not the British Isle ethnicity? Granted my research only go back to the 1500's in England. I wonder how soon someone will publish a book on how to figure out which family actually comes from a DNA derived ethnicity. I suppose it is time to hit the history books again.

I did get a lot of Ancestry.com "matches" from the British Isles ethnicity, but I have only been able to find two with closely related surnames that are in the same geographical location. Surprising to me, they are not "Mayflower" people as I expected. Rather they are from the Stoddard line. Ives, Russell, Clark and Tirrell. As I understand it, the more people take the DNA test, the better mapped we will be. So, are the Stoddard surname people out there getting tested and other surname families not so much?

Well, there sure is a lot to ponder.

Curiouser and curiouser!

I'm on a roll this week.

Through the grace of another blogger, The Costumer's Closet, we now have access to Harper Bazaar magazine's treasure trove of past issues. And I mean past issues as in from 1867 to 1900. Digitized. The back issues are from the Cornell University's Mann Library collection. The website is called the Home Economics Archives.  Hearth - a collection devoted to "preserving the Core historical literature of home economics before 1950. The digitization was funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2001-2003. You can see them here:

http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/h/hearth/browse/title/4732809.html#1867

So, I immediately thought of my great grandmother Minnie Mailman Mack, whom I really only know by name and date and a few records. Once again, I really wish that I a) found my passion for genealogy much earlier in my life; b) had been more interested in history when I was in school; c) paid closer attention to my surroundings when I did have a chance to visit her hometown in Nova Scotia; and finally, d) got to know my Mack family relatives that were still living when I was younger. Luckily, I can make the most of what is available now and trust that in the future more resources will be available.

For now I have to imagine what Minnie was like. And today I received a wonderful gift in my blog reader in the form of Harper's Bazaar digitized magazines. I know that Minnie arrived with my grandfather and his siblings in Boston on May 6th, 1896 on the steamship "Boston".

I know that Harper's Bazaar, being a magazine for fashion and fashionableness (yes, well, it should be a word) was probably not the real world that Minnie and her children were stepped off the boat and onto firm ground into. It probably had some gems of value though, so I looked at the May 2, 1896 issue. Imagine - looking at the pages of a magazine that was published the very week that my great-grandmother arrived!

[Well the whole process has a lot of magic in it, but let's ignore the machinations for a bit].

I'm pretty confident that Minnie was not wearing the same kind of clothing that is on the cover. All the same, probably trying to make a good impression on her new host country, she was probably wearing her good outfit. I didn't stop to read the articles - a very bad habit of mine - but did go straight to the advertising pages to see what the masses were being lured into purchasing to make their skin soft, and to look fashionable.

Ivory soap! And a host of other "beauty" products. And bicycles. Big hats are in. Black is the new black. Extract of beef, Eye Water and Vin Mariani for the health. Waltham watches to keep time with. Van Camp's Boston Baked Pork and Beans made in Indianapolis, Indiana, for heaven's sake. Breakfast Cocoa from Walter Baker and Co. from Dorchester, Mass.

I'm thinking I will be spending a lot of time with Harper's Bazaar trying to construct the world as Minnie knew it. Do you know any other periodical that was published around this time in Boston?

I'd love to know about it.

Don't you love it when the universe conspires to offer you a gift?

I do.

Although this may not be your cup of tea, it is mine.

When I was in my early formative years, and in an inquisitive state of mind, I would go to our bookshelves and choose a book of Punch cartoons that delighted our family, one after another. I'm not at all sure who purchased the book. I'm not sure of the title either, but I am guessing A Century of Punch Cartoons. I would make a bet that it was my mother, who had traveled to England with her mother and was probably exposed to the magazine at that time.

So, I would take down the book, make myself comfy and pour over the cartoons for hours. I loved the drawings, many of which had no captions. I would do my best to puzzle them out. Some drawings were easy to interpret, with a border-free, global and timeless kind of humor. Others were frankly obscure to this young American girl. Regardless of my skill in decoding the cartoons, I do feel that the book was an important contributor to my general education and general personality, and I certainly include it in my life bibliography.

I stumbled across a new blog in my reading this morning, a link which I followed, as I often do, and found my self reading "The Costumer's Closet" blog, http://costumerscloset.blogspot.com authored by Loren Dearborn. I love to find old paintings and drawings of clothing and, particularly, the people in them. To this end, I will pretty much follow any link to find them. I am so impressed with this blog! Especially because it led me to an archive of my favorite magazine, Punch; but not exclusively. Loren likes to create period clothing. And she is good at it.

As I am a handcrafter, much like my mother was, I paint, I draw, I knit and I sew. I cook and I make glass beads. I follow a great tradition of DIYing. Nothing pleases me more than to create something useful and pretty. I find myself combining this handcrafting need with my passion for finding out my family's history.

I know I come from some very interesting characters who had to use their hands to craft a life. Boat builders, sawmill owners, farmers, architects; and countless women who had to create nearly everything in order to raise a family and keep the home fires burning. I probably will never know the details of my relative's lives, but through my own experiences and reading as many diaries of the periods they came from as I can get my hands on, I can get an idea of who these people were, and how they lived their lives.

Excuse me now - I'm going back to read Punch.

I did it.

1. purchase dna kit - check
2. open box - check
3. read directions - check and check (I never read instructions carefully the first time)
4. spit in bottle - check - repeat as needed (I went to the fridge to get a lemon for inspiration)
5. click the lid to mix the blue goo with spit - check
6. remove goo package and replace with screw on lid - check
7. place in mailer and take to mailbox -check and check
8. listen for mailman to pick up - check
9. register kit online - check
10. wait - check

It really could not have been simpler. I'm not expecting any big surprises - but I am hoping for some new relatives to compare notes with. Wish us luck!

I'm astonished!

To all my friends in genealogy - thank you for all your kind words about my blog! I write this blog for myself (to keep a record of my research); for my family (because I am now the oldest in my immediate family  - I want to make sure my family knows who came before us to help shape who we are); and for anyone else who may be related - by name or by the passion for researching the past. To find my blog so welcomed into the greater genealogy community means a lot to me. A place that I actually fit in!

Please know that I am aware of each of you out there, and am grateful that you have acknowledged my blog. If I can help you in any way with the people or places that I write about, please send me a note. I will be happy to hear from you!

Sally

Mystery photos - Solved?

Remember these folks from a past post?

This is the photo I had the Photo Detective, Maureen Taylor take a look at. She was able to approximate the date of the photo and judge their approximate ages. It wasn't enough for me to even make a guess at who they were though, as I wasn't even sure they were actual family members - no identifying marks on the back of the photo. It came to me as a framed print, so I figured it had some importance to someone in the family.

But now, I think I know who they are. While looking into the Dikeman family (my grandmother was Mildred Russell Dikeman) on Ancestry.com, I came across Julia Dikeman - whose photo I have with identification on the back in my collection. 

Julia Dikeman b. 1866 dau. of Henry Botsford Dikeman and Emily Camp

(She is my 1st cousin twice removed according to Ancestry.com)

I didn't know where she fit into the family, but I did know she came from Newtown, Connecticut. I didn't really know much about the Newtown family members before yesterday, but I do now - at least enough to make possible identifications of people in photos and explain some of the photographs in my collection. 

On a whim, I clicked on the search the web link found on the lower right hand corner of a person's profile page. This time it brought me to a book in Google Play Books - "Newtown's history and historian, Ezra Levan Johnson" prepared by Jane Eliza Johnson The Historian's Life Companion. Newtown Connecticut, 1917.

What an interesting book! It covers the history from the first settlers to 1917. Freeman Oath lists, businesses in town, churches and groups. My mother is listed in the Dikeman genealogy. Oh, yes! Genealogies of some prominent families - I found a slew of relatives. I'm still unsure of all the actual relationships, but I was able to connect people in the Dikeman family bible with other families from Newtown; the Tyrrells, Fairchilds, Botsfords, Sanfords, Curtises and even Platts (!) 

The single best feature of the Newtown book for me is the photographs. I think the gentleman and lady above are Silas Norman Beers and his wife Sarah Nichols Beers. There is an etching of Silas N. Beers who looks very much like a younger version of the gentleman above. Silas Beers was an architect who worked on the fourth Church edifice in 1870. Mr. Henry Sanford was on the committee with him. I'm wondering if that Mr. Sanford and my Elizabeth Ann Sanford are related? It might explain why we had the pictures of the Beers and this man:

There is no marking on back of the photograph, but he bears striking resemblance to the Rev. Newton E. Marble D.D. in the Newtown book. And here is the church:

This was marked on the back "Church at Newtown"

I believe with a bit more careful reading of the Newtown history I will find some more answers. What a gift Google Play Books are - I downloaded this book for free. Now, I know my job isn't finished yet, I still need to find vital records for these folks, but what a wonderful starting point I now have.

I also am looking forward to later in the year when I will take a trip to Newtown to see where my Dikeman family lived, and find out more about the area. 

Someone was listening...

My cousin and I get together as often as we can in Boston - usually a couple of times a year - to do some hardcore research on our families and to visit with our children who just happen to live in the area. We usually work at the NEHGS library, do a little shopping on Newbury Street, and eat at some fabulous restaurants with our kids.  Last weekend we attended Ancestry Day at NEHGS in Boston.

 Just before I left, I posted the Veturia Platt story in hope that someone would come forth and identify her. It wasn't the focus of this trip, but I would have been happy to come home to some new information. Well, I still haven't heard from anyone from this blog posting, but in a way, I did hear from someone over the weekend.

I was busy in the microfilm department looking for John and Ellen Young (who also elude me) and when the day was nearly done, I was only able to delete people from my search. It is still progress, I suppose. I went up to the 7th floor to meet up with my cousin and had about fifteen minutes left to look for more information. I wanted to look at the Dikeman books recommended to me by my cousin, so I pulled them from the stacks. After perusing them, I decided it wasn't the same family, so I returned the books to the re-shelve rack and spied a book that looked promising to me - New England Planters in the Maritime Provinces of Canada 1759-1800. Hmmmm. I have relatives in Nova Scotia... I did find references to Samuel Mack, Ephraim Dean and others... I never thought of Samuel Mack as a Planter, but I guess he was. The listing showed 14 pages of letters. Jackpot! Unfortunately, it was something I would have to come back for another day's follow up.

Just as I had finished photographing the important details before returning the book, a volunteer came around to tell us the library was closing in five minutes. Already? I returned the book and glanced again at the pile of returned books and spied the Platt Genealogy on top. What? I have three minutes to see if this is the right Platt - and I believe it is - Richard Platt of Milford, Connecticut. Another day, Mr. Platt, we have a date.

Coincidence? I think not.

Ancestry Day is a day that NEHGS partners with Ancestry.com and offers presentations given by experts from both Ancestry.com and NEHGS. It was an early start, and a long day, but there was a lot of great information exchanged. I hope I can do better searches on Ancestry.com with the help of Crista Cowan's tips. I'll let you know.

Other talks were equally interesting and informative, and the wrap up Live Q&A Panel was lively and inspiring. If you get an opportunity to attend an Ancestry Day with NEHGS, go ahead and do it! It isn't a huge cost, in time or money, and everyone is so nice and helpful.