JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans. Join now (it's free).
Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.
Blog Posts by Tag
In the past 7 days
Blog Posts by Date
Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Genealogy, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 18 of 18
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: Genealogy in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
My dad was the last of his generation in our immediate family. One of the consequences of his passing has been the sorting out of all the nooks and crannies of his house, which revealed a lot of things I'd completely forgotten still existed. Not only parental items we grew up with from childhood, but also things left behind by us kids as we moved on in life. As the artist of the family I've by far been the worst offender - when I set off to art college all my school art work was consigned to my dad's loft, where some of it stayed for 40 years. Even when my parents moved house, they loyally took my old artwork with them.
Other bits and pieces were thrown, but artwork was sacred, even the scrappiest of work. To this was later added my degree course sketchbooks (though I threw away most of my finished course work when I left Manchester), bags of artwork from my London studio days, and various bits and pieces from the 21 years I lived in Japan, including every single letter I wrote home to my parents.
They kept it all. Yellowed, damp and foxed from all those years in my dad's loft, great wads of the stuff. And now it's all in my possession again.
This is in addition to my dad's creative life - the contents of his little art studio room, his oil paints and other materials, some of his paintings, boxes of books and postcards that inspired him (largely seascapes, the Impressionists and Victorian genre painters). Plus his collection of First World War books, and most importantly for me, our family archive of photos and documents - as the family genealogist I worked a lot on these with my dad's encouragement, painstakingly identifying faces, scanning and photoshop restoring, compiling and researching our family history, these are all in my safe keeping now.
So I've been buying new storage furniture for a major reorganisation.
When I left Japan I came back to the UK pretty well empty handed, in grief over my wife's death I threw away virtually all artwork except children's book illustrations, abandoned my furniture, household items and record collection, and sold off 2/3 of my books. I brought very little back from Japan, It was a new life coming back to England, I wanted to start afresh, not be burdened by the weight of a previous existence. I regret throwing so much away now, but it did stand me in good stead over the numerous times daughter and I moved house.
But now with the arrival of all this material I'm in a bit of a dilemma what to do with it all, not the family archives, but particularly my old artwork. My dad's occasional paintings are one thing, but my adolescent stumbling art attempts? Some of these ancient works are truly embarrassing, for the prosaic subject matter as much as anything - what was I thinking? It always surprised me that my parents were more interested in displaying my immature work on their walls rather than my professional illustration career. But age has given this work a resonance and unique significance I can't ignore. It's now an archive, I can't throw it away, it's history!
..... some of it I'm quite proud of actually, these were important stepping stones.
So, inspired by Neil McGregor's successful BBC/British Museum tie-up series A History of the World in 100 objects, I'll share a few bits and pieces of in a History of my Archive in 10 Objects.
I’ve always been interested in the ways writers think about family history—and especially about echoes, or the lack thereof, through the generations—if they do, as they work. I’m grateful to Tin House for allowing me to indulge this curiosity in a new series of brief but wide-ranging interviews with authors about ancestry. First up, Christopher Beha:
Maud Newton: When we first met to talk about the essay I eventually ended up writing for Harper’s, you mentioned an ancestral house upstate where your family spends time every summer. Do you think visiting that old homestead has influenced your thinking about ancestry?
Christopher Beha: Without a doubt. The house was built by the first Behas of my line to come to America from Germany in the second half of the nineteenth century. They farmed for a couple of generations on land my family still owns, and members of the family continued to spend a lot of time there after my great-great grandmother moved the family down to New York City. So there’s a lot of family history there. There are still some Behas living in the area (though they pronounce the name differently than my family does), and there is a Beha Road not far from the house. I can walk a mile down the road to the churchyard and see the graves of Matthias and Theresa Beha, my great-great-great grandparents, who brought their family over 150 years ago. All of this has influenced my sense of ancestry as something that is still present in my world, even if it is often invisible.
The rest is here. Future interview subjects will include Laila Lalami, Emily Mandel, Celeste Ng, Saeed Jones, and Katherine Faw Morris.
Ancestry is a fundamental perplexity of life. We come from our parents, who came from their parents, who descended, as the Bible would put it, from their fathers and their fathers’ fathers, but we are separate beings. We begin with the sperm of one man and the egg of one woman, and then we enter the world and we become ourselves.
Beyond all that’s encoded in our twenty-three pairs of chromosomes—our hair, eyes, and skin of a certain shade, our frame and stature, our sensitivity to bitter tastes—we are bundles of opinions and ambitions, of shortcomings and talents. The alchemy between our genes and our individuality is a mystery we keep trying to solve.
The June issue of Harper’s – with my essay on America’s (and my) ancestry obsession — will be available on newsstands for about the next two to three weeks, if you were planning to pick up a copy. The paragraphs quoted above are a teeny excerpt.
Between June and December 2011, I spent a lot of time looking into our family history. I wanted to give my mother, sisters, husband, and sons scrapbooks with information about their ancestors. These first pages are taken from the scrapbook I made for my children. Gen. William Heath is their uncle, seven generations back. Also, Silas Phelps (1720-1816, 6 gg); Eliphalet Phelps (1743-?, 5gg, Captain Forward's company); Eleazer Heath (1756-1850, 5gg, "Continental Line"), and Joseph Heath (1758-1836, 5 gg) fought in the various state militias in the Revolutionary War.
And the information on Martin and Dwight are from my husband's ancestors. Martin was his 5th great grandfather and Brig. Gen. Dwight his 6th great grandfather.
Thank you, ancestors, for all your efforts on behalf of your descendants.
CLICK ON EACH PAGE TO ENLARGE AND READ.
0 Comments on My Revolutionary War Ancestors as of 1/1/1900
If you haven’t had the chance to check out the Fancy Nancy website, you must head over there now and take a look! First, sign up for the Fancy Nancy: Bonjour! E-newsletter:
For those who were looking for the slides from my conference—including anyone who wanted to go but couldn’t make it, and those who are interested in starting their family history but aren’t sure where to start—here you go! These tips really apply to anyone–the basics of talking to your family, seeing what you already know, and using research principles to go from there work for anyone just starting out. It’s when you go further back that complications set in, whether that means trying to figure out how to read old German writing (and that’s HARD–it basically looks like a long string of loops), having to delve into the Freedman’s Bureau and Southern Claims Commission records to hopefully find an ancestor, or figuring out how to research your Asian ancestry if you don’t speak the language. But by the time you get there, hopefully you’ll be more of an expert!
Also, for those who were interested in the African American genealogy conference, I promised I’d post my Top Ten Tips slides here and have gotten quite busy this week and haven’t gotten to it yet. I’ll post over the weekend. Thanks for your patience!
This Saturday, March 12, from 1–4 p.m., my church is sponsoring a genealogical conference focusing on African American genealogical research. I’ll be teaching one of the breakout sessions, Top Ten Tips for Getting Started in Genealogy. They’re bringing in a well-renowned speaker who’s an expert in this field, but I can’t find my flier to tell you who he is (I’ll edit this later if I do—his credentials were impressive). I believe he had something to do with the opening up of the Freedmen’s Bureau records for family history research. I’ll be focusing on methodology—making sure you cover all your bases. That can get pretty tricky in African American research in particular, depending on what area of the country your family is from, how well their records were kept, and at what point you either leave the country, hit slavery, or both. This is complicated by many Southern records being destroyed during the Civil War and our country’s history of institutional racism, which sometimes affects the quality of census and vital records. We’ll start with the basics, and then talk about some places to go that might not be as “easy” as the census but might bear more fruit in individual circumstances.
There will also be a simultaneous workshop that will let people get individualized attention if they’re beyond the basics.
If you’re in the New York City area and interested in getting started on your family history, or if you’ve been stumped at some point and want to get back into it, come on up to Harlem this Saturday.
Holy crap, Misha, you’re making your entire genome public! Are you nervous?
It’s already done. All of my data are here. Frankly I don’t think anything in my DNA could be as embarrassing as this kelly green shirt that continues to taunt me from the interwebs.
I spend a lot of time worrying about the long-term consequences of opening the Pandora’s box just by joining 23andMe.
Hmmm. What is it you’re worried about exactly?
Well, in addition to being an enthusiastic neurotic, I’m a hypochondriac with health problems, and I guess I’m anxious that I won’t be able to get insurance coverage in my old age, and I’ll end up being yelled at and bossed around in some grannies’ ward with rows and rows of beds, like in Memento Mori
. Here Is a Human Being includes some pretty sobering stories of insurance companies — and even the military — booting people because they’re at high risk for certain genetic conditions.
True, although I suspect that those types of stories are rare. But even if they’re not, I believe that one way of combating/preempting that sort of behavior is by having a cohort of people putting it all out there and seeing what happens. I am fairly well convinced that if an insurer or employer used a Personal Genome Project participant’s data to discriminate against him/her, the personal genomics hive would raise holy hell and quickly create a PR nightmare for the perpetrator.
Ah, so participation is actually a kind of insurance of its own! Where do I sign up?
Yeah, if you fuck with me, then you fuck with all of the public genomes and arguably the entire biomedical research enterprise.
We did find a direct female descendant and she was kind enough to complete Female DNA testing through Family Tree DNA. To our surprise, the results came up to be entirely European. Haplogroup K. Predominantly Northern Irish and Scottish. This means Nancy’s mother and her mother and her mother, none of the female line was American Indian.
I think the answers are in file boxes in Pennsylvania. Nancy was purported to be an orphan. Now she could not have been in the Carlisle Indian School as she was born about 1814 and the school began in 1879 when Nancy was about 65 years old. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t adopted from another area though, and having a white mother possibly made her more readily adopted by a white couple. McLane may be her adopted family’s surname.
Further DNA testing on other cousins has come up with Shawnee Indian through the Sinkey family and Cherokee Indian through the Green family.
Nancy’s son Millen Ralston married Eliza Sinkey and the Shawnee blood and the Green’s Cherokee blood (according only to testing) come to me this way. Eliza Sinkey’s parents were Matthew Sinkey and Nancy Huston. Nancy Huston’s parents were Andrew Huston and Elizabeth Green. Many many cousins have purported that Andrew Huston was American Indian and left Iowa in his elder years to return to his Shawnee family in Ohio. Andrew died after 1840 and was born circa 1776. We have not pin pointed where in the line the Shawnee blood entered the Sinkey family.
Yesterday I hunted around Oakview Cemetery in Royal Oak, Michigan for the graves of my ancestors after the nice office lady pulled out all of their cards and marked their spots on a map.
It sounds easy but the maps’ major focal points were trees and in one instance, the tree had been removed.
Nevertheless, I found everyone I was looking for:
William Arthur Ellison and Anna Elizabeth (Van Buren) Ellison — Section I, off the drive between I and J, midway of section, approx. 5 rows back from drive, tree on map is no longer there.
William and Anna were married 18 SEP 1889 in Boyne Falls, Michigan. They had six children, among them my great-grandfather Harold Delmont Ellison. Harold married Alice Baines on 29 MAY 1917 in Highland Park, Michigan. Harold and Alice are resting in Section M, approx. 1/4 of the way down the drive between sections M and L (M is bordered by Rochester Rd) and they are about 4 rows back from the drive, under a tree.
Harold and Alice had 8 children, one of whom is my grandfather James Arthur Ellison. Since I know where Papa is, I don’t have the section number for you. But he is buried where the military flags are displayed in a group, approx. in front of the Marines flag.
Across Rochester Road is another small cemetery — Royal Oak Cemetery, but also partly known as St. Mary’s Cemetery. In this cemetery are Alice’s parents James and Elizabeth Baines. I have to get into the city and ask for the graves’ location — it was after 5pm when I did this yesterday. One of the Oakview employees told me that Frentz and Sons Hardware has a book of everyone buried at Royal Oak Cemetery and where they are.
Also at Oakview are Ethel Tasker Ellison’s parents: John T. Tasker and E. Dorothy (Fry) Tasker:
John and Dorothy are also in Section I, but along the drive between Section I and the Columbarium. They are behind a large tree and about three rows back from the drive. John and Dorothy were married 2 AUG 1908.
There is a large effort amongst genealogists to photograph and enter graves in the computer archives. I will enter these graves into the project.
0 Comments on Ellison Graves in Oakview Cemetery as of 8/1/2009 8:43:00 PM
Sunday I worked on my genealogy research. I have been doing genealogy since I was twelve — you do the math. I’m stuck right now on documenting the fact that one of my Ralston ancestors married a Cherokee woman and her DNA entered my line circa 1776. I’m also stuck on figuring out my great-great-great grandmother Nancy Agnes McLane Ralston who may have been American Indian or she may not have and/or she may have been adopted by the Mechling family or she may not have. She remains a puzzlement.
So I worked again on another branch of my father’s family. Nellie Mae Eastman, my great-grandmother, married William Alfred Ralston in Maquoketa, Iowa and from this union my grandfather Ivan was born in 1902. William was listed on the Iowa census as 1/4 Indian and he told my grandmother about his Cherokee ancestry.
It took awhile to ascertain who Nellie Mae Eastman’s grandparents were but then it all started to connect rather easily- thanks to ancestry.com.
Nellie Mae’s ancestor was Roger Eastman — he sailed on the Ship ‘Confidence’ in 1638 from England and settled originally in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The Eastman’s helped to settle Salisbury, MA before moving on.
Since 1638, we Eastman’s have been living in America. And this brings me to wisdom teeth.
Yesterday, my daughter and I went to our annual dentist check-up. We don’t have dental insurance, never have. I asked my dentist how he is doing since the economic crash. He said he was very busy in June and early July when the auto industry workers found out they were losing their dental insurance and everyone came in to get everything they needed done. Now it has begun to slow, he has laid off everyone but one employee a day in his office and he foresees the Holidays as being very very slow.
It is a wonderment to me how we end up where we end up in life and I’ve been a tad resentful lately of the auto industry. My father’s family ended up in Michigan from Iowa because of the auto industry. After WW One my grandmother’s brothers, all veterans, came to Detroit to work on the trolley system in the booming city. When my grandfather died of colon cancer in 1939, my grandmother followed her family to Detroit where she could get a job, she being a single mother. She worked for General Motors until retirement and got my father a job there. He worked for Detroit Diesel Allison and then when Penske bought DDA, he gave up alot of his GM benefits and switched to Penske. He was smart.
So, here I am. Stuck in Michigan because my father’s family gave over their entire working lives to the auto industry. If we wanted to leave, we couldn’t. No one will buy our house. Or at least not for what we need to get out of it.
And I love Michigan. It is my home. My children are here and growing up here can be a good thing, depending. We have very good colleges here. It is the best place to camp and boat.
My husband’s family is stuck here also, most of them. His grandfather left Kentucky to come up here during the auto boom. Fortunately, they are all landscapers and not directly dependent on the auto industry.
I’ve gotta have my wisdom tooth pulled out. It is causing me pain and angled funny and hasn’t provided an ounce of wisdom to me whatsoever. And in this sense, I am like my Michigan. We simply need to pull that auto industry right out and let the bleeding hole left behind heal. It is causing us pain and it is angled against our future and it hasn’t provided our state with an ounce of wisdom.
But if Roger Eastman hadn’t come to America in 1638 and my Cherokee grandmother hadn’t married a Ralston and if the rest of my ancestors had changed just one thing, I wouldn’t be here. The auto industry brought my father to Michigan and that is where my mother’s family had lived for a very long time. No auto industry — no me. And, more importantly to me, none of my kids would be here. And it is my kids who always make all of this worth it.
0 Comments on Puritans & Wisdom Teeth as of 7/28/2009 9:57:00 AM
Every family has a story, and children are naturally curious about their heritage. They like to hear about the ‘olden days’ when their parents or grandparents were little boys and girls. In fact, they are usually amazed that there was actually a time when there were no cell phones, microwave ovens, televisions, or even indoor plumbing.
But more than that, learning about their own special lineage, culture, and heritage gives children a connection to the past, a foundation, and a stronger sense of belonging as they pursue their futures. It also creates a fun opportunity to delve into history while providing a glimpse into the lives of their ancestors. This makes history seem real or come alive for them.
Here are a few ideas to help spark some interest in learning about your family’s special story:
1. Create a family tree to give the child a visual aid. If possible, use photos along with names and dates. Help the child distinguish his relationship with each person. Can the child find any similar physical characteristics between himself and his ancestors?
2. Create an oral history resource. This can be done using audio or video, but let the child interview family members (grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) about when they were young, what they remember about their ancestors, what was happening in the world at the time, or any special memories. Encourage the child to make a list of questions and give them to the interviewee beforehand so that they can think on their answers. The audio interviews can always be transcribed and put into a special book.
3. Create a family photo album or scrapbook. Many times, older relatives will have lots of photographs that have been passed down through the years. Try to borrow as many of the pictures as you can, make copies, then help your child create a family album or scrapbook. Create captions telling who, what, when, and where. You could also insert other pages to correspond with the photos (if you have enough information about dates) telling what was happening in the world or nation at the time. You could even include newspaper clippings if you have them. Put history in its proper place!
Note: This would be a great time to discuss good photo preservation techniques, taking special care of items that belong to others, and responsibility to return what is borrowed.
4. Create and label a family map. Display a world/country map and use little flags or stickers to label each country, state, or town where ancestors lived. If your family came from a distant place, study the area, the culture, the food, and the language. Check out travel videos, books, and cookbooks to learn more about the special ‘flavor’ of the homeland.
5. Create a family cookbook. Many families have special or secret recipes that are handed down through the generations. Why not create a family cookbook to keep these recipes in one place? Have relatives contribute their favorites, but also include information about where the recipe originated, who taught them how to prepare it, or any special story associated with it. Add an ancestry tree page in the front of the book, and you have a great family heirloom. This would be a wonderful summer project to do with your child, and it would also make a thoughtful gift for each individual family who contributes!
6. Introduce your older child to genealogical research. There are many online websites and databases where you can access records and information. Some are subscription based, but there is also a lot of free information out there as well, if you know where to look and enjoy digging for nuggets. An older child might be bitten by the ‘genealogy bug’ and discover an enjoyable lifetime hobby. A good starting place is www.cyndislist.com where you’ll find lots of lists and links to genealogy sites on the internet.
7. Encourage your child to keep a journal. After delving into his family history, your child will see the importance of recording things that are happening in his world, the weather, special memories, or even just the little details of daily life. Who knows—one day his descendants may decide to research their family history and they’ll already have a fantastic resource right at their fingertips. A priceless gift for future generations!
Check out these resources for more information about researching family history:
· The Great Ancestor Hunt: The Fun of Finding Out Who You Are by
Lila Perl Yerkow
· Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney
· Family Tree: Writing Historical Fiction Based on Family History by
Jennifer Johnson Garrity
· Climbing Your Family Tree by Ira Wolfman
· Who’s Who in My Family? By Loreen Leedy
· Through the Eyes of Your Ancestors: A Step-by-Step Guide to
Uncovering Your Family’s History by Maureen Taylor
· Roots for Kids: A Genealogy Guide for Young People by Susan
Provost Beller
· Creating Jr. Genealogists: Tips and Activities for Family History Fun
by Karen Frisch Dennen
· My Family Tree Workbook by Rosemary Chorzempa
*********************
Amy M. O’Quinn is a pastor’s wife and former schoolteacher-turned-homeschool mom of six. She is also a freelance writer who enjoys jotting down ideas around the fringes of family life. She specializes in non-fiction, and her work has been published or acquired by various magazines including Jack and Jill, US Kids, Guideposts for Kids, Learning Through History Magazine, Highlights, GEORGIA Magazine, Homeschooling Today, International Gymnast, etc. She is also a product/curriculum/book reviewer for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and a regular columnist for TEACH Magazine. The O’Quinns live on the family farm in rural south Georgia. You can visit Amy at amyoquinn.com or http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/picketfencemom.
No Tags
0 Comments on Making Family History Come Alive - This Week’s Teaching Tip! as of 1/1/1900
If you read my The Education of Little Tree post you will know that one of my grandmother’s of generations past told Patti to have me read this and you will know, that I couldn’t really find the message.
My grandmother (she married a Ralston) used to tell me that the Ralston’s were Cherokee. Now, the Ralston’s married into the Sinkey-Houston-Green families and they are likely mixed blood Shawnee.
The Dna male test results came back and we have Cherokee heritage. This means Cherokee through the male line. This is what my grandmother of long ago was trying to tell me.
The most American Indian blood I have would be 25%. My grandmother was 100% Irish and my mother is 100% English and we are not sure about the Ralston’s at all. We are still figuring that out.
But something happened to me the other night that is difficult to put into words. It shook me up for several days. During the night, I had an experience that seemed very real. It was as if I were having someone else’s experience, including their feelings. I cried out in a voice not like mine (so loudly and different from mine that the sound awakened me) and I cried for a long time after. I was completely disoriented and had to continually tell myself that I was me, in this century and in my own home. It took about two hours to settle down, heart rate and all.
I was a young female in a bed with another young female. Two men woke me up. One had white hair and a calico shirt. His nose was big and sharp and his skin was brown. His hair was medium length and wavy. He was older. His was the face I looked at and then screamed. They were going to take us. It was not the future. It was the past.
And that is all I can say, except that it was not a nightmare, nor a night terror (as I remember it vividly), and it was not a haunting. And it depressed me for quite a few days after and I felt disoriented and I wondered if my grandmother was talking to me through a vision. And who was in the vision and what happened?
It is okay with me that my ancestors chose to assimilate into white culture, marrying other mixed bloods and generally sticking together, including moving from PA to OH to IA en masse. I think they made the best decision possible under the circumstances they were forced into. It is okay with me that their choosing to not be on the Dawes Roll made them no longer part of the Cherokee Nation and it is okay with me that to be in the Cherokee Nation, your direct ancestor must be on this roll. But, I very much would like to spend time with the Cherokee and the Shawnee (as I’m pretty certain of this heritage also) and learn about my ancestor’s people. My people too.
Just as I would like to spend time in Ireland and in England. I would like to meet my awesome cousins in Northern Ireland. Get to know my family in Ireland and England. My Grandmother Ellison nee Tasker is a direct descendant of King Henry II and Elineaor of Aquitaine and their son John, the bad dude in Robin Hood. I should probably go hang out in Sherwood Forrest.
0 Comments on Cherokee Blood, Little Tree Book and Grandmothers as of 4/27/2009 3:25:00 PM
If you’ve been reading my blog you know that we have been waiting for DNA results back on a Male DNA 12 marker test. Surprise, surprise, the results indicate Cherokee blood. This is very surprising as it means we have a male Cherokee ancestor, and all we’ve previously known is that Nancy Agnes McLane Ralston was Native American. It may be that Nancy’s husband, John Ralston Jr., was mixed-blood. A family story says his mother Elizabeth Sharp Ralston was held captive by Indians for four years and the result was John Jr. born in 1807.
I would very much like to know if we can determine Nancy’s tribal identity and we can only do this through a female line. I am from one of Nancy’s sons — Millen Ralston.
I am hoping to find a female cousin, to have a simple mouth-swab female DNA test and to finally lay to rest who was Nancy Ralston. Please check the information below to see if you are related to this family and if you can help me locate a direct female descendant of Nancy’s.
John Ralston Jr married Nancy Agnes McLane
Butler County, PA 1834
Both of them died in Jackson County, Iowa
Nancy d. 24 May 1905
Daughter Susan b. Butler County, PA 1840 married Daniel Shirley II Mar 1854 (Divorced 1867)
Did Susan have all boys?
Orlando, Frank, Roy and William Nelson
Daughter Caroline b. Butler County, PA 1842 married John Sawyer 24 AUG 1862 went to Nebraska
Caroline’s daughters:
Mary Parkis (Charles) Osceola, Nebraska
Viola Hight (Thomas) Norfolk, NB
Nora Record (Sigal) Arcadia, NB
Luella Ross (Ellsworth) Boyd, NB
Lilly Holcomb (Earl) Arcadia, NB
Daughter Elvira b. Butler County, PA 1844 d. 1885 married Edward Albert Sutton
Elvira’s daughters:
Jennis (?)
Maude
Tressie
Daughter Mary Jane b. 26 MAR 1846 d. 18 JUL 1896 Doniphan County, Kansas married Calvin Ball in 1863 Cedar County, Iowa
Mary’s daughters:
Ida Ball b. 1864 Jun 1870 was in Richardson County, Nebraska married Mr. Chambers
Edna b. 1878
Daughter Margaret b. PA 1851 married Mr. Stahl
Daughter Arozine/Arezma b. Iowa 1854 d. 26 DEC 1876 Jackson County, Iowa
0 Comments on Looking for Female Descendant of Nancy McLane Ralston as of 4/15/2009 3:23:00 PM
Gene Park, an elder in the Piqua Division of the Shawnee Tribe, http://aiac.alabama.gov/tribes_piquaShawnee.aspx was kind enough to send me a very interesting article about the great Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket. It has been told to me by cousins that some of my ancestors may have been in Chief Blue Jacket’s tribe and so Gene has been helping me to arrange a male DNA test for my brother to determine our ethnic heritage. The test on me would only be able to look at my maternal side. I am so very excited at the possibility of getting some answers about our ancestors.
The Ohio Journal of Science article that Gene sent me lays to rest the controversy over whether or not Chief Blue Jacket was a Shawnee or a Caucasian. I had read recently in a very good book The Shawnees and the War for America by Colin G. Calloway that Chief Blue Jacket was Shawnee and not an adopted white captive. Calloway presents a convincing argument and details the accomplishments of Chief Blue Jacket, often overlooked amidst Tecumseh’s fame.
I had also recently read a number of books, including children’s nonfiction, in which the legend that Marmaduke Swearingen was captured by the Shawnees and then raised up to become Chief Blue Jacket was relayed as the historically accurate story of the Chief’s life. That was what I thought was the truth. Even though, as I recently found out, the Shawnees have been trying to refute the legend since it began. I asked Gene what he thought of what I had been reading and he sent me the article.
Scientists studied DNA samples from descendants of Swearingen’s ancestor and from Chief Blue Jacket’s known Shawnee son, George. They were able to conclusively determine that Chief Blue Jacket was Shawnee. See Volume 106, September 2006, Number 4 of the Ohio Journal of Science http://www.shawnee-bluejacket.com/Bluejacket_Folders/BlueJacket.pdf
If we are related to Chief Blue Jacket, the test on my brother will be able to determine this. It will also tell us what tribe we are from, which is exciting as there are many varied family stories.
The Shawnees and the War for America is an excellent read. Calloway has chapters on Shawnee general history, Cornstalk, Blue Jacket, Black Hoof, Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh, and Removals and Survival. There is also a lengthy bibliography if you are like me and searching for information on the Shawnees.
Gene has recommended two more books for me to read:
Shawnee by James Howard
Blue Jacket — Warrior of the Shawnees by John Sugden
These are my Irish Great-Grandparents: William Edward Butler and Bridget Carroll.
William was a first generation Irish-American, born in Iowa in 1866 to Tobias and Bridget. His parents immigrated from County Tipperary and spent some years in Illinois. Tobias worked on the railroads. William was born in Iowa.
Bridget immigrated to America in 1886 on the Cunard Lines, passing through Castle Gardens, NY. She was only 18 when she took the big boat ride all by herself. She brought a pair of brass candlesticks and they are sitting on my hutch. The Carrolls are supposed to have lived in County Armagh. Bridget’s father, John, was a tailor and I have his homemade scissors. I have to do better research on exactly where they lived because my grandma has left me with some conflicting information, or the Carrolls traveled between County Armagh and County Down. John Carroll married Mary Ferrigan around 1860 and the Ferrigans were supposed to have been Scots-Irish who fled Cromwell.
Here is my spunky Irish grandmother, Marjorie Josephine Butler.
Irish grandmothers make mouth-watering liverwurst sandwiches, they tell the best stories and give the best back rubs. They sew, and knit, and crochet, and tat, making clothes for all your dolls and covers for your toilet paper, your toilet lids and even your clothes hangers. They worry to their dying day that just because you didn’t end up Catholic you won’t go to Heaven someday. They teach you that even when life has got you down, you should just pour yourself a glass of Bailey’s Irish Cream and laugh about it. There is always something to laugh about. The best part of life is the moments we have with those we love.
.jpeg?picon=3678)
Yesterday I hunted around Oakview Cemetery in Royal Oak, Michigan for the graves of my ancestors after the nice office lady pulled out all of their cards and marked their spots on a map.
.jpg?picon=694)
