Hey all, Ancestry is making all England and Walesx marriage indexes and Canadian marriage records available for FREE from today until April 30th as Easter present in honor of Kate and William's wedding. The article dexcribing is here:
http://blogs.ancestry.com/uk/2011/04/22/another-easter-treat/
Canada marriages cover three hundred years!
Happy Easter!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Madness Monday -- My Canadian Huffman line
OK... After months of no posts, [life has been incredibly busy and not conducive to genealogy... I thought I'd get back into the grove] .... and this one is really long, and really maddening over the years!!! So may take more than one post!
I'm not sure how to begin on this post... there are are so many brick walls in this line...... My great grandmother was Luella Hoffman. Or sometimes I saw Hoffman.... Anyway, She was born in Canada 1870-71, married Lemuel Edwards and they moved to Pennsylvania. She took up painting after her children were grown, and I have a couple watercolor and oils in my home. She died in 1953 in Lock Haven, PA. Her newspaper obituary gives her parent's names as John Huffman and Nancy Toll.
[I'd put the obit in, but unlike cousin Leah [see Random Notes blog http://leah333.blogspot.com/2011/01/organizing-electronic-genealogical.html], my electronic filing system isn't as great, and I can't find it just now!!!! Guess I'll learn from you , Leah!]
I spent a lot of time (years!) looking for that marriage. Couldn't find one. Then Canada published the Ontario birth records. And I found her birth record It has her name as Lually and her mother's name as Nancy Huffman ... with Illegitimate written for father's name. With Mrs. Martha Huffman as the midwife/informant. Grandma?, widowed aunt? And won't the great aunts be upset at this... No wonder the falsehood!!!
Then I looked in the Canadian census for 1871 and found the following (hey a baby born in Jan that year should appear!)
The 1881 census image at ancestry is too faint to read. The transcription has the family living with a William Neuweck, lists Luella as Tuellon , has no Martha, lists Rudipt as 52, so He is obviously 42 in 1871, but was Martha then his wife, or mother, or sister-in-law? I have found a death for a midwife Martha Huffman in 1879 aged 72 years, but gives no marital status or other clue. but this would seem by age to make her 64 in 1871, so more likely Rudolf and the others mother rather than his wife or sister-in-law.
Then in the 1861 census, I found a David Huffman, Martha Huffman, with children Richard, Jerimiah ( Jemimah) Nancy & William ... It seems to be the same family, but then is Richard RIchard Rudolf? and is Jerimiah Jemimah/Jamma ??? they have a laborer John Newrick !!! so seems to be the same group.... and DAvid and wife Martha are born in the US!!!!
There is no marriage record that I have found in Ontario for the wedding of Lemuel Edwards to anyone. But Lemuel & Luella (Lula) show up in the 1891 census with three children, one of whom is my grandmother. She married at fifteen or sixteen, and had at least 3 children by the age of 20!
R Huffman ( Rudolf/Richard?) appears in the 1891 census (with relationships, Yeah!) Jemima, Maggie, and William listed as siblings, and John Nuwick listed as lodger. No Martha (deceased) or Burwell, but I found a B. Huffman (Burwell?) on the previous page listed as seaman, lodging with another seaman and the ship's captain.... And no Nancy..had she died? or married as was 30s in 1871?
Then found a marriage for a Nancy Huffman (spinster) and a John Watkins (Widower) Dec 20 1882. Married by a minister named John Cairns, with witness Jane Cairns. Lists her parents as David and Martha Huffman!!!! Yeah! Maybe?!
I then decided to follow the other siblings forward, to see if anybody has a clue... (remember that siblings are as important as your own ancestor!).
But I'll leave that for part II next Monday... this family is definitely worth 2 Monday Madness columns!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Memorial Monday -Remembering my ancestors who fought.
Well, today is more than cookouts and department store sales and the start of summer. It is the day where we remember and thank those who fought and died to secure our freedom, as well as the families they left behind. I decided to look at my ancestry in a different way today. How many of my ancestors fought, and in which wars? Did any die? I did not find any who died in service (a good thing, as most married after they served!) but found many who served in the military, and many more who provided what is called "patriotic service." Here is the list working backward:
Dad: who served for 20 years in the U.S. Navy from the end of WW II through Korea, & Vietnam. He died in 1990, and I miss him greatly. My younger brother Jeff served for 20 years in the Navy beginning also in the VietNam war, 3 years after my father retired.
My grandpa Vic who served as a doughboy in WWI. He sent letters and postcards home, and took up photography based on seeing the marvels of Europe. My other grandpa Augusto Fessia served his then country of Italy in the Italian-Turkish War in the early 1900s, and though he registered for the WWI draft in America after immigrating herein 1913, did not serve in the US military. My mother's grandfather or great grandfather was one of the "Alpiners" the origional military of Italy. He lived until WWII and was one of the oldest remaining members when he died ....
Then step back to the Civil War. My great great grandfather James H. Fairchild served in Co. E 93rd NY Inf Volunteers. He was wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness. Three of his brothers also served (Benjamin, Nelson Dallas, and William). My ggg grandfather John Miller, an immigrant from Scotland, also served in the 154th NY Vol Inf. A lot of the collateral cousins served including two who were in different units, but both were in Andersonville. One died there. I don't know if they knew they were related, or knew each other was there, or not.... Another fact lost to history.....
There were many who served in the Revolutionary War, both militarily, and by supplying arms or materials to the soldiers. I have located about 7 so far, and many more are remaining elusive! They range from James Wadsworth who answered the call for the alarm at Lexington, Jonathan Robinson, who served in three separate companies, his father Daniel Robinson, who manufactured saltpeter for ammunition, Jabez Rouse, Jonathan's father-in law, who also served, to Squire Ide, who served, moved to Vermont, whose death date and burial place are not known to us, to several who either signed an oath of fidelity, or I'm still searching to prove service. For example, one who will appear shortly in my Monday Madness write up is Isaiah Burton. He is listed as part of his son Varnum's bio in the Cattaraugus County NY history as " Varnum Burton, whose father Isaiah, a native of Hopkinton, RI was a Revolutionary soldier".... thirty five years later, I am not much closer to proving that!!!
Several of the earlier ancestors in this country served in the various militia alarms in the King Phillip's War, French & Indian War, and various earlier skirmishes from their individual Connecticut and Massachusetts town militias.
It has been a wonderful day to look at how many of my ancestors have served their country with honor, and how much a part of my history is involved with the military and history of the country. I am eternally grateful for their service and hope that I can keep their memory alive for many generations of their descendants to follow.
Thanks to all of them, and to all those who have or are serving in the military.
No pictures or fancy stuff today, just thoughts and remembrances....
Dad: who served for 20 years in the U.S. Navy from the end of WW II through Korea, & Vietnam. He died in 1990, and I miss him greatly. My younger brother Jeff served for 20 years in the Navy beginning also in the VietNam war, 3 years after my father retired.
My grandpa Vic who served as a doughboy in WWI. He sent letters and postcards home, and took up photography based on seeing the marvels of Europe. My other grandpa Augusto Fessia served his then country of Italy in the Italian-Turkish War in the early 1900s, and though he registered for the WWI draft in America after immigrating herein 1913, did not serve in the US military. My mother's grandfather or great grandfather was one of the "Alpiners" the origional military of Italy. He lived until WWII and was one of the oldest remaining members when he died ....
Then step back to the Civil War. My great great grandfather James H. Fairchild served in Co. E 93rd NY Inf Volunteers. He was wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness. Three of his brothers also served (Benjamin, Nelson Dallas, and William). My ggg grandfather John Miller, an immigrant from Scotland, also served in the 154th NY Vol Inf. A lot of the collateral cousins served including two who were in different units, but both were in Andersonville. One died there. I don't know if they knew they were related, or knew each other was there, or not.... Another fact lost to history.....
There were many who served in the Revolutionary War, both militarily, and by supplying arms or materials to the soldiers. I have located about 7 so far, and many more are remaining elusive! They range from James Wadsworth who answered the call for the alarm at Lexington, Jonathan Robinson, who served in three separate companies, his father Daniel Robinson, who manufactured saltpeter for ammunition, Jabez Rouse, Jonathan's father-in law, who also served, to Squire Ide, who served, moved to Vermont, whose death date and burial place are not known to us, to several who either signed an oath of fidelity, or I'm still searching to prove service. For example, one who will appear shortly in my Monday Madness write up is Isaiah Burton. He is listed as part of his son Varnum's bio in the Cattaraugus County NY history as " Varnum Burton, whose father Isaiah, a native of Hopkinton, RI was a Revolutionary soldier".... thirty five years later, I am not much closer to proving that!!!
Several of the earlier ancestors in this country served in the various militia alarms in the King Phillip's War, French & Indian War, and various earlier skirmishes from their individual Connecticut and Massachusetts town militias.
It has been a wonderful day to look at how many of my ancestors have served their country with honor, and how much a part of my history is involved with the military and history of the country. I am eternally grateful for their service and hope that I can keep their memory alive for many generations of their descendants to follow.
Thanks to all of them, and to all those who have or are serving in the military.
No pictures or fancy stuff today, just thoughts and remembrances....
Saturday, May 1, 2010
New Rhodes/Sparks letter posted--- reference Thomas Futer or Footer
I just transcribed a third letter, and posted on the page for them in the blog at the bottom. This one was from William and Elizabeth Sparks in Shipley, Yorkshire, England. It mentions a Thomas Futer in Cumberland Maryland. It is dated Dec 26, 1892. William cannot spell well or use capitalization or punctuation..... He might do well at texting!!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Surname Saturday--- BURTON in NY, RI with related lines MILLER, MIX, KENDALL, FOOTE, RANDALL, CARMER
Well, this post is a tossup for Surname Saturday or Madness Monday, because trying to find data on my farthest back Burton has driven me mad for years.....
my lineage to this line is
38. Varnum Burton [her father] is the start of the maddening tale. He was born 11 July 1808. The place according to NY state censuses is Madison County, but Tompkins County according to the biography below. He first appears in Tioga County as Farnham Burton in the 1830 census. His story is told in the Biographical sketches from: "HISTORICAL GAZETTEER AND BIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIAL of CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NY, ed by WILLIAM ADAMS, Published 1893 (p710):
When he arrived in Cattaraugus county, he was living on part of a 67 acre lot owned by Alfred Burton, and next door to the Luddington family. Thomas Luddington's wife Sarah 's death certificate lists name as Sarah Burton Luddington. So I think that the three were siblings. Alfred ends up in Iowa, but the rest stayed in Hinsdale. I suspect that there was another sibling Acus who remained in Tompkins County, but have not proved... Varnum died in Hinsdale on 8 Feb 1902. He is buried in Maplehurst Cemetery but there is no tombstone.
76. Isaiah Burton [the father of Varnum] is the brick wall. He is not listed as the head of household on any census. He does appear in the 1850 census as an 89 year old man born in RI living with Varnum. In the federal copy, the name is missing, and looks like hash marks under the name of Horace (Orris). On the county copy of the census [ Yes, some of those still exist and shpould be looked at!!!!] the name could be read as Isaiah or Josiah..... The name of Varnum, given to his son is the last name of the General Joh Varnum, who led troops in New England in the Revolutionary War... but I have not yet found Isaiah's name on any pension or other records..... and no mention of wife or deeds in Madison, Tompkins or Tioga County, and no tombstone to be found. If he really was a Revolutionary War patriot, his story is lost, which is a real shame.... The family of Acus Burton of Dryden, Tompkins County [place Varnum came from] whose birth would make him Varnum's older brother by a year or two, has a son also named Varnum. It is possible he was named for my Varnum, who would have been his uncle....
So if anybody has any loose end to a Burton family in Tompkins, Tioga or Madison County, I'd love to hear from you. I have notebooks full of data, but maybe you have the magic piece of missing data......
my lineage to this line is
1. me
2. Dad
4. Victor Miller Fairchild
9. Lucy Gertrude Miller
19. Mary Elizabeth Burton [Mother of Lucy Gertrude Miller] was born in Hinsdale on 20 May 1845. She was the fifth child of seven.(?). She married John Miller(1847/9--1934) (see previous post) sometime before the birth of her daughter Etta in Jun 1868. There is the distinct possibility that she is the mother of Orris Burton, born in 1865. He was raised by her parents. I will save his tale for another day..... Mary Elizabeth Burton and her husband John were the parents of seven children: Etta[ married James Kendall], Angela [married Dana Carmer], Fred [married Bess Shannon], Lucy Gertrude [married Fred Fairchild], Alva [married Cora Foote], Elmer who died at age 10 in 1890], and Laura [ married James Randall].There are very few records existing for Mary Elizabeth except censuses. She died 19 Sep 1932 in Hinsdale, and is buried in Maplehurst Cemetery there. This is the only picture I have seen of her [ with her husband John].
38. Varnum Burton [her father] is the start of the maddening tale. He was born 11 July 1808. The place according to NY state censuses is Madison County, but Tompkins County according to the biography below. He first appears in Tioga County as Farnham Burton in the 1830 census. His story is told in the Biographical sketches from: "HISTORICAL GAZETTEER AND BIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIAL of CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NY, ed by WILLIAM ADAMS, Published 1893 (p710):
When he arrived in Cattaraugus county, he was living on part of a 67 acre lot owned by Alfred Burton, and next door to the Luddington family. Thomas Luddington's wife Sarah 's death certificate lists name as Sarah Burton Luddington. So I think that the three were siblings. Alfred ends up in Iowa, but the rest stayed in Hinsdale. I suspect that there was another sibling Acus who remained in Tompkins County, but have not proved... Varnum died in Hinsdale on 8 Feb 1902. He is buried in Maplehurst Cemetery but there is no tombstone.
76. Isaiah Burton [the father of Varnum] is the brick wall. He is not listed as the head of household on any census. He does appear in the 1850 census as an 89 year old man born in RI living with Varnum. In the federal copy, the name is missing, and looks like hash marks under the name of Horace (Orris). On the county copy of the census [ Yes, some of those still exist and shpould be looked at!!!!] the name could be read as Isaiah or Josiah..... The name of Varnum, given to his son is the last name of the General Joh Varnum, who led troops in New England in the Revolutionary War... but I have not yet found Isaiah's name on any pension or other records..... and no mention of wife or deeds in Madison, Tompkins or Tioga County, and no tombstone to be found. If he really was a Revolutionary War patriot, his story is lost, which is a real shame.... The family of Acus Burton of Dryden, Tompkins County [place Varnum came from] whose birth would make him Varnum's older brother by a year or two, has a son also named Varnum. It is possible he was named for my Varnum, who would have been his uncle....
So if anybody has any loose end to a Burton family in Tompkins, Tioga or Madison County, I'd love to hear from you. I have notebooks full of data, but maybe you have the magic piece of missing data......
Friday, April 9, 2010
New Rhodes, Sparks Letters Page
I have created a new page in this blog to post the set of letters written mostly in the 1890s between the Rhodes cousins in England, and the Rhodes/Sparks cousin in the US in Michigan. I have only transcribed the first two, so there are more to come. If you are a Rhodes or Sparks cousin in England or the US who recognizes the names as in your tree also, please contact me!!!
52 weeks to better genealogy- week 14 search engines
Well, here is this week's challenge... to try different search engines.
52 Weeks To Better Genealogy by Amy Coffin(http://wetree.blogspot.com/2010/01/52-weeks-to-better-genealogy.html) is a series of weekly blogging prompts that are a bit more challenging and are geared towards those new to the field of genealogy and family history as well as those who want to brush up on some skills which might be a bit rusty.
I usually use Google or Yahoo, so I thought I would try a few different engines. I tried Bing, with the name Antonipieri, a rare Italian surname of mine ( see earlier post for the map of surname in Italy). Bing did not bring up my blog posts in the top 10 as Google had. So I next tried dogpile.com It had my blog posts about midway on the list.... but it had an intriguing way of locating them through a site called www.bloglines.com.
I had never heard of that site, so I investigated it. You can search for anything in posts anywhere in blogs! You can also register for free, and list your blogs, blogs you follow, etc. and narrow searches to those if you wish. At that point, I quit with the original challenge of the "major" search engine, and spent time investigating this specialized search engine. Although it won't bring up the rootsweb and ancestry hits as Google or Yahoo, it works wonders with blogs, and often that's where the best info and tips can be found!
I had fun playing with this, as now I can search for a blog post by one of my fellow genies without having to remember who wrote it, and which blog I saw it in. So while I started out looking to see the differences in search engines as not that great a challenge, I wound up finding a new research tool. Cool!
Thanks, Amy for the challenges, and Thomas for bringing them to my attention! [and Randy, I can't make these as pretty as your posts.... yet!]
Now I can work on Faithful Friday and Surname Saturday posts!
52 Weeks To Better Genealogy by Amy Coffin(http://wetree.blogspot.com/2010/01/52-weeks-to-better-genealogy.html) is a series of weekly blogging prompts that are a bit more challenging and are geared towards those new to the field of genealogy and family history as well as those who want to brush up on some skills which might be a bit rusty.
I usually use Google or Yahoo, so I thought I would try a few different engines. I tried Bing, with the name Antonipieri, a rare Italian surname of mine ( see earlier post for the map of surname in Italy). Bing did not bring up my blog posts in the top 10 as Google had. So I next tried dogpile.com It had my blog posts about midway on the list.... but it had an intriguing way of locating them through a site called www.bloglines.com.
I had never heard of that site, so I investigated it. You can search for anything in posts anywhere in blogs! You can also register for free, and list your blogs, blogs you follow, etc. and narrow searches to those if you wish. At that point, I quit with the original challenge of the "major" search engine, and spent time investigating this specialized search engine. Although it won't bring up the rootsweb and ancestry hits as Google or Yahoo, it works wonders with blogs, and often that's where the best info and tips can be found!
I had fun playing with this, as now I can search for a blog post by one of my fellow genies without having to remember who wrote it, and which blog I saw it in. So while I started out looking to see the differences in search engines as not that great a challenge, I wound up finding a new research tool. Cool!
Thanks, Amy for the challenges, and Thomas for bringing them to my attention! [and Randy, I can't make these as pretty as your posts.... yet!]
Now I can work on Faithful Friday and Surname Saturday posts!
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