10 April 2010

A Great Surprise: Ancestor Approved

  I was speechless to find that I had been nominated by Leah of The Internet Genealogist for the Ancestor Approved award, which was originated by Leslie Ann Ballou of Ancestors Live Here.  Both of these are fine blogs!  Anyway, I've been too speechless to even write and thank Leah for the nomination until now. 

Recipients are supposed to write about 10 surprising, humbling, or enlightening aspects of their research.  Here are mine:
1.  Maria Rosina (Ilgner) Hegwer with 7 young children in tow and being very pregnant, leaving everything behind and getting on the barque Carolina and sailing for about 2 months across the Atlantic to her new world in 1839.  She delivered that baby the day before landing in New York.  I wouldn't have wanted to do that on a modern luxury cruise ship, let alone the way she did!
2.  (First Cousin 3 times removed )Benjamin Stoddard Davison being widowed 3 times [Ellen E. Hunt, Mariette C. Hunt, and Margaret H. Stuart] and  all 3 wives being acknowledged on his gravestone in the Fairfax Plains Cemetery, Fairfax, Franklin, Vermont.
3.  All the people who contribute to findagrave.com and especially  Barb Destromp in Vermont who seems to be dedicated to photographing all Vermont graves!
 4.  All the people who run great county sites at US Genweb project and especially Lorna Marvin at Chase County, Kansas.  She has single-handedly transcribed an incredible number of documents, indexes, etc.  The content at this site is super, especially if you are researching the early Hegwer's.  I know that my research wouldn't be where it is today if it were not for Lorna's efforts. 
5.  Thomas Coram's efforts led to the establishment of the first facility in England for deserted children: The Foundling Hospital in London.  My 5th great-grandfather was admitted there in 1759 as a foundling.  Reading about all the work done by Coram is truly humbling.
6.  Stephen J. Hartzell has a great website with both data and history of the St. Francis Orphanage of Tiffin, Ohio. Without his website, I'm not sure I ever would have found one, let alone 2 of the orphanages that housed my grandmother.  More on that long story in upcoming blogs here!  He may not be a blogger, but in my opinion, Stephen is truly "Ancestor Approved!"
7.  My 8th great-grandparents John and Mary (Baldwin) CATLIN died in or as a result of the 1704 Deerfield, Massachusetts raid.  I can only try to imagine what it was like to live on a frontier.
8.  My father served in WWII, but otherwise, I have to go back to the War of 1812 to find a direct ancestor with military service.  Is that surprising?
9. 4th Cousin Donald's eight great-grandparents were all in Morgan County, Missouri by the mid 1800's.  At that time, my 8 greats were in Kansas, Missouri, Vermont (2), England (2), Ireland, and Canada.  
10.  With only a quick perusal of Leah-who-nominated-me's blog, it looks to me as though we are distant cousins!  I will have to inquire!

Ancestor Approved recipients also need to forward the award to 10 more blogs "who are doing their ancestors proud."  It's kind of a genealogy pyramid or chain letter.  My thought was to acknowledge bloggers who had not already received the award, but my prolonged speechlessness, and the rapidity with which the award has spread, may have sidetracked me....  Anyway, here are some very good blogs and I nominate them with enthusiasm:

Kick-Ass Genealogy by Katrina McQuarrie

Relatively Curious about Genealogy, an anonymous blog from Texas

Eastern Kentucky Genealogy by Teresa Martin Klaiber

These Small Hours by Della  [not really a genealogy blog, but her grandparents treasure it and so do I; it is so well written and will be a treasure for her descendants]


The Genetic Genealogist by Blaine Bettinger

Irish Genealogy by Deborah Large Fox

Midwest Genealogy by Sharlene Miller

Mad About Genealogy by Linda Elliott

Did you count and see that I only list nine blogs?  For the rest, please visit my blog's "followers."  They are GREAT blogs and were already nominated, most several times.

So, "THANK YOU!," again to Leah and  I hope you are happy with what your nominating me has led to here!

CONCLUSION:  We all have so many different stories to tell! We should all be sure to thank all those bloggers we enjoy.  Have a great day!

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