Great-grandmother Margaret Lavina Richardson

Another treasure!  Come share my excitement...
When I started my genealogy research, I didn't have photos of all my grandparents, let alone any of the "greats."  This month has brought another milestone: my first-ever photo of great-grandmother Margaret Lavina RICHARDSON!  I am so very happy to finally see what "Maggie" looked like!

Left to right: Margaret, son Raymond Dudley Hegwer, second husband A.W. Danes

Margaret was the fourth child of John Richardson and his wife, Isabela Shaw.  She was born 28 July 1860 in Tiffany, Morgan County, Missouri.  She married Charles Hegwer 9 December 1883 in Corning, Nemaha, Kansas; they were divorced 14 August 1905 in Durango, La Plata, Colorado.  She married Albert Wentling Danes a few days later in Aztec, San Juan County, New Mexico Territory.  Margaret died 13 July 1919 in Grand Junction, Mesa, Colorado.  [Click here for an earlier post about the divorce, which includes source notations.]

Third-cousin Donald found this photo in his To-File pile! Interestingly, from the reverse side of this photo, it seems that, on the Richardson side, she was called "Vina." If the reverse side of the photo had not been so well labeled, I'm not sure either of us would have known these people.  I have photos of Raymond much younger and much older; I might have guessed it was he, but I'd never have been sure. 

We don't know when or where the photo was taken.  It looks like some sort of retaining wall in the background, perhaps a mining site?  It is probably in or near Mesa County, Colorado.  Any ideas?  Given Raymond's appearance and his mother's marriage/death dates, I'm guessing this is circa 1915.  Comments?

Conclusions

• Donald found this photo while tidying-up his files for my visit next month!  I haven't even left yet and, already, the trip is a blazing success!!!
• Donald found me a few years ago because of a birth-name comment I'd left on a census record for one of our distant Richardson aunts.  I am very grateful to both ancestry.com and Donald for making all of this possible.  Donald is an excellent researcher, a helpful collaborator, and an extremely nice person.
• I can't wait to meet Donald and see our ancestral lands in Missouri with a personal tour guide!

Disclaimer

I subscribe to ancestry.com, but I have no other connection to them and have never received any special consideration from them.

First Friday Folder: Dr. Daniel Porter, Immigrant

The ancestry of my Porter grandparent is easily my largest database with almost 4,000 names.  [See my 'Surnames' blog page for a list of the direct-line surnames of that grandparent's ancestry.]  However, I've written relatively few blog posts about my Porter line, and never a First Friday Folder analysis of any of my PORTER surname'd ancestors.

I selected this folder for review this month because of a new (only 16 posts so far) blog dedicated to Porter's: Porter Family Genealogy.  Perhaps most interestingly, it talks about a Porter Surname Genealogy website.  It seems to have begun in 2002, but it's certainly new to me!  It's fairly extensive and I need to spend more time there going over all the info.  I'm thinking of contacting the blog and/or the website, so I best review my info first! 

The Couple
Daniel Porter was probably born in England perhaps around 1630.  The earliest colonial record for him is 1644 in Waterbury, Connecticut. He was a 'bonesetter' (doctor) in Farmington with a yearly salary in 1661 of 6 pounds.  His will, 15 August 1688, appears in Manwaring's Early Probate Records of Connecticut, and was probated in 1690.

Little is known about his wife, Mary.  She was alive at the time of the will.  The couple had seven children between 1653 and 1665; at least 6 of whom married. 

The Folder
A relatively thin folder, there were only 7 items besides two old versions of the family group sheet.  Of the seven items, only one really belongs in this folder!  The other six items have now been moved to the folder of son Daniel Porter & Deborah Holcomb.

I printed out a new family group sheet.  Comparing it to the previous one shows I have done a good deal of work on the family, but I don't remember targeting them at all. The newest one:

• is the first I've printed in 5 years
• is 2 full pages longer
• has 12 new sources
• has 28 additional footnotes
• has comments on all 7 children (vs. only 3 previously)

Problems

• How many more folders do I have where 85% of the contents are misfiled???
• I don't have full, info let alone good sources, on the marriages of most of their children.
• I need to map the towns on the family group sheet to get a better idea of movements.  I think many new towns listed may really be newly created towns rather than the Porters moving.
• My notes refer to a Memorial History of Hartford County, 1886, Vol. 2, p. 166, but it is not listed in the sources.
• I haven't looked at any land records for Daniel.  That's depressing....

Conclusions
Yet again, I've shown myself that First Friday Folder review is worthwhile.   In this case, it can also be pretty upsetting.  Perhaps I should add a day a week where all I do I check folders and immediately fix any misfiled info?!

I've added the problems listed above to my master genealogy to-do list.  There will be no shortage of tasks to tackle when I rotate back to working on my Porter line.  But, first there's the Richardsons, and then the Keatings, and there's all my recent finds for the Carr line and where they may lead ...  So much genealogy ... so little time!