Great Book: Roots & Patchwork

 I had a wonderful visit to Chase County, Kansas, in September of 2023. One highlight was visiting the Chase County Historical Museum and Research Library. Their wonderful staff pointed me to Roots & Patchwork: An Historical View of Chase County, Kansas USA, which the society first published in 2002; the copy I purchased is from the second printing in 2018. It's 91 pages are a potpourri of photos and vignettes; it is available through their website.

After getting back home from the long trip, I was incredibly surprised to find this photo on p. 65. It is not dated.

While they are not my direct line, one of these men married married a daughter of my great-great-grandparents, Carl Benjamin Hegwer and Maria Ilgner. The Frey brothers also have Hegwer relations.  It is a treat to have images of them!

Kasimer John Fink was born about 15 Mar 1830 in Veringstadt, Hohenzollern, Germany (or perhaps, Prussia?). He arrived in Kansas about 1858. He married Medora Hegwer 27 Mar 1860 in Americus, Lyon, Kansas. He died 3 January 1912 in Cottonwood Falls.

Frank Frey and Julius Frey were Hegwer in-laws. Their sisters, Wilhemina and Maria Charlotte, married Carl Traugott Hegwer and Ernest Gothelf Hegwer, respectively.  There are several other Hegwer-Frey connections over decades. 

USAAF Keesler Field, Mississippi -- January 1943

My father, Herb Hegwer, was inducted into the Army Air Force in October 1942.  By 12 Jan 1943, he was at Keesler Field in Biloxi, Mississippi. He seems to have  served there pretty solidly into November of 1945,  with the exception of some temporary duty posts for advanced training as an aircraft mechanic at:

•  Los Angeles at Burbank Airport, California 
• Chanute Air Force Base, Rantoul, Illinois, 
• Lake Charles Army Air Field, Louisiana

Military records indicate he specialized in fuel injections systems, engine change, and turbo supercharger work. He worked on, at least, B-17 and B-24's.

Daddy was processed for release at Shaw Field in Sutter, South Carolina on 7 Jan 1946. I assume he had been there since November 1945.  He was shipped to a separation base in Santa Ana, California Jan 10 and finally discharged from there on January 17, 1946. It was an honorable discharge as a sergeant, 139th AAF Base Unit.

The snapshot above is dated "about Jan 12, 1945" and taken at Keesler.  

The back of the photo is clearly labeled in my father's handwriting. Left to right, the soldiers are Donald E. Hunter, Francis J. Hoffman, Thomas A. Hensley, Herbert C. Hegwer, and Howard Hart. It can't be coincidence that their surnames all start with "H", can it? The notation TSS 397 stands for Tech School Squadron 397.

 

 I have several additional photos from this time period of Dad with Donald Hunter. Some are from their visit to the family home in Alhambra while the two were training in Burbank.  It looks as though my young aunt was sweet on Don!

Ancestry of Elizabeth Uredge (1595-1632)

 One of the advantages of having any early American ancestry is that sometimes a new generation is delivered seemingly out of the blue to my door! I love surprises like that!!

The latest issue of The American Genealogist has given me 2 more generations in the ancestry of Elizabeth Uredge, who married John Stanley 14 Oct 1623 in Benenden, Kent, England [1]. Elizabeth and John are some of the 9th great-grandparents from my maternal grandfather's lines.  

An earlier TAG article on Anna Uredge & husband Stephen Vinall included conjectures about the Uredge line [2]. The present article confirms new 10th and 11th greats for me and adds a new surname: Kerwin.  Please see both articles for full discussions, hesitations, children's names, and extractions/transcriptions from newly found and interpreted primary sources.  Masterful research!

The son, John, at the bottom of my chart, is commonly referred to as "Capt. John Stanley."

NOTES

[1] Leslie Mahler & Randy A. West, "The Uredge Family of Counties Kent and Sussex -- Ancestral to Anna1 (Uredge) Vinall of Scituate, Massachusetts, and John1 Stanley of Hartford, Connecticut,"  TAG Jan/Apr 2020, Vol 91(3), pp. 190-194. [published March 2021]

[2] David L. Cummings, "Stephen1 and Anna (Uredge) Vinall of Benenden, Kent, and Scituate, Plymouth Colony, with Clues to the Vinal-Uredge-Stanley Connections,"  TAG Oct 2018, Vol 90(4), pp. 296-300.

 

Treasures from the To-Do Pile: Daddy's high school annual

 

"Memories of I.F.H.S. 1935"

Idaho Falls High School, Idaho

16 pages, black and white, 6.25" x 9.5" (cover slightly larger)

This scan is a clip from p. 6. There are ten such groups over p. 6 and p. 8.  

While this booklet appears to represent only the senior class, it does not specifically say so. Three of the pages are blank and labeled for autographs. Dad's copy also has many autographs on the inside covers and a few throughout the booklet. As you can see in this image, one of the students, Ben Blalock, signed across my dad's name.  Blalock is not listed in the senior lists on pp. 5, 7, and 9.  Many of the autographed names are not listed either; some appear to the teachers, given the inscription they left.

Although the photos are only identified with first initials, I used the list of "Senior Prophecies" on p. 7 to give this list of the full names of the students in this photo:

Robert Keith                                                Naia Hansen

Herbert Hegwer                                           Ila Hanson

Steve Hatch                                                  Billie Hilliard

Arthur Hook                                                 Margaret Harris

Morris Jordan                                               Ethyl Ingram

Dan Kelly                                                     Bernice Gesas

Bob Jahn                                                       Fern Flagler

Jack Holt

The photo is valuable to me, but probably more so is the handwritten note, in my dad's writing, on the inside front cover, specifying his school history. Parentheses, punctuation, notes are his:

Graduated 8th Grade 1929 May 25 at Paris, Idaho, (Wilson School St. Charles)

High School

Freshman 1929-1930 Fielding High, Paris Idaho

Soph 1930-1931 Fielding High, Paris Idaho

Junior Yr    Start 1931 Fielding High --  move to Idaho Falls in fall of 1931 & finish JR grd 1932

(Drop out for 2 years (1932-1933) (1933-1934))

Senior Year 1934-1935 IFHS Idaho Falls Idaho

My daddy, Herb, was the oldest of  eight children. I believe he boarded out from St. Charles to attend high school in Paris. In fall 1929, the entire family contracted scarlet fever or diptheria (accounts differ). Two siblings died and their father, Ben T. Hegwer, was disabled from it. Utah Power & Light moved Ben to the station in Idaho Falls as his health declined; he died August 1933. My dad had dropped out to support the family until his two surviving brothers were old enough to help. He was almost 22 when he graduated from Idaho Falls High School. Barely a year later, he had moved his mom and surviving siblings to Los Angeles where he said he could make enough money to support the family...and he did.

90th Friday

 

1934-2019

My first blogpost in quite a while. I started to get back to genealogy only in the last few months. Today is the 90th Friday without my husband's hand to hold. It's hard to believe it's been that long. In other ways, it was just this morning.  

Bannard, Carr, Hegwer: All Together

Annotations from the reverse of this photo, in the handwriting of my father, Herb Hegwer:

Location appears to be Uncle Fred & Aunt Jane's place in 5600 block Fair Ave
No Hollywood
Ca
Harry A Hegwer "Mickey"
Chas Wm Carr  -- Uncle Will
Mrs. Chas Wm Carr  --  Aunt Lottie
Herbert C Hegwer  --  myself
Raymond O. Bannard  --  cousin
Fred R. Bannard  --  Uncle Fred

My Comments--People
Mickey was Herb's younger brother.   (Their brother Ray, died in 1937. I think it's significant that he is not in this photo.)

Charles William Carr was a maternal uncle of both Hegwer's in this photo.  His wife, Aunt Lottie, was Charlotte M. Field.

Frederick R. Bannard was the husband of Jane Catherine Carr, sister to Charles. Raymond Otto Bannard was their son.

My Comments--Location
In the 1930  census, Fred & Jane Bannard were at 5630 Fair Ave and her parents, John Henry (died in 1933) & Anne Matilda (Causier) Carr at 5624 Fair.  The area changed jurisdictions often as Los Angeles grew.  Today with Google Maps, the house now at 5630 is probably basically original but clearly had additions. Next door, the street number is 5624 but the building is a large post-WWII apartment building.  But, given city directories & voter registers, they all seem to have left this street by about 1934.

My Comments--Dating the photo
The earliest date I have for the Hegwer's in Los Angeles is 1936; Herb would have been 23, Mickey about 18, & Ray Bannard about 20.  I think they all look older than that in this photo.  

Mickey died in Jan 1944, having enlisted Nov 1941.  So the photo is most likely between 1936 and 1944, and more probably before 1942.  Given who's not in the photo, I think this photo is more likely late 1940, maybe even at the time of Ann Matilda (Causier) Carr's funeral in 1940.

So...I'm not sure about the date/place combination.  Dad was pretty good about labeling photos and especially good about locations-- I am very hesitant to doubt him on that.  On the other hand, given that he did not give a date, I think he must have had some general doubt and that could include the location, too.

Maybe some of the other descendants can help me out here?!

Great Book: Elements of Genealogical Analysis

Elements of Genealogical Analysis by Robert Charles Anderson is really a great book!   I have been working through it for almost a year and still enjoy every single page.  It's not the sort of book a reader just goes through once and puts back on a shelf:  the content is concise yet very dense.  There's a lot there to consider.  I believe the sort of study groups that erupted for the Jones book would be very appropriate for "Elements."

If you appreciate the Great Migration Newsletter articles about how a passenger list or a town record was analyzed, then there is absolutely no doubt that you will enjoy "Elements."  You'll also appreciate it if you like to read books about evidence and analysis in genealogy and it's an absolute must-read for anyone with colonial New England ancestry.

I think one of its strengths is both the number and depth of the examples for every single point Anderson set out to make.  The detailed analyses of documents -- not simply what is printed on them but where, when, why, by whom -- support any discussion of the genealogical proof standard.

SCGS Jamboree 2016 in Brief

This is Part Two of my Jamboree experience this year. Part One is here.

FRIDAY – Yeah! An average commute so I wasn't late...just tired.

8:30 to Noon  – Extra $50 Hands-on Workshop with Blaine Bettinger on Third-Party Tools for Autosomal DNA

As expected, an “Oh, Wow” Experience for me! Ok, maybe I would have preferred less time on admixture and more time on GEDmatchTier One Tools and a lot more on DNAGedcom. At least I do now see that there is some value to the admixture tools in general. Overall, the workshop was well worth my time but it was also evident that not everyone had done the workshop preparation as listed in the registration materials. Since I had done all the preparation, there was a good deal of repetition and that time could have been much better used on the Tier One tools &/or DNAGedcom. Still I feel it was worth the price.

A thought: Remember how Thoma MacEntee did the weekly prompts/steps to review genealogy research? Given my success at following Blaine Bettinger's workshop preparation instructions for third party tools, I think Blaine (or someone) should continue that concept and have weekly prompts to take users through GEDmatch and DNAGedcom. That may be what his upcoming book is going to do...we should know by next month!

I spent the afternoon in the exhibit hall, perusing, picking up freebies & brochures. I asked some questions and got some help at My Heritage. It turns out most of my issues are them and not me. Great freebie bag, though....

Overall, the exhibit hall did not have the excitement it has had. A couple of my favorites were missing and I was unable to purchase two books I had planned to buy.

With no exciting sessions to see and relatively little to do in the exhibit hall, I went home mid-afternoon, trying to beat both Friday drive-time traffic and getting past a Dodger stadium before the home game traffic. 

SATURDAY

The biggest surprise Saturday morning was the commute: the absolute easiest & fastest I have ever, ever had to Burbank for anything!

Saturday held no research-necessary sessions, so I settled with being entertained by Michael John Neill on Pre -1850 Censuses. I've heard him before on that topic, but he's one of my favorite speakers and I knew it would be enjoyable. Note: I think his Casefile Clues is the most under-revered genealogy books/newsletters there is. I think of it as a book because I printed out Volumes 1&2 and put them in a binder. Super!!

I tried Newspapers.com in the Tech Zone.  Found some things worth pursuing. 

I bought 2 more FTDNA autosomal kits and went home after lunch. I really like how FTDNA re-organized and fully staffed their conference booth.  It was the best FTDNA conference experience I've ever had.  Unfortunately, the commute home was not so good.  

SUNDAY'S program didn't have enough great stuff to overcome the commute and the thought of sleeping in, so I stayed home to sleep in, console Hubby, and blog.

Big News! Oh, my goodness! I've made the big time...after all these Jamborees, I'm finally one of the unnamed background extras in one of Randy Seaver's Jamboree photos!! I can prove I went to Saturday!

Overall Conclusion

I think that the next time Jamboree has a schedule that really motivates me, I will take Hubby along and get a room at the hotel for 2-3 days. My total commute time for the three days I attended was over 10 hours and that doesn't count the stress and energy and parking fees and the lonely husband issues....

SCGS Jamboree 2016: DNA Day

I hadn't expected to attend Jamboree this year, but when the schedule first came out with a full day of excellent speakers on intermediate/advanced sessions for DNA Day and an extra Friday workshop, I was hooked for the whole conference. Unfortunately for my blogging, the daily commute precluded my posting each day...more on that later. Here's a summary of my impressions.  A blog post on the rest ofJamboree to follow.

DNA Day

Even though I allowed 90 minutes for a commute that can be done in an hour-ish, I was 30 minutes late and arrived to find myself “locked-out” of Kitty Cooper's session on triangulation. Fortunately, her blog posts are thorough so I think I can tough it out and fill in the gaps myself. I spent the time left that session in with Katherine Borges & Linda Magellan on Recruiting DNA in Europe. Those few minutes were enjoyable and informative while I let myself unwind from the drive.  On to the rest of my day:

10am with James V. Bartlett on Intermediate DNA: Autosomal DNA – Specific Steps to Insure Success

An excellent presentation and syllabus: lots of detail yet very easy to follow. I need to follow his suggestion of having a few “standard messages” ready to use for cousin contacts. Duh..no wonder I was never happy with my attempted messages...I was trying to make one fit them all. Also, I need to keep trying: Jim cited much improved response rates by the third inquiry he sends out to an individual. His tips on spreadsheet management are useful, too.

11:30an with Tim Janzen on Organizing All of Your DNA Match List Data

Another excellent presentation in every regard. He provided very detailed info on how he structures his spreadsheets. Maybe I can make this work...I really like the idea of giving a new cell to each individual email to/from a cousin contact. In general, he works his analysis more at the segment level than by total size of a match.

2:00pm back with James V. Bartlett on Segment-ology: Learning about Autosomal DNA

Still very good and by this point I didn't need to take as many notes. I choose to think that's because of all my new knowledge and synthesis skills rather than from info overload! I think I've really got a good grasp now on analyzing matches that could be on either one of a chromosome pair.

3:30pm with Diahan Southard on Circles or Triangles? What Shape is your DNA?

Another excellent presentation as always from Diahan! I went into this expecting to still be strongly favoring triangulation. However now, I must admit that I see there is indeed some logic & science behind Genetic Networking (seems to be the generic term for “DNA Circles"). I still count myself in the triangulation camp, but I will be less overtly critical of a certain company's circles. I really liked Diahan's emphasis that while you may have DNA matches in circles, you MUST then “do the genealogy.”

5:00pm with Blaine Bettinger for Genetic Genealogy: Year in Review 2016

Good presentation, well organized. Yes, a lot really did happen in just the last year. Key quote: “We need to expect our match lists to change over time.” It's clear that more updates and more changes are going to be a fact of life.

Overall, a great day and it's going to take me hours and hours of work to start implementing all that I learned and/or am now more motivated to actually do.

Ancestry.com DNA: Then v. Now

It appears that the changes to Ancestry.com's DNA matching protocol have reached my results.  Oh, dear: 

19 Missing ... that's 20%...

Following all the alerts from other bloggers, I made sure that all of my existing 93 green leaf matches had stars and/or notes*.  As you can see above, now I have only 90 green leaf matches.  Doesn't sound too bad, does it?  But, examining those 90, there are 16 with no star and no note but with a new blue dot ... they are entirely new to me.  

So, a total of 19 of my "Then" DNA matches who had trees with a match to my tree are no longer in that category. I haven't looked exhaustively for them, but it seems likely that they are indeed "gone." I assume ancestry.com did not change my tree or their trees, so if they are no longer among the green leaf DNA matches, they must no longer match my DNA at/above the threshold.  So much for starring or noting previous matches....

Other signs of change
I selected, fairly randomly,  6 of my "then" matches and looked at Ancestry.com's specification of shared cM's now.  All of them have been modified:

A Decision
I'm glad ancestry.com wants my opinion and I will give it to them, but I'm not sure it really matters to them.  They don't appear to have listened to the Power Bloggers....

I've decided that I'm not going to give these changes any more of my time and energy right now.  I'll wait to read some blogs and I'm very interested to hear all the talk at SCGS Jamboree DNA Day.

* I followed many more of the precautionary suggestions, but I don't have the strength to analyze comparisons of them now...if ever....

Obituary: Margaret Lavina (Richardson) (Hegwer) Danes

I'm certainly happy with any obituary, but some are better than others... and this obituary is one of the others....  It is about my great-grandmother and briefly refers to my grandfather, but you'd have to be a family genealogist to know it!

The "local lady" is Margaret Lavina (Richardson) (Hegwer) Danes.  This obituary is from the 14 July 1919 issue of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, p. 5.  From the first line shown in the image, her obituary continues:

whose home was at 829 South avenue, occurred yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock, following a sickness of several months from asthma and complications. Mrs. Danes was born in Tiffany, Mo., August 29, 1860, and has been twice married, the first husband leaving her with two sons, one of whom is now making his home with his mother in this city and the other living in Idaho. Mrs. Danes was united in marriage with her present husband at Durango in 1905, and the family came to Grand Junction the following year.
     The funeral services are waiting word from the son in Idaho and upon receipt of such word the arrangements will be completed; burial will be on Orchard Mesa.
     Later--The funeral services will be held at the Martin chapel Tuesday at 2 o'clock p. m. and will be in charge of Rev. Edwards of the Christian church.

The only named person is her second husband, A.W. Danes (note the use of initials rather than 'Albert Wentling'). Neither her married name nor even her forename is given; survivors are not named.  Click here  for a photo of Margaret, Albert, and local son, Raymond Hegwer.

The "detail" of her first marriage is inaccurate and the location of her second marriage is wrong.  Click here for previously posted info about her divorce from Charles Hegwer.

By 1910 census and Salt Lake City directories, they did not arrive in Grand Junction Colorado before 1913.  I wonder who supplied the information...I would have expected her widower or her son to have been more accurate or to have simply omitted specifics.  So, it's another example of how cautious we have to be with obituaries.

 I found it through the website of the Mesa County Libraries and ordered an e-copy from them.   Thank you, Mesa County Libraries of Colorado!

atDNA Matches by Company

I've made this my own "DNA Month"  and plan to concentrate on getting all the things I've learned to  do actually done.  I've got some more gedcoms to upload, some more third-party tools to download and start using, match contacts to reply to, other matches to contact, and lots of results to analyze.

Comparing atDNA test results across companies
Luckily for me, my aunt was gracious and curious enough to let me test her atDNA.  She's the only close relative I have from an earlier generation and so, consequently,  her results are very important in my research.  I tested her with Ancestry.com and then transferred the raw data to FTDNA to facilitate chromosome mapping.  I've also got both of us at GedMatch.

I haven't been paying much attention to my matches beyond 4th cousins.  Making this chart made me realize looking at my aunt's "4th cousin" matches, in essence, gives me one more good generation of priority matches to consider, at least on that side of my family.  And, I didn't realize that she actually has more "4th cousin or closer" matches than I do.  I'm going to have to spend some time on this result!







Hmmm...my chart for our FTDNA matches illustrates some of the differences between the two companies and how they select/report matches. ...  Far fewer matches but more (on the surface) common matches.   Given that my aunt doesn't have the Colonial America ancestry that's a full quarter of my pedigree chart, it surprises me that my aunt has more matches than I do.

It will be interesting to see how all these numbers change over time.

Obituary: Dan Davison

Transcribed from the newspaper Vermont Republican of Windsor, Vermont.  It was the 5 March 1821 issue on p. 3.  Accessed with GenealogyBank.com

DIED --  At Hartland, on the 31st Jan Deacon DAN DAVISON in the 85th year of his age.  It may truly be said of him, 'He came to his grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in, in his season.' He was a soldier in the last French war in America, and when the struggle commenced between Great Britain and America, he was a warm friend to his country, and had two tours in the Revolutionary Army.  He was a member of the Legislature of Vermont several years.  He was a kind neighbor and a faithful friend.   The order and regulations of his family, were exceeded by few, if any in the present age; and great spiritual blessings has he enjoyed in his family.  He was a Deacon in the Baptist Church in Hartland, from its first constitution, and one of its main pillars.  We think we shall not exaggerate if we say, he lived and died a Christain, in the consciences of all classes of people.--His funeral was attended on the 3d inst. by a great concourse of people.  A discourse was delivered on the occasion, by one whom he had appointed, from the words of Elisha when his master was taken away, recorded in II Kings, 11th chap, and a part of the 12th verse 'My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.'

'Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of theta man is peace.' 

The death notice immediately following was, coincidentally, one sentence for one of his grandsons, Paul Davison, who died at age 26 in Waterford.

It saddens me that the memory of this man did not survive to my generation.  When I began my research, I did not know that any of my ancestors had lived in New England, or that they had fought in wars, or that they were Deacons or even Baptist.  Deacon Dan Davison was one of my 4th-great-grandfather on my mother's side.

Thomas Bascom and Martha Boltwood Field

Thomas Bascom and his wife, Martha Boltwood Field, are two of my fourth-great-grandparents, through their son David.  This image is from Amherst town records and shows a family listing of their first five children.

Such a record does not prove the children were born in Amherst, but most certainy the family resided there for a time.  Given that David is the last listed, it is more likely that he was born there.  Town histories uniformly name Thomas Bascom as one of the early settlers of Amherst and there is no record of him returning to Warren, Worcester, Massachusetts prior to 1880.  Consequently, I believe it is fairly safe to say that David was born in Amherst.

The baptismal note added to the first Nathan's birth listing would seem to imply that he was at least baptized in Amherst.  It's probably also safe to list Martha and the second Nathan as born in Amherst.

Four more children were more probably born in Warren: Solomon, Asa, Absalon, and Simon.

Line of Descent
Thomas Bascom = Martha Boltwood Field
David Bascom = Lydia Palmer
Titus Davison = Hannah Field Bascom
Celim Homer Porter = Clara Evelene Davidson
my Grampa Porter


SOURCE

FHL186126 / online browse images / Amherst
Amherst, Hampshire: Births, marriages, deaths 1747-1836 vol 1 / clip from image 7 

Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1627-2001 at Familysearch.org

Obituary: Walter H. Hegwer

Thank you, thank you, and thank you again to the Mesa County Libraries!!

My goodness, I'm having a great summer finding obituaries!! This time it's not a subscription website but is a free service of a public library: Mesa County Libraries in Colorado.

Luckily for me, one of my great-grandmothers spent her last years in Grand Junction, Colorado. I know my great-grandmother is buried there and that Hegwer grave(s?) were purchased at the Orchard Mesa Cemetery in Grand Junction.  I know I've looked before but, this time, something went right and I stumbled into the Genealogy section of the library system's website.

I was shocked to find that they had four entries for "Hegwer" or related "Danes" surnames in their files. I was even more shocked to see that it appeared that they have a free service of providing e-copies of the related obituaries.  I filled out the form and now I have copies of obituaries from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel for:

• Margaret Lavina (Richardson) (Hegwer) Danes, my great-grandmother
• Albert Wentling Danes, her second husband
• Walter Hegwer, one of her children who died young
• Myrtle "Mamie" May (Foltz) Hegwer, widow of Raymond Dudley Hegwer, another of Margaret's sons

The biggest news here is the info about work, residence, and illness for grand-uncle Walter.  And, I have his birthplace as Laveta, Costilla, Colorado rather than Pueblo.  The clipping is from the 18 Feb 1908 issue on p. 8.

The moral of the story is to always check the library where family lived and to recheck it periodically...the digital world is changing...!

Great Goodness: Sixth Blogiversary, 2009 to 2015

Wow...I almost missed it!  I sat down to send a note to Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers and High-Definition Genealogy (among others) and suddenly flashed on 'what date is this?!'

State of the Blog  --  Writing
I haven't posted annual goals for  GreatGreats for ages.  Considering I only blogged once in all of 2014, my unstated goal this year was just to get back in the rhythm.  I'm feeling pretty good about 2015: eighteen posts since last (uncelebrated) blogiversary.

On the other hand, I haven't done as many as I'd planned on DNA in my genealogy research.  I have to do better with my DNA research in general.

I resumed First-Friday-Folder posts, but I've missed a couple.  It's really hard when the first of the month is Thursday or Friday...I must plan ahead!!  I'm very happy that I've scheduled regular review of existing folders and the related family group sheet.  The biggest thing I saw recently is that while I have always written source citations, many  of the earlier ones are lacking any written, specific explanation of specifically what my thought process had been.

State of the Blog  --  Cosmetics
I'm feeling a serious urge to redecorate, ie redesign the blog.  Ideas?  Comments?  My husband says my font size is too small.  With the ease of manipulating screens nowadays, is that an issue for anyone?  Anyway, the next time you visit GreatGreats, don't be surprised if it has a new look!

First Friday Folder: David Bascom & Lydia Palmer

David Bascom and Lydia are third great-grandparents on my mother's side.  I selected this folder for review because, if I decide to participate in NEHGS' new database project  Early Vermont Settlers to 1784, Lydia's father, Zenas Palmer, is a viable candidate.  Before working on Zenas, I better make sure the more recent generation is in good shape….   (Read the very first one here to review what I mean by First Friday Folder.)

The Couple
Lydia PALMER was born in 1789 in Fairfax, Franklin, Vermont, the daughter of Zenas Palmer and Lydia Marshall.   David BASCOM, son of Thomas Bascom and Martha Field, was born 8 Aug 1780 in Amherst, Hampshire, Massachusetts.  David was in Fairfax by 5 Dec 1805 when he married Lydia.  They lived there the rest of their lives and had nine children.  David died 21 May 1859 and Lydia died just three months later, 29 Aug 1859. They, and many members of their families, are buried in Sanderson Corners Cemetery in Fairfax and most are listed at Find A Grave.

The Folder
The folder's contents were is relatively good shape, organized and nicely grouped.  There were even three unnecessary duplicate pages to remove and file in the trash!  I was feeling pretty good until I reviewed the family group sheet. While my citations were thorough enough to find the related source, I could not tell what-in-the-world I had been thinking…what did that page have to do with the event to which I had linked it?!  I probably thought the link was obvious…something I'd "never" forget...

The Plan

• FHL #28213 has been on my to-do list for some time: Now is the time to order these early Fairfax Town Records and write really thorough citations and proof statements as appropriate!
• Review all citations for this couple and re-research and/or rewrite as needed.
• Investigate two very promising DNA match in this line at Ancestry.com and another at FTDNA

Conclusions

•  I need to remember that I am writing citations not for me today, but for me later when I am not in the midst of solving that problem and I no longer remember what I was thinking at the time.  My  new dream is to someday review a folder that does not embarrass me….
• I have to figure out a rationale or procedure on how to prioritize and rank which DNA matches to pursue.  There are just too many to do them all justice.

Resource: Old Lutheran Migration

The latest issue of American Ancestors has a great surprise!  American Ancestors is a publication of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and I'm used to finding info about my maternal grandfather's Colonial New England ancestry in almost every issue.  I was unhappy about 2 years ago when the society decided to open their focus to be much more general: there'd be less content for me but I could understand their need to appeal to more people and make more money to support the society...so...

I never expected to find an article directly relevant to my Hegwer line!  While Carl Benjamin Hegwer and Maria Rosina (Ilgner) Hegwer are not specifically mentioned, "George Dopf and the Old Lutheran Migration of 1839" is a very good article about the nature of their immigration in 1839.  It's very hard (as in near impossible?) to find scholarly things in English about the early 1800s in Silesia, so this article is a real treat.  The ship the Hegwer's were on left Hamburg 1 Jul 1839 and is the one described in this article, arriving NY on 24 Aug 1839. 

Wherever the article refers to the Silesia group, that's us!  There is no doubt that Carl Benjamin Hegwer knew Krause and Grabau, and probably Rohr, too.  There was quite a bit of documented 'drama' among the 3 ministers, the Buffalo congregation, and the Wisconsin groups that has been left out of this article.  You can't fit everything in one article!

WHAT I NEED TO DO NOW

I had no idea that any of the travel documents needed by the Old Lutherans to leave Prussia still existed.  I can't wait to follow author McGrath's reference list and see if I can find some new info specific to the Hegwer's or Ilgner's.  Records from the part of Silesia now in Poland are harder to find than those now in Germany, but I'll still try... and maybe the Hegwer/Ilgner party had already started to move and were interrogated along the way, leaving records in what is now Germany???

REFERENCE

McGrath, Lawrence R. "George Dopf and the Old Lutheran Migration of 1839." American Ancestors, Vol. 16 (2), Spring 2015, pages 37-40 & 59.

Disclaimer

I am a paid member of NEHGS but receive no other consideration from them.

Great-Great-Grandfather Homer Thomas Porter

Clipping from the St. Albans Messenger of St. Albans, Vermont.  This obituary appeared Thursday, 31 Dec 1903 on page 8.  I found it through GenealogyBank.com; I'm very happy with my new subscription!*

Homer Thomas Porter and Dolly Bates are one set of my maternal great-great-grandparents.  It's always nice to have an obituary for an ancestor, but this one is especially nice for several reasons:
  --It specifies where he was living when he died.

  --Dolly Ann (Bates) is named as his late wife.
  --His father, Thomas, is named. With common names, it's always nice to have generations linked!
  --It not only says where Dolly was when she died, it also specifies why she was so far from Vermont.
  --Surviving relatives are named and residences specified.
  --His religion and commitment to it are included.

I had most of these events but only from a distant family  member.  Granted, an obituary may not be reliable but this one is still closer to being original than what I had previously.  All input considered, I'm feeling pretty good about reliability.  What I had is confirmed and I'm able to fill in some very meaningful new details.

And, I have something new to research: What was the "battle of Plattsburg" and why is it still mentioned 90 years later???

Line of Descent

For the curious or the observant, Dolly Ann (Bates) Porter and her mother-in-law Abigail (Bates) Porter are not closely related.  Abigail is a descendent of Clement Bates, while Dolly Ann is a descendent of Edward Bates of Weymouth.








*Disclaimer
I am a new, paid subscriber to GenealogyBank.  I do not receive any favor from them beyond my subscription.

Portrait of a Great Great: Mary Mason

With a full quarter of my ancestry coming from the Great Migration, I'm used to finding the occasional mention in American Ancestors, one of the periodical publications of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.  But the Winter 2015 (Vol. 16, No. 1) has set a new standard here for excitement!

One article is primarily about Abigail Smith Adams, wife of President John Adams and mother of President John Quincey Adams [1].  Author Michelle Marchetti Coughlin hypothesizes howAbigail's maternal great-grandparents may have affected Abigail.  Luckily for me, those maternal great-grandparents are also my 8th-great-grandparents, John NORTON and Mary MASON.

The entire article is very interesting and includes a good deal of family history information and detail, far beyond birth-marriage-death.  The great surprise is a portrait of Mary Mason, circa 1670!  The actual portrait, artist unknown, is on display at the Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, Massachusetts.  As part of the United States National Park Service (NPS), the website is great, too.  It includes a Photo Gallery with eight sections, one of which is Portraits in the Old House. Of the 32 portraits shown there, one is of "Mary Mason, circa 1670" and a download is available.  My illustration here is a clip of that NPS download. Please visit their fine site for your own full copy.

Conclusions

• Join national genealogy societies!
• Read their publications and be prepared for surprises!
• Appreciate fine government websites!

Line of Descent
Rev. John Norton = Mary Mason
Capt. John Norton = Elizabeth Thaxter
William Norton = Elizabeth Bennett
Moses Bates = Hannah Norton
Moses Bates = Ruth Shaw
Norton Bates = Betsey Sweet
Homer Thomas Porter = Dolly Ann Bates
Celim Homer Porter = Clara Evelene Davidson
my Grandpa Porter


[1] Coughlin, Michelle Coughlin. "A shared sensibility: Examining the legacy of John and Mary (Mason) Norton, maternal great-grandparents of Abigail Smith Adams." American Ancestors, 16 (1): 47-51.