I went to a meeting for the Merrimack Valley Chapter of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists at the Nevins Library in Methuen, Massachusetts today. I saw 5 New England Bloggers speak about how they got started in blogging. That got me thinking that I could finally get my blog started.
Write small little bits each day, write what you would like to write about. Post pictures, questions. These were all hints of what to do to get your blog started. Oh, and find a Good name!!! My blog is Footsteps in Time - Following our Ancestors Path.
Welcome!
Saturday, October 26, 2013
The Elusive Ancestor - Christian Stuyverson (or is it Stuyvesant?)
Since the early 1990's when I started to have access to the Internet, I have been searching for my 3rd Great Grandparents, Celina Artemesia Church, daughter of Isaac Church and Sylvia Maria Clark, from Connecticut. Her husband, Christian Stuyveson or Stuyverson or Stuyvesant, you pick....has never been found.
Family rumor has it that he abandoned the family when he join the service to fight in the Civil War, in PA.
I can find records but I can't find where he was born, or if I have his correct parents, plus I can't find a death record of any kind that would indicate where he may have died, if he didn't survive the War.
The picture is of Celina Church Stuyverson. If someone has any information, I would love to hear from you! I would love to finally have a resting place for Christian.
I can find records but I can't find where he was born, or if I have his correct parents, plus I can't find a death record of any kind that would indicate where he may have died, if he didn't survive the War.
The picture is of Celina Church Stuyverson. If someone has any information, I would love to hear from you! I would love to finally have a resting place for Christian.
From Uriah to Hugh...I found him!
My Great Grandfather, Hugh Manning Hines, has been my brick wall since about 1995. It was a family rumor that Hugh Hines was either born in Nova Scotia OR born between Nova Scotia and Maine. That leaves a big hole for someone to interpret his place of birth. Fast forward to last week, October 18, 2013.
I was posting on Ancestry.com a query regarding Hugh Manning Hines and stumbled onto someone's posting about Uriah "Hugh" Hines and his wife Emily Cryer. Hmmm, Other than the Uriah, we found a match. Well as it turns out, according to Census records and birth records, Hugh Hines' first name was really Uriah.
Uriah married Lydia Smith in Nova Scotia. One day he came home to find Lydia in a compromising position, and was so distraught, that he left her. He took his children to his mother's for her to raise them. He then left Nova Scotia and went to the United States. There was never a record of a divorce. Lydia married the man she had an affair with, stating on the license that she was a widow. Well, since she didn't know what happened to Hugh, she thought it was safe. This could get messy! I need to find a divorce record for Hugh and Lydia, or a marriage record for Hugh and Emily, telling me that one divorced the other.
The first place that we find Hugh Manning Hines, is the 1910 Census record, married to Emily Cryer, daughter of Samuel Cryer and Elizabeth Buckley. What I know of Hugh Manning Hines, is from my father, who had the pleasure of his grandparents living with him and his brothers, after their mother, left them and their father. Hugh Manning Hines and his 2nd wife, Emily, are the parents of Phyllis Hines, my dad's mother.
Phyllis was born in New Jersey, which it states on the 1920/1930 census records is where Hugh and Emily were married. I haven't found a marriage record for Hugh and Emily yet. Still looking. Hugh died December 26, 1951 and Emily died in Sept 1956.
They are both buried at Oakland Cemetery in Medway, Massachusetts.
Four Score and Twenty Eight Years Ago
I first learned of my extended family in 1984, on my first trip across the United States from Massachusetts to Oregon. I was heading to a wedding for a cousin of my mother's. First impression: Huh? You have cousins outside of Massachusetts? Yup! They all live in Oregon!
So, off we traveled from Cape Cod (home to 90 percent of the Ancestors that I later traced to my family) all the way to Eugene, Oregon.
I met for the first time, my grandmother's brother, Bill Royer (1915-1994) and his wife, Betty. I was immediately in love with my new found Aunt and Uncle! I later met Uncle John Freaner, whose wife, Faith, was my grandmother's sister. But the best part was meeting Cecile Pershern, another sister of my grandmother. We were welcomed into her home, as busy as it was, since it was her son getting married!
The wedding took place on June 30, 1984. I don't remember much of it. But my favorite memories from that trip were of horseback riding, and meeting the rest of the Royer cousins. Oh my, what an exciting time!
I later traveled to Oregon in 1986, at the age of 14, by myself and spent a month with my new found relatives! I learned much about my grandmother, Wealthy, or Maye as she was referred to by family. I learned about my mom's short time in Oregon before she was moved to Massachusetts after my grandfather remarried. I often wonder what life would have been like for her if she had been allowed to stay in Oregon and grow up there.
This adventure to Oregon led me to want to know more about my family. Where did we come from? How did they get from Minnesota, where Grandma was born to Oregon? Why? I needed to know more.
Following my ancestors footsteps backwards through time has led me to Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and back to Massachusetts. For a few years I thought I had traced part of my Royer line to the Richard Church line from England but it wasn't the right one. I had traced another line which led me astray James Chilton. Again, another dead end. Life has a way of teaching you which is the right way and which is wrong. We found the right path....which led us back to Cape Cod...and the Mayflower passengers and on one side of my mother's family, we decend from William Brewster (through the Royer/Church connection) and through my grandfather's side, we descend from Captain John Gorham and his wife Desire Howland (John Howland and Joan Tilley). I look foward to walking in my ancestors footsteps as I follow them through history and learn their stories.
So, off we traveled from Cape Cod (home to 90 percent of the Ancestors that I later traced to my family) all the way to Eugene, Oregon.
I met for the first time, my grandmother's brother, Bill Royer (1915-1994) and his wife, Betty. I was immediately in love with my new found Aunt and Uncle! I later met Uncle John Freaner, whose wife, Faith, was my grandmother's sister. But the best part was meeting Cecile Pershern, another sister of my grandmother. We were welcomed into her home, as busy as it was, since it was her son getting married!
The wedding took place on June 30, 1984. I don't remember much of it. But my favorite memories from that trip were of horseback riding, and meeting the rest of the Royer cousins. Oh my, what an exciting time!
I later traveled to Oregon in 1986, at the age of 14, by myself and spent a month with my new found relatives! I learned much about my grandmother, Wealthy, or Maye as she was referred to by family. I learned about my mom's short time in Oregon before she was moved to Massachusetts after my grandfather remarried. I often wonder what life would have been like for her if she had been allowed to stay in Oregon and grow up there.
This adventure to Oregon led me to want to know more about my family. Where did we come from? How did they get from Minnesota, where Grandma was born to Oregon? Why? I needed to know more.
Following my ancestors footsteps backwards through time has led me to Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and back to Massachusetts. For a few years I thought I had traced part of my Royer line to the Richard Church line from England but it wasn't the right one. I had traced another line which led me astray James Chilton. Again, another dead end. Life has a way of teaching you which is the right way and which is wrong. We found the right path....which led us back to Cape Cod...and the Mayflower passengers and on one side of my mother's family, we decend from William Brewster (through the Royer/Church connection) and through my grandfather's side, we descend from Captain John Gorham and his wife Desire Howland (John Howland and Joan Tilley). I look foward to walking in my ancestors footsteps as I follow them through history and learn their stories.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Family Names, What were they thinking?
Ever wonder where you name came from? I was told early on that I was named for my Grandmother and my great Grandmother.
Today I was sitting with my niece going through our Alden and Byram family tree books looking at all the interesting family names. What names would you have picked in 1640 to name your child? What name would have been considered a family name?
Let's look at some of those names:
Dorcus
Constant
Ichabod
Theophilus
Besaleel
Comfort
Zadd
I don't know about you, but I'm quite happy with my name and not quite sure how I would have been with a name like some of the above.
Just some words for thought!
Today I was sitting with my niece going through our Alden and Byram family tree books looking at all the interesting family names. What names would you have picked in 1640 to name your child? What name would have been considered a family name?
Let's look at some of those names:
Dorcus
Constant
Ichabod
Theophilus
Besaleel
Comfort
Zadd
I don't know about you, but I'm quite happy with my name and not quite sure how I would have been with a name like some of the above.
Just some words for thought!
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