Just a family story or the absolute truth?

In doing genealogy we often hear that we are to look askance at those family stories grandmother told us. More myth than truth, we've been told. So look to the records and turn our backs on the stories, was the advice. Hmmm. Bad advice.

I was thinking about this today when I was reading about the Irish story teller or seanachie. Story telling is a long tradition in Ireland and other Celtic areas. It's more than just a tradition, it's an art, really. There was no written record of the stories of each clan so it was the oral tradition that kept the very life and history of each clan alive. Additionally, bards were paid by the chieftain to tell the clan stories for education as well as to make up new stories for entertainment.

I know in my own family lines where the Irish tradition was kept and held dear, the family story had an honored place. Grandmothers were the tellers of stories and did it with pride and passion. They instructed the children of each generation with a serious intent that they all learn and remember the stories, the better to know who they were and who they came from. The stories helped define us as a clan in the New World.

Now I have a better grasp of which generations could read and write and had the option to make a written documentation of the family stories. Yet, they didn't do that. The written word was for the bible and legal matters, not family stories. Family stories were like a special treat, told only if you were good and sat quietly and listened. We loved the vast supply of stories told for entertainment and still retell them even today. Only now am I sorting out which stories were meant to educate us.

On my Mom's side, my 2nd great grandmother was born in Ireland and came here as a young girl. Mary Elizabeth Farrell was born 22 November 1835 and migrated with her parents and young sister, Catherine. They came in the years just before the Irish Famine, and we wonder if they saw the handwriting on the walls and got out. Or were they residents in one of the harsh Alms Houses and offered passage to get them off the government's rolls. We have yet to check the records in Ireland in any serious way, but we have a clue about where to look given to us by Mary Catherine herself!

My grandmother was Emma (Whetstone) Williams (1897 - 1956). She loved family and was proud to be first a Whetstone and then a Williams, two families with proud histories in the Western Maryland area where she lived. Her own grandmother was Mary Elizabeth (Farrell) House (1835 - 1919), who came from Ireland, and told the children stories she wanted them to remember. Mary Elizabeth told Emma that they came from the place in Ireland where St. Patrick drove out the snakes.

Yeah, I can hear the skeptics who dismiss such stories as bunk. I hear you loud and clear. But this is not just any family legend of made up stuff spun together out of the shadows from a fire on a winter's night. This is different.

It's an Irish origins story. Let me break it down for you. It's Irish. There are drinking stories and infant stories and fairie tales, and harvest stories, and summer horse race stories and more, much more. We are very particular about the type of stories we're telling. So this story of our family coming from the place in Ireland where St. Patrick drove out the snakes is a family story that conveys family history. And it's an origins story. You don't mess with origin stories especially family origin story. You can mess with drinking stories all you want, and are encouraged to do so. But do not mess with the family origin story.

And look what Mary Elizabeth did there! She wanted her descendants to remember where their people had come from so she put it out in the most memorable way possible. She said, where St. Patrick, the very patron saint of the land, did the most flamboyant (at least to my mind) act of his life. The very place where he drove the snakes out. Supposedly. But you see it doesn't matter if he did or didn't. This isn't about St Patrick or what he did. It's about remembering an important aspect of one family's story and putting emphasis on it in such a way that it is remembered.

See what I mean? So don't go and dismiss that family story outright because some guy with a blog says you should. Ask yourself what kind of a story-telling tradition your people came from. Are there different kinds of family stories? Then ask if your story is a frivolous one that entertains or a big import one about who your family was and what happened to them. And remember it might not be the best, most riveting full-blown epic story. It might simply be a short description of something that happened to your people, some time, some place. A bit of a fragment might be all that's left of that epic saga of the history of your clan. Is this a story for education or entertainment? That's a big clue.

My advice to you is to treasure that family story because it very possibly is the real deal.



The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/12/just-family-story-or-absolute-truth.html 

Surname Saturday: The Wonderful Whetstone Family

True confession, I like my Whetstone ancestors. Some of my kinfolk give me the chuckles with their misbegotten adventures and I enjoy them because it's fun to watch from the relative safety and comfort of my home as they stumble their way through records and leave a trail a mile wide. But the Whetstones are different: their records are about service to country and community, and of course family.

There's even a major (to us) genealogical fist-fight that's been going on for years about another Jacob Whetstone Jr. from the Somerset PA area (and not our Jacob Whetstone Jr. 1776 - 1889 form Berks County) and a book's claim that it was this other Whettstone line that descended from Capt. Jacob Whetstone Sr. (1738 - 1833) who served in the Revolutionary War. This particular book is given as a source for some applications to the DAR. All of this confusion finds perfect breeding ground throughout the 21 Member Trees on Ancestry.com, and probably counting upward every hour.

The bottom line is that our Jacob Whetstone Jr. was the son of Captain Jacob Whetstone and was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The other guy, bless him, was born in Somerset Pennsylvania, I know not when, and perhaps ended up out west... but I try not to pay too close attention and clog up my brain.

We found much more about Capt. Jacob Whetstone from the vast and fabulous Pennsylvania Archives on-line here. Any lookie there! There's a portal just for us genealogy freaks!

Also need to mention the vast array of spelling of the name: Whetstone, Whetstein, Wetzstine, Wettsttne, and the Dutch version, Van Der Woestyne. Maybe Probably I don't have them all;) Good grief!

So let's start the countdown, and look at Mom's mother's Whetstone line as far back as we can.

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly 1916 - 2007
3. Virginia Williams, living and loving it

6. Cambria Williams 1897 - 1960
7. Emma Susan Whetstone 1897 - 1956

14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938
15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947
Joseph Hampton Whetstone followed his father's chosen occupation as a stone mason in a time when even the streets were cobble stones and needed to be set by hand. They lived just on the outer edged of the town of Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland.
Catherine Elizabeth kept a garden and was often seen working in it sporting her large sunbonnet. Joseph turned a portion of the basement into a cold cellar with his masonry skills so that what Catherine grew would be well kept over the winter.
When Mom's mother, Emma, was small and maybe less than 8 or 10 years old, their house in town burned to the ground. The entire family was left in the middle of January with only the clothes on their backs. Afterward, Joseph did two things: he joined the Frostburg Fire Department, all volunteers, and built for his family a fine house on the outer edges of town, the one with the big garden and cold cellar in the basement.
Joseph H. and Catherine were the love birds in this line-up. Mom has letters they wrote back and forth while he was away working as a stone mason. They are sweet and tender. Interestingly, she was his housekeeper after his first wife, Amanda Dennison, died. They eventually married.
They had 12 children in all and they are:
Charles Albert Whetstone 1887 - 1965
James Franklin Whetstone 1889 - 1960
Clarance Hampton 1891 - 1976
Grace Elizabeth 1893 - 1959
Peter Whetstone 1895 - 1906
7. Emma Susan Whetstone 1897 - 1956
Edna Whetstone 1900 - 1922
Margaret Ann Whetstone 1902 - 1996
Joseph Edward 1903 - 1972
Leslie Laurance Whetstone 1905 - 1995
Viola Whetstone 1906 - 1997
George Washington Whetstone 1911 - 1975

28. Joseph Edward Whetstone 1816 - 1897
29. Sarah Wagoner/Waggoner 1825 - 1880
Joseph Edward and wife Sarah were born and died in Garrett County Maryland in and around the tiny community of Grantsville. He was a stonemason. The winters are harsh here and my guess is that daily life then was not easy. I blogged not too long ago about a letter Sarah received from her mother, also named Sarah, just before she died and you can read it here to get a feel for the times.
They had these 13 children:
Elizabeth Jane Whetstone 1842 - 1896
Susan Emily Whetstone 1844 - 1877
Peter Yeast Whetstone 1847 - 1918
William Whetstone 1850 - ?
Charles Whetstone 1851 - 1880
Charlotte "Lottie" Whetstone 1852 - 1872
Mary Alice Whetstone 1856 - 1862
14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938
G. O. Theodore Whetstone 1860 - 1861
John Edward Whetstone 1862 - 1896
Bradford Whetstone ?
Zoe Violet Whetstone 1864 - 1948
Frank Whetstone 1869 - 1959

56. Jacob Whetstone Jr. 1776 - 1869
57. Christiana Frantz 1744 - ?
Jacob and his brother Solomon married the Frantz girls: Jacob Jr. married Christiana and Solomon married her sister Catherine.
By tracing the birth location of the children we find this couple first living in Berks County, Pennsylvania, then a brief stop in Somerset County (and thus the confusion in records mentioned in the introduction), and lastly in Selbysport, Garrett, Maryland, a move taken as best we can guess about 1815. He was a farmer.
They had the following children:
Female Whetstone born in 1792
Samuel Whetstone 1794 - ?
Female Whetstone born 1795
John W. Whetstone 1796 - 1848
Female Whetstone born 1804
Hannah Whetstone 1808 - ?
Catherine Whetstone 1810 - 1893
Daniel Whetstone 1812 - 1888
28. Joseph Edward Whetstone 1816 - 1897
Rebecca Susan Whetstone 1803 - 1881

112. Jacob Whetstone Sr. 1738 - 1833
113. Anna Marie Schaeffer 1748 - ?
Here's our Revolutionary War ancestor! Mom writes the following in her Notes on Family Tree Maker:
The Whetstone's were from near Mckeansburg and are on record for Pine Grove, Twp. Their company was recruited largely from the North side of the Blue Mountains.
Aug 1777 Jacob Whetstone's Company  mustered under Coloniel Daniel Hunter of Oley, and was on duty around Philadelphia, participating in the Battle of Germantown under General George Washington. The return roster of the company  is given as containing 49 men and 8 officers and includes the following: May 17, 1777
First Company Capt. Jacob Whetstone
Ensign: Heney Whetstone (spelled Wetstein), Conrad Sheffer, Rudolph Buzzard, Ludwig Herring,George Brouch.
Jacob Whetstone was a Captain in the Rev. War. He served from 05 Aug 1777 until 05 Jan 1778.
Their children are:
56. Jacob Whetstone Jr. 1776 - 1869
Solomon Whetstone 1775 - ?
Isaac Whetstone 1777- 1850
John Whetstone 1778 - ?

224. Isaac Whetstone about 1710 - 1789
225. Persus Hunsicker
Isaac came from Baden-Wurtenberg, Germany and his wife, Persus, was born in Tamaqua, Schuylkill, PA.
They had these children:
112. Jacob Whetstone Sr. 1738 - 1833
Abraham Whetstone 1740 - ?, who served in the Berks County Militia in the Revolutionary War.
Henry Whetstone 1742 - ?

28. Joseph Edward Whetstone 1816 - 1897, as a younger man

28. Joseph Edward Whetstone 1816 - 1897, later in life

 

14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938 as a younger man.

14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938, on right in his

Frostburg Fire Department uniform.

14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938 and 15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947

with grandchildren. Mom has the big bow.

15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947, later in life,

standing in her garden behind the house.

 

6. Cambria Williams 1897 - 1960 and 7. Emma Susan Whetstone 1897 - 1956.
Emma was the daughter of 14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938 and 15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/02/surname-saturday-wonderful-whetstone.html