Picture This

So I'm talking to Mom this morning as we do most days and we came up with an idea that we both thought might shed some light on that "mystery photo" of Daniel Williams, my GGGF and his family, especially his mother Jane James Williams. How about comparing that image of Daniel with other photos of him that we know the date of? So off to PhotoShop I want and here's what I came up with. See for yourself.

From "mystery photo" family group,

Towne Photographers, Troy New York,
Date unknown and driving us nuts!

1915

1918

1919

 

I'm thinking that Daniel looks to be maybe 10 years younger in the "mystery photo". Look, he seems to have some color in his hair... it's not turned all white yet. And his face looks younger, but maybe that's the photographer's flattery? What do you think?

And here's that group photo again for comparison. If anyone has a guess about when it was taken - and we think it might be about 1890 to 1900-ish - we'd love to hear your thoughts!! Really love to hear them!!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/08/picture-this.html

Moving From Utica To Troy NY

Have been looking for my great, great grandmother Jane James Williams (1815 - ?) born in Wales and presumably died in upstate New York. (See posts below for the full saga of this search.)

Mom and Aunt Betty mentioned a connection to the Utica area and there were a lot of Welsh immigrants who settled there. But my digging around Utica has come up with nothing. So on to Troy and Renesselear County where that photo was taken of Jane and six of her seven children!

It's kind of funny but when I was browsing around the Utica records of 1880-ish I just couldn't see my Williams ancestors living there, and the more I looked the less connected they seemed to this area, in spite of the big Welsh population. It's a heavy farming area and they weren't farming folks. I know, I know, that's just a feeling and not a fact you can site, but ... well, it's what I have at the moment. And it "feels" pretty strong. That said I won't stop looking for them in Utica 'cause ya never know.

On the other hand from the moment I started reading about Troy there was a connected feeling. My ancestors were miners, carpenters, and engineers (as best I can tell right now.) And as such they would have fit in well and found employment in the Troy area. Nope, they weren't farmers.

I'm obsessed with these people! What happened to them in Upstate New York? Why did they then seem to disappear out of the records? Where did they go? Did they go west just as my GGF went south and west to Western Maryland to work in the coal mines as a supervisor, get married, buy a house, have a bunch of kids? Jane, talk to me!!

Photos of the Day from Aunt Betty's Archive:

That photo taken in Troy NY by
TOWNE, 47 Third Street

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/08/moving-from-utica-to-troy-ny.html

Pretty Priorities

As I looked at my basket of genealogy (a literal basket) sitting on the floor next to the computer, I saw a mess. It was then that I realized that I wasn't making progress because I had lost sight of my priorities.

Now I must confess right away that I do love a well-crafted list! I thrive on lists. When I wake up every day a list is the organizing principle of my day. Oh, sure, there are days when I enjoy drifting, taking time here and there to float on the tide of what ever is going on at the moment. But there is hardly anything to rival the pure satisfaction of crossing out a task on my list:)

With five minutes of organization I had my priorities set! Gee, that feels good. Four projects have emerged from the basket, and let me relate them here as a personal exercise to draw sharper lines around them. They are listed below, posed as questions to be answered

1. Where did Daniel Williams' family - his mother, and sibs - go? They immigrated from Wales, presumably as coal miners, in the mid-1800s. We know they were in upstate New York, in Troy, because there is a family photo taken by a photographer there. Daniel moved to Western Maryland at some point, presumably for work. We know a lot about him because he's my GGF and Mom's grandfather. Plus Aunt Betty spent some formative years living with her grandparents. When he moved from New York, what happened to his mother and siblings? At present, they are lost to us. Gosh would Mom, Aunt Betty and I love to find a family historian in that branch of the family tree!

2. Who are Samuel Albert House and his natural father, Issac Biggerstaff's ancestors and how are the families intermingled? SA House is my 2nd GGF and Mom's GGF. I've written a lot about him here so I won't bore you with all that now. Just want to get it on the record that I need to investigate his ancestors for my own curiosity. It will be a challenge!

3. Come to understand Sarah Wooden Waggoner Yeast and Peter Yeast a bit better. Wrote about this most recently. (See below.) She's my 3rd GGM. Mom now has straightened out about the names but I want to get a better feeling of the time and place in which they lived. I love the history part:)

4. Check for other information about the Porter family and Delilah Porter in particular. I have a suspicion that I'm not done with that lot yet! Can't put my finger on it but I need to take another look at the info to see what I can see. Ever have that feeling... that you might have missed something?

Well, there you have it. That feels better:) Now let me grab a glass of iced tea and go sit in the garden with my Daniel Williams file folder. And make a new list! Priorities are pretty, don't you think?

Photo of the day from the Archive:

Daniel Williams and his family,
Daniel seated right with his mother Jane Price Williams seated left of him.

These are Daniel's sibs but we're only guessing at matching names and faces.

Picture was taken by TOWNE,
47 Third Street, Troy NY.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/07/pretty-priorities.html