Wisdom Wednesday: Let's Go!

Here we are and it's time to use the GeneaBlogger's blogging prompt called Wisdom Wednesdays. Doing this post keeps me moving through the work while taking a moment to take stock and evaluate. This week I do need to get my stuff in a bag because I'm going to see Mom back east real soon. We'll have some time to compare notes and dig deep into her files and copy everything except the two cats! Our kinda' fun, and I bet yours too:)

Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland... where Mom lives.

Visit Mom: organization!! Oh, gosh. I do need to be organized and have a list ready when I go visit Mom or I just know Mom and I can gobble up time enamored with one little doo-dad or other. We're like that. It's an advantage when we slow down and stop to analyze records or objects and photos, but it can stand in the way of getting her files copied, which I must do on this visit. And we want to go see a library and a museum and a historical site plus of course, cemeteries! So I've got a list, and here it is.

1. Copy as many files as possible. I could use Mom's pocket scanner but it moves too slowly for me. I'll photograph the files with my trusty camera, transfer the images as a group to a file folder on Mom's computer and copy that file over to my external hard drive that I'm taking with. I'll also be testing out DropBox capabilities as I send each folder into the cloud for safety. Feeling good about this plan... even though I'll probably be working day and night!

2. See Mom's paper doll collection from the 1920s. Why would you not want to see that!?

3. Find the House Heirs Association papers from that meeting in 190? in Hamilton, Ohio. I'll photograph those papers and maybe bring them back to San Diego. (If you don't remember recent posts about the HHA, use the search box to the right. It's complicated.)

4. See the love letters my 2nd GGF wrote to my 2nd GGM while he was traveling away from the family and working over in West Virginia as a stone mason. Can not believe that I haven't copied these before!

5. Go to Allegany College's Appalachian Collection and Genealogy Resources at the Library for a visit. Mom used to practically live here but now they just give out her name and phone number to anyone working on our family surnames. That's how we found Cousin Karen.

6. Go to the Frostburg Museum to pick up a couple of books and say Hi.

7. Go to the Evergreen Heritage Center to see what resources they hold and meet Janice who has been a wonderful help. Here's what their web site has to say about it:
The Evergreen Heritage Center (EHC), located on approximately 130 acres of “Federal Hill” in the heart of Allegany County, is an historic Maryland estate that pre-dates the Revolutionary War. The EHC includes the Evergreen mansion (now a museum), beautifully landscaped grounds and gardens, trails, streams, and forest, all in a picturesque setting adjacent to the Great Allegheny Passage and Western Maryland Scenic Railroad.
And the Center isn't just about history, no, it's all about the environment and education too. See a recent article here in Allegany Magazine. Hope it doesn't rain too much because we want to explore!

8. Visit Percy Cemetery in Frostburg. It sits right behind Grandma Kelly's house so we sure know where it is. Mom wants to show me all of the graves of the ancestors who are buried there.

Oh, there's more but you're probably tired of reading this mess. It's not your trip and if you're still reading, I thank you for your attention:) I'm thrilled to be able to think about the upcoming trip and plan it out! Watch out Mom, here I come!

 

Late breaking weather report: rain, rain, and mo' rain. Good for brother's tomatoes but not for slogging around in cemeteries!

The Percy Cemetery behind Mom and Dad.

Photo taken about 1942.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/05/wisdom-wednesday-lets-go.html

Thoughtful Tuesday: Grandmother Williams

This week we'll continue to use a blogging theme I made up while attending a concert and then later browsing the photo file. The core of the concept is to use contrasting images of ancestors as they were when they were young with images of them in their maturity. I realized last week, as cool as this is to do, there are a limited number of ancestor subjects because there are a limited number of photos. Figured it could be done with the grand parents, and that will likely end the project. Too bad because this is fun.

This week it's Grandmother Williams... Emma. Sweet, delicate, warm. I see her in my mind's eye in the kitchen working attentively on a peach pie, or in the dining room crocheting near a window, or reading while resting on a day bed there, perhaps a magazine from the stack next to her, while listening to the radio playing in the background.

Here are three photos of her that I especially love. The first is of her as a young woman, and the last as the wife in an older couple, both members of the couple sporting white hair, and comfortable. The middle image is of her with my Mom - who will be 95 in July - as an infant. Right now as I type this, I'm feeling the passage of time as a heavy weight.

Young, dreamy, pretty, Emma Susan (Whetstone) Williams (1897 - 1956)

poses in a local photographer's studio.

A few years later and she's married Cambria "Camey" Williams (1897 - 1960),

and now with her baby, Virginia, poses for a candid photo.

Here they are as I remember them best. Older, easy to smile and laugh,

the rolling hills of Western Maryland in the background.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/05/thoughtful-tuesday-grandmother-williams.html

DNA Monday: Neanderthal on My Mind

OK, to recap, I took my DNA test with 23andMe.com. I was after the medical information equally as much as the genealogy results. The medical stuff was informative: I read it, thought about it, made a couple of changes to diet, remembered how important exercise is, and so on... then moved on with my life. The genealogy matches are an ongoing process and I'll wind up this post with some more surnames to add to the Surname List, hoping to catch a "cousin". But I keep on finding that my thoughts wander back to one issue: I'm 3.1% Neanderthal. Imagine! How? Why?

I guess of all the results from DNA testing, after delving into the percents of me that come from various European populations, the most surprising element is that small part (less that .1%) that's Sub-Saharan African and a bright happy red chunk on chromosome 10. I can not for the life of me figure out where that fits! I like and enjoy a bit of diversity in my mix, and maybe disappointed that it's such a small part. I'm also interested in that less than .1% that's Askanazi on chromosome 2. L'Chiam! But nothing gets my imagination going like that 3.1% that belongs to the deep past that's been identified as Neanderthal.

The big brewing pot of my imagination has been helped along recently by two programs on the Smithsoniam Channel, both about the Neanderthals and their legacy to those of us who are non African and inherited some of their DNA. (And double-check everything I write about DNA because, try as I might, I am just another fan trying to stumble their way into some pretty deep waters here.)

The first program was, predictably, about physical relations. But a couple of minutes into it and I could tell that it was really about how I got that 3.1% neanderthal DNA... well, not me exactly, but you know what I mean;) The second program was mostly about the Denisova Hominins and all about that discovery, which is a continuing saga.

Now, and knowing that my DNA is 3.1% Neanderthal, when I watch programs like these I pay more attention because I suddenly feel that I have a vested interest. Hey, they're talkin' about me!

My personal take-away so far is that this DNA thing is right there on the cutting edge of science and I'm happy to watch from a front row seat, so to speak, provided by my DNA test as a ticket to that grandstand. I find this exciting!

To read other posts on this subject on this blog, just find the search box near the top right and put in "DNA".

Here's the next installment of my Surname list so we can keep finding out if we're related!

ECKHART:
Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland (before 1768 - present)
Franconia Township, Montgomery, Pennsylvania (before 1755 to before 1768)
Germany, Bavaria (before 1755 to about 1750)

WORKMAN:
Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland, general area including Zihlman, Mt. Savage, etc. (before 1767 - present)
Somerset County, New Jersey (about 1742 - before 1767)
The area now known as Brooklyn, New York (about 1647 - about 1742) As you can see I really don't know how to term this location in this time period. So don't yell at me and I'll go find out and correct it later.
Holland
England
Other locations associated with this family:
Danville and Union Township, Knox County, OH (before 1835 - ????)

PRICE:
Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland (before 1852 - present)
Possibly England (before 1852)
Other locations associated with this family:
Aux Sable Township, Grundy County, Illinois.

HOUSE:
Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland (after 1900 - present)
Hampshire County, Virginia then West Virginia (before 1782 - after 1910)



The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/05/dna-monday-neanderthal-on-my-mind.html

Surname Saturday: Browne? From Ireland?

It's Surname Saturday, and time to use the blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers! What we do for this exercise if follow the generations back taking each surname in rotation, moving back throuigh the generations. This week we launch into the 5th generation back and the 3rd great grandmothers, because the 5th great grandfathers and their surname heritage has already been covered.

This week it's Bridget Browne's turn. She married John Kelly, father of John Kelly who was the first of our Kelly line to land in America and you can read about the Kellys in my first ever Surname Saturday post here. Honestly, I don't have too much to add to that post because any records about John Kelly and Bridget Browne are long gone. But let me tell you what we now know, and then list the things we'd like to know.


1. Diane K. Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick Kelly (1916 - 2007)
3. Virginia Williams Kelly, living and loving it!

4. John Lee "Lee" Kelly (1892 -1969)
5. Helen Gertrude Zeller (1894 - 1985)

8. Francis Patrick Kelly (1854 - 1923)
9. Christiana Eckhart (1861 - 1932)

16. John Kelly (1829 - 1891)
17. Bridget Corcoran (1830 - after 1910)

32. John Kelly (about 1800 - ????)
33. Bridget Browne (about 1800 - ????)
Mom had done her homework before she and Dad and I went to Ireland back in 1987, and you can read about that trip here. (It's one of my most popular posts!)
Mom already knew from the tombstone for John Kelly (Jr.) where he was born and on what dates. It was super hard to read on that old tombstone but Mom waited for just the right hour and time of year to read it more clearly. See that photo below.
We tracked down the parish records for this family in Ireland in the Clonmacnoise Parish, County Offlay (Kings), which included the little town of Shannonbridge. We first had to go to the parrish house and get permission from the parish priest, and that allowed us to see the original records. Then we went over to the building on the corner and climbed the long set of creaking wooden stair to the big room where people were entering the records in a database. Mom copied all that was available, chatted with the workers and found out that the oldest parish records were burned in a parish house fire, and those were the books containing the records for John Kelly and Bridget Browne. More's the pity. We still hold out hope that other records besides those of the church will eventually become known to us.
So, we don't know too much about this couple, except that they probably saw their young son and perhaps his brothers, leave for American, and most likely, just as other Irishemn, never come home again. (Guess that's why we all shed a little tear when we hear an Irish voice sing "Danny Boy".)
They had this child, known to us, but we guess there are more. They were Irish and Catholic, after all:)
16. John Kelly (1829 - 1891)

Next Steps:
Wow, what to say? I want those old chared records from the parish in Ireland. Guess I'm probably not going to get them.
1. Check other Irish records to see if any small item might be hiding. Frankly, in order to do this I must eventually start my steep learning curve about Irish records. Now I have three families to investigate: Farrell from posibly County Clare, Corcoran from we don't know where, and these Kelly people. Maybe I'll start this summer?
2. Find out more about the history of the town of Shannonbridge. Can anything be learned?
3. Check the Catholic cemetery there. Tomstones or remnants? Other Kellys?
4. History. I need to know more about the history of Shannonbridge and Ireland in general from the 1830s to the time of the Irish Famine. All of my people were here before the famine. Interesting. And all landed in Western Maryland or northern Virginia/West Virginia within about 10 years of each other. Very Interesting.

The historical site of Clonmacnoise, County Offlay (Kings), Ireland.

Photo, 1987.

Tombstone of John Kelly (1829 - 1891),

taken by Mom one late afternoon when the light was just right.

He was born in Shannonbridge and died in Eckhart, Allegany, Maryland.

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/05/surname-saturday-browne-from-ireland.html

House Heirs Association: Part III, Where Did They Get All That Land?

If you've been following along on this crazy journey to resurrect the collected facts, trivia, and stories about the House Heirs Association (HHA) you'll remember in Part I we checked out the basics of it all and in Part II we followed the money. In this post we'll try to figure out and untangle what's known about how the House men got possession of that land in the first place. But first the usual recap of the HHA.

Here's a recap of what the House Heirs Association is all about. In a nutshell, the descendants of one Andrew V. House (1700 - 1797) believed that he and his son, John Valentine House (1739 - 1843), had supposedly been swindled out of payment from the US Government for a 99 year land lease on an immense tract of land they owned, reported to be as large as 64,000 acres. At the end of the lease the government and people living on that land in about 1884 or 85, located roughly in Frederick County, Maryland, all forgot that the House family were the rightful owners.

So where the heck did they get all that land? I'm still curious even though lately I've been suspicious that we're actually related to this House line! In an old document in Mom's possession our connection through Samuel Albert House, my 2nd great grandfather, is outlined. It was about 1900 and times were hard and people must have seen this as an opportunity to enjoy wealth, because the estimate was that everyone would get $2 million. Now, you need to know that Samuel Albert lived in a small rural village in the back woods of West Virginia and scraped by, as best we can tell. It amuses me to think what he might have done with a $2M pay day:)

Back to the main question of the day: where did they get that land? It was a gigantic parcel, some 64,000 acres. Where would they get that?! There are mentions about the original land grant in HHA documents but the attorney who represented the HHA states in a letter (with no date but presumably after the 1901 Kokomo Indiana meeting) that "much time and effort has been spent in writing to parties who were said to have papers and records but none have been found to throw any light on the matter." He goes on to say, "we have found nothing, except, perhaps family history".

That said, the next posting by Mr. Granger to the RootsWeb message board listed as House Heirs Association meeting Williamstown, KY, Jan 9th, 1899, concerns a letter dated December 18, 1899, reportedly coming from "a London Law Office" and here's what it said, in a nutshell. (I've underlined the descendancy stuff for easier reference.)

1.  The House records and estate of Andrew House by metes and bounds was first ceded to Count Frederick Edward Van Hautzen by Pudshers from the English Government, in the 16th Century.
2. It was attached as part of the Commonwealth of Maryland to the Calvert Government, which with the Estate of Lord Baltimore, it reverted back to the Crown, being regranted in the 17th Century to Andrew House, who was the Great Grandson of Count Frederick, from the latter Frederick County was named.
3. This land was given to Andrew House as a birthday present, if he would enter this grant: he was also given the coat of arms: signatures and seals (a different House Mediveael Coat of Arms), cord and dagger.
4. From Andrew House it descended to John Valentine House, the eldest child and his heirs.
5. Neither patent or grant was ever recorded in Maryland, but a search of the British Colonies Offices in the 17th and 18th Century will reveal the Grant and old will of those records.

The writer of this letter, who sounds awfully certain of it all, states,"The search for you will cost about ten pounds, or fifty dollars. But before coming to England, it might be well to satisfy that there was no assignment or quit-claim from John Valentine House, who was son of Count Frederick Edward Van Hautzen, who was a son of Andrew Van Hautzen, in times the last of the Counts of the Barony."

Confused? Yeah, me too. Next time, Dastardly Deeds!

(Insert Cheezy Coat of Arms Here;)





Update, 6/25/2013: Here's a link to the page on Len Granger's web site where he talks about the House Heirs Association. Thanks, Len!!
http://www.tiptopwebsite.com/websites/index2.php?username=len1932&page=31


The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/05/house-heirs-association-part-iii-where.html

Treasure Chest Thursday: Thank you, Betty VanNewkirk

Not much makes me happier than getting my hands on some real homey writing about the little mountain town of Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland. I love the stories of its history and people, some of whom I can count as my ancestors. To my mind, there's no one who is a better historian and story teller about Frostburg than Betty VanNewkirk. In a previous post from last fall I wrote this about Betty:

I picked up two books by Betty VanNewkirk about Frostburg: Windows to the Past, and Kalidascope. They are both collections of essays written for the Cumberland Times-News newspaper. Here's a link: http://times-news.com/bettyvannewkirk . Betty taught at Frostburg State University for many years as did her husband, whom I think I had as a professor. I believe Mom told me that Betty just celebrated her 97th birthday!

Those two books have a special place in my Treasure Chest! Windows to the Past is falling apart at the binding, but never mind, and I love it and use it all the same! Click here to read about the Moonshining Miners and here to read a post entitled, He Died in the Outhouse. I can't even tell you which are my favorite stories because almost every one gives me a chuckle or brings a tear to the eye. Betty sure knows her history!

I got my copies of these two book at the Frostburg Museum and here's the link to their new spiffy web site.

 



I was thrilled to find my great great grandfather,  Charles William Zeller (1829 - 1901) mentioned on page 50 of Kaleidoscope,  in an article titled, "37 West Main Street," in which it says, "In the 1860s the tennant was a Mr. Zeller, who was a baker and confectioner."

On page 103 an article, "The Body in the Privy," contains reference to Charles William's son and my great grandfather, Gustav William Zeller and his barbershop that offered, "showers and tubs for the convenience of his customers."

 

 

 

Treasure Chest Thursday is a blogging prompt of GeneaBloggers.

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/05/treasure-chest-thursday-thank-you-betty.html

Wisdom Wednesday: The Error of my Ways

Hey, it's Wednesday! It's time for me to confess the error of my ways and use the GeneaBlogger's blogging prompt called Wisdom Wednesdays. I make a lot of mistakes, follow misques, and even go down blind alleys that have a big sign saying "blind alley ahead" and generally waste too much time stumbling around. Every error that I can see becomes a blessing in disguise as I eventually figure out a new way to proceed. Hopefully.

This week I have a couple of doozies! I got all enamored with a story about a family line and didn't first stop to double check our connection to it and make certain that it was solid. Yikes!

But to the good, I helped Cousin Rich and Mom as best I could (from 2,000 miles away) and saved him wasted time in a library archive. Throughout watching them (by email) I learned some stuff about research, sources, and what it means to do this work over the long-haul with a commitment and love that comes from doing your own family history research as you carefully vet each and every document and fact as you go along. So here we go: the error of my ways!

House Heirs Association story. OK, so I did get all excited because this is a really good story, but now I come to find out that we're probably not even related to that House line after all! I've done two posts about the story of how descendants of Andrew House and John V. House tried to negotiate a settlement from the US Government in payment for a large parcel of land they supposedly owned in Frederick County, Maryland, reportedly valued at $3 billion, and you can read them here and here. I tell ya', I really got into this whole mess, but good! Whatta story! But now it looks like they aren't even our people. But then again, maybe they are!
I'm going to keep on posting about it because it might be useful to someone and it is fascinating.
Plus Mom has some sort of report or notes from a meeting of the House Heir Association in the early 1900s in her files and I want to review and report on that next time I visit Mom.
Had to laugh at myself real hard on this one!! We might not even be related! Funny thing is that we don't yet know where our House ancestors actually came from before they got to Virginia/West Virginia, and maybe it was Frederick over in Maryland because that's all real close, geographically, but there's no proof.

Mom and Cousin Rich. I learned a lot watching Cousin Rich and Mom this week. I say "watching" but I was no where close enough to see what was going on. Here's the deal.
Cousin Rich's wife started corresponding with Mom over 10 years ago. Then Rich got into genealogy and had pretty much finished up his family so dove into his wife's ancestors. Mom and Rich compared notes on the Hartley - Farrell - House - Biggerstaff lines that all intersect in Hampshire County, West Virginia / Virginia from the later 1700s on to the mid-1800s. Take my word on this: it's real complicated.
Following Mom and Rich along on this adventure I learned a lot and here's what I saw.
1. Finding and maintaining contact with fellow travelers is magic. Mom and Rich's wife met on a surname message board over a decade ago. Once in contact, they exchanged what they knew and kept updating over the years. You can tell they were in it for the long haul. What one didn't find, maybe the other did or went to look for and then shared. They knew they were not alone in the pursuit of their family's history. I find it magic that they found each other using the internet and magic that we're all related and know it.
2. Sourcing records can be easy... and useful! Mom started her adventures with the ancestors back in the 1970s. She had a simple system using surname binders. When she found a document or record for someone it went in that surname binder. The only exception is the two big binders with BMD records, and of course the photo file. Her surname binders are a treasure trove! Each record or note has a handwritten inscription about where Mom got it.
Mom was able to pull out her Farrell binder and read to me notations she made many years ago when she was over in Morgantown, WV, in the West Virginia University Library, Regional History Collection and archive. I typed as Mom read from her notes and then I emailed that document to Rich. He was able to go there on his research trip/vacation and locate the information right away because he was already in contact with the librarian who pulled the boxes before he got there. Mom's notes were simple and accurate and Rich was able to find his way to that source. And that's the way that works!
The error of my ways notation here is that I need to get better at maintaining contact with those who contact me about a particular family line and think more in terms the long-term and it never being a "hit and run" thing. Am thinking about making a Quick Guide table of these contacts including surname of interest, their name, contact info, and notes. Then, at a glance, I'll be able to tell where I stand with each so that I don't lose them.
Another error of my ways notation is that it's more important for me right now to capture all of the source information for every thing I do and not be intimidated about the form of it. Get every last detail about the record down and worry about making it pretty later.

Grandpop Kelly on his trip to Florida in the 1950s.

John Lee Kelly 1892 - 1969.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/05/wisdom-wednesday-error-of-my-ways.html