More Snippets

Jackie, “I’m the tallest!!” Only on a ladder, kid….

The tree is a bit more decorated, still waiting for Donovan to feel better and come hang his ornaments. Crossing fingers we can do Santa pics Thursday as planned…

Leia discovered my new computer and promptly started playing her favorite game…

which just happens to be Jac’s favorite too. Jac was thrilled to learn a few new moves and shortcuts.

They were hanging out with me while I repaired one of Jac’s stuffies. Why orange thread, you say? Because I can see it! A combination of ladder stitch and fuzzy fabric will hide most of it anyway. Stuffie was fixed in time to help hang ornaments, so all is well. 

Jac wouldn’t believe me that her homework answer was wrong, so we agreed to let the teacher settle it. 😂 

Good thing the teacher has a sense of humor and knows me fairly well since she also taught Leia and Leo (and I volunteered in both classrooms.)

Vickie, Rachel, and Addy

Addy found another example of the strong genes in Pop’s family. I’m loving this so much. 

Curve Ball!

Side note - my blog host has started eating photos (look back at April 7 and the following 5 or so posts; it eats a new post almost every day) so I’m going to limit photos until I figure out what’s going on. So annoying. 

Remember the brick wall I hit with hubby’s Wales line? I ordered an official marriage certificate from England for the Wales’ bride and after much drama and $$$  - the first one still hasn’t arrived after 4+ weeks (sent “air mail” which must mean they are walking it across the ocean…) and the second one cost $$ for “next day delivery” that took a week. 

But! It arrived today and boy oh boy was it a curve ball. Yes, it had the bride’s father’s name (John Jones) and profession (carpenter - hooray for something a bit uncommon!) so I can start researching that. It also had the groom’s father’s name and profession … and it was NOT the one I’ve been researching and writing up in hubby’s book (6 generations worth ☹️). In my defense, the groom’s name and age are the same in both families, they’re from the same area and … yeah. The worst of it is I was pretty attached to some of the people in the ‘other family’ - I’m really going to miss them. 😂 Now it’s back to the drawing board census files for me. 

Paper Treasure

A few treasures from the King branch of the family - my MIL’s father’s side.

The 1911 England census is the only one where the respondent filled out the form, rather than the  enumerator (census taker.) 

So this beautiful handwriting was done by either hubby’s great-grandparent or great-aunt. Also,  the questions changed for each census - this census asked not just who was residing there, but for the # of children born and the # still living. In some cases, where the child died young and wasn’t yet baptized, this could be their only record of having lived. Interesting note - every other document I’ve found lists “James” as “Charles”. Since someone in his immediate family filled in this form, did he actually go by James? Or is it a mistake? So fun finding these little quirks. 

Marriage record for John Foster and his first wife, Damaris Hind, dated 24 December 1795. Both were able to sign their name so I think it’s a good bet they were educated. Many people back then, especially women, couldn’t read or write, so made their “x” mark on documents instead (note the 2nd record on the right-hand page above.)

Birth record for Samuel, son of Samuel and Ann West, dated 1656. I found this by accident - it was attached to a family (same names) from the 1700’s. Don’t know yet if it’s part of hubby’s family, but it’s super cool!

6 Gen Goal

Making progress!

I was hoping to go back 6 generations on each branch of hubby’s tree, and got my hopes up for going even further when the first branch was so easy to research. (Several cousins* had been there before me, highlighting the way.)

But on the second branch - hubby’s paternal grandmother - I’m hitting dead ends a lot sooner. Could be because Smyth/Smith is a common surname? Or record keeping was done differently in Ireland than England? Plus, it appears to have been tradition to name boys after the dad, and girls after the mom. Which is great, until you get 3 generations of “John Henry” and two of them married women named Hester. Confusing! Planning to try this one again after I finish the last two branches. 

Favorite finds - probate records for Henry Broadway Foster, farmer and woodsman, from 1873,  - hubby’s 2x great granddad on his mother’s side - 

and marriage records for Benjamin Foster and Sarah Davis, from 1764, Henry Broadway’s grandparents, so hubby’s 4th greats? So amazing. 

* I’m digging through all the available records, one by one, to make my own accurate (as possible) timeline. But it’s nice to see what others have put together as verification (or for laughs. A couple have gone waaaaaay off the rails. See 3 consecutive John Henry’s, above.)

4 x 4

Jac stayed home sick with her mom today, so I had four hours of uninterrupted time to work on my genealogy project.

 Joseph’s baptism dated 1752

Researched another four individuals, including Joseph, born 1752, and his wife, Dinah, born 1758, who are (if I counted right) hubby’s 4th great-grandparents. Hubby has a grandparent from each of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. I have two more people to research before I’m done with England, then it’s on to Wales. 

Today’s favorite find was this baptismal record for “William, son of William Franklin and Hester, his wife”  dated August 14, 1700. The fact that the original record has survived over 300 years and is available - in super clear images - on my computer halfway around the world just boggles my mind.

Obsession

My fav SIL recently finished sorting and dividing up my late in-laws family photos, which reminded me that I wanted to do an ancestry book for hubby, 

kinda like the one I did for my side of the family awhile back.  

Since I need a break from quilting*, I re-upped my Ancestry subscription, thinking I’d spend a couple of hours sorting records and looking around…

and -poof!- just like that, the entire weekend was gone. This stuff is addictive. 

I’m maybe a quarter of the way done with researching, planning to go back 6-ish generations from hubby’s parents. ~cracks knuckles~ This is going to be fun. 

* hurt my “good” shoulder and can’t lift that arm much at all. Getting older is a PITA.