A couple of weeks ago I took a trip up the Hudson River with a fellow genealogist who was researching a family living in Ulster County. I knew I had a few ancestors who lived in Kingston in the 17th Century, so I went with her to the Schoonmaker Research Library at Historic Huguenot Street…
Though I’m based in New York City, if you have been reading my blog you will have noticed many posts about ancestors in Maine. Late summer in Maine is lovely, with an average temperature around 72. I try to visit once a year during that time both to relax and recharge and to conduct some…
In honor of Valentine’s Day, this week’s theme is, of course, “Love.” It is the perfect time to continue the Melcher family’s story. I’ve already written about Benjamin Morse Melcher, a sea captain living in Brunswick, Maine. His wife’s name was Emeline Sylvester Morse, daughter of Joseph Morse Jr. and Lucy Sylvester. They were first…
This week I’m going to jump back into the 52 Ancestors project with the suggested theme “At the Library.” I grew up going to the library at least weekly, if not more often. We moved around a bit during my childhood so the local library was sometimes large, sometimes small, even a bookmobile (library on…
Continued from Part I… My visit to the Seward properties began in the New Hackensack Reformed Church building. Jim, a member of the congregation, met me in the side entry and took me on a tour of the church. I heard the sound of strings playing throughout the building and Jim explained that a musical…
I am stepping away from the assigned 52 Ancestors theme of “resolution” this week. Instead of focusing on one ancestor, I’ll be talking about the house many of them lived in and the church they all attended. Rev. William Seward moved with his family from Connecticut to Dutchess County, New York about 1795, after he retired…
The theme for week 51 of the 52 Ancestors project is “nice.” My association of the word “nice” at this time of year is with Christmas and being on Santa’s nice list. Joan Emily Avenell, my paternal grandmother, was born to Bertrand and Emily Thomas Avenell in January 1912 in Houston, Texas. She was the…
The theme for 52 Ancestor’s 49th week was “Winter.” I was looking through a box of family photos for winter scenes and I found this one: It’s the house my Seward grandparents lived in Knoxville, Tennessee in the early 1940’s. Like all snow scenes, it looks very peaceful. Then I turned it over and saw this note…
The 52 Ancestors theme for week 48 was “Next to Last” Two of my 3rd great-grandparents on my paternal grandfather’s side, Jasper Green and Angelina Frazier had eleven children together before Angelina died sometime between 1852 and 1860. Their 10th – next to last – child was Sarah Ann Green, called Sadie or Sadie Ann….
This week’s theme is “Thankful” Back in August, I went on vacation to mid-coast Maine. Every time I go, I am amazed by how much of my mother’s family history is intertwined in some of the small towns there. The little cottage that my great-great Aunt had built is about one hundred years old now…