52 Ancestors week 44 theme is “Bearded” and I have several bearded ancestors. Ora Philander Seward had a pretty good beard for example. So did another ancestor named George Douglass (below left) who was the father of Ada Barnum Douglass. The most impressive beard I found though belonged to an ancestor on my father’s side…
The eleventh of November 2018 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I. Here in New York City I commemorated the day first by participating with my National Society of the Daughters of the Revolution chapter in one of the largest Veteran’s Day parades in the country. Second, I attended for…
This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is “Cause of death.” It took me a while to come up with an idea for this week, then I remembered that this year marks the one hundredth anniversary of the Spanish flu pandemic. My great-grandmother Emily Thomas was born in Canterbury, England in 1879 to Henry Thomas and Minnie…
This week’s theme is “Family Legend.” The last batch of my family to arrive in the United States came over from England (via Canada) in 1910. Bertrand Sidney Avenell, his wife Emily (nee Thomas), their oldest son Roland, Bertrand’s parents Walter and Jane Ellen (Hagell) Avenell, his sister Eleanor, and Jane Ellen’s sister Letty all…
The theme for the 23rd week was “Going to the Chapel.” I have a copy of an interesting document for Frederick Hagell and Elizabeth Eleanor Parsley from their parish church in Canterbury, England. It lists their banns of marriage. For three Sundays in 1839 they had to announce their intention to marry in case there…
From London to Houston The above photo was taken sometime in 1916, in Houston, Texas. The couple sitting in the center are my 2nd great-grandparents Walter and Jane Ellen (nee Hagell) Avenell. The theme this week is Mother’s Day, and Jane Ellen is the mother of Bertrand (top left), Eleanor (next to Bertrand) and Walter…
This weeks prompt is “misfortune” and a family curse rears its head again. If you are hunting for records in England from across the pond, the website of the General Register Office may be of help. You can get a printed birth or death certificate mailed to you for a fee, and for a minimum of…
The cedar chest from my grandparents’ house had been buried in the garage since my parents moved to their California house. For years I had wanted to open it and it wasn’t until we were preparing the house for sale that the garage was cleaned out enough to even find the box holding it. One of…