The theme for the forty-first week of the 52 Ancestors project was “Sports.” My immediate family was not very serious about competitive sports. I played softball and my brother played soccer for the YMCA. We learned to swim at young ages and that was about it. My grandmother Joan (Avenell) played basketball in high school…
Last week’s 52 Ancestors theme was “10.” Priscilla Mullens was one of my Mayflower ancestors and also one of my 10th Great-Grandmothers. She boarded the Mayflower at age 18 along with her father William, step-mother Alice, brother Joseph, and future husband John Alden. Historians are not sure exactly when John and Priscilla were married, but…
One month ago I wrote about the Rev. Solomon Gleason Barber who raised my 2nd Great-Grandfather, his nephew, as his own son. Since this week’s 52 Ancestors theme is about farming, this post belongs to the younger Solomon. Many of my American ancestors either farmed as a profession or lived on small family farms while…
This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is the ancestor with the “birthday closest to yours.” According to my research, I don’t have anyone sharing my birthday, not even brothers and sisters of ancestors. I’ve already written about the ancestor whose birthday was closest: Jonathan Ellis, born April 11, 1762. Next in line is Lucy Sylvester Morse,…
In celebration of Labor Day, the theme of week #36 of the 52 Ancestors challenge is “work.” I knew my Granddad as someone who could fix anything electronic. The Shell Geophysical Lab in Houston, Texas knew him as their “first radio man.” According to an article from a company newspaper he saved, he was responsible…
I’m participating in the 52 Ancestors challenge: Post about a different ancestor each week of the year. “Back to School” is the theme for week 35. I have already written about several ancestors who were teachers, as it was a common occupation in my family. This time, I’ll talk about my great-grandmother Mary Ellis Pray. She…
The week’s theme is “Non-Population Schedules.” My 2nd great-grandfather, Solomon Gleason Barber is supposed to have been born in 1843 in Vermont to Timothy and Ann (nee Benson) Barber. I have yet to find any supporting documentation for his or any of his sibling’s birthplaces and dates other than a Barber genealogy written in 1913…
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…
This week’s theme is “oldest” I remembered a Twitter post David Allen Lambert made a few months ago asking “what is the oldest headstone in your family.” At the time I didn’t know. Many of my ancestors died in this country in the 16th and 17th centuries and have profiles on websites like Find-A-Grave but…
This week’s theme is “travel.” My ancestor Caleb Douglas was born in Connecticut and later settled in Whitestown, NY. In his late 60’s he took a mission trip to Michigan and purchased land there. Caleb was born in 1756 to John and Esther (Leach) Douglass. He grew up in New London, Connecticut with his parents…