1857

Sometimes it all just comes together and goes BING! in your head.

I was reading an article in the July ’11 issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine (which I, for some reason begrudgingly, find extremely informative every time I buy it).  It was an article on the year 1857 from the British point of view.  In it was an 1857 painting by Henry Nelson O’Neil called “Eastward Ho!” depicting British soldiers boarding a ship en route to fight is known as the Indian Mutiny.  Looking at it I saw it bore a strong resemblence to a painting I studied (back in 1988) by a woman artist, Emily Mary Osborne, called “Nameless and Friendless” (1857).  So I brought these two works up on my computer screen, and I realized I had a family ambrotype photograph that looked like it fit in nicely with these two works.  I lined them up on my computer screen and here is the result:

Hannah, the centre photo, fits in nicely with the paintings, don’t you think?  We have her ambrotype dated to 1859.  Talk about consistencies in fashion and hair-dos.  I think this is the late 1850s in a nutshell.  A very satisfying connection all-in-all.

Hidden treasures

This is the second time I’ve scanned this particular photo album.  The last time was over a decade ago.  And while I may have known at that time that there were negatives, which I was then unequipped to scan, in the back in a pouch, it seems I didn’t investigate the pouch any further.

Just now I pulled the negatives out, as I can now scan them.  But in with the negatives was a card, a Train Berthing Card, from 1946.  And beside it was a well-worn, folded newspaper clipping.  On the back it bears the date Saturday, Jan. 26, 1946, the Halifax Mail.  This was my biological grandfather coming home after WWII!  The title, “The Long Voyage Is Over” may have particularly reflected his own feelings as we know from his letters that he was rather seasick on the way over a few years earlier (not to mention finally being home, of course).

On the back is part of an article “Dockyard Men Ask 40 Hour Week” which is rather interesting as well:

“…Lashing out determinedly against critics of the plan who aver that industry must revert to peacetime levels of wages or close down industries, Mr. MacIntosh pointed out that the struggle to give workers “a little more time for leisure, for recreation, for study, for rest…without the necessity of the night and day toil that has meant so much drudgery in the past.” will not be won without opposition from big business magnates…”

It rather speaks to the adjustments that had to be made when the mean came home after the wars.  Interesting tidbit, I thought.

Learning more

I am currently taking some courses on genealogy through the University of Toronto’s National Institute of Genealogical Studies.  I’ve taken courses through them before, and have always found them useful.

One of the courses I’m taking right now is Canadian Migration Patterns.  It covers both immigration to Canada, and migration across Canada.  It is one of the most well-written courses I have taken, and I am enjoying it thoroughly.

A re-tweet by Meagan Smolenyak today led me to this news story on an Irish website.  This little newstory taught me a couple of things.  First, the Irish are emigrating in numbers apparently, and a fair percentage of them are coming to Canada.  Second, I learned that Canada currently allows 250,000 immigrants a year, designated between different home-countries.  I am sad to admit that I knew very little of our current immigration policies until these  last few weeks.  Yet such policies impacted our ancestors so greatly.

Family Tree done??!

I recently sat back and considered my family tree.  I was pleased with how far back I had gotten, and the proof (documentation, sourcing) that I had acquired.  Well, thought I, I think I’m done.

Considering I started on this road of research, oh, about 32 years ago, that might seem like quite a statement.  And it is.  But I feel contented.

At least I did.  Then I happened across one of my grand-uncle’s lines that still had some intriguing question (oddly enough, I can’t even recall which grand-uncle line it was!).  So there I was, back in waist deep.  Well, it was a nice, if brief, retirement from genealogy.

Beware of Ancestry Trees…but this we already knew

I had two things happen yesterday that struck me.  First, I came across our family picture of one of our ancestors (b. 1827′ish) in a family tree on Ancestry.  According to Ancestry, that same picture appeared in 3 other family trees there.  None of them credited nor sourced the picture.  Given it has my aunt’s writing on it, I can say with some certainty that is indeed the picture I have in my possession.  Not a huge thing, but it seems a tad rude to me.  And of course, without documentation, how will any of them ever know where the original lives and judge whether my identification of the subject is correct?

Secondly, I thought I had found a cousin through Ancestry trees (yes, there’s a reason I don’t usually look at the tree results of a search), but it seems they have two of the same named individuals mixed up in their tree.  Now, they have sourced in that a birth index and census from 1871 through 1901 have been supplied.  I am quite certain they are for two different people.

Now, none of us is perfect of course.  But it does make me wonder.  I am all for sharing, that’s one of the most wonderful aspects of our genealogical community I think is it’s willingness to share and not hoard information.  But what can I do if someone mistakingly tacks my tree information to a wrong person?  And what should I do about that picture now floating about unsourced and uncredited?  And perhaps more importantly, have I ever done the same to someone else’s research/pictures/information/tree?  I hope not.

[If a google search ended you here and you can't figure out why, try the Search bar at the bottom of the page for your term.  Many topics and photos are in my archives.]

So I attended a lecture I didn’t think interested me…

at the NGS (National Genealogical Society) Conference yesterday.  You see, I don’t have an Illegitimate births in my family tree.  Or so I thought.

My brick wall, my great-grandmother, Miss Elusive herself, well, I had two expert opinions on her case this week.  Yup, looks like she’s illegitimate.  This they got from the fact that her Father’s name and profession or left blank on her marriage certificate (this is in Wales).  So suddenly, a session I had completely discounted as of interest to me, became very interesting indeed!  Funny how quickly we family historians can change our minds and find ourselves learning a subject we never thought we would.  Love it!!

Woo hoo! Off to the NGS Conference opening session.

Yes, I’m in Salt Lake City, the genealogical Disneyland.

Yesterday I found a micorfilmed copy of my great-grandparent’s marriage certificate from 1909 Wales.  And a book about some Antrim relatives.  All within about 45 minutes, at the Family History Library.

Today, it’s the start of the conference and learning, learning, learning! 

On finding a Confederate soldier in my tree

I admit I know very little about the US Civil War other than that it involved emancipation of the black slaves and Abraham Lincoln.  So when I searched, and surprisingly found, for my great-great-grandfather in the Civil War soldier database I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d found.  He was listed as a Prisoner of War, so it listed where he was captured (not far from his home in Missouri) as well as when, and how/when he was discharged.  I dutifully took notes.

Then I thought I should figure out this Confederate-Union thing.  I was assuming that my ancestors felt the same way I do, that slavery is bad.  I was wrong.

Samuel was a confederate soldier.  As was his brother William.  And many of their neighbours.  And for the first time in 30 years of family research, I was a little disappointed in my ancestors.

I thought I should find out more about his regiment, “Porter’s Regiment”.  Most of what I found seems to be based on a regimental history by Mr. Mudd (I wonder if he was any relation to the Dr. Mudd who fixed up Abraham Lincoln’s assinator, John Wilkes Booth, which gave rise to the saying “his name is mud”?).  While Colonel Porter’s regiment was officially part of the army, they were at times, by some, considered Bushwackers as they employed guerilla warfare.  Colonel Porter was killed in Jan/Feb 1863–both Samuel and William were captured in 1862.

None of this information made me feel any better about my ancestors and I, who pride myself on being open-minded, find myself with quite a challenge.  How do I reconcile my ancestor’s beliefs with who I am (and are they rolling over in their graves with the knowledge of me as their descendant)?  I suspect I will have to do quite a bit more research on the US Civil War, in particular Missouri’s role in it, to help with that reconciliation.  What a difference 150 years and 4 generations can make!

Wordless Wednesday–Housewife

Men working “on the road” will get up to some crazy things.  Anyone know what year this car would be?

For some reason, this pic makes me think of the little kitchen kits all the men carried in WWI, nicknamed “housewives”.

Wordless Wednesday–Feystown

Yet another great blog topic suggested by Geneablogger.

Feystown’s Old School

Feystown Church (St. Patrick’s, Roman Catholic)

Feystown is just outside (southwest) of Glenarm, in County Antrim, in Northern Ireland.