Saturday Night Genealogy Fun; My "Heritage Pie" Chart

Randy Seaver  Saturday Night Genealogy Fun for July 16, 2011 suggests listing and chart great great grandparents.

Here are my great great grandparents:

16. Patrick Lacy: born in Ireland; died in Ireland.

17. Tiernan: born in Ireland; died in Ireland.

18. Kavanaugh: born in Ireland; died in Ireland.

20. Sinnott: born in Ireland; died in Ireland.

22. Ronan: born in Ireland; died in Ireland.

24. George N Irving: born 18 Jan 1825 in Musquash, New Brunswick, Canada;
married 15 Sep 1848; died 20 Apr 1910 in Canada.

25. Jane Milton: born 1 Nov 1824 in Hillsborough, New Brunswick, Canada;
died 19 Jun 1905 in Canada.

26. William Armstead Cleveland: born 22 Nov 1816 in Gaspereaux, Nova Scotia, Canada;
married 11 Aug 1842 in Alma, New Brunswick, Canada; died 4 Sep 1887 in Canaan, Grafton, New Hampshire, United States.

27. Deidamia Cleveland: born 7 Dec 1824 in Alma, New Brunswick Canada;
died 18 Oct 1903 in Melrose, Middlesex,Massachusetts, United States.

28. James Melvin Chandler: born 14 Nov 1818 in Tewksbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts;
married 1 Oct 1843; died 4Dec 1888 in Tewksbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts.

29. Susan Jane Harris: born 3 May 1828 in South Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts;
died 29 Sep 1903 in Tewksbury,Middlesex, Massachusetts.

30. Thaddeus Schmid: born 9 Nov 1824 in Wurtenburg, Germany; married;
died 22 Mar 1898 in Tewksbury,Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

31. Kathrina Lina Sottong: born 7 May 1830 in Raumbach, Rhineland, Germany;
died 8 Apr 1926 in Tewksbury,Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

WHERE GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENTS WERE BORN

For my German and some Canadian ancestors this was a time of migration to the US.

Of my four grandparents my maternal grandparents immigrated from Ireland, my maternal grandfather from Canada, and his wife was from Massachusetts.

Tombstone Tuesday - Cummins Family Co. Wexford

In

Loving Memory of

JULIA CUMMINS, Ballylucas,

 Who died 22nd March 1931 aged 85 years 

Also  her husband PATRICK CUMMINS,

Who died 22nd March 1936 aged 85 years

Also their son JOHN 

 Died 25th Oct 1984 AGED 81 yrs

Also their daughter MARY ANNE

Died 4th April 1989 aged 86 yrs

Also their son WILLIAM CUMMINS

Died 8th May 1991 aged 81 yrs.

******************************************************

Stone of the sister of Elizabeth Sinnott Lacy, Julia Sinnott Cummins and all her family in County Wexford, Ireland.  They left no descendants.

Before the Hands-on Search

Getting Started with Genealogy: Before the Hands-on Search

This blog  is for a genealogy workshop on March 29 and March 30, 2011 at Wadsworth Library in Geneseo.  These links should help you get started with your search.  

 The Armchair Genealogist: How Do I Start My Family Tree?
http://www.thearmchairgenealogist.com/2010/02/how-do-i-start-my-family-tree-eight.html

These hints provide some starting points for your research:  where to start, where to find answers to questions about your family, where to find free resources and other help for your research.

About.com Genealogy: Top 10 Tips for finding Alternate Surname Spellings & Variations http://genealogy.about.com/od/name_changes/tp/spellings.htm

Yes, you know how to spell your surname.  But not everyone else does.  Suggestions for finding variations on the “right “  way to spell that name.

Blood and Frogs: Form
http://www.bloodandfrogs.com/p/forms.html

These  ”family” forms are handy when doing your research.

The Ancestor Location form provides spaces for basic information from your parents through all 8 great grandparents. Good reference sheet for basic facts as you search for more information.

The Ancestor Form has space for names, birth and death and marriage, cities, dates of a person and his/her parents and grandparents.  Useful in gathering information as you work.

RelativelyCurious Community Toolbar http://relativelycurious.ourtoolbar.com/Upgrade/?version=3.3.2.1

This is an indispensable toolbar for genealogy!  It provides all the tools you will need at your fingertips.  Download this great toolbar! 

For Your information:

Vital Records….records of births, deaths and marriages

Census
     Census have been conducted by individual states as well as by the Federal Government.  Ex. Mass. 1865.

That should get you started!

Too Many Variations: Catherine Smith

How do you find a needle in a haystack?
My 1st and 2nd maternal great grandmothers had the same given names: Katharina Lina. This mother and daughter had their names spelled multiple ways during their life.  What is the correct spelling of Katharina or Catherine?  Your guess is as good as mine, there was no "correct" way, just whatever the writer thought it should be.

So just to make things even more complicated my 2nd great grandmother married a Schmid or Schmidt or Smith depending on the writer.

How  were their names spelled?:  

For my second great grandmother:

•  in the 1860 census it was spelled "Schund" (Thomas [for Thaddeus] and Catherine),
• in a newspaper tribute at her death she was Catherine Schmidt,
• in an earlier article describing a four generation Thanksgiving she was referred to as Catherina Smith, 
• on her gravestone it is spelled Schmid

For my great grandmother:

• she was referred to as "Mrs. Katherina L. (Schmidt) Chandler in her obituary, 
• in a news article about her husband's death so was called "Mrs. Catherina Chandler" 
• on her baptismal certificate (written in German) from the she was Catherina
• on my grandmother's death certificate she was Catherine Schmidt
• on her gravestone it is spelled Schmid 

Fortunately, for me, my mother was raised by Catherina Lina Schmid Chandler and my biggest problem was to guess how the name was spelled in order to find the records.  I  have letters they wrote. I knew where they lived, where they were buried, and where my  great grandmother was born.  It is when I try to go back further that I run into trouble......more about that later.

 This mother and daughter not only shared names; they also died on the same date.
Mrs. Catherine Schmid died 8 April 1926 and her daughter Mrs. Catherine Chandler died 8 April 1944.

Chandler Lacy not Irving Lacy

Why ChandLacy?  Why not IrvingLacy? 

My grandfather, Milford Reverdy Irving, emmigrated from Albert County, New Brunswick, Canada and worked in greenhouses in Billerica and Tewksbury.  He married my grandmother, Alice Gertrude Chandler, whose family lived and owned greenhouses in Tewksbury.  After my mother was born, my grandmother, Alice Gertrude Chandler Irving, spent much of her life in an institution suffering from postpartum depression.

Alice's parents , Catherina Lina Schmid Chandler and Jeremiah Kittredge Chandler, cared for my mother.  When my mother married, she became her Uncle William Chandler 's sister-in-law.  His wife Mary Lacy, my father's sister, died of a heart attack leaving 6 young children and a crippled husband.  My parents took some of the children in and raised them.  Some lived in Tewksbury with their father and Uncle Larkin and Aunt MamieChandler.

I was a late comer not arriving until 4 years later, 8 years after my parents were married.  So although not all six of the Chandlers lived with us, they were a big part of my childhood family. They all married and lived and raised their individual families in Tewksbury.  Three of the six were boys and between they they had 13 children, so the Chandler name was well represented in my hometown.

In addition, Jeremiah had 10 sibling who lived in Tewksbury and many are buried in Tewksbury.

On Memorial Day when my mother would decorate her mother's grave she would point out the fenced-in area at the front of the cemetery where older generation Chandler's were buried.  The fence has been removed but the graves remain....of my  great grandparents, grand aunts, grand uncles, 2nd and 3rd cousins, etc. Those were the easy to find  graves (but not easy to read), when I started searching a couple of years ago.

So Chandlers surrounded me, both the living and the dead, and were a much greater presence in my childhood than the Irvings.  So that's why I've called my blog Chandlacy.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Coming to Call

In the 1930s my spiffed up dad,  J. Robert Lacy is coming to call on my mother.   Structure to the left of  the house is a water tower for her grandfather's greenhouses.

1923 Ski Wear Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday 


Mildred Irving, my mother, Christmas 1923.....ski wear???