November A Month to be Thankful

We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. ~Shirley Abbott

Which ancestor are you the most thankful for? Why?

Well that is a very waited and difficult question! Before I can answer this I wonder, what is the "technical" definition of an ancestor?

Ancestor:  A person from whom one is descended, especially if more remote than a grandparent; a forebear. (As defined in the American Heritage Dictionary)

Based on this I guess I would say that I'm most thankful for my great grandfather; Fred Haskins.  Why?  Well I could say many different people but I am thinking of this in the context of my genealogy research.  For whatever reason, Fred didn't tell us much about our family, especially the Haskins side.   This has made my genealogy detective work challenging, fun and exhilerating. 

Because of Fred...

1. I have better genealogy skills.
2. I have spent eight years looking for his father and finally found him.  What a rush that was!
3. I have quested to learn all I can about his ancestors.  I have tracked the family line in the US back to 1630 and learned that my ancestors were founding fathers of Windsor, CT
4. I have learned how to request military records; I was able to get Semour Haskins, my 4th great grandfather's records from the War of 1812.
5. I have learned a great deal about Dutchess county, NY especially the town of Amenia.  I have been there three times and LOVE to eat at Three Brother's Pizza.
6. I have learned how to track down and request primary documents to use as sources. One being his birth certificate which revealed he spent most of his life saying he was a different age than he actually was.
7. I have learned how to use city directories as a great resource for learning about your family tree.  Fred was born in Rochester, NY @ 118 Thompson, Ward 9.
8. I ended up taking a wonderful family vaction to the Conneticut shore.  I would never have gone there if I wasn't looking for his father's (George Henry Haskins) grave.
9. I have become the family genealogy expert, which has included being passed down all of the old family photos.  What an honor -  Thanks Aunt Es.
10. I have met many very helpful kind people in the world of genealogy whom I wouldn't know as much about my family without them.

This is a picture of Fred, myself, my brother and a cousin at a backyard picnic.

Wordless Wednesday - Charles W. Drake

Tombstone Tuesday - Charles W. Drake

This week my blog is being themed around Charles W. Drake.  He is my 3rd great grandfather.

This is his tombstone.

 He is buried in the Marion Cemetery on the Drake plot.

Sunday's Obituary - Charles W. Drake

Today I have decided to post the obituary for my 3rd Great Grandfather, Charles W. Drake.

I selected him because he passed away November 11, 1922, which is 89 years ago this week.

It is hard to read the newspaper clipping that is attached so I have transcribed it below:

Charles W. Drake, passed away at his home on Palmyra street, Saturday, November 11, 1922 at three o'clock in the afternoon, in his eighty-fifth year.

Mr. Drake had been ill a long time and confined to his house for a number of months, being a great sufferer.  A nurse has been in the home for months.  Mrs. Drake also being in very feeble condition.

Mr. Drake was born on March 25, 1838, in Amenia, Dutchess county, N.Y. when he passed the first thirty-five years of his life, moving thence to Wayne county.

He came to Marion from Sodus about twenty years ago, and with his wife had lived here since that time.  He leaves his wife, Mrs. Annagusta Drake; one son, Joseph Drake, of Newark, N.Y. and six daughters, Mrs William Carroll, of Williamson; Mrs. Sarah Haskins of Marion; Mrs Charles Boyle, Oswego, Illinois; Miss Janet Drake of Buffalo; Mrs. Clara White of Buffalo, Mrs. Agnes Hasselwander of Rochester.  There are eight grandchildren, of whom two are Darwin and Fred Haskins, of this town and four great grandchildren.

The funeral was held from the house Tuesday afternoon at two o'clock, Rev L. W. Bumpass, pastor of the Baptist Church, Officiating.  Burial was in the family lot in Marion Cemetery.

The Ancestors' Geneameme

This is an activity that I decided to participate in for some genealogy fun plus it helps with my research.  I was suppose to post a few weeks ago but life happens!

The rules of this activity are as follows:

• Read over the following list.
• Things you have already done or found: make them bold face type
• Things you would like to do or find: make them italicized (color optional)
• Things you haven't done or found and/or don't care to find: leave them in plain type
• You are encourage to add extra comments in brackets after each item

Which of the following apply to you?

Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents

• George Henry Haskins
• Sarah L. Drake
• Jacob VanLare
• Nellie Bushart
• Thomas King Robertson
• Teresa Mary Wagner
• Henry Ostreich
• Wilhemlmina Ruth Leisten
• Abraham Dierx
• Jozina Johanna Bulting
• Pieter Vergouwe
• Catharina Van Bortel
• Adriaan DeVisser
• Levina Marie Misjelje
• Johannes Wisse
• Maria Susanna Vannxen

Can name over 50 direct ancestors (easily!)

Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents

This is Pieter Derks and Sarah Vergouwe, the parents of my grandfather Arthur Derks.

This is Issac DeFisher and Sarah Wisse, the parents of my grandmother Elsie DeFisher Derks.

This is Fred Haskins and Kate VanLare, the parents of my grandfather Vincent Haskins. 

This is Thomas Robertson and Ruth Ostreich, the parents of my grandmother Ruth Robertson Haskins

Have an ancestor who was married more than three times
Have an ancestor who was a bigamist
Met all four of my grandparents
Met one or more of my great-grandparents

• Fred Haskins
• Kate VanLare Haskins
• Ruth Ostreich Robertson

Named a child after an ancestor (One son's middle name is Marcus somewhat after my dad and our other son's middle name is Vincent after my grandfather.)

Bear an ancestor's given name/s
Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland (A few places include Dorset England, Roxburghshire and Glasgow Scotland)
Have an ancestor from Asia
Have an ancestor from Continental Europe (Many from the Netherlands)
Have an ancestor from Africa
Have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer (just a few....)
Have an ancestor who had large land holdings (not sure what large would include, but there were many farmers that had large amounts of land)

Have an ancestor who was a holy man - minister, priest, rabbi
Have an ancestor who was a midwife
Have an ancestor who was an author
Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy or Jones
Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki or Ng
Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X

Have an ancestor with a forename beginnining with Z (the wife of one of my grand uncle's first name was Zoa)

Have an ancestor born on 25th December (to the best of my ability I don't think so, but I'd like a better way to look through my data base)

Have an ancestor born on New Year's Day (see above)

Have blue blood in your family lines
Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth

Can trace a direct family line back to the eighteenth century (most can be traced back that far)

Can trace a direct family line back to the seventeenth century or earlier (can go back to 1630 in the United States with the Haskins/Hoskins line)

Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents

Here is a sample of my great grandfather Fred's signature. 

 

Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X
Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university
Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offence
Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime

Have shared an ancestor's story online or in a magazine (See my blog .  I translated a newpaper article about my great grandfather's sister, Julia she died as a young child. )

Have published a family history online or in print (one of my goals is to write and publish a portion of my family history)
Have visited an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries (I have been to town's where they lived but haven't been in an actual house)

Still have an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family

Have a family bible from the 19th Century (I wish) 
Have a pre-19th century family bible

A Little Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Did You Do On Your Summer Vacation?

Well now that summer is officially coming to an end I am forcing myself to get back to my blog.  I have been feeling guilty about my limited or complete absence from my genealogy.  I haven't had any time to think about or touch it since sometime in July.  I logged on to my genealogy computer for the first time in weeks.  It took an eternity for the updates to process and the security software to make things safe and sound, yet I persevered.  I went straight to my go to sites for ideas to blog about.  I have to start somewhere and low and behold I landed on "A Little Saturday Night Genealogy Fun."   The topic of the challenge for today, what did you do on your summer vacation?

This summer, before my hiatus, I went on vacation to the Connecticut shore.  We stayed in a beach house on Latimer Point in Stonington, CT.  I relaxed, rested and soaked up the July sun.  I also got to spend sometime trekking through a cemetery in the nearby town of Deep River, CT.  Deep River is where my very long lost great, great grandfather is buried.  I found this information within the last year after looking for over eight, so having the opportunity to visit his final resting place and the town he lived in was an exciting part of my trip.

George Henry Haskins is buried in the Fountain Hill Cemetery.  Here are a few pictures from that excursion.

George Henry Haskins was living in Deep River at the time of his death.  He died on September 14, 1925 from Nephritis.  He was 71 years, 6 months and 21 days at his death.  His burial was on September 16.  He died in the New Haven Hospital. 

This is the chapel that is in the cemetery.  George's sister Julia Haskins Frank's funeral was held here.  Julia died on May 20, 1922, age 64 from Bronchial Pneumonia.

This is the headstone of Julia and her family.  Julia Haskin was married to Francis Frank. Francis Frank died on November 3, 1931.  Julia had a daughter Edna, whom married Everett Stickland.  Edna died on June 8, 1911 at the age of 31. She died giving birth to a son, whom is also buried with her.  Everett, her husband, died on April 20, 1948 at the age of 70.  He died from Congestive Heart Failure.

This is the headstone of George's other sister Alma Haskins Foster.  Alma died in Waterbury, CT at the age of 59 on March 25, 1909.  She was married to Willis Foster, also of Waterbury, CT.  He died at the age of 63 on January 19, 1914.

The family members are buried in the Pilgrim Rock portion of the Fountain Hill Cemetery.  They are buried in sections 18 and 19.  Alma Foster, Julia Frank and George H Haskins are the children of George W Haskin and Mary McFarland of Amenia, Dutchess, New York.   The plots in section 18 (four of them) were purchased by Willis Foster.  They were purchased when Alma passed away.  This is the section that George is buried in.

I was sad to find out that George doesn't have a headstone.  If I didn't have the cemetery information I wouldn't have been able to find him.  I have the general area where he is buried but not the exact location.  I have to admit finding out there was no stone was very disappointing and was a little bit of a downer.

After our time tromping around the cemetery, our next stop in Deep River was to the local public library.  My mission was to try to find George's obituary.  I was not successful, again disappointed.

After a wonderful lunch at Kristen's we stopped at the Town Hall.  I was able to enter the vault and look through various resources.  This was really interesting and a little exhilarating.  I got the chance to touch and look through some primary documents. Oh, the things that can keep a genealogist happy!  All in all it was a great day in Deep River and a wonderful memory for my Summer 2011 Vacation.

This is The Face of Genealogy

This is my face of genealogy.  This is a picture of the DeFisher family, which includes my grandmother, her parents and all of her siblings.  This is the part of my family that first got me interested and exploring back when I was in college as a health education major doing a project on medical health history.