Musings of a Genealogy-Nut

There are many genealogy groups on Facebook.  I first joined one dedicated to Ancestry.com.  There was a lot of negative and downright mean posts so I left that for Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness.  When I asked a question there about my German heritage I was directed to the German Genealogy page.  Since I had questions about my Swedish heritage I joined Swedish Genealogy, also.  There were people in that group that were actually Sweden natives living there now.  I asked about a few of the words on this document:


The actual place of birth is "Born October 3, 1848 in Pershytte village, Hedemora parish, Stora Kopparberg County" (today Dalarna county).

That long first word before "Carl Andersson" (Hammunsegaresoneu) means "son of a man that owns his own small farm".  Who could have guessed THAT one!

I had included this photo in the post assuming that one of those boys was my great-grandfather.:

I received THIS comment that the photo of the two boys had to be taken after 1893 (Carl left in 1870) so probably his brothers.  Also the photo studio on the back was established in 1893.  Then he saw "1910" somewhere on the card so THAT was when it was taken.

One of the members did a little research and found one of the brothers stayed in Sweden, had 5 sons and 1 daughter, and lived in Hedemora during the time between 1893 and 1900.

I have NO idea what to enter as Charles/Carl's father's name.  I settled for Hammunsegaresoneu, the word for Man Who Owns His Own Small Farm...I can change it if more information becomes available.

Facial Recognition supports that these are Charles and his bride, Mary Ann.

I have their State of Michigan Return of Marriage.  That just states Charles was born in Hedemora, Sweden, and Mary Ann was born in Hereford, England.

 I guess I should join the British Genealogy page on Facebook.  At least there won't be translation problems, I hope.

With the disappointing and confusing results of my DNA test, I lost enthusiasm for genealogy for a while.  When I looked back at the results a few weeks ago I found it entirely different.  Now it says:

Europe 100%

• Great Britain 41%
• Europe West 38%
• Scandinavia 8%
• Europe East 8%

   
  Trace Regions 5%
• Italy/Greece 2%
• Ireland 2%
• Finland/Northwest Russia < 1%

 Carl emigrated first to England, then, 6 years later, to the US through Canada.  Mary Ann emigrated to the US through Canada at the same time and they immediately came to Adrian, Michigan and were married.  I have their "return of marriage" papers.

Carl (now changed to Charles Anderson) was 26 and Mary Ann, 22.  I believe the photos above were taken around the time of their marriage.  The date of wedding was given as November 12, 1874.

Shortly after Christmas I sent in my sample for the Ancestry DNA testing.  The results appeared on the Ancestry Website for me to view.  Interesting!!!

I am SURE of several lines back to England, my great-grandmother on my father's side; my Benjamin line on my mother's grandfather's side, my GGGGG Gandfather on my father's mother's side, And several more.  Probably 5 proven lines for aunts and uncles in the DAR and SAR are accepted by the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution.

HOWEVER, my DNA map shows NO links to any of the countries lumped together as Great Briton.  Now what?

The percentages for Scandinavia and Eastern Europe are spot-on.  The 71% Central Europe is a mystery, also.  Central Europe encompasses modern day Poland, Ukraine and as far South as Greece. It seems that the ancestors that came from England may have emigrated from Central Europe.  Lots of research ahead of me.

Along with the DNA results came a list of others who have had their DNA analyzed by Ancestry and who match at a 4th cousin or better level.  I have 17 people so far to contact.  As new matches come in I will be notified.  Some have their trees available, some will make their trees available upon request, and some haven't really started their trees yet.

There is also a list with each available tree of surnames in both trees which makes it easier to see where you are linked.  So far I have only found commonality with one of the 17, but I have only viewed 3 or so trees.

I have to say, that the results site is easy to navigate and has a lot of features.  I am still exploring.

Family History Month is OFFICIALLY over at The Digital Scrapbook Place, but the interest was so high that the forums, a chat or two, and challenges will continue.  YAY!

The forum for those involved in the planning has evolved into a sharing gen-adventures email list.  There are some professionals sharing searching techniques with some who are just starting their own searches.  "Start with what you know." has been the advice passed on again and again in forums and chats.

I finally pulled out a "book" written in the 1960s by my mother's first cousin on their Hodges line.  I glanced through it before and grabbed a few dates and names but I have come so much farther since then.  The cousin was a professional history textbook writer for the state of Michigan so he was meticulous in his research and footnotes.  That made it easy on me.  The last half of the folder of papers was pertinent pages from another book written by a different ancestor, "The Benjamin Family in America" .  When the cousin xeroxed his manuscript for my mother, the title page and cover page were not included so I don't really know the name of his book OR the publication date.  I am guessing it is "For the Descendants of Alice Benjamin and Abraham Hodges" or something like that.  I also do not know if copies were submitted to any libraries or to the Gen Center in Salt Lake City.  Their similar books are indexed according to the last name anyway, so I know where and how to search for it.  Now if I could just see my way clear to return to that library some day.

St. Dunstan Church in Canterbury, England

I became fascinated with the reference to the Reverend William Eddye who was the Vicar of St. Dunstan Church in Canterbury, England in the late 1500s.  His daughter, Abagail, and some of her siblings made the voyage to America within a few years of his death.  The Vicar is my 7th great-grandfather.

When I searched for his name on the Internet, there were a lot of writings by others descended from his line.  Some great research has been done and wonderful tidbits are out there, like his last will and testament.  One excellent writing is here.    He lived in Elizabethan time, the time of Shakespeare so wording of the will is exotic to us today.  I assume that his daughter, Abagail Eddye, my 6th great-grandmother, and her siblings took their inheritance and bought land in "The New World" for whatever reason.  I am now searching for more information on the children of The Rev. Eddye and, hopefully, a description of their voyage to America.  They are described as among American's first Puritan stock.

Parsonage of St. Dunstan Church in Canterbury, England

There is also an inventory of the Reverend's estate which describes the inside of his house in detail.  Now I have a great desire to travel to Canterbury to see, not only the church, but see if I can find the Parsonage, if it is still standing.

I also wonder if there is a sketch or painting of the Reverend tucked away somewhere in the church store rooms.  So far nothing has surfaced on the Internet, but I am still looking.


My own descent from The Reverand William Eddye is:
 1. William Eddye (1568-1616) married Mary Munn Fosten (1568-1611)
 2. (daughter) Abigail Eddye (1601-1687) married John Benjamin (1598-1645) Immigrated to America aboard the ship Lyon in 1632. Settled in Mass...Puritans, Patriots 
 3. (son) Joseph Benjamin (1633-1699) married Sarah Clarke (1639-17??)
 4. (son) Joseph Benjamin (1673-1738) married Elizabeth Cooke (?-?
 5. (son) Joseph Benjamin (1699-1803) married Deborah Clark (1710-?)
 6. (son) Elija Benjamin (1725-1752) married Hannah Taft (1747-1802
 7. (son) Elias Benjamin (1750-1863) married Rhoda Paddock (1785-1858)
 8. (son)Edmund Benjamin (1806-1887) married Dyantha Bayne (1816-1878)
 9. (daughter) Alice Jane Benjamin (1851-1909) married Abraham Hodges (1837-1923)
10. (daughter) Laura Hodges (1873-1931) married Louis Oehring (1873-1932)
11. (daughter) Eunice Fay Oehring (1911-2004) married Clifford Scarlett Anderson (1907-1995) 
12.  (daughter) me

Well, it is at The Digital Scrapbook Place.  For some reason the long time family history chats have been attended less and less.  Not so the chats based on Family History this month.  It is amazing how much knowledge is out there.  I feel as if there was no way to share it with so many.  How to start, what to do with your information, how to organize your pages, where to go to find more.  Sometimes it is hard to remember who is supposed to be leading the chats as everyone has so much to share.

Right now the Family History Chats are on Tuesdays at 8 PM EST and Thursdays at 10 PM EST.  Somehow, the other chats all week long end up centering on Family History, too. 

There is an awesome tutorial on "Restoring and Tinting a Badly Faded Photo for Advanced Photoshop Users" by Carole Harden.  I printed that out immediately and set to work.  Here are two of my results.

  Another topic has been what to do if you don't have photos.  Here are a couple of my solutions.

A Memorial Arch among the family plots

In 1963, on our sort-of-honeymoon, we visited my new husband's family in Savannah, Georgia.  I had never been further South than Ohio so the live oaks, Spanish moss, wrought iron balconies, fountains and square parks were just fascinating in spite of the August heat.

I made sure my children, who I ended up raising on my own, always knew they had a large family in Savannah.  Recently, I started looking for genealogy information about that part of the family and learned that many branches of that family go way back to before the revolution, coming from a place called "Io", apparently an area of Switzerland.  The elderly grandmother I met in 1963 was a Bourguin, and they, too, dated back to original Georgia settlers with hefty land grants.  I also learned the Bashlors were buried in Bonaventure Cemetery, the gorgeous old burial ground featured in the 1993 movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

The overhanging Live Oaks with Spanish Moss form a cathedral ceiling.

There are others, but I will search for those next time.

My children's great-grandparents, James and Mary (Maimie)

James Roberson Bashlor    b. May 5, 1902   d. May 20, 1976      Dweese Gupton Bashlor  b. Nov 20, 1903  d. Nov 22, 1993    
 I am not sure of the relationship of this couple to my children.

Ralph Burns Bashlor, Apr 26, 1907 - Nov 18, 1916

Lynda Suzanne, Daughter of Nell and Bobby Bashlor, Oct 31, 1948 to Nov 2, 1948

Franklin King, son of Ruth G Krystal King, June 15, 1929 - June 15, 1948

Frank Sloat Bashlor Aug 31, 1890  to  Dec 12, 1922

I have no idea at this time how these people are related, but as soon as I can start their family tree, and start searching for clues I will have this put together.

I never knew any of my great-grandparents but I felt closer to Anna and Greeley Scarlett than the others.  The Scarlett line of first-born sons came down to Greeley since the early 1700s.  However, he and Anna had two girls.  Minnie was 8 years old when her little sister, Katie, my grandmother, came along.  Minnie married first, of course, and had one child, a son, Clair.  When Katie married, she had one child, a son, my father, Clifford.  Clair never married but Cliff did and had two children, my brother, Charles and me.

Anna and Greeley moved from Alvordton to Hicksville (both in Ohio) next door to their older daughter.

I loose track of them there.  Minnie and her husband died.  In the early 60s, Clair died and I went to his military funeral.  I was sure the cemetery wasn't far from the house.

My friend, Theresa, mentioned in a geneology - scrapbooking chat one night that she lived quite close to Hicksville, Ohio and would check the cemetery there for me.

She sent me photos of the headstones.

Anna Scarlett 1859 - 1931

Horace G. Scarlett  1852 - 1933

The Garver Scarlett Plot

The three close stones are the Garvers, Minnie, Will and their son Clair.  The two further ones are the Scarlett stones.