Valentine (#7 of 52)

This post is based on Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge. This week's theme is: Valentine.

On Valentine's Day 1896, Louisa (Heuszel) Werther gave birth to her 11th child, a son. She and her husband, Emil Werther, named their son Walter Valentine Werther. [Emil's sister, Guntherine (Werther) Peters, was my great, great grandmother.]

Three photos from his life:

Signature from WWII draft card at Ancestry.com.
The "i" in Valentine appears to be dotted with a heart!

Photo labeled "Children of Frederick August Emil and Louise Matilda (Heuszel) Werther,
Date Unknown" from files of Beulah (Peters) Brewer. Unfortunately, the siblings are not labeled.

Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 15 February 2018); Record Walter V Werther (1896-1974), Memorial No. 19333284, Records of Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland, Pawnee County, Oklahoma, photo posted by OkieBran. Walter served in WWI.

Named for States (#6 of 52)

This post is based on Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge. This week's theme is: FAVORITE NAME.

Jesse Lank Griffin (1834-1903) and Sarah Holmes (1834-1928) had at least eight children. Most of them had "normal" names: William, Richard, John, Martha, Nancy, Sally, Stephen. But, they also had one daughter with a fairly unusual name: Tennessee, whose nickname was Tennie.

Find A Grave, memorial 27031200, digital image of Tennie L wife of Dot Bratton gravestone
(Marshall Cemetery, Marshall, Searcy County, Arkansas), photo posted 14 May 2010 by Kim REA Mays.

Tennessee was born on 20 July 1869 in Arkansas, but both of her parents were born in Tennessee. She married Dotson "Dot" Bratton and had at least three children. She died on 3 October 1918 and was buried in Searcy County, Arkansas.

Tennessee also had a niece who was named for a state. Tennie's brother, William (or Bill), had a daughter named Arkansas Griffin (1875-1956).

Both Tennessee and Arkansas Griffin are on my husband's trees. He has another female named for a state on his tree: Missouri Alice Leeds (1879-1947) who was born in Missouri.

Do you have anyone on your tree who was named for a state? I'd love to hear about it!

"Pauper" (#5 of 52)

This post is based on Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge. This week's them is: CENSUS.

I recently located my 3rd great grandmother and two of her children—including my 2nd great grandmother—on the 1851 England census. The document is difficult to read as it is faded and stained. It is also difficult to read because of the word written on the line with her: pauper.

1851 census of England, Lancashire, Ashton under Lyne, Leesfield parish, p. 31 (printed), house number 126, Sally Eastwood household; digital image, ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 February 2018). 

After reading she was a pauper, I tried to imagine Sarah's life in 1851. She was living alone with two of her children: Elam, age 9, and Sarah, age 3. Several of her young children had died, and her husband had left for America. Just a few months after this census, Sarah and her two young children left for America, leaving behind family and friends to live in an unknown world. What a difficult journey that must have been!

Map of Lancashire Parishes from Ancestry

When accessing the 1851 census on Ancestry, you also can see a map if you click the button: "view record." In this case, the map is of the "Lancashire Parishes: with dates of commencement of registers for parishes formed before 1832." The Archdeaconry of Chester is outlined in red. I have included just a portion of the map.

The Eastwood family was living in Ashton-Under-Lyne (see the right side of the map). But, this map also shows other places associated with the family: Mossley, Hey, Oldham, and Prestwich. Parish maps, like those found on Ancestry, are wonderful tools to use while researching your English ancestors!

Why Blog?

Are you a genealogy blogger? If not, have considered blogging? I have found blogging to be a wonderful tool which helps me to dig deeper and to share my genealogy research. 

image from www.famicity.com,
"Another Bog About Genealogy Bloggers" post

Recently, Erin Harris with Famicity interviewed me about my genealogy blog. Some of the questions she asked:

• Why did you become a genealogist?
• When and why did you start your blog?
• Where do you get inspiration for your blog posts?
• What do you find easy/difficult about blogging?
• What impact does social media have on your blog?
• What have you learned from being a genealogy blogger?
• Has anyone ever thanked you for a specific blog post?

Besides me, she also interviewed Anne Faulkner of Ancestor Archeology. Last year, she interviewed Mary Kircher Roddy of MKRGenealogy and Lara Diamond of Lara's Jewnealogy. 

If you'd like to learn more about genealogy blogging or any of these bloggers, check out "Another Blog About Genealogy Bloggers" or last year's "A Blog About Genealogy Bloggers." 

And, if you have a blog or are just starting a blog, send me the link. I'd love to see what you're blogging about!