Category Archives: Family Stories

RootsTech Wrap Up

Family Stories, News, ,
Attendees at RootsTech 2015. Photo by Ryan Woods.
Attendees at RootsTech 2015. Photo by Ryan Woods.

When the RootsTech/FGS conference opened Thursday morning at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, February 12, close to 22,000 attendees were there to learn, mingle, and teach other passionate genealogists from around the country and around the world (35 countries in total). It was the largest group of people interested in finding dead people that many of us had ever seen in one location. It was great to see such high energy and excitement from so many, including an extra 5,000 children, ages 8 and up, who attended Family Discovery Day the last day of the conference. The three days of the conference were jam-packed. Continue reading RootsTech Wrap Up →

“Pomps and vanities”

Family Stories, , ,
Hedwiga Gray diary1
Hedwiga Regina Shober Gray diary, entries for 5-7 February 1864. R. Stanton Avery Special Collections

Two of Dr. Francis H. Gray’s uncles married Gardners, so the Grays’ web of family connections included Mr. and Mrs. John L. Gardner Jr. – better known to contemporaries as Mr. and Mrs. Jack Gardner. I was interested to see that Mrs. Gray did not mention Isabella Stewart Gardner (“Mrs. Jack”) in her diary until February 1869, following the grand ball the Grays had given for their debutante daughter Mary Clay Gray (1848–1923) in December 1868.

The Grays were invited to two of Mrs. Jack Gardner’s receptions in February and March 1869, but owing to a friend’s illness they only attended the second one. The next mention of Mrs. Gardner comes in February 1872, and it is notably positive: Continue reading “Pomps and vanities” →

The Dionne Family: Genealogical beginnings

Family Stories, Research Methods,
Francis Dionne
Francis Dionne

Growing up in Waterville, Maine, with a large French-Canadian family, I was always interested in history—particularly the history of my family and hometown. Both my parents grew up in Waterville, their forebears having moved there from Canada and Northern Maine not long before. Having my memeres, my tantes, and many aunts and uncles living close by during my childhood allowed me to hear details of life in Waterville through the generations. Those details continue to give me a sense of roots that I especially appreciate now that I live in a much larger city. Continue reading The Dionne Family: Genealogical beginnings →

Celebrating Presidential Kinship, U.S. Ancestry

Family Stories,
George Washington portrait; Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860), NEHGS Rotunda, Boston.
George Washington portrait; Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860), NEHGS Rotunda, Boston.

The past year saw the American Presidency surpass 225 years as an establishment of government and state. Presidents of the United States number among the most recognizable, beloved, and reviled (not mutually exclusive) figures in our nation’s history and that of the world. Since the inauguration of George Washington, forty-three men have been entrusted by the American people to safeguard our independence, defend the Constitution which binds a widely dispersed and diverse nation, and exemplify virtues and qualities of leadership that contribute to this country’s exceptionalism.  Emerging from the seedbeds of the Revolution, genteel Southern patricians and their learned New England peers were joined by New York Dutch, Scotch-Irish settlers, proverbial young men who pioneered the West, and even descendants of relatively recent immigration as our presidential pantheon has expanded in number while also developing genealogically. The ancestries of recent presidents, Jimmy Carter, both Presidents George Bush, and Barack Obama, have embraced several of these regional and ethnic origins, much in keeping with the social development and mobility of the whole American people. Continue reading Celebrating Presidential Kinship, U.S. Ancestry →

Dear associations

Family Stories,
Hedwiga Gray diary1
Hedwiga Regina Shober Gray diary, entries for 5-7 February 1864. R. Stanton Avery Special Collections

Regina Shober Gray (1818–1885) spent the last forty years of her life in Boston, but she remained strongly connected to her native Philadelphia – and to her siblings. The death of her eldest sister Mary Morris Shober (1816–1873) hit Mrs. Gray particularly hard, as she – with their older brother John Bedford Shober (1814–1864) – was in Mrs. Gray’s view one of the heads of the family, and someone she thought of when she thought of home. Continue reading Dear associations →

The Name Game

Family Stories,
The first Emma, Emma (Byrt) Powell.
The first Emma, Emma (Byrt) Powell.

When my daughter was born, we chose the name Emma for her. Like many first-time parents, we considered and discarded many names. But we kept circling back to Emma because it’s a family name, and it follows an interesting pattern:

Emma Powell, born 1836 in Bristol, England

Ella Byrt, born 1860 in Chicopee, Massachusetts

Emma Ladd, born 1886 in New York

Ella Clark, born 1915 in Richmond Hill, New York Continue reading The Name Game →

“Speak, memory”: Part Two

Family Stories, Research Methods,
Knapper Cressey
Courtesy of alexandriava.gov

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about preparing to interview family members as part of an oral history.

Conducting the Interviews

When selecting family members to interview for your oral history, it is always best to begin with family members who will be comfortable discussing the past and their memories of it; there is a chance that other, less enthusiastic family members will be encouraged to participate after seeing the product of successful interviews.[1] Continue reading “Speak, memory”: Part Two →

“Speak, memory”: Part One

Family Stories, Research Methods
Fry 1963
Courtesy of Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

“Imagine listening to an elderly relative tell of her journey to America as an immigrant, her arrival at Ellis Island, and her first job in a clothing factory. Or imagine another family member describing how he worked on the family farm, learned to read in a one-room school house, and courted his wife at church socials. Such are the opportunities available to the family historian who draws upon the method of oral history.” So begins Linda Shopes’s poignant essay “Using Oral History for a Family History Project.” As Shopes movingly points out, oral histories are among the most useful and satisfying methods of compiling family histories. Continue reading “Speak, memory”: Part One →

Concerning Bass

Family Stories, Research Methods, ,

Samuel Bass 1Do you have a common last name whose origin you have always wondered about, such as Lewis, Adams, or Bass? Did you ever wonder if you were related to a famous person with the same surname? A helpful research tip to figure this out is to search for information regarding the first ancestor that you can find in America, and then attempt to find common ancestral lines. Continue reading Concerning Bass →

“A narrow escape”

Family Stories, Research Methods,
Fanny Appleton Longfellow
Fanny Appleton Longfellow

As I read along in the Gray diary, I am finding certain recurring themes. One, every New Year’s Day, is concern over the arrival (or delay) of “the Philadelphia box,” containing presents for the Gray children in Boston from Mrs. Gray’s siblings in Philadelphia. Another is the annual drama surrounding the Grays’ summer holiday in Manchester, Massachusetts, since the options for affordable rentals were so limited and Manchester itself – just a short train ride from Boston – such a desirable place in which to “rusticate.” Continue reading “A narrow escape” →