Where Did You Go, Lydia?

I have been looking at my tree, considering what family stories I want to record and realizing that there are some ancestors I truly struggle finding any information on, and I kind of want to record that for posterity too; what I don't know and can't seem to discover.

My research into my maternal line I have done with little to no guidance. I am estranged from my mother. My maternal grandmother passed before I was born and my maternal grandfather didn't really discuss the past. Reluctant to talk about his family history, I didn't really dig into his line until after he died in 2004.

One year I set the goal to find the names of all my 3rd great grandparents. I did it. With most of the discoveries came dates of birth and death if nothing else about their lives. However, some of those dates escape me. One in particular that plaques me is the date of death for my 3rd great grandmother Lydia Marie McLean-Sharp. 

She was born on September 15, 1868 in Barnston, Quebec to Elizabeth Walker-McLean and Donald McLean. I know that from her baptismal registration in the Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records otherwise known as the Drouin Collection; a rather thorough resource of vital statistics given the time and place of their creation. She was baptized at the Church of England in Hatley, Quebec, not far from Barnston.

For the life of me I cannot find her date of death though. I have combed through those Drouin records a million times; page by page. Index be damned. Maybe there was some mistranscription of something. Page by page in the narrow time period she must have died in, I find nothing in any of the records for that church or any of the other churches where other relatives had their sacraments of baptism, marriage, and burial. I don't know where she went and it drives me batty.

I see her in the 1911 Census of Canada, listed as 38 years-old and widowed, although I believe she would have been 43 at the time. She was living with her two children, Mayme (my great grandmother) and Daniel James Sharp Jr. in the house of a cousin, Calvin Moore. Then no mention of Lydia again. I think she had to have passed before 1916 when her son Dan enlists in WWI and lists his sister as his next of kin.

Lydia was widowed on October 12, 1898, when her husband, Daniel Sharp Sr., 46 years her senior dies in St. Felix-de-Kingsey, Quebec. Yeah, he was 46 years older than her. 46 and a half years older. Don't get me started. It grosses me out too.

Lydia was young when she was widowed. Maybe she remarried? Moved away? Canadians have this great habit of retaining the woman's maiden name though, in their vital records and on their headstones. A headstone would have likely read "Lydia McLean wife of Daniel Moore." Even so, I still think she died before Dan Jr. enlisted otherwise I think he would have listed his mom as his next of kin. 

She had to have died young too, between 43 and 48. Did she? Where did you go Lydia? What record sets do I even look in? 

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 9: "Females" - great-great-great aunt, Isabelle Nancy McLean

I think that aunts fill a really important role in one's life. If for no other reason, they have the ability to help a child understand the parent. I have 4 magnificent nieces. No boys here. Just beautiful feisty girls. I certainly have much more experience in dealing with their mothers than any of the girls do, simply based on my age. As the oldest sibling, my nieces' mothers have been my sisters their whole lives. So, I would hope as the girls grow up, they each know they can come to me for some insight into why their mom is being like that. What else are aunts for? Besides showering them with gifts and field trips .

The women in my family are strong, independent, hardworking women. By hardworking, I do not mean they worked outside the home necessarily. Historically the women in my family have held very traditional roles; they were mothers and homemakers for the most part. Except for the women on my mother's paternal line, almost none of my foremothers have an occupation recorded in a census record. My mother, though, descends from several women who were listed as nurses in census records and city directories. One of those women was Aunt Belle.

Back in 2012, early on in the start of my blogging days, I wrote about Aunt Belle. She is a story I often revisit in my mind but she deserves revisit in word. Aunt Belle was Isabelle Nancy McLean. She was born on April 4, 1871 in Stanstead, Quebec, Canada. She died on May 24, 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts. She was the younger sister of my great-great grandmother, Lydia Ann McLean-Sharp (15 September 1868 - unknown).

As you can see I don't know when my great-great grandmother died. I can estimate that it is between 1911 and 1915. I also don't know when Belle moved from Canada to Lowell, Massachusetts but it was prior to WWI. When her niece, my great grandmother Mary Elizabeth "Mayme" Sharp-Gardner (2 October 1891 - 25 January 1961), moved to the U.S. with her younger brother Daniel, it was Aunt Belle who they went to live with. This signifies to me that there was an obvious caring relationship between Aunt Belle and her niece, Mayme. It is also meaningful to mention here that Mayme is one of the women in my family tree who also listed as a nurse in several U.S. census records; just like her Aunt Belle.

It was actually a medium who told me I'd research this Aunt Belle which is the strangest of all my genealogy research stories.  A friend of mine has a sister, Mary, who is a medium. Regardless of how you feel about psychics, Mary is no joke. I had never had a reading before I sat with her. She said the most amazing things to me; things no one could have possibly know. And I am sure everyone who goes to a psychic and is taken back by what they say, says that; "the medium told me things no one else could possibly know." But can you tell me how Mary could have known this...

There were many things Mary said during my reading that still stand out to me, including that it was wonderful to read someone who knew their family history. I do believe the spirit of our loved ones surround us and it was easy for me to understand who Mary was referring to in the reading. Towards the end of the session Mary said to me, "You're going to come across two family names in your research; Williams and Evans." It didn't strike me as remarkable at the time; I mean, they aren't that uncommon of surnames. In fact, I completely dismissed the Williams at the time because my Cousin Kelly had recently married into a Williams family. I took what Mary said with a grain of salt and filed it away.

She then asked me, "Who is David?" I shrugged. I didn't know a David. I mean I had in my lifetime met many Davids. I had worked with a few. My father's cousin had a son named David, but I didn't really know him well. Nope, I didn't really know any David really well.

Not more than 3 days after my reading, I was going through some family papers, papers I had looked at a hundred times if I had looked at them once, and there on my great grandmother, Mayme's boarder crossing card from Canada into the United States I noticed a name. Mayme listed that she was headed to Lowell, Massachusetts to see her Aunt Belle EVANS. EVANS. And Mary's words floated back to me.

At that point I had not branched out and researched my great-great grandmother's siblings at all. I didn't recall finding an Aunt Belle in the research I had done. Now I was on a mission to find out who this Belle Evans was. It was a mission that took a very long time and depended significantly on the kindness of well-connected friends.

I began by searching census records for Belle Evans and sure enough I found a Belle married to a Fred Evans in Lowell, Massachusetts. I assumed this was Aunt Belle but then I put my research down for a while, as we all do from time to time. 

Several months went by. I attended a genealogy conference. There I befriended a genealogist who was from Massachusetts. His name was...wait for it...wait for it....David. It didn't really strike me at the time that I now knew a David. Sincerely, I had forgotten that Mary asked me about a David. But here he was.

It wasn't long until I called upon David's expertise in locating records in Massachusetts to helped me locate a marriage certificate for this couple, Belle and Fred Evans. At that point I wasn't even 100% sure that this was "Aunt Belle" or that Aunt Belle was really my great-grandmother's aunt. Belle could have been a friend of the family as is often the case with my family. There are many instances when very close family friends are called Aunt and Uncle despite the fact they are not related; it can and often is just a term of respect. Sometimes Aunt and Uncle are titles given to near relatives too. For example, I call my father's first cousins Aunt Ro, Uncle Charlie, Uncle Ed, etc. So was this Aunt Belle really an aunt to my great grandmother?

David helped me to secure this document:

If you look at the details about Isabelle you'll see her last name is listed as Williams. What?!?! Yes, Williams, was the surname of her first husband. Her marriage to Fred Evans was her second marriage. In parentheses after the Williams you will see the name McLean. 

I knew the parents of my great-great grandmother were, Lydia McLean-Sharp, were Donald McLean and Elizabeth Walker-McLean. I now knew, without a doubt, that Isabelle Nancy McLean-Williams-Evans was the sister of of my great-great grandmother Lydia McLean-Sharp. Aunt Belle was absolutely the biological aunt of my great grandmother Mayme.

And there it was; Williams and Evans. Staring me square in the face were the names I was told I would research. A document I probably would not have seen if not for the help of a David. Again, Mary is no joke.

Aunt Belle played a pretty critical role in my family's history. She was the person who facilitated my great-grandmother's move from Canada to the United States. Several generations before, this line had lived in New Hampshire but moved up to Canada for land. Great Grandma Mayme moved to from Canada to the U.S. for work, likely because she had just lost her mother. I don't know how she met my Great Grandfather Albert Gardner (21 September 1891 - 11 February 1946) who lived most of his life in New York. However, had Mayme stayed in Canada, someone else would be writing this blog. Thus, I am incredibly grateful to Aunt Belle. Thank God for aunts!!

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 7: "Landed" - great-great grandpa, Daniel Sharp's Moore Line

It is very common for American's to hyphenate their ethnicity. We're kind of obsessed with it and, dare I say, hung up on our ethnic identities. The irony of American culture, if you ask me, is that while we pride ourselves on being an immigrant nation, and yet, historically we are not very fond or accepting of the newcomers, also known as immigrants. 

I don't really identify as a hyphenated American. I don't say I am Irish-American or German-American, etc., although I am. I descend from a bunch of ethnic groups. I don't feel especially any ethnicity. I just say I am an American because I am. It's where I was born and my people have been here a long time. A long time. I'm just American.

I do not know when all of my ancestors arrived on this continent, or "landed" as it were. If I reflect on my most recent immigrant ancestors, though, I am Canadian-American. Canada, though, is also a nation of immigrants, although Americans really do not think of our neighbors to the north as equal in that way. If I didn't do genealogy research I would know little to nothing of Canadian history. Before researching my Canadian ancestors I thought of Canada as the place where the un-American went; 1970s draft dodgers, British Loyalists who lost the Revolution, people who couldn't get into the U.S. because of immigration quotas.

All of my grandparents were born in the U.S.; a stone's throw from where I live now. All of them were born in New York. Only two of my great grandparents weren't born in New York; they were born in what is now Canada. Great grandpa Abram Thomas Earle was born in Twillingate, Newfoundland. At the time of his birth, Newfoundland was a British colony so technically he was never Canadian. Which brings me to my maternal line and my great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Sharp-Gardner, who has frequently been recorded as "Mayme" and who is my most recent immigrant arriving in Lowell, Massachusetts in about 1919.

Mayme was born October 2, 1891 near Drummondville, Quebec to Lydia Ann McLean-Sharp and Daniel Sharp. Although they lived in Quebec, an area dominated by French inhabitants, records (and her maiden name) identify this family as being of Scottish origin. With my very American mindset of believing those who live in Canada are "un-American", you will understand my awe when I discovered that this line links me to 2 American Patriots. Yes! Two! Two men who served in the American Revolution, not as British Loyalists but as American Patriots.

So how did this line wind up in Canada? I'll get to that.

My great grandmother Mayme's father, Daniel Sharp (1822-1898), was named after his great grandfather, Daniel Moore (1730-1811). Make that Colonel Daniel Moore.

Here is a little snippet of my tree to help you follow who I am writing about:

You will notice that Daniel Sharp's mother, Annie Moore-Sharp (1782-1868) was the offspring of William Moore (1763-1817) & Eleanor Moore-Moore (1767-1836) (and Moore and Moore and Moore - hee hee). William and Eleanor were first cousins. Their father's were brothers. Robert Moor (1724-1778) - correction: Lieutenant Colonel Robert Moore and Colonel Daniel Moor (1730-1811) both served in the American Revolution and both were sons of John Moor (1683-1774) & Janet Gray-Moor (1685-1776). You will also probably notice that the spelling of Moore also appears as Moor. But whatever, people, spelling is fluid, we just need to accept that.

John Moor (1683-1774), my 6th great grandfather, was born in Colerain, Antrim, Ireland but his father, my 7th great grandfather, Samuel Moor (1655-1734), was born in Glencoe, Argyle, Scotland and is from the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe. Samuel's brother, also named John, was killed in the infamous Massacre of Glencoe on February 13, 1692.

It was my 7th great grandfather, Samuel Moor, who settled in Londonderry, New Hampshire, now Derry, New Hampshire in the 1720s. His son John followed a few years after him. Robert and Daniel were both born in New Hampshire. So I guess that makes me Scottish-Irish-American-Canadian-American. Anyway - -

There is that kind of "landed," when Samuel and John stepped off the ships onto the earth of the New World and then there is being granted land which, I suppose, is an odd interpretation of the theme "landed" but exactly how my Moore family wound up in Canada. They received a land grant. Now I can't actually find any documentation of a land grant but I have several published family histories that state such.

These include:

Moore, George Washington. 1925. Genealogy of the Moore family of Londonderry, New Hampshire and Peterborough, New Hampshire, 1648-1924.

History of Bedford New Hampshire from 1737: Being statistics compiled on the occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, May 15, 1900.

And my favorite: 

Moore, J. Clifford. 1996. The life and times of a high school principal in rural Quebec. 

The consensus is that in 1802, when William and Eleanor were in their mid-to-late 30s, they left their home in Londonderry, New Hampshire and settled in Kinsey, Quebec. As French families moved into the area, the town's name was changed to its present day name, St. Felix-de-Kinsey. French Catholics like to slap a saint on to the places they live.

All that remains of their once beautiful farm and homestead is the Moore Family Cemetery across the road, along the east bank of the St. Francis River. In 1996, Clifford Moore noted in his book that the cemetery was still well maintained by the community. On my visit there in August of 2019 it did not appear to be well maintained.

However, it was an incredibly beautiful piece of land they lived on. This is the view of the St. Francis River from the grave of my great great grandfather, Daniel Sharp, and his mother Annie Moore-Sharp.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 8: "Courting" - great-great grandparents, Daniel Sharp and Lydia McLean-Sharp

Last week I wrote about my great-great grandfather, Daniel Sharp (1822-1896), and his maternal line, the Moore Family of Londonderry, New Hampshire. This week's theme of "Courting" brings me back to Daniel.

Daniel Sharp was born on March 18, 1822 to Annie Moore-Sharp (1782-1868) and Peter Sharp (1783-unknown). His second wife, my great-great grandmother, Lydia McLean-Sharp was born on September 15, 1868. Oh yeah, that's not a typo. When they married on July 25, 1891 Daniel was 69 years old; Lydia was 22. Three months later their first child, my great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth "Mayme" Sharp-Gardner, was born. You do the math.

The Moore line is where my American Revolutionary War soldiers are; Colonel Daniel Moore and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Moore. When I applied to become a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), I did so primarily to have a reputable lineage organization validate my research. No one on my line had gotten into the DAR before. Many members enter the organization based on the fact that their mother, or grandmother, were members. When you apply that way, you just have to document your connection to a previous member. I had to document my lineage all the way back to Colonel Daniel Moore. He was already an accepted Patriot but I had to document the birth, marriage, and death of 8 generations of my family.

1. Colonel Daniel Moore (1730-1811) married Ann Cox (1729-1804) begat

2. Eleanor Moore (1767-1836) m. William Moore (1763-1817) begat

3. Annie Moore (1786-1867) m. Peter Sharp (1783- unknown) begat

4. Daniel Sharp (1822-1898) m. Lydia McLean (1868- unknown) begat

5. Mary Elizabeth "Mayme" Sharp (1891-1961) m. Albert Gardner (1891-1946) begat

6. Clarence Albert Gardner (1927-2004) m. Marilyn Irene Fay (1931-1972) begat

7. my mom who married my dad 

8. and then me

Again, I had to include birth, marriage, and death record for every individual named above. Even with the marriage registration in hand the DAR questioned the validity of Daniel and Lydia's marriage. 

What young woman marries someone 47 years older her? 

Well, Lydia did. 

And they had 2 children together; my great grandmother Mayme and her younger brother, Daniel Sharp (1895-1974). 

My great-great grandfather, Daniel, had been married once before to a woman named Mary Ames. Little is known about her. She appears in the 1861 Census of Canada married to Daniel, as well as in the 1871 and 1881. She appears to have been approximately 9 years older than Daniel. She died on July 6, 1890 at the age of 78. 

In the 1891 Census of Canada, Daniel is living with Lydia but she is listed as his "niece". WHAT?!?! I'll explain. It should be noted first though, that on the date that census is taken, April 28, 1891, Daniel and Lydia are not yet wed and great grandma Mayme is not yet born.

So did Daniel marry his niece? Well, kind of.

Daniel's first wife, Mary Ames-Sharp (1812-1890), was the daughter of John Ames (1790-1819) and Hannah Lester-Ames (1796-unknown). After John died in 1819, Mary's mother Hannah remarried to Archibald McLean (1792-1884). 

See that McLean name? 

Yeah. 

Well, Archibald McLean and Hannah Lester-Ames-McLean are the grandparents of Lydia McLean-Sharp. Daniel Sharp, my great-great grandfather, married his first wife's half-brother's daughter. 

Such an arrangement, in my mind, was likely just that, an arrangement. Lydia, who was the daughter of Donald McLean (1821-unknown) and Elizabeth Walker-McLean (1842-1871), probably went to live with her uncle (well, half-uncle by marriage), after he was widowed. At that point Daniel was well into his 60s and Lydia was probably, initially, his caregiver. The one child he had with his first wife, also named Mary Sharp (1844-1869), died very young. Note that Lydia was significantly younger than Daniel's daughter would have been. Sheesh.

What was that courting like? 

Daniel would have been alone after his first wife died. Perhaps he married Lydia so that she could inherit his property. That being said though, she would have been about 6 months pregnant when they married. And they did have 2 children together. One would hope there was a loving relationship there. I hope there was but there are no accounts of the life they lived together. It is indeed a relationship I wonder about and I struggle to find out what happened to Lydia after Daniel passed in October 1896. 

Great Grandma Mayme Sharp-Gardner in Union Cemetery, Sayville, New York.

On Saturday, April 3, 2021, I visited the grave of my great grandma, Mayme Sharp-Gardner. This side of my family has always provided me more questions than answers. I know Mayme died on January 25, 1961 in Sarasota, Florida and is buried on Long Island in Union Cemetery in Sayville, NY. She was 69 years old when she died, having been born Mary Elizabeth Sharp near Sherebrooke, Quebec, Canada on September 2, 1891 to Lydia Marie McLean-Sharp and Daniel Sharp. I know this because after my grandfather died in 2005, my Aunt Nancy, who has also since passed, was cleaning otu grandpa's house and came across some family papers. She sent those documents to me. They inclued Mayme's obituary and death certificate.

I don't know what Mayme was doing in Sarasota. I am certain she lived in Patchogue, Long Island at the time of her death. I don't know why she is buried in Union Cemetery - her husband is in Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York and her infant daughter, May, is in Cedar Grove Cemetery. I don't know how she even met her husband. She married Albert Gardner (a.k.a. Almond Desjardins) on September 5, 1922 in Manhattan, NY. According to the 1920 Census, though, in '20 Mayme was in Lowell, Massachusetts and Albert was in Oaklahoma City, Oklahoma. How did they ever meet?

In any case, Mayme outlived her husband Albert Gardner by 15 years. For an unknown portion of those years she lived with Albert's sister, Florence V. Desjardins-King. When Florence died in 1952, Mayme continued to live with her brother-in-law, Elbert G. King. Uncle Al, as my grandpa called Elbert, was my grandfather's favorite uncle. 

Just recently, my sister, Rachel, just moved to Sayville and Union Cemetery is about a mile from her house. I totally had forgotten Great Grandma Mayme was buried there until I started this project of grave visiting. 

Union Cemetery doesn't have an office. The building in front of Union Cemetery is actually a Friendly's Ice Cream Shoppe and they don't know nothin' 'bout burying no dead people. 

It took some steps to finally tracked down the person who had the Union Cemetery records. First I found a number for the Union Cemetery Association that went to voicemail. A very kind woman called me back and left me a voicemail instructing me to call the Raynor & D'Andrea Funeral Parlor and ask for Vivian. Vivian doesn't work there, as far as I could tell, but rather Vivian has the Cemetery's records. Once I got a hold of Vivian, she told me she'd get back to me with the plot information I requested. And she did get back to me very quickly and shared with me another long forgotten fact, that my great grandma is buried with Gordons; in the plot purchased by Baldwin Gordon. "Hmm," I thought, "Who are these Gordons? That sounds familiar." 

Um, yeah, they sound familiar. Elbert G. King's middle name is Gordon; a common male name, I know, but in this case, it is his mother's maiden name as well. His mother was Alice Gordon-King (1871-1956). Elbert must have inherited the plot from her. Alice is not buried in Union Cemetery but her father John Harris Gordon (1844-1878) and her grandfather, the purchaser of the plot, Baldwin Cook Gordon (1803-1861) are in this family's plot at Union Cemetery along with their wives; Theresa Newton-Gordon (1845-1933) and Jerusha Raynor-Gordon (1807-1888), respectively. Elbert must have given my grandpa a vacant grave in the plot in which to bury Mayme.

There is no headstone for Mayme. This is no surprise to me. My family rarely has headstones. However, the ones around her were quite impressive.

Inventorying My Gravesites Visits, Part 1

The first research goal I set for this year is "to visit the gravesites of all my great grandparents, great great grandparents, and 3rd great grandparents; at least those I have never been to before." So today I did an inventory of the graves I have visited of my great grandparents and great-greats, just to see where I stand with those two dozen souls.

I know for sure I have been to 15 of the 24 - and actually I think I have been to a few others among them but I'm not 100% sure so let's say I have 9 to go. As for the great grandparents, there are 3 I need to visit or re-visit as the case may be:

• I think my great grandparents, James Fay and Mary Prince-Fay, are buried in Pinelawn National Cemetery which I frequent as my grandmother, their daughter, is interred there. However, I can't for the life of me recall seeing their headstone so I am keeping them on my list.
• My great grandma, Mary Elizabeth "Mayme" Sharp-Gardner might be interred in a family plot I have been to but truth be told, I'm not sure. So I need to follow up on her.

Those 3 should be easy though as they are all certainly buried on Long Island where I live.

As for the great-greats, there are 6 I don't think I have visited. All but one should be in NY. The one I believe is buried in Quebec I have never been able to find a date of death for. I have been to her husband's gravesite in a small family cemetery in rural Quebec. I have assumed she is buried there without a marker but Lydia Maria McLean-Sharp is going to be an obstacle I just know it.

Then there is my great-great grandpa Abraham Earle that I am going to count as having seen his gravesite. He perished at sea on a ship called the Rise and Go which sailed out of Twillingate, Newfoundland bound for St. John's Newfoundland in the fall of 1890 but it never arrived. I have been to his cenotaph; which literally translates to empty tomb. So I'm going to say I did that one.

As for my 32 3rd great grandparents, I am going to have to take a much longer look at those.

My plan is to visit 3 per month, weather permitting; one every Saturday that I do not work. As soon as I make my first visit I will post about the experience. 

My Top 5 Favorite Dead People

It may seem strange to say this but I really have bonded with some of my dead people. I never knew them and yet I feel them close to me; not in a spooky, I-see-dead-people kind of way but close to me. While researching some of their lives, they have lead me to some amazing discoveries; while others have plagued me with a lack of documentation.

Today I share with you my top 5 fav dead people, in no particular order. Most of them I have written about before in this blog. I will link to more detailed stories about them when possible. In this post, though, I will, to the best of my ability, explain how they came to be my favorite:

5. Jacob Raynor (born ??? - died 1829. Long Island, NY)

I grouse about this guy extensively. He is not just my genealogical nemesis, he is also my 6th great-grandfather; the stonewall of my Raynor line. My inability to find anything definitive about his parentage drives me nuts. I am constantly trying to chip away at this Teflon-Don to no avail. BUT, he is how I met so many of my researching cousins include the often mentioned, Cousin Mary whom I just adore. I talk shit about Jacob but secretly, shhhhhh, I love him.

4. Damase Desjardins (born October 1850, Montreal, Quebec, Canada - died October 9, 1911, Patchoque, Long Island, NY)

Oh Damase, you excessive procreator you! Damase is my great-great grandfather on my mother's paternal line. He fathered 11 children; 1 with his first wife Victorine Desjardins-Desjardins and 10 with his second wife, Malvina Ethier-Desjardins.

I love Malvina too. She lived through such trying circumstances; losing her husband, a child, and a grandchild all in the same year. It was her naturalization papers which startled me by providing me a photograph of her; my grandpa looked so much like her.

But it was researching Damase's life that first required me to learn a little French, encouraged me to visit Montreal and the outlying town of Mascouche, Quebec, and helped me to understand the persistent experience of estrangement that remains within this family line. Damase also had a great obituary that explained the family name change from Desjardins to Gardner.

3. Isabelle Nancy McLean-Williams-Evans (born 1871 - died May 24, 1922, Lowell, Massachusetts)

Aunt Belle. It was a medium who told me I'd research this woman which is probably the strangest of all my genealogy research stories. Aunt Belle was my great-great grandmother's younger sister. She moved from Canada to Lowell, Massachusetts prior to WWI. When her niece, my great grandmother Mary Elizabeth "Mayme" Sharp-Gardner, moved to the U.S. with her brother Daniel Sharp, it was Aunt Belle whom they went to live with.

As I tell many a researching-cousin, some relatives want to be found and other do not. Unlike Jacob Raynor above I believe Aunt Belle just wanted to be found and so I celebrate her.

2. Ambrose Weeks (born June, 1819 - died May 3, 1900, Hempstead, Long Island, NY)

I just recently wrote about Ambrose. First off I just love his name, Ambrose. He was the brother-in-law of my 4th great-grandmother, Lydia Smith-Losee. He was married to Lydia's sister, Elizabeth Smith-Weeks. Lydia and Elizabeth were daughters of Jacob Raynor mentioned above. Ambrose is a distant relationship to me but still one of great interest. He is a sad, tragic figure who breaks my heart every time I read about him in the various newspaper articles I have found about his life. 

1. Benjamin Franklin Losee (about 1844, Freeport, Long Island, NY - died Fall or Winter, 1865, Point of Rocks, VA)

My beloved Civil War soldier, Ben. Oh how I cherish this man. His story is one so steeped in American history; just a poor, young boy who went off to fight for his country but really to financially support his family. He died in the hospital tents of typhus at much too young an age.

He was one of the very first names I stumbled across and his existence is what really pushed me into research my family history. I have used his story and pension file to speak to classrooms of children about the Civil War, family history, and primary resources. At times I have felt his spirit soldiering me on (pardon the pun) to continue my research. And for this, the greatest genealogical kindness I have ever given to my ancestors was to Ben; I had his military issued tombstone replaced with one bearing a correct spelling of his last name.

More on my Moores

On pages 40 and 41 of J. Clifford Moore's book, The Life and Times of a High School Principal in Rural Quebec, Mr. Moore writes the following about my 4th great grandparents, William and Eleanor Moore of Kingsey (outside today's Drummondville), Quebec, Canada by way of Londonderry, New Hampshire, U.S.A.:

"The Moores, the second settlers

"The second settler to arrive in Kingsey was William Moore, with his wife Eleanor, from Londonderry, N.H. in the year 1802. They staked out their claim on Range 3. Lot 22 or 23 on land later acquired by Joseph Henry Moore, about a mile distant from the Wadleighs [the first settlers in Kingsey]. After they had built their cabin and cleared some land, they returned to Londonderry. There, they gathered up their household goods, loaded them on the backs of oxen and, with their children, made the return journey to their new home. When they arrived there, Eleanor and the children had to wait while her husband cut a door into the cabin. Their first night was spent with only a drape for a door. Before long, William and his sons had erected a fine cluster of buildings. The house was a veritable mansion with a crescent-shaped driveway, bordered by some beautiful pine trees. The barns were sufficiently large to house their livestock, equipment and drygoods. All that remains of this once beautiful property is the Moore cemetery on the river bank across the road. Due to the interest and care of some concerned friends, this cemetery is kept in a state of good repair. Recent vandalism has spoiled their good work.

"William and Eleanor were first cousins. William, born in 1763, was the son of Lt. Colonel Robert Moore. Eleanor, born in 1767, was the daughter of Colonel Daniel Moore of Bedford, N.H. They were married in 1784. William died on July 8, 1817. Eleanor died in 1836 [October 19]. Both were buried in the Moore cemetery."

Moore, J. C. (1996). The life and times of a high school principal in rural Quebec. Lennoxville, Québec: Townships Sun. 

William and Eleanor Moore begat a daughter, Ann Moore.
Ann Moore married Peter Sharp. They begat a son, Daniel Sharp.
Daniel Sharp married Lydia Ann McLean. They begat a daughter, Mary Elizabeth "Mayme" Sharp.
Mayme Sharp married Almond Desjardins (a.k.a. Albert Gardner). They begat a son, my grandfather, Clarence Albert Gardner.
I do so love begats.

 The Moore Family Cemetery

The headstone of my 3rd great grandmother, Ann Moore-Sharp, 

and her son, my 2nd great grandfather Daniel Sharp

Photos of the Moore Family Cemetery provided by Mr. Guy Dussault.

Well-connected and Psychic Friends

I have a friend who's sister is a medium. Regardless of how you feel about psychics, this woman is no joke. I had never had a reading before until I sat with Mary. She said the most amazing things to me; things no one could have possibly know. And I am sure everyone who goes to a psychic and is taken by what they say says just that, "She told me things no one else could possibly know." But could they tell you the story I am about to share with you?

Several things really stand out to me from that reading but most memorable was Mary saying to me that it was wonderful to read someone who knew their family history. It made it easy for me to understand who she was connecting with. Without getting into all the details she shared with me, towards the end of the session Mary said to me, "You're going to come across two family names in your research; Williams and Evans." It didn't strike me as remarkable at the time; I mean, they aren't that uncommon of names. In fact, I completely dismissed the Williams name because my Cousin Kelly has recently married into a Williams family. I took what Mary said with a grain of salt and filed it away.

She asked me, "Who is David?" I shrugged. I didn't really know a David. I had worked with a few. My father's cousin had a son named David, but I don't really know him well. Nope, I didn't know any David really well.

Not more than 3 days later I was going through some family papers, papers I had looked at a hundred times if I had looked at them once, and there on my great grandmother, Mayme Sharp's boarder crossing card from Canada into the United States I noticed a name. Mayme listed that she was headed to Lowell, Massachusetts to see her Aunt Belle EVANS. EVANS. And Mary's words floated back to me.

Who was this Evans woman? I don't recall finding an Aunt Belle in the research I had done. Now I was on a mission. A mission that would take me a very long time and depend upon the kindness of well-connected friends.

I began searching census records for Aunt Belle. I came upon a Belle N. Evans married to a Fred Evans in Lowell, Massachusetts. Since the time of my reading I had befriended a genealogist in Massachusetts; whose name was...wait for it...wait for it....David. It never really struck me that now I knew a David. Sincerely, I had almost forgotten that Mary had asked me about a David.

I called upon his expertise to helped me locate a marriage certificate for this couple even though I was not 100% sure that this Aunt Belle was really my great-grandmother's aunt; she could have been a friend of the family as is often the case with that side of my family. There are many instances when very close family friends are called Aunt and Uncle despite the fact they are not related; it can and often is just a term of respect. Sometimes Aunt and Uncle are titles given to near relatives too. For example, I call my father's first cousins Aunt Ro, Uncle Charlie, Uncle Ed, etc. So was this Aunt Belle really an aunt to my great grandmother?

David helped me to secure this document:

If you look at the details about Isabelle you'll see her last name is listed as no-other-than Williams. What?!?! Yes, Williams, the surname of her first husband. And in parentheses after the Williams you will see the name McLean. 

Great-grandma Mayme Sharp-Gardner's mother's name was Lydia McLean-Sharp. My great-great grandmother's parents were Donald McLean and Elizabeth Walker-McLean; this I knew! Without a doubt I also now knew that Isabelle Nancy McLean-Williams-Evans was the sister of Lydia McLean-Sharp. Aunt Belle was absolutely the biological aunt of my great grandmother Mayme Sharp-Gardner.


And there it was; Williams and Evans. Staring me square in the face were the names I was told I would research. A document I probably would not have seen if not for the help of David. Mary is no joke.

And Aunt Belle played a pretty critical piece in my family's history. She was the person who facilitated my great-grandmother's move from Canada to the United States. Several generations before this line had lived in New Hampshire but moved up to Canada for land. Here they were moving back to the U.S. in the 1910s for work. Had great-grandma Mayme stayed in Canada someone else would be writing this blog. I'm grateful to Aunt Belle.
 
As I always tell my researching cousins and friends when their hit their genealogical brick walls; some ancestors just do not want to be found but some, oh some relatives most definitely want to be found, definitely.