Week 7: The Losees, The Henrys, & The Earles, Oh My.

After a recent post, my cousin Tom asked how my great grandmother Ethel Mae Losee-Earle (February 14, 1896 - May 27, 1960) was connected to his grandpa. I frequently reference this photo when explain the connection between the Losee and the Earle families and the event that spurred my love of genealogy.

This is a photo from my grandma's brother Richie's wedding on April 12, 1953. It actually sits in my office. It shows Richie and his wife Jeannette surrounded by all of Richie's five siblings, their spouses, and his mother Anna Marie Sauer-Henry.

From Left to Right (seated): Regina Dorothy "Jean" Henry-Drew, Anna Marie "Anne" Henry-Cramer, Anna Marie Sauer-Henry, Clare Agnes Henry-Earle, Josephine Dolores Doerflinger-Henry. Standing: James Aloysius "Jimmy" Drew, William Charles "Bill" Cramer, Robert Victor "Bobby" Henry, Richard Joseph "Richie" Henry, Jeannette Alice Losee-Henry, Edwin Maynard "Ed" Earle, Charles Aloysius "Charlie" Henry, Jr. 

Uncle Bobby was not yet married to my beautiful great aunt Margaret at this point. Although 6 years older than Richie, Bobby didn't marry until 3 years later in 1956.

How I Got Started in Genealogy Research 

When I was very young, my paternal grandparents, Clare Agnes Henry-Earle and Edwin Maynard Earle, took me to a family reunion for my grandpa Earle’s mother’s side, the Losees. The Losee family has deep roots on Long Island going back to the 1630s. While at the reunion my grandmother’s baby brother, Richie, showed up with his family. I was puzzled. He wasn’t a Losee. He was a Henry. 

My grandmother explained that her brother married my grandfather’s cousin, Jeannette Losee. That only raised more questions. Who had introduced who? I assumed someone had to have made introductions of either my grandparents to each other or Richie to Jeannette. My grandmother laughed and said that, actually, it wasn’t until Richard and Jeannette’s engagement party that my grandpa realized Jeannette was his cousin. “What?” He asked Jeannette her last name. When she answered “Losee,” he was stunned. That was his mother’s maiden name. 

I was stunned. Richard had unknowingly married his brother-in-law’s second cousin. But at the time of the reunion, no one could explain exactly how the two were connected. So I ended up having to draw a family tree just to visualize it. And I have not stopped since.

Left to Right (seated): Anna Marie Sauer-Henry, Clare Agnes Henry-Earle. (Standing): Richard Joseph "Richie" Henry, Jeannette Alice Losee-Henry, Edwin Maynard Earle. 

Above, Anna is the mother of Clare and Richie. Richie's wife Jeannette is second cousins to Ed. Second cousins means that they have the same great grandparents, that their parents (Standford Losee and Ethel Losee-Earle) were first cousins. Stan's father, Oliver Losee was the older brother of Ethel's father John Losee Jr.

I am hoping the little diagram below can help my cousins to see how the Losees connect to the Henrys and the Earles. I have made my best effort to anonymize the living.

Now to make matters more complex John Losee Jr. and Oliver Losee married two Smith sisters, Flora Smith-Losee and Melinda Smith-Losee, respectively. But I won't add to the chaos today.

52 Ancestors: Week 6: "Favorite Photo" - Ethel Losee at Roosevelt, 1914

It is so hard for me to pick a single favorite photo. I have so many. And having recently acquired my grandmother's scrapbooks, I have ones that I have never seen before now. Like this one:

This photo was laying in between pages of one of my grandmother's scrapbooks, apropos to nothing really. This is apparently a picture my grandmother acquired from her husband's side of the family because I clearly recognize my Grandpa Earle's mother on the right, Ethel Mae Losee-Earle (February14, 1896 - May 27, 1960). I didn't know Ethel, she passed before I was born and my father only has vague recollections of her even though he was about 10 1/2 when she passed. I know it is her though because I have seen other images of her.

I also know that it's Ethel, in part, due to the label on the back. It doesn't include her name but instead states "Taken July 4th / 1914 at Roosevelt." Ethel was born and raised not far from the house I live in now. The area was once known as Greenwich Point and is at the very north end of the town of Freeport. It is now known as Roosevelt, named after President Theodore Roosevelt (October 27, 1858 - January 6, 1919) in about 1902. The area is so close to the boarder of Freeport though, that sometimes events in her life there are listed as having taken place in Freeport.

I also know that here, she was Ethel Losee as she did not marry her husband Abram Thomas Earle until June 1915.

What I love about the photo is their outfits. 

The late Edwardian elegance of the period was beginning to relax just before World War I. After the war began in Europe on July 28, 1914 (the United States did not enter until April 6, 1917), clothing gradually became simpler and more practical, paving the way for the dramatic fashion changes we all envision of the 1920s; low waistlines, higher hems, fringe, etc.

Here the women are still wearing the typically high necklines that were standard for daytime and the raised waistlines. Even though it is summer, their sleeves are relatively long and their shirts feature layers of lace, ruffles, pintucks, and lots of buttons. Hats were still pretty typical of everyday wear and it is hard to tell but Ethel's flat brim hat seems to feature flowers and there may have been a ribbon. As pretty as it is, I am glad this isn't the fashion of my time. I like the comfort of jeans and t-shirts.

I do not know who the two other women are in the photo. The young woman on the left could possibly be Ethel's only sister, Marion G. Losee-Childres (July 1900 - December 3, 1949), she looks about 14 years-old, but that is a uninformed guess on my part. I hope posting the image might result in a family member recognizing the other two women.

It's a favorite. I think going forward I might forego the weekly theme and just highlight favorite family photos.

Home to Lupinfield Cottage

I am presently engrossed in teaching my summer course on genealogy research for pre-service librarians. It is a short course with a lot to cover so it is very overwhelming, not only for my student but also for me. While I have a little downtime today, while the students are digging into their family research, I want to share about my summer trip back to Twillingate, Newfoundland back in June.

This was my third visit to the tiny tourist town on the northeast shore of Newfoundland where my great grandfather, Abram Thomas Earle, was born on January 13, 1891. With the present day population of about 2100 people, tourism plays a big part in its economy, its claim to fame being that it is "The Iceberg Capital of the World." In spring and summer months, icebergs float past and lodge themselves in it craggy coastline.

My great grandpa Abe immigrated to the Unites States in May 1903 when he was just 12 years old; first by boat from St. John's, Newfoundland to Sydney, Nova Scotia, and then by train to Boston where he presumably was taken in by his maternal aunt, Jane Samms-Whynot (July 7, 1870 - April 19, 1959), and her family.

Abe's father, Abraham Earle (about 1849 - winter 1890), died at sea aboard a ship called The Rise and Go shortly before Abe was born. Then his mother, Sarah Samms-Earle (October 13, 1857 - March 20, 1899), remarried to James Bromley on September 15, 1894. Less than 5 years later, when Abe was just 8 years-old, his mother succumbed to tuberculosis. What Abe's life was like between the passing of his mom and his move to the U.S. is unknown to me.

When I made my second visit to Twillingate in June 2018 with my Uncle Thomas, we stayed in an AirBnB called Pumpkin House on Farmers Arm Road. According to my great grandfather's birth registration he was born on Farmers Arm and so at the time of booking our reservation at Pumpkin House I thought, "Well, this is probably as close I will get to the location where Abe was born. He probably knew who lived in this house and he probably played on this street."

The homeowners of Pumpkin House, Charlie and his mother Nancy, welcomed us like family. Charlie had just purchased another house on Farmers Arm Road, not far down the road. Below, Pumpkin House is circled in yellow and the "new" property is circled in red.

One morning, Charlie called Uncle Thomas and I down to his new property. Once there he rolled out his deed for us and there in the corner of it, it stated that the home had been the property of John and William J. Earle. 

John Earle (August 11, 1863 - May 8, 1913), a fisherman and shipbuilder, was Abe's much older first cousin; 28 years older. William John Earle (January 14, 1889 - September 9, 1959), a generation below Abe, was actually 2 years older than Abe, almost exactly to the day, and was the man responsible for building the addition on the back of that home which now contains the kitchen and dining room space.

Since our visit in 2018, Charlie and Nancy have renovated the Earle family home into another beautiful rental property now known as Lupinfield Cottage. During the years Charlie has shared with me, and through social media, the renovation progress and the many precious finds; markings on the walls, children's scrawling in cabinets, and a pocket watch he unearthed in the yard. 

On this visit to Twillingate with my Uncle Allen and Aunt Rita, we had the beautiful opportunity to stay in the home that was originally built by Cousin John Earle.

It is hard to put into words the profound feeling of walking on the very land where you know your ancestors once walked. For me there is a deep, indescribable emotion that rises in me. I often become suffused with an aching reverence and overwhelming connection to lives long gone, yet somehow still very present in the soil beneath my feet and the walls that surround me.

I didn't know Abe. He died about 7 months before I was born but I know Abe was there on Farmers Arm. I don't know if he ever stayed in his cousin John's home or what nearby structure he may have resided in, but he was there and now so was I. 

What Served as a Scandal Back Then

It's Women's History Month and I am preparing to do a genealogy presentation at a local public library in May for a Mother's Day celebration. It is about researching the women in our family trees. Often, due to the practice of women changing their surnames when they marry, our mothers' lines can prove to be really challenging. Once one abandons their maiden name, it can be hard to push those lines further back. 

The trick to being able to overcome the married name/maiden name obstacle is to research the men who surround that woman in her lifetime. For example, you find some male lodger in the home in a census record, he might be a brother-in-law to the male head of the household, or the wife's cousin of some ilk. Look into that guy.

I have plenty of examples from my own family tree research but I really wanted some more examples from newspapers. Newspapers often reveal a lot about a family. So I opened the website, New York State Historic Newspapers (https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/) and started looking for articles about my male family members.

I threw in my great great grandfather's name, Abram Earle, into a search. I got 2 hits. Neither of which fit my interest. Then I thought, I'll try by his nickname; Abe Earle. 

The second of the five hits led to the front page of The Daily Review (Freeport, New York), October 29, 1923. Headline: "Police Break Up Crap Game"

Oh jeez. 

Now it's not the first time I have run into a record of a family member having a brush with the law but this is one I didn't expect. And really?? This made the front page??

POLICE BREAK UP CRAP GAME

Freeport, Oct. 29 - - Acting on complaint of an anonymous letter believed to have been written by a woman in which it states that her husband was losing money steadily at crap in an unused barn back of the Himmel Bakery on South Main street, Chief of Police Hartmann, heading a party of officers in plain clothes visited that place Sunday night about 7 p.m., and found seven gathered around a dilapidated pool table in the upstairs portion of the building.

The men gave their names as Gene Breen, 89 Archer street; Thomas Cullen, 3 Railroad avenue; Ray Rogers, Franklin Square; Joe Sousa, Hillside avenue; Larry Temple, Banks avenue, Rockville Centre; Abe Earle of Grenada avenue, Roosevelt and George Rich of South Main street.

The party of officers knocked at a door leading upstairs and when it was opened they went up with drawn guns. A one dollar bill and three dice were found in the room but nobody was playing. Blankets, etc., were hung to shut off the light from the street.

One of the men dove under the pool table but was quickly spotted. The men were taken to police headquarters and served with a summons to appear before Judge Albin N. Johnson Tuesday morning.

Breen stated that he was the one who had hired the building.

One dollar?!?!

Is this that big a secret? How did this make the front page? Must have been quiet times in the Village then.

In any case, I ran it past my dad and his brothers to see if anyone of them had heard about it or suspected Abe of being a gamble. Ooo big stakes.

The event took place years before my grandfather was born. They hadn't heard about it but stories unfolded about my grandfather's childhood and numerous accounts of his family fleeing their rental homes in the night due to their inability to pay the rent. Was it because his father Abe was a gambler? It's rumored his mother Ethel was a spendthrift, though. Could it be Abe wasn't losing money gambling but gambling to make money for other expenses incurred? 

To me it's just a reminder that sometimes family doesn't talk about stuff, not because they are hiding it, but simply because it isn't that big a deal.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 7: Letters & Diaries - Six Months of a Newfoundland Missionary's Journal, from February to August, 1835

While exploring my Earle family line I came across someone on Ancestry.com who saved a page from a book as a profile picture for my 4th great grandfather, Reuben Samms (1799 - December 11, 1870). The page came from a book called "Outrageous Seas: Shipwreck and Survival in the Waters off Newfoundland, 1583-1893" by Rainer K. Baehre, published for Carleton University by McGill-Queen's University Press in Montreal, Quebec in 1999, which I have now purchased and added to my personal library.

Chapter 11 of the book discusses the journal of a missionary sent to Newfoundland, Edward Wix (1802-1866), and his encounters with residents of the island. His journal is a valuable document providing insight into the life of a missionary in the 17th century but also into the lives of early Newfoundland settlers and the challenges they endured in such a remote location. The actual primary resource, "Six Months of a Newfoundland Missionary's Journal, from February to August, 1835", or at least a transcription of the missionary's journal, is available online though AnglicanHistory.org (https://anglicanhistory.org/canada/nf/wix_six.html) and Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/b29349746/page/148/mode/2up).

Baehre quotes from Wix's journal about his experience in the home of Reuben Samms and his wife Sarah. MY 4th great grandparents! The journal itself is much more detailed than the secondary source which distills the information about the Samms family members but indeed presents accurate quotes from the journal entries.

The entry for Tuesday, April 28, 1835 reads:

"Walked at six A.M., accompanied by my hostess and another person from Rencontre, upon the hard snow by some very mountainous hills, to Bay Chaleur, four miles. The French islands of St. Peter's, and Miquelon could be seen from the hills. At Bay Chaleur was the residence of Reuben and Sarah Samms, a poor but worthy couple."

That's my poor but worthy couple!! Wix goes on to write about the wreck of the William Ashton, and the work my family did to rescue it's passengers.

"The barque "William Ashton", of Newcastle, had struck on the rocks at Lance Cove, on her way from Dublin to Quebec, with sixty-three souls on board, at two, A.M., of August 9, 1830. Reuben and Sarah entertained fifteen of the crew and passengers in their present little dwelling, and each day supplied the remaining forty-eight persons with provisions in the tilt, which they built for shelter at Lance Cove, the scene of the wreck, three miles from Bay Chaleur. A captain John Stoyte, of the 24th Regiment, with his wife and her child and nurse were among those who were inmates of Reuben's house..."

Wix lends more detail about the character of Reuben. Then goes on to highlight the baptism of some of the Samms family members:

"...The conduct of Reuben Samms, contrasts well with the less creditable conduct of many upon this shore, as regards wrecks. Before the wreck of the "William Ashton", he had been instrumental with his brother, in saving persons at different times from five other wrecks. On one occasion, he had observed signs of a wreck and discovered footmarks upon the rugged shore, and tracked them several miles into the interior, where he found seven men from the "Mary", which belonged to Mr. Broom, the present senior magistrate of St. John's. The poor fellows had been three days and nights without food, and, but for his exertions in pursuing their tracks, must have perished. The simple description which he gave me of the joy which was depicted upon the haggard countenances of these starving and lost seamen, when they first caught sight of him in the interior, was most affecting, and reminded me of the experience of the lost sinner, when he first makes discovery of a Saviour!...

"When I had performed full service at Bay Chaleur, and baptized his four children, his wife humbly offered herself also for baptism, as did also his mother-in-law, who was sixty-two years of age, but had never before had an opportunity, though well read and instructed, and of pious conversation--of thus solemnly dedicating herself in this scriptural method to the service of CHRIST."

I was able to find that baptismal record on Ancestry which helped me to determine who the "mother-in-law" was. She was the 62 year-old Catherine Poole, listed as the widow of John Young and wife Thomas Samms.

So I am a little confused about Sarah Samms's maiden name. Sarah Samms, who according to Wix's journal was also baptized with her four children [Sarah Samms (age 8), Rueben Samms (5), Catherine Samms (3), and Marianne Samms (1)] and Catherine, does not appear in the register. 

If Catherine was Rueben's mother-in-law, that would make Catherine Sarah Samms's mother. Catherine, though, was also married to a Samms according to the register. Catherine's first husband was John Young and her second husband was Thomas Samms.

If Catherine is Sarah's mother, was Sarah's maiden name and married name both Samms?

Wouldn't be the first time that has happened in my family tree but I think the journal entry is  wrong. I think Catherine Poole-Samms was Sarah's mother-in-law, not Rueben's. I think Catherine was Reuben's mother. That would make more sense since a few lines above you can see an entry for Rueben's baptism on April 27, 1835, just the day before Catherine and Rueben's four children were baptized. The parents listed for Rueben are Thomas Samms and Catherine. You can also see on that page that Rev. Wix baptized Rueben's younger brother, Benjamin Samms, and his parents are also Thomas Samms and Catherine.

I am tremendously grateful to Edward Wix's account of his service, and to Rainer Baehre's gathering of stories regarding shipwrecks, as well as the individual who shared it on Ancestry, and countless unnamed caretakers of the original 1835 resource. God bless the stewards. 

Below is an image I found online of who may be Edward Wix.

 

 

Image from http://ngb.chebucto.org/Articles/wix01.shtml

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 4: Overlooked - Abe's Naturalization Papers

This year I have challenged myself to write brief biographies on 30 of my direct ancestors; my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and great-great grandparents. In doing so it forces me to revisit my research on each of them, and the members of their extended family, their siblings, and those siblings' spouses, etc. Undoubtedly, this results in me reexamining records and looking at new Ancestry hints. Newly digitized records are being added to databases all the time. I can't always keep up with all the hints. I try to keep on top of the hints for my direct ancestors though, but those extended family members, well, it's a lot. In this process of writing, I am uncovering a lot of details that I overlooked. In some instances my discoveries have prompted me to order records I haven't seen. Such was the case for my great grandfather, Abram Thomas Earle (January 13, 1891 - November 18, 1973).

Abe passed before I was born. I had heard many stories about him from my dad and grandparents, though. From them I knew Abe had immigrated to the U.S. from what is now Newfoundland, Canada. At the time of his immigration Newfoundland was a British dominion. 

I have traveled to the town he grew up in, Twillingate. I can tell you the exact date I first visited there but I didn't know the exact date Abe arrived in the U.S., until now.

I knew he was here by 1915 when he married Ethel Mae Losee on June 5, 1915 in Freeport, Long Island, New York. I knew he came to the U.S. after his mother died. His mother Sarah Samms-Earle-Bromley died on March 20, 1899 of consumption, what we call tuberculosis, when Abe was just 8 years old. Then an orphan, I really don't know what Abe's life was like between his mother's death in 1899 and his marriage in 1915. I knew he had older sisters and there was this notion that those ladies took care of him, but it was all vague as to when, where, and who exactly. The dynamics of the family are lost to me, except for what I can glean from records.

In an effort to clarify details about his life and that of his sister, specifically his sister Susie, I order their naturalization papers. The papers included many of the details I was hoping for.

Abe naturalized on January 10, 1925 in the Supreme Court of Nassau County, New York. We just passed the 100th anniversary of his naturalization. His Declaration of Intent, filed on September 26, 1917, states that he worked in monotype (a printer), he was white with a fair complexion, 5'5", 142 pounds, brown haired, and blue eyed. At the time of the application he was living with his wife, Ethel, in Roosevelt, New York, a town adjacent to Freeport. All of which I knew based on other resources and family. But then it told me this: Abe emigrated to the United States from Twillingate by way of Sydney, Nova Scotia on or about May 31, 1903 via railroad to Boston, Massachusetts.

The Boston part I had suspected because I saw his sister, Susie, in the 1910 census living in Boston. Abe wasn't listed on that census but stories told of Susie taking care of Abe, maybe he was there in 1910. He was there in '03. 

It was the railroad part that got me. Train? I didn't see that coming. The Earles are a nautical people. Abe's father died at sea, as did his maternal grandfather. I incorrectly assumed Abe must have come by ship into Boston or Ellis Island. Nope. Train.

I have been to Nova Scotia. I haven't been to Sydney. The closest I got was probably St. Ann's, Nova Scotia back in 2017 while driving from Baddeck to Ingonish Beach. I stayed there a night before driving through Cape Breton Highlands National Park. St. Ann's is about a 37.6 miles (60 kilometers) west of Sydney. Nova Scotia is beautiful, as is Newfoundland.

I wonder what Abe thought of Boston and who took care of him there. He was only 12. Did he travel alone? Where was he living when he was back in Twillingate before his departure? When did he get to New York? I still don't have the clearest picture of his life between 1899 and 1915 but I do have a new bullet on the time line:

May 31, 1903 - emigrated from Newfoundland to Boston by way of Sydney, Nova Scotia via train.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 1: "Start at the Beginning" - This Year's Research Goal and Who Lured Me into This Kind of Research

My genealogy goal for this year is to write brief biographies on each of my direct ancestors back to at least my great-great grandparents.

Every summer I teach a genealogy course through a graduate program to pre-service librarians, those pursuing a masters degree in library and information science. I give them the assignment to write a brief biography on one of their ancestors, typically they choose a great grandparent. They need to use resources to substantiate names, dates, locations, and relationships in their ancestor's story. So now I am going to try it for 30 of my ancestors (2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great-great grandparents). 

I have been at this genealogy thing for a long, long time now; about 40 years and it is high time that I put my work to words on paper for future generations of my family to inherit in some digestible format. I love documents but looking at a heap of them doesn't really explain what I have learned from all that I have gathered. So in addition to picking up the 52 Ancestor Challenge again, I've set my own time table to write these biographies. Basically I plan to write one every 2 weeks, give or take a day. I hope to share some of them. Although, any that includes information about the living will not make it onto my blog.

I plan to write about direct ancestors, but it isn't a direct ancestor who lured me into my genealogy research journey. I share this story often, every time I give a presentation, in fact. This is how I got started.

When I was a pre-teen, I attended a family reunion for my paternal grandfather's mother's family, the Losee Family. While we were there my paternal grandMOTHER's brother, Richie, and his wife, Jeannette showed up. I thought that odd because they weren't Losees, they were Henrys. I thought maybe the invitation was sent to extended family members as well but my grandma explained that Aunt Jeanette was born a Losee. That kind of blew my mind and I couldn't quite get my head around it. How were we related? At the time, neither my Grandpa Earle or Aunt Jeannette couldn't explain the connection. And that is what began my research. I had to figure out how Aunt Jeanette was related to Grandpa Earle.

To make the matter even more puzzling, I asked my grandmother who introduced who to their current spouse. "Oh no," she replied and proceeded to tell me that it was after she had married my grandpa that her brother Richie got engaged to Aunt Jeannette. Grandma's parents threw them an engagement party at the Henry home so that everyone could meet Jeannette. While there Grandpa asked Jeannette her last name. When Jeannette replied "Losee" my grandpa stated his mother's maiden name was Losee.

Now this reunion was back before the Internet so my research process began with a trip to the Freeport Memorial Library in Freeport, New York with the knowledge that the Losees had lived in Freeport for a very long time. While there my grandmother and I were taken into what they called the Memorial Room and up on the wall there was a plaque explaining that the library was a memorial to those in the community who had died in the American Civil War. Among the names was Benjamin F. Losee. 

After resolving that Grandpa and Jeanette were second cousins, they had great grandparents in common, I was then lured into figuring out who Benjamin F. Losee was and how I was related to him. (He's my great-great-great grandfather's brother, by the way.)

If you have been doing genealogy research for any period of time you know first hand that once you resolve the answer to one question, several more pop up. It is a never ending quest to piece together a puzzle that has no edges.

Lots of Family Happenings

As much as use this blog to share my family history, research methods, and genealogical resources, I also use it as a kind of journal for myself, a journal of family happenings. I just haven't felt up to writing lately.

In November we lost my paternal grandmother to Alzheimer's Disease. She was 94. Her birthday is approaching which is probably what is prompting me to catch up with writing. 

The day after we buried my grandma, my sister gave birth to my first nephew. He was born early and still now at 3 months is so little. Healthy, but tiny. You forget how little those newborn bodies are.

Last month, in January, I traveled to the Philippines with Cousin Kelly and Cousin Pete to celebrate the wedding of Kelly's nephew. It was the first opportunity for Kelly to meet her half-sister in person that we only just discovered existed about 2 1/2 years ago.

So today I share some photos:

The Sticky Wicket of Bringing DNA into your Bag of Genealogy Tools

Everyone should enter these tests with caution. Maybe you just want that silly "piechart" of ethnicity estimates but, if you ask me, its not really worth that. I personally think they are junk. They are just estimates that will indeed change over time and from company to company as each company increases their data pools and refines their algorithms. They mean very little. Unless of course you get some large quantity of unexpected ethnicity, which may be an indication that your family isn't who you think they are.

Just as you can discover unpleasant truths in your genealogy record research, using DNA in your research can be a disarming and potentially painful experience. Maybe you won't suffer major surprises in your DNA results but it is likely that hidden in your tree is an unknown offspring of some relative.

That being said there is a great deal to be gained by adding the tool of direct-to-consumer DNA to your toolkit.

Few Surprises to Me

Of the 150+ DNA matches of mine and my father's that I have linked into my Ancestry family tree, few were much of a surprise. Mine and my father's, you ask. Yes. Whereas all of my father's DNA matches are individuals who belong in my family tree, I do not match all the people he matches to.

That can be a hard concept for newbies to get but I only got half my DNA from my father. So some of his DNA that I didn't get are the bits that connect him to some of his distant matches. He matches them, I don't, but they are my relatives just the same.

I personally know my top 28 matches. I mean, like I have met them in-person, in real life, long before DNA tests were available to the public; I have their phone numbers. I KNOW them.

My first "surprise" was a third cousin match at 41 centimorgans (cMs). She had a family tree linked to her DNA. It was sparse but when I looked at it, I immediately recognized her great grandmother, listed just as "Elizabeth" as my great grandfather's sister. I knew who Elizabeth was because my match had Elizabeth's husband's full name listed. I knew my Elizabeth married that man and thus, Elizabeth was OUR Elizabeth

I decided to reach out to my match and tell her that I knew her great grandmother's maiden name and had a whole bunch of research done on the Earles of Twillingate, Newfoundland. My match wrote back and said that was great because... she was adopted. 

I wasn't shocked in a shattering way but rather felt good that I could contribute to her effort to know her biological family history.

Breaking Through Brick Walls

DNA has also helped me to break through a nagging research brick wall that I had. 

For the longest time I didn't really know my third great grandmother's maiden name. I know, unbelievable, right? (I say in jest). I know that this is very common. Women's maiden names can be hard to track down. Such is life in a patriarch.

One year, it may have been in 2010, I set the goal of trying to put a name to each of my third great grandparents. For my father's maternal line, I could trace back to a man named Victor Henry born in about 1838 in Switzerland and who died in Queens County, New York on November 9, 1896. His wife's name was Mary. Her maiden name was something like Carrion; which is actually a word that means the decaying flesh of dead animals. Lovely. But I knew that name was not correct because, 1. I had seen is spelled a dozen different ways, and 2. because of this notation on Mary's death certificate:

It reads: Could not ascertain Mother's Maiden name - August Henry

August was her son and the informant providing details to the medical examiner about Mary.

I knew Carrion was not correct.

Flash forward to receiving my DNA results in mid-November 2013. I really didn't know all the benefits of using DNA as a genealogy research tool then. Now I can handle results in a systematic way to decipher relationships and connections but back then I was just scrolling through matches and randomly poking around in peoples' family trees. I came across a tree that had all this old Long Island family names. Thus I assumed the match was through my paternal grandfather who's maternal line settled on Long Island in the 1630s. As I got to the bottom of the tree though I saw the name Joseph Carillion. Carillion. Hmm. I had seen that name before. Yes, on August Henry's marriage certificate, his witness was Harry Carillion. And when I had first seen his marriage record I recalled researching Harry suspecting that perhaps he was a cousin. Carrion. Carillion. They sound a lot alike. I couldn't make a connection back in late 2011.

Once I had seen this match in my DNA results though, I reached out to the individual who managed the DNA kit and received a lot of information and was finally able to solidify that Mary's maiden name was indeed Carillion. Harry was her nephew. August and Harry were first cousins. Since my match was descended from Mary's brother, there wasn't that patriarchal name changing business that I had to deal with.

Finding Mary's maiden name allowed me to find much more documentation for the family and deepen my understanding of that line's family history.

...But Not All Discoveries for Everyone are Happy Discoveries.

Now that I have a decade of dealing with my own DNA results, I am confident helping others decipher their results. 

I volunteer to help people track down their bio-dads or birth parents; the term most commonly used for this is search angel. The experience has resulted in a mixed bag of emotions. 

• I have had to tell a man who was nearly 50 years-old that he was adopted.
• I've had to tell people that the man they know as their father is not their biological father.
• I've had birth fathers tell me to go away.
• I've had a Vietnam veteran have to tell his children that there was a newly discovered sibling from his time in the service; and they were all good with it.
  
• I've confirmed suspicious for a woman that her father was not her bio-father which only deepened the schism between her and her mother. The lies and the denial, unfathomable
• I have had to tell donor conceived sisters that they were not full biological siblings despite what the sperm bank told their mother.

And sometimes people don't have high enough matches to determine who their birth parents were and unfortunately, I can't tell them much of anything.

In general, everyone should enter these tests with caution. Maybe you won't suffer major surprises but, again, it is likely that hidden in your tree is an unknown offspring of some relative and perhaps you will be placed in the middle of a uncomfortable situation.

Often the uncomfortable situation has very little if anything to do with you. You are just the waypoint for another to learn their truth. 

Never Trust an Index

I recently gave a presentation on getting started in genealogy research at a local public library. One of the lessons I stressed, there and to my summer students, is to really read the documents you find. Whether it be through a database or a physical document you obtained from a library, archive, or municipal agency, you have to really read it. Read it!! The details reveal clues to potential uncovering more documentation.

Additionally, never trust an index. Genealogical documentation has many layers of potential for human errors. There could be mistakes made when the record was originally created or it could just as easily have a error made when the record is transcribed into machine readable type. People have to type up the text of a document for a searchable index to be created. Wellllll....that is not entirely true. Now with artificial intelligence and its predecessor OCR (Optical Character Recognition), people don't always create the index. Although, people should be the final reviewers of those indexes.

For years and years I searched for my Grandpa Earle and his parents in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census with no success until I tried a search constructed with just the state, county, and household members first names - - no last name. And sure enough Abram, Ethel, Allen, and Edwin came up in New York, Nassau County, Town of Hempstead indexed as Carle, not Earle. And look at the image:

See the way that E is written? Totally looks like a C. And even soundexing searches wouldn't pick up that mis-transcription; if you could even call it a mis-transcription. Honestly, that is just shitty penmanship if you ask me. 

Another example of an error in the index comes from working with another researcher. She knew where the family should be living at the time the 1940 census was taken. When we look at the index page on Ancestry if clearly indicated the family was black and my client insisted that it could not be her family even though all the names and address matched. "Really? You really don't think it's not them?"

Of course it is them. If you open that image of the actual record you can clearly see that the family is listed as "W" as in white. 

Again, never trust an index. Look at the original record. Even if you don't think that could be your people, look anyway. 

Another Remarkable Yearbook Find

I actually discover this a few months back and posted about it on FaceBook but didn't blog about it. It's one of the coolest genealogy finds I've had in recent days. On May 6, 2022, I came across another beautiful yearbook entry in Ancestry's online  yearbook collection. 

It was in my paternal grandmother's high school yearbook. There were many pictures of my grandma, Clare Henry-Earle, in there but here is her portrait. Oh that's not the cool part, though. I had seen this photo before.

She was very active in high school. She was in a sorority, student council, performed in a play, and played the flute in the marching band. You can't see her in the band photo below though.

She is little, under 5'. At her full height I think she hit 4'9". At 93 years old today she has shrunk some since high school; which, if you ask me is criminal. If my 4'9" Nanny has to lose any inches, you 6' folks out there should have to lose a foot, at least, but I digress. As she played the flute, so she's somewhere in the middle of a band photo where flute players assemble. Oh but the band wasn't really the cool part either. This was...

...she signed this yearbook!! 

"Best of luck to a swell kid. Love, Clare"

Which ever classmate's yearbook Ancestry got a hold of and digitized, my grandmother signed it. That is unmistakably my Grandma Clare's handwriting! Very cool.

I’d Like to Meet...

In 2022 I participated in Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge, and I am quite proud to say, I accomplished it! I blogged every week, writing to a majority of the themes she put forth. This year, I commit to writing at least once a month and I may at times use her prompts to stimulate and inspire my blogging. I would however, also like to commit some time to making more discoveries in my personal genealogy research. Writing takes time. Search takes time too.

The 52 Ancestors Challenge theme for this week, though, is "I'd Like to Meet..."

Pondering the past tense of that theme, I would have liked to have met my maternal grandmother, Marilyn Irene Fay-Gardner (August 28, 1930 - June 5, 1972). She passed away so very young, at the age of 41, the year before I was born. I had all three of my other grandparents until my Grandpa Earle died in 2000, shortly after my 26th birthday. Grandpa Gardner passed in 2004. Grandma Earle will be 94 in February. Sadly she no longer recognizes her family due to the ravages of Alzheimer's disease but she's otherwise hangin' in there. So I knew my grandparents. I can tell you a lot about each of them, well, except Grandma Gardner who no one, not my grandpa, not her children, no one spoke about. 

Prompted to want to know more about my Grandma Gardner and having tapped out the resources on Ancestry.com, I went looking in other databases, namely MyHeritage. My subscription runs out there in February so while I have it and the time off from work during this holiday week, I went looking. 

I think I have found my grandma's high school yearbook photo. I'm not sure. I've only seen 2 other images of her. Once a long time ago when I was a kid my mother showed me a photo of her mom. I want to say it was taken at a baby shower. Marilyn, or Lynne, as everyone called her, did have a bunch of babies so I'm not sure when it was taken and I don't have the image to refer back to as, sadly, I am estranged from my mother. The other image I have of Lynne was from about 1950 from an unidentified newspaper announcement of her engagement to my Grandpa. It's terribly unclear, graining like most newspaper photos.

The new image I found is from the 1948 yearbook at Newtown High School in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. The name, year, and location fit. I think it's her.

The day I found the image I sent it to all my siblings as well as the two cousins with whom I have any contact information. Being the eldest grandchild I didn't think any of them would be able to identify the grandmother we never knew but I thought they'd appreciate having it. I showed my father, who knew Lynne. Not only was she hid mother-in-law, he grew up next door to her. He was not confident that it was her though. She died 50 years ago and this high school yearbook photo was taken long before he knew her so I understand his reluctant to confidently identify her. I showed his brother, my Uncle Allen, and he too was unsure. I know my mother would recognize her, but again, I have no contact with her nor do I have contact with either of her sisters. Well, one I could email I guess but she was only 2 when her mother passed. Hmm. Anyway - - -

The following day it dawned on me that I should look in that same school's yearbooks for Lynne's sisters; one of them I knew. When I was in my teens, every summer I would go to Florida and spend a month with my grandfather and he would always make sure I spent a day with his sister-in-law, my Great Aunt Ann. I could probably count on my fingers how many times I saw Ann in my life, however, I am 100% sure this is Aunt Ann's yearbook photo from Newtown High School, 1938. 

The discovering of Ann in the the same school's yearbook at the right time period, I am not confident that this is a picture of my grandma Lynne.

Hi grandma.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 36: "Exploration" - Or not so much

Hmm...exploration. I am not sure how to interpret this theme in the context of my family history. I don't feel like I have explorers in my family history. In fact I feel the very opposite. I feel like my family got off the boat and was like, "Heck with that, we're staying right here!"

I have cousins everywhere but when there are stories of brothers, the one who went off and made his fortunes and the other who stayed at home and held down the homestead, I am always descended from the latter.

When I was in the 3rd grade we had to do a report on where one of our grandparents came from. Some of my classmates did reports on Ireland, Israel, Greece, etc., etc., etc. or about other states like Georgia, Maryland, Oregon, etc., etc., etc. I could practically walk to where each of my grandparents were born.  I was really jealous.

According to Google Maps it would take me just over an hour to drive from where Grandpa Earle was born in Bellmore, NY to the far off location of Astoria, Queens, NY where Grandpa Gardner was born, while passing both my grandmothers' birth locations. I guess Google hasn't driving the Cross Island Parkway recently though because that is going to take way more than an hour.

In any case, I did my 3rd grade report on the Town of Hempstead, Long Island, New York. Boring (Sorry, Hempstead).

As genealogist I have come to value the fact I live in close proximity to where my family has lived for hundreds of years. All my documentation is right here! Well, not all of it but quite a bit. And New York is pretty good about holding on to all their records. They aren't great about freely sharing their records but they got 'em. Pay up!

I don't have a European immigrant in my family tree until my great-great grandparents and even then, only 2 of the 16 were born across the pond. I've got many ancestors who emigrated from Canada but from Europe there are only these two:

1. My great-great grandfather on my mother's maternal line, Johann Nepom Prinz (May 2, 1853 - April 21, 1929), was from Mladá Vožice, in the Bohemia region of what is now the Czech Republic. He arrived with his family in New York on November 28, 1866 when he was just 13 years-old.

AND

2. My great-great grandmother on my father's maternal line, Annette Hinch-Henry (February 22, 1868 - March 2, 1952), was born in Barnamelia, by Knockanna, in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. She came to New York sometime between 1886 and 1890 when she was in her late teens or early 20s.

That makes Annette my most recent European immigrant. Again, not big on explorers in this tree o' mine. 

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 33: "Service" - Three Henrys In Service

I have many ancestors and relatives who have served in the U.S. military - many. They extend back to the American Revolution and served as recently as the war in Afghanistan. 

You may have heard of gold star families. Those are families that have lost immediate family members in service during a time of conflict. Then there are blue star families. Those are families that have an immediate family member on active duty during a time of military conflict. These families often possess and display banners on or in their homes with the appropriate number of stars on them. That's right, sometimes the family has more than one immediate member on active duty, or God-forbid, who have died in service. You may see banners with multiple stars of mixed designations. Maybe they lost a child in the war and have another still actively serving.

My grandparents' generation was dramatically affected by World War II but thankfully none of them lost siblings. Both of my grandfathers served in the U.S. Navy during WWII. Grandma Earle had more than one sibling serving in WWII.

I truly love this article about my Grandma Earle's siblings and their service during WWII. All of them are now passed; Charles Aloysius Henry Jr. (April 24, 1922 - March 22, 1994), Regina Dorothy Henry-Drew (February 6, 1924 - March 7, 2010), Robert Victor Henry (October 21, 1925 - April 30, 2011). The article appeared on page 13 of the Nassau Daily Review-Star on Friday, March 2, 1945.

It reads:

The Three Henrys In Service

Charles A. Henry, Jr.    Regina D. Henry    Robert V. Henry

The Henrys are sons and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Henry of 15 Fenimore avenue, Hempstead. Miss Henry was not content to sit at home while her brothers were doing their part overseas to win the war. A senior nurse at St. Mary's hospital, Brooklyn, she will graduate in May. Private First Class Robert Henry is with the infantry in France. He trained at Camp Shelby, Miss., and was with the Grumman Aircraft Engineering corporation prior to entering the army. Second Lieutenant Charles Henry is with an antiaircraft artillery unit on Saipan. He was attending Hofstra college when he entered the service. All three are graduates of Hempstead High school. 

The photo of my great uncle Bobby, is much too dark and thus I have included a similar image of him taken during the same time period, if not on the actual same day, so you can check out that handsome Henry face.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 31: "Help" - Meadow Island Life-Saving Station

Just recently I had the opportunity to stay in a lighthouse. Yeah no joke. There is a beautiful AirBnB property called Wings Neck Lighthouse, in Pocasset, Massachusetts where you can stay in the lightkeeper's home of what is now a decommission lighthouse. There is no actual light in the lighthouse but the views of Buzzards Bay from the top of the structure are amazing. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance to stay on Cape Cod.

While there I reflected a great deal on the lives of my seafaring ancestors. I am not a boat person. I turn green just thinking about it but I come from a long line of seafaring people. Here is a smattering of my nautically inclined ancestors:

• Both my grandfathers served in the U.S. Navy during WWII.
  

• Great grandpa, Abram Thomas Earle (January 13, 1891 - November 18, 1973) purportedly built his own boat. 

• His father, my great-great grandfather, Abraham Earle (1849 - 1890) died at sea aboard a ship called the Rise and Go.

• Abraham's father-in-law, my 3rd great grandfather, Reuben Samms (1830 - October 7, 1869) also died at sea. As did his father, also named Reuben Samms (1799 - December 11, 1870).

Sad story there with those Samms. It seems that during the 1870s, the Samms family of Gadds Harbour, Newfoundland carried on seal hunts on a small scale. The enterprise was short-lived though because of an accident at the ice. Their ship, The Reddie, was lost with her entire crew of 7 men; one of which was Reuben Samms the elder. That crew left 6 widows and about 14-16 children without fathers. It is said that there was only one man left in Gadds Harbour after the loss of The Reddie. One spring, that gentleman attempted to walk across the ice from Gadds Harbour to Woody Point for food and supplies and never returned. It is assumed he fell through the spring ice and drowned.

• Another of my great grandfathers, Charles Aloysius Henry (March 26, 1896 - June 14, 1949), lost a brother, Victor (July 10, 1902 - September 13, 1940), in a boating accident.

• A 3rd great grandfather, John Aloysius Joyce (February 11, 1829 - September 30, 1910), served in the U.S. Navy during the Mexican-American war (1846-1848) when he was just a boy.

I am sure if I plunked around a bit more I could find others who either perished at sea or rode upon it as part of their occupation, military service, or personal passion. What most of them needed was a watchful eye from their peers, like that of the brother of my 3rd great grandfather John Losee. 

His brother, Leander Losee (November 8, 1846 - April 23, 1917), served in the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War. He went on to serve as head of a Life-Saving Station here on Long Island, New York. Unfortunately, Leander had a pretty public ousting from his position due to gambling and drinking on the job but that is neither here nor there really. 

Life-Saving Stations were the precursor to the United States Coast Guard. They consisted of extraordinary boat houses strategically located along the coasts of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as around the Great Lakes and stouthearted men, yes, as far as I can tell for Leander's Station it was only men, knowledgeable and at the ready to rescue those in need. Ships running aground was extremely common and especially so along the south shore of Long Island and the coast of northern New Jersey as an excessive number of ships attempted to enter the narrow passageway into the Port of New York at a time before air travel and advanced nautical navigation systems.

The first legislation for the establishment of U.S. Life-Saving Stations was enacted in 1848. Some of the earliest were built on Long Island beginning in 1849. Much like volunteer firefighters today, the crews of these Life-Saving Stations were comprised of men with the best of intentions to save, to rescue, those in danger. In a position, though, that is much like manning a reference desk (said the librarian), a lot of time is spent sitting around waiting for something to happen; waiting to be needed. And what is that saying? Idle hands are the Devil's play things. Vices take hold when waiting is your workshop. Oh Leander. (Oh. Hey. Oleander is a flower) Anyway...

According to a U.S. Coast Guard list from 1876, there were 11 District, encompassing 157 stations. 36 of the stations were in the 3rd District, the second largest district. District 3 consisted of stations in Rhode Island and Long Island. 32 of those 36 stations were on Long Island and Leander Lozee (misspelling of his surname Losee) is listed as keeper of station #28, Meadow Island, L.I. 

However, an article from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from February 3, 1880, puts Leander in charge of Life Saving Station #31. #28? #31? I have a feeling the stations numbers changed with the growth of the program. 

The Coast Guard's website (https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Assets/Land/Stations-Units/Article/2665769/station-meadow-island-new-york/) states the Meadow Island Life-Saving Station was positioned at the entrance to Jones Inlet. For those Long Islanders who have never heard of it, I am not surprised. It is due north of where the present-day Coast Guard Station is located on the west end of Jones Beach. There are a couple bay houses on Meadow Island but it is largely uninhabited and hosts a significant stretch of the Loop Parkway.

I find the station listed as "discontinued" in the report dated June 30, 1880. The Coast Guard's website also states Leander was the only known keeper and that he was appointed on December 9, 1872 at the age of 30.  A mention in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on page 3 of the February 17, 1880 edition states the station was ordered closed. Thus, I assume the rise and fall of that Life-Saving Station all hinged on Leander.

Just scrolling through the very detailed Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Stations for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1880, I learned that the number of disasters in District 3 totaled 22 with 144 people saved and no lives lost. At least 15 of those lives can be directly connected to Leander and the Meadow Island Life-Saving Station; that's 10% of the lives save in that year alone. I'm not sure I was entirely comprehensive, however, 11 of those individuals saved were crew members of 2 wrecks near Jones Inlet:

1. The schooner L. V. Ostrum out of Patchogue, Long Island traveling from Fire Island to New York City with a crew of just 3 men
2. The schooner Hector out of Boston destine for Philadelphia with a load of coal and a crew of 8.

For those doing the math, the additional 4 lives rescued by the members of Meadow Island station came just days before it's closure. On February 4, 1880 a vessel called Gussie ran aground after being caught in a gale and was heaved afloat by the crew of Meadow Island's station.

Point is, the sea is dangerous and just like our more familiar firefighters on land, there were and continue to be individuals willing to risk their lives at sea to help others. Some of those souls were my relatives.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 29: "Fun Facts" - A list of 10

Here are some fun facts I have in my family history:

1. My parents grew up next door to each other. 

That's not an expression. They literally lived next door to each other.

2. I come from a long line of seafaring men yet just looking at the ocean can make me seasick. 

Both my grandpas served in the navy in WWI. My great grandpa, Abram Earle (January 13, 1891 - November 18, 1973) started building his own boat. His father, my great-great grandfather, Abraham Earle (About 1849 - Fall 1890), died at sea abroad a ship called The Rise and Go in Newfoundland. Abraham's father-in-law, my 3rd great grandfather, Reuben Samms (About 1830 - October 7, 1869), also died at sea during a seal hunt. Another of my 3rd great grandfathers, John M. Losee (August 17, 1841 - February 10, 1918), had a brother, Leander L. Losee (November 8, 1846 - April 23, 1917), who served in the Navy during the American Civil War and was captain of a life saving station along the south shore of Long Island. And yet another 3rd great grandpa, John Aloysius Joyce (February 11, 1829 - September 30, 1910), served in the U.S. Navy during the Mexican-American War (mid-1840s) at 16 years-old as a cabin boy on the U.S.S. Potomac. Boat people! I'm queasy just writing this.

3.  My family has multiple children born on their parent's birthday. 

My grandmother was married on her 20th birthday and then had her 3rd child on the same date 5 years later, February 27. That son's ex-wife had their second child on her birthday, June 2. My grandma's brother, Robert, had his first child on his birthday, October 21.

4. My mother, my paternal aunt, and my step-mother were all in the same graduating class at the same high school.

5. My father's sister married his best friend from high school. 

6. Both my brother-in-laws were best friends in high school too. 

And get this, those boys when to the same high school as mom, Aunt Jane, and my step-mom.

7. I have a pair of aunts who married brothers.

Also, my great-great grandmother, Flora Smith-Losee (Mar 1875 - September 1, 1920), and her a sister, Melinda Smith-Losee (November 1, 1869 - August 19, 1955) married brothers; John M. Losee Jr. (March 25, 1870 - May 24, 1940) and Oliver Combs Losee (May 3, 1868 - February 10, 1937), respectively.

8. I have two 5th great grandfathers who served in the American Revolution; Colonel Daniel Moore (February 11, 1730 - April 13, 1811) and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Moore (May 22, 1724 - October 27, 1778).

And... they were brothers whose children married. Yeah my 4th great grandfather, William Moore (1763 - July 1817), and 4th great grandmother, Eleanor Moore (1767 - October 19, 1836), were 1st cousins.

9. William and Eleanor Moore helped settled the area of St. Felix-de-Kingsey, Quebec, Canada in 1803.

"Settler" is just a term for people showing up and building a house, typically to colonize the area and thus, typically European white people were settlers.

10. I descend from the man who settled Freeport, Long Island in 1659; Edward Raynor (1624 - 1685). 

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 28: "Characters" - Grandpas & Ambrose Weeks

To me, to call someone a "character" means they are unusual in an amusing and somewhat eccentric way. 

My Grandpa Earle was a bit of a character. I suspect he had a bit of OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. He would get up multiple times throughout the night to check that the doors were locked and the stove was turned off. Every morning that I lived with my grandparents, I would watch my grandfather sit and count his prescription pills, all the while thinking out loud to myself, "It is one less than yesterday, Pop." He was funny in a teasing sort of way. He flirted with every young girl who passed his way. Always looking to borrow their long locks to replace his lost follicles. Bald as a cue ball he would sit and rub his head while announcing he needed a haircut; A hair, as in one. Incredibly sensitive, he would cry at every wedding. 

My Grandpa Gardner too was a bit of a character. I didn't know him as well as my Grandpa Earle with whom I lived for about 6 years in my 20s. Many summers though I would spend a month living with Grandpa Gardner in West Palm Beach, Florida. I'd fly down on my own and send the next few weeks just hanging out with Gramps. We'd play board games, watch movies, he'd make dinner, and we'd go for long drives to look for alligators. He'd take me to museums. He was very silly, incredibly funny, and cheated at Monopoly.

But maybe these characters aren't always jovial and amusing. Perhaps they are dark and even disturbed. For this post I am revisiting a post I wrote back in 2013 about Ambrose Weeks (About 1819 - May 4, 1900). Ambrose Weeks was the brother-in-law of my 4th great-grandmother, Lydia Smith-Losee (May 15, 1820 - December 31, 1887). He was married to Lydia's sister, Elizabeth Smith-Weeks (About 1815 - March 11, 1893). It's a distant relationship but still one of great interest to me.

Genealogy research often provides you with just the cold hard facts about a person; names, dates, places. Rarely do you get a sense of who the person was unless you're lucky enough to hear family stories or find a good newspaper article or obituary about the person.

In my opinion, the difference between calling oneself a genealogist or a family historian depends on what information you are gathering about your family. A family historian wants the stories. Filling in the names, dates, and location of life events on a chart is all well and good but if you don't invest some time in learning about the people and their stories what are you really doing this research for? What do all those names and dates and places mean to anyone if you don't glean a few good stories from your research?

Newspaper articles are some of the best resources to add some color to the family characters. If you have not spent some time searching historic newspapers for stories on your ancestors you are really missing out.

For a long time I have been fascinated with Ambrose. What a great name, right? Ambrose. It has Greek origins. It comes from the name Ἀμβρόσιος (Ambrosios) meaning "immortal." There was a St. Ambrose in the 4th-century. Sure look him up. He is the patron saint of Milan, Italy and beekeepers. Go figure. Fashionable and likely immune to stings. Anyway - - -

In the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Ambrose Weeks is listed as 41 year of age, already married to Elizabeth, living in Brooklyn, and employed at a furniture store. In the 1870, Ambrose and Elizabeth are living in Port Washington, Long Island, New York where he was working as an undertaker. Now some might think that is a considerable jump in occupation but back then it wasn't all that far fetched. Furniture makers were often cabinet makers and coffins and caskets are nothing more than big cabinets really. Making coffins could lead one to working for an undertaker; and that could lead to learning the funeral business and becoming an undertaker. It seems to me, though, Ambrose was climbing the social ladder pretty quickly. In ten years to go from working in a furniture store to filling such an important role in the community as undertaker is pretty impressive to me.

However, I found a mention of Ambrose Weeks in the New York Times on November 24, 1873 in a section of the paper called City and Suburban News. Under a portion headed Long-Island it reads:

"Ambrose Weeks, of Roslyn, a cabinet-maker, made a desperate and deliberate attempt to commit suicide on Saturday morning by cutting his throat with a razor."

My God, how sad.

Note that Roslyn is a neighborhood very close to Port Washington on the North Shore of Nassau County, New York.

The report of his attempted suicide was also reported in Newtown Register, The Brooklyn Daily Union, and The New York Tribune. The worst of which was the one I found in the Newtown Register. It read as follows: 

"Ambrose Weeks, a cabinet-maker, attempted self-destruction by cutting his throat with a razor, Saturday. He inflicted a deep wound, but lives to try again."

To try again?? Really, Register, really?
 
Ambrose survived, though Register, quite a bit longer as is apparent by another article found in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from October 30, 1885 on page 6 which states that "Ambrose Weeks, of Hempstead, has sued August Belmont, Jr. to recover $35.33 for labor."

August Belmont, Jr., as in the man who built Belmont Park Racetrack here on Long Island. Yeah, where the Belmont Stakes happens; the 3rd leg of the 3 part triple crown race. August Belmont, Jr. a very well-to-do gentleman of distinguished birth. One has to wonder if Ambrose ever got that money in light of the next article I found in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from May 4, 1900 on page 11, it reads as follows:

Died in the Almshouse

Ambrose Weeks, Once a Wealthy Merchant, a Pauper, Deserted by Friends

Hempstead, L.I., May 4 - - Ambrose Weeks, who was at one time one of the prominent merchants of this section of the Island and who is connected with some of the best Long Island families, died yesterday in the almshouse at Hempstead.

He was at one time quite wealthy and was engaged extensively in the furniture business in Hempstead. Misfortune and reverses overtook him in his old age, when his relatives and friends also deserted him, he was compelled to seek refuge in the Town Almshouse in Uniondale, where he has been for some years.

Mr. Weeks was over 80 years of age. His funeral service will be conducted by the Rev. Henry B. Bryan, canon of the Garden City Cathedral.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Garden City Cathedral, or more correctly the Cathedral of the Incarnation, here in Garden City, Long Island, it is indeed a quite spectacular Gothic-style, Episcopal Cathedral.

This photo was taken in about 1885. Image is owned by the Cornell University Library, NY.

The saddest of all the articles though I think is this one appearing in the June 30, 1898 edition of the Newtown Register; a year before Ambrose's death. The mention was extracted from an article that appeared in the Hempstead Sentinel on June 23rd. It stated:

Ambrose Weeks was 79 years old last week. He has been spending the winter on the farm and Saturday he was in the village "renewing old acquaintance." Shortly after the death of his wife some five years ago, he purchased a tomb-stone and had it erected beside that of his wife's grave in Greenfield Cemetery. It is lettered requiring only a date of death to complete it.

Oh Ambrose, I imagine you a sad, heart-broken man but I don't really know that. These articles do not clearly speak to whether Ambrose's own actions brought on his circumstances; maybe he was a miserly, cruel man unworthy of friends and affection or perhaps he was simply suffering through depression and misfortune and deeply misunderstood by those around him. Regardless, he certainly suffered in his final years alone, destitute, and estranged from friends and family; poor Ambrose. His sad story awakens in me an awareness of the harsh reality of existence. 

If not for these various newspaper articles, Ambrose Weeks would have just been another name on the tree; the husband of a 5th great-aunt who never had any children; no heirs to pass on stories of his character or experiences.

If researching your own family tree, do not disregard the importance of newspapers. They can fill in much of your family's story; bringing these names and dates to life again. If researching in the New York area, I recommend searching the Brooklyn Daily Eagle which is one of the few free online resources through Newspapers.com. It covered much more than the Borough of Brooklyn.