Week 34 - Timeline (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

 I have to admit, I have not used timelines very often in my research.  At least not purposely.  When I think of timelines, I picture a chronological list of events.  But I have found that my timelines do not always show up in that form.  

One place that I have found them very useful though is in Civil War soldier research.  When I delve into one of these soldier ancestor's military history, I find timelines of their regiments already spelled out and from there I can research each battle in depth and very often place their exact locations.  Once, a NPS battlefield Ranger told me that I "would breathe his air".  I found that to be a very moving description.  

I like to then write as much of a biography of the soldier that I can using any record that I can find.  The first ancestor soldier that I did this for was my 3rd great grandfather, John Border Amos, back in 2005.   It has turned into a nice 30 some page document complete with photos and documents, plus added pages of other records and images that are not integrated into my text.  Over the years, I have added more information as I come across it.  I have been fortunate to have been in contact with other descendants of John who have shared photos of John  and a letter written by John the day after one of his battles.  I always send away to the National Archives for any military or pension records of the soldier as well.  All of this adds such dimension to my biographies.  The pension files often give details not found in other records and can often fill in gaps with at least medical information that can give me an idea of what his life may have been like after the war.  

So his timeline fills out without my having to list each and every event before I write.  I am sure though, that if I would compile a list, there would be some gaps to fill.  

In researching these soldiers, I have read many interesting books that I otherwise would not have run across.  I have come across stories that create their own timeline as a branch of the original biography, which are added to my story.  My "timeline" becomes like a tree itself.  

John Border Amos with his wife and most of his children, as well as one grandchild about 1901. 

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved. 

Week 33 - Service

 Service can mean so many things.  Service to your country in the military or other capability, volunteering in many service organizations, or simply giving great service through your job or business.  The first individuals that came to my mind from my family tree whose lives equaled service were my daughter in law's great grandmother, Flora Moschell Schiller Daggs and my 1st cousin 6 times removed, Levi Coffin.

Flora was born in 1901 in Indiana. From her first marriage, she had three children but the marriage ended in divorce after 20 years. It would be another 20 years before she would marry again, only to lose that husband to death just 13 months later.    I am not sure exactly when her service to the Salvation Army began, but she appears as a very active participant after her second marriage in 1957.  I have found many news articles about a group within the Salvation Army where Flora was a guiding hand.  It was a group for seniors called the "Older Americans of the Salvation Army".  They held weekly meetings to plan their activities.   Flora lived to the age of 95.  Two articles that detail the work her chapter was responsible for.  

1972

1974

Every year at Christmas, my daughter in law, son and their 3 children honor the service given by Flora by volunteering to ring the bell at one of the iconic red kettles in their area.  

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Levi Coffin was born in North Carolina in 1798.  He was from a Quaker family and had an experience as a young boy that would forever guide his life.  He spoke with a slave about his bondage and sympathized with him.  By the time he was a teenager, Levi was helping his family assist escaped slaves.  In 1825, Levi along with his new wife and son, moved to Indiana. He quickly became involved with a movement that would become known as the Underground Railroad.  Levi himself estimated that he had helped about one hundred slaves per year escape further North.  By the 1840's Quaker leaders began to advise their members to stop aiding runaways and let the law take care of matters.  Levi did not stop and his Quaker meeting expelled him.  In 1847, he moved to Cincinnati to manage a goods warehouse that would only handle materials that were produced by free labor, not slave labor.  It was difficult to locate such goods and the business was sold in 1857.  But none of this deterred Levi from continuing his work with the Underground Railroad.  He continued his work on up through the Civil War.  After the war, he helped in forming the Western Freedman's Aid Society to help the now free slaves with food  or shelter or establishing businesses or getting an education.  Over his lifetime, it is estimated that Levi aided between 2000 and 3000 escaped slaves find freedom. It is said that Harriet Beeche Stowe's book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" used Levi and his wife as models for the Quaker couple in her story.  Levi died in 1877 at his home in Ohio.  His home is now a National Historic Landmark.  

Levi Coffin

Levi's home in Fountain City, Indiana

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved. 

Week 32 - At The Library (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

I spent many, many hours at the local library when I was a young girl.  It was one of my favorite places to go.  In those days, I was fortunate to be able to walk from my house to downtown and bring home an armload of books to read.  I would meet my best friend, Mary, there too.  We both loved to read.  I always thought that being a librarian would be the best job.  It was not to be, but as I got older, I spent my time in the library doing research for homework assignments. It never felt like "work" to me because I loved the search and the results of the search.  

My hometown library in Pottsville, PA

Later in life, when I became interested in genealogy, I would try to visit the library when we were home visiting, but those times were few and far between.  When I would go, I would not find very much for the family I was searching for or didn't know what to ask for there,  With small children to raise, I could not travel to locations that may have had the information that I was looking for and really had no time to devote to the letter writing required in those days when I wanted to ask for information.

Then the Internet came along. It was like having a library at my fingertips.  My genealogy pursuit came alive as I was able to find much more of the information that I wanted.  I also began finding more books that I wanted to read and now I have my own home mini library.

Even though I do not often get to the local library, I still recognize their value as a place to learn how to research and find things otherwise unknown and I hope that they never go away.  

 Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved. .   

Week 31 - Help (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

 For the topic "Help"  this week, I am going to write about how I helped an individual determine who his biological family is.  Names have been changed to protect privacy.

A little more than 4 years ago, I received a message through Ancestry from a man I will call Timothy.  Timothy found me through six closely shared DNA matches on Ancestry.  One of these matches was shown to Timothy as his father, so Timothy was asking me if I could possibly help him identify this match.  This match had a somewhat cryptic user name so we had to take a different track for awhile to see if I had this individual, that I will call James, in my tree. 

So I told him that I would see what I could do.  One of the matches was my Mom and another was a maternal cousin of hers which immediately helped narrow down which side of the family Timothy and James would be on.  A third match, who we both tried to contact, never replied but Timothy did eventually identify her as another cousin through James' family. 

A fourth match we never did identify. And a fifth match, I had already figured out that she did belong to James'  Family as well. So knowing now that all 6 matches along with Timothy and I all do belong to the same family line, that I will call Kelley.  We both also did try to contact James but received no reply.  He had not checked into his account in over a year. 

Timothy already knew who his birth mother was and was able to get documents from his adoption and from this estimated his birth father to be around 80 years old already.  And with the exception of my mom and I, all of the matches lived in the same area of New York state where Timothy was born.  The documents also told him that his birth father was never told of his existence.  

I started looking at all of the men in this particular Kelley family who would be about the right age and also who may have lived in the correct area.  I came up with 6 possibles.  I sent these names to Timothy to see what he thought.  After looking at these for a day or so, I could only see one very possible match.  For me there was a catch, I had been in contact with this man years before when he wrote to my mom to ask for family information.  We traded alot of family history with each other.  So now I was wondering how to handle this so as not to invade James' privacy.  But the way that I figured James' identity helped with that and went back to his user name on ancestry.  He used his father's house number followed by the street name and then an abbreviated from of his city. These were found in a US Public Records Database on Ancestry.  But too huge of a coincidence not to be true.  So I decided to go ahead and let Timothy know. 

So with the information that I had about James and the information that Timothy had about his birth mom, 2 + 2 = James.  James and the birth mom were both school teachers in the same district but did not stay together.  Both went on to marry and have other children. 

After about a month, Timothy told me that he was going to approach James but he wasn't sure quite how yet.  This ended our correspondence for awhile and then about 3 years later, I heard from Timothy. He told me how he finally met his other family.  About a year and a half after we figured out that James was the one, Timothy reached out to his half brother's wife. They arranged to meet n New York State. Unfortunately, it turned out that James was suffering from Parkinsons and dementia and the family did not think it would be a good idea for Timothy to meet James. This was in 2019, right before covid hit, so a meeting with the rest of the family had to be put on hold until last summer when he was able to meet his half sister and family.  A few months later, James passed away at the age of 83. But Timothy was very grateful that he now had this new family to call his.  And I have a new cousin.  It felt very satisfying to have helped Timothy connect to his long lost family and I am honored to have been a part of this happy story. 

In another coincidence, my new cousin, I found, was also connected to me by his adoptive father, who I will call Ellsworth, who  turned out to share a common ancestor with me also.  One of Ellsworth's great grandmothers was a Mendenhall.  I also have a 5th great grandmother who was a Mendenhall. They are both descendants of James Mendenhall who was born in 1718.  

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved. .