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52 Ancestors – Week 8 – I Can Identify

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Plugging along with the 52 Ancestors prompts so I can be caught up and work on putting some other things out into the universe and work on them. The prompt for week 8 is I can identify. Many different takes can be taken on this prompt. I am blessed that my Grandma started our family tree back in the day when things were done in person and letters via snail mail.

My Grandma is the reason I am so interested in family history, I have very fond memories of traipsing around cemeteries as pre-teen and teenager with my Grandma and Grandpa.

Picture of my Grandparents, Earl and Frances (Stewart) Witherwax.

So for the topic “I Can Identify”, I decided to highlight a couple of my favorite finds from over the years.

  1. When I identified that my 2x Great Grandmother Sarah Larkin Beardsley was indeed a doctor. This was found via a google search. She attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

2. Finding the passenger list of my Moro Family coming over from Italy in 1880. When I first found this record. I did not realize that the Chiara listed there was my 2x Great Grandmother.

3. Another favorite find of mine is the marriage registration of my 2x-Great Grandparents. Michaelangelo Moro and Chiara Ludivico in Italy. I am hoping to find more Italian records because every time I find one it is always a sense of accomplishment, especially since I can’t read, write or speak Italian.

Michaelangelo Moro and Chiara Ludivico were married in 1872 in Lentella, Italy.

4. Another fun find was my second Daughters of the American Revolution Patriot. Bezaleel Wood. After I joined the DAR back in 2016 through my original patriot Lorin Nehemiah Larkin. I joined a bunch of different Facebook groups pertaining to the DAR and in one of these groups a member said look at lines right near the patriot. So I looked at Lorin Larkin’s Wife Christiana Cutler and couldn’t prove her father so I looked at wife of his son John. John’s wife is a woman named Sarah Wood. Sarah’s father is Bezaleel Wood my 5x great-grandfather on my grandpa’s line.

This is Bezaleel Wood’s information in the DAR Database.

5. My last favorite find is anything on my husbands tree. Everything on this is fun because I am totally flying blind with no one to ask questions of. So when I am able to find records that confirm my findings or hunches I am totally ecstatic.

It is also probably a reason that I enjoy using ThruLines at Ancestry as an additional hint because I know there is a connection somewhere due to the DNA and it gives me a starting point to figure out where the connection is in the documents.

I hope you enjoyed my take on the prompt I Can Identify, until next time.

52 Ancestors – Week 6 – Social Media

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Yep another post today. This one is for week 6 of the 52 Ancestors challenge being hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. The topic is social media.

Social Media is a great tool to use in genealogy and I love connecting with family. Those of you who have been following for a while know that I love the <a href="http://&lt;!– wp:paragraph –> <p>Social Media is a great tool to use in genealogy and I love connecting with family. Those of you who have been following for a while know that I love the </p> NYS Historical Newspaper website. I have discovered so much about my ancestors and newspapers were an integral part of life back in the day.

I have discovered so many vital facts about my family from where my great grandparents were married in 1890.

to this query looking for the siblings of Jassiel Preston. I need to remember to look into this query and see what I can find out even if it is from the 1920s.

to this week finding the obituaries for my 2X Great Grandmother Ella Mayo Stewart. This first one appeared in the Plattsburgh Papers.

This second one is the obituary that appeared in the Massena, NY paper in the neighboring county where she actually died and is much more in depth.

I have been trying to break down the brick wall of who were the parents of Ella’s mother Jane A. West? I will break down my hypothesis in a future post. I think DNA is going to be crucial in deducting this so I am going to have to figure it out.

So back in the day, newspapers were the Facebook of the time. Also you can always hit me up on my social media if you want to connect.

52 Ancestors – Week 5 – Ooops

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The prompt for week 5 is Ooops. This Ooops can be a variety of things, maybe an oops you made or an oops an ancestor made. It is wide open to interpretation and to be honest I currently have Brittany Spears singing in my head Ooops I did it again.

It took me the longest time to figure out this one and the direction I wanted to go in but I figured this would be a good time to talk about the 2 men named Beverly Beardsley I have in my tree. They are father and son. They are also combined in ancestry trees to make a huge mess but it is slowly being rectified.

Beverly Beardsley (1770-1815) my 4x Great Grandfather and Beverly Beardsley (1815-1898) my 3x Great Grandfather. My 3x Great Grandfather was born 17 February 1815 in Chesterfield Essex County, NY to Beverly Beardsley and Ada Curtis, he was the youngest of their 5 children.

I was able to piece together this tree using the probate books online at Family Search for Beverly Beardsley who died in April 1815 in Chesterfield, Essex County, NY. I need to get my hands on copies of the original file because I see the letters appointing guardianship to all the children except their oldest daughter who was married already. I would like to know what happened to his wife Ada and anything I can piece together to get another generation back. It is one of the reasons I love wills and deeds because it can really bring the person to life a bit.

Here are some records I stumbled upon that drive me nuts because you create if a mess if you do not evaluate dates. One of the tools I do like to use on Ancestry is the notes and tags because I do put things in my tree that I have a hunch on and DNA hints but am trying to get further back.

This is a Geneanet hint that I found a on Ancestry today.

Ada Curtiss is my 3x Great Grandmother. Wife of Beverly Beardsley who DIED in 1815. Child Ada Curtis Beardsley is his daughter who married Asher Stevens. Everyone else on this belongs to Betsy Blake.

Beverly Beardsley my 3X great grandfather married Minerva Winchester who died in 1843. Betsey Blake was his second wife who I believe he married because he had 3 small children. Leslie Winchester Beardsley, my 2x Great Grandfather, his brother George Curtis Beardsley and Maria Helena Beardsley Weston.

This is the Geneanet page that the Ancestry tree takes you to and it stresses me out to look at because it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Evaluation and reason come into play when sourcing your tree especially with people of the same name.

So be careful in perpetuating Ooopses.

Ancestor Profile – James Stewart

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I have been working on filling in missing pieces of the family tree. especially shrubbing the tree out. This becomes especially helpful in the world of DNA. I have spent the last 2 weeks working on Gs family so I decided to look at one of my lines and see what I could do.

James Stewart was born March 1878, most probably in Clinton County. He is the sone of Joseph Gardner Stewart and Ella May.

He appears to live with his parents during all the census records I found him in beginning in 1880, 1892, 1900.  I really knew nothing about him until I found a picture on Ancestry of the July 26, 1927 Plattsburgh Sentinel about a Funeral for James. It was a fairly long obituary.

When I find things like this I head to one of my favorite sites NYS Historic Newspapers. So I performed a search of 1927 and James Stewart. Oh poor James.

James died in a horrific car crash. The following are 3 different articles from 2 different papers The Lake Placid News, The Plattsburgh Sentinel and The Plattsburgh Republican.

 

The Plattsburgh Republican had so many details (one of the things I love about old newspapers. It gives me the 2 men in the car with James. It gives me where his brother William lived in NYC (how did I not know that William lived here in NYC). It also told me the type of car a Nash Touring Car. I had heard of Nash, I even think there was a movie about them though I could be wrong. So a quick google search to see what a Nash Touring Car looked like yielded this picture.

Screen Shot 2020-04-12 at 9.09.09 PM

I think this is about a 1923 or 1925 Nash. Most of the pictures reveal that they were soft top cars. The guilt poor William must of lived with.

James Stewart died July 22, 1927 in Peru, Clinton County, NY. I am going to research and see if I can find the road they were driving on. I have probably been on it at some point growing up.

James Stewart’s funeral was held at the Redford Methodist Episcopal Church and he is buried in the Redford Cemetery from what I found he never married and never had children. He was 49 years old when he died and he should be remembered.

Tombstone Tuesday – January 21, 2020

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Beverly Beardsley is the topic of my final ProGen assignment this week, so I thought it was fitting that he was my first Tombstone Tuesday topic.

He is buried in the Old Clintonville Cemetery in the same plot as his son, Leslie Winchester Beardsley and my beloved Sarah Larkin Beardsley, MD.

Beardsleytombstone BeverlyBeardsley

Beverley Beardsley lived in the Clintonville area all his life. He was married first to Minerva Winchester (1823-1843) and then to Betsey Blake (1807? – 1887).

According to his obituary, Beverly Beardsley will be missed at the revivals. I love little facts like that. I will expand more on Beverly Beardsley once this assignment is over.

Another Rabbit Hole

/ Chiara / 1 Comment

This week I have been going down a lot of rabbit holes. Currently I am in the beginning stages of my final ProGen Assignment. I have to write a narrative about an ancestral couple and their children. I have decided I seriously do not want to write about my Stewart Lines as there are just to many children. Seriously the Stewart Line had 8 or 9 and those Shumway’s with 11 seriously not happening.

So I was going to work on my Witherwax line but I may want to use them for certification. So then I was leaning towards G’s Scoundrel of a Great-Grandfather Henry Bass. (I love Henry, plus he has great material, Possible bigamest).

I finally yesterday had a calling. A certain ancestor was calling me and it is requiring me to flesh a tree out slightly and I want some insight into the Characters and I stumbled across in the papers. You know I love my papers. Thank heavens for the NYS Historic Newspapers.

I found this gem, when searching Maria Weston. I had to use her husband’s name Sylvester Weston but look what I found.BenjaminWeatherwa and MinervaBeardsleyThe Plattsburgh Sentinel, courtesy of NYS Historic Newspapers

In Chesterfield, May 10, 1890, at the residence of Mr. Sylvester Weston, by Rev. J.H. Bond, Benj. F. Weatherwax, of Valcour and Miss Minnie Beardsley, of Clintonville.

So how about those apples. Benjamin Weatherwax and Minnie Beardsley are my great-grandparents. I knew they were married in Chesterfield (I have their marriage license) but I figured they were married in the Methodist Church. Things like this put things together for me.

So as a hint to the relatives that spoke to me it was Mr. Beverly Beardsley. I figured he had something he wanted me to look for and I should listen.

It has been a somewhat productive week for rabbit holes.

Love the headline..

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This weekend I was working on my Stewart Line and I stumbled across this obituary for my 2X Great-Grandmother, Ella Mayo Stewart.

ellamayostewartobit

Bang really in your face, a bit of sensationalism anyone. This obituary appeared in THE Plattsburgh Daily Press. Ella is the widow of Joseph Gardiner Stewart of the previous post. Back in the post Never Stop Searching I wrote about hearing on a podcast about searching neighboring counties and/or towns. Well this obituary states that Ella died at her daughter’s home in Massena. (I couldn’t remember if Massena was in Franklin or St. Lawrence county.) Thanks to Google, I found it is in St. Lawrence County.

A quick search of NYS Historic Newspapers for St. Lawrence County resulted in this Obituary.

Ella Mayo Stewart Obituary Massena Observer

You can find the full obituary that appeared in The Massena Observer here. This obituary had so much more detail that the other obituary. So it definitely pays to read and search the papers for neighboring towns and counties.

Joseph Gardiner Stewart (1851-1912)

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Joseph Gardiner Stewart was born 4 Oct 1851 in Redford, Clinton Co, NewYork to  William Stewart (1811-1872) and Elizabeth Davis Stewart (1826-1897). Joseph Stewart is my 2nd Great-Grandfather.

Joseph Gardner Stewart

Joseph first appears on the 1860 census in the Town of Black Brook, Clinton Co, NY along with his parents, William (49) and Elizabeth (30), sister Mary (9), Elizabeth (5), William (3) and Margaret (11/12).

stewart1860census1860 Census from Ancestry.com

In 1870, Joseph (19) is still living in his parents household and they are now living in the town of Saranac. Also living in the house are Mary Jane (20), Elizabeth (17), William (14), Margaret (11) and Emma (11/12). Also listed with the household is Horace Wilson (21), a day laborer. (According to the 1900 Census Horace and Mary Jane were married in 1870).

stewart1870census1870 Census from Ancestry.com

In 1880, Joseph (27) is listed as the head of household. He lived in Garlick Falls, Clinton County, NY. He is married according to the census to a Hellen (21), with children James H. (2) and William (2/12) William is also listed as a jobber.

stewart1880census1880 Census from Ancestry.com

The 1900 census is a wealth of information for Joseph (51), it lists his birthday as September 1841, which does not agree with his first appearance on the census in 1860. He and Ellen have been married for 23 years and he is listed as a farmer and they are living in Black Brook, Clinton County, NY. Also in the household are James (22), William (20), Joseph (18), Gertrude (16), Charles (14) (my great-grandfather), Mabel (12), Ruth (10), John (8), Ethel (6), Samuel (1) and Henry (3/12).

Also living in the house are Nicholas Mayo (76) listed as a border but he is also Ellen’s father and George Soper (23) a servant.

stewart1900census1900 US Census from Ancestry.com

In the 1910 Census Joseph and Ella are still living in Black Brook with Ethel (16), Samuel (11) and Henry (10). It would seem the rest of the children had moved on with their lives.

Josephstewart19101910 US Census from Ancestry.com

Joseph Gardiner Stewart died on 25 March 1912 in Clayburgh, Clinton County, NY.

josephstewartdc(Death Certificate is part of my personal documents).

He is buried in the Redford Cemetery in Redford, Clinton Co, NY.

 

 

 

Emotions…

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I am on a solo trip in Clinton County, New York this weekend. We are saying goodbye to my Aunt Sheila. I had plans to stop at the Essex County offices today but it didn’t happen.

I took a trip to Central Cemetery in Jay. I wanted to try and find the grave of Sarah Knowlton Coolidge. I wrote about her a couple days ago in my Brick Wall post. Well I got to the cemetery and was walking around when the skies decided to open up and rain down.

img_3829

She is here somewhere but in the rain I couldn’t find her and I didn’t want to chance getting sick. I did walk around for a few minutes and I did speak to her and told her she wasn’t forgotten and any guidance she could give me I would take. She died back in 1832.

After getting back to my car. The rains opened up even more.

img_3831

It was time to make my way to Plattsburgh, where I am staying this weekend. I was following my GPS and passed by the offices of the Black Brook and this is where I got the feeling I wasn’t alone. I went through this little road and I had the feeling of Deja Vu and not being alone and being guided. All of a sudden I was crying and couldn’t tell you why. I know this is going to be an emotional weekend with the family together sharing memories. This feeling carried me all the way until I hit the Harkness Methodist Church. Then I had a lifting feeling and as I passed the Harkness Cemetery I was more at ease and feeling more like me.

I know it was the memories of days gone by and those who have gone before me carrying me. I have had family in these parts since the 1790s, almost 230 years.

Tomorrow I am heading to the Clinton County Court House to see what  I can find. I have a list of 13 probate records I would like to look at but if I have to narrow it down. There are 7 that are most important. Also hoping to hit up the Clintonville Cemetery but we shall see.

I have tissues for the weekend and hopefully my ancestors will guide me this weekend.

52 Ancestors – Week 4 – I’d like to meet

/ Chiara / 1 Comment

This prompt always makes me want to smile. I spend a lot of time working on my family tree and when I do that I generally let myself listen to my gut and let it guide me because I feel that is my predecessors speaking to me.

I would love to meet the following people as I have a lot of brick walls to breakdown.

  1. My 3X great grandmother – Mary Shafer (Shaver) Weatherwax my question for her would be when did you die and where are you buried?  I know you died post 1880.
  2. My 3X great grandfather – Jacob Weatherwax (Mary’s Husband) and I would ask him when did he die and where is he buried?
  3. My 4X great grandmother – Ada Curtiss Beardsley – Did you get married after your husband died in 1815? Did you stay in Clinton County or did you move west?
  4. Ambrose Shumway my 3X Great Grandfather – Where in Canada did you reside? Why are you so hard to find? Is Nathaniel really your father?
  5. Domenico Moro my Great Grandfather why did you leave the United States and return to Italy and renounce your citizenship?

and to any of my predecessors who lived in Jay, NY in Essex County – Why are there no deeds or wills filed prior to 1845?

See lots of questions to ask. Hopefully one day I will get one or two of these questions answered and this is why I am planning those research trips.