Resolution: Susan Rood (Again) ~ 52 Ancestors #52

I'm not a huge fan of New Year's Resolutions, but I do have a goal for 2025. I have signed up for the Research Like a Pro e-course in which I will spend a year working on a genealogical research question using the Research Like a Pro process. (The year-long e-course will be more manageable for me than their usual 9-week study group.)

Of course, my longstanding brick wall ancestor is going to be my research question: Who are the parents of Susan (Rood) Chapin, born 26 January 1799, who married Orramel Chapin on 17 September 1816, in Ludlow, Massachusetts?

I wrote about Susan in 2012 (Susan Rood's Parents), and again in 2015 (Susan Rood Chapin - A Challenging to Research Ancestor).

The key sources I have include an embroidered sampler, created by her daughter, Susan Arville Chapin, which I wrote about in 2011 (Chapin Family Sampler).

Good Deeds: Lillias Jane Alston ~ 52 Ancestors #51

My third great aunt Lillias Jane Alston was born in January 1838 to John Alston and Lillias Johnston, their third child, second child born in Pennsylvania, and first daughter. Her youngest sister, Marion Helen Alston, is my second great-grandmother.

In about 1877, Lillias Jane married her first cousin Archibald Alston as his second wife. He was a widower with several children. Archibald and Lillias Jane had one son, Walter McHendry Alston, born in June 1879.

Archibald died in 1905 and Lillias Jane (Alston) Alston died in Pittsburgh (North Side, the former Allegheny City) on June 25, 1911. I found a lovely obituary for her in The Pittsburgh Press.

"Mrs. Lillias Jane Alston," Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania),  26 June 1911, p. 7, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/142716948/ : accessed 15 December 2024).

Malinda Ashby and Edmund G. Hall ~ 52 Ancestors #50

In February 1842, in (probably Glasgow) Barren County, Kentucky, a marriage bond was signed by Edmund G. Hall and C. B. Hall (Edmund's brother), providing the intention of marriage of Edmund G. Hall and Malinda Ashby.

(The marriage bond became void upon the marriage; the amount of the bond would have to be paid to the Commonwealth of Kentucky by either the groom or his bondsman only if the marriage did not take place.)

"Kentucky, County Marriages, 1785-1979" from FamilySearch
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9S9-593Z-G

Handed Down: Grandfather's Baby Book ~ 52 Ancestors #49

I have boxes and boxes of handed down items, including my maternal grandfather's baby book.

The BABY'S BOOK

The book is small, about 3 1/2" x 5 1/4" in size, with some embroidered decoration.

Fun: The Hunter Sisters ~ 52 Ancestors #48

I have quite a few fun (and funny) photographs of my grandmother, Helen Lysle Hunter, and her four older sisters from very early in the 20th century. See My Grandmother and Her Sisters.

Since I originally shared photos of the Hunter sisters, MyHeritage has made their enhanced and colorized photos available.

Here is one I previously shared and two more that I don't believe I have shared before. I believe these photos are taken at the home on Perrysville Avenue in Allegheny City, where their paternal grandparents lived and where they lived after their grandparents died in 1902.

The sisters look like they're having fun in these photos. All three have been enhanced and colorized by MyHeritage.

Caption: MUD PIES; sisters from left: Marion, Mary, Caroline, Margaret, and Helen