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

Esther Abigail Whitman ~ 52 Ancestors #47

My second great-grandparents, Esther Abigail Whitman and James Pyle, married in New York City in 1853, when they were recent immigrants from Guysborough, Nova Scotia. I have a lot of information about James Pyle, but much less about his wife.

Matrilineal Monday - Esther Abigail Whitman shared census records for her as well as a brief death notice from the New York Times.

Deaths, New York Times, 10 November 1921, p. 19, col. 7, Esther A. Whitman.

The New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) now provides the ability to view some birth, marriage, and death records (as long as they're far enough back that the individuals named are long deceased). These images can also be found at MyHeritage (a subscription site).

I found Esther Pyle's November 10, 1921, death certificate at New York City Deaths, 1866-1948 at MyHeritage.

Stephen Ashby U.S.N.A. ~ 52 Ancestors #46

There are a few Stephen Ashbys in my ancestry. 5th great-grandfather, Stephen Ashby, was a Captain in the Revolutionary War. My 3rd great-grandfather of the same name died in 1829, leaving a widow and four young children. I wrote a Surname Saturday: Ashby post several years ago.

My ancestral line is as follows:

Stephen Ashby (1710-1797)
|
Daniel Ashby (1759-1834)
|
Stephen Ashby (1800[?]-1829)
|
Daniel Morgan Ashby (1828-1907) = Mary Elizabeth Gorin
|
Mary Bowman Ashby
|
Elizabeth Adsit
|
Charles McAlpin Pyle, Jr.
|
Me

Daniel Morgan Ashby continued the tradition of naming a son for his father. Stephen Ashby was born October 15, 1861, in Barren County, Kentucky, the third child and second son of his parents. (And my second great-uncle.)

Stephen Ashby attended the U.S. Naval Academy, as indicated in the 1880 Federal Census.

1880 US Census, Barren County, Kentucky, population schedule, Town of Glasgow, ED 7, page 4 (penned), dwelling 21, family 32, household of Daniel Morgan Ashby.

I also happen to have one letter that he wrote to his mother in January 1881 when he was attending the U.S. Naval Academy.

Thomas Jefferson Copeland (1801-1877) ~ 52 Ancestors #45

Thomas Jefferson Copeland was born in Boston to Nathaniel Copeland (who died in 1803) and Mary Page (1771-1847). 

He was living in Norridgewock, Maine, by 1840 and Calais, Maine, by 1843. He died March 2, 1877, in Calais and is buried in the local cemetery. His FindAGrave memorial includes a transcript of a local obituary with additional information than what I found in The Kennebec Journal.

The Kennebec Journal, 28 March 1877, p. 3, col. 3 (Newspapers.com).

Lost at Sea: Lyman Morey ~ 52 Ancestors #44

I have been building out the family tree of my paternal line to help to determine the biological father of James Pyle, my second great-grandfather. (See Narrowing Down the Non Paternal Event.)

James Pyle's sister Elizabeth married William Scott in the 1840s, probably in Guysborough, Nova Scotia. (Maybe James's son, William Scott Pyle was named after this uncle?) 

William and Elizabeth had several daughters, one of whom, Annetta (Netty), married a Maine-born fisherman, Lyman Morey, in 1873 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This was not uncommon; many fishermen sailed between Massachusetts, Maine, and Nova Scotia, and likely found their love interests in a community away from home.

In 1880, widow Annetta Morey was living in Gloucester with two young sons. by 1881, she had returned with her two young sons to her parents' home in Guysborough. How was it that a 29-year-old mother of two was already a widow? 

Her husband died in February 1879, which has been referred to as the deadliest month for the Gloucester fishing fleet. He was a fisherman on the Schooner Gwendolen.

The Boston Globe Evening Edition, 12 March 1879 (Newspapers.com), p. 4, col. 4.

Lost Contact: George Whitman of Ontario ~ 52 Ancestors #43

My second great-grandmother, Esther Abigail Whitman, arrived in Boston from Guysborough, Nova Scotia, in 1849. She was in New York City by 1853 when she married James Pyle (also of Guysborough). Her parents and almost all of her siblings followed in 1857.

One Whitman brother remained in Canada.

George William Whitman (more often referred to as William or William George Whitman) was born in Manchester, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, on November 22, 1833, to Thomas Cutler Whitman and Diana Morgan, as their third child and oldest son.

At age 26, he married Esther French of Kent County, Ontario, Canada, on March 6, 1860. 

By 1857, it would have taken about a day and a half to travel by train from Kent, Ontario (not too far from Detroit, Michigan) to New York City. The red circle in the map below indicates approximately where Kent County (now Chatham-Kent), Ontario, is located. 

It appears that the newly-married couple traveled to his father's household in Jamaica, Queens, New York, by July 1860 which is when the Thomas C. Whitman family was enumerated in the 1860 federal census. Perhaps he wanted to introduce his new wife to his family.

How long it took to travel from New York City to various locations in the United States;
from the Atlas of Historical Geography of the United States

Full House: James Hunter's Family ~ 52 Ancestors #42

My second great grandfather, James Hunter, was in construction. He fathered ten children with his wife Mary Freeland.

Because of his construction business, he was very involved in building his home on Perrysville Avenue in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, where the Hunter family moved by 1890-1891 (based on city directories).

Undated photo

Fall 1905

Fall 1905

Fall 1905

The 1900 U.S. Census shows that it was a full house:

1900 U.S. census, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Allegheny Ward 10,
ED 82, p. 15A, dwelling 270, family 306, record for James Hunter.

James Hunter, Head, age 55
Mary S. F. Hunter, Wife, age 50
James F. Hunter, Son, age 24
Samuel K. Hunter, Son, age 21
John R. Hunter, Son, age 18
Chester A. Hunter, Son, age 16
Helen R. Hunter, Daughter, age 13
Mary Lois Hunter, Daughter, age 11
Curtis C. Hunter, Son, age 8

The household included three servants: Mary Coyne, age 21, Katie Malley, age 20, and John Jones, age 17. Mary and Katie were born in Ireland and John Jones was born in Virginia.

Sadly, Mary died in March 1902, at age 52. Her husband, James died about seven months later at age 58. I believe that his second son (and my great-grandfather) Percy Hunter, became guardian for his underage siblings and moved back into the family home with his growing family. 

Twelve Children of George and Margaret Lysle ~ 52 Ancestors #41

I was looking for the most children in one family for this week's theme and without going back to colonial New England, I think that my third great-grandparents, George Lysle and Margaret McIlwaine had the most children of any ancestor in the past 200 years or so.

George Lysle, Sr.

Margaret (McIlwaine) Lysle

The very basic information about the family comes from a printed family tree from the late 1930s that has been passed down in the family which I shared in May 2013.

Libby: Least Number of Cousins ~ 52 Ancestors #40

My paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Adsit, known as Libby, is the grandparent with the least number of close family, specifically first cousins. I have no first cousins, second cousins, or third cousins on this specific ancestral line. I showed this graphically at  Descendants of my Great-Grandparents and in a list at Counting Third Cousins.

Elizabeth Adsit, circa 1913, about 16 years old

John Hull, Mintmaster ~ 52 Ancestors #39

Earlier this week, while reading an article in The Boston Globe about one of the oldest American coins being put up for auction, I thought I saw a familiar name and checked my family tree.

John Hull, authorized as "mintmaster" by the Massachusetts General Court in 1652, is my 8th great grandfather.

He and a colleague, Robert Sanderson, established a mint in Boston, about where Macy's currently is located, according to the Boston Globe article. The earliest coins minted in America were at this mint in Boston in 1652. The men continued to mint coins for several decades, but all were dated 1652 to be able to claim that the coins were made during the period right after the English Civil War. (Otherwise minting of coins in the colonies was a treasonous act!)

Image from The Boston Globe article

John Hull was born in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England, on December 18, 1624, to Robert and Elizabeth Hull. The family immigrated to Boston in 1635, where his father, was granted 25 acres for farming, though he primarily worked as a blacksmith. 

School Pins and Rings ~ 52 Ancestors #38

Recently, my brothers and I were going through some items that had come from my mother's collection of family treasures.

Some items had symbols on them that needed to be deciphered.

The first items were relatively easy to decipher. This pendant has the Greek letters Beta Theta Pi. It is just under an inch in diameter and is stored in this small leather case.

Grandfather Lowell Townsend Copeland attended Northwestern University in the early 1920s. He was a proud member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. I shared information from his school yearbook at What Else You Can Find in Yearbooks.

Copeland Cenotaphs in Maine ~ 52 Ancestors #37

A cenotaph is a cemetery marker placed in honor of a person whose remains are elsewhere.

I have a few ancestors who have what appear to be two burial locations, but it turns out that they are buried in one place and have a cenotaph in another.

My second great-grandmother, Sarah (Lowell) Copeland, was born in Calais, Maine, in 1833, living there until the death of her husband, Henry Clay Copeland in 1912 (in Calais). Soon after, she moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to live with her daughter, Katherine (Copeland) Dunbar and her husband, William Dunbar. When she died on January 9, 1916, her remains were buried in the Copeland-Dunbar plot (Cherry Avenue, Section 6, Lot 49) in Forest Hills Cemetery, in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, a neighborhood of Boston, not too far from Cambridge.

S. L. C.
1833 - 1916

1796 Deed, Moses Hull to Stephen Pyle ~ 52 Ancestors #36

FamilySearch Full Search Text is a wonderful new resource, released just over six months ago, and it's quite a genealogical rabbit hole. Some Canadian records have recently been added and among several other deeds naming Stephen Pyle, I found one from 1796 in which my fourth great-grandfather, Moses Hull, sold land to his future son-in-law, my third great-grandfather, Stephen Pyle. 

From Guysborough Land Records. 1810-1818 (though many are from the 1780s and 1790s).

All Mixed Up: Three Joseph Roses ~ 52 Ancestors #35

My Rose ancestral line has three generations of men named Joseph Rose. Because they lived in New York City and northern New Jersey in the late 18th century and well into the 19th century, where records may not have been easily viewed and analyzed in the past, they have been conflated in various reports. They also tended to name their children the same names, generation after generation.

The immigrant Joseph Rose, believed to be born in England about 1735, lived in Manhattan, New York, and died February 28, 1807. He is buried in Trinity Churchyard, a historic graveyard now in the financial district of Manhattan. See his FindAGrave memorial. His wife, Barbara Egbertse (or Egburson) predeceased him on April 13, 1806. She is buried next to her husband and also has a FindAGrave memorial.

Joseph Rose headstone, courtesy BKGeni at FindAGrave

Barbara Rose headstone, courtesy BKGeni at FindAGrave

They had seven children, mentioned in their father's will: Mary, Joseph, William Lucius, Isaac, Ann, Samuel, and Elizabeth. 

Mechanical Bank Collectors of America ~ 52 Ancestors #34

I have written about the sisters of my grandmother many times. Great Aunt Margie was a favorite of her nieces and grand nieces and grand nephews. Great Aunt Mary not so much. Together with their sister Caroline, both aunts fought Standard Oil in 1952, protecting their and their neighbors' farms north of Pittsburgh.

In my post about Aunt Margie, I mentioned her membership in the Mechanical Bank Collectors of America (MBCA). In fact, both Aunt Margie and Aunt Mary were longtime members. Aunt Mary collected so many mechanical banks that she was written up in a Pittsburgh newspaper in 1947.

Girl Skipping Rope bank

Favorite Discovery: Mammoth Cave National Park ~ 52 Ancestors #33

One of my favorite discoveries is about a relative's ownership of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky almost 200 years ago.

My third great-grand uncle Franklin Gorin was born May 3, 1798, in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky, to John Gorin and Elizabeth Franklin. He is supposedly the first white child born in the county.

He married three times and had ten or eleven children.

In the 1830s, he served in the Kentucky legislature and in 1874, ran for U.S. Congress, representing Kentucky's 3rd District, but lost to Charles Milliken.

Also, for a short period of time, he owned Kentucky's Mammoth Cave, now known as Mammoth Cave National Park. 

From the National Park Service: "Rolling hills, deep river valleys, and the world's longest known cave system. Mammoth Cave National Park is home to thousands of years of human history and a rich diversity of plant and animal life, earning it the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve."

The Historic Entrance to Mammoth Cave is a natural opening
that has been used by people for 5,000 years.
Public Domain image by NPS, Wikimedia Commons.

Amos Townsend ~ 52 Ancestors #32

I am not fully convinced of all the details that I shared in the Surname Saturday post about this ancestral line and I am trying to find additional information on my Townsend ancestors.

While I work on the Townsend family, I will share two brief advertisements that I found that mentioned my 4th great-grandfather, Dr. Amos Townsend (1779-1862), of Norridgewock, Maine.

Kennebec (Maine) Journal, 20 August 1830, p. 4

Davenport's Celebrated Eye Water!
   Which needs only be used, to be highly approved
of for all sorts of weak and sore eyes. From among
the numerous certificates offered in favor of this
excellent collyrium, one only will be published
from Dr Amos Townsend of Norridgewock.
   This may certify I have used Davenport's Eye
Water in a number of cases and have never known
it to fail in one instance.           AMOS TOWNSEND.
   February 23, 1830.

And I guess Dr. Townsend continued to support this "Eye Water" because two years later, he is still mentioned in the advertisement in the Kennebec Journal.

End of the Line - Charles Chapin Adsit Jr. ~ 52 Ancestors #31

Charles Chapin Adsit, Jr. was born in 1892, to Charles Chapin Adsit and Mary Bowman Ashby. His father and his grandfather, James, had been prominent businessmen in Chicago for many decades. He was four years old when his sister, Elizabeth, was born. He is the end of this particular ancestral line of men with the Adsit surname as can be seen at Surname Saturday:Adsit. See a photo of him and his sister at 1904 Car.

By 1917, he was a stock and bond broker, working in his father's office at The Rookery Building, an historic office building at 209 South LaSalle Street, as reported in his World War I Draft Registration Card.

This is one section of his registration. All men were required to register for the draft, but not all men served in the military.

From the WWI Draft Registration Card for Charles Chapin Adsit, Jr., June 5, 1917

However, one week after he registered for the draft, he enlisted in the navy.

Freeland Sisters Marry Lake Captains ~ 52 Ancestors #30

When my 4th great-grandfather David Freeland and his family immigrated from Scotland in 1821, they originally settled in Lanark, Ontario, Canada. Within ten years, he was in New Hartford, Oneida County, New York. Widowed by 1840, he likely lived with various of his children until his death in 1862 in Buffalo, New York.

In previous centuries, travel by waterway was often easier and more efficient than traveling over land. Three of David Freeland's daughters married ship captains who spent much of their lives on Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes. 

Appreciative of Automobiles ~ 52 Ancestors #29

My husband and I traveled to Nova Scotia for eight days at the end of June. This was a place I had wanted to visit for years. We drove from eastern Massachusetts to Bar Harbor, Maine (over five hours), took the CAT Ferry to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and spent one night there before driving to Halifax (over three hours) and spending four nights. There was a stop in Liverpool for lunch.

Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, was a good "home base." We did a couple of day trips from Halifax where we drove at least an hour each way (one day to Burntcoat Head Park to see the Bay of Fundy at low tide and another day to see Peggy's Cove). In Halifax, we visited the Citadel, a centuries-old hilltop fort, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, and Fairview Lawn Cemetery. The Maritime Museum has interesting exhibits about the April 15, 1912, sinking of the Titanic and the December 6, 1917, Halifax Explosion. The Fairview Lawn Cemetery has a somber memorial to victims of the Titanic as well as a memorial to those who died in the Halifax Explosion.

The next drive was from Halifax to Guysborough with a stop in Truro for lunch. 

We had a wonderful two days in Guysborough, where I spent some time in the old Court House Museum, home of the Guysborough Historical Society. I met a fifth cousin (a Hull) and a fourth cousin (a Pyle) who showed us the sights: cemeteries, churches, and the house built by Stephen Pyle probably in the 1790s in which my second great-grandfather, James Pyle, was likely born in 1823.

The Stephen Pyle house in Boylston, Nova Scotia.

Grandfather Loved Trains! ~ 52 Ancestors #28

My maternal grandfather, Lowell Townsend Copeland, loved trains. 

In 1947, he and my grandmother took my mother and her younger sisters on a vacation via cross-country train from Pittsburgh.

Ann, Caroline, and Margot Copeland, July 1947

Several years ago, my mother told me what she remembered about the 21-day train trip to the West Coast: from Pittsburgh they went to Chicago, then to San Francisco, followed by Los Angeles, then back to Pittsburgh. Of the 21 days, she remembered that they spent 20 of them on the train.

James Pyle and Air Safety ~ 52 Ancestors #27

On page B10 of the April 9, 1998, New York Times, the lead obituary contained the following headline.

James Tolman Pyle, my father's first cousin, was born on November 8, 1913, to David Hunter McAlpin Pyle and Dorothy Merle-Smith. He was named for his grandfather, James Tolman Pyle, who died less than two years before his birth.

 This obituary is full of wonderful detail.

Maiden Aunts Carrie and Eliza Lysle ~ 52 Ancestors #26

A newspaper's social column in newspapers a hundred years ago was how you knew who was in town and who was traveling to visit family.

"The Misses Lysle Visit Here," Pittsburgh Post Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania),
2 April 1913, p. 16, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com.

The Misses Lysle Visit Here

   Miss Caroline and Miss Eliza Lysle, of Washington, D. C., are at the Hotel Schenley. The Misses Lysle have spent the winter at the Chalfonte, Atlantic City, and are in Pittsburgh for a fortnight, before returning to Washington to re-open their apartments for the spring season.

Edwin A. McAlpin Had Stories ~ 52 Ancestors #25

My second great uncle, Edwin Augustus McAlpin, was born on June 9, 1848, to David Hunter McAlpin (1816-1901) and Frances Adelaide Rose (1829-1870).

Edwin A. McAlpin, Courtesy Wikipedia

 

His New York Times obituary (13 April 1917, p. 13, col. 5) suggests that he probably had many stories to share.

William S. Ashby Struck by Lightning, 1883 ~ 52 Ancestors #24

William Shrewsbury Ashby was born November 18, 1859, in Barren County, Kentucky, to Napoleon Bonaparte Ashby and Juliet Shrewsbury, the eldest of their six children. He was a first cousin of my great-grandmother, Mary Bowman (Ashby) Adsit (1863-1956) so my first cousin three times removed.

Napoleon Ashby was in Russellville, Logan County in 1850, but by 1860, he was married and living in Barren County where it appears all of his children were born. (His younger brother, Daniel Morgan Ashby, my second great-grandfather, lived in Barren County for many years.)

By 1880, Napoleon B. Ashby's family returned to Russellville. His six children were living with him: Willie S. (age 20), Linda (18), Henry C. (16), Mary (14), Emma (12), and Benjamin M. (10). Two boarders in the household were Willie Hughes and Permelia Hall, age 78, who should have been listed as his mother; she was twice-widowed Permelia (Christian) (Ashby) Hall, whose death date I still have not identified.

1880 US Census, Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky, ED 164, p 443B,
dwelling 232, family 232, Napolion [sic] B. Ashby household.

By 1883, son William was setting out on his own. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for his parents and younger siblings when they heard the following news.

Louisa May Greeley, Health Teacher ~ 52 Ancestors #23

Louisa May Greeley was born in December 1895, in Winnetka, Illinois, to Morris Larned Greeley and Anne Sophia Foote. She was half first cousin of my grandfather, Lowell Townsend Copeland.

She attended Wellesley College, graduating in 1918 with a BA degree from the "department of hygiene."

Wellesley College Yearbook, 1918, p. 115

The one other yearbook page that I find her on is the Running page. I have placed a blue star to identify who I believe is Louisa.

Wellesley College Yearbook, 1918, p. 172

Creativity: William Scott Pyle Jr ~ 52 Ancestors #22

Obituary, 17 February 1938, New York Times, p. 21, col. 6

W. Scott Pyle, Artist and Paint Originator
American Who Experimented With Plant Colors in Europe Is Dead at The Hague

   W. Scott Pyle, American artist, died in The Hague, The Netherlands, on Sunday [February 13, 1938] after an operation, according to word received here yesterday. He had gone abroad in June, taking some of his paintings with him for exhibitions in Switzerland and The Hague.
   Mr. Pyle left Princeton in his sophomore year to study painting, first under William Chase, then at the Academy of Munich and with Frank Brangwyn. He had exhibited at the academy shows in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Washington and also in the art museums of Detroit and Toledo.
   Until the last few years he was living in Europe, where he took a leading part in lengthy experiments with paints made from plant colors, which were finally manufactured by the Goetheanum in Switzerland.
   His clubs included the Princeton, University and Racquet and Tennis.
  Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Mietra [sic: should be Maria] Waller Pyle; a daughter, Joan; his mother, Mrs. William Scott Pyle, and a sister, Mrs. Albert Spalding.

William Scott Pyle, Jr. was born on June 22, 1888, in Monmouth, New Jersey, to William Scott Pyle (photo here) and Mary Ann Vanderhoef. He was their third child. The oldest, James Vanderhoef Pyle, died in 1887 of Diphtheria.

His older sister, Mary Vanderhoef Pyle, married famed violinist Albert Spalding. Because their father had died by the time they wed in July 1919, William Junior gave his sister away.

He was the first cousin of my grandfather, Charles McAlpin Pyle, making him my first cousin twice removed.

Nickname: Townsend Toby Lowell ~ 52 Ancestors #21

My grandfather was born Lowell Townsend Copeland on December 21, 1900, to Lowell Copeland and Ethel May Greeley. This is his Cook County, Illinois, birth certificate.

He was called Townsend, to differentiate himself from his father. He is Townsend in census records, on the back of photographs, and in school yearbooks.

In this labeled photograph, Grandfather was 2 years, 9 months old. His nurse / nanny was Elvira and he was very fond of her. This was likely taken at his home or his maternal grandfather's home in Winnetka, Illinois.

For Aunt Ruth [Ruth Lyman Wells, 1862-1943]
Townsend and his Elvira
Sept 1902

Taking Care of Business: Martin Adsit ~ 52 Ancestors #20

My second great grandfather, James Monroe Adsit, was born in Spencertown, Columbia County, New York, and was in Chicago, Illinois by 1838, becoming one of its earliest bankers. I previously shared his photograph and I share it again here.

James Monroe Adsit (1809-1894)

His younger brother, Martin Noah Adsit, also born in Spencertown, was in Hornellsville, Steuben County, New York by 1826 (according to obituaries) with his uncle Ira Davenport (brother of my third great-grandmother, Fanny (Davenport) (Adsit) Davis). He remained in Hornellsville until his death in December 1903, just shy of his 91st birthday.

Hornellsville is about 300 miles west of Spencertown.

I found great information about this third great uncle in New York newspapers.

Preserve: Mary Lois Hunter ~ 52 Ancestors #19

This week's theme is Preserve. I have so many items that have been saved and handed down to me as the family historian, so it was hard (but fun) to choose one item to share.

My second great-grandparents, James Hunter and Mary (Freeland) Hunter, had ten children. Their ninth child (my great great aunt) died at age 22.

Pennsylvania, U..S., Death Certificates, 1906-1970, courtesy Ancestry.com

Her death certificate reports that she died on April 14, 1911, at Allegheny General Hospital, of "General Peritonitis following operation for appendicitis & floating kidney." Interestingly, her oldest brother, H.L. Hunter, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was the informant. Her parents both died in 1902.

What is the preserved item here? I have a copy of her original will, written about three weeks before her death.

Love and Marriage: Henry and Sarah, 1858 ~ 52 Ancestors #18

Maine Marriages, 1771-1907, FamilySearch

My second great-grandparents, Henry C. Copeland and Sarah Lowell, both of Calais, Maine, were married on Wednesday, December 15, 1858. They submitted their intention to marry with the city clerk on December 9. (By the way, the City Clerk's name is Samuel Lambe; it took some creativity to confirm that signature.)

Calais, Washington County, Maine, is one of the northernmost locations in my family tree. It is 330 miles from Boston, a long way to travel in the mid-19th century.

War: Death in King Philip's War, 1675 ~ 52 Ancestors #17

Thomas Cooper (my 8th great-grandfather) was born in England about 1617 and left London in March 1634/35 on the Christian as an apprentice of Francis Stiles, who was instructed to teach him the carpentry trade. Thomas was next found in Windsor, Connecticut.

By 1641, Thomas was married (to Sarah Slye) and he was settled in Springfield in 1642, where his youngest eight children's births were recorded. (It is unclear where his eldest child was born, but possibly in Connecticut where he resided briefly before moving to Springfield.) Thomas worked as a carpenter (among other things) in Springfield and he was contracted to build the meetinghouse in 1644.

View of Springfield from the Connecticut River by Alvan Fisher (Brooklyn Museum)

His nine children were Sarah, Timothy, Thomas, Elizabeth, Mary, John (died at age 2), a stillborn daughter, Rebecca, and John (killed by Indians in September 1677 in Hatfield).

Thomas was an Ensign in the Springfield company in 1657. (Remember at this time, all towns had militias in order to protect their communities). He became Lieutenant in 1667. He served in many capacities in Springfield, including serving as one of the first members of their Board of Selectmen in various (not all) years from 1644 through 1674. He served as Clerk of the Writs from 1662 until his death in 1675, suggesting a more than typical education. In 1662 he was also elected as Constable.

Step: Dad's Step-Siblings ~ 52 Ancestors #16

My grandmother, Elizabeth Adsit, known as Libby to everyone including her grandchildren, married Edgar Carter Rust on August 12, 1933, after divorcing my grandfather. 

They had been married for 29 years when this photo was taken.

Elizabeth (Adsit) Rust and Edgar Carter Rust
Summer 1962

Three years after they married, they traveled to Europe with my dad and Edgar's youngest son, Kenneth. I have a couple of photographs from this trip. This one has been enhanced and colorized by MyHeritage.

School Days: Poop-deck Pappy Pyle? ~ 52 Ancestors #15

Someone in my family probably has my dad's high school yearbook, but I can see it at Ancestry's U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016 database. He attended Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts, from 1937 to 1942.

The school used and still uses the British educational notations, Forms III, IV, V, and VI, though they now also refer to freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. (Form I and II, also known as seventh and eighth grades, were dropped many years ago.)

The 1942 yearbook includes a history of the class which covers over four pages of the yearbook. Near the end of the "Sixth Form History" was this paragraph.

Favorite Recipe: Spiced Pecans ~ 52 Ancestors #14

In recent years, my mother downsized a couple of times and had consolidated her recipes at the family summer house. When my siblings and I were emptying the kitchen for a renovation, I was given my mother's collection of recipe boxes. This week's theme prompted me to take them out of the bag and see what I have.

It appears that she copied recipes to have at two different residences (and possibly to give away), because I see multiple copies of the same recipes in these boxes. (One being Hermit Cookies, which I blogged about over a dozen years ago.) There are recipes in my grandmother's handwriting, recipes from other relatives and friends, and many cut from newspapers.

Here's a favorite of my mother, me, and my family, in my mother's handwriting.

SPICED PECANS