The 1787 Will of Elias Lyman ~ 52 Ancestors #47

I am participating in this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. Each week has an optional writing prompt and this week's writing prompt is Thankful.

I am thankful that I am currently participating in the ProGen Study Groups.

My most recent assignment was to transcribe a will or deed. I chose a New Hampshire ancestor whom I have not researched very much and transcribed his will. I am thankful that I have had this learning experience because it has (1) shown me the importance of transcribing every word of an old handwritten document and (2) helped me clarify the number of children of the writer of this will.

My 5th great-grandfather, Elias Lyman, was born in Enfield, Grafton County, New Hampshire, on 14 April 1754. [1] He married Ruth Griswold on 30 January 1776 in Enfield. [2] The only other sources I have for him are authored works: a 1935 Griswold family genealogy [3] and an 1872 Lyman family genealogy. [4]

Two of the children of Elias and Ruth were found in New Hampshire vital records:
Ruth Lyman (b. 7 January 1777 in Enfield)
Elias Lyman (b. 5 or 6 July 1778 in Lebanon)

Then there is Lucinda Lyman (born about 1784), my 4th great-grandmother, who married Thomas G. Wells, and two other children mentioned in the published genealogies: Lucy Lyman and Harry Lyman. The Lyman genealogy also included Roswell Lyman, but doesn't specifically list him as a child of Elias and Ruth. (And since the Griswold genealogy based its information on this family from the Lyman genealogy, it doesn't include Roswell Lyman.) Both genealogies included Tryphena, born 10 August 1810.

However, the will, written and proved in 1787, means that Elias Lyman died 23 years before Tryphena Lyman was born and therefore couldn't have been her father.

Section of 1787 will of Elias Lyman in which he lists his children

He referred to his beloved sons: Elias Roswell and Henry (with no punctuation between the names) and Elias inserted before and above Roswell. He referred to his beloved daughters, Ruth, Lucy, Lucinda (with punctuation). However, using the will and continuing with researching from the hints from the genealogies, I am surmising that he had six children: Ruth, Elias, Roswell, Lucy, Henry, and Lucinda, but I still need to explore each of these families to confirm the birth order.

Samuel Sewall Greeley: Always Bearded ~ 52 Ancestors #45

I am participating in this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. Each week has an optional writing prompt and last week's writing prompt was Bearded.

A quick glance and I can see that I have a few bearded ancestors. Following are the photos I have of my second great-grandfather, Samuel Sewall Greeley. It appears that he had a beard throughout his entire life.

He was born in Boston in 1824. This is a photograph of a photograph. He has quite a few descendants so hopefully the original is with another descendant.

He came to Chicago in 1853 and married his first wife in 1855. After her death in 1864, he returned to Massachusetts to marry a cousin in 1866.

Great-Grandmother was a Golfer ~ 52 Ancestors #41

I am participating in this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. Each week has an optional writing prompt and this week's writing prompt is Sports.

I have previously written about the athletes in my dad's family at Sports Center Saturday ~ Dad and golf and about his mother at Libby Was a Tennis Player.

One of my brothers mentioned to me that Libby's mother, Mary Bowman (Ashby) Adsit (1863-1956) was a very good golfer as a young woman. I had never heard this story, which goes to show that genealogists should interview everyone, even younger relatives, who might know something about the family.

My great-grandmother is found only as Mrs. Adsit or Mrs. C. C. Adsit in the nine or ten newspaper articles in which she is mentioned as playing in or winning golf tournaments.

According to this September 1898 Chicago Tribune article, the first women's golf tournament "in the west" was held at Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest, Illinois, and Mrs. Adsit placed 19th. At the time, she was about 35 years old and had a six-year-old son and a 15-month-old daughter (my grandmother).

     "Women's Golf Tourney," The Chicago Tribune, 8 September 1898, p. 8, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/349853896/ : accessed 11 October 2018).

Mrs. Adsit's home club, the Onwentsia Club, was formally organized at its present location in 1895, hosted the U.S. Amateur in 1899, and hosted the U.S. Open in 1906. (See History - Onwentsia Club.)

My Grandparents' 1931 Wedding ~ 52 Ancestors #40

I am participating in this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. Each week has an optional writing prompt and this week's writing prompt is Ten.

I have published 446 blog posts since April 2011 and I decided to go back to see what my tenth blog post was.

It turns out that this was one of my favorites, so I am repeating it here, slightly edited:

A Small 1931 Family Wedding

My mother's parents were married on September 5, 1931, in Princeton, New Jersey. I have a few items from this wedding. The announcement:

Helen and Toby (Lowell's nickname) had originally planned to marry in October 1931, but my grandfather's mother was ill and not expected to live long, so they moved the wedding back to September 5. The groom's mother, my great-grandmother Ethel May (Greeley) Copeland, died on October 3, 1931, in Princeton.

A Farm in Queens New York ~ 52 Ancestors #39

I am participating in this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. Each week has an optional writing prompt and this week's writing prompt is On the Farm.

Yes we all have plenty of farmers in our family trees. It's kind of fun to think about places where farmers were plentiful in the 19th century, but where I don't think we find farms now, like Jamaica, Queens County, New York.

My third great-grandfather, Thomas Cutler Whitman, was born in Nova Scotia in 1803 and immigrated with several members of his family to New York in 1857.

The 1860 U.S. census shows that he was a farmer. He is on the top line of this census image that includes his wife, Diana, and several children (and future son-in-law, William Bruce at the bottom).

1860 U.S. census, Queens County, New York, population schedule, Jamaica, p. 127, dwelling 873, family 964, Thomas C. Whitman; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 January 2010); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 845.

Value of real estate is blank, but value of personal estate is $1,000.

The fun part comes from finding that farmer on the non-population agricultural census schedule and seeing what he produced.