Something from Nothing

This story is one of my favorites because it was one of the most challenging. My student, Derek, is an emancipated minor. He has no contact with his mother and his father died in 2001. He chose a different project but challenged me to find anything about his family. All he gave me was his father's name and date of death. I started by looking for an obituary for his father and that gave use his grandparents' names. We progressed along his father's lines and rather quickly added more than fifteen direct line ancestors. The records that were the most useful were marriage records, death records, and census records. We took his father's family back to the early 19th century on all lines and found out all the branches of his father's tree were in Meigs County, Ohio during this time. The Bodkins are one of the families in his tree:

Ohio Bodkins in the 1880 Census

He also knew bits and pieces of his mother's family. He knew his uncle had died and found an obituary for him. He also knew his mother had an Aunt Clara and he found her obituary. Using the names from those records, he started piecing together the records and clues to find more distant relatives. As he searched, he found memories coming back to him of things he had heard throughout his life. His mother lost contact with her father when she was about four years old. However, we found him using Derek's memory of a few details - including the fact that he was in the Air Force. It turns out that he was a pilot in World War II.

Courtesy of Newspapers.com - The Fresno Bee, Monday, January 8, 1945

Needless to say, it was great to see Derek's enthusiasm grow. He proved to have great detective skills and was able to come up with clues to help move his research forward. On some days, he was in my room multiple times just to share what he found or check and see if I found more information. He really liked doing the detective work and putting together evidence to make a case for a particular relationship. In the end, he switched from his original project to the family history project. As of now, he has 70 ancestors with 183 census, birth, death, marriage, and military records documenting the connections.

5th great-grandparents - Jonathan Adams served as a Dragoon in the Revolutionary War.
Margaret, his widow, received a pension of $50 every six months.

52 Ancestors #30 - Rev. Thomas Wilson

This is a reposting of my first blog entry. 

Thomas Wilson, author of A Christian Dictionarie

Thomas Wilson was the minister at St. George the Martyr Church in Canterbury from 1586 to 1622.  He was also a prebendary* of Canterbury Cathedral. He was buried in his parish on the 25th of January 1621-22. He was the first to attempt to compile a dictionary of the Bible in English. The first edition appeared in 1612 and a second in 1616. Other editions were published after his death. He also published other works including Commentarie upon the most divine Epistle to the Romans  and Christ's Farewell to Jerusalem. 

In attempting to find information about the church, I discovered an interesting but sad story. The church was destroyed during a bombing raid that devastated much of downtown Canterbury in World War II. All that remains is one tower. On the night of May 31st/June 1st, 1942 Canterbury was targeted as part of the so-called "Baedeker Raids."** This attack was likely a reprisal for an R.A.F. bomber raid on Cologne the night of May 30th. About one fifth of the City of Canterbury was destroyed that night as about 100 bombs and 6,000 incendiaries were dropped in two and a half hours. Fire damaged many properties because the majority of buildings were made of timber. Forty-three people died, forty were seriously injured and forty-one had less serious injuries. Follow-up attacks came on June 3rd and June 7th but these were not as destructive as the June 1st attack. 

The church had a long history. There is evidence of a church on the site from 1100 A.D. It had been enlarged, most recently in 1879 when another local church was closed and the two congregations merged. 

Quotes about Thomas Wilson:

Robert Cushman (a member of the Pilgrim group in Leiden) - "a very excellent preacher in Canterbury, who was both a lover of goodnesse and good men." 

Historian Peter Clark - "probably the most distinguished preacher in early Jacobean Kent [who preached] themes from middle-of-the-road Calvinism." 

*prebendary - an honor granted to senior priest in the Anglican Church usually awarded for long and dedicated service to the diocese. 

** Baedeker was the publisher of an English travel guide book reportedly used by the Germans to choose their non-military targets. They looked for cities with at least three stars for historical significance. 

10th Great-Grandfather

Rev. Thomas Wilson & Christian Ower

Theophilus Wilson & Elizabeth

Seaborn Wilson & David Fiske

Anna Fiske & Timothy Carter

Benjamin Carter & Sarah Stone

Timothy Carter & Sarah Walker

Timothy Carter & Frances Freeland

Elias M. Carter & Rebecca Williamson

Augustus M. Carter & Mary Frances Stanley

Edward M. Carter & Fannie May Capen

T. Richard Carter & F. Lyndell Cotton

Tombstone Tuesday - Carroll E. Yates

Carroll Estes Yates, son of Estes Gilbert & Eva Delphinia (Hayes) Yates, was born on June 25, 1918 and died April 28, 1992. He was my great uncle, brother to my grandmother, Linona Alice Yates. His grave is in the Middle Intervale Cemetery, on Intervale Rd. in Bethel, Maine. This cemetery is located behind a meetinghouse built in 1816. For much of my life, the meetinghouse was in the possession of the Carter family. When the upkeep became too much, the family donated it to the Middle Intervale Meetinghouse Association. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. 

I knew him as "Uncle Tom" because all of my grandmother's siblings had nicknames that did not match their given names. I didn't see him often because he lived in Colorado while I was growing up. He had both arms covered in tattoos - which was fascinating to me as a kid. He was the only person I knew with tattoos - what a different world today! He enlisted in the army on February 19, 1941. His enlistment record shows he had graduated from high school, was single with no dependents, had worked as a lumberman, and was 5 ft. 9" tall and weighed 157 pounds. He enlisted as a private but as his gravestone shows, he was promoted over time to T. Sgt. (Technical Sargeant). His Veteran's Death File record shows an enlistment date of January 29, 1941. I'm not sure what explains the discrepancy between the two records. It's quite interesting to see what kinds of things one can learn from different records. 

The Homefront

Google News Archive can turn up interesting finds about your ancestors. I found this blurb about my great-grandmother, Annie (Gibbs) Cotton. I wish she was still alive so I could ask her what she actually did as a neighborhood group leader. I love the artwork of the war posters so I thought I would include a few that target the efforts of those on the homefront.

The Lewiston Daily Sun - Feb. 26, 1943

Neighborhood Group Leaders, Mechanic Falls

Mechanic Falls - Mrs. Herberta Mitchell, chairman of the neighborhood group, has issued the names of the group leaders and their territory. These leaders' aim is to assist those in their alloted territory with authentic knowledge pertaining to the war effort and to be of such assistance as may be needed. The public will cooperate and make this organization a success by calling on their leaders when assistance is wanted:..Mitchell Street, Annie Cotton;....

Google News Archive

Battle of Britain

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my genealogy blog! I am celebrating by reposting my first story. 

Thomas Wilson, author of A Christian Dictionarie

Thomas Wilson was the minister at St. George the Martyr Church in Canterbury from 1586 to 1622.  He was also a prebendary* of Canterbury Cathedral. He was buried in his parish on the 25th of January 1621-22. He was the first to attempt to compile a dictionary of the Bible in English. The first edition appeared in 1612 and a second in 1616. Other editions were published after his death. He also published other works including Commentarie upon the most divine Epistle to the Romans  and Christ's Farewell to Jerusalem. 

In attempting to find information about the church, I discovered an interesting but sad story. The church was destroyed during a bombing raid that devastated much of downtown Canterbury in World War II. All that remains is one tower. On the night of May 31st/June 1st, 1942 Canterbury was targeted as part of the so-called "Baedeker Raids."** This attack was likely a reprisal for an R.A.F. bomber raid on Cologne the night of May 30th. About one fifth of the City of Canterbury was destroyed that night as about 100 bombs and 6,000 incendiaries were dropped in two and a half hours. Fire damaged many properties because the majority of buildings were made of timber. Forty-three people died, forty were seriously injured and forty-one had less serious injuries. Follow-up attacks came on June 3rd and June 7th but these were not as destructive as the June 1st attack. 

The church had a long history. There is evidence of a church on the site from 1100 A.D. It had been enlarged, most recently in 1879 when another local church was closed and the two congregations merged. 

Quotes about Thomas Wilson:

Robert Cushman (a member of the Pilgrim group in Leiden) - "a very excellent preacher in Canterbury, who was both a lover of goodnesse and good men." 

Historian Peter Clark - "probably the most distinguished preacher in early Jacobean Kent [who preached] themes from middle-of-the-road Calvinism." 

*prebendary - an honor granted to senior priest in the Anglican Church usually awarded for long and dedicated service to the diocese. 

** Baedeker was the publisher of an English travel guide book reportedly used by the Germans to choose their non-military targets. They looked for cities with at least three stars for historical significance. 

10th Great-Grandfather

Rev. Thomas Wilson & Christian Ower

Theophilus Wilson & Elizabeth

Seaborn Wilson & David Fiske

Anna Fiske & Timothy Carter

Benjamin Carter & Sarah Stone

Timothy Carter & Sarah Walker

Timothy Carter & Frances Freeland

Elias M. Carter & Rebecca Williamson

Augustus M. Carter & Mary Frances Stanley

Edward M. Carter & Fannie May Capen

T. Richard Carter & F. Lyndell Cotton

Strong Women, Part 1

I am so lucky to have had wonderful strong female role models in my life. My great-aunts are two of those role models. 


Rebecca Williamson Carter Bailey - Aunt Becky was born in 1913. She graduated from college and got a master's degree. She spoke French and worked to keep that skill her entire life. She was always looking for opportunities to learn about the world and she and Uncle Bruce had a large library. She was an advocate of education and when she died she established a trust fund to help the children and grandchildren of her brothers get education or training beyond high school. 

Aunt Becky served as a WAVE in the Navy during World War II. She had a love of history and a keeper of family history and artifacts. She was very unconventional and a free-thinker. She got married in a red dress and she and Uncle Bruce never had any children. They lived very simply and for many years did not have indoor plumbing, electricity or a phone. She did have a huge wrap-around porch with hanging beds and hammocks which I loved to play on when I was a kid. The house was quite a way up in the woods and her nearest neighbors were out of sight and earshot. The view was magnificent! 


She was a wonderful aunt to her nephews and nieces and their children and grandchildren. Aunt Becky was tough as nails but very loving and caring. One of my visits with her when she was in her mid-eighties illustrates this well. She had been working around the farm when a barn door came off its rolling track and fell on her. She was less than 5 feet tall and weighed less than 100 pounds and as previously mentioned, in her eighties. She had broken and bruised some ribs but was quickly sent home from the hospital to recuperate. When my sister and I arrived for a visit she was propped up in a bed that had been set up in the dining room so she didn't have to go upstairs. We chatted about various things and she told us what happened. She said her thoughts while trapped under the door were "this would be a heck of way to die" and that motivated her to crawl out and get to her phone (family insisted she install one after Uncle Bruce died and she was there alone). She commented to us that "it's much better that this happened to me and not to one of you." We were very curious why she would say such a thing and her reply was that she didn't have to get up and go to work or take care of children. As we drove home we were laughing about her reasoning and how it was typical of her pragmatic view of the world.


Elizabeth Ayers Mason married my grandfather's brother, Stanley Carter. She was another college graduate in my family. This was fairly unusual for a woman born in 1907. She had a career as a social worker. Aunt Elizabeth was active in politics and interested in family history. She helped get the Bethel Historical Society started and hosted family reunions. She loved cats and I heard comments while I was growing up about the crazy cat lady who lived in West Bethel. I would just smile and say she was my aunt and she was not crazy; she was a very sweet lady. She did have about twenty cats at a time living with her after my uncle died. Most were dropped off by people who knew they would have a good home with her. She was ten years older than Uncle Stanley and close to fifty when they married so they had no children. Her cats were her children. She had all her cats spayed and neutered and they had regular check-ups. Her house was immaculate and the litter boxes were in the shed and cleaned daily so there was absolutely no odor. That's not an easy thing with that many cats. 

My best memories are of the Christmas parties Aunt Elizabeth had for me, my sister and my cousins, Becky, John and Nancy. They were elegant affairs. Everyone dressed up and she served tiny sandwiches with the crusts cut off and introduced us to types of bread and fillings we did not normally experience because they are usually reserved for adults at afternoon tea parties. There were fancy cookies and candies too. We ate off china plates with real silverware. There was classical music playing in the background. It was so sophisticated compared to our everyday lives. She treated us like adults and we adored her for it. Our gifts were often ceramic figurines, jewelry or music boxes - things our parents wouldn't buy for us because they didn't trust us not to break them immediately. I still have two pieces forty years later and neither has broken. We usually got a puzzle or toy too but what we treasured were the "grown-up" beautiful gifts. Mom made sure we used our best manners and wrote thank-you notes every year. When I was a young adult, I was living in West Bethel and Aunt Elizabeth walked daily and often passed our house. I would try to catch up with her every week and have a chat. She was a very interesting and active woman. 

I am very grateful to have had these two strong women as role models. They were adventurous and did things their own way without caring what other people thought of them. They were confident in their decisions and values and lived their lives with integrity and compassion. Both of them made a difference in the lives of others. They certainly made a difference in my life.


These pictures come from the Facebook page "I Grew Up in Bethel, Maine"