Monday, September 11, 2023
Two adult William Smiths were living in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1775 and 1776. They were perhaps 12 years apart in age, and I have no evidence they were related. One of them—the older one—is my ancestor. By 1775, the older colonial New England habit of distinguishing same-name men by “senior,” “junior,” “3rd,” etc., in order […]
Last night, on the cusp between Father’s Day and Juneteenth, I took a closer look at my male-line ancestors. I knew they had enslaved people in Kentucky, and before that in Virginia. But wills and inventories had told only part of the story. For example, Richard Taylor, who fought in the Revolution, died intestate in […]
Working through footnotes for the current issue of The American Genealogist and stumbled on this rare appearance of heraldry in a probate register: arms of John Agmondisham, Esquire, of Rowbarne, parish of East Horsley, Surrey, in the registers of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury for 1572. [In the new style, this is TNA PROB 11/55/103; […]
Monday, December 10, 2012
In the previous post I figured out that my ancestor, Benjamin Allen of Salisbury and Rehoboth, was actually my neighbor for ten years when I lived by the Newman Cemetery in Rehoboth (now Rumford, RI)—and his gravestone may be extant, though misidentified in the RI Cemetery Database. On a sunny day last month I was […]
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
I have been completely ground to a halt by the Liljenquist collection of Civil War portraits at the Library of Congress. Seven hundred cased photographic portraits of Civil War soldiers and sailors and their families — most of them anonymous — were donated last fall by the Liljenquist family, specifically the two boys, Jason and […]
I just found this story, “An habitation enforced,” in an odd volume of Kipling in the East Washington barn. A young Gilded-Age Baltimore businessman, convalescing after nervous exhaustion, lands with his Connecticut wife for a rest-holiday on a farm in the English countryside. He regains his health as they fall in love with the place, […]
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Bruno, a cat, departed this life 31st December 2009, early in the morning, aged 14 years. He had struggled in recent years with obesity, and all his life with a certain simple-mindedness and avoidance of people. Back in 2005 he spent six days inside a wall. He leaves a twin sister, Oda, and a human […]
Just an odd bit culled from the website of the Times — Robertson Davies, writing in 1990, reminded us that Hallowe’en should be a good time to “revive the custom of giving some respectful heed to our forbears:” [O]ur forbears are deserving of tribute for one indisputable reason, if for no other: without them we […]
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
I’ve finally made some progress on the family of my great-aunt Natalie, wife of my great uncle George A. Smith (born Schmitt) of Louisville and New York City. Smith, an actor on stage and screen, married Natalie, a New York socialite when they were both in their late 40s, during the war in 1944; they […]
Thursday, September 25, 2008
OK, I’ve come to the bottom of my family militaria barrel but hope to identify things. This is a batch of things, of obviously mixed provenance, kept by my mother. A few messages to rec.heraldry helped narrow down the cardinals: likely something from WWII and hence from cousin Wilbur (army air forces) rather than from […]
