Tombstone Tuesday (May 14, 2013) -- Amey and Asquare Miller

My 4th great grandparents -- Amey (Bishop) Miller and Asquare Miller -- are both buried in Cumberland Cemetery on Dexter Street in Cumberland, Rhode Island [Rhode Island Historical Cemetery, Cumberland 3]. 

Amey Bishop was born April 22, 1781 and she died in Cumberland on October 31, 1864. Asquare Miller was born September 12, 1775 in Cumberland and he died there on April 26, 1825.

My descent from Amey and Asquare Miller is as follows:

               Asquare Miller m. Amey Bishop

               Eber Miller (1805 - 1877) m. Abby Hunt (1807 - 1893)

               Ruth Ann Miller (1828 - 1893) m. Samuel Carpenter (1828 - 1904)

               Samuel Eber Carpenter (1853 - 1929) m. Sarah Etta Freeman (1858 - 1945)

               Everett Shearman Carpenter (1891 - 1962) m. Ruth Eaton Cooke (1897 - 1979) -- 

               my grandparents.

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Photographs by the author (March 2010)

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Samaritan Sunday (May 12, 2013)

[If you should choose to adopt this prompt to contribute stories of folks who have gone out of their way to lend genealogy-related assistance to others, I would greatly appreciate a mention to Filiopietism Prism whenever you do so.  Thank you!  And please do use the same photograph below to illustrate the prompt and show it is adopted from this blog.  ;-) ]

Perhaps the ultimate genealogical gift is the gift of continued life -- to have the opportunity to knowingly extend someone's life and give him or her the possibility of having children or allowing him or her the time to pass on an individual or family history before departing.  But honestly, how many of us would interrupt or even cancel our own dreams and aspirations to give such a gift to a complete stranger??

Well, there is such a young man in New Hampshire and today we recognize and honor him here as a true Good Samaritan.

Cameron Lyle is a track and field standout at the University of New Hampshire.  He had his sights set on the America East Conference competitions in this, his senior year.  AND he also hoped to compete well in the famous Penn Relays as the culmination of some eight years of shot put training from high school through college.  But what do you do when you find out YOU are the only match on a national registry for a man desperate for a bone marrow transplant to survive a rare form of leukemia?

If you are 21-year-old Cameron Lyle, you do not hesitate a nanosecond and you give up your personal dreams and aspirations and you make arrangements to donate your precious bone marrow to possibly save and extend the life of someone you have never even met.

Read the full story of this Good Samaritan here and see a photo of this exceptional young man!

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Photograph of the The Good Samaritan sculpture by Francois-Leon Sicard (1862 - 1934).  The sculpture is located in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, France.  The photograph is by Marie-Lan Nguyen and has been placed in the public domain by her. See, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Good_Samaritan_Sicard_Tuileries.jpg

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (May 11, 2013)

Saturdays often allow a more leisurely approach to life than work days. I can more easily post links to some blog posts or other materials I have discovered during the week, or even to those discovered during a Saturday morning coffee and extended surfing of the blogosphere/internet.

Here are a few serendipitous discoveries from this week that I commend for inclusion on your reading list.

I sometimes pause to ponder (after the fact) the path my mind and poor typing on the keyboard travel when I find myself following some random piece of information that sets some of my synapses firing for one reason or another.  At other times I find some items of related interest while doing some intentional background research for a post I am working on.  This week I am highlighting a few of those meanderings to illustrate how I found my way to a few interesting reads.  

  

1.  It began with a "Today Only! Deep Discount" email announcing a great deal on a book called Pedigrees of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants.  Vol. III.  [Today only $22.50 rather than the regular paperback price of $37.95].   We all know the old saw about folks having traced their genealogy back to Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor (b. 742 - d. 814).  Since I had not read much about Ol' Charlemagne in some time next thing I know I am on Google selecting a quick read at the Wikipedia entry.  Brushing up on a little Charlemagneia, I am reminded that Karolus Magnus and I share the same birthday (month and day -- not year); Charlie the 1st, King of the Franks, had four wives and about six concubines; and Karl der Grosse supposedly had 18 children by eight of his ten wives and concubines -- but he only had four legitimate grandsons.  This last factoid was curious given the next step on my journey.  Mark Humphrys (who BTW has 148,000 page views per month!) gives many of us with deep Western European roots a new medal to pin on our genealogies!  Mark states that it is quite likely that EVERYONE in the West descends from Ol' Charles the Great!  Who knew?  See Mark's discussion of MRCAs (Most Recent Common Ancestor) here and learn about the connections that ALL of us quite likely have to . . . Well, you better go on the journey yourself.  

2.  An item in Heather Kuhn Roelker's Leaves For Trees "Follow Friday" yesterday reminded me of another detour I took while writing the post about my wife's great grandmother's determination to keep her family together and how she took in babies for the New York Foundling Home (see post of April 26, 2013).  In addition to learning about the "Orphan Train" (an interesting subject in itself), I stumbled across this site on Flicker.  It is heart-wrenching to see images of notes desperate mothers left when leaving their babies at the Foundling Home. 

3.  I stumbled across an interesting pictorial piece about the physical evolution of the driver's license when I was preparing a short photo post of my grandfather's 97-year-old paper Rhode Island driver's license on Thursday of this week.  Here is a very interesting photo journey through the evolution  of the driver's license in New York (1910 - 2013).

4.   How cool would it be to have an ancestor mentioned by name in a poem by a poet who was a  close friend of Longfellow?  And would it be even cooler to discover that the same ancestor was a life-long employee at the tavern and inn made famous by Longfellow himself??  Well, if you think so, then you must go here to Diane McLean Boumenot's blog One Rhode Island Family to read the details of her journey of discovery.  It is a well-written, engaging story complete with old and new photos.  Enjoy!

5.  The Legal Genealogist, Judy R. Russell, consistently provides timely, interesting and important reads on legal aspects of genealogy.  I completely agree with her views of the recent SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) decision that trims a little more off the public's access to government-collected information that could be very useful to those involved in genealogy research.  Read Judy's thoughts here. 

6.   And here is a very useful post that I had on my Saturday Serendipity list a couple of weeks ago and it somehow slipped through the cracks.  Barbara Poole, author of Life From The Roots blog, had a handy post here about discovery of family reunion possibilities and a directory of Family Associations.  Barbara includes a page example and cover photo of the 4th Edition of the Directory.

And last, but certainly not least . . .  Tomorrow is Mother's Day and for my family it is somewhat of a "genealogy trifecta."  Tomorrow is our older son's birthday, Mother's Day, AND the day we gather in historic Williamsburg, Virginia where our younger son, Christopher, will have his master's degree conferred in a graduation ceremony at The School of Education of The College of William and Mary (the second oldest college in the nation).  Happy Birthday Jonathan -- who celebrates with a return to his alma mater to see his brother graduate!  Happy Mother's day and much love to Shirley and Doreen (the grandmothers) and to Molly the mother of the birthday boy and the graduate!  And CONGRATULATIONS to Christopher for a job exceedingly well done as he graduates with straight As AND is already employed for the coming academic year!  Way to go . . . we are all very proud of you! 

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QUIZ ANSWER:  Last week in Saturday Serendipity I posed a question at the end of a couple of items related to May Day celebrations and traditions.  The question was, "Which American college has a continuing maypole tradition going back over 100 years?"  I had one particular college in mind that is an alma mater of my daughter-in-law, Pam.  Fellow blogger and distant cousin, Heather Wilkinson Rojo (of Nutfield Genealogy fame -- a Top 40 Blog for 2013), supplied a different answer and sent me to the web for a little research.  Here is the better answer to the quiz . . . I had Bryn Mawr College in mind since they have had a maypole tradition since 1900.  But, it turns out the tradition has not always been an annual event.  In the early days it was scheduled every couple of years with a Big event every four years.  The Bryn Mawr maypole events sometimes drew thousands of spectators.  Heather's daughter is a Simmons College grad and that was Heather's answer to the quiz.  Well, Simmons celebrated its 100th maypole anniversary on May Day 2012 and it appears Simmons has the longest continuous annual maypole celebration.  With a combined two centuries of maypole experience between Bryn Mawr and Simmons, perhaps it is time for what we might call a "maypole spin-off " between Bryn Mawr and Simmons.  It could be held on neutral territory between Boston and Bryn Mawr, PA and happen every few years as the maypole traditions of both colleges run into a second century.  I think Vassar sounds like a good venue for the event -- and it could be used as a charity fundraiser.  What do you think?  I for one would buy a ticket and shuffle off to Poughkeepsie for such an event and fundraiser!  

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Friday Fotos (May 10, 2013)

Maidford River -- Newport, Rhode Island (March 29, 2010)

Maidford River -- Newport, Rhode Island (March 29, 2010)

My ancestor, Richard Tew, was born in Maidford, Northhamptonshire, England in 1605.  He was wed to Mary Clarke of Priors Hardwick (about 9 miles from Maidford) around 1639.  They ventured together across the Atlantic to arrive in Newport, Rhode Island in 1640.  Mary was pregnant when they left England and she gave birth to a daughter during the crossing. Appropriately, Richard and Mary named their first-born child, Seaborn Tew.  

The reason Richard and Mary left England for America and why their destination appears to have been Newport, is unknown.  Thus far, I have discovered no definitive evidence that they owned any property in Newport prior to their arrival, nor that they knew anyone who lived in Newport before relocating there.  There were some Clarkes in Newport at the time, but there presently is nothing to connect Richard and Mary to those Clarkes.

Lacking any evidence so far that Richard and Mary knew any established residents of Newport who were from the Maidford area, it appears that Richard Tew of Maidford, England may have been at least partially responsible for the naming of at least two features of present-day Newport, Rhode Island -- the Maidford River and Maidford River Road (pictured above).

My descent from Richard Tew of Maidford, Northamptonshire, England is as follows:

               Richard Tew (1605 - 1673) m. Mary Clarke (1618 - 1687)

               Henry Tew (1654 - 1718) m. Dorcas _____ (1657 - 1694)

               Richard Tew (1678 -     ) m. Ruth Sisson (1680 - 1775)

               William Tew (1720 -     ) m. Jane Carr (1723 - 1800)

               John Tew (1746 - 1827) m. Hannah "Anna" Stafford (1743 - 1827)

               John Tew, Jr. (1784 - 1873) m. Anna (Nancy) Kenyon (1787 - 1868)

               Adam Tew (1825 - 1908) m. Susan A. Walker (1828 - 1893)

               John Andrew Tew (1853 - 1903) m. Margaret "Maggie" Conner (1860 - 1935)

               Arnold G. Tew (1896 - 1958) m. Huldah A. Hasselbaum (1898 - 1983) -- my grandparents

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Photographs taken by the author during the damaging March 2010 rain storms.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Treasure Chest Thursday -- 97 Years Ago Today (Everett S. Carpenter's 1916 Rhode Island Driver's License)

This is the paper driver's license granted to my grandfather 97 years ago today!  Everett S. Carpenter was permitted to "operate a motor vehicle other than a motor cycle" in Rhode Island for one year from May 9th, 1916.  I believe the folds were placed there so he could fit it into his wallet.  The license is made of very thin paper and it is amazing that it has survived in the condition it is in for 97 years! 

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Digital scan of the original driver's license, which is in the collection of the author. 

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Tombstone Tuesday -- A Mystery

Ebenezer Freeman is my 3x great grandfather.  Ebenezer was born in 1776 -- probably in Mendon, Massachusetts.  He married Sally Legg on November 13, 1803 in Mendon.  Sally was born on March 3, 1783 in Mendon, Massachusetts.

The photograph above is from an original in my possession.  The date, location and photographer are unknown and this is the mystery of this photograph.  I have no idea where the graves of Ebenezer and Sally Freeman are located, though I presume they are buried in Mendon because Ebenezer died in Mendon on September 15, 1828 and Sally died in 1857 most likely in Mendon also.

                    My descent from Ebenzer Freeman and Sally Legg  . . .

                    Their son, Mason Freeman m. Martha Amanda Shearman

                    Their daughter, Sarah Etta Freeman m. Samuel Eber Carpenter

                    Their son, Everett Shearman Carpenter m. Ruth Eaton Cooke (my grandparents)

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Original photograph of the graves of Ebenezer and Sally Freeman in the collection of the author. 

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Samaritan Sunday (May 5, 2013)

[If you should choose to adopt this prompt to contribute stories of folks who have gone out of their way to lend genealogy-related assistance to others, I would greatly appreciate a mention to Filiopietism Prism whenever you do so.  Thank you!  And please do use the same photograph below to illustrate the prompt and show it is adopted from this blog.  ;-) ]

A woman by the name of Kit Szanto was given a Bible by her aunt.  She has no idea how the Bible came to be in her family.  The Bible was not in the best of shape (having been rebound more than once), but it did have writing in it that dated back to the 1620s.  Kit thought it was old and interesting and maybe someone would want it, so she donated it to the Friends of Gabriola Library, which is located on Gabriola Island in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada.

A volunteer for the Friends of Gabriola Library, Kristen Miller, found the Bible in a box of books donated to the organization and she took it it to be appraised.  She was told it was not really worth much even though it was going on 400 years old.  Kristen brought the book back and over time she thumbed through it and found that the name Richard Pentecost kept recurring and one written entry stated, "Richard Pentecost his book 1742."

You can guess what happened next . . . Kristen visited a genealogy site on line and after some effort found a man named Ron Pentecost.  Ron turned out to be the great, great, great grandson of the man who wrote, "Richard Pentecost his book 1742."

Ron Pentecost lived in Toowoomba, Australia.  He dabbled in genealogy and subscribed to a genealogy website, but he had not visited the site in about a year when in April 2012 he decided on a whim to check in.  He found a message posted by Kristen Miller who lived in Canada.

It turns out the Ron Pentecost was going to be visiting Vancouver where his son was living and the Friends of Gabriola Library decided to give the Bible to Mr. Pentecost.  In September 2012 Ron Pentecost was presented with his long-lost family Bible during a special ceremony at Gabriola's new library.  A real Good Samaritan moment that you can read more about here. 

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Photograph of the The Good Samaritan sculpture by Francois-Leon Sicard (1862 - 1934).  The sculpture is located in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, France.  The photograph is by Marie-Lan Nguyen and has been placed in the public domain by her. See, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Good_Samaritan_Sicard_Tuileries.jpg

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (May 4, 2013)

Saturdays often allow a more leisurely approach to life than work days. I can more easily post links to some blog posts or other materials I have discovered during the week, or even to those discovered during a Saturday morning coffee and extended surfing of the blogosphere/internet.

Here are a few serendipitous discoveries from this week that I commend for inclusion on your reading list.

1.   On February 17, 2013 I had a post here at The Prism titled, "Genealogists' Addiction Vindicated."  A recent piece by Bruce Feiler in the New York Times discusses in more detail why a child's sense of being part of a larger family helps him or her to be more resilient and better able to moderate the effects of stress.  Moreover, the children who have the most self-confidence also have a strong sense of  intergenerational self.  They know they belong to something bigger than themselves.  Go here to read the full article and then get busy building that family narrative called a genealogy!  ;-)

2.  Since I am lucky enough to have the 1913 - 1914 diary of my paternal grandfather from his days at Phillips Academy, Andover Massachusetts, I understand the value a diary can have for giving detail and color to a family genealogy.  I must admit, however, that I had not given much thought to using the diary of non-family members in constructing the lives of ancestors.  Fortuitously, Jim Sanders has performed the leap for us and has written about it at Genealogy Blog. 

3.  On January 14, 2013 I had two posts here relating to the Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island.  You can see them here and here.  The Weekly Genealogist, edited by Lynn Betlock at NEHGS, has a piece by Lynn this week where she provides this link to the Dorr Rebellion Project website (and kindly gives my American Ancestors article on the subject a mention).  For those with an interest in Rhode Island history, this site can be a valuable tool in your research kit.  And if you have family from Rhode Island, you might be find it interesting to research if they were Dorrites or not.  Thank you Lynn!

4.  I posted here this week about an example in my genealogy of the disappearing May Day Basket tradition.  I recommend surfing over to The Family Curator to the May Day post by the Curator herself. Denise Levenick has a post about a more modern incarnation of the tradition that she and her sister engaged in during the 1960s.  Let's see if we can start to revive this tradition so it can be a fun blog prompt in 2014 for May Day photos and stories! 

5.  And still speaking of May Day, you REALLY need to take a few minutes to visit this website by Barbara Marlow Irwin.  It is dedicated to the maypole tradition.  Make sure you scroll down past the collection of vintage maypole photos to where the first non-maypole photos are posted and you will appreciate the now poignant nature of this historical photographic gem.  Then continue down to see the loving dedication represented by its continuation!  

[QUIZ TIME:  Which American college has a continuing maypole tradition going back over 100 years?  Place your answer in the Comments to this post.  My daughter-in-law, Pamela, is disqualified if she reads this since she has her graduate degree from the college.] 

6.  I have visited Moshassuck Cemetery in Central Falls, Rhode Island many times over the years because a good number of my Tew ancestors and family members are buried there.  Not too long ago I  learned that my 2x great grandparents (Mason and Martha Freeman) are also buried there.  But it was only two days ago while surfing around some old posts on the blog of Wendy Grant Walter (From A to Zophar) that I learned a startling fact about Moshassuck Cemetery that I never knew before.  Even if you have no connection to the Cumberland/Central Falls area of Rhode Island or to Moshassuck Cemetery, you will find this bit of fairly modern history amazing.  Scroll down to the paragraph just after the American flag photo and have a read here.  I know that the next time I am up at Moshassuck I am going to look a lot more closely at the gravestones!

7.  Any map lovers out there MUST check out the new map resource at the Digital Library of America (DLA).  There are now some 38,000 historical maps that can be viewed at the DLA.  A colleague at work shared the following link that explains how this astounding resource came to be so available to the public. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/04/oh-the-places-youll-go-38-000-historical-maps-to-explore-at-new-online-library/275438/  Thank you Dave for pointing out this link . . . and THANK YOU David Rumsey for painstakingly digitizing your huge collection and deciding to make it accessible on the Internet rather than locked away in a brick and mortar library!

And to end this post- May Day post with a return to the theme of flowers in May . . . today is the annual Mayflower luncheon of the Virginia Mayflower Society.  This year we will be at Natural Bridge, Virginia (which was once owned by Thomas Jefferson).  Remember the old saying, "April showers may bring May flowers . . . but it's the Mayflower that brings the Pilgrims!"

       

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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