Missing in Photos: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Me, Myself and…”

 

Always the Photographer, Never the Subject
 

I had a brilliant idea for this post—a photo of me as a child at Christmas, a photo of me with my own children at Christmas, and a photo of me with my newest grandchild this Christmas. Sounds great, right? Except I struggled to find a SINGLE photo of me with my children at Christmas when they were young. I searched several years of albums. There were tons of photos of the kids alone and with my husband, but I was missing in action. Why? I was always the family photographer, and in an era before the “selfie”, I couldn’t take a photo with me in it.

Yes, my husband should have taken photos of me. Years later, I started demanding that he take one of me on every holiday and on every trip—I joked I wanted proof that I was alive. Sadly, it seems I really needed that proof. Paging through our family photo albums, my children and their children might start to wonder if I was part of their lives at all!

So a word of warning to the family photographer: get someone to take photos of you! Lots of photos! Better yet, encourage everyone in the family to take photos. One person shouldn’t be solely responsible for recording the family. Luckily in the age of cell phones, that’s much easier than it used to be.

Me at age 3, my brother at 5 months. Christmas 1962

Here are the Christmas photos of me at three different stages of life. Yes, I finally found one of me and my daughter when she was one year old. It was a four-generation photo I made my husband take during a Christmas visit home to my parents’ house. Proof I was alive in 1989!

Christmas 1989: from left, Roxie, Amanda, my Grandma Nora Macbeth and my mom Ione Peterson.

Christmas Eve 2023 with grandbaby Kaia, 6 1/2 months

Krumkake or Skrullers? 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Family Recipe”

 

My Favorite Norwegian Christmas Cookie

 

I grew up in an area of southern Minnesota that was settled by Norwegian immigrants. My ancestors were among those immigrants. Their descendants liked to celebrate their Norwegian heritage with food, especially at Christmas. They would dig out the old family recipes and would cook and bake wonderful Norwegian foods like sot suppe (sweet soup), rommegrot (cream porridge), rommebrod (cream bread), kringlar, lutefisk, rosettes, and of course lefse. My favorite among these treats was a thin, rolled cookie similar to Italian pizzelles. Most Norwegians call them krumkake (translates roughly as “curved cookie”), but many people in my small town called them skrulle or skrullers (translates to “scroll”).

So far I’ve been too lazy to learn how to make lefse, but twenty years ago, I bought a krumkake iron and learned how to make skrullers. I wanted my children to be exposed to at least one Norwegian treat—to celebrate that part of their heritage at Christmas. Skrullers or krumkake have become a staple in my annual Christmas cookie baking binge.

Krumkake tools: electrice Krumkake Iron, spatula and wooden dowel roller

So krumkake vs. skruller? It appears to be a regional difference—a certain area of Norway called them skrulle, probably because they resemble scrolls when they are rolled into a cone shape. I found a Norwegian webpage titled “Fant 16 synonym til krumkake”, which I believe means “16 synonyms for krumkake”. “Skrull” is number 3.

Batter on the krumkake iron

Here’s the recipe I use for my skrulle/skrullers/krumkake:

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

½ cup butter, melted

2 tblsp corn starch

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp cardamom OR 1 tsp almond extract

Beat eggs and sugar—don’t overbeat. Add cooled, melted butter, vanilla, and cardamom and mix in. Sift flour and corn starch and add to egg mixture. Batter will have a dough-like consistency. Spoon batter onto the heated, greased krumkake iron. It is best to place batter a little toward the back of the iron as it will be squeezed forward when iron is closed. Press iron tightly closed and cook till krumkake are lightly browned.

Rolling the Krumkake

Use a spatula to lift off krumkake one at a time and wrap around wooden spindle and shape into a cone. Sprinkle finished krumkake with powdered sugar. Makes about 50 krumkake.

Ingredients and finished krumkake, ready to sprinkle with powdered sugar

The finished cookies are light and crispy with just the perfect amount of sweetness. Some people like to fill them with whipped cream, but I like them just as they are.

I think of my grandmother whenever I make these cookies—Regina Syverson Peterson died before I was born, but she taught her daughters to make lefse and krumkake, and I feel connected to that tradition when I make them. 

Grandma Regina, wedding photo

Happy holidays! Or as they say in Norway, God Jul!

Back to Norway Through DNA Matches: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “DNA”

 

Tracing a Connection to a Distant Cousin Leads to Norway Discoveries

Marit Johannesdatter Rolstad: 1731-1788 (Paternal Third Great-Grandmother)
Anne Ohlsdatter Bottom: 1700-? (Paternal Fourth Great-Grandmother)
Marit Arnesdatter: 1663-1718 (Paternal Fifth-Great-Grandmother)
JB: Paternal Sixth Cousin

 

Much of my research on the Norwegian side of my family tree ends one generation before the ancestor who immigrated to America. I feel confident that I can correctly identify the immigrants’ parents and siblings who remained in Norway. But I am nervous about moving back any additional generations. The old Norwegian surname system, where each generation had a different “surname” (which were a combination of patronymics and residence names), makes it hard for me to feel I am correctly identifying distant ancestors. I need to start learning about how to use the Bygdeboks, research records that trace the family ancestry of Norwegian farm families. They could help me add more generations with some confidence. But until then, I make the occasional discovery with the help of DNA matches. A recent match was especially serendipitous, extending my tree an additional three generations, back to a Norwegian ancestor born in 1663!

I originally was looking at a different potential fourth cousin when I ran across “JB”, the DNA match that helped me so much. I was trying to determine what part of the family line this other cousin came from, so pulled up our shared DNA matches on Ancestry DNA. JB was one of those shared matches. Ancestry had helpfully flagged JB as having a shared ancestor with me. I immediately pulled up the chart showing how we might be related. I was stunned to see the chart added three generations to my family tree: my great-grandmother Anne Gulbrandsdatter Peterson’s own grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother (my 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th great-grandmothers).

According to Ancestry’s DNA algorithm, JB and I shared my fifth-great-grandmother, Marit Arnesdatter, as a common ancestor. She was born in 1663! A tiny piece of her DNA travelled down through nearly four centuries of her descendants to me, to my son, and to our very distant cousin JB.

Lesja Bygdebok bind III pg 613

I am still in the process of verifying these new tree generations, but one of my distant relatives kindly posted on Ancestry copies of the Lesja, Norway Bygdebok that shows the family and descendants of Marit Arnesdatter’s daughter Anne Olsdatter Bottem, so it appears that I can verify at least two of these new generations on my tree. The research will continue!

Photo labelled in Norwegian as 'LagenLesjaBottem', and in English as 'Gudbrandsdalslågen river at Lesja, previously outflow of Lesja lake'. Note that both Gulbrands and Bottem were parts of my ancestors' surnames. Were they from this area of Lesja?

In one final note on the interesting little quirks of DNA: my son has a DNA link to JB, but my daughter does not. So the tiny DNA fragment I inherited from Marit Arnesdatter and passed down to my son didn’t get passed down to my daughter. Perhaps she has inherited a different fragment that will connect us to a new ancestor.

Sources:

Ancestry.com

Kjelland, Arnfinn. Bygdebok for Lesja Lesja kommune, 19872008.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L%C3%A5genLesjaBottem.jpg

Mormon Pioneer Woman? 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Random”

 

Down a Fascinating Rabbit Hole: Random Discovery of Mormon Pioneers in the Family Tree

Mary “Polly” Randall Pulsipher: 1789-1912 (First Cousin 5x Removed)
Harriet Pulsipher Pickett: 1811-1878 (Second Cousin 4x Removed)
Elizabeth “Betsey” Randall Pulsipher : 1787-1857 (First Cousin 5x Removed)

Sometimes I run across something that is very interesting but yet very random. It can set me off -- down the rabbit hole so to speak, hijacking my research plans for the day. That’s what happened when I started looking at the Randall-Pulsipher family. I got distracted by this distant offshoot of the family tree, but the entertainment value of my discoveries more than made up for the loss of my time.

My random journey began a few weeks ago with a message from FamilySearch informing me that I had a cousin who was a “pioneer”. I opened the message and discovered it referred to my first cousin 5x removed, Elizabeth “Betsey” Randall. She was the daughter of Deborah Rhoda Daniels, who was the sister of my 4^th Great Grandmother Polly Daniels, and the granddaughter of my 5^th Great-grandparents Samuel Daniels and Elizabeth Noble. I was excited, imagining Elizabeth in a wagon out on the prairie with Laura Ingalls Wilder or following the Oregon Trail. I quickly realized my mistake: when FamilySearch refers to “pioneers”, they mean Mormons who followed Brigham Young to Salt Lake City. I was surprised to find that I had a Mormon in the family tree, and as I researched further, I discovered that Elizabeth’s sister Mary “Polly” Randall was also a Mormon convert, and Polly’s daughter was as well.

Polly Randall Pulsipher

The Randall sisters grew up in Rockingham, Vermont with their five siblings. They married the Pulsipher brothers, also from Rockingham. Elizabeth married John Pulsipher March 2, 1809, and Polly married John’s younger brother Zerah Pulsipher on November 6, 1810.

The two couples were not Mormons when they married. Joseph Smith didn’t even found the Mormon faith until 1830. I was puzzled at how the Pulsiphers discovered Mormonism. A family history written by an LDS researcher offered one possible explanation, indicating that the Pulsiphers may have been distant cousins of Joseph Smith’s. Adah Mackleprang Wood wrote: “John Pulsipher, (the father of Zerah) was born July 8, Married in Rockingham, Elizabeth Dutton, who was born December 18, 1751, in Lunnenburg, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Thomas Dutton and his first wife, Mary Hill. She was a descendant of the Thomas Dutton and his wife, Susanna, who settled in Reading, Massachusetts, and were the fourth great-grand parents of our “Beloved Prophet Joseph Smith”. (2)

However, I found Zerah Pulsipher’s memoir online, and it provides a better explanation. Apparently Zerah was an itinerant Baptist minister and farmer living in Onondaga, New York when he heard about Joseph Smith’s “golden tablet”. He wrote he heard of “an ancient record or Golden Bible in Manchester near Palmyra which remark struck me like a shock of electricity at the same time thought it might be something that would give light to my mind upon principles that I had been thinking of for years and many times I had remarked that if the pure church with its gifts and graces was not on the earth, if so I had not found it.”

 He went to hear a Mormon missionary, but was not completely convinced until he had a vision in his barn where a “light came over my head which caused me to look up. I thought I saw the angels with the Book of Mormon in their hands in the attitude of showing it to me and saying “this is the great revelation of the last days in which all things spoken of by the prophets must be fulfilled.” The vision was so open and plain that I began to rejoice exceedingly so that I walked the length of my barn crying “Glory Hal-la-lu-ya to the God and the Lamb forever.”

But when my mind became calm I called the church together, (Note: he was their minister) and informed them of what I had seen. I told them of my determination to join the Church of Latter Day Saints, which I did and a large body of my church went with me. I was ordained to the office of an elder and went to preaching with considerable success at home and abroad. I had the privilege of baptizing Wilford Woodruff on the 31st of December, 1833, at Richland, New York.” (4)

Zerah Pulsipher

By the time of his conversion, Zerah was a widower who had remarried. Polly had given birth to their only child, Harriet Pulsipher, on September 11, 1811. Polly died a little over a year later on November 26, 1812, possibly in childbirth with a second child.

Zerah mentioned inviting his brother John and sister-in-law Elizabeth to live with him and farm in his autobiography, noting first that “John also married, but had no children.” He later wrote: “In the year 1814 I hired a farm at Bellows falls on the Connecticut River and being alone gave my brother John the privilege to work it with me.” I suspect that Elizabeth provided care for young Harriet as part of this arrangement, which ended at some point before the 1820 census. Zerah next moved to Pennsylvania where he married Mary Brown, and then on to Onondaga.

Article in 1963 LDS paper about Zerah

John Pulsipher converted to Mormonism as well, probably brought into the faith by his brother. He and Elizabeth followed the Mormons to their new settlement in Kirtland, Ohio. They were still living in Rockingham at the time of the 1830 census, so moved later in that decade. Zerah had arrived in Kirtland in 1835, so John and Elizabeth either accompanied Zerah and his family or followed him a bit later.  John is mentioned in the 1838 Kirtland Elders Quorum Record as being proposed for ordination. (3)

John and Elizabeth never had children, and he died in September 3, 1840 at the age of 58. I have found no death record for him. I suspect he died in Kirtland, but John and Elizabeth may have chosen to follow Zerah Pulsipher and most of the Mormon faithful to their next settlement in Daviess County, Missouri around 1839, so he may have died there. The Mormons were living under harsh conditions, with little food and frequent illness, which makes John’s death all too understandable.

Zerah’s autobiography doesn’t mention his brother’s death, but may contain one final reference to Elizabeth. He reports that he sent his daughter Mariah and his “sister” to care for desperately ill Mormons in Nauvoo. Since his natural sisters had married in Vermont and were living with their husbands and families at that point, I suspect he was referring to his widowed sister-in-law, who he probably had taken into his household. He also had his mother living with him.

Zerah moved to Utah in the first big migration from Nauvoo. He was president of the First Seventy, a high position in the church, so was considered an early leader in the church. He entered into a plural marriage, having three wives and numerous children.

Elizabeth travelled west with a Mormon wagon train in 1853. She is listed among the pioneers in the Daniel A. Miller/John W. Cooley Company, who left Six Mile Grove in Iowa (a now non-existent place in Harrison County along the Iowa border with Nebraska) on June 8 and arrived in Salt Lake City on September 9, 1853. She was 66 years old—an amazing age to decide to travel over 950 miles in a jouncing wooden wagon for three months. She does not seem to have travelled with any Pulsipher family members, so I am not sure who took responsibility for her during the arduous journey. (5)

Record of Elizabeth's blessing by Pres. Wofford

She lived in Ward 15 in Salt Lake City until her death on June 3, 1857 at the age of 70. Janet Hassard reported on FamilySearch that “Elizabeth Randall Pulsipher was sealed as a sign of love and respect to President Wilford Woodruff before President Woodruff's teaching that children should be sealed to their own parents.” Zerah Pulsipher wrote that he had baptized President Woodruff, so there was probably a strong relationship between the two families.

As for young Harriet Pulsipher, Polly and Zerah’s daughter, she married Hiram Pickett of Onondaga, New York. They followed the Mormon faithful to Ohio, settling in Geauga County, and then moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. However, following the attack at Nauvoo that killed Joseph Smith, the couple did not follow the Mormons to Utah. Instead, they moved to Green County Wisconsin, settling in the town of Monroe where they raised their six or seven children.

Harriet Pulsipher Pickett

According to a county history, Hiram “was there at the time the trouble occurred with the Mormons at Nauvoo, previous to their removal to Salt Lake. In 1843 he removed from Illinois to Green Co., Wis. The following year he settle at Wiota, where he resided till the spring of 1867. He then moved to Monroe, where he died Dec. 12, 1872.”(1)

Hiram Pickett headstone

It does not appear that the Picketts continued with the Mormon faith—perhaps the Nauvoo violence led them to rethink. Harriet died October 2, 1878 at the age of 67. At least five of her children survived to adulthood and had families of their own. Sons Nelson and Daniel and their families appear on the 1860 census for Wiota Wisconsin, just before the entry for Harriet and Hiram.

I was fascinated by what I discovered in my research about the early days of Mormonism. Digging through the Kirtland Elders Quorum Records was a delight—people getting censured for flirting or expressing doubts about the latest revelation from Joseph Smith. Zerah Pulipher’s autobiography was even more enticing—his “visions” were quite amazing, and his life experiences were quite harrowing. While I fell down a very twisty rabbit hole, this random bit of research was very entertaining.

 

Sources:

1.      The History of Green County Wisconsin. Hiram Pickett 1809-1872. Springfield, Ill.; Union Publishing Company 1884. Page 755.

2.      THE EARLY PULSIPHER FAMILY HISTORY.  Research and Arranging by Adah Mackleprang Wood. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/46986934/person/322508961954/hints

3.      Kirtland Elders Quorum Record, 1836-1841. July 15 and July 22, 1838 Records. https://josephsmithfoundation.org/kirtland-elders-quorum-record-1836-1841/

4.      AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ZERAH PULSIPHER (C. 1803-1862), History of Zera Pulsipher as Written by Himself. https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/history/zerah-pulsipher/

5.      Miller/Cooley Wagon Train member list:  https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/chd/list?filterOrganizationUri=%2Forganization%2Fpioneer-company%2Fdaniel-a-millerjohn-w-cooley-company-1853&subtype=pioneer-activity

6.      Photo of Zerah Pulsipher from FamilySearch, posted by mikellnelson1. https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/124681436?p=47699639&returnLabel=Zera%20Pulsipher%20(K2HH-5XK)&returnUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.familysearch.org%2Ftree%2Fperson%2Fmemories%2FK2HH-5XK

Rex the Racer: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Fast”

 

Motorcycles and Midget Racers: My Uncle the Racer

Dwight “Rex” Macbeth:  1934-2006  (Maternal Uncle)
 

My uncle Rex loved the roar of engines and the feeling of speed. He rode motorcycles, but not just as a means of transportation. He raced them, both on the flat track and risking his neck on “motorcycle hill climbs”. Hill climbs featured cyclists gunning their machines up rocky outcrops, either racing to the top or crashing part way up. The crowds loved the wrecks more than the successes, of course.

May 29 Cedar Rapids Gazette, Rex competes in motorcycle flat course

Rex also raced cars—“midget” racers, stock cars, anything that would send him hurtling around a track to the roar of the crowd. Even when he reached late middle age and was no longer racing, he still worked as a racetrack announcer. His first-hand experience and enthusiasm for the sport helped him bring the races to life for the audience.

St. Cloud Times June 20 1962

Despite racing being such an important part of his life, I only remember seeing him race once—a motorcycle hill climb near Mankato. I was really young—I don’t remember much except that it was cloudy and the hill the motorcyclists were trying to crest was covered with dead weeds and a lot of rocks. And I remember the noise of the engines, the low grumble making my chest vibrate.

My mother didn’t think much of Rex’s racing exploits, which is probably why we didn’t go to see him race more often. I don’t know if it was just sibling rivalry, or if she had some sort of issue with racing in general. My grandparents seem to have supported him—they attended races and helped him move race cars from Mankato to distant tracks. I don’t know if they provided financial support as well, or if his work running a gas station and repair shop paid the expenses.

He apparently was still racing in the late 1970s and early 1980s after his second marriage, as he introduced his stepson to the sport and they competed against one another according to info from a bio on his stepson’s website. Rex also sponsored other drivers—I saw a photo of another driver with the R&R Tire logo on the car’s door—Rex and his wife owned a tire store in Mankato, Minnesota called R&R Tires.

1984 Photo of Rex in his race car--Fairmont Speedway

I tried to find news articles about his racing career. I only found a few mentions in the press, along with some information from old race venues. I know our family has more photos than the ones I have used in this post, including some from hill climb events as well as photos of Rex and his various race cars. I need to find them and digitize them.

Belleville Kansas 15 August 1963

I wish my uncle was still around so I could talk to him about his racing career. He was a fascinating man and a fantastic raconteur, so I’m sure I would have heard some amazing stories.

Photos of Macbeth Family Reunions: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Reunion”

 

Two Photos, Two Decades
Walter Macbeth’s Children and Grandchildren

Walter Macbeth: 1860-1955 (Great Grandfather)

 

I am fortunate to have a couple of photos of Walter Macbeth’s family gathered at the Macbeth farm in the early part of the 1930s and another dated 1946. It is interesting to compare the clothes, the faces and the surroundings in the two photos of Macbeth family reunions.

Some family reunions are very large events that require immense planning and a large venue, while others are more intimate — a gathering of a matriarch and patriarch and their children and grandchildren. That’s the type of reunion captured in these two photos. It is unclear if the family was gathering in honor of a holiday or one family member’s birthday or other significant occasion, or if they just selected a summer day to gather back at the old homestead and spend time with one another. My grandmother, Nora Hoffman Macbeth and my great-aunt Annie Macbeth Schostag both labelled the photos “Macbeth Reunion” but provided no further details. The photos both depict the Walter and Lucy Macbeth family: Walter, Lucy, and some of their children and grandchildren.

Sadly, I haven’t seen enough photos of my grandfather’s siblings, nieces and nephews that I am able to identify everyone in the photos. I can pick out my grandparents, my mother, her brother/my uncle Rex, and my great-grandfather Walter. Great-aunt Annie and her husband are also easy to identify, along with my mom’s cousin Joanna (daughter of Harold Macbeth).

I’m not sure of the location of the first photo. I don’t recognize the trees in the background, and no buildings are visible. The bush in the foreground looks like a peony, but is not blooming. In addition, one person in the front row is wearing a jacket. This seems to indicate a spring or early fall date—warm but not hot. My grandmother is at the far right, holding my mother, who appears to be a toddler. My mother was born in April 1928, so I am guessing that this gathering was fall 1930 when she was two to two and a half years old. The cloche hats the ladies are wearing are appropriate for 1930.

My grandfather, Ivan Macbeth, is in the back row, the second man from the right. His father, my great-grandfather Walter Macbeth, is at the far left, and I think the wide lady in the white dress near the center is his wife Lucy. Gus Schostag is next to her. I believe the man in the front row holding the baby is my great uncle Ray Macheth, holding his son Wilfred, who had just been born in May 1930. If the photo was taken in September or October 1930, that would make little Wilfred about four or five months old. I don’t recognize anyone else with any surety.

The second photo was from an album owned by Annie Macbeth Schostag. She identified it as “Macbeth Reunion--1946”. I recognize this location: my grandparents’ farm, which was the Macbeth homeplace where Walter and Lucy raised their family. My grandparents are at the far right of the photo, and my mother is right below them, kneeling. I love the dress my mom is wearing, with the bows at the shoulder and the dark buttons and belt. My Uncle, Dwight/Rex Macbeth, is on the left in the front row.

Annie Macbeth Schostag is standing, second from the left. Her husband Gus is next to my grandparents at the right. I believe the woman in the center, standing next to family patriarch Walter Macbeth, is daughter Gertrude Macbeth Laird. Harold Macbeth may be behind them, right at the center, but I could be wrong. He might be the second person from the left. Harold’s daughter Joanna is in the center row, kneeling, and is third from the left.  I think most of the other younger family members would be members of the Laird or Ott families—Gertrude Macbeth Laird or Ethel Macbeth Ott’s children. I wish I could identify them all with confidence. Lucy Dane Macbeth and Ray Macbeth are not in this photo—both had died years earlier.

I love reunion photos. They provide opportunities to identify extended family members, and give me a glimpse of their lives on a specific date. These two photos, taken about sixteen years apart, show a changing Macbeth family—there were joyous additions as children were born, but also some sad losses of some family members and the aging of the remaining parent and siblings. I treasure these photos.

Transcribing or Translating? 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Translation”

 

Transcribing a Late 1600s Handwritten Text Can Almost Feel Like Translating

The Commonplace Book of Francis Dane: Book Written Between 1648-1697
Francis Dane: 1615-1697 (Maternal 8^th Great-Grandfather)

 

I first wrote about Francis Dane’s Commonplace book three years ago, shortly after I had discovered that it had been digitized and uploaded online by the NEHGS. I had originally intended to begin transcribing it immediately, overconfident of my ability to read his tiny cursive letters formed by a quill and brownish-colored ink. However, I quickly became discouraged and didn’t return to the project until this year. I’m sure there are more experienced scholars working on a complete transcription, but as yet they have not made their work accessible online, so I have started my own transcription, with a goal of one image per week.

Image 72 from the Commonplace Book shows Rev. Dane's cramped handwriting

          

I know that this doesn’t quite fit the prompt of “translation”, but often I feel I am a translator—Rev. Dane used symbols and abbreviations that are no longer in use, such as a circle with a dot over it, or an upside-down heart shape.

"K squiggle h" means Kingdom of Heaven. 

 Spelling was prone to change and often included extra letters that we no longer use—such as a terminal “e” after alle sortes of wordes. He used “Jesus x” to mean Jesus Christ.

Center line reading "Ada. Jes x dying" translates to "Adam, Jesus Christ dying"

I have also learned several things that call into question the prevailing school of thought about Dane’s use of the book. It was originally described as a compilation of quotes from other writers, but I find that many of the passages appear to be Dane’s own compositions, including numerous poems. Most of the poetry features religious themes—he may have read them to his congregation in lieu of sermons. He used both a traditional abab rhyme scheme, but also employed the Shakespearean “Venus and Adonis” rhyme scheme of abab cc. Rev. Dane didn’t always use Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter, but he was obviously familiar with that type of poetry.

I tried googling passages from his poems to see if they truly were someone else’s work that Dane was merely copying. I only was able to find one immensely long poem that appears to be a copy. And this piece offered its own curiosities.

Verses 7-10 in the 1677 printed publication of Urian Oakes' Elegy to Rev. Shepard.

In 1649, one of the most renowned ministers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Rev. Thomas Shepard, died at the young age of 44 of quinsy, a serious infection that can arise from tonsillitis. He was minister both of the First Church of Cambridge and of the newly formed Harvard University. His friend and president of Harvard, Urian Oakes, wrote a long elegiac poem in his honor. The poem is a passionate ode to friendship and heaps great praise upon the lost Rev. Shepard. Rev. Dane copied the entire poem into his Commonplace Book, properly crediting the author.

Rev. Dane's copy of verses 7-10 from Oakes' poem

I was left with several questions. The poem was published in print in 1677, presumably years after Oakes originally wrote the poem. Rev. Dane kept his commonplace book between 1648 and his death in 1697. It appears he copied Oakes’ Elegy in 1677, as he included that date near the heading of the poem. Also, the poem begins on Image 147, about halfway through his book, so midway between 1648 and 1697. How did Rev. Dane come across the poem? I doubt he owned the printed booklet of the poem himself, otherwise why copy it in full into his commonplace book? Someone else must have shared the booklet with him. Someone in his community of Andover?

Year of 1677 visible in lower left of Dedication section of Dane's copy of Oakes' poem

Did Rev. Dane personally know Rev. Shepard or Mr. Oakes? Could that be why he made the effort to copy this long work? Did Rev. Dane ever correspond Rev. Shepard since they shared a profession? Did Rev. Dane travel from his home in Andover to Cambridge—a distance of 23 miles-- at all? How often did colonists travel between towns in the late 1600s? What sort of relationship did the educated colonists have with one another?

Attribution of the poem's authorship to Rev Urian Oakes, written just below last line of Verse 52

Attribution of poem to author Urian Oakes written next to the poem's preamble

Sadly, I likely will never be able to answer my questions. All I know with any certainty is that Rev. Dane admired Mr. Oakes’ poem enough to copy all 52 verses along with the five-verse preamble, and that he did it with great accuracy.

I am glad that my “translation” work led me to the poem and the story of Urian Oakes’ friendship with Rev. Shepard. It gave me greater understanding of the thoughts of educated colonists like Oakes, Shepard, and Rev. Dane, along with a greater understanding of their deep faith. I look forward to further discoveries as I progress, page by page, through my eighth-great-grandfather’s far-from-common Commonplace Book.

 

Sources:

Description of the conservation and digitization of the Commonplace Book of Francis Dane. “Compiling Knowledge” by Timothy Salls. https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2017/12/compiling-knowledge/

An elegie upon the death of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Shepard, late teacher of the church at Charlstown in New-England:Oakes, Urian, 1631-1681. Cambridge [Mass.],: Printed by Samuel Green., 1677. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/B09610.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext

List of works by Thomas Shepard, often with Urian Oakes as co-author. https://ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repository/xmlui/browse?value=Shepard,%20Thomas,%201635-1677.&type=author

Stout, Harry S. “University Men in New England 1620-1660: A Demographic Analysis.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 4, no. 3 (1974): 375–400. https://doi.org/10.2307/202483..

Neuman, Meredith Marie. “The Versified Lives of Unknown Puritans.” The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 107, no. 3 (2013): 355–66. https://doi.org/10.1086/680808.

 Fuess, Claude Moore. “Witches at Andover.” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 70 (1950): 8–20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25080438.

Ancestors Sharing My Birthday: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Birthdays”

 

Tracking Down People in My Tree Who Share My Birthday

Henry Ballard: 1768- 1826   (Second Cousin 6x Removed)
James Wayne Randall: 1855-1942 (Second Cousin 2x Removed)
Everett Powell Bradley: 1900-1983 (Third Cousin 2x Removed)
Joyce Beverly Ford: 1940- Living     (Second Cousin 1x Removed)

When I saw that the prompt for the week of my birthday was “Birthdays”, I decided to find ancestors in my tree who had the same birth date as I do. I foolishly thought this would be easy—after all, Ancestry informed me of ancestors’ birthdays each week on my home page. Unfortunately, I was busy on my birthday and didn’t log in to Ancestry for a few days, so I missed the notifications for July 20. But surely there must be a way to search my tree by birthdate, right? I couldn’t find information on the Ancestry website, so I googled the question “Is there a way to search your tree on Ancestry by birthday?” Several people on Reddit said no, although all agreed it would be a great feature.

However, one person suggested a clever workaround: go to the Tree Search tab and select List People, which provides a list of all the people in your tree along with their birth and death dates. He suggested copying the list to a Google doc and somehow searching that by the date. However, I have 8000 people in my tree, and had no desire to create such a large, unwieldy document. I decided to search the list the old-fashioned way, skimming it page by page, one hundred names at a time, looking for a July 20 birthdate.

I got tired and quit halfway on page 40 of my 80 page list, but I had found four ancestors who fit the bill. I now have a custom tag on them so I can find them again. None are close ancestors, but here are quick sketches of these four people who share my birthday.

Henry Ballard: My Second Cousin 6x Removed

Henry was born July 20, 1768 in New Salem, Massachusetts to parents Daniel Ballard and Ruth Houlton. Our common ancestor was my 7^th Great-grandfather Francis Dane. Henry’s grandmother, Mary Dane, was Francis’ daughter and sister to my ancestor John Dane. She married Jeremiah Ballard, and their son Daniel Ballard was Henry’s father. Henry Ballard married Anna Sabin, and the couple had at least six children. In 1792, the family moved from New Salem to the town of Georgia in Franklin, Vermont. There is little information on Henry—it appears he was a farmer. He died February 2, 1826 and was buried in the Sabin Cemetery in Georgia, which seems to have been a family cemetery for his wife’s family. This family connection probably explains why the couple moved to Georgia, Vermont.

Henry Ballard Headstone from Findagrave

James Wayne Randall: My Second Cousin 2x Removed

James and I share a common ancestor, my third great-grandfather David Dane. David Dane was James’ great-grandfather, and his grandmother Lucy was my second-great-grandfather Jerome Dane’s sister. James was born July 20, 1855 in Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin. He was the oldest son of David and Lucy Randall. By 1880, James was married to Gertrude Hopkins and had moved to Janesville, Minnesota, quite near his great-uncle Jerome Dane’s family. He and Gertrude raised six children, and he worked as a laborer, a farmer and a mechanic over the years. He died at age 86 in Northfield, where he was living at the Odd Fellows Home for the Aged.

         

Everett Powell Bradley: My Third Cousin 2x Removed)

Everett Powell Bradley and I share my great grandfather John Mills as a common ancestor. Everett was born July 20, 1900 to parents Arthur Bradley and Gertrude Sophia Powell. Gertrude was the granddaughter of John Mills’ daughter Jemima Mills, who was my ancestor Joel Mills’ sister. Everett was born in Virginia, but his family moved to New Jersey. Everett married Lillie Reeve, and they had a son and daughter. He was a high school teacher in Mount Holly, teaching industrial arts or shop classes. In addition, he operated Holly Hill Apiaries and Nursery for forty years, following in his beekeeping grandfather’s footsteps. In a 1974 news article, Everett stated that, “”I used to rent out 400 or 500 colonies” of bees to farmers to pollinate their crops. He said there were about 30,000 bees per colony. Each colony could produce about 100 pounds of honey per year. In the 1973 article below, he estimated he had between 450,000 to 750,000 bees at that time, with the bees collecting nectar from the blooms of his 100 holly trees. What a fascinating business! Everett died April 26, 1983 at the age of 83.

Joyce Beverly Ford (Second Cousin 1x Removed)

I discovered Joyce when she turned up as a DNA match on Ancestry. She was the daughter of my first cousin twice removed Dorothy Haslip and her husband Leland Ford. Dorothy was the daughter of Laura Hoffman, my great-grandfather William Hoffman’s sister. Our shared common ancestors are Laura and William’s parents Johannes Hoffman and Sophia Streu Hoffman. Joyce was born on my birthdate in 1940. She is married and lives in North Carolina.

It was fun finding these four individuals in my family tree who share my birthday. Happy birthday to all of them!

350 Years and Still Standing: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Last One Standing”

 The History of the John Whipple House

John Whipple: 1625-1685 (Ninth Great-Granduncle)

 

I love historic homes—and when I find one that has a connection to an ancestor, I’m delighted. When I first read about Ipswich Massachusetts’ John Whipple House, I assumed it was originally built by my 10^th Great-grandfather John Whipple. He was an Ipswich resident, and several other trees on Ancestry attached photos of the house to his records. I pulled up the Wikipedia page on the house, and immediately realized my mistake. The article said the first iteration of the house was built in 1677—eight years after my tenth great-grandfather had died. But John Whipple had a son also named John, born in 1625. Research showed he was the probable builder and original owner of the home. So although the house wasn’t built by my direct ancestor, it still holds ancestral ties—John was my ninth great-grandmother Susannah Whipple Worth’s brother, so my ninth-great granduncle.

Photo from National Archives of John Whipple House

So who was John Whipple, and where is his house? John was born in Bocking, Essex, England on December 21, 1625 to parents John Whipple and Susan Clarke. At some point in his teens, John emigrated with his parents to the Massachusetts Colony, where the family settled in the town of Ipswich around 1637-38. His father was sworn as a freeman in 1640 and became a respected businessman, and upon his death in 1669, he left a sizable estate, most of which John inherited after the distribution of specific bequests to his father’s widowed second wife and John’s sisters. [2]

Transcript of John Whipple Sr. will leaving most of estate to son John 

John married Martha Reynor around 1656. [1] The couple had eight children, including three sons who survived to adulthood. According to Carol Clark Johnson’s A Genealogical History of the Clark and Worth Families [4], John was a “maltster in 1665 and in 1673 built at the lower falls a fulling-mill for finishing homespun cloth.” She reported that he held several community positions, serving as a General Court deputy and on juries. He also served in the military, first as a “cornet” in 1668, then a lieutenant in King Philip’s War, and became a captain of the Ipswich Horse Troop in 1676. [3, 4]

Marriage records for both John Whipples--father and son [1]

As for the Whipple House, there are conflicting stories about when the first section of the house was built. John’s father left him a house in his will, but was this the same building? According to old National Park Service material (see full citation below), the house may have been built as early as 1638, but there are no documents that mention the house until a 1650 record of the sale of the property from a John Fawn to John Whipple Sr. The NPS materials state,

“The original portion of the house was a two-story, two room structure, which had casement windows and a thatched roof. At one end of the lower room are the entrance door, great chimney, and stairway to the large sleeping chamber on the upper floor…The original building was the lifetime home of the first John Whipple, a leader of some distinction in the settlement of Agawam, later Ipswich…”[5]

However, later materials referenced scientific studies that proved the present Whipple house could not have been constructed before 1677. Core samples from the house’s wooden beams were extracted, and the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory conducted measurements of the tree growth rings to determine the year the trees were felled. The report stated:

“Primary Phase Felling dates: Summer 1676, Winter 1676/7. Addition Felling dates: Summer 1689, Winter 1689/90. The Whipple House, which faces south, began as a single cell house with chimney bay on the east end. The original house, built in 1677, was two-and-one-half stories in height and featured a facade gabble. In 1690, the house was enlarged by a substantial addition twenty-four feet in length east of the chimney that included a second facade gable. The crossed summer beams in the east room suggest that the room was partitioned along the transverse summer beam originally. The eastern part of the lean-to may have been constructed at the same time. On the east wall, both the main range and the lean-to were given hewn overhangs with substantial ogee moldings. The lean-to was later extended to the west and raised to two stories.” [6]

Another historian noted that the 1690 addition, built by John’s son, my 8^th first cousin Major John Whipple, added a flue to the chimney, and the present chimney has a line of bricks that shows where the addition began. See the photo below.

Front of house--photo from National Archives

The house passed through several family members over the years. The National Park Service noted, “On the death of Capt. John Whipple, the executors of his will appraised the house, as well as 2-1/2 acres of land, kiln, and outhouse, at £330; even at that early period, the house was an unusually valuable property.” [5]

Part of the inventory from John Whipple Jr.'s estate

The house originally stood at the corner of Saltanstall and Market Streets in Ipswich. The Historic Ipswich site noted, “Typical of First Period houses, it faced south to take advantage of warmth from the sun.” [6]

John Whipple House being moved to South Green Street in 1927--photo from National Archives

Wikipedia noted that “Circa 1710, the west roof of the primary house was raised and extended over the lean-tos creating 4 additional slope-ceiling rooms. The total room count was then 14, not including the fully usable 3rd-floor attic above the primary structure. This was a very large house then (and now), with high ceilings in all rooms except the lean-tos, a prominent location near the mills and with land abutting the Ipswich River. It became known as "The Mansion", a title it retained for more than a century.” [8]

Vintage postcard showing kitchen fireplace in John Whipple House

The house fell into disrepair early in the 20^th century. It was purchased by the Ipswich Historical Society and was moved in 1927 across the Choate Bridge to 1 South Green Street, where it was restored and turned into a museum. The Historic Ipswich website states that the house “has the original frame, large fireplaces, summer beams, wide board floors, and gun-stock posts… Wall sheathing and clamshell ceiling plaster retain their first period charm. Seventeenth and 18th century furnishings and decorative arts by local and regional craftsmen fill the home.”[6]

Reproduction furniture in the parlor of the John Whipple House

The Historical Society’s rehab work exposed the original wattle and lath walls beneath the exterior siding. Reproduction diamond-paned casement windows were installed so that the house looks as similar as possible to how it probably appeared around 1710.

National Archives photo of the house before restoration work began

The home has been beautifully restored inside and out, and the yard features a “colonial style ‘housewife’s garden’” [6]. The John Whipple House is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is considered a fine example of a First Period home—one of the last ones still standing.

Wikimedia Commons photo of John Whipple House present day. 

It is hard to believe that John Whipple’s home still exists in 2023. I look forward to visiting it at some point. It would be thrilling to stand in the rooms where my ninth great-granduncle and his family once ate, worked and entertained in the 1670s.

Sources:

1.      Marriages of John Whipple Sr., and John Whipple Jr., New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/i/21176/1643/426909615

2.      Will of John Whipple Sr., 1669. Essex County, MA: Early Probate Records, 1635-1681.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1652/i/33912/166/891371011

3.      Colonial Soldiers and Officers in New England, 1620-1775. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2013). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB494/rd/13255/249/236053239

4.      Ancestry.com. A genealogical history of the Clark and Worth families : and other Puritan settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.Original data: Johnson, Carol Clark,. A genealogical history of the Clark and Worth families : and other Puritan settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Cygnet, Ohio: Priv. print., 1970.

5.      https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/explorers/sitec30.htm

6.      https://historicipswich.net/the-whipple-house-south-green/

7.      https://catalog.archives.gov/search?page=1&q=john%20whipple%20house

8.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Whipple_House

9.      https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Whipple_House.jpg