Sunday, May 8, 2016

Happy Mother's Day!  

While searching for a favorite photo of my mom, I got caught up in a time-waster of making a family tree of photo's of the mothers in my lineage.  Of course, I don't have photo's of many of them, but I do have quite a few.

Amazing and miraculous to me is the thought that if ANY of these pregnancies, births, childhoods etc. had gone wrong, many of us would not be here. One cell dividing incorrectly. One genetic birth defect and this tree would fall apart. It is kind of mind boggling.

The root person on this tree is Amy Spaulding Barker who was the daughter of one of our Revolutionary Patriots! We are looking at the FACE of the American Revolution! Actually she was born after the war, and was the daughter of his 2nd wife, but he was only 33 when she was born, but hey, it's kind of cool.




Also of note is that Mike, Patrick and Kasper are not pictured here. It's a Mother's Thing. And we do know what they look like.  I'd like to add that some of the mothers depicted here really have to work on getting photos taken of themselves and their kiddos. Just sayin'. I might have worked harder at finder better pictures, but this had already sucked up more time than I wanted it to. The by-product is that it helps me organize my genealogy photos.

If anyone wants me to replace their photo with one that they prefer, you can send me the photo and I will do so.

Here are the alternate photos of Mom and Grandma that I considered. They're all good ones!


Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Ten on Tuesday Challenge!

The Ten On Tuesday prompt for Tuesday, May 3, 2016 is 10 Favorite Foods Your Mom Used To Make:

My first understanding of this challenge was that we were to choose 10 foods that we LIKED that our mom made. Sorry Mom, but that was really a challenge. Now just 10 items is easier!

1. Tuna Casserole  
2. Halibut steaks with a corn flake crust
3. Navy bean soup
4. Hamburger Soup
5. Banana Nut Bread
6. Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
7. BBQ Chicken
8. Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding! 
9. Chocolate Fudge
10. Christmas Fruit Cake 

What did I miss siblings?






Sunday, May 1, 2016

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun!


    Catherine Lydia Phillips Johnson - 1826 – 1916    90 years old



Mary Jane Crance Todd      1841 – 1946    105 years old


2012 was the last time I posted! I am such a serious blogger, eh?

For some odd reason, this genealogy challenge caught my eye.  
The challenge came from GeneaMusings, where you can see the analyses of other professional and amateur genealogists! 

Here is the challenge: 

1)  We each have 16 great-great grandparents.  How did their birth and death years vary?  How long were their lifespans?  
2)  For this week, please list your 16 great-great grandparents, their birth year, their death year, and their lifespan in years.  


And here we go: 

On my side, Sara Byron's Great-great grandparents:
Francois Joachim Biron                     1821 - 1903     82
Harriett Thibault                                1824 – 1907    83
Edward C Johnson                             1823 – 1900    77
Catherine Lydia Phillips                     1826 – 1916    90
Charles Barker Todd                          1838 – 1900    61        lead poisoning from CW minie ball
Mary Jane Crance                              1841 – 1946    105
Wheelock Parmly Thayer                  1836 – 1884    48         accidental GSW
Elizabeth Sands                                  1840 – 1874    34       Typhoid
Johann Daniel Christ                          1793 – 1842    48

Anna Katharina Bakker                      1799 – 1844    44

I added the reason for death of the three GGG's that died earlier than the norm.  Charles Barker Todd had surgery on a minie ball that was lodged in his hip three times. My assessment is that the ball slowly poisoned him, based on diary entries by his wife and daughter and their lists of his decline and symptoms. 

Wheelock Parmly Thayer accidentally shot himself while chasing a rabbit out of his garden. Other diary entries and notes lead me to believe that he also suffered from PTSD from his experiences in the Civil War. Perhaps that's why a rabbit pissed him off so much. 

Wheelock's wife and 2 year old daughter both died of Typhoid. 

67  average age
63  avg age men
71  avg age women
1824  avg year of birth
1892  avg year of death

On my husband's side,  Robert Jeffers Great-great grandparents:
Michael Jeffers           1800 – 1855                55       
Elinore Mullen           1825 – 1897                72
John F. Brown             1817 – 1888                71
Margaret Johnson       1832 – 1868                36
Peter Gebhard              1829 – after 1920       91
Maria Ziegernweidt     1839 – after 1900       61
Caspar C. Pip               1828 – 1897                73
Agnes Spitzley             1831 – 1903                71
John Mahan               
Mary Jane McCarty     1820 -
Daniel Leary                1818 -
Mary Sullivan              1818 – 1882                64
Florent LeGere            1827 – 1904                77
Anne Cormier             1828 – 1908                80
Olivier Robichaud       1835 – 1914                78
Rosalie LeBlanc             1829 – 1930                101

72  average age
74  avg age men
69  avg age women
1825  avg year of birth
1897  avg year of death   

It is notable that each of us had GGG's that lived to be over 100! I didn't see that in many other family trees.  
My other conclusion is that those French breed like rabbits and live forever.

Sara Byron
Ancestry Family Tree: Byron-Crist09