It Only Comes Around Every Four Years / Leap Day in Your Family Tree

Tomorrow is leap day!

What is leap year? It takes about  365 days 6 hours for the earth to rotate around the sun. To make up for the extra 6 hours each year, one day every four years is added so that we don’t end up with winter in July and many other strange occurrences.
Now why February was chosen that I am not quite sure.

I decided to have a little fun with my family tree to celebrate leap year. What celebrations happened on this day in my ancestral family lives. I found only 3 celebrations for that day in my tree, but with all the blank spaces in my research there must be more.

The genealogy program I have on my lap-top is Legacy. In the Legacy program there is, like most other programs, an application that allows you to make a calendar. In Legacy you can print/view a whole year or just a month. I pulled up February of this year and found the following celebrations in my family tree. This would be the path to find the calendar in Legacy>Reports>Books/Other>Calender Creator. There is also Calendar List Report just below Calender Creator that you can use as well.
In 1804 on the 29 of February, Edmund Hallett was born to Samuel and Phebe Hallett Hallett. Edmund is the 4th great-great grandson William and Elizabeth Fones (Winthrop, Feake) Hallett which makes him my 3rd cousin 6 times removed, pretty removed I would say. Phebe is the descendant of William and Elizabeth. I have nothing on his father Samuel but I would not at all be surprised if he was also descended from Elizabeth and William.

The 29 of February 1872 Miss Jeannette Mitchell Thompson was born to William J. and Ellen Binnie Thompson in Dundee Illinois. Miss Jeannette is the wife of Harris Aleck Campbell. Helen Amelia Thompson Sunday is her sister and William Ashley Sunday her brother-in-law. Miss Jeannette is not related to me by blood she is a step daughter to my great-grand Aunt Anna Kaye.

On 29 of February in the of 1876 Mr. David Watt Burgess m. Miss Margaret (Maggie) Kaye daughter of Byron and Ellen Smith Kaye. David was the son of William and Elizabeth Ann Watt Burgess. They married in Woodstock, Oxford, Ontario at the home of Mrs. Ellen Kaye. Note to self, I wonder if they celebrated Sadie Hawkins in 1876 in Canada did Maggie ask David for his hand, or did David see an opportunity to only have an anniversary every four years and off the hook for the other three. Interesting thoughts!

Who in your family tree celebrates an important day on 29 of February? Check it out and have some fun! Here is a List of Leap Years.

Happy Hunting!

SNGF-Correction and Addition to “Your Maternal Grandfather’s Paternal Line”

The end of January Randy Seaver at Genea-Musing had us play a little detective game to find possible men in our Maternal Grandfather’s Paternal Line.

There is one thing I forgot to post and it was number one on Randy’s list….my glasses must not have been anywhere near my eyes!

 What is your mother’s father’s patrilineal line? That is, his father’s father’s father’s … back to the most distant male ancestor in that line?

Roger Terrell  b. Between 1614 and 1616 Nanzing, Essex, England d. Abt 1681 Milford, New Haven, CT m. Abigail Ufford Bef 1638 Milford, New Haven, CT b. Abt 1620 probably England d. Abt 1658 Milford, New Haven, CT

Thomas Terrell b. 23 Oct 1656 Milford, New Haven, CT. d. Bef 26 Apr 1725 Elizabeth Union, Co., NJ m. Mary Dayton

Josiah Terrill b. 1699 d. 12 Dec 1749 Elizabethtown , Essex Co., NJ m. Hannah

Lewis Terrill b. Abt 1709 Elizabethtown, Essex, NJ m. Ann Babcock 30 May 1745 Lebanon, CT b. 15 May 1721 Coventry, CT

Josiah Terrill b. 23 Aug 1750 Coventry, CT m. Elizabeth

David Covey Terrill b. 8 Jun 1808 Cambridge VT d. 13 Dec 1888 Sheffield Twsp, Ashtabula Co., OH m. Susan Foreman 10 Nov 1845 Crawford Co., PA b. 7 Jun 1829 PA d. 18 Jun 1907 13 Strong Street, Ashtabula, OH

Adelbert S. Terrill b. 23 Jul 1859 Crawford Co., PA d. 15 Jun 1935 Ashtabula , Ashtabula Co., OH m. Dency Jane Rugg 15 Nov 1882 Ashtabula , Ashtabula Co., OH b. 15 Jan 1864 Sheffield Twsp, Ashtabula Co., OH d. 11 Mar 1958 Rock Creek, Ashtabula Co., OH

Walter I. Terrill 12 Mar 1905 Ashtabula Co., OH d. 6 Dec 1999 Kinsman, Trumbull Co., OH m. Arleen Louise Beach 2 Aug 1931 Cleveland OH b. 13 Aug 1907 Ashtabula , Ashtabula Co., OH d. 2 Sep 1972 Willoughby, Lake Co. OH

Dency J. Terrill m. James R. McCartney

Julia McCartney m. James E. Hogston

Now that I have all that out-of-the-way. The addition to the story.

I commented in the original posting that my Uncle Milton (Mom’s brother) was having his DNA tested for this line. The results came back today and I am truly the 8th great-granddaughter of Roger and Abigail Ufford Terrell.  There are a few question that remain in this tree and hopefully in time we will be able to fill in all the blanks.

This has been a fun journey.  I am wondering if I could get my spouse to do one for his family as there remains  a huge question about 4 generations back. It is a question about parentage of one of his grandfathers. Hummm 😀

Happy Hunting!

Friday Family History/William and Sarah Horton Marsh 24 February 1780

William Marsh is my  6th  great-grandfather, through his first marriage to Sarah Webster.

William was born in Woodbridge, Middlesex Co., New Jersey on the  9 Dec 1734. William’s parents are Samuel and Mary Shotwell Marsh, Quakers in New Jersey. William married Sarah Horton on the 24 February 1780 in New Jersey. My best guess would be in Rahway, or Plainfield, New Jersey. The Quaker meeting at that time rotated between Rahway and Plainfield. http://www.plainfieldquakers.org/history/marriage.asp.
I have no more information on Sarah at this posting.

Happy 232 Anniversary!

Is The Writing On The Wall?

Can you read this?

or this?

I will bet you’re thinking OH NO! her she goes  with the “thank a teacher” spiel.  I can truly thank a teacher. Will my grand-children be able to thank a teacher? To my surprise, I learned that my grand-daughters and my great-niece are not learning cursive in school oh they can read type written word and print. I don’t know how far-reaching  this  trend is, but my grand-daughters live in Arizona and my niece in Michigan.

The line of thinking, so I have heard, is that there is no reason to learn cursive.  With  the use  of computer and use of the typed word being prevalent why spend the time to learn such archaic communications, there is no need for it.

This bothers me on so many levels that I can’t begin to tell you. I think the major one would be from a genealogist/historian view-point, in two generations who will read the documents of old, such as the constitution. I know many of these documents are transcribed  into type. Many thousands have not. You ask me why the concern about transcribed documents.
Coming from a back ground where I learned to always read for myself, to test what is true and what is false. In this I can see the truth of our history being buried in illiteracy of the written word.  You and I both know how a typed document can so easily be changed where the original is not. There will be very few that can go back to the orignal and say…no this is what that document actually says. You’ll have to get a special degree in something that is taught now in the early years.

Like so many things of old it will become but a memory, something belonging to the ancients.
Cursive scholars, what a thought.

 

 

Friday Family History/Winifred Mason Kaye 3 February 1863

Winifred Mason’s birthday is today, she was born to Philander and Mary Holden Mason 149 years ago today in Edgewood, Delaware Co., Iowa.

Winifred was the wife of Rev. Alexander Smith Kaye,they are married on 21 of June 1890 in Edgewood, Delaware Co. Iowa.

Winifred died on 14 Jun 1930 in Neoga, Cumberland, Illinois. Winifred is buried in Iowa 0n 16 Jun 1930 Edgewood, Delaware, Iowa in the Edgewood Cemetery.

Winifred was Alexanders first wife.

At this time I have found no children for this couple.

Winifred and Alex are my Grandmother Ruth O. McCartney’s Aunt and Uncle.

Happy Hunting!