What does Amanuensis mean anyway?
To put it simply, it means a “person employed to write what another dictates or copy what has been written by another.”
As many of you know from reading previous posts on my blog, my maternal grandmother left a spiral notebook, which I call her journal. In it she left us a list of 183 family members and their birth dates and some death dates, a list of anniversaries and other various lists or things that were important to her. It’s a treasure that I cherish.
Today I’m going to be transcribing her list of names & dates from February.
For the previous post transcribing January, please click on this link
Amanuensis Monday - Transcribing my grandmother's journal - January
Here is the page from her journal. This journal was begun when my grandmother, Florence L. Bowden, married my grandfather, Joseph A. Milne, in 1906, so it’s very old. I don’t touch it anymore. I have digitized all the pages.
Here is my transcription of this page, with some annotations. I have indicated the family connection in brackets, even though it’s not part of the document. I just thought you’d like to know who these people are to me. And, for any cousins out there reading this, maybe you’ll find it helpful.
In this post I have added photos of some of the family members listed here. The photos are at the bottom of this list.
February
Arthur Seigle Feb. 1 ‘89 died July 22, 36 [1st cousin, twice removed]
Robert Edward Lee Bowden Feb. 8 ‘63 died Oct 1906 [Great grandfather]
Andrew Charles Milne Feb. 8 ‘56 died Dec. 8, 92 [Great grandfather]
Dorothy Irene Milne Feb. 17 ‘07 died Feb 24, 1920 [Aunt]
* Melville Austin Feb. 21 – 6-13-46
died Apr. 17, 39 Mary Donnelly-Seaver Feb. 20 ‘83 died 4-39 [1st cousin, twice removed]
* Carroll Platz Feb. 26 ‘15
Rosemary Seigle Feb. 28 [2nd cousin, once removed]
Elizabeth Verney Feb. 9 ‘65 3-8-48 [Great grandaunt]
* Sadie Cole Wood Feb. 9 died Feb. 4, ‘53 73 yrs. 360 days
Ada King Feb. 14, ‘65 died 3-17-49 [Great grandaunt]
* Dora Marie Foster Purcey Feb. 12, ‘16
Edna Gill Verney Feb. 21, ‘88 [Wife of 1st cousin, twice removed]
* Margaret Scott Feb. 1, ‘93
Edwina Booth Smullins Milne Feb. 12, ‘13 [Wife of Uncle]
Dennis Lee Morrison Feb. 24, ‘45 11:38 p.m. [1st cousin]
Grace Hunter Fenner Jenkins Feb. 19, ‘74 died Sept. 15, ‘46 [Great grandaunt]
* Margaret King’s Geo Feb. 17, ‘40
Christopher Robert Dattolo [Feb] 14 ‘80 [2nd cousin, twice removed]
That’s a total of 19 names. I am very fortunate to have this kind of list from my grandmother.
I have placed an asterisk * next to the names I have not yet connected to our family. Six of the names are still waiting for me to find their connections. I have them in my Legacy database as unlinked individuals. In the lists from the other 11 months of the year, there are also names that aren’t yet connected. I keep looking from time to time and link them as I identify them.
This time to add a bit of interest I thought I would post the pictures I have of people who are on this list.
Arthur Seigle Andrew Charles Milne Dorothy Irene Milne
Rosemary Seigle Ada King
I’ve enjoyed sharing this with you and will continue to share the items from my grandmother’s journal. This is a great way for me to take another look at these lists and perhaps catch something I didn’t catch last time, or take a new look online for records.
UPDATE - All the posts for each month of the year can be found by clicking on this link: http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/p/blog-page_17.html
Please contact me if you recognize any of the names with asterisks or if you are related to any of these family members. I’d love to hear from you.
OTHER POSTS THAT MAY ALSO BE OF INTEREST
FAMILY RECIPE FRIDAY - HOW TO MAKE SHAMPOO (from 1906)
SHAKY LEAVES ON ANCESTRY CAN LEAD TO NEW RECORDS
FOLLOWING LEADS ON ANCESTRY - ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER
Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright © 2014 Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION
What a treasure! Amazing! And, yes, I'm a little jealous. :)
ReplyDeleteI've seen your AMANUENSIS MONDAY's titles before, but didn't know what it meant. And, I still don't know how to say it! I wasn't sure what to blog about today, and now I know. I'm off to do my own "Amanuensis Monday" post! Thanks for the idea!
Hi Dana,
DeleteThanks for your comment. There are some days or weeks when I can't seem to come up with a subject to write about. Many times I find my self pressed for time and the creative juices just aren't flowing. Apparently, I'm not alone. You may already know about this, but Thomas McEntee has created a list of daily prompts on his Geneabloggers site. Here is the link http://www.geneabloggers.com/daily-blogging-prompts/
Many bloggers use these prompts and create posts each week, in addition to other subjects they may write about.
Thanks for stopping by.
Dear Sister of mine, if I wrote back every time I recognized names in your blog I'd never have time to do anything else! :-) On the other hand reading your blog is always enjoyable, and extremely useful! Thank you for all your hard work in writing these columns. They are much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteDearest Brother - LOL!!!! I'm glad you enjoy reading my posts. Maybe between the two of us looking at some of these items again, we can find something new or connect some of those names we haven't yet connected to family. Or, if we're lucky, a new cousin will pop up and help us out.
DeleteRegarding the 'Milne' name, there sure were a lot of them in Aberdeenshire! As for the origin of the name, it seems a bit odd that it would derive from "mill" yet be so localized, unlike, for example, 'smith' which seems to have arisen in different locations where smiths did their work?
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Craig Milne
Craig - thank you for leaving a comment. Are you related to any of the Milne's referred to in my blog? If you believe you are, I'd love to hear from you. They are my mother's family and I've done quite a bit of research on them, but still have much more to do. Please contact me, if you think we are connected.
DeleteThanks for visiting.
Diane, Do you know the original reason your grandmother started keeping these lists? Did she ever need to lookup an entry? (She appears to be an early version of a genealogist! Maybe you got that gene from her.)
DeleteI ask because if she planned to refer to these entries in the future, she would have ordered them by surname or first name or year of the event. Recording the info by month seems unusual.
Christine - Yes, she was a genealogist. That gene skipped a generation, as my mother could have cared less. My grandmother, however, left me a handwritten family tree and many other clues to our family history.
DeleteThanks for your comment.
PS. It occurred to me that maybe she created these lists to help her remember to send birthday cards. The people you starred as unknown relatives may not even be related to her, in that case. Some could be friends or neighbors.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the list possibly including friends. I guess I'll find out as time goes by and I confirm or disprove family members.
Delete