AMANUENSIS MONDAY - BIRTH & DEATH DATES FROM MY GRANDMOTHER'S JOURNAL - APRIL

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 recipes, 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 April.

For the previous posts transcribing January, February and March please click on these links.

Amanuensis Monday - Transcribing my grandmother's journal - January

Amanuensis Monday - Transcribing my grandmother's journal – February

Amanuensis Monday - Transcribing my grandmother's journal - March

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.  She was just 18 years old at the time.  This journal is very old and falling apart.  I have digitized all the pages and have the original stored in a safe, archival box.

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)

Here is my transcription of this page, with some annotations.  I have indicated the family connection in brackets, even thought it’s not part of the document.  I though 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.


I’ve added whatever photos I have of the family members named in this list. (See below)


ADDITIONAL NOTE:  I HAVE REDACTED THE BIRTH DATES OF PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL LIVING, FOR THEIR PROTECTION.

April 

Bernice Elaine Seigel  April 3 [2nd cousin once removed]
* Eleanor Titus   April 9  
* Jean Hern    April 10 ‘22
Joseph Gillespie   Apr 11 ‘37  died May 26, 1908  [2nd great grandfather]
* Aubrey Hastings Robson  April 11  ‘06   (See note below)
* Robert W. Gillespie   April 4  ‘93
* Helen Cole   April 15  13
died April 9  Jacob Seigel   April 20  ‘49  [husband of great grand aunt]
* Wilson Westervelt  April 28  ‘07  (See note below)
* boy Frederick Hibberlin   April 2  41
* Florence Platz  April 13
Baby Boy Morrison   April 11  42  3:58 – 6:20  [1st cousin who died as infant]
* Linda Jean Wolford   April 18  ‘42 
* Lee Harold Jones  April 19  ‘44  7:30 a.m.
* Aunt Ada’s gr. gr. twins  (Billkings) Joanne April 12  ‘46
                                                         * Carol Anne  April 12  ‘46

That’s a total of 16 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.  
Twelve of the names are still waiting for me to find their connections.  I have them in my Legacy database as unlinked individuals.  That’s quite a lot of unknown names for this month, compared to the previous 3 months I posted about.

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.

I think that right now before I post this, I’m going to go online and see if I can find anything about those names for whom I have no connection.  I’ll be back in a bit.  

Here are the two people I learned more about:

Aubrey Hastings Robson - I called my 89 year old mother and began asking her questions about the unknown names on the list.  She said that she thinks Aubrey Hastings Robson was the son of one of her mother’s close friends.  It is my mother’s Mom who wrote this journal.

Wilson Westervelt -  I located an SSDI record for Wilson Westervelt and the date of birth is an exact match to what my grandmother has written and he was living in the Detroit area in the 1930 and 1940 census.  And, his last residence was Livonia, Wayne, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit).  How or if he ties into our family I don’t know yet.

        
          Bernice Elaine Seigle sitting in her mother’s lap                                                                  Joseph Gillespie

Photo of Bernice Elaine Seigle and her parents is courtesy of a descendant who graciously shared it with me.  In the photo is Arthur George Seigle, his wife Lida M. Tufts and their daughters Rosemary & Bernice.  I place the photo late 1920’s.

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.

Until next the next posting.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION