Monday, November 3, 2014

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



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 July.

For the previous posts transcribing January through June, please click on these links.


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)
July_grandmas journal

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 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.

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

ADDITIONAL NOTE:  I REDACT THE BIRTH DATES & FULL NAMES OF PEOPLE WHO I’M AWARE OF, THAT ARE STILL LIVING, FOR THEIR PROTECTION.  THIS MONTH I DON’T BELIEVE WE HAVE ANY STILL LIVING.


I have placed an asterisk * next to the names I have not yet connected to our family.
    
July
* Jean Frances LENNEBACK  July 5 ‘24  
James G. VERNEY, Jr.  July 9, '94 Died Jan 12 ‘57  [1st cousin twice removed]
 Post  July 15 ‘11 
Died Nov. 12 ‘47  Susan M. SMITH  July 18 ‘60  [maternal great grandmother] 
* Bert SEARLS   July 18  died aged 64 Jan 3, ‘50 
* Henry PLATZ July 20   died Nov ‘69
 James B. VERNEY 1854  July 27   Oct. 3, ‘34 [husband of great grandaunt]
 Jean MOFFET  July 16  Oct 28, ‘76 
Barbara DOWORTH  July 21  ‘16
Junior Diebel   July 26, ‘28 
Aunt Ada’s grson William KING [possibly 2nd cousin once removed] 
Marion RIGGS July 10  ‘19 
Lawrence? Diebel  July 5

There is a date of July 26 between the name Marion Riggs and the scratched out name of Lawrence Diebel.  I cannot be sure which name that date belongs with.


That’s a total of 11 (13 if you count the two that are lined out) names.  I am very fortunate to have this kind of list from my grandmother.

SIX of the names are still waiting for me to find their connections.  I have them in my Legacy database as unlinked individuals. I do not include the name that just says “Post,” among the unidentified.  I don’t have that name in my database at this time, unlinked or otherwise.
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.

Again this month, the photos I have consist of only one person.  My maternal great grandmother, Susan Anne Gillespie Milne Smith.  I do have several of her.
 
GILLESPIE_Susan_portrait photo_age 16_restored photo    MILNE_Joseph & Irene with their mother_circa 1894_adjusted tones
Left – photo of Susan at age 16, circa 1876 (according to back of photo)  On the right is a picture of Susan with her infant daughter, Irene and her son, Joseph.  This picture of her with her children would have been late 1893-1894. Sadly, Susan and her husband Andrew had lost a son at birth in 1886 and a young daughter at age 2 in 1887.  Then Andrew died in Dec 1892 of consumption.  Little Irene, shown in the picture, was born in June 1893.  She never met her father.
 
GGmaSusanGillespieMilneSmithcloseup     Hunter_Florence-Bowden_Florence_Gillespie_Susan -June 1934 
The headshot on the left was cropped from a group photo from about 1911-1912.  The photo on the right is from 1934 and in it are L-R – my maternal great grandmother Florence Hunter Milne Bell, my grandmother (author of this journal from which I post) Florence Bowden Milne, and on the right is Susan Gillespie Milne Smith, my other maternal great grandmother.

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.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures. I hope that someone contacts you with wonderful information.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Michelle. My maternal grandmother, who is also the author of the journal I write about here, had most of these photos. I am very fortunate to have the ones I do. I sure do hope that some of the cousins of those I haven't connected yet, will find my posts and get in touch.

      Delete

I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.