Sunday, January 24, 2021

ON THIS DATE ~ It’s my nephew’s birthday today–he is turning 30–let’s see who else in our family tree shares January 24th as a significant event


My nephew turns 30 today.  Those years certainly flew by.  My niece and nephew have been very important to me ever since the day they were born.  In honor of Joshua’s 30th birthday, let’s see who else shares January 24th as an event date – birth, marriage or death.

I used the Legacy Search function to quickly create my list.  Search>Find>Detailed search. Then I set 3 conditions as seen in the screen shot below.  Under “how to look” it is generally better to use “contains” rather than “equal to.”  Just in case you have a typo or other error.


My list was created with the click of a mouse.  There are 23 individuals on the list.  How are they connected to me?  Let’s find out.

BIRTHS

FAUST, Mary – 24 Jan 1890 - my husband’s 1st cousin twice removed’s wife

GOULD, Joshua – 24 Jan 1991 – my nephew to whom I’ve dedicated this post

GOULD, Nina Laura – 24 Jan 1877 - an unlinked individual added in my search for my paternal 3rd great grandparents

HANSHAW, Gary King – 24 Jan 1927 - 1st husband of my maternal 3rd cousin twice removed

HART, Henry – 24 Jan 1795 - my paternal 3rd great grandfather

LYONS, Jane Anne – 24 Jan 1926 - she is listed in my maternal grandmother’s journal and I have not yet determined if she is related to us or not

MILNE, Henry – 24 Jan 1856 -  my maternal great granduncle’s wife’s brother

ORR, Fred Calvin – 24 Jan 1867 - relationship to me unknown, part of my search for my paternal 3rd great grandparents

MARRIAGES

BOWEN, Peggy to Abram BRIGHT on 24 Jan 1833 – my maternal 1st cousin 5 times removed

CORNELIUS, Joseph Edward to Carolyn GEORGE on 24 Jan 1958 – my stepfather’s marriage to his 2nd wife

HART, Leslie G. to Johanna TAGLAUER on 24 Jan 1918 – my paternal 2nd cousin twice removed

LUNSFORD, Andrew J. to Martha E. VERMILLION on 24 Jan 1856 – my maternal 3rd great granduncle

DEATHS

BURRELL, Isaac Jr. – 24 Jan 1863 – relationship to me unknown, part of my search for my paternal 3rd great grandparents

DECLUTE, George – 24 Jan 1926 – paternal 1st cousin 3 times removed’s wife’s husband

GILLESPIE, Louise – 24 Jan 1950 – my maternal great grandaunt

GOULD, Martha E. – 24 Jan 1883 - relationship to me unknown, part of my search for my paternal 3rd great grandparents

HALL, Jeremiah Jr. – 24 Jan 1776 – my husband’s paternal 1st cousin 5 times removed

INGRAHAM, Elizabeth – 24 Jan 1911 – my paternal 2nd great grandaunt’s husband’s sister

McTAGGART, Angus – 24 Jan 1874 – my Dad’s first wife’s great grandfather

The earliest January 24th date is Jeremiah Hall, Jr.’s death in 1776.  The most recent is my nephew’s birthday in 1991.

I always enjoy looking at a particular date in my family tree.  Do you ever do something like this?  You could use your own birthday or someone else’s.  Or your marriage date.  There are all sorts of possibilities.

The bonus to doing this is taking a look at various individuals whom you may not recently have been researching.  In fact, in my case there were a couple for whom I had research notes from 2009 and nothing since.  It would behoove me to return to those ancestors or potential ancestors and conduct more research. 

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

WEDDING WEDNESDAY ~ The marriages of my great grandaunt’s husband, William James Clifford Beechey (1860-1915), England


My maternal great grandaunt, Margaret Ewen MILNE was 29 when she married William James Beechey.  They were married 10 Feb 1879 in London, England.  Together this couple had two daughters, Margaret Ann Beechey born 2 Apr 1880 in Aboyne, Aberdeen, Scotland and Emma Agnes Beechey born 30 Apr 1885 in Bow Common, St. Paul, England.

I have confirmed my connection to this couple via a DNA match to their granddaughter, Joy Margaret Levasseur Edwards.  I am happily communicating with descendants from this line.

William Beechey was only married to Margaret Milne for 7 years, as she died in Mar 1886.  She was only 36 years old at the time.  I don’t have a cause of death for her, but there is a record of her  burial in London, England, City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery Registers, 1841-1966.

This left William with two daughters to raise.  The girls were only one and five at the time of their mother’s death. 

On 27 Dec 1891, William married a second time to Mary Annie PORTER Lankes in St. Luke’s Church, Deptford, Lewisham, England.

London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932
Name    Mary Annie Lankes
Gender Female
Marriage Age 29
Record Type    Marriage
Birth Date  1862
Marriage Date  27 Dec 1891
Marriage Place  St Luke, Deptford, Lewisham, England
Father    Thomas Porter
Spous     William James Clifford Buckey
Register Type Parish Register

(Please click on any image to enlarge it)

Marriage record - William James Clifford Beechey to Mary Annie Lankes - 27 Dec 1891

William & his second wife, Mary Annie had four children: Annie, Thomas, Emily and Theresa.  Sadly, this second wife, Mary, died 4 Dec 1898, at age 34.  Her cause of death indicates she likely died during or shortly after, childbirth.

England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915
Name:  Mary Ann Beechey
Estimated Birth Year:  abt 1864
Registration Year:  1898
Registration Quarter:  Oct-Nov-Dec
Age at Death:  34
Registration District:  St Olave Southwark
Parishes for this Registration District:  View Ecclesiastical Parishes associated with this Registration District
Inferred County:  London
Volume:  1d
Page:     164

Now it’s 1898 and William has children at home, ages 6, 4, 3 and 2 and probably his daughter Emma, age 13, from his first marriage.  By now, his oldest daughter Margaret was out of the house and married.  That’s a lot for a widower to handle.  I know it was customary back then to have domestic help in the home, sometimes regardless of what your socio economic status was.  Perhaps he had help?  Did he get help from family? 

William married a third time, 15 months after Mary’s death.  He married Elizabeth Emma Frances STEVENS Porter on 15 Apr 1900 in Deptford, London, England.

Marriage record - William James Clifford Beechey to Elizabeth Emma Frances Porter - 15 Apr 1900

This new marriage to Elizabeth produced five more children for William; Claude, William Clifford, Elizabeth, Margaret and Helena, all born between 1900 and 1912.

That makes a total of 11 children born to William Beechey and his three wives. They didn’t all live to adulthood.  In fact, there is a sad ending to this story.  But, that is for another post, so stay tuned.

If you have any connection to the ancestors I’ve mentioned in this post, I’d love to hear from you.  There have to be a lot of descendants out there, given there were so many children born to William and his 3 wives.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

IT’S BLOGIVERSARY TIME ~ Celebrating 11 years of family finds and story telling



Who knew?  Eleven years!  I certainly never thought I’d still be sharing family stories and research tips for this many years.

It’s been fun and continues to be rewarding.  Many cousin contacts have been made over these years. I hope with many more to come.

WHO IS TO BE CREDITED FOR MY SUCCESS?  YOU!!!!  And, I cannot thank you enough


Let’s take a quick look at some stats from my blog.

HOW MANY POSTS HAVE I WRITTEN & PUBLISHED?

639 – an average of 58 per year

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE MADE COMMENTS ON MY POSTS?

2,130 – and I have responded to each and every one

HOW MANY HITS OR CLICKS ON MY PAGE HAVE THERE BEEN?

805,746 – an approximate average of 200 per day

Realistically knowing that not all of those hits are people coming to read my content.  But, nonetheless a good indicator that I do have readers.

My goal is to write many more stories this year.  Thank you all for your continued support.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Friday, January 1, 2021

HAPPY NEW YEAR ~ And WELCOME 2021–Here are my year end stats for 2020 and GOALS for the new year



Good riddance 2020 and hello 2021.  May this be a much kinder and gentler year for all of us. 

I always like to look back and see what’s changed in my Legacy tree. 

  • How many new ancestors and/or collateral people have I added?
  • Have I kept up with my sourcing? 
  • What else has changed in my tree?

Let’s take a look.

Here is a side by side comparison created by Legacy

(Click on any image to enlarge it)

On the left are the stats from 2019 and on the right the stats from 2020

I appears that I’ve made steady progress consistent with previous years.  That certainly makes me happy.  My goal has never been to see how big I can make my tree, but rather, to add people that are well researched and confirmed.  Speaking of goals.  I shared my goals for 2020 in my first post last year.  Let’s see how well I did.


Speaking of goals.  I shared my goals for 2020 in my first post last year.  Let’s see how well I did.

HERE WERE MY GENEALOGY GOALS FOR 2020

  • Continue to blog about our family and share their stories – DONE

  • To break down my two biggest, long standing brick walls – SADLY NOT DONE

  • To become better at reading DNA results and connecting the dots – SOME PROGRESS

  • To have a great time at Rootstech 2020 in February – ABSOLUTELY DONE!

  • To continue to occasionally teach classes and help others grow their family tree – DONE

  • To finish the small box of scanning that’s been in my office for several years – NOT DONE

  • To continue to enjoy what started as a hobby and has now become a passion for me – DONE

What were your goals for this past year?  How did you do?

Here is my list for this coming year – writing them down helps motivate me

  • To break down my two biggest, long standing brick walls
  • To finish the small box of scanning that’s been in my office for several years
  • To do a better job of citing my sources.  I was a bit lazy this past year
  • To connect with more cousins and exchange information
  • To continue to teach and help others
  • To get my blog post count back to where it was in previous years (before 2020)

That top goal is huge for me and my most urgent desire.  What are your goals for the coming year?  I’d love to hear about them in a comment or your own blog post.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION