Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Birth Order

Another fun Randy Seaver puzzle:

1) Pick one of your ancestral lines - any one - patrilineal, matrilineal, zigzag, from a famous ancestor, etc. Pick a long one if you can.

2) Tell us which position in the birth order that your ancestor was in each generation. For example "third child, first son." Also list how many children were born to these parents.

3) Share your Birth Order work with us on your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a comment on Facebook, etc.

Patrilineal:

1. Only child of my father

2. Hugh Russell (1912-1995) was the oldest child of his father and the fourth son of his mother, her sixth child out of nine.

3. Benjamin T. Russell (1878-1963) was the oldest son of Henry and Elida (Newcomb) Russell; they had seven children

4. Henry Russell (1849-1937) was the oldest son of Rev. Daniel and Maria (Hunter) Russell; they had three children. Daniel remarried and had five more children.

5. Daniel Russell (1824-1902) was the seventh son and youngest child of Benjamin and Martha (Dayton) Russell; they had 14 children

6. Benjamin Russell (about 1780 - about 1840) was one of five sons of James Russell but I don't know their birth order. They had nine children. James is the end-of-line ancestor on this branch.

Matrilineal:

1. Youngest child of my mother

2. Grace Jones (1923-2009) was the oldest daughter and oldest child of Frank and Elizabeth (Worth) Jones; Frank and Lizzie had two children.

3. Elizabeth Worth (1888-1985) was the third daughter and sixth child of George and Flora (Swift) Worth; they had 13 children.

4. Flora Lucinda Swift (1859-1927) was the second daughter and fourth child of Charles F. and Eunice (Robinson) Swift; they had five children. Eunice remarried and had two more children (possibly more?)

5. Eunice Calista Robinson (1832-1906) was the first daughter and second child of Aaron and Rachel (Walker) Robinson; they had 10 children.

6. Rachel Walker (1807 - after 1880) was the fourth daughter and sixth child of John and Rachel (Cochran) Walker; they had eight children.

Saturday Night Genealogical Fun

"Her there, genealogy buffs - it's Saturday Night, time for more Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1) Determine which event in your ancestral history that you would love to be a witness to via a Time Machine. Assume that you could observe the event, but not participate in it.

2) Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a comment on Facebook."



When I read tonight’s challenge, my first thought was of Luther Kallam, 1760-1845. Luther joined the fight against Britain when he was 16 and returned home from the war four years later. Here is a capsule review of his service gleaned from his pension record.

Luther Kallam served in Babcock’s Regiment commanded by Col. Lippett. They marched to New York Island under the command of General Washington; he participated in the retreat off New York Island and White Plains while he was under Capt. Lemuel Bailey. They went from White Plains, New York, to Kings Ferry, Morristown, New Jersey and crossed the Delaware at Easton and travelled on to Bethlehem where his term of service expired 1 Jan 1777. He immediately volunteered for one more month and crossed the Delaware River at Bridgetown. He was in the battle at Trenton and also Princeton, then on to Morristown and New Brunswick. He was discharged again 31 Jan 1777. He enlisted again under Captain Heeney in February 1777 for three months and marched to Providence, Rhode Island, in Col. Richmond’s regiment. Again his enlistment expired.

In the spring of 1780 he enlisted under Col. Jeremiah Halsey for nine months and was attached to Capt. Hall’s company, in Col. Swift’s Regiment, 1st Connecticut. They marched to Herrington, then down the Hackensack river, back to Herrington to the north river at King’s ferry, on to the Highlands where they assisted building the Barracks or “Hats”. He was discharged December 1780.

What student of history wouldn’t want to tag along with Luther during these four years! There was no certainty the revolutionaries would win and in fact many times it looked like they would be defeated. The crossing of the Delaware was treacherous and the victories at Trenton and Princeton were almost miraculous. The battles. The marching. The hunger. The frostbitten fingers and feet. The knowledge at the end of it all that he and his fellow soldiers had been instrumental in setting up a new nation. What a wonderful trip back in time that would be!

I will again highly recommend the book Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer for anyone interested in learning more about George Washington and this part of the war.

~Source: "Revolutionary War Pensions." Database and images. (Footnote.com. www.footnote.com.), (www.footnote.com : accessed 23 Sep 2009); Luther Kallam; online images of pension application including affidavit.

A very belated Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post

Just getting around to reading blogs accumulated over the past week and thought I'd partake in Randy's fun idea. I copied and pasted a portion of a short story I wrote several years ago and uploaded it as he said to this site to see who I write like.


I write like
Oscar Wilde

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!





Oscar Wilde! And in one of those coincidental events, this evening our library had a presentation about his visit to Nebraska in 1882. I decided not to go but did read his bio on Wikipedia this afternoon. Spooky!

Saturday Night Fun - Matrilineal Line

Randy's Saturday Night Fun assignment:

1)List your matrilineal line - your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you!

2) Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in.

3) Post your responses on your own blog post, in Comments to this blog post, or in a Note or status line on Facebook.


Grace Jones, 1923-2009
Elizabeth Wilmot Worth, 1888-1985
Flora Lucinda Swift, 1859-1927
Eunice Calista Robinson, 1832-1906
Rachel Walker, 1807-after 1880
Rachel Cochran, 1768-1847

I have not had any DNA testing done, but I would like to. Too many other family history projects going on to do it anytime soon, I'm afraid.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Got too wrapped up in the Husker game last night to post. So here it is a day late:

Our assignment was to "Find out the geographical distribution of your surname". According to Public Profiler:

Russell
Australia has the most Russell's per Million: 1630.7
Top City: Glasgow, Scotland

Ferguson
Australia has the most Ferguson's per Million: 1057.92
Top City: Glasgow, Scotland

Mayfield
United States has the most Mayfield's per Million: 99.9
Top City worldwide: Nottingham, England
TOp U.S. city: Memphis, Tennessee

And my most elusive ancestor name, Westervelt
United States has the most Westervelt's per Million: 10.3
Top Regions: Kansas
2nd Region: New Jersey
Top City: Columbus, Kansas
2nd city: Aalten, Netherlands
New Jersey being 2nd is interesting because I believe that is where my ancestor Susan Ann Westervelt Newcomb was born. Apparently there are still many living there, probably all cousins. Wonder if any of the Kansas Westervelts would have any clues about my elusive Susan's ancestry!

And for those of you with an interest in this name:
Hollowell
United States has the most Hollowell's per million: 21.13
Top Region: North Carolina
Top City: Northampton, England
2nd most popular forename: John
4th most popular forename: James