The Value of Sharing Online

I have been sharing my family tree gedcom online at rootsweb.com for quite some years now. While some people do not like to share this way for fear others will steal their research, I am mostly a fan of the idea. I have seen my tree and its sources copied, with and without credit, the later being somewhat frustrating. However, the connections I have made, the cousins found, the information shared have been worth the cost.

One of the treasures I received was a picture of my 3rd great-grandfather and my 2nd great-grandfather and mother. This I received from a 2nd half-cousin of mine, Jeff. He found my information on the rootweb site and contacted me. He had much more information than I on our mutual family as well as a wonderful photo.

In the middle seated position is my 3rd great-grandfather Joseph Hall who was born 19 Nov 1824 in Darmariscotta, Lincoln, Maine.  He married Submit Ross (not shown) on 12 Oct 1845 in Bradford, Penobscot, Maine.  The couple on his left (right side of the picture) are my 2nd great-grandparents, Henry P Hall and his wife Esther Patricia Gowen.  Henry was born 2 Feb 1850 in Orneville, Piscataquis, Maine and Esther was born 15 Jan 1848 in Bradford, Penobscot, Maine.

The picture was taken in 1889 in North Bradford, Maine.  I don't know which of Henry's brothers is also in the picture.  (Perhaps someone will see this and tell me who it is!!)  It is just a wonderful picture.  I can see the resemblance of my mother in her relations.  It makes them all seem more real, not just names in a list.   Now I want a similar picture of every branch of my tree!

So when you are considering whether or how much to share of your research, remember this picture.  If you  are like me, you probably used some names and dates out of other's research, at least to get started.  And what I always try to remember, no one of us owns a relative or any of our family.  All the descendants do and the more we share the more we will all have.  And it also means that it is less likely that any of these wonderful family members will ever be forgotten!

Peace and Happy New Year to All!

Wordless Wednesday

Being  new to geneablogging, I missed the Advent Christmas Calendar memory prompts.   So in the spirit of Christmas here is a picture from my early childhood.

Merry Christmas to All!

Tombstone Tuesday - Ross & Beatrice Hannan

Now that I shared a little about my paternal grandmother, I will share with you about my mother's parents.

Ross Newell Hannon was born 29 Nov 1902 in Palermo, Maine.  He married Beatrice Natalie Hall on 3 Jan 1927.  Beatrice was born 17 Jun 1906 in Danforth, Maine, she died on 9 Jun 1976.  Ross died on 7 July 1992.  They are buried in Hannan Cemetery in Palermo, Maine.

Grammie and Gramps were great people.  As grandparents go, we could not have asked for more.  They were loving and caring and what us grandkids really appreciated - they never got upset with us, no matter what mess we made or what got accidently broken.

They were poor farmers.  They never had much but they shared what they had. 

They raised three beautiful daughters, my mother among them.

Rest in Peace.  Love, your granddaughter Kathy

You can visit their memorials on www.findagrave.com, one of my favorite sites.

A Revolutionary Patriot

Now that I have written about my paternal grandparents and their Loyalist ties, I will venture on to my maternal side.  I am descended from nine Revolution Patriots that I know about.  I have recently found more about these ancestors because of the new Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) online records and from some great finds on footnote.com.  Today I will focus on John Bickmore of Maine.  Maine was a part of Massachusetts at the time of the revolution so John served with a Massachusetts unit.

I recently found the following document on footnote.com

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

I John Bickmore, aged fifty nine years, a citizen of the United States, born in Friendship in the District of Maine, now resident in Unity in the said District, upon oath testify and declare, that in January 1776, I enlisted as a private soldier in the war of the revolution, against the common enemy, upon the continental establishment, for the period of one year, in the years service, in Capt Fuller's company and Col Bond's regiment of the Massachusetts troops or line.  I continued in  this service until the last of November following, and then took my final and humble discharge from the Army at Mount Independence, lake Champlain.  I was discharged before the expiration of the period of my enlistment in account of the poor state of my health; and such was the state of my health, I was unable to return home to my place of residence in Friendship in the District of Maine, until the twenty eighth day of March 1777.  I served in this campaign more than eleven months, and was employed during that time principally at Lake Champlain and its vicinity.  My discharge is lost and not in existence to my knowledge.  From my reduced circumstances I am in need of assistance from my country for support.  And I hereby relinquish all my claim to my pension heretofore allowed me by the laws of the United States, if any; but I am not to my knowledge [?] on any pension list whatever.  I request that I may be placed upon the pension list for the District of Maine.  I enlisted by the name of John Bickmore Junior, my father being of the same name, but now deceased.  I am known only by the name of John Bickmore.

I really like that the document contains John's signature!!

John Bickmore is my 5th great-grandfather.  He was the son of John Bickmore and Anna (Wadsworth?) Bickmore.  He was married to Margaret Meserve(y) whom he wed in 1777.  I am descended through his daughter Dorcas who married Joseph Bither. 



Mount Independence, Lake Champlain, Vermont is a National Historic Landmark.  

Wording on the Mount Independence Monument:

MOUNT INDEPENDENCE
BASTION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR+

Fortification was begun in June of 1776, and
THE NAME MOUNT INDEPENDENCE WAS BESTOWED
FOLLOWING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
LIEUT. CoL. JEDUTHAN BALDWIN WAS THE CHIEF
CONSTRUCTION ENGINEER. HERE THE EXHAUSTED
AMERICAN ARMY, NORTHERN DEPARTMENT, WAS
STATIONED AFTER WITHDRAWING FROM ITS
DISASTROUS CANADIAN CAMPAIGN. BUILT ON A
ROCKY PLATEAU AND STOUTLY FORTIFIED, THE
POST WAS A NATURAL STRONGHOLD FACING ANY
APPROACHING FOE FROM THE NORTH. WITHIN ITS
RUGGED CONFINES THOUSANDS OF NEW ENGLANDERS,
MANY SUCCUMBING TO ILLNESS AND LACK OF
SUPPLIES, WERE QUARTERED. because OF ITS
COMMANDING POSITION AND FORMIDABLE BATTLE
WORKS, WHICH MADE IT MORE POWERFUL AT THE
MOMENT THAN IMPAIRED TICONDEROGA, IT CHECKED
FOR A YEAR A BRITISH THRUST SOUTHWARD, UNTIL
AT THE FALL OF ITS COMPANION FORTRESS
ACROSS THE CHANNEL IT WAS EVACUATED IN THE
EARLY MORNING DARKNESS OF July 6, 1777.  this
CRITICAL YEAR OF REPRIEVE GAVE THE AMERICAN
FORCES TIME TO ORGANIZE FARTHER SOUTH, MEET
AND DESTROY general Burgoyne AT SARATOGA,
WIN FRENCH SUPPORT, AND EVENTUALLY SUBDUE
GENERAL CORNWALLIS AT Yorktown, FULFILLING
THE PROPHECY OF THE MOUNTAIN'S NAME.
-------------------

erected BY
Vermont SOCIETY
SONS OF THE American REVOLUTION
IN OBSERVANCE OF THE
BICENTENNIAL YEAR OF INDEPENDENCE, 1976

It seems that Mount Independence was not a pleasant place to be in the time that John Bickmore served there. I am grateful that he made it through and for his service to our new country.

"During the American Revolution, the mount was a bare promontory on which all the trees had been cut. For sixteen months, it was alive with activity. Thousands of soldiers constructed fortifications and buildings with desperate haste. They lived in tents, huts and barracks, coped with miserable weather and disease, and prepared to meet the enemy. During the Revolutionary War, hundreds of soldiers from America, Britain and Germany died here from combat wounds, disease, poor diet and exposure. These dead lie in unmarked graves."

Genealogy Musings

Today I begin my first blog posting. I hope use this to organize my thoughts, share ideas, and further my genealogical research and sharing.

I have been seriously researching my family history for about 20 years. I have been interested in this topic for far longer. I remember an assignment in junior high (or maybe early high school) where I need to research at least some part of my ancestral history. I borrowed a book about the Hall family from my aunt and made a poster of my Hall line back quite a few generations. I think I still have the thing - I wish I knew where. I don't think I understood how to read that book and it would be fun to compare what I know now with what I thought I found then.

My father and I had a discussion just the other day about what year my grandmother, his mother, had died. He had received Christmas cards from some of his Canadian relatives (his parents both having been born in Canada). I looked at the cards and recognized the names but couldn't remember how they were connected to my dad. I went home and printed out a couple of generations of both his father's and his mother's lines and took them to him and told him to please indicate who the writers of the cards were. He did so and also changed the death year for his mother, from 1993 to 1996. When I looked at it I thought "Wow! have I had that wrong all this time?" I went home and looked at my family tree program, not the date he thought, checked an online social security death index, not his date, and then looked at my gravestone picture for her at www.findagrave.com. They all agreed with my date, not what my father remembered. I called him up and he said he was sure she died in 1996 at the age of 96. How could she have died in 1993 and been 96 if she was born, as we both knew, in 1900? I'm not sure he quite believed me and told me he had a copy of her death certificate and he would check it out (reminds me I need to get a copy of that!). He did call back and confirm that it was 1993. Guess she was only 93, he had thought her 96 when she died and had planted that firmly in his mind. Glad we have some good sources for checking these things out. This reinforces the truth that "facts" are easily forgotten and misremembered!

The whole discussion made me think about my grandmother. When I was in high school and college she lived with us on and off. I wish I had taken some time to listen more. She loved to tell tales about her past and was particularly proud of the fact that her relatives were Loyalists during the American Revolution. That is how she ended up being born in Canada, her relations having been forced out of the new America at the end of the Revolutionary War. I didn't even understand what a loyalist was when she was telling me and I didn't really have enough desire to find out. Miss you grammie.

So, I'll end this my first post. What did I get out of it?
Write it all down, and document it as best you can.
Listen to your elders ... while you can ... get all the stories (and write them down!!)