Is Meets Was

Goodnight Mom

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 07:29:00 +0000

This has been a very hard and strange week with the passing of my Mom. My heart is broken, and my brain has turned to mush. If we live long enough, each of us goes through this passage, but that doesn't make it any easier when it is our turn.

Below is a video with photographs of my Mom taken throughout her life.

Goodnight Mom. I love you.

© 2012, Cathy H Paris

Vandelism at Green-Wood Cemetery

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:51:00 +0000

The Parkinsons' Plot, photograph furnished by Green-Wood

If you have ancestors who lived in Manhattan or Brooklyn, New York, a must-place to look for their burial site is in beautiful and historic Green-Wood Cemetery. I found the burial location of my Great Great Grandfather, Henry Parkinson (1828 - 1870), and other family members.

This morning I was saddened to read about vandalism at Green-Wood. In 2003, my husband and I visited Green-Wood, along with my cousin's daughter, Wendy Marinaccio. We went there in search of Henry's gravesite and in search of the gravesite of my Great Grandparents, Andrew Nimmo (1864-1912) and Kate Parkinson (1865-1915).

We never did find Henry's resting place, but afterwards Green-Wood sent me the above photograph of the Parkinson's plot.

Here I am in 2003, happy to be looking for the Parkinsons.

Here is Wendy. We didn't find the Parkinsons.
Little did we know that we were just on the wrong side of the path.

We did find the locations of Andrew and Kate's resting place,
but were disappointed to learn afterwards
that we didn't find the gravestone,
because they were buried in an unmarked grave.

Nick is sitting in the air-conditioned car while we hunt.
He couldn't stand the heat.

Carroll / Merrill Mystery House

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 03:54:00 +0000

Mystery Photo

A few years ago, I met a second cousin, and we shared old photos. We both had a copy of the same photograph of an elegant, old New England home. His photograph was inherited from his mother. Mine came from my grandparents' album which had been passed to my aunt and then to me. Naturally neither photograph is labelled, and the significance of this old house to our family history remains a mystery.

My cousins grandfather, Harry Merrill, and my grandfather, Fred Merrill, were brothers. The brothers were both born and raised in Franklin, New Hampshire. Their mother's maiden name was Carroll.

If you recognize the house in this photograph, please contact me.

Thanks goes to the Franklin Historical Society for posting a copy of this mystery photo on their website.

Where is it?

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:48:00 +0000

I haven't written an article for my blog in months, and how shocked I was to find nothing on the front page! Thank goodness articles may still be reached through the dynamic keyword link in the left margin. It is time to get busy and to start writing about family history again. Hopefully by writing this post, I will return IsMeetsWas to life. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could rejuvenate ourselves so easily?

The absence of articles is not a reflection of my inactivity. Most recently, I am lost in tons of busy work, massaging the over 9000 names of places in my database on Family Tree Maker.

I have reduced the number of place names to under 6000, but I still have more place names demanding my attention. I am concerned about the loss of the historical integrity of the names of places as I strive for consistency and update the place names to make them recognizable to online maps. Often as I make changes, I have included the old name of the place in the descriptive field. Regrettably, I have not been consistent.

For closer relatives, I sometimes have included the street address in the place name. On the one hand, I hate doing this because it clutters the field and makes it harder to maintain consistency in naming places. Nonetheless, it is so nice to have this information for locating places in Google Earth and for finding the ancestral home in the real world. As a compromise, I have sometimes included the street address in the description field. At other times, I have left the street address as part of the place name.

Where has the time gone? I am hoping that creating this post will do something to return IsMeetsWas to the here and now. Hello world. Here I am, hectically thinking and as inconsistent as ever.

Remembering Grandparents on Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 23:29:00 +0000

Merry Christmas. For me, Christmas is a nostalgic time as well as a joyous time. It is a time in which I remember the people who have touched my life. One such person is my paternal grandmother, Mary (Fitzgerald) Merrill. My life was touched by her absence.

Mary holding Gil, Lib and Dot,
and Fred Merrill, 1913

Christmas Tree, 1913

In December 1913, my grandparents celebrated Christmas with a tree and a new camera. Fred and Mary were living in Franklin, New Hampshire with their three children: Dorothy Margaret (age 6), Elizabeth Mary (age 2), and Gilbert James Merrill (6 months). I wonder: "Were there presents under the tree for the children to open on Christmas morning? Did Santa stuff special treats in stockings hung by the chimney?" I do know that there was plenty of snow to enjoy that winter.

Uncle Dan Fitzgerald c. 1913

Mary, Lib, Gil, and Dot, Winter 1913

Above is the only photograph I have of Uncle Dan. Two years later, at the age of 18, Uncle Dan fell through the ice and drowned in Bradley Pond in Andover, New Hampshire.

Mary, my grandmother and Dan's sister, is shown in the next photograph with her three children. Mary's fourth and final child, Fred, will arrive in 1915. Three months before the Christmas of 1918, Mary died from the Spanish influenza. I miss the stories she would have told if she had lived to see her children grown and married with children of their own.

Meet Eulie Hopkins

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:51:00 +0000

Olive, Eulie, and Cedric Hopkins
October 1897

I am pleased to introduce you to Winifred Eulalie Hopkins. Everyone called her Eulie. She was born on September 3, 1894 in Milverton, England.

Eulie's father, George, was the son of an Irish merchant and minister from Wicklow, Ireland.

Eulie's mother, Emily Ruth Draper, was the daughter of a coach smith and livery stable keeper of Hackney, London, England.

Eulie, December 1901

Eulie was the 8th of 10 children.

Garry, Edith, Harold, Lance, Maz, Cedric, Eulie, Olive, and John c. 1918

While Eulie passed into adulthood, the Great War, now known as World War I, was raging in Europe. It began on 28 July 1914, when Eulie was approaching her 20th birthday and lasted until 11 November 1918, when Eulie was 24 years old. More than 9 million people who fought in the war, mostly men, were killed. Possibly the vaste carnage is the reason that Eulie and two of her sisters never married.

Mildred (sister-in-law), Olive, and Eulie

The family had businesses in Milverton and in Wicklow, Ireland. At one time or another, Eulie's parents, grandparents, and brothers and sisters worked in the family's shops. I was told by one of her nieces, that Eulie was the secretary for the firm and also worked as a cashier.

In 2008, on a visit with family in England and Ireland, I was fortunate to be able to photograph many old family photos, including Eulie's Album. (Thank you Uncle John and Aunt Vanessa.) From the album I learned that in addition to working in the family businesses, Eulie traveled, golfed, played field hockey, and kept photographs of all her brothers and sisters.

Maz and Eulie c. 1960

Eulie died 44 years ago in Dublin, Ireland on November 5, 1967.

One Lovely Blog Award

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 06:10:00 +0000

Thank you to Nancy at My Ancestors and Me for honoring me with the One Lovely Blog Award. I am passing the award onto the following blogs:

Wendy for Shanghai Wen Wen,
Susie for Little Susie Homemaker
Sarah at Unshoveling the Past
Ms.Genealogist at Who Does She Think She Is?

Wendy's blog and Susie's blog provide delightful insights into the lives of two contemporary young women who have chosen such different paths. For a whimsical look at Wendy's reality, recently uprooted and transplanted from San Francisco to China, visit Shanghai Wen Wen. To discover how to live and laugh while raising and homeschooling six children on a very moderate income, take a gander at Little Susie Homemaker's stories.

Unshoveling the Past and Who Does She Think She Is? are both blogs that explore the author's family histories, one from a very personal perspective and the other from a more academic viewpoint.

For the recipients of One Lovely Blog Award, these are the expectations that go along with receipt of the award:

Accept the award and post it on your blog together with the name of the person who granted the award and their blog link.
Pass the award on to 10 other blogs that you've newly discovered.
Remember to contact the award recipients to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Download ASTRID: a "To-Do-List" for the iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:55:00 +0000

You may be wondering why I am promoting a To-Do-List on a blog about family history. The answer is simple. Astrid is part of our family's history, and I have been one of the beta testers for severals months. Try it. It's free.

Download it directly onto your iPone: http://bit.ly/astridUS, or go to the App Store. Search for "To Do" and scroll down until you see Astrid To-Do.

As a beta tester, Astrid has been helping me stay focused on my family history projects. Today, I received these reminders:

Publish 2nd Edition of Mary Fitzgerald's Album
Search Probate Records for Jabez Draper, died October 3 1899

Also, I use Astrid to keep my Shopping List. Thanks to Astrid, I have finally remembered to replenish the rubbing alcohol. I wish my Nick had an iPhone too, and then we could keep a shared Honey-Do-List.

© 2011, Cathy H Paris

Meet Conrad Bals and Augusta Schulze

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:33:00 +0000

August and Conrad in 1888 and again, fifty years later, in 1838

My maternal great grandparents, Conrad Bals (1864-1953) and Augusta Schulze (1866-1947), immigrated from Westfalen, Preussen to Brooklyn, New York in 1887 and 1888, respectively. Although my memories of them are faint, I was fortunate that they were still alive when I was born.

Nine years ago, I created a slide show to tell the story of Conrad and Augusta and to share copies of Bals family photographs. I sent a CD with the slide show to each major branch of the family. Recently, my cousin, Michelle, asked for a copy of these photographs. Rather than burn another CD, I decided it was time to include the slideshow on my blog.

To see the slide show I created 9 years ago, just click here: BALS FAMILY HISTORY

Enjoy.

Postcards from Lavella

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:15:00 +0000

For years I was proud of being the first woman in our family who left home before she was married, seeking my independence and destiny in another world. (For me, that other world was California.) How wrong I was! Researching family history, I have discovered a parade of woman in my family, and in my husband's family, who traveled a similar road years before my time.

One of these women was Susanah Lavella Hopkins, and like me, Lavella was destined to become a Californian. Known as Lala to her family, she used Lavella as her given name.

In 1869, Lavella's birth was registered under her mother's name, Fanny Hopkins, in Rathdrum, County Wicklow, Ireland. Her father, Nicholas "David" Hopkins, had been born into a family of means. David had a farm called Lamb Park in Coolbeg, near Wicklow Town. In 1881, when Lavella was only 11 years old, her mother died. Family correspondence suggests her father experienced financial difficulties.

By the time she was 21 years old, Lavella was working as an assistant in her Uncle John's shop in Milverton, England. Uncle John was a Methodist minister and a successful seedsman with businesses in Ireland and England. Lavella continued to work at Uncle John's shop in Milverton for at least a decade. Her sister, Grace Anne, went into service as a lady's companion. Lavella and Grace Anne had at least one brother, but his destiny is still a mystery. In 1901, her father, David, was boarding in a private home in Ireland. David died in 1905.

On June 4, 1903, nine days before her 34th birthday, Lavella boarded a ship in Liverpool and headed to America. Her destination was St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis was preparing to host a major World's Fair. Was Lavella contracted to work in one of the many upcoming exhibits? Was Lavella traveling to a rendezvous with a secret love?

We may never know the answer to these questions. While we know little of Lavella's hopes and dreams, loves and sorrows, we do know that she liked to travel. We are fortunate that 32 postcards which Lavella sent between 1905-1909 to her sister, Grace Anne, have survived for us to enjoy today.

My thanks goes to Alan and Vanessa Hopkins of Tooting Bec, London England for preserving the original postcards and giving me the opportunity to photograph them.

To see the postcards that Lavella sent just click on: POSTCARDS FROM LAVELLA.

Enjoy.

© 2011, Cathy H Paris

Seeking Photographs of a Nimmo

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:47:00 +0000

Do you have unidentified photographs? Do any of the people look like a Nimmo? I am looking for photographs of the men pictured below and for photographs of their brothers, sisters, spouses, and children.

Andrew Nimmo (left) and Margaret McCullough had several sons.

John (center-left) was born in Belfast, Ireland. In 1866, John, who was just a teenager then, emigrated to Australia. John married and raised his family in Queensland.

Charles (center-right) had his photograph taken in Barrow-in-Furness, England.

Andrew (right) was born in Barrow-in-Furness about the time when John, his older brother, emigrated to Australia. In 1882, Andrew emigrated to America. Andrew and his brother Joseph (not pictured) raised their families in Brooklyn, New York.

Mathew and James (not pictured) emigrated to Australia and raised their families in New South Wales.

I don't know whether or not there were any other siblings.

If you think you have a photograph of a Nimmo, please contact me at ismeetswas@gmail.com.

© 2011, Cathy H Paris

Queensland Cousins Finally Found

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:08:00 +0000

While Helen Nimmo, was going to birthday parties in Brooklyn, her nine Queensland cousins were posing for a photo with their father, Jack Nimmo, and their mother, Jane Lawson.

John and Jane Nimmo and Family in Queensland c. 1907. Back: Harriet, Robert, Andrew, Jane (Finlayson), & John. Centre: Margaret, John Snr, Jane (nee Lawson), & Mary. Front: Bella & Anne.

Thank you. Thank you to Jeannette Finlayson, wife of my 3^rd cousin, Arch Finlayson, for sharing the photo, John and Jane Nimmo and Family.

Helen Nimmo at a birthday party in Brooklyn, New York c. 1907

Since I was a small child, my mother told me that I had cousins in Australia. Seeing is believing. Again, thank you Jeanette.

© 2011, Cathy H Paris

Brooklyn Nimmo Seeks Australian Cousins

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 22:28:00 +0000

Pneumonia took Andrew. It was May 10, 1912, and he was 46 years old. Andrew was survived by four brothers (John, Matthew, James, and Joseph), three of whom immigrated to Australia. Ancestry.com now has birth, marriage, and death indexes for Australia as well as electoral rolls and directories. I have been spending most waking hours pursuing the hunt I began 10 years ago to track Andrew's family in Australia, hoping that they will have family photos to share. The trail is hot, but so far no photos! Any leads are welcome.

I wonder. Did Andrew have any sister(s) or brother(s) who predeceased him? So far, I haven't found any primary records of the birth of Andrew or the birth of any siblings. Andrew's and Joseph's obituaries indicate that Andrew and Joseph were born in Barrow-in-Furness, England. John's and Matthew's death records indicate that John and Matthew were born in Belfast, Ireland. Email exchanges with other Nimmo researchers several years ago, indicate that there were cousins living in Scotland during the same time period.

Helen Nimmo, who's album was included in my last post, was the youngest of Andrew's surviving children. The picture of Andrew, above to the left, is from a locket that Helen cherished her whole life. Her father died when she was 12 years old. The photograph below is a picture of the building, across from Prospect Park, where Andrew lived with his family before his premature death. Andrew's great-great granddaughter, Wendy Marinaccio, is sitting on the front porch of the unit where Andrew had lived with his wife, Kate, and his four children: Andy, Dot, Bob, and Helen.

I found the below clipping of Andrew's obituary among Helen's personal effects.

Brooklyn Teenager Cuts Loose (1910 - 1918)

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 03:24:00 +0000

Helen's Photo AlbumAfter their parents died, Dot tried to keep an eye on her younger sister, Helen. It wasn't easy.

View more presentations from IsMeetsWas

And Then There Was Joseph

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Tue, 31 May 2011 02:58:00 +0000

Conrad with Murphy and Reilly
Brooklyn, New York c. 1922

After a week of scrutinizing old church records at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, I have a story to tell.

As the seeds of the Revolutionary War in America were being sewn, across the waters in rural Prussia, in the small villages of Hembsen and Beller, Johan Bals and Agnes Kineke were born. Hembsen and Beller are neighboring villages separated by less than a mile of farmland. It was 1764.

Agnes, the youngest of five siblings, was born in the winter, on February 20. She was baptized that same day at Saint Peter’s, the Roman Catholic Church in Erkeln. Erkeln is a town 1.5 miles to the north and east of Beller.

Johann, the first of 7 brothers and sisters, was born in the spring, on June 24 to be exact. Johann was baptized the day after his birth at Saint Michael’s in Brakel. Brakel is a town laying 2.5 miles to the north and west of Hembsen.

While Agnes and Johann grew up in neighboring villages, their villages were in different parishes. Despite the separation of parishes, Johann and Agnes found one another. When they were 23, at Saint Michael’s and at Saint Peter’s, it was proclaimed that Johan and Agnes would marry.

Johan and Agnes celebrated the arrival of their daughter, Anna Maria Elisabetha Balz, just 48 days after their wedding. It wasn’t until six years later that their next child, a son, was born. Another six years passed, and Johan and Agnes welcomed another son into the world. Sadly, both sons were just toddlers when they died. Johan and Agnes never had the large family they had envisioned, and after 33 years of marriage, Agnes developed a high fever and died. [Given the spacing of 6 years between each of the children, I wonder if Johan was in the Army.]

If this were the end of our story, I would not be here today.

Three months after Agnes’ passing, Johan, who was now 59 years old and an ackermann (field hand), married Anna Theodora BIERBÜSSE. Anna was 30 years old, still single, and the daughter of Johan’s friend, Adam, the wheel maker. A year after their marriage, Anna Theodora gave birth to their daughter, Maria Elisabeth BALS. Just a few days after Maria Elisabeth’s birth, Anna Theodora died, and Johan was a widower again. [I still need to find out what happened to poor little Maria Elisabeth and what happened to Anna Maria Elizabeth, Johan’s first daughter.]

And if this were the end of our story, I would not be here today.

Josepha Köhler also lived in the village of Hembsen. Hembsen was a very small village, so I am sure everybody knew everybody, and Anna Theodora and Josepha knew each other. Josepha was 29 years old and single. Josepha’ father had died 22 years earlier, at the age of 62, leaving her mother to fend for herself with a 7 year old daughter and 3 year old son. Josepha’s father had been a tagelöhner (day laborer), and Josepha was the product of his second marriage.

Johann Bals was now 61 years old and working as a tagelöhner. It was a full year after Anna Theodora’s untimely death, and even though Josepha was only 29 years old, Johan and Josepha were married and started a family of their own. Johan and Josepha had a daughter, Louise. Three years later, Josephina arrived. And finally, with the passage of 4 more years, just before Johan’s 69^th birthday, on March 7, 1823, Josepha gave Johan a son. They named him Johan Joseph Gregor Bals. [I feel that Johan must have loved Josepha dearly, for two of their three children were named after their mother.]

Johan and Joseph called their son Joseph, and this is the name by which he was known for the rest of his life. Everybody called him Joseph, and the arrival of Joseph heralds the end of this story and the beginning of the next one.

Joseph begat Conrad and eight other children. Conrad moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1887. Conrad begat Peter, Frank, Marie, Augusta, Joseph, George, Lillian, Anna, and Betty. And the rest is history, our family history.

Thank you to the California Genealogical Society, and especially to Jane Lindsey and Nancy Peterson, for hosting the week long research trip to Salt Lake City.

© 2011, Cathy H Paris

Greek Like Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Greek LIke Me? has just been published on Lulu.com. I wrote this book to provide a vehicle for teaching our grandchildren and great nieces and great nephews about their Greek heritage. Greek? Take a peek. If you have a story to tell, you may want to use a similar approach.

The book is 79 pages filled with illustrations and easy prose designed to provide children with an overview of Greek history from ancient times until the 1930s. In presenting a series of major historical events, I tried to provide a vision of how these events impacted one town in Greece and the lives of the ordinary citizens of that town, especially the family of Pavlos and Irini.

Also, I have published a private version of the book for family members only. The private version, called Koroni, Pavlos and Irini, includes an extensive set of charts displaying our family tree. Family members may contact me for the website address of the private version.

© 2011, Cathy H Paris

Putting Names to Faces of Long Ago

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 06:19:00 +0000

Meet Timothy and Margaret Ford of County Cork with two of their daughters, Eliza and Margaret, and two of their sons, whose names are still to be discovered. Timothy and Margaret are my great-great-great-grandparents. I have known their names for only two days.

Based on a consultation last year with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, I believe that the above picture of Timothy and Margaret with four of their children is a photograph, possibly taken in the 1880s, of a daguerreotype dating back to the early 1850s.

On Saturday I went to a class on New York City research offered by the California Genealogical Society (CGS) and taught by CGS’s President, Steve Harris. Steve told us about an indexed collection of probate records, New York, Kings County Estate Files, 1866-1923, now available for viewing at familysearch.org.

I perused several of the probate files, and oh joy! I found a probate file for one of Timothy and Margaret’s daughters, Catharine Ford. The file revealed Catharine’s date of death and the names of her heirs. On the right is a photograph of Catharine taken about 1886 on Staten Island. Pictured with Catharine are the children of George Whitehouse, a stockbroker who worked in New York City.

Armed with Catharine’s date of death, I looked at eleven photographs I had taken three years ago on a trip with CGS to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Each photograph was a copy of a death certificate for a Catherine Ford who was single, born in Ireland around the 1830s, and who had died in one of the five boroughs of New York City. I found the one with a date of death which matched the date of death in Catharine’s probate file. On the death certificate, I found the name of Catharine’s father, Timothy Ford, and the name of her mother, Margaret Ford.

Hanging in our hall are reproductions of photographs of our direct line ancestors collected over the last dozen years. Timothy and Margaret, along with four of their children, have been staring at me for the past few years from a frame on the upper right hand corner of the far wall. Their names had eluded me for a decade. This weekend, another brick wall toppled.

Thank you California Genealogical Society.

© 2011, Cathy H Paris

Clowns, Bums, and Superheroes with a Serious Little Bug

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 02:49:00 +0000

Mrs. Kramer, Aunt Gus (Augusta Bals), Mrs. Hughes,
Frances Grant, and Aunt Marie (Marie) Bals of Flatbush
c. 1915

Cathy Merrill holding Stephen Cidlowski and
Christine Cidlowski and Laurie Press

Happy Halloween!

I can't find any photos of my parents or their parents celebrating Halloween. That may be why I especially cherish the above photograph of my great aunts. At the time, my aunts were still living with their parents at 32 Kowenhoven Place, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.

The next photo was taken in my parents' backyard in Valley Stream, New York about 1957.

Right now, I am sitting at the computer and waiting for the next group of children to ring the door bell, wishing my grandchildren lived nearby. Hopefully by tomorrow I will see photos of them in their costumes.

In the interim, the last picture is a collage showing my three grandsons, all superheroes, and our granddaughter, a very serious-looking bug. Two of the photos were taken last Halloween and the other a few weeks ago.

Not just a Brick Wall, but a Gaping Hole

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 22:58:00 +0000

Knocking down one brick wall after another over the last decade, each celebration of victory has been dampened by a twinge of guilt for not tackling our gaping hole. For our family, the gaping hole is our Greek heritage. When Nick and I were first married, we enrolled in a conversational Greek class, knowing that we wanted to meet his uncles, aunts and cousins living in Greece, the homeland of Nick's father. That was 39 years ago. With the advent of 2010, we still hadn't learned Greek or met his uncles, aunts or cousins living in Greece. And we know so little about our Greek genealogy! For the other branches of our family, we have family history information extending back at least to the 1850s. Not so with the Greek side of our family!

Rather than delaying a trip to Greece until we could overcome the language barrier and establish a relationship with Nick's cousins, we decided to enjoy Greece as tourists, deferring the finding of family to another trip.

We arrived in Athens with just a few hours to spare before the beginning of our tour. After meeting our tour guide and the other members of our group, we were lingering in the lobby. I was overcome by the desire to find Nick's cousins, and I urged Nick to make a "Hail Mary pass" .

Armed with the knowledge that Greeks name their first born son after their paternal grandfather and that most of the family had migrated to Athens or nearby (and with the assistance of our tour guide and the desk clerk), we found a phone number for a Nickolaos Psaropoulous. In a matter of minutes, Nick was talking, and in English, to the wife of Nickos, his cousin. Nickos was at sea. Fortuitously, Nickos has a delightful sister, Panagiota, who enriched our two remaining evenings in Athens.

Our tour of Greece was spectacular, expertly architectured and executed, and filled with delightful traveling companions. We can hardly wait for our return visit. We are especially looking forward to seeing Panagiota again, meeting more of the cousins, and learning about our shared heritage.

© 2010, Cathy H Paris

Methodist Missionary in Mannargudi, Ebenezer Webster

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:57:00 +0000

As a young man of 25, Ebenezer Webster left Ireland, sailing to India in 1887. He served the Methodist ministry in the Negapatam District for 24 years, rising to the position of Chairman. A contemporary of Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), Ebenezer Webster (1861-1954) "...was a scholarly man, and found much pleasure in reading good books. He had great understanding, sound judgement, and a capacity for friendship that enriched all his work.*”

In 2006, I had the good fortune to meet Sarah Pickstone of Vancover, Canada who shared with us a family treasure, her grandmother’s album, the source for the above video. Sarah is my husband’s third cousin, and Sarah's great grandfather, Ebenezer Webster, was the tenth and youngest child of Henry Webster and Agnes Low .

*This quote if is from an article about Ebenezer circulated amongst family members without a source citation.

© 2010, Cathy H Paris

10 Little Irishmen

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 16:45:00 +0000

Bradley Lake in Andover, New Hampshire 2002 by Cathy H Paris

Little Mary may have been the price the Fitzgeralds paid for coming to America. By the fall of 1852, Betsey (Graney) and their 3 sons had joined James. What happened to little Mary? Was she with her sister, Joanna, on the other side of the pearly gates? In June of 1853, James and Betsey welcomed a new Mary into the world, the first of five children to be born in Andover, New Hampshire. Mary was followed by Lizzie (1854), Annie (1856), James E. (1857), and Nellie (1861).

Meanwhile back in Ireland, the family of Henry Webster and Agnes (Low) was growing too. Like James and Betsey, they had 10 children. Their first four children were born in Scotland: Jessie (1845), John (1847), Henry (1848), and James (1850). I don’t know where their fifth child, Margaret (1852), was born. Their last five children were all born in Ireland: Alexander (1853), Agnes (1855), David “Arthur” (1858), George (1859), and Ebenezer (1861).

Prospering in Ireland, Henry and Agnes were not immune to suffering. Agnes was pregnant with their last child, when tragedy struck. Just 5 ½ years old, little Agnes died on March 9, 1861. The next day, Margaret, 8 ¾ years old, joined her sister.

The Graneys of Killelton

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:30:00 +0000

Sometime in the 19^th century, the landlord forced the families living in Killelton to leave. At one time, James Fitzgerald’s wife, Elizabeth Graney, may have called Killelton her home. Only ruins are left as a reminder of the people who once lived there.

On our incredible journey to Ireland in 2008, we stopped in Dingle and found a living Graney, who spelled his name a bit differently. He said more Graneys lived over the hills on the northern shore, reinforcing our believe that our Graneys came from Killelton. Killelton is across the peninsula from Dingle, the mountainous terrain separating these two coastal communities. We returned to the car and continued along the road, heading around and across the peninsula. We stopped at a delightful pub in Camp, the John Ashe, for a bite to eat and an opportunity to chat. The proprietor didn’t seem to know any Graneys, but he reassured us that we were not far from Killelton.

We got back in the car and continued down the road. After driving for 10 minutes, we knew we had gone too far and retraced our way back towards Camp. This time we spotted the tiny sign marking the entrance to a community that was no more – Killelton.

I felt like I had come home. But as I walked the pathway into the townland, devoid now of families since their eviction two centuries ago, my jubilation at coming home was dampened by the shadows and echoes of my people and their past suffering.

To see photographs of our trip to the Dingle Peninsula, in my search for remnants of my Fitzgerald and Graney roots, click on SEARCHING FOR KILLELTON.

Meet James Fitzgerald, the Tailor, and Elizabeth Graney

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:55:00 +0000

James, a tailor by trade, arrived in Boston aboard the Catharine on November 13, 1848, having left behind his wife, Betsey, a little tyke (Thomas), a challenging toddler (Mary), the baby (John), a son just forming in the womb (Patrick), and the memory of the infant daughter (Joanna) who had died a few years before.

As Henry Webster, the 34 year old Scotsman who I previously introduced, began building a life for himself and his family in Ireland, James Fitzgerald, the 34 year old Irish refugee, was struggling to find a way for his wife and family to join him in America.

James and Betsey were both from county Kerry. I believe Betsey was a Graney from Killelton, a townland on the north shore of the Dingle peninsula. James probably may be a Fitzgerald from Kilgarvan, a parish in Kerry lying adjacent to county Cork.

I may never know for sure when and where they were born, where they met, or when and where James and Betsey were married. Nonetheless, with abundant hope, I shall continue the quest for the records which somebody will reveal more of their story.

Finding Ballykeenan

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 04:26:00 +0000

In the early 1850s, while thousands were fleeing Ireland and the devastation caused by the potato famine, somebody or something lured Henry Webster to leave Scotland and to move his entire family to Ireland.

By 1851, Henry Webster, who I introduced in my first post, had become the farm overseer at Inch in the parish of Fettercairn, Kincardineshire, Scotland. When the census was taken, Agnes was alone at their home in Scotland with three of their four children: John, age 4; Henry, age 2; and the baby, James. Jessie, their 5 year old daughter, was staying across the river at Cowie Hill in Edzell with her Aunt and Uncle, Elizabeth and Richard Alexander. Henry wasn't home. Perhaps, Henry was away scouting Ballykeenan, the farm in Ireland where they would soon be moving.

Two years ago, I went on a most extraordinary journey to Ireland. One of the many highlights of the trip was finding my husband's ancestral home, Ballykeenan, near Myshall in County Carlow.

Come along and join us on our adventure by just clicking on the slide show, FINDING BALLYKEENAN.

Enjoy.

Sources:
Christian Advocate, December 9, 1908, p. 595: "Mr William Hopkins first invited the late Mr Henry Webster, of Ballykeenan, to the church (Clonegal). Mr Webster was a Presbyterian. He came from Scotland in the year 1850. He settled down on a farm some five miles distant. On finding there was no Presbyterian church nearer than Carlow, he threw in his lot with our people. He became a very staunch supporter of the cause. Two of his sons are in our ministry today. Mr John Webster JP who lives in the old homestead, has occupied some of the most important offices of our Church. He has represented this circuit at the Conference, and is now the divisional steward for Clonegal District."

1851. Scotland Census 1851 viewed at ancestry.com on July 24, 2007:
Parish Number: 257 Civil parish: Fettercairn County: Kincardineshire Address: Inch
Agnes Webster, head, age 32 b abt 1819 in Edzell, Forfar Occupation: Farm Overseer's Wife
Betsy Low, sister, age 30 b Edzell, Forfar
John Webster, age 4, b Fettecairn, Kincadshire
Henny Webster, son, age 2, b Fettecairn, Kincadshire
James Webster, son, age 10 Mo, Fettecairn, Kincadshire
Source Citation: Parish: Fettercairn; ED: 3; Line: 5; Year: 1851. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1851 Scotland Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Original data: Scotland. 1851 Scotland Census. Reels 1-217. General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

1851 Scotland Census viewed at ancestry.com on July 24, 2007:

Parish Number: 285 Civil parish: Edzell County: Angus Address: Cowiehill

Richard Alexander, head, age 30, b abt 1821 in Montrose, Forfarshire, Occupation: Ag Lab

Elisabeth Alexander, wife, age 28, b abt 1823 in Edzell, Forfarshire

Jessie Webster, niece, age 5, b abt 1846 in Fettercairne, Kincardshire

Source Citation: Parish: Edzell; ED: 4; Line: 7; Year: 1851.

Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1851 Scotland Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Original data: Scotland. 1851 Scotland Census. Reels 1-217. General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Kathryn (Munson) Toscano (1960 - 2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:47:00 +0000

After Apple Picking

by Robert Frost

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still.
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.

On Saturday, March 20th, my 1st cousin once removed, Kathryn (Munson) Toscano, passed away. Separated by the breadth of the country and a generation, our paths crossed only once or twice. Yet, I feel especially sad to say goodbye to Kathie, as she is from a younger generation and has left us much too soon.

I began today's post with words from Robert Frost. *Robert Frost is a 6th great grandson of Nicholas Noyes (1615-1701) of Wiltshire, England and Newbury, Massachusetts. Kathie is a 9th great granddaughter of Nicholas Noyes.

*ancestry.com, One World Tree, viewed on March 24, 2010.