The Path Behind

The Schoolhouse

2013-06-11T09:58:00.001-07:00

2012-12-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

Currently Reading

2012-09-05T21:50:00.004-07:00

A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent

by Robert W. Merry

Huguenots in America

2012-07-24T09:14:00.001-07:00

Lately, I've been reading all I can find about my Huguenot ancestry. I am currently reading Huguenot Refugees in Colonial New York, by Paula Wheeler Carlo.

My 7th great-grand father was Abraham Rutan, a Huguenot, born 1658 in Metz, France and the first of the Rutan, Rattan, Ruttans to arrive in America from that branch of my family. He resided in New Paltz, NY. His son, Poulus, born in New Paltz in 1685, was a founding member of what would become known as the "Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow" from Washington Irving's 19th century story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It's fascinating to find a book that details the lives of these early immigrants with such clarity.

Happy Birthday, Abe

2012-02-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

LC-DIG-ppmsca-19217 (digital file from original recto) LC-DIG-ppmsca-19218 (digital file from original verso) Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. Abraham Lincoln, Pres't U.S. / Alex. Gardner, photographer to the Army of the Potomac.

Abraham Lincoln, a Republican and the 16th president of the United States of America. Born February 12, 1809 and assassinated April 15, 1865. A self-educated, country lawyer who led our country through the deepest of American tragedies. On April 11 1865, he gave a speech advocating voting rights for blacks. An incensed John Wilkes Booth planned the assassination and just days later at the Ford theatre fired a gun into the back of Lincoln's head.

Old Mexico Art and the Calendar Girls

2011-12-23T19:35:00.000-08:00

This fabulous video of Marty Robbins song, El Paso, contains a fascinating collection of artwork from Old Mexico and the Southwest. When I saw this video, I was reminded of the old calendars at my grandparents house with the beautiful watercolors, so fresh you could feel the breeze and smell the lush smells of summer heat! So I went on a Google search for the artists. A couple of books and things I found:

Mexican Calendar Girls: Chicas de calendarios Mexicanos by Angela Villalba and Carlos Monsivais. The artwork is also available as postcards.

A book Icons Mexicana Vintage Mexican Graphics by Jim Heimann

The artwork is so mesmerizing to me. Although the women seem quite anglicized in some of the art, it still has all the color and feel of Old Mexico.... at least how I want it to be anyway...

I think my favorite of these artists is Jesús Helguera, (1910-1971). The beautiful women of Rocio and La Guitarra are my favorites. The woman in La Guitarra is holding a classical guitar very similar to mine and I would love a print of this for my practice room!

An Early Portland Engineer

2011-09-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

I've always marveled at the old sidewalks in Portland. Sometimes you will see old footprints with nail imprints from shoes of long ago. It sends me on a daydream fantasy journey to the past to spot raccoon tracks or dog paw prints. I try to notice which houses are as old as the sidewalks and imagine what the neighborhood might have looked like when it was new. Most of the early sidewalks are marked with the engineering company who was awarded the bid to put in the walk. Here is one I came across yesterday:

Bechill Bros. 1912. Curious about the early engineers, I went back to my office and did a Google search on Bechill, sidewalks, and Portland Oregon. Thomas Bechill was born in London, Canada in 1865. The "Bros." I assume refers him and his sons. According to the book, Portland, Oregon, Its History and Builders, by Joseph Gaston, (1911), he was engaged in contracting business specializing in "street grading, sewer and bridge work".

Thomas sounded like an ambitious fellow, leaving his parents home at age 15, working first in lumber in the mideast states, then turning to the railroad. He started in the roundhouse of the Flint Pere Marquette Railway company and soon worked up to engineer. Railroading eventually led him to Portland where he settled in 1891. He began street grading in 1901. It is written his business reached "extensive and profitable proportions".

He married Minnie Gwynne, and they had 4 sons (And this is where the Bechill Brothers must come in) and one daughter. He is listed as having a ranch in Clackamas county along with property in the city. He enjoyed hunting and fishing, was a Republican and member of the Elks, Odd Fellows, and a Royal Arch Mason. The book goes on to say he found "pleasant associations with his brethren of those fraternities and they recognize in him qualities that are in consistent harmony with the teachings and purposes of those orders."

Now when I am on this sidewalk, I'm am happy to have made this acquaintance with the memory of Thomas Bechill.

Coffee Bean Tree Memorial

2011-09-04T23:35:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I came across an item about my ancestor, John Gibbs (1769), the eldest son of Nicholas Gibbs (1733). This document from the Nicholas Gibbs Historical Society told the story of the three brothers, John, Jacob and Nicholas Gibbs Jr. who fought together in the War of 1812. It is said that John and Nicholas were together at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, 55 miles south of Fort Strotler in lower Alabama. Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson of Tennessee Militia, Maj. Lemuel Montgomery, Capt. Nicholas Gibbs and Sam Houston, along with 2,000 soldiers fought the Creek Indians. Nicholas Gibbs Jr., my 5th great-grand uncle was killed. His brother, John, my 6th great-grandfather, brought his cap and the coffee bean seeds found on him when he died to the Gibbs homestead where he planted the beans. Today, there are supposed to be thriving trees still at the site. I would love to see them.

Gather Around the Fire

2011-08-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

I was thinking today about genealogy blogging. Could the most boring thing in the world be reading someone else's family history and struggle to complete their family trees? Or do people like hearing all the family stories, folksy anecdotes, and puzzling pasts?

Why am I writing this stuff anyway? To fill some inner need within myself and sort it all into some linear form to follow? I don't really know. So I thought about it all... I think about the blogs I read. I find some writers who have poured themselves into relaying hidden pasts and unearthed skeletons to display to the world and you know what? I love it. And sometimes when I find a story I really love, I read it aloud to my husband around the fire at night. And you know what? He loves it too. So, there must be something to this... We can't be that different. Can we? So gather around the fire, people. There are stories to be told.

Seeing the Branches for the Trees

2011-08-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

I am submitting this for my Thankful Thursday post in gratitude to the Library and Archives of Canada for sending me the book, A Part of the Family of Ruttan (1590-1986), by Henry N. Ruttan, U.E. This book was a tremendous source for information to complete documentation to my ancestor, Capt Peter Ruttan, 1742. This post is first in a multi-part series. Thank you!

What a trip it's been finding ancestors and connecting them to historic events! This week's path has taken me to a break out of clouds and fog, into bright light, sky, sun and vistas I never thought I would see! But the path has been long and exhausting, with rocks, boulders, loose gravel, fallen trees, broken branches, dark canopies, brambles and thickets of narrow, rarely followed trails that nearly dropped me off cliffs! I had to stop and sit on stumps more than a few times to gain my strength. It was getting dark, and my light was fading... I needed a new route.

I had clung to a glimmering hope that I was related to Capt Peter Ruttan (1742), the Ruttan who led those who were loyal to the Crown out of New York to the area later know as Adolphustown, Ontario. If a person had the surname Ruttan, born in Peterborough, Ontario in the late 1800's, as my grandfather did, the chances are probable that person was a part of the early Ruttan (Rutan, Rattan) Loyalist families. So I set out to learn where my grandfather fit in to this maze and tangled web of branches.

I started with only a few facts... My grandfather's father was David married to Emma Hardy and their marriage was clearly documented. I knew that his father's name was David, married to an Elizabeth. But then the trail went cold. It went nowhere, and everywhere. In circles...with too many Davids, Emmas, Emilys, Elizabeths, dates didn't align... were there generations missing? It seemed hopeless. Nothing made any sense.

Then one day I was doing searches in Google books... I came across books about the Ruttans, most of which I would have to travel to Ontario to view at some historical society library. I decided I would try an inter-loan library service and ordered 5 or 6 books, just to see what was really available. After receiving several notices that "this book is not available for loan", I was pleasantly surprised to receive a book from the Library and Archives of Canada: A Part of the Family of Ruttan 1590 - 1986, by Henry N. Ruttan, U.E.! I am still amazed at a library loan system that would send a book, not only 4,500 miles, but from another country! Now that is cool!

I jumped right into the index and found the long list of Davids (40 of them!) and started sifting through the probable years to find one married to Elizabeth. In several pages of reading I found: David (1820), son of Joseph Brant Ruttan (1783), married Elizabeth Content Griffis. Joseph Brant's father: Peter Ruttan (1742).

All this proved nothing to tie this to my grandfather... My journey had just begun. And like a fresh cut blaze on a tree, I had found a route to follow.

Next... Holding My Breath...Making the Connections

Today's Photo - A Girl in Mourning Dress

2011-07-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-36863.

A girl in mourning dress holding framed photograph of her father as a cavalryman with a sword and Hardee hat.

Music in Time of War

2011-07-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

"Some body is being Serenaded tonight as a Band of Music has struck upon the street. It is now after eleven o'clock. Some distinguished character is in the neighborhood. Well, the music is good and sounds just as well to the neighbors as though they paid for it. No War news today. Everything quiet on the Potomac. But news expected all the time, especialy from N.C. as well as Vicksburgh. It has been pleasant over head." - February 2, 1863

The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865

Library of Congress, Manuscript Division

A Senator, Secretary of the Treasury, and Patriot

2011-07-18T14:31:00.001-07:00

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs
Division, LC-USZ62-33041

William Gibbs McAdoo (1863-1941) was my third great uncle. His father's father was my 4th great-grandfather. He was born in Marietta, Georgia, the son William Gibbs McAdoo (1820-1894) and Mary Faith Floyd (1832-1913). He attended the University of Tennessee, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1885. He moved to New York City where he developed the system of rapid-transit tunnels under the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey. He became president of the company which constructed them and operated them.

McAdoo's interests turned to politics where he campaigned for Woodrow Wilson. In 1912, he became the vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee. In 1913 he was named the Secretary of the Treasury by President Wilson. He married Wilson's daughter Eleanor Randolph Wilson at the White House on May 7, 1914.

At the brink of World War I when the U.S. was facing a financial crisis, it was McAdoo who secured the U.S. loyalty to the gold standard. Then in September 1917 he gave a passionate speech to a group of New York bankers where he detailed the broken promises by the German government which had led to the loss of American lives. He also spoke of threats within the US when he said: "There are some noisy agitators and disloyal writers in this country who have persistently endeavored to confuse the issue and to carry on a seditious and subtle propaganda for the purpose of producing discontent among the people and of giving aid and encouragement to the enemies of the United States."

He then rallied citizens to meet the cause by buying Liberty bonds to fund the war. In the 1920s, he ran twice for the Democratic nomination for President. In the 1924 election, his nomination failed largely because of the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan.

President Wilson with his granddaughter,
Ellen Wilson McAdoo, Library of Congress,
Prints and Photographs Division, photograph by
Harris & Ewing, LC-DIG-hec-18044

At the 1932 Democratic Convention in Chicago, after three ballots, Franklin D. Roosevelt had not secured the two-thirds majority necessary for the nomination. Leading Democrat, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., with the help of William Randolph Hearst, managed to pursuade Speaker of the House, John Garner, to drop out of the race to end a deadlock and throw support to Roosevelt. When McAdoo, who had supported Garner, learned of the decision, he threw California's delegates to Roosevelt, and the other states fell in line behind Roosevelt.

After moving to Los Angeles, California, he served as Senator of the state from 1933-1938.

After an unsuccessful re-election, he served as chairmen of the board of directors for a steamship line. He died in Washington, D.C. in February, 1941 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington VA.

The Death Notice

2011-07-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

After she died, we went through my grandmother’s house for the last time before it was sold. There were a few things no one wanted… household items, pieces of cheap furniture, miscellaneous junk of no value, but the small box with a faded peony painted on the top caught my eye. It was filled with things only a grandmother would save… A thimble, pins, an earpiece for her transitor radio, a small porcelain angel with a broken wing, buttons, hearing aid batteries, and other odd items of little value.
At the bottom of the box was a plastic sleeve encasing a yellowed, torn death notice from a newspaper. As I held it in my hands, I read the names: William, Henrietta, Grace, May (my grandmother), and Winifred, all familiar names I had heard throughout my childhood, but I never knew the relationships.
We knew very little about my grandmother’s past. We were told she had grown up as an orphan in Detroit, Michigan. Her father, after arriving from Ireland, had given the children up because of poverty. The only fact offered about her mother were the words, “She died”.
Standing in my grandmother’s room for the last time, I instinctively knew this tiny scrap of paper was an important keepsake although its significance was unknown. Later I would learn I held in my hand the threads to weave the story of her past.

A Bittersweet End to the American Revolution

2011-07-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

The signing of the Treaty of Paris by British and American diplomats has been recognized as the official end of the American Revolution. But the British military still occupied New York under the command of General Guy Carleton for many months. This left a delicate situation for them to evacuate the Loyalists from New York City who wanted to leave and remain loyal to the King of England. The city was ravaged and destroyed, a sad relic of what had been. Orchards had been cut and homes and buildings were burned-out shells. The city was ordered to be evacuated the fall of that year on November 25th. Small fleets ferried out from Manhattan under the watch of a British warship. The last boat, in a final parting shot, fired a cannon toward the now American occupied shore. It is now referred to as the last shot fired in the American Revolution.

Capt Peter Ruttan (1742 - 1822)

Capt Peter Ruttan, a UE Loyalist in the 4th Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, was one those who boated out during this period. He had endured a long and terrible war and had experienced the fate of many Loyalists with the confiscation of property and poor treatment. He continued on to Canada and is said to have helped the Mohawk Indian, Chief Brant, through an arduous trip to Ontario. But later, in return for his services, he and other Ruttans received tracts of land at Adolphustown what was called Ruttan’s point. Today, many 5th-generation Ruttans still reside in the area.

I feel a sense of sadness when I read the accounts of the final days of the Revolution knowing the unfathomable hardships my ancestors experienced. But I also have a Patriot line that brings me great pride and I will explore that in future posts.