Kin and Konnections: A Family History Blog

Researching my family tree is an all consuming hobby.  Unfortunately, there are not enough hours in the day to devote to genealogy when there is also work, family and friends, obligations, and all the good and bad that goes with living life.  I first embarked on this journey 20 years ago, when my mother and I bought a PC and connected to the Internet for the first time.  Anyone remember dial up?  I used to come home from my long commute, start dialing up to CompuServe, have dinner, and wait to connect to the Internet.  It usually took 30 minutes.  Fast forward to now, when I lose patience if I get disconnected for a few seconds...

Mystery Mail from World War I Soldier The above postcard or carte postale is the oldest item in my grandmother's postcard collection.  A W. W. Allen sent the card via soldier mail from Paris, France, to Mrs. Frank Bryant of Los Angeles, California.  The front depicts an early 20th century street scene at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.  The message says, "Paris 4/13 [April 13th] - I'm having a short vacation and a wonderful time.  W. Allen."  Mrs. Bryant (nee Mary Ellen Ingersoll, 1862-1936), originally from Bloomington, Illinois, relocated to Los Angeles with her family in the early 1910s.  She was my grandmother's grandmother.  Mr. Allen is not a known relative.  So who could he be?  Perhaps he was a neighbor or a family friend.  There could be another connection.  There is a later postcard postmarked November 25, 1930, from Alice Allen of South Bend, Indiana, to Mrs. Bryant which starts wit...

Recently, I saw a segment about Ingersoll wristwatches circa World War I on the PBS television program Antiques Roadshow . It triggered a flashback to my mother telling me that we’re related to the Ingersoll watch family. At the time, images of Bavarian forefathers living deep in the forest and building cuckoo clocks swirled in my head. Before family lore starts spinning out of control, let’s explore the real story. I can trace at least two family lines, the Bryants of Reading, Massachusetts and the Ingersolls of Long Island, New York to early colonial America, through my great-grandfather, Jerome Calvin Bryant. Jerome and his mother, Mary Ellen Ingersoll, are listed on page 494 of A Genealogy of the Ingersoll Family in America 1629-1925 , by Lillian Drake Avery (click here to view a digital version of the book at FamilySearch). Mary Ellen (Henry Jackson 6 , Henry 5 , Ezra 4 , Josiah 3 , John 2 ,John 1 ) was the seventh generation from the immigrant ancestor born in England, Joh...

Researching my family history has changed so much since I started in 2000.  Then, I had a frustratingly slow dial-up connection.  I mostly surfed and posted on message boards.  I spent my lunch breaks in the bowels of the Los Angeles Central Library.  I remember stumbling upon my Burwell ancestors in the DAR lineage books.  I was excited when I found the biography of John H. Bryant, linking my Illinois Bryants to Massachusetts, and eventually, my immigrant ancestor, Abraham Bryant of Reading.  Even more rewarding, was piecing together the clues from city directories to my long-lost uncle and reconnecting the family after over 50 years. Many of those same resources I used back then are now available online.  Increasingly, you can access them for free. Today, I started with a short article on the remarriage of Moses T. Burwell, Jr. to Ada (Smith) Burwell on December 10, 1904, in Kansas City, Missouri.  [The article was published in the Col...

The Christmas season is a feast for the senses: a freshly cut evergreen tree to decorate, the warmth of a favorite sweater, the tasty goodness of homemade cookies, the twinkling lights, the sounds of familiar carols.   These things all remind me of my precious childhood memories…   Hiding under a pile of stuffed animals so that Santa could not spy on me.   Arguing with the big kids (2 nd graders) about the existence of Santa. Extra helpings of my grandmother’s Snickerdoodles.   Creating works of art in school to decorate our family tree.   My surprised delight in finding a Barbie dreamhouse from Santa.   My mother helping us to bundle up just to play outside. Long treks to the hills by our house to go tobogganing with my dad, brother, and dog (poor dog!).   We always fell of the sled!   Christmas dinner with our Canadian grandmother. Sticking out our tongues to catch falling snowflakes. Building a giant snowman a...

Bloomington, Illinois was home to the Bryant and Ingersoll families for more than fifty years.   The city of Bloomington is located in central Illinois and serves as the county seat of McLean County.    Its claim to fame is that AbrahamLincoln represented clients in several cases here in the circuit court as a young lawyer.   Here is a timeline of some historical and family events: 1820s              The first white settlers arrive and call the area Blooming Grove. 1831                 The city of Bloomington is founded. 1837                 The Bryant family, Eben and Martha and sons Eben Francis and John Henry, move from Massachusetts to Illinois, settling in Pike County.    Eben buys 160 acres and runs a farm.   The parents remai...

Today, I am googling my 5 th great grandfather Moore Goodfellow (ancestor of my great-grandmother Alice Burwell) from Ballygawley, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, progenitor of the Goodfellow line from Clark County, Ohio.      So here goes… Will of John Nicholson, father-in-law of Moore Goodfellow http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohclark/Probate/John_Nicholson.txt An 1839 marriage announcement for the widow of Moore Goodfellow and daughter of John Beggs in Ballygawley.   Could they be Moore’s parents? http://www.cotyroneireland.com/marriages/aughnacloy.html   1840 U.S. Census for Harmony Township, Clark County, Ohio http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohclark/1840Census/Clark67.htm A biographical sketch of Roy A Goodfellow whose great-grandfather was Moore Goodfellow. http://archive.org/stream/astandardhistor00socigoog#page/n300/mode/2up Moore Goodfellow’s headstone at Wraggs Cemetery, Clark County, Ohio   ...