15 August 2011

Genealogy

One of the new features added to Ancestry.com shows the relationship of everyone in the file to the primary entry - me, in my file. As I was cleaning up some records, I found one line that goes back to my 21st great grandfather. The shortest line ends at a 3rd great grandfather, Thomas J. Patterson, and a 3rd great grandmother, Martha Conklin, who married Thomas. They lived in Hanover, NY before moving to Batavia, NY; anyone have any information to share? Using the Fulton Newspaper site - fultonhistory.com - I've been able to find articles about other relatives; such items as marriages, obituaries, travels, travails, etc. Also, I've been contacted by distant cousins who have found a common relative and have provided additional information about that family line. The nice thing is that there is a way to keep living people's information private, which I do. My family came from England, France and Germany to western New York state, and now grandchildren reside all over the United States.

03 August 2011

Stealing Great-granddaughters

William Wordsworth wrote a poem that started:
“My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky;
So it was when my life began;
So is it now I am a man”

Upon the birth of his daughter, Ogden Nash wrote a poem that starts:
“My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky;
Contrariwise, my blood runs cold
When little boys go by.”

His lament is that some boy will grow up and marry his daughter and carry her away, when she has just entered his life. And that thought crosses my mind when I hold my great-granddaughters and they smile up at me: Who will be the lucky one who steals their heart away as they have stolen mine.

01 August 2011