My Family

I created this blog to keep track of my family history research. I do most of my research online.

The Francis name is my husband's which was originally Francisco from Sao Miguel, Azores, Portugal. He also has ancestors from Sweden and England. So far, I have found that my family has come from Italy, England, French Canada, Scotland, and Ulster Ireland (Scotch Irish).

I have also taken a DNA test, which shows mostly Italian, but also England and France.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

some more fergusons...

I missed yesterday's anniversary of Peter Ferguson and Elizabeth Rattray as I have been sidetracked looking into the revolutionary records available on footnote.com for some other ancestors. Hopefully I will blog about those revolutionary finds soon. Now, I want to get back to the birthday and anniversary dates of my ancestors, as last week there were not many direct ancestors to write about.

Peter Ferguson and Elizabeth Rattray, my 4th great-grandparents, married in Kettins, Forfarshire, Scotland, Febraury 23, 1801. Kettins was part of Forfar county during that time, Forfar later changed its name to Angus in 1928, according to GENUKI. It seems that Peter and Elizabeth lived in Kettins throughout their marriage, as their six children were all born in this parish. The marriage record also states that Elizabeth was from Kettins. Peter was from the parish of Logierait, Perthshire, which is about 25 miles Northwest of Kettins, as seen in the map below.


View Larger Map

Perhaps Peter moved to Kettins as a young adult to find work and met Elizabeth there. His parish of Logierait was considered part of the Highlands, and during this time, many people were being cleared off their land by the landowners, known as the Highland Clearances. The information on Logerait does not seem to follow this pattern though, as discussed in the last section of the explorescotland.net website.

It seems Elizabeth dies fairly young, before 1841, as the first census available has Peter and her children listed without her, living in the Campmuir village of Kettins. I have not been able to find Elizabeth's death record. She is not listed in the IGI or the Old Parish registers available online at Scotlandspeople.org. Her death may not have been recorded as they were not required to register such events until 1855 in Scotland.

There is some information on Kettins, and much less on the village of campmuir, that I have found online. Familysearch has a great guide to Kettins and which records are available, including Kirk session minutes and other documents. I also found a small excerpt on the village of Campmuir from The Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland... published in 1856 : (from google books p. 94)

"At the hamlet of Camp-muir three quarters of a mile north of Kettins and close on the boundary with Cupar Angus are vestiges of a camp supposed to have been Roman."

From this same book, there is a section about Peter's occupation in Kettins. Peter, as listed on the 1841-1861 censuses, is a linen weaver.

"A proportion of population are employed in the weaving of fabrics subordinately to the manufacturers of Dundee..."

The other volume I usually look to for historical information on the parishes of Scotland is The New Statistical Account of Scotland..., published in the mid-1800s and written by parish ministers. The section on Kettins can be found here and the section on Logierait can be found here on google books.

Monday, February 22, 2010

pierre labrecque and marie marthe coulombe

My 8th great-grandfather, Pierre Labrecque, married Marie Marthe Coulombe, February 22nd, 1694, three hundred and sixteen years ago today. They were married in St. Laurent on the Ile D'Orleans, Quebec, Canada. According to the Drouin database on Ancestry.com, they had 3 boys and 2 girls. Their oldest son, Joseph Labrecque is my 7th great-grandfather. I have been able to trace my Labrecque family back to Pierre through the detailed records that were kept in Canada and recorded in the Drouin database. There is also a Labrecque Family Association that has traced the Labrecque line back to Pierre's father, Pierre, who came from St. Jacques, Dieppe, Normandy, France. According to the Association, this Pierre came to Ile D'Orleans, Quebec in 1659. Another website I found useful for locating Canadian records is Yourfolks.com. Once I type in a family name, the database gives me a list of marriages for people with those names. The site also links children and their marriages, including church locations. I then check the copy of the original records in Drouin.

To Do:
1. History of Dieppe, Normandy France and why left to go to Ile D'Orleans.
2. What was life like on Ile D'Orleans
3. Try to get more information from the book I have that is in French, Pierre Labrecque en Nouvelle-France bers 1657.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

le roy, minnesota

Winslow Raymond and Lavina (McConihe) McConney were married 156 years ago today, February 11, 1854 in Weymouth, MA. The McConihe family has given me the most difficulty in locating their ancestors. I know that the were a Scotch-Irish (Ulster-Scots) family from the Bedford, New Hampshire area. The family most likely came with the other Scotch-Irish families from Ulster, Ireland around the early 1700s. It also looks like my direct line changed their name (officially or unofficially) at some point from McConihe to McConney, as their name in Massachusetts records gradually became the latter.

Lavina McConihe and Winslow Raymond married and lived in Middleboro, MA until about 1860, when they are found in the town of Le Roy, Minnesota for the 1860 census. Most of my ancestors stayed put in Massachusetts, so I always find it interesting when one of them ventures off to another area of the country. There is also evidence that Lavina and Winslow may have spent some time in Mississippi before they went to Minnesota, as the 1860 census states that one of their children, Maria, was born about 1859 in Mississippi. Her older siblings are listed as born in Massachusetts. According to the various censuses, they have the following children: Elva, Ellis, Maria, Susan and Rufus.

They did not stay long in Minnesota as they were back in Massachusetts as early as 1861, the year their daughter, Susan, was born. The 1865 Massachusetts census states that she was born in that state. This would imply they were only in Minnesota for a year or two. The 1865 Massachusetts census also shows us that their daughter, Maria, must have died young, as she is not listed in this state census with her family. This census, along with Winslow's civil War enlistment in 1864, also adds to the evidence that the family moved back to Massachusetts shortly after venturing to Minnesota.

I do not know what brought them to Minnesota, or what brought them back to Massachusetts, but I would like to know a little about Le Roy, the town in Minnesota they lived in according to the 1860 census. I did find some books I plan to order from the library on Mower County, Minnesota. I also found this small excerpt on google books from Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Volume 17, p.360 :

"Le Roy township was organized May 11 1858. Its railway village bearing the same name was platted in 1867 when this Iowa and Minnesota division of the Chicago Milwaukee and St Paul railway was built."

It would also be interesting to see the common route travelled from Massachusetts to Minnesota at this time. There are some good websites and books on frequent trails, but I had no luck finding a specific path as of yet. I will also have to get some more information on this topic.

Lavina married a second time, after her husband Winslow died. According to Genealogies of the Raymond Families of New England . . , page 155, he died in 1876 in Kansas. I have not been able to find a document to support this, but Lavina was in Massachusetts by the 1880 census and married Winslow's first cousin, Samuel D. Raymond, in 1882 in Plympton, MA. It would be interesting to see the 1875 State Census for Kansas to see if Lavina and Winslow Raymond are living in Kansas at this time.

So with all the census data, the timeline for the Raymond family would be as follows: Lavina and Winslow marry in Weymouth or Middleboro, MA in 1854; they have two children in Massachusetts in 1855 and 1857; they have one child in Mississippi in 1859; they live in Le Roy, Minnesota in 1860; they have another daughter in Massachusetts in 1861; they have another son in Massachusetts in 1864; Winslow enlists in the Civil War in Abington in 1864; they live in Abington, MA in 1865; they live in Abington, MA in 1870; Winslow dies in Kansas in 1876 (according to the Raymond Genealogy book); Lavina marris Samuel D. Raymond in Plympton, MA in 1882.

Links on Topic:
1. Scotch-Irish article in American Heritage Magazine.
2. Scotch-Irish in New England taken from The Scotch-Irish in America: Proceedings and Addresses of the Second Congress at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 29 to June 1, 1890

To Do List:
1. obtain books from library on Mower County.
2. obtain books on migration routes.
3. look up Lavina and Winslow Raymond in the 1875 Kansas state census.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Susan Hunt Cowing

There seems to be a lot of birthdays for the sisters of my direct ancestors in February. Today is the day that Susan Hunt Cowing, my 4th great grandaunt, was born. According to the Massachusetts Vital Records database on newenglandancestors.org, she was born February 7, 1822. I wrote a little about Susan and her involvement in the anti-slavery movement in my entry on the Cowing family here. There were some articles in the magazine, The Liberator, which has Susan noted as the treasurer of the Weymouth Female Anti-Slavery Society from at least 1851 - 1860.

Susan never married, and also had two other sisters, Lucretia and Sarah, that never married. I am not sure how Susan supported herself, as in the 1880 census (page 2 is here) she lived in Weymouth, and her occupation is listed as "keeping house". She was the head of the household though, with her sister Maria Willey listed as boarder with her son Theodore. Her brother, William Cowing, is also living with her, his occupation is listed as unemployed. Perhaps Susan inherited her father, Balch Cowing's, estate, as he appeared to have some status in the town. Another nephew is also living with Susan in 1880 according to the census, Francis H. Cowing, along with a servant Bridget Killion. Chamberlain's History of Weymouth book states her heirs, which were her sisters and nephews.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Margaret Dewar Ferguson

Happy Birthday to my 2nd great grandaunt, Margaret Dewar Ferguson, born February 6, 1862 in Kettins, Forfarshire, Scotland. She was the oldest of nine children to my third great grandparents, Peter Ferguson and Margaret McIntosh. I do not have a record of a marriage for Margaret, I am not sure I have searched the civil registration records on scotlandspeople.gov.uk, but that would be my next step in finding more about the life of Margaret. I would assume if she was married that it would be in or around Kettins, since her parents were still living in Kettins in 1881, according to the census. She does not live with her family at this time. The three different scenarios I have come across while doing research for Scotland relatives are that she could have married and moved, she could have become a servant to another household or farm, or she could have passed away. Searching in the Civil Registration index will answer these questions.

To Do:
1. search civil registration on http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ for a marriage or death record of Margaret Ferguson around 1881.

Links of interest
1. A Vision of Britain Through Time : Kettins

Friday, February 5, 2010

Jeremiah White

Two Hundred and Forty Three years ago, my 6th great grandfather, Jeremiah White, married his second wife, Sarah. (He would eventually marry a third time after Sarah's death in 1769.) According to the Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 on newenglandancestors.org, Jeremiah and Sarah Thayer were married in Abington, MA on February 5, 1767. I thought it would be interesting to find some information on courtship in New England for this time frame (middle to late 18th century). Doing a quick search, I came across the Digital History website from University of Houston. They have a section on Courtship in New England, which suggests that around the time of Jeremiah's marriage, children had more of a choice than in the past as to who their spouses would be. They also mention the notion that "romance and love" had more to do with choice of spouse as the eighteenth century came to an end. Although, as Sarah was Jeremiah's second wife, perhaps he was looking for a spouse to care for the 9 children he already had with his first wife. I will have to see what connection he had with Sarah before they were married to better understand their relationship.

I also wanted to look a little bit into Jeremiah's parentage, as he is my direct line. After searching on Google books, I came across the following book : The Vinton memorial, comprising a genealogy of the descendants of John Vinton of Lynn, 1648: also, genealogical sketches of several allied families ... , which states on page 372, that Jeremiah was the son of Deacon Samuel White and Anna Pratt.



I love these old family history books, but I can never find the source of their information. I assume they got most of their information from probate records, which is where I will start to prove their relationship. Chamberlain's History of Weymouth book usually states the probate numbers, I will have to see if the White family is covered in this book the next time I obtain it.

To Do:
1. look in History of Weymouth book for White family
2. obtain probate information on Deacon Samuel White (of weymouth)
3. find land records for Deacon Samuel White and Jeremiah White
4. obtain Descendants of Thomas White of Weymouth, Mass., 1630-1907 By C. S. Williams
5. find more information on Sarah Thayer and relationship with Jeremiah - was there a connection between Thayer family and White family.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

New Approach

I would like to find the time to do more genealogy research, so I have come up with a new approach that hopefully will let me do a little every day. I created a calendar of birthdays and anniversaries for all our ancestors using reports in Legacy software. Every day that there was an event, I will try to find a little bit of information on that person or couple, even if it is to only create a to do list of things I would like to find and places I would like to look when I actually get the chance to go to a library or court. So, today is the anniversary of Josiah Torrey and Jane Shaw, married 188 years ago in Weymouth, MA on Feb. 3, 1822. Since I no longer have a subscription to any genealogy databases, I looked at some free resources, such as google and pilot familysearch. On the latter database, I found the 1865 Massachusetts census for Josiah and his second wife Mary Bailey. They also had living with them Josiah's son Prescott Torrey and his wife Lizzie and son Otis. This record did not really add more information to my tree, other than the fact that his son was living with him in Weymouth, MA in 1865. The one piece of information that I have been wanting to prove for this couple is that Jane Shaw's parents are Capt. Nathaniel Shaw and Jane Tirrell, as stated in the History of Weymouth book. I am sure that this parentage is correct, but I would love to obtain Nathaniel Shaw's probate as referenced in this book, which is my next step in proving her parents.

To Do List:
1. obtain Nathaniel Shaw's probate record : Norfolk Probate 16474
2. obtain Jane (Tirell) Shaw's probate record: Norfolk Probate 16451
3. obtain Jane Shaw (daughter) gaurdianship probate record : 1813 Weymouth Guardianship 16450 - Norfolk Probate

Monday, February 1, 2010

Antonio and Angelina Pompeo

Wow, it has been almost a year since I did some family research. I have been wanting to do more lately, but I let my subscription to ancestry.com and New England Historical Society lapse this year. I was recently reading an article about pilot familysearch though, and thought I would try it out as it has been a while. I was hoping they had indexed some registrations from Italy, as that is the least amount of information I have on my family line. I typed in some of my Italian surnames on familysearch and actually found something I have been looking for, not from Italy, but Massachusetts. I found Antonio Pompeo and Angelina Gagliardi's marriage record. Before this, I did not know if they were married in Italy or Massachusetts. The Massachusetts indices I searched in prior to this only went up to 1910, but the family search index goes to 1915. This is so exciting, as I was able to bring that line back one more generation, with Antonio's and Angelina's parents' names, including mother's maiden names. Antonio's parents are Croce Pompeo and Elisabetta Cappola. Angelina's parents are Ruggero Gagliardi and Lucia Di Lorenzo.

I also did a quick search to see if I could find any siblings for Antonio or Angelina, but I had no luck. In the past, Angelina listed her brother Cristoforo Gagliardi on a passenger list to Boston, but in my quick search on familysearch, I did not find any records for him. After looking more closely at pilot familysearch, I see that they do not have the Registrations for the area of Italy my family came from. However, they do have some registrations microfilmed at their library.

To Do List:
1. obtain microfilm from family History Library for Torre De Passeri for Antonio Pompeo and Angelina Gagliardi's birth records or their parent's marriage records - to find if they have more information on parents, such as place of birth.