Much of my ancestry research is focused on the direct line of descent. I have deliberately omitted siblings of ancestors because it is hard enough to follow all of the thousands of leads for the ones that lead directly to me! But I am very aware of the importance of sibling relationships and their descendants' importance in my research. I have "met" several distant cousins in this process and it is thrilling to see where our family tree has branched out in this country. There is something about cousins that touch our hearts in a special way.
There are many syrupy platitudes about cousins out there, and every word of it is true. Our first cousins, and sometimes our 2nd and 3rd if we are lucky enough to know them, have a special place in our lives that no other relative can claim. They are our contemporaries, but not necessarily our peers. The relationship is intimate, but not close enough to be dysfunctional or damaging. Friendship may or may not be there, but the love and affection are true. You may not see or talk with a cousin for years, but when you need them, you can count on them to be there for you. You reconnect without missing a beat. There are no pretenses, because cousins know the real you. They know things about you that no one else on earth knows. The same blood flows through our veins, and that makes us forever joined in the bond of common history.
Aunts and Uncles also have an important place in our lives. They are the ones who love you pretty much as a parent does, but with a little more objectivity. They can afford to be fun and affectionate without having to discipline. We view our family through our aunts and uncles with different eyes. They can be a sounding board when we need perspective. Through them, we can intimately experience a different version of home life, giving us more choices for our own futures. Sometimes our aunts and uncles have played a significant role in our upbringing. They can be what a parent cannot... a friend. Watching my son proudly show off his new house to his ever so caring aunt and uncle put a lump in my throat. How much more precious did his achievement become with the extended family's blessing? It cannot be measured.
My cousin Barry loves family more than anyone I know. He goes out of his way to visit family members all over the country. He cares about their lives. He connects with them in a personal way and makes them feel important by remembering details about their lives. He loves nothing more than to discuss family, and can talk for hours, reminiscing and telling funny stories about our common childhood and about the elders in the family. I appreciate these types of relationships - my cousins - more and more as the years go by. I am deeply grateful that my children (and future grandchildren) have the opportunity to experience this kind of enriching bond in their lives.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Corolla Lighthouse and other Outer Banks connections
Austin family lore tells about young Raymond Kelly, who put a homemade parachute on an unfortunate cat and launched it from the top of the Currituck lighthouse. The cat ended up far down the beach. This story cannot be verified, but there has to be a grain of truth. We don't know the connection to the lighthouse keeper. There are Austins who were keepers for generations, and an Ansell was assistant in the 1800's, but there is no known relationship to the family.
From Mike:
According to the family historian, there is no way to verify the
cat story…and unless the lighthouse keeper was a distant relative or a family
friend with a different last name, there is no connection…we did have ancestors
that were stationed at the Wash Woods lifesaving station… Wash Woods has been verified…story about his wife feeling the cottage moving …turns out the local wild horses were scratching their butts on the outside of the place…
When Mike and his brothers were growing up, his aunt Shirley Petty (nee Kelly) owned a tiny cottage at Duck by the water tower, where the Austin family would spend summer vacations with their cousins in the 1960's. The cottage was later moved a few hundred feet away and has been transformed into a quaint gift shop, sitting in the middle of a popular shopping area.
From Mike:
According to the family historian, there is no way to verify the
cat story…and unless the lighthouse keeper was a distant relative or a family
friend with a different last name, there is no connection…we did have ancestors
that were stationed at the Wash Woods lifesaving station… Wash Woods has been verified…story about his wife feeling the cottage moving …turns out the local wild horses were scratching their butts on the outside of the place…
In that my grandfather, the parachute kid, was a Kelly, it is my
assumption that the keeper at that time was a Kelly but I am probably wrong…My
grandmother was an Ansell, and they resided in the Hickory area of Chesapeake…
When Mike and his brothers were growing up, his aunt Shirley Petty (nee Kelly) owned a tiny cottage at Duck by the water tower, where the Austin family would spend summer vacations with their cousins in the 1960's. The cottage was later moved a few hundred feet away and has been transformed into a quaint gift shop, sitting in the middle of a popular shopping area.Thursday, October 2, 2014
Croffords from then to now
1806 Calvin V. Crawford was born in New York. His Scottish born father, Horace, was known as the "Genesee Valley Millwright." Milling was a major industry along the Genesee River. Today, "Crawford" is a recognized name in Rochester.
1815 Anna Dillingham was born in Ohio. Her family moved to Porter County, Indiana in 1836. She married Daniel Lyons in 1837 and taught school in her father John Dillingham's home. The Dillingham name is still important in Liberty and many descendants still live near the old family graves.
1839 Calvin Crawford married Anna in Porter County, Indiana. He joined the military (Army enlistment states his birthplace as Vermont). At some point, the spelling of his name changed to Crofford.
1846 Horace Calvin Crofford, the fourth of Calvin and Anna's seven children, was born (2 of their children died young).
1860 Calvin and Anna moved to Rochester, Missouri, with their children Angeline, Chester, Horace, and Charles, and then moved to Lancaster, Nebraska.
1863 Horace Calvin Crofford was drafted into the cavalry during the Civil War. His discharge was signed by U. S. Grant.
1864 Calvin Crofford received a Homestead grant of about 154 acres in Lincoln, Nebraska. His son, Horace Calvin, was one of the witnesses to his settlement in the area, along with Sidney S. Pratt. They attested that "he has built a house thereon, about 16 + 30 feet with board floor, two doors, and one window. He has since said settlement ploughed and cultivated about 70 acres of said land, and has made the following improvements thereon to wit: has built a stable for 7 or 8 horses, a grainery and corn crib, dug a well, planted about 500 forest trees, and set out about 80 roads of hedge." NOTE: this is where the name was first changed from Crawford to Crofford. It was actually crossed off and re-written on the Homestead document.
1876 Little Big Horn. Ada Clemina Hall, a school teacher at Fort Lincoln, wrote a paper in defense of Custer. The Fort was abandoned in 1882.
By 1880, Horace Calvin Crofford was working as a quartz miner in Custer County, Dakota Territory. He married Ada Hall in 1891. Horace became a respected sheep rancher and county commissioner in Custer.
1894 Horace and Ada's first child, Horace's namesake, was born in Buffalo Gap, South Dakota.
1895, claiming self defense, Horace killed a young rancher in a dispute over grazing land near Lame Johnny Creek. He turned himself in to the authorities, and was held by the sheriff at Custer. The family moved to nearby Newcastle, Wyoming, where Ada ran a boarding house to support the family.
1907 Ada's father Andrew Hall signed over to Ada the title to farmland in Weston County (near Newcastle). Horace raised stock and the three boys worked on the farm. During this period Ada worked on several patented inventions.
My grandfather told lots of stories about life in the west. One time, a horse broke into the feed storage in the middle of the night and ate a belly full of oats. The oats swelled and the horse had to be kept moving all night long, everyone taking turns walking him in order to aid digestion and save his life.
An influential event in my grandfather's life gave birth to a lifelong interest in rocks and fossils. Near their home in Newcastle, Barnum Brown, a famous paleontologist known as "Mr. Bones," discovered the first documented remains of Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1902. Family lore is that dinosaur bones were found on the family homestead. ~Teresa Austin
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/mar/the-bone-collector
1916 Horace died (in Missouri, according to Findagrave.com), leaving Ada dependent on her oldest son, Horace, who was a telegrapher for the railroad.
1815 Anna Dillingham was born in Ohio. Her family moved to Porter County, Indiana in 1836. She married Daniel Lyons in 1837 and taught school in her father John Dillingham's home. The Dillingham name is still important in Liberty and many descendants still live near the old family graves.
1839 Calvin Crawford married Anna in Porter County, Indiana. He joined the military (Army enlistment states his birthplace as Vermont). At some point, the spelling of his name changed to Crofford.
1846 Horace Calvin Crofford, the fourth of Calvin and Anna's seven children, was born (2 of their children died young).
1860 Calvin and Anna moved to Rochester, Missouri, with their children Angeline, Chester, Horace, and Charles, and then moved to Lancaster, Nebraska.
1863 Horace Calvin Crofford was drafted into the cavalry during the Civil War. His discharge was signed by U. S. Grant.
1864 Calvin Crofford received a Homestead grant of about 154 acres in Lincoln, Nebraska. His son, Horace Calvin, was one of the witnesses to his settlement in the area, along with Sidney S. Pratt. They attested that "he has built a house thereon, about 16 + 30 feet with board floor, two doors, and one window. He has since said settlement ploughed and cultivated about 70 acres of said land, and has made the following improvements thereon to wit: has built a stable for 7 or 8 horses, a grainery and corn crib, dug a well, planted about 500 forest trees, and set out about 80 roads of hedge." NOTE: this is where the name was first changed from Crawford to Crofford. It was actually crossed off and re-written on the Homestead document.
1876 Little Big Horn. Ada Clemina Hall, a school teacher at Fort Lincoln, wrote a paper in defense of Custer. The Fort was abandoned in 1882.
 |
| Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory |
By 1880, Horace Calvin Crofford was working as a quartz miner in Custer County, Dakota Territory. He married Ada Hall in 1891. Horace became a respected sheep rancher and county commissioner in Custer.
 |
| Horace Calvin Crofford in the late 1800's |
1894 Horace and Ada's first child, Horace's namesake, was born in Buffalo Gap, South Dakota.
1895, claiming self defense, Horace killed a young rancher in a dispute over grazing land near Lame Johnny Creek. He turned himself in to the authorities, and was held by the sheriff at Custer. The family moved to nearby Newcastle, Wyoming, where Ada ran a boarding house to support the family.
 |
| Newcastle, Wyoming around 1905 http://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/newcastle-wyoming |
My grandfather told lots of stories about life in the west. One time, a horse broke into the feed storage in the middle of the night and ate a belly full of oats. The oats swelled and the horse had to be kept moving all night long, everyone taking turns walking him in order to aid digestion and save his life.
An influential event in my grandfather's life gave birth to a lifelong interest in rocks and fossils. Near their home in Newcastle, Barnum Brown, a famous paleontologist known as "Mr. Bones," discovered the first documented remains of Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1902. Family lore is that dinosaur bones were found on the family homestead. ~Teresa Austin
 |
| Barnum Brown and his Tyrannosaurus Rex |
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/mar/the-bone-collector
1916 Horace died (in Missouri, according to Findagrave.com), leaving Ada dependent on her oldest son, Horace, who was a telegrapher for the railroad.
1917 at the age of 22, Horace enlisted in the army. He was in Normandy during WWI. He was discharged in 1919. He was an electronics student at the American Bureau of Engineering (AMBU) Institute in Chicago, which is across the intersection from Mercy Hospital, on Prairie Avenue. It is possible that this is where he met a nurse, Teresa Marie Allen.
Interesting fact: Mercy Hospital was named for the Sisters of Mercy. Teresa lived in a boarding school and was trained as a nurse in Paris, Texas by the Sisters of Mercy at St. Joseph Hospital. From a history of St. Joseph: "The origin of St. Joseph's Health System dates to 1896 when the Sisters of Mercy operated a 16-bed hospital in a boarding school near downtown Paris, Texas. But a lack of funds forced the Sisters to give up their mission in 1910."
The Sisters of Mercy also had a hospital in Oklahoma City, where Teresa was working in 1920. The question is, how did she end up moving to Mercy Hospital in Chicago? Whatever the reason, she probably moved to Chicago, possibly with her friend and fellow nurse, Maud Marshall. Stay tuned....
Sources:
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/813.html
http://www.christushealth.org/EarlyinCHRISTUSStJosephsHistorySistersStruggletoEstablishParisTexasHospital
In 1921, the Sisters of Mercy took over a World War I Veterans’ Dispensary to offer medical and surgical services to the poor. http://www.mercy-chicago.org/legacy/history
1926 Horace and Teresa married. They moved to West Washington Street, Waukegan, where their children, Horace Calvin "Sonny" and Virginia Maude, were born at St. Therese Hospital. Sonny and Virginia attended Spaulding Elementary School. Teresa worked as a nurse at the office of Dr. Jolly, an ear, nose, and throat doctor. Horace tried his hand in politics but jobs were hard to find after the war.
1942 In search of employment, Horace and Teresa moved with their family to Virginia. Upon their arrival, they lived with friend Ed Suitor in Portsmouth. Then they moved into a house in Norfolk. Sonny attended Norview High School. Virginia graduated from Maury High School in 1950.
Sonny worked all his adult life for the telephone company. He married Jean Strong; they had four children, Calvin, Ronney, Cindy, and Mark.
1952 Virginia Crofford married John Beverly Zaun. They had two daughters, Holly and Teresa. Virginia taught piano, worked as secretary to a prominent and beloved congressman, was the administrative assistant to the Virginia Beach chief of detectives, and finally became Administrative Assistant to the director of city planning. Holly had three children: Justin, Leah, and Reed Bernick. Teresa had four sons: Adam, Joshua, Jonathan, and Andrew Austin.
Note: my grandfather Horace, who I called Baba, used to play mouth harp and harmonica, and sing songs like Yellow Rose of Texas, She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain, and Red River Valley. I see now that those songs are directly out of his experience in the Old West. There is a Red River Valley in Fargo, ND, where his mother grew up, as well as in Paris, TX, where my grandmother Teresa grew up.
 |
| Horace, 3rd from the right, front row |
 |
| Teresa Allen |
 |
| Mercy Hospital, Chicago 1910 |
 |
| AMBU Institute in Chicago, across from Mercy Hospital |
Interesting fact: Mercy Hospital was named for the Sisters of Mercy. Teresa lived in a boarding school and was trained as a nurse in Paris, Texas by the Sisters of Mercy at St. Joseph Hospital. From a history of St. Joseph: "The origin of St. Joseph's Health System dates to 1896 when the Sisters of Mercy operated a 16-bed hospital in a boarding school near downtown Paris, Texas. But a lack of funds forced the Sisters to give up their mission in 1910."
The Sisters of Mercy also had a hospital in Oklahoma City, where Teresa was working in 1920. The question is, how did she end up moving to Mercy Hospital in Chicago? Whatever the reason, she probably moved to Chicago, possibly with her friend and fellow nurse, Maud Marshall. Stay tuned....
Sources:
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/813.html
http://www.christushealth.org/EarlyinCHRISTUSStJosephsHistorySistersStruggletoEstablishParisTexasHospital
In 1921, the Sisters of Mercy took over a World War I Veterans’ Dispensary to offer medical and surgical services to the poor. http://www.mercy-chicago.org/legacy/history
 |
| Horace with Sonny and Virginia |
1942 In search of employment, Horace and Teresa moved with their family to Virginia. Upon their arrival, they lived with friend Ed Suitor in Portsmouth. Then they moved into a house in Norfolk. Sonny attended Norview High School. Virginia graduated from Maury High School in 1950.
Sonny worked all his adult life for the telephone company. He married Jean Strong; they had four children, Calvin, Ronney, Cindy, and Mark.
Note: my grandfather Horace, who I called Baba, used to play mouth harp and harmonica, and sing songs like Yellow Rose of Texas, She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain, and Red River Valley. I see now that those songs are directly out of his experience in the Old West. There is a Red River Valley in Fargo, ND, where his mother grew up, as well as in Paris, TX, where my grandmother Teresa grew up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)