Thanksgiving Blessings and The Mayflower

Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday.  The food part is great, but the very BEST part is all of the family and friends I have been blessed to know and spend time with during this past year.  I am staying in Eugene this holiday, and My Sweet Husband (MSH) and I will be joining friends in their home for the afternoon.

"Here ended the Pilgrimage of JOHN HOWLAND...
he married Elizabeth... who came with him
on the Mayflower... from them are descended
numerous posterity..."

Each year I enjoy remembering the story of John Howland, my ancestor who "fell off the boat" on the trip from England to America in 1620.  He was, thankfully, pulled back on board and continued the journey to what is now Massachusetts.  After that first challenging winter, he married fellow passenger Elizabeth Tilley, and they went on to have ten children.  ALL of those children lived to adulthood and provided 80+ grandchildren!

John and Elizabeth's eldest child, Desire Howland, is my 9th great-grandmother.  She married Capt. John Gorham and they had ten children.

My 8th great-grandfather was Desire and John Gorham's 4th child/2nd son, Jabez, who married Hannah Sturgis.  They produced eleven children.  And on it goes, down the line, with many children born in each generation.  The Howland and Gorham families were very productive!

I am now serving on the board of the Oregon Society of Mayflower Descendants.  I feel extremely privileged to be a part of this organization, and I am reminded that these ancestors of mine - of OURS - came here to make a better life for themselves and their families.  They did not know what they would find, or whether they would even make it across the ocean alive.  It took much longer than expected to get here, and about half of the people did not survive that first year.  And yet, they kept at it, forging a new life for themselves, their families, and the people who came after.  We are blessed to be their descendants.

The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, or John Howland's Good Fortune

by P.J.Lynch

How Many Grandparents Do I Have?

Do you have any idea how many “grandparents” we each have?  Anyone who has spent time working on a family tree will see how fast this number increases as we work back thru the generations. For example:

• Your Parents = 2

• Your Grandparents = 4

• Your Great-Grandparents = 8 (generation 4)

• 2x G-Grands = 16 (generation 5)

• 3x G-Grands = 32 (generation 6)

• 4x G-Grands = 64 (generation 7)

• 5x G-Grands = 128 (generation 8)

• 6x G-Grands = 256 (generation 9)

• 7x G-Grands = 512 (generation 10)

Add this up and you have a total of 1,023 people, including you, and by the time you reach your 10x great-grandparents, you have a total of more than 4,000 people!  (For those of us who have worked in the computer field, these are very familiar numbers, 8-bit, 16-bit, floppy disks of 512k, etc.)

Here is a picture of one of my SIXTEEN great-grandmothers back 6 generations - Mary Jane VanDewalker from Michigan.

What does all of this mean?  I have a LOT of work to do if I expect to have all of these people assigned to their proper places in my family tree!

What's With All the Cemetery Visits?

On our August road trip to Eastern Washington and Western Montana, I gave MSH a heads-up that I wanted to stop by some cemeteries where one or the other of us has family buried. Can't recall, but I'm pretty sure he rolled his eyes....  Thankfully he is very good at humoring me as I work on this genealogy obsession of mine.

Over the months of August and September, I have visited more cemeteries than I've been to in my entire life, including:

• Riverside Memorial, Spokane - to get pictures in the mausoleum  where Margaret and Floyd Sorensen are buried (adoptive parents of MSH)
• St. Ann's Cemetery, East Helena, Montana - where birth father of MSH is buried
• Lower Hill Cemetery, Anaconda, Montana - where grandfather of MSH (and his twin brother) were buried in 1935/36
• Hamilton, Victorville, and Stevensville,  Montana - several cemeteries where members of the Semmens and Steele families are buried
• Walla Walla, Washington, Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Center - to get a picture of the plaque honoring my father and his Vietnam War service
• Vermontville, Michigan - several cemeteries where Gorham ancestors and family members are buried

In 2016, we visited birth mom's burial spot in the Eagle Point Nation Cemetery, Eagle Point, Oregon. Her last husband was a WWII vet, so it was his choice of location, although she died in her home town of Anaconda, Montana.  (Picture of MSH at Eagle Point.)

Next on my list?  A visit to Fall Creek and other cemeteries in Tennessee where my paternal grandparents and other ancestors reside.  Off we go!

Attending a Family Reunion!

I had the great privilege of attending a family reunion in Michigan on Sunday, September 8, 2019:

98th Annual Wood/Gorham/VanBlarcom Reunion

What a wonderful group of people!  In the morning, cousin Bruce led a tour of several cemeteries where some ancestors are buried.  Afterwards, he allowed me to look thru his books of family pictures.  Then off we went to the party, which took place in the Old Bismark Schoolhouse in Vermontville, Michigan.  As I sat in my car looking toward the school building, I had chills thinking about my great-grandparents and their siblings walking to school down the very same dirt road over 100 years ago.

I am a Wood and Gorham descendant, so the attendees were all "cousins" I had never met.  If you look back at my post of July 26, you will see a 1973 picture of my great-grandmother, Mable Eoline Gorham Brown.  Here are pictures of Mable and my great-grandpa, Harvey Leroy Brown, taken in 1964 in Clovis, New Mexico.


As I continue working on my family history, I am mindful of the fact that not many people have the honor of knowing their great-grandparents.  I am especially thankful that I had this connection in my early years, especially as I get older and have grandchildren of my own.

Thank you to all of the cousins who gave me such a warm welcome!

Cycling with Friends

I love to ride, and most of my riding over the past 30 years has been with my husband and some of our friends.  More recently I have been cycling with other women.

For example, on June 22 of this year I drove with three other women to Independence, OR, for the CycleOregon Joy Ride.  Women cyclists only!  Men volunteers, as well as other women who were not riding, contributed to a great experience for all.

Each of us has also done the CycleOregon week-long ride, which happens in September.  In fact, Yvonne and I met for the first time on CycleOregon 2001 - that's where we were when 911 happened.  It was an interesting week, to say the least.

Thanks to Jana, Karen, and Yvonne for making June 22 a fantastic day of cycling!

A Family Road Trip!

On Tuesday, August 5, MSH and I left Eugene heading north. Our plan was to visit quite a few family members, some of whom we had not met before.  All of these "new to us family members" are from his biological family.

After a quick stop in Portland to see daughter Emily and her family, we motored on up the Gorge to Spokane, where we had a great visit with his cousins Illa and Mary Beth, along with Illa's daughter-in-law and MB's husband.  These are cousins MSH grew up with in his adoptive family and whom we love visiting.

On Wednesday we headed to Montana to meet the "new to us" family members.  Thursday was spent with the 93-year old sister of birth mom (Marjory).  Aunt Charlotte was a fantastic host, not to mention FULL of stories about the family, her parents, grandparents, siblings, etc.  Two of her four children joined us for the day, and we felt welcomed and "at home" instantly.

On Friday morning we toured the Montana State Capitol building in Helena, followed by a visit to the cemetery where the birth father of MSH is buried.  We already had photos of the location and the military honors which took place for his funeral, but I wanted to actually stand there and see the spot where Earl was buried in 1992.

On Friday afternoon, we spent time with two of Earl's first cousins. He was an only child, but these two people remembered him and were able to tell us stories and share a few pictures.  So much fun!

On Saturday morning we returned to spend a few hours with Aunt Charlotte before heading to Hamilton area for Sunday events.  A bbq was held in the afternoon, hosted by one of the cousins and attended by 16 family members. A dozen of us met for dinner later that evening.

When a person has not met their biological parents, it is a HUGE treat to spend time with other people who knew them and can share stories and memories.  That's what this trip was all about!

Marjory's Boys, Part 2

Discovering BT and his family (Marjory's second son) in 1997 was great.  My husband (MSH) had a brother, and all was well.  But things changed in 2018, after we both took DNA tests.  First we did the 23&Me test, followed a year later by the AncestryDNA test.

Each test gives you a DNA match list - all those people who have taken a DNA test and with whom you have shared DNA.  At the top of MSH's match list was a guy who shared enough DNA that he was suggested as a "close family -1st cousin" match.

It took a few days, but finally I gathered up enough courage to email the guy (PA) thru the AncestryDNA system.  He responded very quickly and we carried on a conversation for a couple of days.  He told me that he had been born in Montana and placed with an adoptive family on the day he was born.  Before she passed, his adoptive mom (a "saint" in his words) had told him the name of his birth mother.  Turned out PA and BT and MSH are half-brothers!

We spent a week earlier this summer in Maine visiting PA and his wife and daughter.  Wonderful family, and they were fabulous hosts and tour guides.

Marjory's three boys!

Marjory's Boys - Part 1

One of my favorite genealogy projects has been in the works for 22 years.  In 1997, we learned about Marjory Anne Steele, who was born in western Montana in 1931.  She grew up as the youngest in her family, with two brothers and one sister.  After high school, she worked in clerical positions in her town, and in 1952 she became pregnant.  Since she was not married, off she went to the unwed mother’s home in Spokane (from what family members have told us, this was not her choice – her parents insisted that she was not going to raise a baby on her own).

My sweet husband (hereafter referred to as MSH) was her first son.  He was adopted as an infant and raised in Spokane, which is where we met and married. 

We were able to have the adoption records opened in 1997, which gave us Marjory's name, family information, and – “surprise” – a half-brother!  We had no DNA testing at this time, but when these two boys got together, it was apparent that they were related.  This brother (BT) was raised in Montana, but moved his family to western Oregon before we met, which has made it convenient for the guys to occasionally see each other over the years.

My Intro to Genealogy

Five generations of my family, including the two women who started me off on my journey into genealogy. Clockwise, starting with my son, Shawn (9 months), held by my grandmother, Merial Brown Walton, her mother, Mable Gorham Brown, my mom, Dolores Walton Williams, and me.  Summer of 1974.

In the summer of 1979, I received a box from my grandmother containing various family documents, pictures, and books. The two most interesting items were my great-grandmother Mable’s memoirs and our family tree, both handwritten on old mimeograph paper – the purple stuff!  As I typed her memoirs, I became fascinated with her life, her childhood, years spent raising my grandmother and her siblings, and her life thru her 70’s.  The family tree was also a wonderful read. (Mable lived to her 87th year.)

While working on the project, I was also very pregnant with my daughter, Emily.  Not long after the typing was done, she was born.  With a 6-year old son and a new baby and a job, I put the box of materials away and didn’t spend much time looking at any of it for many years.  However, any time we visited family, grandparents, etc., I would ask questions and make notes.  Into the box they would go.  For 35+ years….

Now I have many boxes of materials, and I’m very serious about sorting this out and putting things in order... for the next generations...

Cycling? Genealogy?

I was out for a 30 mile ride today with a friend, and while pedaling along north of town, I gave some serious thought to what I might call a blog, IF I were to have one.  I decided that combining my two passions would work, hence the name of this blog.

I plan to use The Pedaling Genealogist as a way to share information about:

• Bike rides I'm involved with, planning, etc.
• The family history projects I'm currently working on

Watch this page for new reports each week.  For now, happy Wednesday!

Deb Sorensen