Mayflower Descendants visit Plymouth MA

That's the Mayflower II
behind me in Plymouth Harbor.

 For those of us with Mayflower ancestry, a visit to Plymouth Mass is a wonderful way to spend some time.  There is so much to see, as well as lots of our shared history to learn.  On a September 2023 visit I was blessed to be involved in the following:

• MWH (my sweet husband) and I spent several days on Cape Cod, including seeing Provincetown, First Encounter Beach, and Corn Hill.  All three are important parts of my ancestors arrival in November 1620.  Friends from Boston gave us the use of their home in Wellfleet, which was a very nice place to rest for a few days.
• We traveled to the Massachusetts Statehouse, with a special viewing of the William Bradford documents.  These are not available for the public to view, but were brought out for our members to see... a wonderful opportunity.
• I attended a banquet and meetings for the Pilgrim John Howland Society, of which I am a member.  It was great to meet some of my "cousins" and get to know more about this organization.
• I wore my Mayflower costume for the first time!  Well, part of it anyway.  I left a number of pieces home, as I knew the weather would be warm AND when traveling I only bring a carry-on suitcase.  So the sleeves for the jacket, chemise, apron, and hat didn't make the trip. Next time!

My new costume!

PJHS banquet, with re-enactors John and
Priscilla Alden, and (in the dark costume),
my 12x great-grandfather John Howland.

• 

  Nancy (from the Texas Society),
  me, and Jenney (Oregon's
  in-coming deputy governor).
  
  

  I was privileged to participate in the GSMD (General Society of Mayflower Descendants) Congress, which happens every three years.  As an Oregon board member, I was one of two voting delegates representing the Oregon Society of Mayflower Descendants.  Votes  were held for the GSMD Governor General  and other national board members.  As the in-coming Governor for Oregon, this was a wonderful learning and observing opportunity for me.  Oregon's out-going Governor, Beth Lambright, was elected to one of three member-at-large positions, which is a huge honor both for Oregon AND for the entire western US.  

I hope you are all enjoying the Fall weather, dear readers.  Carry on!

My Navy Connections

I've been working on family history for quite a few years, and I've just this week come around to the fact that I have a larger (wider?) connection to the US Navy than to the USAF.  This was a surprise to me, as my father was career USAF and served in Germany, Philippines, Japan, and Vietnam, along with a dozen or more bases in the US.  

Shawn, my first child
taken about 2012

My son, Shawn, joined the Navy in 1971 and retired in 2014, serving on submarines at Bangor, Pearl, Kings Bay, and also assignments in California and South Carolina, prior to retiring as a Chief.  His father, MSH (my sweet husband), did not serve in the military but was a super supportive dad.  

If you have read some of my earlier posts, you may recall that MSH was adopted at birth, and in finding his biological father we learned that HE was also in the Navy.  He served during WWII, followed by many years in the Montana National Guard.

Earl Hansen, the father-in-law I never met

Kenneth Brown

In addition to these fine guys, my great-uncle Kenneth Brown was also in the Navy in WWII, as was MSH's uncle Jack Soderling.

My own family, both paternal and maternal, has served in every war back to the beginning of this country, so I probably shouldn't be surprised when I find these connections.  

Jack Soderling

My real interest comes with the fact that in my DNA work with adoptees and NPE folks (not parent expected), I am amazed at the number of men I am finding that also have a USN connection.  

Take care, dear readers, and enjoy the end of summer wherever you are!

Williams Family in Walla Walla!

 Family get-togethers are a wonderful opportunity to visit, catch up on what everyone has been doing since our last meeting, and see how big our younger folks are become.  Fact... I am quickly becoming one of the shorter people in my family. 

Four Generations, Scar, Logan,
Shawn, Dolores, Emily, Debra

A total of 29 family members joined in for some or all of the week, July 24 to 29, 2023, in Walla Walla, Washington, coming from as far away as North Dakota and Nebraska.  This area in the southeast corner of Washington state has long been known for   "Walla Walla Sweets" onions, but has also become a wine-mecca over the past several decades.  

My mom, Dolores  (age 87), was joined by her three children and spouses/partners, seven of her nine grandchildren and some spouses/partners, along with seven great-grandchildren, for a total of 29 people attending the fun week.  The food offerings were wonderful, and a 50th birthday party with cake and balloons was held for Shawn, the eldest of those grandchildren.  

Logan, Emily, Jeanette

Wednesday was "lake day" which was spent at Bennington Lake.  People brought paddleboards, kayaks, and canoes, and there was lots of swimming and splashing around in the water.  

Logan Standing on paddleboard

I managed to get a few short bike rides in, including a ride out to the lake and back, and I handed out family history/Mayflower line packets to the great-grands in attendance.  

So, I managed to address BOTH of my passions of genealogy and cycling during our vacation week!

I hope you are having a wonderful summer, dear readers.  

Me with my sweet little Bike Friday "Emerald"

So much to learn!

I've spent the past week in GRIP class, sponsored by the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburg, and I learned SO MUCH!  All classes, meetings, and even our small group assignments, were done on Zoom, so I didn't have to make my way to Pennsylvania.  While I do have some PA ancestry, it's not on my list of things to research at the moment.

The focus for the week was "Digging Deeper: Records, Tools, and Skills" and I was online about 6am each day learning from some excellent instructors.  Most attendees were from the eastern or central time zones, so it wasn't so early for them!

The coordinator for this event was Paula Stuart-Warren, and I enjoyed so much learning from her - she's an excellent presenter and I will be looking for more presentations by her!

In addition to the three other instructors (Cindi Ingle, Debbie Mieszala, and Cari Taplin), who were also great, it was so interesting to be in a group of folks who love genealogy and are eager to learn more AND to discuss what they're finding, offer advice, ask questions, and all those things that I also enjoy.  

I am very inspired to work harder on not only work I've taken on for other people, but also my OWN family work... of which there is so much to be done! 

Carry on with your own research, dear readers!

100 Years Plus

 After my November 2022 article telling about Aunt Peggy's 100th birthday party, I decided it was high time I write about my OWN grandmothers who have surpassed the century mark.

As I have done research over the past years, I have been fascinated by two of my grandmothers who lived for over 100 years.  

First, my 2x great-grandmother, Martha Jane ALMOND Johnson.   She was born on 10 January 1846 in Kentucky, the fourth child of William ALMOND and Nancy Spradling ALMOND.  By 1855 her mother had died, her father had remarried, and the family had moved to Illinois.

Martha married Joseph Henry JOHNSON in 1872 and their six children were born in Illinois.  By 1900, the Johnson family had migrated to Oklahoma, residing in Saline, Alfalfa County, for many years.  Their children included a set of twins, Alma Jane and Alta Ann, born in 1981.  Alma survived less than one year.  Alta Ann was my great-grandmother, the mother of my maternal grandfather, James Henry Walton. 

Martha lived a very long life, passing in 1946, seven months past her 100th birthday.  Her life started during the Mexican American war and ended after World War II.  Her life of almost 101 years in Oklahoma qualifies me (and my siblings, kids, and grands) for pioneer status in Oklahoma!

Second, my 3x great-grandmother, Sarah BORTON Shaffer, lived from 1834 to 1936, passing just one month shy of her 102nd birthday.  She was born on 20 September 1834 in Ohio, daughter of Asa Borton and Elizabeth Hazen.  In 1852, Sarah married David Shaffer, and their first four children were born in Ohio.  By 1867 they had moved to Michigan, and my 2x great-grandmother, Emma, was born there along with two younger siblings.

Grandma Shaffer was honored by the Charlotte, Michigan newspaper on her 101st birthday, with the article saying she was Eaton county's oldest resident.  A party was held in the home of her daughter, Lillian Ives.  She married at age 18, and told of cooking on a fireplace when first married, picking wool and spinning yarn for mittens and stockings for her family.

At the age of 102, she had 111 descendants, including 4 (of 8) children, 25 grandchildren, 55 great-grandchildren, and 27 great-great-grandchildren.  What a woman she must have been!

Keep up the good work on your research, dear readers!

Zoom by Bike!

While I have been out for a few short bike rides in 2023, our weather has not been conducive to longer rides. Saturday April 22 was the first excellent cycling day! Temp got up to 70 degrees, with no moisture and very little wind.  I rolled along north of Eugene, past Coburg to Herman Road, and south until I made it home, for a total of 33 miles!

“Garnet” has been my trusty friend for 23 years.  We’ve completed over 29,000 miles of riding, including Cycle Oregon , the Montana Bike Ride, and STP (Seattle to Portland).  But most of our rides are in the Eugene area and are between 20 and 40 miles.  

Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have been teaching on Zoom, and most all of the meetings I have attended over the past three years have also been on Zoom.   One day early in the lock-down, I was out for a ride and happened to look down at my handlebars and notice that my headset cap says ZOOM - how appropriate!

I hope your Spring is off to a wonderful start, dear readers.  Enjoy!

Success Finding Two Fathers

 Helping people understand their DNA tests and identify some of those cousins on the match list is one of my favorite tasks, and over the past month I am pleased to say that I have identified birth fathers for two more people!  

Both people, one male and one female, were born during the 1960s and are both now parents and grandparents themselves.  All these years they have not known who their birth father was.  Well, now they know!

First is a friend living in the Pacific Northwest.  The woman (SF) contacted me after learning that I had identified both birth mother and birth father of PB, my husband's half brother.  For a bit of history on this, see my blog article published August 2019 for more information on MSH (my sweet husband) and his two half-brothers.

SF was born in Bozeman, Montana, in the 1960s, and placed for adoption at 4-months of age.  She was the youngest child in a large farm family, growing up with older brothers and sisters who were all adopted. As with many adopted children, she longed to know the circumstances of her birth and why she was placed.  She was able to identify and meet her birth mom prior to her passing about ten years ago, but the woman was not able or willing to share who SF's birth father was.  

With the help of DNA testing, my research identified the two ancestral couples who were her great-grandparents.  Both couples were primarily from Montana, lived between the mid 1800s up to the mid 1900s, and between them there were 15 children and more than 30 grandchildren.  Building a research tree and locating DNA matches for SF who fit in these trees was key.  

After many months of work, I requested one person take a DNA test, suspecting she was either a first cousin or a half-sister.  With over 1700 cM shared, half-sibling it was.  Birth father is deceased, but SF is now connected with three older half-sisters.

Second is a gentleman (AJ) who was born in Vietnam in the 1960s and raised by a single-mom.  His father was a US soldier stationed there.  A sister who was age 12 at the time of her mom's pregnancy had quite a few memories about the man who lived with them while stationed there.  When AJ appeared on my husband's match list in January 2023, I immediately checked to see if he was also on the list of MSH's two half-brothers.  He was, so I wrote an email thru Ancestry's message system asking if he would like to talk.  As he lives in Vietnam and does not speak English, we communicated via a family friend in the US who was the daughter of a Japanese mother and US soldier father who had married prior to moving to the US.  I was given access to AJ's DNA test and at the top of the list were second cousins of my husband and his half-brothers.  We've met one of the women and her husband at a family reunion, so I reached out to her and explained my findings.  She and her sisters reached out to AJ, resulting in his connection to nine half siblings on this side of the Pacific Ocean. 

I'm working with two more clients who are searching for their fathers, so watch for another article telling about those projects, hopefully this Spring!

Welcome to 2023!

 It amazes me that we've reached 2023.  Time surely does fly as we get older, yes?

We had a quiet and lovely holiday season, attending a number of concerts, having dinners with friends, and enjoying being home after many months of taking trips around the US and to Italy.  I sang with the Eugene Symphony Chorus on December 10, a beautiful acapella piece, a Beethoven, and another Beethoven known as his 9th.... the chorus sits for about an hour before singing the Ode to Joy for the last 15 minutes of the piece.  We've sung this before, and it's a JOY each time!  The alto section is the best group of women in town!

MSH and I decided to put up our small (fake) tree and only decorate it with the original ornaments from the first Christmas after we married in 1972 - nine blue glass balls which cost $1.49... plus a red glass ornament which was his favorite as a baby.  On top we added an angel we brought home from our first trip to Hawaii many years back, and the stockings I made that first year were hung nearby.  The rule with our kids when they were young was that only MOM or DAD could add and remove the blue balls from the tree, and if one broke, it had better be a parent who was handling it. :) 

Our last event for 2022 was dinner with our good friends James, Jocelyn, Rex and Karen, followed by the Eugene Symphony's first ever New Year's Eve concert and party after.  Tons of Fun!

And now, I'm refining my LIST of genealogy projects for 2023.  The list is LONG, and there are some very interesting and exciting things included, so back..to..work..!  

Have a wonderful January, dear readers!

Aunt Peggy's Birthday!

On the first weekend of November, MSH (my sweet husband) and I made a trip to Indiana for a very special event.  Aunt Peggy turned 100 years old and a party was scheduled!

 Peggy Norene Soderling LaCount was born in Waterman, Wheeler County, Oregon, on November 7, 1922.  She was child number 5 of 8 in the Soderling family.  Her younger brothers Jack and Charles were also born in Oregon, and then the family moved to the northwestern corner of Montana, where her younger sister Geraldine was born.  

Aunt Peggy is the younger sister of MSH's adoptive mom, Margaret Idell Soderling Sorensen.  She is a delightful woman and a very good role model for those of us younger women who have the privilege of knowing her.  Daughters Nancy and Suzanne organized the party.  Attendees included a son-in-law, cousins from several generations, her grandson (from Korea!), a great-grandson, and friends.  We had a wonderful time and are so grateful to have been able to attend.  

For those of us who work on the histories of our own families, we know the importance of talking with our elders while we still have them with us.  Aunt Peggy has given us information about her parents and siblings and their upbringing.

In my own family, my MOM is a huge source of information for my work, not only telling me her memories but also seeing that family documents and photographs have made their way to me when grandma and her sisters passed.  (My boxes are quite full and I really need to get them better organized!)

I have two paternal AUNTS still living, and they have also given me information over the years.

Next on my list to talk with are my mom's younger siblings, both of whom I hope will be able to tell me more about their childhoods, their siblings, and their parents and grandparents.

Continue your genealogy work, dear readers, and have a lovely holiday season!

So Much to Be Thankful For

I have so much to be thankful for, and as I have often said, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  This week has given me several opportunities to remember how fortunate I am:

• Oregon Society of Mayflower Descendants (OSMD) held a holiday feast on Saturday, November 19. The event was originally scheduled for 2020, the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's arrival in Plymouth.  Members and their families were so excited to be able to meet in person that we had a over 80 people attending.  The meal was cooked by various members (I cooked ALL of the cornbread!), and the event was a huge success.
  
• My walking buddy, Jana, and I walked the annual 5k at 8:30 in the morning.  The temperature was 36 degrees at the start - very cold!  We had a good time, and coming home to a warm drink was the best!
  
• Two friends came for Thanksgiving dinner.  We enjoyed turkey and all the trimmings, but MOSTLY we enjoyed the company of wonderful friends!
• The Oregon Ducks played Oregon State Beavers in the annual football game (formerly known as the Civil War, but no longer as some folks are offended by that term).  OSU won, which was a disappointment for us. We watched the game with our good friends Rick and Cynthia, which was much fun!

Along with being thankful, I'm focusing on some areas of family history where I want to improve:

• Organize and better care for family photos, including labeling photos, making notes, transcribing memoirs, reviewing charts and similar "housekeeping" tasks
  
• Become a good ancestor by making notes on events and stories of things happening in my family, at the time it is happening or shortly after

Doing some of these things will really help my descendants and are especially important since I don't know WHO will want to take over "the family box" when I'm not able to care for it any longer.

Best wishes for continued joy in this holiday season, dear readers!