GraveObsessions
Digging up my roots!
Category: My Family Lines
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Petition for Incorporation of Milo, Maine provides signature of Aaron Day
A visit to the Maine State Archives last week provided the following priceless document: To the honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Maine in Legislature assembled January 1823. The undersigned Inhabitants of the Township No. three i the seventh range of Township north of the Waldo Patent in the County of…
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Thank you, Ancestry.com, for a Day family reunion
Ancestry.com – great for finding our ancestors, and spectacular for making cousin connections! On February 2, 2014, I sent a message through Ancestry.com to Sherece Lamke, whose family tree contained information on Aaron Day and his wife, Martha. What ensued after that initial contact was a flurry of emails back and forth, as we joyously…
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The life expectancies of our ancestors
My grandmother never told her age. Ever. When I was a kid, she made it into a game but would never give me enough hints to guess. She said she’d be dead by the time I was 21, but that she would leave a note for me which I could open on my 21st birthday…
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Charles M. and Julia C. (Veland) Uphouse
My great grandparents, Charles Madison Uphouse and Julia Christine Veland, have always been somewhat of a mystery. So few stories have been passed down about them, and so little is known of their lives. Here are some photos and documents recently sent to me by my wonderful aunt. Charlie was born 4 March 1889 in…
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Finding family treasures – better than the lotto!
I received a box of pictures of and documents from my aunt on Thursday. It was like winning the lotto, but 1000% better. My grandmother had given to me all of her family pictures and documents before she died, so I didn’t think there was much else left to find. WRONG! My aunt sent me…
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The hunt for Days, and the importance of original records
I’m a homebody who prefers the company of my dogs and computer to travel. However, there is one thing that is sure to motivate me to hop on a plane, and that’s GENEALOGY! A week ago Thursday I flew to Maine to do some research on my Day family, and then met up with my…
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Cordelia Stanwood, unmarried: a hidden gem in the family tree
New genealogists often overlook the unmarried folks in their family trees. After all, there are no offspring to track or trace. However, these unmarried aunts and uncles, cousins and kinfolk, can have stories just as interesting as those of our ancestors, and just as deserving of being told and preserved for generations to come. Just…
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Proving the parentage of Cynthia (Day) Bursley
This past Saturday I was inducted into the Cooch’s Bridge Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It was overwhelmingly wonderful and quite surreal, and the culmination of nearly thirty years of research into my Bursley family. It would never have been possible without the collaboration with my third and…
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Pension file gem: Amos Day, 1856 letter to his father Nathaniel
I spent my Valentine’s Day happily buried in pension and land records at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. On my agenda was the review and photographing of the pension and land records of the family of my 3rd great grandmother, Cynthia (Day) Bursley. Most interesting was the file for Amos Day, a Union solider…
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Grandma and Cedric Adams – believe it or not!
It all started with a tale told by my late Cousin Pat, a book about the history of Minneapolis, and a peculiar warning in Grammer’s autograph book. “Grammer,” as my grandmother was called, was the epitome of what a grandmother should be – doting, kind, and indulgent. Okay, my mom probably didn’t appreciate the fact…
Jennifer Fox
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