Wedding Bells

Church of St. James, Curry Mallet

The Church of St. James, originally called All Saints, is located in Curry Mallet and dates back to the 13^th century. I wonder if wedding bells rang in the tower for my great, great, great grandparents, John Dollen and Nancy House Paul. John and Nancy were wed here on 19 March 1818.

The photo was found in a Wikipedia article on Church of St. James. Marriage information comes from an index of Curry Mallet Marriages, 1734-1837 from the Hundred of ABDeCK and Bulstone group.

Family Search Wikis

It seems like ages, since my last post. Self-imposed decisions were weighing heavily on my mind resulting in the drying up of my genealogical juices. Writing and problem solving stem from creative thinking and my creativity just up and went. I decided to put all my trees in my Ancestral Waiting Room for a while. Boy, was it crowded in there!

My mind has quieted and allowed me ponder the thought that I must search longer and harder for small bits of information needed to complete my ancestors stories. Had I exhausted all the vast resources of Ancestry.com or Family Search?

Rather than searching for documents, I paid a visit to the Family Search Research Wikis. With my Dollen tree in mind, I searched for Somerset, England. The Somerset Wiki offered a description of the area. It explained Civil Registration Districts, Parishes, Probate Jurisdictions and then there were the websites.

I found a yahoo group dedicated to Somerset Family History. The site allows for discussion and research; which includes full transcripts of parish registers and poor laws. I quickly registered for free and was accepted into the group. I also joined the Abdick and Bullstone Group. Britain divides land up between civil jurisdictions, parishes, and hundreds. Abdick and Bullstone is a Hundred. I don’t know what that means, but I do know that Curry Mallet is part of that Hundred. Keep you posted!

By the way . . . if you haven’t used Family Search Wikis, you might want to give them a try.

Linda

A Pearl of Wisdom

Saturday I attended the Du Page County Genealogical Society 38th Annual Conference. I was fortunate to sit on two presentations given by Jean Lazalere Bloom, my favorite being her “Excel 101: The Genealogist’s Underutilized Tool” presentation. I knew nothing about the power of a spreadsheet.

Her biggest selling point being that Excel spreadsheets aid in breaking down brick walls. Ms. Bloom was absolutely correct. My first venture into researching with Excel yielded positive results.

Here is an example: Ms. Bloom suggested recording evidence on a spreadsheet for all individuals with a common surname. With that in mind, I ventured off to Calvary Cemetery in Evanston, Illinois. I made a date with the kiosk in the office and began my research of the surnames Dooley and Egan.

My time and attention span wore out before I was able to record all Dooley and Egan burials in Calvary. By the time I reached George Dooley, I had sixty Dooley names with gravesite locations.  I bored of recording Dooley records and moved to Egan.

It was time to narrow my search parameters for the Egan’s. I looked for two names: Margaret and Patrick Egan. There were nineteen interment records for Margaret Egan and eight for Patrick. As Ms. Bloom predicted, I found a common gravesite.

Margaret and Patrick Egan share a common gravesite location of Lot N6, Block D, Section X. They rest in peace with the following family members:

                      Elizabeth Scanlon, daughter

                      Baby Morrissey,grandchild

                      Daniel Egan, A newcomer! What is his connection to the Egan Family?

                      William Morrissey, son-in-law
                      Celia Morrissey, daughter

                      Patrick Morrissey, Another newcomer to consider!

                      Margaret Morrissey, granddaughter Elizabeth

Dates of Interment were included in the gravesite information.  The date of burial for Patrick Egan and Daniel Egan were identical, as was their age at death. This suggests one of two things: Patrick and Daniel were twins who died on the same date OR an error in recording had occurred. More sleuthing is needed to answer the questions of Patrick and Daniel death dates always with the hope of discovering their relationship.  

Shoot for the moon and I just might reach the stars!

Linda

Apprentice Seaman, Richard William Dollen

Marilou has been very generous with her photographs. 

Here is a photo of  Dick Dollen most likely taken in San Diego.

 

The military loves well-polished shoes!

Dick and his sweetheart

I am presently working on my Uncle Dick Dollen’s life story. It’s a short one, but I do wish it to be a complete story. I am so fortunate that Marilou shared a few photographs of my uncle. Here she is with her beau.

Speaking of Sweethearts

Here's a whole lot of love & a big hug and KISS!

PURR-lease, BE MY VALENTINE!

I was perusing through my recently discovered baby book and found two valentines from my childhood. I received the larger valentine from my parental grandma and grandpa.  Joyce and John, mom’s cousin & husband, gave the smaller one to me many, many years ago.

Sweetest wishes to you this Valentine’s Day!

Linda

That Sweetheart of a God Mother Part II

As I mentioned in my previous post, I don’t recall meeting my God Mother. After revisiting information about my Uncle Dick Dollen, I decided to search for my her. I was in possession of two facts. Her given name was Marilou and that she was my Uncle Dick’s high school sweetheart.

As I cleaned our coat closet, I pulled out a large blue suitcase that I thought housed my Mother’s accordion. I had quite a surprise when I opened the alleged accordion case for in place of my Mom’s accordion were baby books. My cleaning ground to a halt as I stopped to enjoy the three baby books page by page. My interest in genealogy seems to be predestined for my baby book held a family tree that shed new light on a great, great grandfather and revealed the surname of my God Mother!

Curious about her life and armed with a given and surname, I began searching for her on ancestry.com. I located a Mary Louise who was born in the same city and about the same time of my Uncle Dick’s birth. I decided to test the find by messaging the owner of the tree. Could Mary Louise be my Dick Dollen’s high school sweetheart? I asked the tree owner just that.

The owner replied that yes Mary Louise did date Dick Dollen and a series of messages followed eventually leading to a phone call.

Good News! My Sweetheart of a God Mother is well. She has been blessed with five children, four living children. She is also a grandmother and enjoys her family very much. Marilou remembers her first love.

It was homecoming at Luther Institute when Marilou felt a tap on her shoulder. It happened over and over until she finally caught her admirer. Dick asked her to go steady and Marilou agreed. The girls thought Marilou was lucky to be going steady with such a handsome guy. Dates consisted of riding and going places. Dick would take her out to meet his family. They planned on marrying and raising a family consisting of “a girl just like her and a boy just like Dick.” Marilou and Dick were a match made in heaven!

Marilou and Dick Dollen; a gift from Marilou