A Christmas Guest

Christmas is a magical time. So why not wish for a special Christmas guest. If I could invite one ancestor to Christmas dinner, this year I would choose my 3^rd great grandmother, Elizabeth Paul, of Curry Mallet, England.

Elizabeth or Betsey was born in 1807 to John Paul and Sarah Mead in Curry Mallet. She married Henry Strong of Saint Decuman’s Parish on 9 May 1829 in Beercrocrombe.

Elizabeth and Henry Strong had three daughters: Sarah Caroline, Emma and Fanny. Following the 1840 death of her husband, Henry, Betsey supported her family by working as a rag sorter. 

At 45 years of age, Elizabeth led her three daughters and mother, Sarah Paul, age 76 to Bristol, England. Together the five women boarded the Shannon and set sail for New York along with 106 other passengers and 12 infants. Elizabeth, Sarah Caroline, Emma and Fanny were officially received into the United States on 12 June 1849. Elizabeth’s mother died aboard ship. What motivated such an adventuresome trip?

The women settled in Skaneateles, New York where Elizabeth married John Willmont.  She lived in Skaneateles for eleven years. Elizabeth Paul Strong Willmont died 23 April 1860. My cousin and I visited her grave at the Lakeview Cemetery in downtown Skaneateles.  I doubt Elizabeth ever considered the idea of great, great, great granddaughters searching for her or visiting her grave. Would she be pleased?

I would love to have Elizabeth sit at my dining table surrounded by seven of her great, great, great granddaughters and serve her Christmas dinner. Conversation would be peppered with unending questions from curious granddaughters. I would particularly watch her reaction when dessert was served. Would she recognize the plum pudding?

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

 My Dollen Family Tree has many branches. My focus of late has been on my British ancestors. Jumping the pond proves challenging and fills me with ideas and many questions.

Information gathered from the Family Search Somerset, England Wiki has possibly advanced my trees to the early 1700s. While the indexes provide names, dates, towns, parishes etc., they do not give me scans/copies of the original documents. Naturally, I want to see the documents.

This is the point where I must use a favorite quote; “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know!” for it aptly applies to my Family Search strategies. When using Family Search, my preferred method of search has been to begin by browsing by location near the bottom of the home page. It worked well until I decided to jump the pond, as I was unable to located records for Somerset, England.

Now my cousin, Sharon, is always sharing scans of British baptismal, marriage and burial records located through Family Search. She would tell me what parish she located them in, but I was unable to find the records. I was doing something wrong!

Tired of bumping into Family Search brick wall, I decided to try a novel approach. Why not try the Family Search Catalog? I chose to search by place names.

• I entered Curry Mallet, Somerset, England. No Luck!
• I entered Somerset, England. No Luck!
• I entered England. I got lucky with an abundance of search opportunities. I needed to define my parameters.
• I entered England, Somerset, Curry Mallet. BINGO! There they were: census, church, poorhouse, taxation, and land and property records! Microfilm was ordered and I am now waiting to receive them.

 It took me awhile to understand the search parameters for Family Search, but making mistakes still proves to be the best learning experience.

• When adding information to my personal trees, I always record U.S. data as city, county, state, country.
•  For my British ancestors, I record town, county, country.

The logic used in my personal trees did not work with Family Search’s catalog. As I said earlier, you just don’t know what you don’t know! But now I know!

Lessoned learned: It is time to explore Family Search more thoroughly.

Happy Hunting!

Linda

Ancestral Waiting Rooms

I wonder if this happens to everyone.  When working on a family tree, I eventually reach a point where I have exhausted all search opportunities. That tree is then set-aside for the time being allowing me to revisit another family trees.

The Dooley family has had quite a lengthy run of research and has been placed in that waiting area of family trees . . .  the ancestral waiting room. Resting until a new lead pops up.

Several new research opportunities have arisen in the Dollen Family Tree. As a result, the Dollens are moving out of that ancestral waiting room.

I recently made contact with a Dollen descendant across "The Pond." She and I descend from John Dollen and Ann House of Curry Mallet, Somerset, England. I long to visit Curry Mallet and the shire of Somerset. For the time being, I must live vicariously through the television series, Downton Abbey.

Downton Abbey transports me to Somerset, England and leaves me wondering why my John Dollen left such a beautiful country. He did not live in a grand castle but rather on Lower Street. I am satisfied for now yet long to visit Lower Street in Curry Mallet home to my British origin.

My newfound, distant cousin tells me that the Dollens were “Good Country People.”

John Dollen and Emma Paul were children of John and Ann Dollen and born in 1830 and 1836 respectively.  I am pleased to introduce you to brother and sister, John Dollen and Emma Paul nee Dollen.

Ladies first! Emma Paul nee Dollen & John Paul (husband)

John Dollen, son of John Dollen and Ann House.

Thank you to Sharon Mitchell, owner of the Emma and John Paul photo.

Linda