Happy Birthday Lucy Elizabeth Parsons Pulsifer Granger

Feb 1, 1807 born in Newburyport, MA.
I posted some information about that town HERE.

Newbury when it was first settled.

I've briefly honored this interesting woman before, HERE. And her more famous brother, Joseph P. Pulsifer HERE, one of the founding fathers of Beaumont, Texas.

1820s woman, by Francesco Heyez, NOT Ms. Pulsifer!

She married George Tyler Granger, also from Newburyport, MA, Feb. 13, 1828.

GRANGER, George T. and Lucy E.Pulsifer, Feb. 13, 1828 * (*intentions also recorded)

 I mentioned Lucy's husband in another post HERE, following his life and probably hers along the trails that settlers to the new country in Texas followed.   The above link goes to the post which best describes the lives they led, since he was fortunately mentioned in various records that still exist.

Dwelling #338 has George (Lumber Dealer) and Lucy age 42, living with 4 children and 2 other women.

In 1850 they were on the census shown  above.

In 1854 they lived still in Newburyport, MA as shown by the City Directory:

Name:	George T Granger
Residence Year:	1854
Street address:	16 Boardman
Residence Place:	Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA
Publication Title:	Newburyport, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1854

	More on her life, including a letter to her from her daughter in 1860...tomorrow!

I share this post with Sepia Saturday.  I've missed a couple of weeks, because I just don't have photos on the topics which have been coming along...but I'm always interested to go look at what others have come up with...HERE!






Don't miss my continuing saga about Galveston history...chapter 1 was yesterday.

Galveston 1871

Galveston History - part 1

I want to share a bit of background on this city, where my paternal roots were planted for many years.

The Swaseys, the Grangers, the Phillips, the Gainers, and the Rogers came to that city when it was a booming attraction on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

Geographically, "the city of Galveston is on Galveston Island two miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, at 29°18' north latitude and 94°47' west longitude, in Galveston County. It is fifty miles from Houston . On its eastern end where the city stands, the currents of Galveston Bay maintain a natural harbor which historically provided the best port site between New Orleans and Veracruz. 

Texas History Online tells us: "Karankawa Indians used the island for hunting and fishing, and it was the probable location of the shipwreck landing of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1528. José de Evia, who charted the Texas coast in 1785, named Galveston Bay in honor of Bernardo de Gálvez, the viceroy of Mexico. Later mapmakers applied the name Galveston to the island.

Wikipedia continues the history thus:

The first permanent European settlements on the island were constructed around 1816 by the pirate Louis-Michel Aury as a base of operations to support Mexico's rebellion against Spain. In 1817, Aury returned from an unsuccessful raid against Spain [for Mexican independence] to find the island occupied by the pirate Jean Lafitte, who took up residence there after having been driven from his stronghold in Barataria Bay off the coast of New Orleans, Louisiana. Lafitte organized the island's settlement into a pirate "kingdom" he called "Campeche", anointing himself the "head of government." Lafitte remained at Campeche until 1821 when he and his raiders were given an ultimatum by the United States Navy: leave or be destroyed. Lafitte burned his settlement to the ground and sailed under cover of night for parts unknown.

[Remember Texas belonged to Mexico until 1836.]

Following its successful revolution from Spain, the Congress of Mexico issued a proclamation on October 17, 1825, establishing the Port of Galveston, and in 1830 erected a customs house. During the Texas Revolution, Galveston served as the main port for the Texas Navy. Galveston also served as the capital of the Republic of Texas when in 1836 interim president David G. Burnet relocated his government there. In 1836, Michel Branamour Menard, a native of Canada, along with several associates purchased 4,605 acres (18.64 km²) of land for $50,000 from the Austin Colony to found the town that would become the modern city of Galveston. Menard and his associates began selling plots on April 20, 1838. In 1839, the City of Galveston adopted a charter and was incorporated by the Congress of the Republic of Texas^.

During the mid-19th century, Galveston emerged as an international city with immigration and trade from around the U.S. and the world. The city became one of the nation's busiest ports and the world's leading port for cotton exports. Galveston became Texas' largest city and, during that era, was its prime commercial center.

 ^{Wikipedia lists:}

  During this golden era of Galveston's history, the city was home to a number of state firsts that include the first post office (1836), the first naval base (1836), the first Texas chapter of a Masonic order (1840); the first cotton compress (1842), the first parochial school (Ursuline Academy) (1847), the first insurance company (1854), the first gas lights (1856), first Roman Catholic hospital (St. Mary's Hospital) (1866), first Jewish Reform Congregation (Congregation B'nai Israel) (1868), the first opera house (1870), the first orphanage (1876), the first telephone (1878), the first electric lights (1883), the first medical college (now the University of Texas Medical Branch) (1891), and the first school for nurses (1890).

Honoring my ancestor Lucy Pulsifer Granger for the next two days...then I'll return to more Galveston information.

Home movies/transformed again

My dad started taking home movies in the 40s, with a spring wound Keystone projector.  It took 16 mm rolls of film, but when the roll was finished you'd take it out and insert it again and run it through the camera again, getting two 8-mm runs.  Always doing the switch in a closet so the film didn't get exposed, of course.

We had mainly black and white photos, but there are some surprising ones in color.

My dear son, Russ, took the originals and had Walmart's genius people put them into a DVD and then showed them to all my offspring at my 70th birthday.  It was probably pretty boring, especially with the strange sound background the Walmart guys had added.

So last night I pulled out the video, which hadn't been of any interest for years, and decided it would be nice to transform it into some stills so I could share them (and archive them) here.

Ever try to take pictures of a TV show?  Right...the black bar of death crossed most of the attempts, even when the shot was paused.

No, I didn't want to copy into a video format either.  I may try that sometime, but not yet.

Anyway, out of my attempts, and from the first 12 clips, I did get some good shots, though the originals were a bit fuzzy.  I don't know if this was original resolution, or not having a good TV screen.  And I've since reduced the resolution so I can post them here easily.  Ever notice how long it takes to post 2m photos here?

So I'll give you first a series of clips of my grandparents.

 Ada Swasey Rogers and my grandfather George Elmore Rogers, taken in about 1945.  She was around 59 and he was 68 at that time.

Location is their home in Houston, Texas, which they might have just moved to, as 3 years previously (when I was born) they had lived in San Antonio, TX. 

My parents and myself were visiting from Dallas, TX.

Their sons Chauncey and George (my father) were having a good time playing with various cameras, and included catching each other telling stories.  Since the camera wound down after about a minute, they were short stories!  More next time!

61 degrees F on Jan 20th

Holy Cow.  What happened to winter?
OK, I keep posting this amazement that this winter is not behaving properly.

But having just tossed out a bunch of old pottery, and washed out a bunch of trashbaskets with the hose outside...I think my body, as well as the rest of the earth around me, is responding to spring.

This is it.  We'll look back in a few years and say, that was the beginning of the big changes of global warming.  Remember the last snow?  The LAST snow?  It might just have been that.

Well, no doomsayer me.  I just feel like time has run out for the life of our civilization.  And there's no turning back.  Guess that does sound a bit doomish, doesn't it?

So we'll slide slowly into decline.  Remember the "rise and fall of the Roman Empire?"  I don't really.  I think it was pretty military.  I wonder if our "rise and fall" will be considered ecologically.  Probably not.  History tends to be written around military feats.  Maybe not this time.

OK, prove me wrong, Gaia, oh goddess of the earth.  Or Atlas who might shrug us off his shoulders.  It's fine by me.  But I think cycles will continue, and probably humankind...and another civilization will probably stuggle and replace ours.  It's what history has shown many times.  If we have any chance because of all our huge errors of judgement, that is.

From the mudane to spiritual

I get a thought for the day over in my email in box every day from Word for the Day. org.
Today's made me think of how I use spiritual to mean sublime, a word that isn't in use much these days.
But an author who is oft quoted (didn't you like that Old English useage?) said today...

To bring the sublime into the mundane is the greatest challenge there is.

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
Alchemical Wisdom

And I realized I do mundane tasks in order to have a spiritual experience.  Today I'll be running the sound system for a guest speaker at my church.

It takes a lot of effort of many members of the little community to bring us together each Sunday morning for that hour of inspiration/thoughtfulness/whatever.

But to turn the urge around and take the sublime out into the world with me, to live what I believe, is the challenge, as Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan wrote so many years ago.

Old Photos

Sepia Saturday
this week invites us to submit old photos of trials, lawyers, and/or writing on photos.

I don't have the first 2, but have the last in abundance.  And sometimes the writing was applied many years later than the event, so is sometimes wrong at to people's names, misleading, or dated incorrectly.  I'm glad when there's a question admitted.  Unfortunately sometimes the answers are still wrong.  But it does show the appreciation of having some names given to old pictures, which came about at the times they were passed from one hand to another, most often.

And that hand off is strangely never documented.

A batch of letters/ perhaps a box.  Another box of photos.  And later an album of photos. They would have been given to interested relatives usually at the death of the collector.  The interested relative might have been the one most friendly to the elder who died, or perhaps just the first one on the scene who wanted those documents.  Maybe several others were also interested, so it would be part of that conversation..of whom is this a photo?  Some of the owners would have no more interest than to be possessors of something that someone else might want.  Seldom were these memorabilia mentioned in a will.

Thus through the generations would old items be passed, until sometime they would go to an auction, a library, or a trash bin, or perhaps be scanned for adding to listings on the ancestry site.

My great great Uncle Chauncey Sweet's friend and benefactor, Henry Rosenberg of Galveston, was the subject of my blog a while ago.  Both of them are characters of high regard.  Look here if you have a chance.

This photo has a dedication from Mr. Rosenberg to Chauncey G. Sweet.

His wife, Mollie, also dedicated a photo to Chauncey, a bit more intimate I'd say...

Here's one where the surviving owner of the photo changed her mind about who this lovely lady might be.  She is Ada Pulsifer Phillips Sweet, Chauncey Sweet's wife.  She was called Auntie, and was also Chauncey's first cousin with whom he was raised after she had been orphaned following the Civil War.  She was the younger sister of my grandmother's mother, Zulieka Granger Phillips Swasey.

 A photo of (Mrs. Alexander John) Zulieka Swasey.  It's easy to see how my grandmother got confused in the photo of Ada Sweet in comparing it to this one of Ada's sister, Zulieka.

A 1917 postcard of Zulieka Phillips Swasey with her granddaughter Ada Mary Rogers (1917-1919)  As shown, she was known as Dear Nan by her daughter's (my grandmother's) family.

My grandmother's father, Alexander John Swasey.

I remember when I first got married in 1963 having long talks with my elder relatives about our family history, and my grandmother never mentioned these photos.  Did one of my older cousins, or one of my uncles (brothers of my father) have them? It is possible they were in the collection of her sister, Stella Zulieka Swasey Winslow, who died in 1960, (the same year as my grandfather, George Rogers). There are many possibilities. And at some time someone added these photos to our Ancestry DOT com pages, which is the first place I ever saw them.

I am so blessed to live in an age when digital means are available to share these old photos.

A professional woman

(Second edition with some typos corrected at 10 am)

Don't think the worst of her when you see the title...women who make their living on their own are all professionals, and what that profession might be is often not the oldest profession women are known for.  She made and sold hair tonic and dyes.

I just wrote my oldest sons that I'd found their grandmother's great grandmother.  First you might be interested to know that I'm looking among my ex-husband's ancestors.  And second, I remembered just a vague comment his mother made that her father had changed his name when he went on the stage, from Schultz to Hillyer.  It was legal, because his mother had that name until she married.

So I was glad to see that Ancestry already had a nice tree started for their family.  I mentioned a while back that they could trace their ancestors to those who stepped ashore from the Mayflower.  My exhusband's brother had written a couple of sentences also about the name changing grandfather, so that corroborated my memory.

But this chase was much more recent than Mayflower times, going back about to the mid nineteenth century.  People who were born around the time of the Civil War.

I only knew that the grandfather who changed his name was born in 1878 in KY, then tried Vaudeville for a while in NY, and finally married and settled into farming the rest of his life in Michigan.  Lewis (Louis) Selwyn Schultz Hillyer born in Oct 1878 in KY.

So I tried looking for any records of his 2 surnames, Schultz, and Hillyer.  The Selwyn might have been another addition, though some records do give him an initial S.  But it could have stood for Schultz as well.

And bingo bango...I got lucky.  I did find a few dead-end paths however along the way.  One woman might have been his mother, except she had another child the year he had been born, as well as others on both other years before and after.

After a few hours I got lucky and found his actual birth record in Bellevue, Campbell County, KY.  He's the 5th child listed below, born Dec 8.

And there were his mother and father's names, as well as where they had been born.  Here his mother's name had a given name for the first time - Maggie.  Her maiden name was mispelled Hillyser.  And she was born in Cincinnati, OH, right across the river from Bellvue KY.  Father was Louis Schultz Sr.

I won't go into the rest of the information I found about his early life, but it's now available for the family over on Ancestry.  I found he did live in New York in a census of 1905, and gave his name as Hillyer, as well as his occupation as Professional, while living as a lodger as most single persons did in NY.

Since I now had Louis' mother's name, I did a search and started finding more about her.  I did find she was probably born in Oct. 1852, lived most of her adult life in Bellevue, KY, and she died around age 51. And eventually I found her own mother Mrs. C. C. Hillyer.  Catharine C. Hillyer was probably born in 1830 in New York state.  There are at least 2 other Catharine C. Hillyers (Hiller) that aren't the same woman who lived in Cincinnati.

I believe that a woman who had one (or maybe 2) daughters to raise alone in the mid 1800s was quite clever to sell hair tonic. She is listed annually in the city directory from 1862-1875.  I couldn't find out more about Mrs. Hillyer at this time...though I think some of the census records for Cincinnati were not quite accurate...or perhaps they were given misinformation for some reason or another.  The census of 1860 is the earliest I could locate, and Cincinnati was immersed in the abolitionists movement.

I am glad to finally have the correct names and birth places for these ancestors of my children.

Shhh, Introvert hibernating!

Retired. So it's me a few pounds heavier, and about 8 years ago...never knowing what was in my future at that point.  At that time I was still just recuperating from thinking about how to please others all the time...which was my job.  An Activity Director for the last 7 years of my career, starting with Assisted Living facilities, then finally for an Independent Living Senior Apartment tower with over 200 units.

I could do the job, and I loved some of it.

But I'm naturally an introvert, and would spend most weekends in bed, as well as come home from work exhausted.  Someone hinted to me this last week that there's a need to train Activity Directors so all seniors receive good quality of life.  Not me, I'm not at all eager to return to work.  I'm having enough trouble just taking care of myself and the cats, and now my health, and sometimes making something or another in clay.  Right now that's on the back burner...waaay back.

I'm pretty sure people think of me as a self-centered somewhat bitchy person when I'm around a group of people.  Not true, but I just don't want to "put myself forward," as extroverts naturally do.

So even blogging is sometimes difficult, so please be patient with my need to hibernate these days!

Furry face

Oh my...how could I find anyone in my photo files who links to this poor person?



Well, here's a nice photo of someone with a lot of hair on her face, sniffing a red flower...maybe a connection?



Quite honestly, I've never noticed a scent from an Amaryllis... have you?
(NOTE: I can't locate the original of my son's cat sniffing the amaryllis...and several people have said the copied photo didn't make it.  Sorry about that, you'll have to imagine it, I guess)

Snow Leopard look for middle son.

My middle son with whiskers on his chin, and even mustache, but the fur is all synthetic as he plays with his daughter's sleeping bag.  I do usually see him on his vacations, during which times he likes to go unshaven...so he has a bit of furry face most of the times I see him.  When I mentioned this to him, he seemed a bit surprised.

All my sons now have whiskered looks (until middle one returns to work probably.)

The Viking look selfie on number one son.  He seems happy with the effect!

Youngest son, taken 7 years ago.  Not sure what his chin is sporting these days

And my favorite furry faced friends who live with me, must match this meme, of course.

Panther is pretty intelligent, and used to live outside before my friend befriended her and Panther moved in with her and eventually Panter moved in with me!.

.

Muffin has been steadily losing weight, at 17, but has a pretty good appetite these days.  

I hope you have seen some more interesting posts over at Sepia Saturday this week!

Allergies

Well, I've finally been thoroughly tested, you know, with the little pin pricks all over your back and upper arm...and I have allergies.

Not the ones I assumed...thank heavens.  Not to cats, but a bit to dogs.  That's fine with me, cause I get along best with felines.

And instead of ragweed, just some assorted weeds...so I can still expect the allergic reactions during pollen seasons...all but the freezing months around here, perhaps November through March.
I'm also allergic to dust mites, which of course live in our bedding and upholstered furniture and carpets.  So it was suggested I encase my mattress and pillows in sleeves that keep the mites from getting on me.  When I saw the prices I decided I could purchase new pillows more frequently.
And sleep on different beds perhaps.  No way I was going to put my mattress inside a 2.3 micron covering.  It was much easier to move into another room, and another bed.  And that's the room which is easiest to heat anyway.

Well, it might have been easy, but it did wear me out...and setting up all my bedside goodies.
Did I mention that I'm also allergic to different kinds of mold?  The doctor didn't tell me which ones, when I asked...about 3 out of 5 tested.  I'm pretty sure the algae in my fish tanks will be contributing.  I've been needing an excuse to sell the big aquarium.

However he did recommend that I go through a series of innoculations...where my specific allergies are mixed up in a cocktail and I get shots of them twice a week.  For about 4 months.  And then I can go only every other week, perhaps for 2 years.  My first question was, does this cost anything?  Dr. said my Medicare would cover it.  I can't have physical therapy for my shoulder, but I can have all these shots!  Silly system.

I will be slowly building up immunities to the things I'm allergic to, which means the cocktail will be changed through time.  I like this idea.

I don't like the idea of going to his office so often.  But I've been needing a reason to get more familiar with Asheville.

I have lots of other things going on as well.  Preparing for the deep freeze which will arrive tomorrow sometime.  I will check my little old (literally 18 years old) Toy Yoda...make sure his fluids are adequate for 8 degrees.

But changes are happening for all of us.  May the changes in your life be ones that may be managed, or at least be reasonably comfortable for you!

On Newbury MA and Newburyport MA

This is information about an area where my ancestors, as well as those for my husband's family settled and raised their families.  My ancestors were among the ship builders, as well as hat makers, and I've even heard were tanners.

Below are some other trades that were pursued in early Massachusetts. (Info from Newbury MA and Essex County MA web site)

The settlers of Newbury were much like those of much of what is now northern Essex county. They were not religious enthusiasts or pilgrims who fled from religious persecution in England. They were substantial, law abiding, loyal English tradesmen, of that staunch middle class that was the backbone of England.

Those that settled Newbury came at different times and on different ships, between the end of April, 1634 and July, 1635. In one of the first ships arriving in 1635, came Thomas Parker a minister along with a small company of settlers. They went first to Agawam (Ipswich) and later along with their countrymen, who came from Wiltshire, England, to Newbury.

On May 6, 1635, before the settlers had moved from Ipswich to Newbury, the House of Deputies passed a resolution that Quascacunquen was to be established as a plantation and its name was to be changed to Newbury. So Newbury was named before the first settlers arrived, interestingly Thomas Parker had taught school in Newbury, Berkshire, England before coming to America.

The first settlers came by water from Ipswich, through Plum Island Sound, and up the Quascacunquen River, which was later renamed the Parker River. There had been a few fisherman occupying the banks of the Merrimack and Parker rivers before this, but they were not permanent settlers. These settlers came to Newbury in May or June of 1635. Ships from England began to arrive almost immediately with cattle and more settlers. Governor Winthrop, in his history of New England under the date of June 3, 1635, records the arrival of two ships with Dutch cattle along with the ship "James", from Southampton bringing more settlers.

Newbury was, therefore, begun as a stock raising enterprise and the settlers came to engage in that business and to establish homes for themselves. In total fifteen ships came in June and one each in August, November and December bringing still more families to the settlement.

 

There is no record of how many families arrived in the first year. Houses were erected on both sides of the Parker River. The principal settlement was around the meeting house on the lower green. The first church in Newbury could not have been formed before June, as some of those recorded at its formation are not recorded as having arrived until June.

In the division of land the first settlers recognized the scripture rule, "to him that hath shall be given," and the wealth of each grantee can be estimated by the number of acres given him.

The reason for establishing Newbury, as stated above, was not in fleeing from religious persecution but to utilize vacant lands and to establish a profitable business for the members of a stock-raising company.

When they arrived in Massachusetts, the settlers found that the state had established the Congregational form of religion. Everyone was taxed to support the Congregational Society and was commanded to attend worship at the meeting house. The Reverend Thomas Parker was a member of the stock raising company and was also the minister of the settlers.

The outlying settlers had a long journey to the meeting house. The congregations were in danger of attacks from Indians and wild beasts on their way to and from worship. There was a constant dread of attack during the time of services and all able bodied inhabitants were required to bring their weapons to church. Sentinels were posted at the doors.

In spite of the hardship and danger, the population steadily increased in number and gradually improved its worldly condition. Being cramped for room, the settlers moved up to the upper or training green. This was in order to get tillable land and engage in commercial pursuits. This movement began in 1642. Each had been allotted half an acre for a building lot on the lower green, on the upper green each was to have four acres for a house lot. Also on the upper green a new pond was artificially formed for watering cattle.

The new town gradually extended along the Merrimack River to the mouth of the Artichoke River. It appears that all desirable land in this region was apportioned among the freeholders by October 1646. The land beyond was ordered to lie perpetually common. This tract of common land was a part of Newbury and what is now West Newbury. The Indian threat had disappeared as most of the Indians in the region had been exterminated by an epidemic. The first record of an Indian living in Newbury is in January 1644, when a lot was granted to "John Indian."

Over the following years some notable, though not earth shaking events occurred in Newbury.

In 1639, Edward Rawson began the manufacture of gun powder in what was probably America's first powder mill.

Newbury had a trial for witchcraft thirteen years before the trials in Salem. In 1679, Elizabeth Morse was accused. She was condemned three times to die, but was reprieved and spent her last years in her home, at what is now Market square in Newburyport.

The first American born silversmith was Jeremiah Dummer of Newbury who apprenticed to John Hull, an Englishman. He practiced his trade in what is now Newburyport. Jeremiah was the father of Governor William Dummer the founder of Gov. Dummer Academy. Jeremiah's brother-in-law, John Coney, engraved the plates for the first paper money made in America.

In 1686, when the upper Commons (West Newbury) were divided among the freeholders of the town of Newbury, Pipestave Hill was covered with a dense forest of oak and birch. These trees were cut and used to make staves for wine casks and molasses hogsheads. For many years, this industry, the first of its kind in America, flourished and the place is still called Pipestave Hill.

Limestone was discovered in Newbury in 1697. Previous to this all the lime used for building was obtained from oyster and clam shells. Mortar made from this lime was very durable and came, in time, to be almost as hard as granite. This business prospered for many years until a superior quality of lime was discovered elsewhere.

The first toll bridge and shipyard in America were also in Newbury. The latter giving rise to the ship building industry which was to determine the prosperity of Newburyport in the coming centuries.

In West Newbury, in 1759, Enoch Noyes began making horn buttons and coarse combs of various kinds. This was the beginning of the comb making business in Newbury and other places. This business continued and grew, moving to Newburyport in its later years, closing in 1934.

Lt. Gov. William Dummer, in his will of 1761 directing that a school house be erected on the most convenient part of his farm. In 1762, the first schoolhouse was erected, a low one story building about twenty feet square commencing its sessions in 1763, this is the oldest boarding school in America.

In 1764, that part of Newbury which had become the commercial center was divided off and made Newburyport. This action relegated Newbury to a rural and fishing community.

In 1784, the first incorporated woolen factory in Massachusetts was erected at the falls of the Parker River in Newbury.

In 1851, still another section of Newbury was added to what is now the city of Newburyport. The area known as "Joppa", was the area from Bromfield Street, along the shore to Plumb Island.

Today Newbury is a quiet New England town, rich in heritage, the birthplace of many things American, not the least of which is an abiding reverence for our past.

Newbury Main Page

I'm submitting this (late this week) to Sepia Saturday.  It's also a way for me to add this information to my own archives.  Unfortunately my interest this week didn't come close to the humorous topic that was triggered by the following photo.

I apologize to the Sepia Saturday folks who do have some enjoyable photos to share.  Perhaps next week I can find something in my many files that is appropriate...

The pioneer spirit

Crab Orchard, KY was near the end of the Logan Trace of the Wilderness Road and was an early pioneer station. There are several mineral springs in the area and from 1827 until 1922 taverns and hotels were located at Crab Orchard Springs
Richard Frederick Williams was born in Crab Orchard in 1782.

Wilderness?
The Wilderness Road was the principal route used by settlers for more than fifty years to reach Kentucky from the East. In 1775, Daniel Boone "blazed" a trail for the Transylvania Company from Fort Chiswell in Virginia through the Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. It was later lengthened, following Native American trails, to reach the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville. The Wilderness Road was steep, rough, narrow, and it could only be traversed on foot or horseback. Despite the adverse conditions, thousands of people used it.

In 1792, the new Kentucky legislature provided money to upgrade the road. In 1796, an improved all-weather road was opened for wagon and carriage travel. The road was abandoned around 1840, although modern highways follow much of its route.

The Logan Trace was a wilderness trail through central Kentucky, a branch of Daniel Boone's Wilderness Road. It was named after its originator, Colonel Benjamin Logan. Logan came over the mountains with Boone in 1775, but went west toward Buffalo Spring instead of north. Its terminus was northwest of present-day Stanford, Kentucky, where Logan built a fort known as Logan's Station or St. Asaph. Stanford eventually emerged from Logan's original settlement.

Richard's son William T. Williams was born Dec. 16, 1824.  (I posted here last year a bit about his life)

William moved to Missouri probably in 1832 and with various siblings, and uncles and aunts settled there, and began farming.  William T. Williams at 38 joined the US army for part of the Civil War, and then moved much of his family to Texas by 1877, when his daughter Annie Elizabeth (born in 1862) married Leary (or Leroy) Francis Webb, my great grandfather. 

These people kept on moving, and I keep feeling amazed at their spirit of exploration.  Texas was pretty wild still in the 1870s, though the Wild West was still to become glamorized in fictionalized paper back books. 

The Webbs had been in Texas for a while, since Leary was born (1857) in Clinton County, to parents from Maryland and New York.  He married and settled in DeWitt County Texas, where they raised their 8 children (losing one as a child).  The family prospered by running a feed and general store.

But by 1910 the family was living in the metropolis of San Antonio.  Here was a city environment, where L.F. lived out his years, dying in 1921.  His wife Annie lived until 1942.  But my grandfather died young, Bud Webb was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in 1919.

I can only explain my desire to move about the country as the same urge that probably spurred these ancestors to travel to new horizons.  But it sure is a lot easier for me to do so than it was for them.

From Mayflower to today

OK, here is the scoop.  You've probably heard the rumors that someone in your ancestry came on the Mayflower from England, so you are special.

Well, almost everyone came from somewhere else, unless you're Native American, so you're not particularly special, except maybe the Mayflower means something to you that it doesn't mean to me.

In Ancestry, under the title Brief Life of William Reed (b. bef 1650-d. 1705/06) is this information:

  "2.  WILLIAM REED (William1) was born probably before 1650; died at Weymouth between 26 Oct. 1705, and 12 Sept. 1706.  He married, in 1675, Esther Tomson, Daugher of Lieut. John and Mary (Cooke) Tomson of Middleborough.  Her maternal grandfather was Francis Cooke of the Mayflower.  (The Mayflower Descendant, 4:22).  She also died at Weymouth between 26 Oct. 1705, when she was appointed executrix of her husband's will, and 12 Sept. 1706.  He resided on Pleasant Street in the South Parish.  A part of his ancient house was occupied by Palmer Louid in 1888.  He made his well (sic) 26 Oct. 1705, and it was probated 12 Sept. 1706.  To his wife Hester Read he gave the use of his dwelling house and lands for life.  To eldest son William Read the new double house and land adjoining.  To son John Reed his homestead.  To son Jacob Reed land "in ragged plaine."  To his daughters Bashna Porter, Mercy Whitmarsh, Mary and Reed, Hester Reade, and Sarah Reade each L20.  Sons William, John and Jacob Reed, the remainder, Jacob to his youngest daughter, Sarah Reed, the L20.  His friends Edward Bates, Sr., and James Humphrey, both of Weymouth, overseers.   Witnesses Edward Bates, Sr., John Bates, Jr., and Samuel Bates, Jr

1.) Francis Cooke of Mayflower passage to America, apparently numbered (The Mayflower Descendant, 4:22).
2) his daughter Mary Cook Tomson married Lieut. John Tomson of Middleborough, MA
3) their dtr. Esther Tomson Read (1652-1705) married (1675) William Read (1639-1705)
4) their dtr. Mary Read Allen (1677-1759) m. (1707) Josiah Allen (1677-1736)
5) their son Micah Allen (1708-1744) m. (1736) Hannah Edson (1720-1768)
6) their son Dr. Micah Allen Jr (1740-1823) m. (1764) Catherine Everett (1743-1824)
7) their son Micah Allen III (1769-1858) m. (1800) Anna Fuller (1776-1842)
8) their son Micah Bigsbee Allen (1816-1882) m. (1838) Mary Ann Pearce (1816-1896)
9) their dtr. Mary Ann Elizabeth Allen Heym (1841-1930) m (1866) Francis Oscar Heym (1839-1887)
10) their son Francis (Frank) Richard Adolf Heym (1867-1928) m. (1891) Fannie Helena Martin Heym (1870-1926)
11) their son Norman Francis Heym (1904-1974) m. (around 1934) Mary Edtha Hillyer Heym (1908-1971)
12) their son Douglas Martin Heym (1939-living) m (1963) Barbara Booth Rogers Heym (1942-living)
13) their sons Roger Martin Heym (1964-living) and Russell Douglas Heym (1967-living) have children...who would be
14) generations after the Mayflower.

Each of these ancestors lived a full life, going to their respective works and homemaking, having babies, burying their grandparents and parents, and rocking their own grandchildren.  To put a couple of dates in parentheses after their names makes me cringe, because there was so much that happened for that person during their life...and the dates are so simplified.  Soon there will just be a couple of dates after my name, and I wonder if these blogs will disappear.  Perhaps.  I wasn't on this particular tree until fairly lately, but am quite proud that my grandchildren can say they are the 14th generation after someone on the Mayflower, if they so choose.

Back in college?

Dream as the new year arrives...
I share a room with 2 other women in a dorm.  (Note, I only tried rooming with others in college for a few months, didn't work out.)
We have a big area with 3 desks and 3 beds, and some shelving.  My shelves have pottery on them.  There's also a stool with a potted philodendron sitting on it.  All the walls are bright white.  We are really crowded together.
I decide we must be ready for a fire drill (who knows why!) and convince my invisible roommates that we can do our own fire drill before everyone else, and then be prepared. (Must be the girl scout coming out in me!)
So they say, "when it's warm enough outside we'll do it."
And then we do, carrying a few of our precious possessions outside as if there really were a fire about to eat everything else.

I awake having been shoo-ing off the cats for the last half hour...one of whom has found sitting on my shoulder is the best way to get my attention. 

Meaning of dream?  I know many changes are coming, and that I need preparation for this year.  My conscious self has been thinking along these lines.  I do wonder who these other 2 women might be who are influencing me (beyond cat disturbances).  I think I will look in meditation for guides...whether angels or ancestors.  I sure could use the help!