Why Do I Blog ?

First off -- WOW!! I have followers! With so many great blogs out there, it is nice to think some would take the time to read yours. I started because I enjoyed my daughter's blog so much, I thought what a great way to share with the family our history. As I've said before genealogy is much more than lists of names, it's finding things or stories to reveal something of their life. I follow quite a few blogs using Google Reader and now I've added "The Blogs I Follow" to my blog . I find that they work in conjunction with each other.
I had always thought I should write about my growing up, so my daughters and my grandchildren would know something of me, my mom and dad and their parents too. The experiences that we had were so much different than theirs. Listening to the radio before we got that television in the early 50's.
Having the ice man lug in a big chunk for the ice box in the late 40's. Using the "candle stick" phone of a neighbor until we moved to the country and got on a 4 party line. Our job experiences were a lot different than the kids have today. In high school, jobs were limited to all types of farms in our community, dairy, chicken, turkey and tobacco. Oh, and one crazy job hanging stage curtains in schools all over Ct and Mass. My mom when she was younger along with her sister and parents worked in thread and cloth mills. Those big granite or brick buildings stand empty or converted to condos or hold a variety of small business. I guess what I'm trying to say is our world is constantly changing, what I've experienced is not what my grandchildren will experience nor is it like our ancestors life time. There's a lot of stories hidden in these lines that I need to share, I hope the kids find it interesting.

P.S. One tidbit I picked up on "Facebook Bootcamp for Genea-Blogers"
is to export your blog. I backup mine to my computer and a backup drive.
Maybe I''ll cut and paste some of this stuff into a little booklet, that would be neat. And who knows maybe someday I'll really come out of my shell and join Facebook ;-)

Does 3rd Cousin 4 Times Removed Count?

My GG Grandmother was a third cousin to Abe Lincoln, which would make them Great Great Grandchildren of the same Lincoln back in the early 1700's.
Try to keep that straight in your head. I'm not 100% sure yet but I think my 5th great grandfather (Lincoln) was born in Massachusetts in around 1778.
Its a challenge to get focused on any family for the branches are many. I hope to get back to the Lincoln's soon. Interestedly at the time of 1850 census the town of Washington was in Lincoln County, Maine. Other towns in the neighborhood were Liberty, Freedom and Unity if that isn't a patriotic area I don't know what is. Branches of our tree lived in them all.
I found the "Vital Records of Washington Maine" compiled by Marlene A. Groves at the Godfrey Library in Middletown Ct.. In it Sarah E. Lincoln is married on March 9,1850. What is interesting and what makes makes genealogy so difficult is what you may find in a census. In the Washington Me. 1850 census Sarah E.(18) is listed as a daughter of James Lincoln and 9 days later we have our Sarah E.(19) listed with her husband Almond Newhall. It is easy to go off on a wrong tangent. Unfortunately neither birth was recorded.
P.S. I read another blog today with tips on researching genealogy and he talked about who might have given the info to a census taker and whether
they understood the questions. It makes me wonder if the two Sarah E.'s were the same person. If question about the families children was understood as "who are your children" and not as "the names of the children living in the house".

I Wish You Could Speak

I'm re posting this picture to enter it into the "Smile for the Camera" Blog Carnival. My hope is that others can offer comments on any clues contained in the photograph. As I said in my previous post that it has intrigued me for years.
It was with my grandmothers album, and I suspect that it may be from her family in New Brunswick Canada. My uneducated guess is that it was taken around 1900. The women's clothes could help date it, as well as the frame.
I think the older woman on the left interesting as it looks as she intended not to look at the camera. She may even be an Native American. If from Dalhousie,New Brunswick the family name would be Balfour, but as of yet I haven't located any records to match my grand mothers birth in 1882.
Even without names the picture will remain a wonderful image of our past.

The People In The Box

THE PEOPLE IN THE BOX
The poem which I will post below, really struck me. I know it is one of the reasons that I created this blog, and why I try to fill in some of the details of their lives. At some point, I hope to have enough notes in my Genealogy files to make reading a little more interesting. I recently found 5
tiny pictures in very old frames from around the mid 1800's. It's a Barnes family but only 3 of the children are labeled, and I haven't found how they are related yet. They need to get out of the box, they were saved for a least 150 years and should be remembered. I'm gonna bet here that they are cousins from up on Barnes Hill Rd in Burlington. After the holidays, I'll contact a distant cousin who is a Burlington Historian. He gave a lot of bits and pieces last March.
I've posted above a picture from the Larrabee/Balfour box that has intrigued me for years. I think it may be a picture of my Nana Larrabee's side of the family. The Balfours shall be the BRICK WALL of our family tree!! I have the oral history leads, but not a bit of written evidence. I also can't find any record of Lillian and Lester's marriage yet. I did get a little further back last week when I found that my Uncle Galen and Uncle Lester Putnam were born in Boston Ma. My Uncle Lester must not have liked his name because I only knew him as Uncle Frank. I need to get him out my box as only I know that's him standing by his milk wagon.
I was thinking now I may not be left in the box, I have both daughters deeply involved in scrap booking and I don't think I ended up as a scrap on the floor.
Enough here's the poem:

Strangers in the Box

Come look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I’ve often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still, serene.

I wish I knew the people
These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories
Are lost among my socks.

I wonder what their lives were like.
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times?
I’ll never know their ways.

If only someone had taken time
To tell who, what, where, when,
These faces of my heritage
Would come to life again.

Could this become the fate
Of pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories
Someday to be tossed away?

Make time to save your pictures,
Seize the opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours could be
The strangers in the box.

By Pam Harazim East Hampton, Conn.

And where did I find the poem, you might ask. Why, on the Google Group for Genealogy in the Azores of course! It's my latest find and the people there are quite helpful.

Muito Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo.

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PULL THE LAMP CHAIN

Maine, Indian Land and Witches

I know it's too late for Halloween, so whats with the witch you might ask.( You might also ask if I wander around the Internet just a little too much).

I came across this excerpt from a Maine history included in a Nathanial Hawthorn in Salem web site.

Maine, Indian Land Speculation, and the Essex County Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692

http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/ScholarsForum/MMD1705.html

I think Genealogy becomes much more interesting if we can put our early ancestors lives in the context of the times they lived in. This article covers many aspects of the early Larrabee families. Some facts of my research that fits with the story line:Home base was Lynn and Malden Ma.; members were killed in both the King Phillips and King Williams wars; were probably considered refugees mentioned returning to Lynn Ma.; bought land from the Indians only to purchase again when they returned or find it taken by others. As a side story our Stephen Larrabee's brother William was married to Elizabeth Felt. Williams father in law was George Felt who had land stolen from him and lost his fortune only to die a "ward" of the town of Lynn; I've seen no mention of religious affiliation so they may have been non-puritan protestants referred to by Increase Mather . Remember many genealogists feel the family were French Huguenots (French Protestants).

So take a look at the times they lived (WAR,intrigue,real estate bubbles,poverty and WITCHES), It makes the next 4 years look like a cake walk.

Post Script: I should also note that a branch of the Barnes Family (IVES) also lived in the Lynn area before moving to the New Haven Colony. And my sister in-law Ellie reports that some of her ancestors were involved with the Salem Witch Trials. Its a "small world" as they say but was especially small back then. They had all come to the Boston area (IE. Massachusetts Bay Company) before settling Hartford, New Haven and Maine. They would often travel in family groups having in common either the same pastor or the same village in England. Also after Cromwell defeated King Charles, the Puritans no longer came to the Americas as when they were under the reign of King Charles. So any increase in population was from the same gene pool until the mid 1800's when the next influx began.

DISNEY WORLD TRIP

Well we're back from Disney World and had a great time with the Conroy family. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We saw all sorts of animals living right off our balcony. We went to all the parks and ate at the great restaurants that Amy had picked out. Over at Hollywood Studios I was the only one to go on the House of Terror ride, even though the kids went on everything else. The kids saw a lot of Princesses who were all very gracious. Brody didn't miss a chance to pose with a princess, except the scantly clad Jasmine.

Of course the highlight of the trip according to the boys was when ATF went thru my carry on by 4 different guards and sending it thru the scanner 3 times.(I had left a small knife in it from a road trip. It had falling into a pen slot. Then of course I'm pulled out of line again on the way home for one large medicine bottle.

We also went over to Sea World and saw great shows and attractions.