any one else get fascinated by houses in the family??

[bobbieinok]

I first got interested in Fort Egypt, an early Strickler house in the Mennonite settlement of the Shenandoah Valley. (There's a Wikipedia entry; the house is on the National Register of Historic Places with drawings available on-line.)

Then I discovered my son and ex are descendants of John Fairbanks and Grace Shaw. Their house was the Fairbanks House, now a museum.

Then there's a Tilden house (belonged to a sibling of son's ancestor), the Red House (book by Messer) in the Hatch family of son's ancestors, the farm site of the Battle of New Market (Civil War) belonging to a Strickler descendant of one of my ancestors.........and then there's the Boone House in MO (many of my mother's ancestors went with the Boone family from KY to MO)

And then there are houses I remember from childhood, most of which were torn down for freeways and civic centers. I'm trying to get everyone who remembers these houses to draw floor plans and write out their 'house memories.'

[Quakerfriend]

1. Yes, I am! It's funny you should post this as I was just

looking into buying a book on ebay that contains some photos of homes that go way back in my family.

I have a funny story for you! First, I should preface this by saying that I am convinced that we are 'led' by family in the spirit world to find some of this stuff.:crazy:

Several months ago I could not sleep. So at 4am, in a bit of a stooper, I began randomly searching on ebay using various combinations of family names (most going back to the early 1800s). I came across a postcard of a windmill for sale. The card said, "Old Windmill on the property of ..... in Abington, PA. So, here I had found a picture of a windmill that was on the property of one of my great uncles homes. Prior to this I had had no idea where his home was. The address was one just 10 minutes from my house! Several days later I found (in an architectural book) a picture of the property - with house and windmill- when it was once a beautiful estate of over 200 acres.

So, my husband decided to drive over there to see if he could find the place on a whim.
Sure enough he found the old house standing behind the original stone gates. The old windmill had been torn down in the mid- 1940s but, the house was still there. The acreage surrounding the house had been sold off and built on.

Now I have to get up the nerve to knock on the door and ask for a grand tour!

And, btw, I just love your idea of house memories! Several years ago I found a box of my grandmother's photos and in the box was an envelope containing pictures of every house she had ever lived in. Each was labeled with the address and years in which she had lived in the house.

[bobbieinok]

2. "led by family in the spirit world"

My mom died 3-31-05; she was 92.

We had done some genealogy research together and had found some clues to her mother's family in MO. We were really stuck about her father's family; mom once said that from what her dad said about his family they probably all headed for the hills when the census people came. (I have not been able to find him in any census record after his birth in 1879.)

Mom was a great fan of the Horatio Hornblower books. The summer after her death (last summer) I finally found major break-through leads on both sides of her family. On her mom's side, there is a chance we're descended from the Hawkins of seafaring fame.

Mom was also fascinated by the Lewis and Clark expedition and read everything she could find about it. Last summer I discovered that a brother of her xgrandmother was Forrest Hancock, one of the trappers the L and C expedition encountered.

At first I was sad that I had found this info after her death. And then I began to wonder: she knows now and is letting me/us know???

[fudge stripe cookays]

4. I think all my Smiths that researched this line before me...

are having a party and dancing in the Great Beyond.

For as many branches as this family had, and as many modern members as we have, it's amazing that no one had done this before now.

But once the original 10 children of my my GGgrandparents left the environs around Smith Central in southern Wisconsin, they did not share much of the past with their kids and grandkids. Many of the modern cousins I've found have no idea where the family came from before their grandparents.

When I am able to show them photos of their great great grandparents, and tell them their names and that they were Pennsylvania Dutch, they are so excited and most can't wait to find out more.

I am so lucky. I'm a writer and a genealogist, I'm tech savvy, so know how to use the internet to dig up tiny little clues others might not have found, and I came from one of the branches that stayed relatively close to that area. Because of this, my uncle did a lot of research in the 1970s, and drew me a road map of ancestors. He made it SOOOO much easier than it might have been.

So when I looked through ancient census records trying to figure out if these were the RIGHT Smiths, I knew I was on the right track because I had wives' first names, and childrens' names as well.

If I do nothing else REALLY important in my life, I will know that I have left this legacy for future generations. I'm convinced that when I cross over, it will be a joyous reunion with those I've been researching and cherishing these last few years. Especially those whose names had not been uttered in years. They have been given a voice again.

[Quakerfriend]

8. Oh, fudge I love what you wrote.

I, too, believe that 'they' celebrate your work. Eight years ago I was very sick with cancer. At that time I had quite a number of 'visitors'- All were family members that had long ago passed on.

Three years ago I was given a box of old family photos and papers. I carefully archived each photo digitally, along with family letters and poems etc. I was able to create a virtual history of each family member- going back to my great, great, great grandfather. Many in my family wrote music or books, and some were remotely famous artists. So, I was able to put this all on CD for my present day family. They just loved it!

Along the way I realized that those on the other side were leading me. I found my Uncle Walter's party invitation (which was written in prose) on the same day of the year that he had written it....I discovered a poem written by my great grandfather about how he loved to watch the sunset over the family plot on the day after we had discovered the family gravesite!... On and on it goes. I even had one of my great uncles smile at me from a photo! But, please, don't tell anyone! They'de think I was crazy!!

I am certain that 'they' are very happy about all of the time and hard work you have put into researching the family line!

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. Aw...thanks quakerfriend!

That's nice to read. And cheers me up!

I'm very sad right now, because I just found out one of the cousins I was going to call in Fort Worth died in early February, and I just found his obituary through a google search today.

I had such a lovely weekend, though. I went out to California to visit one of my internet cousins, and had an amazing time scanning and collecting her info. Her mother is a joy, and we had a fantastic dinner party while I was there. Her father was a prominent architect and Louis Sullivan restoration expert, and now we have a photo of him with Frank Lloyd Wright for my book! How cool is that??

I'm so glad you're better. Derfinitely sounds like your relatives are giving you signs to keep you enthusiastic. I don't think it sounds strange at all because I've felt them too! When I get depressed about everything that's going on in the world, and feel like "Why go on?" I can feel them pulling me on...making me continue, to at least get all this down first.

I've made my husband promise me that if anything happens to me that he'll get this thing published somehow! I got the first estimate on my book the other day. About $25,000 big ones for 1000 pages with 800 copies. About $34 a copy if I use the matte paper. Now THAT gives me something to aim for!

Congrats on all your hard work! :toast:

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. Yes indeed!

Part of the research I'm doing for my book is finding many of the houses where our ancestors lived and photographing them in their current state.

Some of the modern day families have older photos of the places, and I can put comparative pix in the book.

I've gotten the old addresses from the census records, and when I travel to whatever area the family lived, I buy a city map and make the rounds. It's very interesting for me-- almost like traveling backwards in time!

fsc

[Cooley Hurd]

5. I found my great-Grandfather's home in Newark, NJ...

...on a less-than-nice street (I'm sure it was nice in 1880, when he lived there):



Funny story - shortly after I photographed it in 2004, I was approached by a 'nice woman' asking if I wanted a 'date'...:blush:

[fudge stripe cookays]

7. A date, eh?

:rofl:

[Nikia]

6. I recently found a geneology page for my paternal grandmother's family

I was aware of some of the facts and photographs but looking at it really amazed me.
Looking at the photos and reading it makes me realize that they shouldn't have sold the old family farm.
My grandmothers family owned a farm and farm house in Michigan for over 160 years, from 1830 to the early 1990's. She lived there after her father died when she was little and was living there with her mother and brother, her uncle, her mother's parents, and her mother's mother. Her grandfather and great grandfather had been born on the farm and lived there their entire lives from birth. The last person to live there was her uncle who remained unmarried and childless his whole life. My grandmother and her brother inherited the property. Being in their sixties and not in the immediate area, neither of them wanted to retire there. Their children weren't really interested in moving there either. The oldest grandchildren were still in their teens. With regret, they sold it.
What is cool is that the family does have photos dated around 80 years apart in the same spot in front of the house. I was sitting in the same spot as a child as my great grandmother, being around the same age, was sitting. It is sort of weird to think about.

[Maine-ah]

10. yep

I traced my husband's male line and they are decendants of the Percey's from Northumberland. Their family home is called Alnwick. It's the castle that Harry Potter was filmed at. Pretty cool, we thought. Also, my husband is related to President Franklin Pierce (cousin)(unfortunatly so is Bab's Bush) and we just went and visited his home in Concord, New Hampshire this past winter, and plan to visit his home in Hillsborough this year.

http://www.alnwickcastle.com/

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. So your husband and I are (very) distant cousins.

(I'm also descended from the Percys, something like twenty generations back.)


Here's another castle that was held by the Percys (Warkworth Castle, also in Northumberland, which forms part of the setting for Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1)
http://www.gorzow.mm.pl/~bebelebe/Warkworth%20Castle,%20Northumberland,%20England.jpg

and here are a few places some of my other ancestors lived that I find rather fascinating:

Arundel Castle in Sussex (held by the Earls of Arundel since the eleventh century)



Raby Castle in County Durham (formerly the property of the Neville family, until Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland, lost his lands and titles by bill of attainder for his part in leading a revolt against Elizabeth I in favour of the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots...and, interestingly, the other prominent figure in the revolt was Thomas Percy, the 7th Earl of Northumberland, who was executed for treason).

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. Your husband would be descended from almost all of the

medieval English magnates then, and royals as well, going back to Charlemagne from whom the Percys descended through Gerberga of Lorraine, daughter of Charles, Duke of Lorraine, who was the son of Louis IV, King of France. She married Lambert I, Count of Louvaine; and for that matter, from Alfred the Great, and the Saxon kings and nobles.

Further down the tree, Agnes, daughter to William Lord Percy of Alnwick Percy married a descendant of Gerberga and Lambert I, called Joscelin, who took the name Percy. They had a son, Henry Lord Percy de Topcliffe, Earl of Northumberland of Alnwick.

You wouldn't believe the people your hubby is related to as a consanguine or affine, but look up the above names on this URL:
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~pmcbride/james/f010.htm#I740X1

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. Unfortunately, a good deal of that is rubbish...

so far as I'm aware there is no known traceable line of descent from the Merovingian kings (despite various claims in books like Holy Blood, Holy Grail). And nothing before St. Arnulf in the Carolingian line is considered accurate.

There are some interesting connections a few generations past Henry de Percy, son of Joscelin of Louvain and Agnes, too: his great-grandson, Henry, 1st Lord Percy of Alnwick, married Eleanor FitzAlan, who was daughter of the 8th Earl of Arundel and a descendant of King John, Sir William Marshal, 'Strongbow' de Clare (Earl of Pembroke), Llewellyn the Great, the counts of Savoy and the Dukes of Burgundy (among others).

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. Carolingian, I said, not Merovingian, which

predated Charlemagne and his Carolingian dynasty. The descent of the Percy's in that line is a matter of historical record, which to the best of my knowledge is not disputed. I made no mention of the Merovingians.

Re the 8th Earl of Arundel, that's interesting, as the second husband of the dowager queen, Adeliza (Henry I's widow, without issue by him), was William Albini, whom she created the first earl of Arundel, Bockenham and, I think, Lincoln.

"his great-grandson, Henry, 1st Lord Percy of Alnwick, married Eleanor FitzAlan, who was daughter of the 8th Earl of Arundel and a descendant of King John, Sir William Marshal, 'Strongbow' de Clare (Earl of Pembroke), Llewellyn the Great, the counts of Savoy and the Dukes of Burgundy (among others)."

You've barely scratched the surface. If a person is descended from one medieval magnate family, he's almost certain to be related to virtually all of them.

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. Yes, I know...

my comments were mainly regarding most of the lineage given on the site you linked connecting the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties (which was the first thing I saw there)

And I'm well aware that descent from one of the great magnates of the medieval period means likely relation to all of them (and in all probability, descent from almost all of them, especially if the descent is from the time of Edward I or a later king, considering the amount of intermarriage that took place between these families; Percy, Neville, Bohun, Stafford, Beauchamp, Beaumont, de Vere, de Quincy, Fiennes, Malet, Despenser, Boteler/Butler, FitzAlan, Grey, Greystoke, de Toeni, etc., are all in my direct line, so I know how extensive the interrelationships are).

[Joe Chi Minh]

16. Your awareness seems pretty patchy, doesn't it?

Merovingian....! Maybe just impetuous.

I agree about descent, though the catchment inevitably gets large and less eminent after Edward I.

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. Narrow focus.

Problem of literally being unable to see the forest for the trees. My perceptions are more attuned to details than the whole (and seeing something like a line from the Merovingian Franks on the first page of a genealogy doesn't much inspire confidence in the quality of scholarship used in the rest).

[Joe Chi Minh]

18. I know the problem well. But it's a good thing the Carolingian

connection doesn't rely on it, isn't it?