Fearless Females: National Women's History Month Day 7 - Favorite recipe

March 7 — Share a favorite recipe from your mother or grandmother’s kitchen. Why is this dish your favorite? If you don’t have one that’s been passed down, describe a favorite holiday or other meal you shared with your family.


My personal favorite recipe from my grandmother is definitely not a favorite of others in the family!  Creamed fish!  YUM!  It's made with dried, salted cod and served over potatoes or toast.  I usually wing this recipe, so am trying to write from memory.


Dried cod fish (the kind in the wooden box)
1 box frozen peas
Stick of butter
2 cups of milk
Flour/water thickening paste - (1 cup of water, add flour to make a syrupy texture)

Soak the fish overnight in a pot of water.  I personally love the more salty taste, so I don't soak it overnight, just for a few hours.  Next day, replace the water and bring to a boil.  Cook until the fish flakes.


While that's cooking, melt the stick of butter in a frying pan and then add the milk and peas.  Add the thickening mixture and cook over low heat, stirring frequently.  When the fish is done, add it and let it all cook until the mixture is like a thick gravy.  Serve over mashed potatoes or toast.


My grandmother lived 'up the street' (family joke) and she would send creamed fish 'down the street' to my father.  I would drive him crazy as a kid because more often than not, I'd eat half of it on him!  But what goes around comes around - my daughter now does the same thing to me. :)


Thanks for reading!   

Fearless Females: National Women's History Month Day 6 - Heirlooms

March 6 — Describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor (wedding ring or other jewelry, china, clothing, etc.) If you don’t have any, then write about a specific object you remember from your mother or grandmother, or aunt (a scarf, a hat, cooking utensil, furniture, etc.)


The only things I've ever inherited have been from my grandmother, "Lil", Elizabeth Catherine (Boyle) Bowen.  When she passed, some of her belongings were given to me: her watch, pearls, mink stole, the last check she wrote and a letter that she wrote to her kids that went with her will.


My grandmother's "Mother's ring" was inherited by her daughter, Anne.  When Anne passed, the ring was given to my daughter.  The ring is very special - it has 15 stones - one for each of her children.  I can remember looking at it as a child and asking her which stone was for my father.  She always wore the ring on her middle finger and after my grandfather passed, she wore his onyx on her other middle finger.  Here is my daughter, her namesake, modeling the mink stole and ring.

I loved her mink stole and always thought how glamorous she looked in it!

Thanks for reading!

Fearless Females: National Women's History Month Day 5 - How my parents met

March 5 — How did they meet? You’ve documented marriages, now, go back a bit. Do you know the story of how your parents met? Your grandparents?


My mother was 13 when she met my father - totally by accident! She was sitting in class when this boy came in and told her teacher he was her brother and he was there to take her out of class. She looked at him and thought to herself: "I don't know who the hell that is!" and didn't go with him. When she got out of school, there he was, leaning against the hood of a car - and it was love at first sight. My mother has two older sisters and when my father went into the classroom, he thought he was in the classroom of one of her sisters!  Oops!

Here they are at my brother's wedding about 25 years later.

Thanks for reading!

Fearless Females: National Women's History Month Day 4 - Weddings

March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.


I don't really have any stories about any of my grandparents' or greatgrandparents' weddings.  It seems, though, that they all had one thing in common: they were small weddings with immediate family and friends only.  


My father's parents, Henry Bowen/Elizabeth Boyle, were married in the priest's residence near where they lived on Cabot Street in Roxbury and had 15 children together. 

Elizabeth Boyle

Henry Bowen

My mother's parents, Walter Adams/Mildred Pollock, were also married by a priest at 75 Union Park in Roxbury in 1937.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of Walter and no early pictures of Mildred.
  
My paternal greatgrandparents, Simon Boyle/Ella Hegarty, met while Ella was serving as a domestic at a party in Dedham, MA.  They were married on the 4th of July, 1909 at 21 Minot Street in Dorchester, MA.  Ella died in 1958, Simon two weeks after her - it is said of a broken heart.  (We're Irish - of course that's going to be the lore!)

Ella and Simon with my grandmother, Elizabeth, (standing right) and Uncle Joe, sitting on Ella's lap. That's Simon's brother, James, standing in the back.

Click the marriage records to see larger images

Henry Anthony Bowen and Mary Louisa Craibe were married on February 8, 1906 in St. Patrick's Church in Roxbury - the same church where future generations celebrated weddings, Christenings, burials and graduations.  That church holds a lot of history for our family.  Henry, his son, Henry and my father all worked there for many years.

Henry Anthony Bowen and Mary Louisa Craibe

My maternal greatgrandparents, George Pollock and Evelyn Pierce, married on September 30, 1911 in Fall River, MA.  They ended up having 16 children together!  I have no early pictures of them, either.

My other maternal greatgrandparents were Walter Jonathan Adams and Theresa Curran.  Their date of marriage is still under investigation (see my earlier blog) and I have no pictures of them, either.


Thanks for reading!

Fearless Females: National Women's History Month Day 3 - Mehitable Cary

March 3 — Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first name you’ve come across in your family tree.


My name, Diane, is not a family name - I was named after my mother's best friend.  I have no ancestors (to my knowledge) who share the name.  This gives me the chance, though, to write about Mehitabel Cary - I love that name!  Mehitabel (1670-1724) was my 8th greatgrandmother:

Mehitabel Cary (1670 - 1724)

is your 8th great grandmother

William Adams (1693 - 1725)

Son of Mehitable

William Jr Adams (1719 - 1790)

Son of William

Jonathan Adams (1753 - 1849)

Son of William Jr

Abner Adams (1777 - 1852)

Son of Jonathan

Ira Adams (1809 - 1874)

Son of Abner

William Adams (1840 - 1907)

Son of Ira

Walter Jonathan Adams (1885 - 1937)

Son of William

Walter John Adams (1910 - 1972)

Son of Walter Jonathan

Christine Adams ( - )

Daughter of Walter John

Diane Marie Bowen

You are the daughter of Christine 


Mehitabel was born in Bridgewater, MA, on Christmas Eve, 1670.

Mehitabel married Elisha Adams in 1689.  Elisha was the grandson of Henry Adams, who was also the 2nd greatgrandfather of President John Adams.

But wait - there's more!


After Elisha's death in 1698, she married for a second time.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw who her second husband was: Miles Standish (1669-1728) - the grandson of THE Miles Standish of Plymouth Colony!

Although that marriage did not make me a blood relative of Miles Standish, I am a blood relative through a different line.  They married in 1700 in Rhode Island and then moved on to CT, which was their place of death.


Little did Mehitabel know - she had married into two historically important early American families!  


Thanks for reading!

Fearless Females: National Women's History Month Day 2 - Mary Louisa (Craibe) Bowen

March 2 — Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo?

Mary Louisa Craibe (1881-1939)

Henry Anthony Bowen (1884-1957)

Year taken: unknown

Mary Louisa was my father's grandmother, my greatgrandmother.  I chose this picture mostly because I like the look on her face.  She reminds me an awful lot of my aunt Clare.  Clare was a tough, red-headed spitfire and to me, Mary Louisa looks the same.  Of course, I could be completely wrong - she could have been a meek little thing - but I don't think so.  From the stories I've heard and the documentation I've found on Henry A, she had to have been pretty tough to put up with his antics!  He is definitely going to be a subject for another blog entry. 

When Mary Louisa and Henry were married in 1906, they lived on Dudley Street in - where else?  Roxbury!  They later lived on Fenwick Street, moving to 283 Eustis Street, probably half a mile from where my mother's grandmother lived (Evelyn Pierce Pollock).  I wonder if they knew each other   

I don't know when this photo was taken but I think that maybe it was their engagement/wedding photo, so that would make it around 1905/1906.  

Thanks for reading!

National Women's History Month - Day 1

Today's Assignment: March 1 — Do you have a favorite female ancestor? One you are drawn to or want to learn more about? Write down some key facts you have already learned or what you would like to learn and outline your goals and potential sources you plan to check.


There are many women in my tree that I'd like to learn more about, but the one who has been the most elusive is my greatgrandmother, Theresa (Curran) Adams (1886 or 1890 -1957).  


I don't know much at all about Theresa and her son, my grandfather, Walter Adams. Walter and my grandmother divorced when my mother was very young and she only saw her father a handful of times in her life and doesn't know much about him.  My aunt did visit his grave once and Theresa's grave is right next to his - that's how I learned her age and date of death.  Using that information, I found a birth record in MA Vital Records for a Theresa Curran born in 1886 in Boston.  I know for sure that her maiden name was Curran because it was on my grandfather's birth certificate.


I've only found one record that proves she actually existed.  Here she is in the 1930 census, living with my greatgrandfather and grandfather at 103 Brookline Avenue in Roxbury, MA.  Through street directories, I learned that she lived at that same address until her death in 1957. In several of those directories, she is listed as Theresa C. Adams.  How did she support herself for those 20 years after her husband's death in 1937?  She had to have worked somewhere but I can't find any record of her.  She's not in the SSDI. 





According to this census, she was 40 years old in 1930, making her date of birth 1889/1890 - but that conflicts with the age on her headstone.  Another interesting thing: according to this census, her age at her first marriage was 15 and my greatgrandfather was 17.  Thing is - he was married once before to a 22-year-old Katherine Quinn in 1904.  I've never been able to find any record of a divorce or of Katherine's death.  I also have never been able to find a record of Theresa Curran and William Adams' marriage online.    


Could Theresa have had a previous marriage?  Or has the information been misinterpreted?


I have a couple of theories.  The first is that whoever supplied the information at her death gave the wrong age and she really was born in 1890.  The second is: could the Katherine Quinn who married Walter Adams actually be Theresa Curran?  Was the record transcribed incorrectly?  Theresa did use the middle initial C.  Maybe Catherine was her first name and she went by her middle name, Theresa.  If these theories are correct, then she would have been 15 if she was the 'Katherine Quinn' who married Walter Adams in 1904.  BUT Katherine Quinn was 22 when she married Walter Adams.  Did she lie about her age?  


My goal is to find definitive birth information for Theresa and from there, hopefully find that she had siblings who may have passed down pictures and/or information to their kids.  My next step will be to order Theresa Adams' death certificate.  Hopefully, that will clear up this mystery!  I also plan to visit the cemetery this spring and if I can, take a look at her burial record.  To my knowledge, my grandfather was her only child so he would have been the one to sign paperwork.  That would be great to actually see his signature - I've never even seen a picture of him.


Thanks for reading!