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!     

The State Kids find their family

When I started my tree on ancestry a few years ago, I couldn't believe how many trees were out there and I started adding people to my tree like a shopaholic let loose in the Twice As Nice consignment shop on 'fill your bag for five bucks day.'  I quickly learned what a bad move that was, but that's a post for another day.  That tree, though, ended up changing the lives of 5 "State Kids."  


On July 5, 2008, I received this message on ancestry.com:

Diane: Small world!! Ethel E Pollock was my Aunt whom I never met. My Dad was George F. Pollock 1916/1943 whom I also never knew because he Died when I was only 6 Months old. I have just this week joined ancestry.com and began researching my roots. Perhaps we could share some info. Just got a copy of my Dad's and Granddad"s death cert, they were both George F Pollock. I also have 4 siblings (three in Mass and one in N H) one brother is also George F Pollock (the third).
Got to go, perhaps some time we could share info. I live in Mass.
Regards,
Victor F Pollock

Long story short - Victor is my first cousin once removed - his father and my grandmother were siblings.  I didn't know that his father had even existed because, at that time, I didn't know a whole lot about the Pollock family.  The more we talked, the more I learned about Victor and his four siblings.  Their father, George, had died of heart disease when they were very small children.  Their mother, Ruby, had given the kids - Victor, George, Reggie, Marion and Ruby - away to foster care and had walked away, never looking back.  The five of them lived horrendous lives, going from foster home to foster home, suffering terrible abuse.  The whole time thinking that the only family they had in the world - was each other.  George has written about their experiences in both his blog and his book, State Kid.


Fast forward. The 5 siblings are now all in their 60s and 70s.  They've all been successful in life and have great families.  Still, something was missing.  Victor decided to start researching his roots and that's how he found me.  We talked online and he was ecstatic to know that he still had a living aunt, his father's sister, Lillian.  We made arrangements to meet at her house.  What an incredibly moving experience that was!  The most poignant moment was watching this man in his 60s reach out and touch his aunt's hand for the first time and say: "I can't believe I'm actually touching someone who once touched my father."  

Victor and Aunt Lillian

Later that summer, there was a family reunion where the 5 siblings met other family members for the first time.  That was my introduction to the 'character' of the family - cousin George!  Or as he now prefers to be called: George Francis Pollock III, American Royalty.  The American Royalty part was added after he learned he was no longer just a State Kid, but related to, among others, several Presidents and he is the 9th great-grandson of William Brewster, Mayflower Pilgrim.  As he says - 'not bad for a State Kid!'  

Victor, George and their siblings have gotten very close to Aunt Lillian and her family.  The 'girls' went on a trip to Aruba together!  There was a big party for Marion's 70th birthday and for the first time in her life, family other than her siblings attended.  Here are the 5 of them having a blast!

Reggie, Ruby, Victor, Marion and George Francis Pollock III, A.R.

Shortly after the reunion last summer, I got an email from George.  He talked about how "after living our entire lives thinking we were alone in the world, we finally have what everyone else has - a family."  


Things like that last sentence are what make all the hours and hours of research worth every second.  
  

I love a challenge!

On her Roots and Rambles blog, Marian Pierre-Louis has put out a challenge : "What you are you going to do to show the world that genealogists are hip?" The librarians have put out a video. ( I won't post their link here - no free marketing from me!) Knitters are graffiti bombing. Got me thinking because anyone who knows me knows that if there's one thing I love - it's a good challenge! And right after that, of course, is free stuff! So after a pot of hi-test coffee, here's what I came up with.


We could market toward the 'younger' generation - get them interested in genealogy. Why not put our findings in a rap song?? Brilliant - or at least I thought so! Play along with me here and imagine it's Eminem or JayZ presenting the final research to a client. (You DO know who they are, right??) Put on your bling and your shades, cross your arms and strike a pose while I get the music thumping - and then sing along with me:


Just got done with your tree and now who did I see?
Found some secrets gonna blow your fam out to the sea
There's a thing called a census, found a Boyle, first name Clare
Born in eighteen hundred eighty in a place called Kildare

U thought your great-grandma only had four?
Got news for ya, sistah - she had a few more
The baby daddy's name was Theodore Lester
Bet ya never knew they had Theresa and Esther!

They landed at the "Island" back about '23
Moved on to South Boston, lived on Broadway by the T
Their crib - it was small - they lived on the third floor
Paid about a sawbuck for 3 rooms - maybe four

Made his money tanning hides down in Newmarket Square
She spent hours cleaning house for those rich folks O'Hare
She died in 37, he passed on in 58
She had a heart attack, and he was overweight!

So now you know your roots, go pass on my name
And let all your peeps know
GENEALOGY AIN'T LAME!


What do you think? Is there an Ancestry commercial in my future? Maybe I'll be known as the Comedian Genealogist... :)