This Week in My Family History - November 28 to December 4

This is something new I'm trying.  I totally stole borrowed this idea from Linda McCauley's blog: Documenting the Details (Thanks, Linda!).  I thought it was such a neat idea that I would try it myself.  Here goes:

Dead Folks' Birthdays & Anniversaries
28 Nov 1725   Francois Bouteiller and Marie Lanctot married in Quebec, Canada [Marie is my 7th great grandaunt]
28 Nov 1874   Leota Mount born in Indiana (d. 7 Nov 1876)  [my 2nd cousin, 4x removed]
28 Nov 1753   Marie Monique Lanctot born in Quebec, Canada (d. 8 Jul 1770)  [my 5th great grandaunt]
29 Nov 1895   James Francis Murray and Elizabeth Slowey married in Yankton, SD [Elizabeth is my 2nd great grandaunt]
30 Nov 1902   Albert L. Crowe born in Tell City, IN (d. 29 Apr 1983) [my great granduncle]
30 Nov 1951   Candice Kay Slowey born (d. 13 May 1959) [my 3rd cousin, 1x removed]
1 Dec 1935      James Ritchey Crow and Ruby Carey Brown married [James is my 4th cousin, 4x removed]
1 Dec 1841      Julius Allen Peet and Hester Ann Crow married in Linn, IA [Hester is my 2nd cousin, 6x removed]
2 Dec 1819      Reuben Crow and Elizabeth Duncan married (2nd wife) [Reuben is my 1st cousin, 7x removed]
2 Dec 1861      William Schneider born in Washington, IA (d. 1939) [my 2nd great granduncle]
2 Dec 1799      Wesley M. Crow born in Chatham, NC (d. 10 Oct 1834) [my 2nd cousin, 6x removed]
3 Dec 1843      Truman Judson Peet and Nancy Crow married in Jones, IA [Nancy is my 2nd cousin, 6x removed]


Living Folks' Birthdays
28 Nov            Thomas Mack [my 2nd cousin, 2x removed]
28 Nov            Bradley Mount [my 5th cousin, 1x removed]
30 Nov            Maria Hart [my 6th cousin]
1 Dec              James Lanctot [my uncle]


So I think next time I will stick with my direct line for now ... at least until I find a better way to extract this information.

Happy Thanksgiving!

With all the talk about huge family gatherings and long-standing traditions, I thought I'd take a different spin on Thanksgiving.  My siblings all live about 2-1/2 hours away and my mom is a good 8-9 hours away.  It's just my daughter and me at our house.  We decided this year not to travel for Thanksgiving.  In the past, when we have decided not to cook for Thanksgiving, we always head to the Chinese Buffet.  This year, we will continue this "tradition" (which, incidentally, began several years ago out of pure laziness), except we've  added breakfast at Waffle House to the list.  I figure by the time our breakfast settles, it will be time to head to the buffet and start all over.  Best thing?  No dishes to wash.

Happy Thanksgiving!! 

Mystery Woman

I'm going to shift gears a bit for a minute.

Many years ago, among the old family photos I inherited with my late grandfather's genealogy research, was a photo of a beautiful woman who appears to be African-American descent.  Now, since (as far as I know) my ancestors on that side of the family were pretty much Caucasian Irish Catholic, I was a little puzzled.  I asked my grandmother about the photo and the explanation I was given was essentially that she was "a family friend."  Nothing else.  No name, no relation, nothing.

I came across this photo again while going through my records (trying to get everything organized - still working on that) a couple of weeks ago.  I mentioned it to my mother on the phone last week.  Since my grandmother has had some health issues and she is getting up there in years, her mind is not what it once was.  However, my mother said that she would ask her about the photo and see if she could get any other information out of her.

Here is what I know:

1. My grandfather was adopted in 1928.
2. My grandfather was at the Foundling Hospital in New York City from 1924 to 1928.
3. My grandfather's adopted parents were Walter Gallagher and Ruth Burrows.
4. Walter Gallagher was born in New York in 1902, lived in Hudson, NJ in 1920, working as a telephone installer.
5. Walter and Ruth lived in Ridgefield, New Jersey according to the 1930 census.
6. Walter Gallagher had at least one mistress in his lifetime.
7. My grandfather kept this photo for a reason.

This is the photo:

The photo is rather old, printed on thick stock.  I don't know much about photographs, so I can't date it very specifically other than to say it's old.  There are no studio markings or dates, or anything written on the back.

If anyone can identify this woman, or an approximate date this photo could have been taken, please let me know.  I really would like to know how she fits into my family.

Brand New Cousins!

As many of you know, I was at the Tennessee Intercollegiate Student Legislature in Nashville this weekend.  I served as a Special Judge for the Supreme Court and helped preside over the preliminary rounds of the Appellate Moot Court Collegiate Challenge (AMC3).  On my last night in Nashville I had dinner with my cousin (Julie) from the Slowey side of my family, and her parents (Joe and Mary Ann), whom only a couple of weeks ago I had no idea even existed.   Julie has recently begun researching her family history.  We actually made a connection on Ancestry.com and started emailing from there. Imagine my surprise to find out that she lives only 2 hours away!

We had a wonderful dinner, and during our conversation realized that we had both eaten lunch at the same restaurant for lunch the day before ... at the same time.  She was upstairs and I was downstairs!  What are the odds?

It was a very nice visit.  I just wish I had more time to spend with them.  At least now I have a partner in genealogical crime!  I'm really looking forward to collaborating with her and getting some brick walls knocked down!

Here's to family!