I’d like to clarify something right from the start. No, I’m not psychic. When I set the Week 5 theme as “Plowing Through” and added “We will likely be plowing through a lot of snow by this time,” I was merely playing the odds. If I were really psychic, I would have been better prepared for attending the American Library Association’s midwinter conference in Chicago last weekend — when Chicago had 19.2″ of snow and an honest-to-goodness blizzard. (Note to self: rethink going to a conference in Chicago in late January/early February.)
Participants took “plowing through” in several different ways. Schalene Dagutis from Tangled Roots and Trees shared how someone literally plowed through with her grandfather’s new tractor. Amy Kelly at Shaking the Family Tree focused on her 4th-great-grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Poteet, Jr., “because it seems he plowed through life.” I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Colleen Greene of Colleen & Jeff’s Roots. She shared the story of George Walter Harless, who operated a snow plow in Yosemite in the 1940s.
My story in Week 5 involved plowing through the research and not slowing down to see all of the clues. When I did take a moment, I formulated a theory of what killed my 32-year-old 4th-great-grandmother Mary Vaughn McKitrick.
Leave a comment below with the name of your ancestor and a link to the post you did this past week. While you’re snowed in, take a look at the posts from Week 4!
Upcoming Optional Themes:
- Week 6 (Feb. 5-11) – So Far Away
- Week 7 (Feb 12-18) – Love
- Week 8 (Feb 19-25) – Good Deeds
- Week 9 (Feb 26-Mar 4) – Close to Home
Stumped on how to approach these themes? I have some suggestions.
Here is my post for week 5, Walter BUTCHER who was my Great Great Uncle – http://www.anglersrest.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/52-ancestors-5-walter-butcher-1874-1956.html
Hannah Brown Kingsbury – Vermont to Iowa
Week 5 Challenge
Here’s the link to my recent post about my great great grandmother:
https://thefamilyletterblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/hannah-brown-kingsbury-a-lifter-never-a-leaner-week-4-52-ancestor-challenge/
James Rae 1804-1872 was my 3rd great grandfather. He was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. His surname is a bit of a mystery. Got to keep ‘ploughing through’ the research to find out more.
https://msgenealogyuk.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/james-rae-1804-1872-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-5/
Plowing through the clues and the resources trying to find my “brick wall” Stephen Francis Brennan. He is an enigma, seemingly appeared out of thin air.
http://yourcousincaron.blogspot.com/2015/02/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-5-stephen.html
It all started as a personal challenge: Why can’t I find her? I plowed through records and found the answer of where and when Cynthia Thomas Phelps Jones Jurden died, but it wasn’t until after I’d finished writing the post that I figured it out! http://lemon-knapp.org/wp/?p=604
#47–Gertrude Richards–That is a lot of Snow
We have had a lot of snow lately so this entry is about plowing though all the snow of the Blizzard of 88
Plowing Through – I wrote about our family farming tradition and the number of seasons my ancestors plowed the ground.
https://terstriep.wordpress.com/
GIESE; Johann, Caroline, Auguste and Emilie – last seen on a shiplist from Hamburg to Hull and then vanished. I plowed through many files but couldn’t find them yet.
http://vorfahrensucher.de/giese/
Plowing through my research for an ancestor who, quite frankly, doesn’t interest me all that much, George Harvey Denton (1870-1918), my maternal great grandfather. The theme also seems to apply to his life, in the sense that he seemed to be plowing through from one state to another–Illinois, Louisiana, Kansas, Colorado–until he finally took root, or maybe just stopped.
https://roordawrite.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/52-ancestors-5-of-52-plowing-through-george-harvey-denton-1870-1918/
He might be George Harvey Denton, but I kept reading it as Harvey Dent. Ha!
Harvey “Two-Face” Dent, DC comics–an enemy of Batman. Ha.
Thomas Jeffersn POTEET, Jr. (1840-1915), my maternal 4th great-grandfather. He was a farmer, husband, father, carpenter, Confederate soldier, prisoner of war captured by Union soldiers at Gettysburg, North Carolina native, and Arkansas homesteader. I learned a lot more about him while researching and writing this article. Thank you for featuring me, Amy! – http://shaketree.blogspot.com/2015/02/thomas-jefferson-poteet-jr-52-ancestors.html
I like your post, Amy. Blogger wants me to sign in, prove who I am, give them my account number–good grief. So I’ll just “Like” it here. Nice job with the sources!
Thank you so much!
CALLAWAY, Dora — Who I wouldn’t know a thing about it if wasn’t for census records and her son’s WWI draft card…and my musings about the lack of sources in trees. http://bit.ly/1zQpGE0
HOLZLIDER “William Holzlider, Plowing Through ‘Chunks'” on Green Family Archives
http://greenfamilyarchives.blogspot.com/2015/01/52-ancestors-2015-5-william-holzlider.html
Anna Fiedler, Were You Born in a Barn? My maternal 2nd great grandmother who had a pretty interesting birth: http://bit.ly/1C35iNr
My 9th great-grandfather, Pieter Claessen WYCKOFF plowed the farm of Peter Stuyvesant in what is present day Brooklyn, NY.
https://hollieannhenke.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/52-ancestors-5-pieter-claessen-wyckoff-plowing-through/
A story about a run-away tractor from the early 1900s found in my aunt’s brother’s unpublished memoir. A very literal take on the optional theme for this week.
Homer Bradley BAILEY (1907-1978)
Plowing Through, Literally!
http://tangledrootsandtrees.blogspot.com/2015/02/52-ancestors-5-plowing-through-literally.html
MEDER and FABER
52 Ancestors: #5 The MEDER-FABER Family of Diekirch 1846-1954
by Cathy Meder-Dempsey at Opening Doors in Brick Walls
For this post, I’ve had to plow through a mound of research and continue to do so — I wrote Part 1 of the story of my great-uncle Joseph Ortmann and his two wives, Clara and Mabel Manson. http://ortburg.blogspot.com/2015/01/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-4-joseph-and.html
I went with yet another female brick wall – Sarah Kniffen VREDENBURG(H) – circuit preacher’s wife:
http://ancestorarchaeology.blogspot.com/2015/02/sarah-kniffen-vredenburgh-circuit.html
I used the wrong account above
Here is my post for Week #5: Sarah Kniffen VREDENBURG(H):
http://ancestorarchaeology.blogspot.com/2015/02/sarah-kniffen-vredenburgh-circuit.html
McQUEEN, David (1746-1788) Served in the Continental Army from the beginning of the war in 1775, until the very end in 1783.
http://ourfamilytreetales.blogspot.com/2015/02/52-ancestors-ii-week-57-david-mcqueen.html
My Week 5 post was a new find for me: a Salem Witch Trials ancestor I didn’t know I had! — https://themixthatmakesupme.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/pressed-to-death-giles-corey-52-ancestors-5/
P.S., Amy Johnson Crow, I am so enjoying the 52 in 52 blogging challenge! Wanted to take a moment to say, Thank you for “hosting” us! 😉
You’re welcome, Susan! I’m glad you’re enjoying the Challenge!
My grandfather John Bardahl was born into a Norwegian immigrant farming family in Minnesota but left to homestead new territory, first in North Dakota and then northward into Saskatchewan, Canada, where he certainly did a lot of ploughing through.
http://victoriajosfamilystories.blogspot.ca/2015/02/john-bardahl-1879-1945-52-ancestors-5.html
MARY ELIZABETH ADKINS SARGENT 1859-1927
My great grandmother plowed through the early death of her husband, several children, and grandchildren in southern Indiana.
http://timelinesandstories.blogspot.com/2015/02/week-5-of-52-ancestors-mary-elizabeth.html
My great-grandfather Joseph Bergmeister plowed through a lot of heartache in one particular year:
https://pastprologue.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/week-5-joseph-bergmeister-1873-1927/
LONG, Robert m. Alice SHORT
I took a break from the themes this week. I wrote about an amusing name combination in my tree. http://mymaineancestry.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-long-short-of-it-52-ancestors-5.html
No plows or plowing, but an introduction of the ONLY member of my Butts family line that I ever met. Sorry I am having website woes, and have to give you the site address instead of the page. Maybe some kind sole will add the proper url here?
Rebecca Jane (Jennie) BUTTS Dawson.
http://ancestorsinaprons.com
http://ancestorsinaprons.com/2015/02/52-ancestors-jennie-butts-dawson/
Thanks, Brenna. I just got computer service back, and was about to enter it myself.
Roch – French Canadian Genealogy
https://adventuresatdawn.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/joseph-alexis-roch-ancestor-5-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-2015/
I wrote about my gg-grandfather who left his family in Sweden and settled in North Dakota…surely did a lot of plowing of snow there!
http://suesresearch.blogspot.com/2015/02/plowing-through-olaus-hansson-52.html
I wrote about my 3rd great-grandmother, Fredericka Peterson Goldquist, of Galesburg, Illinois. At her funeral it was said that “her career can be said to be worked like golden threads into the better natures of hundreds of men and women here.” http://bit.ly/16vGbI4
Week 5 on my “52 Ancestors” Pinterest board – pins relating to my maternal grandfather, Clifton Leonard Brashier/James Bradford Harris – Clifton went missing for 26 years, then showed up as James (complete with a new wife and 3 more daughters). Whenever I do start a blog – I’ll be able to tell more of his story, for now it’s the short version through Pinterest pins!
https://www.pinterest.com/pattidi/52-ancestors-on-pinterest/
Although I am sure there were a few “snow storms” in the North Carolina Piedmont during the life of my ancestor Anderson JOHNSON, this is not why I wrote about him this week. Anderson was a Quaker who, like so many others, was persecuted for his beliefs and actions, definitely by the law, and I would guess by his neighbors, too. I thought of him and the topic “plowing through” because he remained devout until his death, even after losses and struggles.
https://digginupgraves.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/anderson-johnson-1770-1857-devout-north-carolina-quaker-persecuted-52-ancestors-2015-5/
No plows or plowing.
OATEN, William (1809-1894) Trull to Bath, Somerset, England. My husband’s 4th great grandfather.
Gee, a link certainly helps.
http://curatingkin.ca/2015/02/05/William-Oaten/
ANDREW, Harry Charles – my grandfather on my mother’s side who had to “plow through” his own struggles as well as the red soil of his family farm in PEI, Canada.
http://boormanfamily.weebly.com/blog/harry-charles-andrew-1889-1985-5-52-ancestors
SAMUELSON, Nels A.- my great-great-grandmother’s sister’s husband who was killed in a cultivator accident
http://so-many-ancestors.blogspot.com/2015/01/52-ancestors-week-5-plowing-through.html
My great grandfather, Emil Peters (1877-1955) was a “water boy” for settlers waiting to claim land during the largest Oklahoma land run… the Cherokee Strip Land Rush. I’ve had a fascinating week learning not only about the land run, but why they needed water so desperately and the job of these water boys.
http://theenthusiasticgenealogist.blogspot.com/2015/02/emil-peters-part-1-water-boy-for.html
JONES, Bartow – part of the large Jones family of Walton County, GA – #21 (week 5 – plowing through) http://denise-livinginthepast.blogspot.com/2015/01/52-ancestors-21-bartow-jones-week-5.html
plowing through to support family lore
http://shelleyskylinejourney.com/2015/02/05/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-5-family-lore-ireland-to-the-danish-west-indies/
WORKMAN – Anne Workman (c1761-after1860), Centenarian – Montgomery Co, VA, Lee County, VA, Hancock Co., TN, married Samuel Muncy
This week it was plowing through the snow – ugh. Glad I didn’t have to go outside to work on my article.
http://dna-explained.com/2015/01/31/anne-workman-c1761-after-1860-centenarian-52-ancestors-57/
TOWERS, Jane – Jane Towers Hawkins – a lot to plow through!
https://kessgen.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/52-ancestors-2015-5-jane-towers-a-lot-to-plow-through/
BROWN
A brick wall – I thought I might find a new clue for David Brown of Lancaster County, PA, if I plowed through the research again. No luck this time either!
David Brown – Plowing Through Brown Fields – 52 Ancestors 2015 #5
http://wp.me/p4ioO6-ac
TERWILLIGER, John S(imon), 1800-1873 – As I plowed through my tree, I finally picked him!
http://twigsandtrees.blogspot.ca/2015/02/52-ancestors-52-themes-no5-plowing.html
CHANNON, Abraham – from Aglab in the UK to “bountied” immigrant to Australia and how he fared
http://www.martinewsancestors.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/52ancestors-week-5-ploughing-through.html
FISH Stephen Allen – Early settler in Vernon County, Wisconsin.
https://patriciarohn.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/week-5-2015-stephen-a-fish/
I took “plowing through” a little more figuratively. My grandfather was a carpenter and a farmer. I wrote about how he plowed through the tough times, such as World War II and his little sister’s death.
WISEHEART, Sanford “Bud” William
http://wiseheartjourney.com/2015/02/03/sanford-wiseheart-the-strong-silent-type-52-ancestors-05/
Julia Matilda Cruse – an Amazing life!
http://leavesandnuts.blogspot.com/2015/01/52ancestors-week-5-julia-matilda-cruse.html
Gad James. Or was it Gad Evans? — What caused the whole family to change their surname and tell no one?
http://genealogy.dreamwidth.org/6558.html
EL CID – Plowed through war, exile, tragedy to become a legend
http://www.examiner.com/article/ancestor-5-el-cid-plowed-through-war-exile-tragedy-to-become-a-legend
SAVINKOFF – #5 Fedosia Savinkoff, possibly a plough woman
http://yvonnesgenealogyblog.blogspot.ca/2015/01/52-ancestors-2015-5-fedosia-savinkoff.html
My post this week is about my great-aunt Maria’s first husband, Ernest Biel. He struck me as one exceptionally determined man.
https://tidbitsandtreasures2011.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/52-ancestors-5-ernest-biel/
Ploughing through – the farmers on the Hawkesbury River, NSW – 52 Ancestors 2015
http://connectingthefamily.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/52-ancestors-2015-week-5-ploughing.html
My 3rd great grandmother, Veronique Voirol, seems to be quite the extraordinary woman. I suppose we all say that about someone … but she was a pioneer in Minnesota during a time when most people would dare take the risk. http://rootedinfoods.com/plowing-through-life/
DAVENPORT, Noah (1758 – 1840), a Revolutionary War veteran who lived most of his life in upstate New York and probably saw many snowy winters:
http://frommainetokentucky.blogspot.com/2015/02/revolutionary-war-veteran-noah.html
And a Tombstone Tuesday post for him: http://frommainetokentucky.blogspot.com/2015/02/tombstone-tuesday-noah-davenport-veteran.html
HANSON, Ole Christian
My 2nd great grandfather plowed through the “Winter of the Big Snow” and the historic blizzard of 1881 that dumped 2-4 feet of snow in Wisconsin. I live in Wisconsin and I have no desire to see that much snow!
https://ginnysgems.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/ole-christian-hanson-plowing-through-the-winter-of-the-big-snow/
GALBRAITH, Nelson Carlyle (1914-1994) – Winnipeg Grenadier taken as a POW after the defeat of Hong Kong
https://beyondmowat.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/52-ancestors-week-5-nelson-carlyle-galbraith/
Carter, William. What on earth was he doing down there?
tinyurl.com/nrtlvh8
FERGUSON, Charles T. – mailman
https://putnamsisters.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/52-ancestorscharles-t-ferguson-mailman/
This week I plowed through hubby’s Deyoe line in New York at http://www.genealogybyjeanne.blogspot.com/2015/01/52-ancestors-literally-plowing-through.html.
Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman
Genealogical Gems
http://www.genealogybyjeanne.blogspot.com
This week’s post is about my father, a man with many stories (and wives….and kids….) ….and my “plowing through” the Genealogy Do-Over.
http://whoweareandhowwegotthisway.blogspot.com/2015/02/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-5-my-father.html
Azorean women were contracted to work on Hawaii’s sugar plantations along side their husbands. My great great grandmother worked 3 long years on one of those plantations. http://www.researchjournal.yourislandroutes.com/2015/02/52-ancestors-women-worked-on-hawaiis-sugar-plantations-too/
MEISBERGER – 52 Ancestors 2015 Edition: #5 Will the Real Theobald Casper Meisberger (1837 – 1900) Please Stand Up? by Eileen A Souza at Old Bones Genealogy.
Over the past year, I have been collecting Pennsylvania death certificates from Ancestry.com for my ancestors. So far, I have accumulated one-hundred and twenty-six (126) certificates. In doing so, I have uncovered a huge puzzle concerning my 2nd great-grandfather, Theobald Casper Meisberger, as reflected in his children’s death certificates.
http://www.oldbonesgenealogy.com/52-ancestors-2015-edition-5-will-the-real-theobald-casper-meisberger-1837-1900-please-stand-up/
I plowed through newspapers for this one 😉
English: http://www.huboutourvillegenealogy.com/wp/?p=694
French: http://www.huboutourvillegenealogy.com/wpfr/
Enjoy!
I wrote about my 4th great grandfather, farmer, John W Hall. (1785-1874; Montgomery county, New York).
http://wp.me/p5z5tj-1q
Plowing Through Snow or Cornfields http://wp.me/p43WgZ-9A
Chciago in January/February builds character. 😉
So does spellchecking. *facepalm*
A story about my great grandparents, Frank and Cora Benefield, and some of the hardships they endured
https://momagcline.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/cora-and-frank-benefield-one-tough-couplebrnr/
SCHERWITZ, Johann Georg(e). A shoemaker from a long line of city-dwellers finds himself buying farmland in the wild Wisconsin Territory – the family farm on my mom’s side.
https://peopleplaceandtime.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/johann-george-scherwitz-and-the-family-farm-52-ancestors-5/
My great uncle Jack Wilson – from Pittsburgh Towship, Ontario, moved to Detroit, moved back to farm the family farm in 1940
https://wilsongenealogy.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/5-jack-wilson/
Found a “ploughman” in my tree. Alexander HUTCHEON d.1935 b.1851
http://colleens-shoebox.weebly.com/my-latest-discoveries-the-blog/52-5-ploughing-through-alexander-hutcheon
Plowing into some new sources for Magda Elizabeth Schmidt (1865-1949).
http://gatheringbranches.blogspot.com/2015/02/52-ancestors-wk-5-magda-schmidt.html
Emminger, Emmanuel 1842-1915
https://dawnsfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/week-5-plowing-through-emmanuel-emminger/
My January Week 5 post took most of February to prepare because I became to enthralled with this woman! Helen A. Harris Deming (1929-1974). https://rememberal.wordpress.com/2015/02/25/songstress-composer-poetess-and-spartan-woman-helen-a-harris/
My January Week 5 post took most of February to prepare because I became to enthralled with this woman! Helen A. Harris Deming (1829-1874). https://rememberal.wordpress.com/2015/02/25/songstress-composer-poetess-and-spartan-woman-helen-a-harris/
My extremely late post for Week 5 is an unknown photo of an early tractor which was from a collection of photos belonging Edward Henry FELZIEN and his wife Eva Marie BURR.
http://storiesthroughtime.blogspot.com/2015/04/week-5-of-52-ancestors-2015-plowing.html