Don't Overlook Facebook Genealogy Groups

It recently came to my attention that there was a glitch preventing members from posting in some of my Facebook Genealogy groups. I've fixed the problem so if you are a member of any of the groups below, please go back and share your genealogy with us!

If you're not a member, follow the links to join us. Let's share our genealogy.

Van Alstyne Genealogy
Jan Martense de Wever [the weaver] was the immigrant ancestor of the Van  Alstyne family in America. He and his wife, Dircken Hermanse Boertgen and at least two children came to New York area from Drenthe Province, Netherlands prior to 1655. 

Descendants of Adriaen Crijnen Post
The Dutchman Adriaen Crijnen Post and his wife Claartje (Clara) Moockers are found in Recife Brazil in 1646. By the time Brazil fell to the Portuguese in 1654 Adriaen and his femily had left for the Netherlands. From there they sailed to New Netherland.

Goeway Genealogy
This group focuses on Ancestors & Descendants of Salomon Abbelse & Barber Philippse. The story of the Goeway family in New Netherland begins with Salomon Abelse who was baptised in Amsterdam Holland in 1617, and his wife Barber (Barbara) Phillipse who was baptised in 1619 in Amsterdam. Salomon and Barber left Holland for New Netherland with their children circa 1652, settling in New Amsterdam (present day New York City) 

Van Slyke Genealogy
For anyone interested in the genealogy of Cornelis Antonissen Van Slyke and his nephew Willem Pieterse Van Slyke aka Neef. Both settled in New Netherland (New York) in the 1600s. 

Straetsman Genealogy
The Straetsman sisters Barentje and Teuntje were from Culemborg Netherlands. In 1630 the West India Company conquered part of Brazil and the colony of New Holland (now present-day Recife) was founded. Dutch troops were sent to Recife and Olinda in Pernambuco Brazil and no doubt Barentje and Teuntje’s first husbands were among those sent to maintain order. They settled first in Brazil before 1637 and then New Netherland circa 1657.

Pioneers of Arkell, Wellington County Ontario Canada
In May 1831 a group of Englishmen set out from New York for what would become Arkell Ontario. A list of men in the party includes Thomas and John Arkell, for whom the settlement was named, Lewis King, Thomas King, James Hewer, Frederick Stone, Thomas Stone, John Outin, James Carter, Joseph Dory, Charles Willoughby and Peter Bell.

James King, Where Did Your 30 Hour Clock Go?

My 4th great-grandfather James King was from Chediston, Suffolk England. He was born circa 1774, and died in 1838 in Wenhaston, Suffolk. Not much is known of James, although I was lucky enough to find Bastardy Papers for him dated July 1791.

In the Bastardy papers he confessed to being the father of Hannah Blanden's illegitimate daughter. Her name was not given in the documents and I've never found out who she was or what happened to her.

Oddly enough he married Hannah on the same day the Bastardy papers were filed.

His two sons Lewis King and Thomas King, were in the group of settlers who immigrated to Upper Canada and started the village of Arkell (now in Ontario).

Since writing and publishing a book "From England to Arkell" about this settlement, I happened on a newspaper account for James who died in 1838. His estate was being auctioned off so an inventory was done.

I'm intrigued and fascinated by him owning a 30 Hour clock! That was one of the cheaper types of Grandfather (Long Case) clocks, but still.... a farmer in Suffolk owning such a clock indicates he was somewhat well off. And I would love to know where that clock is now!

The inventory gave me an image of James' home, and helped make him more alive to me as a living breathing person who lived, loved, felt pain and sorry, was loved -  in short, no different from you or I. And that is something that is often lacking in our research - that flesh on the bones so to speak.

A Short Life Remembered

 

The sisters Catherine and Mary Ann King lie buried together in a double grave in Arkell Cemetery.

Catherine was 5 years old when she died in December 1870. Her little sister Mary, aged 14 months, followed her in death 4 days later.

Their mother Mary Ann Kemble, died in childbirth in 1869 when little Mary was born. When Mary died, her husband Thomas King a 28 year old  widower with two young children. I don't think we can imagine how challenging and difficult the next year was for him.

One year almost to the day after little Catherine and Mary Ann were buried, Thomas remarried - another Mary - and their son Joseph was born in December 1872. Sadly baby Joseph died when he was only 9 months old. Another grave was dug in the Arkell cemetery.

Arkell Pioneer Cemetery Gravestones

Next came baby Mary born in October 1876, but this child too was fated to have only a short time on earth. 7 month old baby Mary died and she too joined her brother and half-sisters in the Arkell cemetery.

Thomas and his second wife Mary Ann did go on to have 3 more children, one of whom lived to adulthood. The only reminder of the little King children is their graves in Arkell.

Meme: Immigrant Ancestor Frances Holford Higginson

Frances Holford Higginson was born 28 May 1769 in Lower Peover, Cheshire England along with her twin sister Sarah Holford. Not much is know about Frances' life - her parents  John Holford and Ann Harrison were from Devanham Cheshire but settled in Lower Poever shortly after their marriage. In 1787 at the age of 18, young Frances married Thomas Higginson, a tax collector and wheelwright in Lower Peover. Over the next 15 years the couple had 8 children born in the town. 

 

I really like that both Thomas and Frances could write their names. For a woman that was fairly rare in the 1780s so it appears Frances had some basic education. It is not known exactly what happened to the family but some misfortune did fall on them - the loss of the family's home in 1805. An impoverished Thomas, deep in debt, signed over his land and effects before July that year. The couple had 8 children to care for, the youngest only 3 years old. 

Sometime between 1805 and 1831 Thomas died. In December that year Frances, a widow, set sail for New York with her daughter Elizabeth (Betty) Bell and Betty's children Ann, Phoebe, Mary, Peter & Joseph. They were meeting Betty's husband Peter Bell who had previously settled in New York.

Peter and Elizabeth and their children as well as Elizabeth's brother John Higginson eventually left New York for the wilderness of a new settlement in Upper Canada (present-day Ontario). Peter filed a petition for land in 1839 explaining that he wasn't happy living in New York and desired land in Arkell Ontario.  But what happened to Frances?

She was 62 years old when she left her homeland for America. Did she die there? Or did she travel with the Bell family to Upper Canada and die there? The records are sparse for Upper Canada in that time period and her death remains a mystery.  It must have been difficult for Frances - and I suspect she never saw her other children again after 1831. Her daughter Sarah remained behind in England until June 1841 when she too left for America, settling in Illinois with her husband Aaron Richardson. Poor Sarah died in Illinois that August.

What challenging lives our ancestors lived! I cannot imagine leaving my children and grandchildren behind and venturing off to an unknown land at 62 years of age. I am glad though that Frances was with her daughter Elizabeth and some of her grandchildren.  I hope that was some comfort to her.

Immigrant Ancestors Meme: Peter Bell

There is a lot of discussion about immigration in America right now. Tempers have flared, and different groups hold various strong opinions. There is also Brexit, where immigration was a large focus of the recent vote which resulted in the U.K. leaving the E.U.

I've been following this for several months and it occurs to me that those of us in Canada, America, and Australia have immigrant ancestors. Have you researched yours? Do you know who they were, why they came to your country and when? Do you know how they fared once settled in their new land? Were they welcomed? Were they shunned? Was their discrimination based on their religion or ethnic origin? These are all questions that are important, and interesting to discover. With that in mind, I'm the dedicating Saturdays (as many as needed) as the day to join me in discussing your immigrant ancestors.

You will be able to read any you are interested in by using the keyword Immigrant Ancestors. I'm going to share each week what I know of my immigrant ancestors to North America (whether that is USA or Canada)


My 3rd. great-grandfather, Peter Bell (1788 Middlewhich, Cheshire England - 1861 Arkell, Wellington Co. Ontario) left England for New York then immigrated to the brand-new settlement of Arkell Ontario in 1831.

Peter was one of the original group of Englishmen who settled this community in the wilderness of what was then Upper Canada.

His wife Betty Higginson and several of their children followed later on the Brig Joseph Charles sailing into New York then on to Upper Canada.

Peter and his wife worked hard to carve out an existence for their family. In 1855 Betty died and Peter followed 5 years later. They are buried in the Farnham Cemetery in Arkell.  

Betty's tombstone was discovered in Farnham Cemetery by Gerald and Chris Thiessen. They dug it from the ground where it lay buried. They interpreted the text on it as "In Memory of Elizabeth, wife of Peter Bell, Sep 1833" In reality the date she died was 1855.

One of Peter's daughters (Mary) married David King, the son of another Arkell pioneer, and my 2nd great-grandparents. I found their adventures so fascinating that I wrote a book "From England to Arkell" which is available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, or CreateSpace

Meme: Our Immigrant Ancestors - Thomas King of Arkell Ontario

There is a lot of discussion about immigration in America right now. Tempers have flared, and different groups hold various strong opinions. There is also Brexit, where immigration was a large focus of the recent vote which resulted in the U.K. leaving the E.U.

I've been following this for several months and it occurs to me that those of us in Canada, America, and Australia have immigrant ancestors. Have you researched yours? Do you know who they were, why they came to your country and when? Do you know how they fared once settled in their new land? Were they welcomed? Were they shunned? Was their discrimination based on their religion or ethnic origin? These are all questions that are important, and interesting to discover. With that in mind, I'm the dedicating Saturdays (as many as needed) as the day to join me in discussing your immigrant ancestors.

You will be able to read any you are interested in by using the keyword Immigrant Ancestors. I'm going to share each week what I know of my immigrant ancestors to North America (whether that is USA or Canada)

One of my more recent immigrant ancestors was Thomas King. Thomas, his wife Harriet, their son David and Thomas' brother Lewis King left Suffolk England circa 1831 for North America.

Lewis and Thomas were born in Wenhaston, Suffolk England. In 1817 the brothers married and began raising their families but in 1831 they decided to settle in what was then the wilderness of Upper Canada (present day Ontario). Joining a small group of Englishmen, they sailed to New York and then crossed into Canada. Once in Upper Canada (now called Ontario) they established a new settlement called Arkell, named after the leader of the group. Descendants of the two pioneer brothers settled mainly in Michigan, Ontario, Australia, and Alberta.

A book on the family is available  from Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, or CreateSpace  
8.5x11. 
200 pages
Full Color on White paper 

Neglect of Farnham Cemetery is Disrespectful to Those Who Lie There

Some of my father's ancestors were in the group of first pioneer settlers to settle in Arkell Ontario in 1831 and I wanted to see if their tombstones survived.

There are two cemeteries in Arkell.

One is the Arkell Pioneer Cemetery which has been saved from total destruction by a dedicated group. This group gathered all stones surviving whether broken or not, reconstructed the broken tombstones, and cemented them carefully in a large raised area. Many of my King ancestors are found there and it really wonderful that this cemetery was carefully tended before it was too late.


In fact if you are a descendant of the King family of Arkell you may be interested in my book "From England to Arkell: The story of two pioneer settlers, Lewis & Thomas King who left Suffolk England for the Wilds of Upper Canada in 1831 A Genealogy to 4 Generations following their descendants in Ontario, Alberta, Australia & Michigan"









The second cemetery is Farnham Cemetery. It too has many early graves of those pioneer settlers in 1831, as well as their descendants. But it is a mixture of nicely tended lawn, and completely neglected stones.

The neglected stones lie almost buried in the ground, having toppled over some time ago. Many are broken, and bits and pieces of the tombstones jut up in the overgrown mess of vegetation.

Many lie in an area that is difficult to get to, up against the back fence of the cemetery property, and in the brush. My husband spent some time climbing around there trying to brush away some of the dirt and growth but it was too difficult with bare hands.

Some lie near the front of the cemetery, under a big tree. You can see that these early stones were in eat rows and many are missing. We could see corners of toppled tombstones jutting out from the ground so it is very possible that many of the stones have toppled and been buried over the years.

At one side of the cemetery is a garbage dump, very near the neglected and overrun tombstones at the back. There is a small grove of trees with a pit full of household garbage. Since the cemetery backs on to homes, it appears that the local homeowners are using the back part as their own private dumping ground. The photo we took of that didn't turn out so I can't show it but you would no doubt be disgusted.

This cemetery needs a good cleanup. It needs a volunteer group who will unearth and right the toppled stones, or cement them into a base (as has been done in the Pioneer Cemetery) before it is too late. I wish I lived nearer so I could organize a cleanup group! I find it disrespectful to the memories of those buried there, and a historical oversight that our pioneers who settled there in 1831 should be so forgotten.

My Peter Bell and his wife Elizabeth are buried there. Peter's stone stands quite near the front gates, but Elizabeth's has toppled and is almost completely buried by the grass that has overgrown around and over it. They came to Arkell in 1831 and were among the first group of hardy pioneers who braved many hardships and separation from family and friends in England to settle here. Do they (and all the others) not deserve more respect?