My Genealogy Trails

Greetings!! Once again I am back with more questions than answers on my great grandfather, George W Parker Sr.  It seems like he is throwing me curve balls from the grave, LOL. I have never been able to find him in an 1870 census.  I was pretty sure the reason he was not in the 1865 state census was he was just getting out of the army after the civil war.  That was expected, but the 1870 census was a mystery to me.   Recently I came across a newspaper clip about his marriage to my great grandmother Ruth A Hulse.  It stated, they were married January 30th 1870 at the home of her father Albert Hulse and all were living in Bethel, NY at the time of the marriage.  A-ha!!  I know where he was in 1870!! Well,,,,,,,  not quite.  Yes, he was there to get married, but he still was not listed in the census.  Ugh!!  So the marriage was January 30th.  The census for Bethel was enumerated in July, about 6 months after t...

Greetings! As you might guess I am still digging.  However, with the DNA results and a ton of cross referencing with other matches I have come up with a theory as to the parentage of my great great grandfather, Benjamin B Parker.  I have mentioned in many past posts that he is my brick wall.  He still is but now I have a theory that I think is pretty solid.  I am still digging to try to either prove or disprove this theory and move on to the next one if need be. First, I have a friend, Richard, who is a descendant of a Charles M Parker.  We do not match in the DNA results, however we each have matches that match to both of us.  In other words,  person A matches to my DNA on the Parker line.  She is also a great great granddaughter of Benjamin.  But she also matches to Richard but with no names in common on their trees.  Her tree is minimal though as she has not gotten back very far on her research yet. Richard and I share an ancest...

Greetings! I am so confused it stopped being funny about an hour ago!! I have a copy of probate records for Penelope Bennett dated in 1843.  All the names are correct, including that of my great great grandmother, Emeline Bennett Parker.  This would lead me to believe Penelope died in 1843.  However, all other records I have found, including her grave say she died in 1864.  How do you probate an estate of someone who is not deceased? To further confirm I have the correct Penelope Bennett, married name Crawford I have a copy of her father's probate records which again confirm all the names including my great great grandparents. In Penelope's records, it states her brother William, deceased.  William was the father of my great great grandmother, Emeline and he was indeed deceased by 1843, he died in 1839.  In her father Abraham's records it states a son, William deceased.  Abraham died in 1842 so that is also correct.  In both cases thi...

Greetings! I know it has been over a month since I have written.  I am sorry.  I have been obsessed with finding one of my ancestors.  He has been quite the mystery. My great great grandmother Emeline Elen Bennett Parker's sister was Frances Bennett Anderson (according to her aunt's will.)  However, I have never found any records of Frances with this Anderson person.  In 1840 she is still single and living with her mother and sister.  The mother is a widow by 1840.  Both sisters seem to marry sometime between 1840 and 1842, but no marriage records to prove it yet. In 1850 Frances shows living with her two youngest children, Edward L Anderson and Isaac H Anderson.  Her other 3 children are living in the home of her mother and step father. Frances never shows with her husband and I have no idea who this Anderson person is.  Keep searching! In 1855 Frances is living in the home of her mother and step father with all 5 of her childre...

Greetings!! I have been hot on my genealogy trail and loving every minute of it, LOL.  When I wrote last I had discovered my great great grandmother's maiden name to be Bennett.  Boy have I discovered a lot more since then!! First off, the name on the 1840 census turned out to be "Widow" Bennett, not Andrew.  The 1830 census showed the name William Bennett.  It turned out that William was my g g grandmother's father.  Also by 1840 my great great grandfather, Benjamin Parker was living in the household with the widow Bennett and her two daughters, one of which was my g g grandmother Emeline Elen Bennett Parker. Hot dang, I am on a roll!!  William's father, my 4 xs g grandfather was Benjamin Bennett.  Benjamin Bennett fought in the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Minisink in July of 1779.  Unfortunately he died there.  His name is on the battleground monument. The search has been continuing virtually non-stop every moment I a...

Greetings!! Yesterday I had a real stroke of luck and broke down a huge brick wall.  I am so excited!!  A distant cousin had told me that my great great grandmother Emeline Parker's, (wife of Benjamin B Parker) maiden name was Horton.  Turns out that was wrong!!  I had searched for a Horton that would fit the correct location and time frame for years to no avail. I had found that on my great grandfather's military records it said his mother's name was Elen Bennet.  Elen is Emeline's middle name and often members of my family went by their middle name.  Anyhow, I asked the cousin about this record but he stated it must be wrong because we "know" Emeline's maiden name was Horton.  He was sure of it.  So, I took him at his word and kept searching.  He had also stated she was from Wayne County, PA.  A statement he now denies.   After a long time searching I finally decided to take a look at the last name Bennet.  Primarily be...

Greetings!! Once again reading through old newspapers has helped me with a brick wall.  This time I was at nyhistoricnewspapers.org  I was just doing a general search for my great grandfather, George W Parker when I came across an email regarding him going to a funeral with his wife Ruth.  I did not recognize the name of the person who had died at first.  But then it hit me, that was Ruth's grandmother!!  Meaning that would have been my third great grandmother on Ruth's line!! I had not researched Ruth's line all that much yet but had done some work on it.  As I sat staring at the article the pieces began to fall into place.  Since then I have also been able to add in my fourth great grandparents as well. Never under-estimate the information you can find in old newspapers!!  It is amazing to me what I have found and I continue to find things.  I go back to the newspapers time and time again and run new searches.  Yes, I often find ...

Greetings!! Those little green leaves on ancestry.com and the trouble they can cause the new genealogist. These leaves show you "hints" on your tree.  They are hints only and not cast in stone that they fit your family!!  You still must do your own research to make sure the hints are correct.  Then accept the ones that fit and decline those that do not. Unfortunately, I see a large number of trees on ancestry where it is quite obvious people are adding information, hints, or info from other trees without verifying a thing.  Then the next newbie comes along and copies a ton of wrong information.  I know, the ancestry commercials make it all sound very easy, but it is not.  At least not if you care enough to want to have correct information.  Verify everything!!  Have more than one source to confirm the information is correct.  Don't be afraid to ask other folks who are researching the same family questions.  The worse that can ha...

Greetings!! I'm sorry it has been a while but I have been on the hunt, LOL.  Genealogists always hunt for more information.  And here I am hunting, LOL. The following newspaper article was written in 1843 in the Monticello, NY Republican Watchman and I obtained it from fultonhistory.com  a wonderful FREE newspaper site.  Check it out if you have not already! In the article is mentioned a Capt. B B Parker.  He was my great great grandfather.  He would be forever remembered as "Captain".  I have been trying to find more information about the Lumberland Rifle Company since I found this article.  Unfortunately, without success so far.  But the search will continue until I do or I have completely exhausted all resources. Lumberland was the name of a township in Sullivan County NY.  At the time of this article my Parker ancestors lived in Lumberland Township.  Later, the township would be divided into additional townships an...

Greetings!! This situation has me a bit befuddled.  I already knew my great grandfather George W Parker had married his third wife while still legally married to his second wife but now it appears he had married his second wife while still married to his first wife.  I'll get to that in a minute but let me preface this by saying multiple marriages were not illegal pre 1900 as long as both spouses knew about each other and consented.  There in lies the rub, I'm not sure any of them knew about the other.  Definitely the third wife did not know about the second as she filed for divorce on those grounds. OK, so here is the story.  First wife, Ruth, was my great grandmother.  She died 30 May 1893 of influenza which turned into pneumonia.  She died at her sister's house about 15 miles away from home.  I often wondered why she was at her sister's and not home with her husband or in a hospital.  But then thought perhaps she was at her sister...

Greetings!! One of my favorite things to search is old newspapers.  There are several available online in both paid subscriptions and free sites.  You never know what you will find and it is an incredible way to learn about history, especially history local to your ancestors. The following article was found at fultonhistory.com and dated in February of 1900.  The Mr. Parker who was a surveyor from Eldred mentioned was none other than my great great grandfather Benjamin Burlin Parker.  Benjamin had passed 11 years prior to this article being written.  It was a surprise to see that he was remember so well by Mr. John D. Rockefeller.  (If you do not know who Mr. Rockefeller was I have included a little blurb about him, found on wikipedia, below the article.)  Also mentioned in the article was George Layman, a friend of my great grandfather George W Parker and owner of the Spring House in Barryville, NY which is still standing today.  Dr. Aus...