November 24, 2022
“How Many of You
Like Maps?”
Number
of pages in Outline Descendant Report: 136 (up from 130 last chronicle)
Number
of pages in basic Descendant Report: 212 (up from 201 last chronicle)
Francis Holmes is # 1. I am
now # 312. # 298, where I was last week, is Cathy Higgins.
Matthew Williams, Jane
William’s grandson, is last at # 440, up from # 421, and his son is # ii.
#421 is now Michael A
Moore.
This should change weekly,
if I’m doing my job.
Something new in stats,
just for fun:
I put the names of all descendants of Francis
Holmes who are either in our Facebook group or on my mailing list for
chronicles, in a bag. Spouses and friends are not included as they do not get
numbered in the program’s default. Those who have no descendants are also not numbered,
but I’ll include them with their parent’s number. I pulled out three names, and
will follow them for two weeks. Next week, I’ll draw three more. This is for
fun, but the three names I drew were not in my tree that I am using now. I
inserted them and updated their families. Win-win exercise.
The three I drew are:
1. Susan Holmes Holt is # 291. Susie
is in the Peter line, and is married to Kevin Holt. She has two daughters,
Charlotte and Lillian. Charlotte is in university, and Lillian is looking at
universities now.
2. Jeff Yee is # 354. Jeff is in
the William line, and is married to Jennifer MacLean. He has three children,
Kyle, Ashley, and Lauren. Kyle is just out of his teens, and the girls are in
their teens.
3. Leanne Ballantyne Gaines is
#432. Leanne is in the James Ballantyne line, and is married to Jonathan
Gaines. I think she has one grown daughter.
~
This sweet, succinct comment from Mary about last week’s chronicle: “You
find out the most interesting things, Peg.” So grateful, I am.
~
Last week,
I gave you a challenge. Richard English (1690 – 1748) named a book in his last
will and testament. Rarely did people specify what
books they owned in their will, nor were they listed in the inventories. They
only said “book(s)” and/or “Bible(s).” Your challenge was to find the name of
the book, the author, and for bonus kudos, approximately how many pages are in
it and how much it would cost to buy it.
I think
everyone was too busy.
Here's the answer: The title (short version) is
"A Compleat Body of Divinity." That is what is written on the spine.
Inside the book, add "in Two Hundred Fifty Expository Lectures on the
Assembly's Shorter Catechism Wherein the Doctrines of the Christian
Religion are Unfolded." The author was Samuel Willard, 1640 - 1707. The
cost was cheaper than I saw earlier in the week: a sale at $1000 at Abe's
Books. It has 914 pages. Not sure how many pages were in the original copies,
or if the ones I quickly looked at are original. It is available to read on
line, should you like a challenge.
~
I took the time to hone my “Where There’s a Will” for
John Holmes, for the spring issue of “Generations.” I want to be done with it.
It took me about two hours to do my endnotes: I need a kick in the seat of my pants
for not doing it as I go. I thought I was done. But, I really need to reread
and reread it. Last night I found a big faux-pas, so I worked on fixing that.
Glad I spotted it, although I wonder if anyone reads it thoroughly enough to notice.
Next on my genealogy agenda:
·
Continue working on “Where There’s a Will” for Richard Holmes. I need that for the end of December for “News and Notes” (Readers Digest version) and “Generations” (longer version) for the summer edition of “Generations.”
·
In the evenings, continue working on the descendants of Francis Holmes,
so I have something to say for myself in the stats at the header.
·
Compile a Christmas newsletter, with your help.
~
Robert and Louisa Blurb
I am to host a writing workshop for our
genealogy group in April, 2023. I am going to base it on something I learned
many years ago. It’s more for essays than books, but it never hurts to start
with it. We already had a speaker talk to us about freewrites, so I will review
that beforehand and have them come to the meeting prepared with their topic and
their freewrite. Wonder how many will bother with that. I have decided to use
Robert and Louisa as my practice for this workshop. If called upon again, I
might do themes and settings and emotions etc. That, however, would be too much
for one workshop.
Without further ado:
My own personal first rule of thumb, and you’ve heard me say it before, and it doesn’t apply to my chronicles (my research journal; with them, I am a pantster) is Thom’s advice:
“KNOW MUCH MORE THAN YOU
WRITE”
Introduction – the hook
Include
purpose statement at the end of the introduction
I – Point one
II – Point two
III – Point three
Conclusion – refer back to the purpose
statement in the introduction.
For Robert and Louisa, I am using an essay by an anonymous writer that Elizabeth sent me. She found it in the Lincoln archives. I may print it to include with the genealogy. It puts meat on the bones. The blurbs will vary for the others, depending on what information I have. Maybe.
Introduction: Choose a hook. Develop a hypothesis. Make a purpose statement. (See the almost last paragraph.)
I - Journey
II - Contribution
II – Legacy
Then, go to subpoints.
I – Journey
A
– Robert - Smiths Falls, Lanark, Ontario: Sarah – Petitcodiac, Westmorland, New
Brunswick
B
– Madison Township, Poweshiek County, Iowa
C
– Lincoln, Penobscot, Maine
II – Contribution
A
– Family
B
– Community
III – Legacy
A
– Example
B
– Work ethic
C
– Wisdom
~
This is an enlarged map of Lanark County, where the Ballantyne family settled in Smiths Falls, and where Robert was born and grew up. Click on the link to see it in perspective. Too bad it seems to be on the seam.
https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:4m90fh65g
The next map is dated 1875, when Robert and Louisa lived in Madison Township, Iowa. It is close to the town of Brooklyn, where Robert’s cousin, James Ballantyne, and his wife, Frances Ann Holmes, lived with their family. It was still wilderness in Madison Township.
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui%3Aatlases_2235
“Poweshiek County is almost a square, 24 miles by 24
miles. It is broken up into 16 townships, most of which are 6 miles by 6 miles.
The townships are further broken up into one-square-mile sections, numbered 1
to 36, except for the irregular townships in the southern tier. The northern 3
tiers of townships in Poweshiek county are offset west of the southernmost
tier. This is because the ‘1st line of Correction,’ established by
the original surveyors to accommodate the Earth’s curvature, passes through the
county along the border between the two southern tiers of townships.”
http://iagenweb.org/poweshiek/map/map.htm
Google maps. Today, you could drive from Madison Township to
Brooklyn in fifteen minutes. 1870s?
Map of Lincoln, Penobscot, Maine in 1875. I see lots of familiar
names, but not Holmes or Ballantyne. Robert and Louisa might not have been
there yet, but by then, the William Nelson Holmes family was there. Robert and
Louisa’s son, Kingsley, was born there in 1876. They all attended the
Congregational Church, which you can see on the right, in blue. The link –
https://digitalmaine.com/atlas_penobscot_1875/3/
Here is a link to Penobscot County, but doesn’t give names. Look for Lincoln, in yellow. It’s about in the middle. It’s dated 1885.
The next is a map dated 1931. Interesting facts
on it: must have been printed in Sussex, NB. It was surveyed by Donald Oxley,
DLS. The historical data was supplied by J E Humphreys, Esq, Petitcodiac.
Scale: 1 inch = 200 paces; 25 paces = 1 chain. (Is that helpful?) I received
this copy of the map after it was donated to PANB by my friend, Leslie Gogan. I
accompanied her to Fredericton for the donation. The first photo shows the size
of it; the second zooms in to the home of Ormand Jones, grandson of Daniel and
Charlotte Holmes; he inherited it from Abner and Hattie (Holmes) Jones, who
left it to their son, Ormand. It remained, to the best of my knowledge, until
it was torn down to make way for the new highway. That date, I forget, but I
think it was in the 90s. It is such a fun map to study.
~
“The Hook”
Obstacles:
Wolves
Anxiety over the crops and markets
Long work days
Lived far from town, church and school
Growing needs of his family
Climate too intense for Louisa
Overcoming these obstacles:
Sold their house – big factor in deciding what to do – go west or
east?
Took a trip to visit their families: Ontario to Maine to New
Brunswick
Stopover at Lincoln, Maine to visit brother William
Saw a roomy house for sale in Lincoln, Maine that they liked
Take One
The little house that Robert built about ten
years ago, on the Iowa prairie, suited their needs then, but with the addition
of four children, they had outgrown it. Robert’s brothers and Louisa’s sister now
lived in Brooklyn, which was a considerable drive for the family, and during
the winter, it was a challenge to attend church and impossible to get the
children to school. In addition to chores and anxiety over crops and markets,
Robert had to preach and teach the children. Louisa complained often about the
weather, and still worried when wolves howled in the night. Robert pondered the
situation, and finally he and Louisa decided to sell the farm and move – west
or east – they did not know. But, without a house, they had to do something.
“Let us,” he proposed to his wife, “take a trip east to visit our families
before we decide.” The big farmhouse that Louisa’s brother William showed them
appealed to them; he signed the real estate documents, and the Ballantyne
family began putting their roots down in Lincoln, Maine.
The purpose statement can take many forms. It can be a hypothesis. It can be a total unknown in need of discovery. In this case, I want to show that the Robert Ballantyne family became an integral part of the community of Lincoln at the time. Hence, the cliché, “putting their roots down.” My three points will show this, and my conclusion will tie it all together. What I don’t recall at present is if there are still Ballantyne descendants in Lincoln. That will be part of the research and the conclusion as well.
~
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American cousins
and friends. Count your blessings, folks. I am
grateful that 40 years ago today, I gave birth to my first daughter, Erin.
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