Ketchum Takes the Cake

 

Uncle Peg’s Chronicles

January 5, 2023

“Ketchum Takes the Cake”

 

 

Number of pages in Outline Descendant Report: 151 (up from 149 last chronicle)

Number of pages in the basic Descendant Report: 231 (up from 228 last chronicle)

 

Francis Holmes is # 1. I am now # 327. # 326, where I was last week, is now Margaret Holmes Clifford.

Jonathan Marquez (Frances Anne Holmes Ballantyne line) is last at # 480.

# 477, where he was last week, is now Kenneth Williams.

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 if the three names I drew were not in my tree that I am using now, I insert them. Win-win exercise.

 

The three I drew last week are:

 

·         Mark MacKillop is now # 432, up from 429. # 429 is now Tyanne Sylvestre Mullins.

·         Marika McGinnis Petterson is now # 425, up from 422. # 422 is now Darren McKillop.

·         Susan Hyde Stephens is now # 352, up from 351. # 351 is now James Ballantyne.

 

New this week are:

 

·         Michael Holmes, son of Glenn Holmes, is # 377. He is in the William Holmes line. He is married to Hellen Lopez Holmes, and they have two young sons. Their sons’ middle names are Everest and Lhotse. Being as these are the highest and second highest mountains in the world, does this make you as curious as it makes me? If you were at the 2016 reunion, you may recall Glenn and Mitzi talking about their three grandchildren that would soon be born. One of these three was to Michael and Hellen, and the two were to Michael’s brother and sister-in-law, Eric and Aun.

·         Anne Marie Holmes Gautreau is # 324. Anne is my first cousin – that puts her in the Charles R Holmes line. She is married to Lionel Gautreau and has two grown daughters, Maryanne and Angela, who now live out west. I must tell you the story about when I met her daughters. Anne must have told them there was a reunion going on, way back about 2012 or so. Anyhow, you know I’m an organizer and I knew who was expected. I was in the kitchen at the farm and there was a long lineup of people in the hallway where they used to keep hats and rifles at the ready, and I heard some giggles. In all that chatter, I heard those giggles. I didn’t recognize their laugh but then again, I did, and I don’t know why, but I knew it had to be from an Uncle Bryce connection. They were, and introduced themselves and proceeded to liven up our day. The following year, or was it two, they brought their Mum and Dad. When our young ones are curious about their past, be sure and tell them about it. Usually, the curiosity doesn’t start until retirement.

·         Angela Wellman Brandenburg is # 476, and she too is in the Charles R Holmes line. Angela married Mark Brandenburg in 2013, and they are the parents of two elementary school children. If you attended the 2016 reunion, you met her parents, Mark and Sandra Wellman. I have written in our family tree that Mark was born in San Salvador, El Salvador.

 

FYI, this takes a lot of time, but it’s kind of fun. I do it on Tuesdays rather than Thursdays. Watch for your name.

 

~

What I learned about DNA testing this week.

 

One of my Facebook friends, not a cousin and not in this group, sent away for an Ancestry DNA test. After waiting the allotted time, he received a new test in the mail. His first test didn’t work, so they asked him to do another. A conversation thread started on that subject. It seems that happens sometimes; I won’t say often, but it’s certainly not unheard of. He received this advice from several people: scrape your cheek first. “Ouch,” you may think. No, just use the edge of a spoon, and swish your mouth with your own saliva. One lady mentioned that it won’t work if you’ve had your thyroid removed. That seems weird to me, and no one else commented on it.

 

I headed over to Ancestry DNA’s FAQ’s. I didn’t see anything about thyroid removal mentioned. I did learn that if you have had a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, you should not do DNA testing. Not that it will hurt you, but it will also contain the DNA of your donor. Instead, have parents or a sibling tested, and follow their results.

 

https://www.ancestry.com/dna/en/legal/international/faq

 

~

December 23, when I should wake up wondering what Christmas preparations I need to do this day, I woke up knowing what I wanted to say for “Records” for my Edward Catcham article, so after I fed Bonnie Piper and Simon Says, I went straight to my outline and then my rough draft - even before I opened my email and Facebook. Funny, does that only happen to writers? Do artists do it too? Others? Was it on my mind in my dreams? I don’t remember it. Anyway, I skipped right over Research, which is Point B, and went straight to Records, Point C.

Here's my totally unrevised scribbles that woke me up:

“From my study of this will and inventory of Edward Ketchum, I have gained a new appreciation of old records and those who keep them. Rare is the ancient document that is not torn, ink blotted, smudged, or illegibly handwritten. This document, although a disappointment for many people, from the spiller of the ink in the 1600s to me in 2023, is no exception. With gratitude, I pick out words and phrases proper and names. As I read some of these words and phrases, familiar terms come to mind, for although each will in an era is a bit different, it contains similarities. Other researchers have been able to see more words than I can, but here is what I was able to see:

Left side:

 

And

After my

I give and

Hester five

after my decease

____ ____ for th

Witness the day and year above written

Thomas Pell

 

Right side: starts at “year above written”

 

And Testament

Edward Catcham and the Court

____ ____ William Hill

 

Being somewhat familiar with wills of the 1600s and1700s, I am able to read between the lines. Mind you, I may not be reading correctly between the lines, but here are a few things I “see” as I read:

“After my” just debts are paid . . .

“I give and” bequeath to my loving wife . . .

I give my daughter “Hester five” shillings . . .

. . . Last will “and Testament” . . . .

 

 

I can take what I know and compare it to other records. As we have seen in the previous paragraphs, many people have researched Edward Ketchum and his family. Unlike my immigrant ancestor, Francis Holmes, I could refer to several articles about Edward. I appreciate the fact that the document exists – save for the conclusion. For my ancestor John Holmes, son of Francis, all records of his latter years are gone, for during the American Revolution, soldiers burned buildings and in the case of Bedford, Westchester, New York, where John Holmes lived, they burned the entire town, including the records.

I have a new appreciation for those who treasure, maintain, preserve and digitize and treasure these ancient, frail documents. Our history is priceless, and archivists perform a great service. If you have not had occasion to see an old, original document, you may no longer be able to. Many are preserved in climate-controlled facilities behind closed doors. If you are able to visit the Moncton Museum in Resurgo Place, look for the Stieff Bible on display under glass. It is a wonder it is in such good condition, considering its journey across Europe, the Atlantic Ocean to America, and from America to Canada. Look at it intently – the writing, the paper, the size of the tome. Admire it.

I appreciate even more my opportunity to learn and responsibility to share, in my small way, what I discover. The lacunae and illegibility are real, and nothing can be done about it, but after studying this probate, I believe wholeheartedly that every document is worthy of preservation and study. It only needs a descendant to come along and love their ancestor, not because he or she was loveable – we might not know that, but because we are part of them and they should be remembered.”

~

December 31 – the last day of 2022. Time to start afresh. I have enough goals that I don’t need to add any more. Perhaps I need to organize them, put them on a list and tape them to the wall beside my desk. I don’t even remember what last year’s goals were, but I remember the special word I chose to focus on – “grateful.” I have tried to be grateful this year, but I don’t know that I always showed my gratitude. I am so grateful to you, my cousins. Some of you are so quiet, I forget you are there – and then, occasionally, you pop your head into my Facebook or email or our group and say hello. Thanks for doing that. Most of you are “once in a whilers,” hitting the icons and occasionally commenting – I do look to see who hits the icons in our group and generally, unless they are sad ones, they make me smile. Those of you consistently send me messages and emails of encouragement and/or correction – I appreciate you so much.

I have chosen a new work for 2023 – DISCOVER. Genealogy discoveries, especially epiphanies: great stuff. But, in all aspects of life, I want to look for things. Out in the open things, yes, but often, those I find by digging and looking under rocks and roots (literally or figuratively) are what make life special.

Thank you, each of you, who follow along with my sometimes confusing, sometimes mundane, sometimes profound blog posts and emails. I hope to share lots of discoveries with you next year.

I also hope to clean my house and declutter. I always hope to do that, but somehow, what I discover whilst doing that is not overly interesting. But, if I could see some shelf space and closet room under the clutter of my life, I think I would be happy.

~

Jeanni Worster sends me lots of emails with news, suggestions, encouragement and questions. Questions are good: they often lead to discoveries. Sometimes those answers are deep in the recesses of my binders and documents – I have seen them before, but had not realized their significance.

She asked me for the names of some of our other immigrant ancestors. I did not really give her much of a reply, except off the top of my head, I remembered John Waterbury. But, I did do some searching. Beebe and Hurlburt come to mind. Underhill, for some Charles R Holmes descendants. This will be an ongoing process.

I come back to immigrant ancestor, Edward Ketchum. My rough draft for the society that I started earlier for the newsletter is done; I am working on revision #1 – printed and annotated and full of lines crossed out and one special repeated note to self: “show, not tell.” As this is an essay, it won’t contain much “showing,” but for each point of my outline, including the intro and conclusion, I want a short showing. Highlighted in yellow down the sides are five “show, don’t tells.”

I decided to trace myself back to Edward Ketcham – eleven generations. On my chart, his name appears thirteen times on my lineage. Some of those names overlap, as we descend from three grandchildren of Edward. My Ketchum lineage would be the same for anyone of you descended from Daniel Holmes and/or Charlotte Hoyt. For those descended from Samuel Holmes Jr and Elizabeth McElmon, the Ketchum name would only be for the Holmes line, to my knowledge.

Some day I’d like to get a great big piece of paper and on it, insert my ancestors all the way back to each immigrant ancestor. Theoretically, a surname should only appear once on an ancestral chart, but that seldom happens. Cousins and relatives interconnected, whether they should have or not. I think the name Ketcham takes the cake. With thirteen Ketchum ancestors, our Holmes/Hoyt family tree is somewhat lopsided. (Photo by Peg, 2022, Fort Beaujejour/Cumberland)

For now, I include a chart of our Ketchum lineage. It’s a work in progress, but I think it’s corrected. As we don’t know when Mercy Lindall died and when Joseph married Sarah Jaggers, I’m not sure who to put for their mother. I may figure it out some day.

 

What a lot of Ketchum DNA we have! 

Happy New Year wishes, cousins and friends!