Raspberry Dumplings

 

Uncle Peg’s Chronicles

February 16, 2023

“Raspberry Dumplings”

 

Number of pages in Outline Descendant Report: 160 (up from 159 last chronicle)

Number of pages in the basic Descendant Report: 242 (up from 241 last chronicle)

 

Francis Holmes is # 1. I am now # 336. # 333, where I was last week, is now Anne Marie Holmes Gautreau.

Jonathan Marquez (Frances Anne Holmes Ballantyne line) is last at # 498.

# 495, where he was last week, is now Kenneth D 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 pull out three names, and include 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:

 

·         Mike Holmes, son of Bob, is now # 457. # 454, where Mike was last week, is now Adam Duncan.

·         Betty MacKillop Sylvestre is now # 327. # 324 where Betty was last week, is now James D. McKillop.

·         Jane Barber Williams is now # 352. Last week, she was # 349, who is now Elaine Remington Danielson.

 

New this week are:

 

Phyllis Bearse Digennaro is #322. I met Phyllis and Conrad many moons ago, when Brett Nolte encouraged them to come back to the land of their roots – I’ll say 2012. I remember they came to our house and Conrad cozied right up to Mum and went home with a bottle of her home-made strawberry jam. Phyllis is in the Charles R Holmes line, and they are the parents of one son, Matthew, and two grandchildren, Bella and Joey. Bella was rather shy, but not so Joey, who won our hearts at the piano in 2016. I miss seeing you two on Facebook, Phyllis.

 

Andrea McGinnis Drollinger is # 443. Andrea is also in the Charles R Holmes line, through her Mum, Beverly McKillop McGinnis. She is one of seven siblings. I haven’t met Andrea, but I do see her frequently on her lovely, positive Facebook. Andrea is married to Dustin Drollinger but I’m not sure on her children so I won’t guess.

 

Grace Holmes March is # 269. She is in the James Hoyt Holmes line. Fen Holmes referred her to me many moons ago, telling me he thought I would like her. I do like her and her hubby, Brook March, very much. She has helped me in the past with Uncle James and Aunt Gusty, and hopefully will again. She is a great encouragement to me, often sending me a little email after the weekly chronicle. She lives in Maine and winters in Florida. She and Brook are fixing up their Florida home this winter, after it was severely damaged by Hurricane Fiona. She has a daughter, Nichelle, and a son, Stephen. If you went to the 2016 reunion, you met Grace and Brook, Nichelle, and Nichelle’s daughter, Sophie.

 

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.

 

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My genealogy goals for this week were:

 

·         Send story about Phoebe McMonagle Holmes and her recipe for Raspberry Dumplings to Jeff. Outline: bread and milk for Christmas; a summer drink for the grandkids; sharing the dumpling recipe.

·         Finish the Carrie Holmes line for the Lincoln project.

·         Chronicle several times, and publish on Thursday morning.

·         Add a few more people to the tree so the stats move.

·         Start researching and writing about Jonathan Maltbie for the “Where There’s a Will” article.

·         Write a draft for the “About” section in our group.

·         Continue working on my April presentation for the genealogical society.

·         Revise Richard Holmes for Generations.

·         Advertise the Saturday genealogy society meeting and get ready to chair it, as president is away.

 

I am working my way down the Carrie line, and I’m at Walter’s son, Jerome.

I chronicled and moved the stats a bit.

I can’t seem to change the Facebook About section, so I need to think about that.

I am deep into the life of Richard Holmes again. Done rough draft, and man, is it rough.

I advertised the meeting; just need to print off my introduction to the speaker and I’m good to go to meeting.

I sent my story about Phoebe McMonagle Holmes to Jeff. You get to read it first. (I had to cut, so I left out the summer drink story.)

Phoebe’s Raspberry Dumplings

Phoebe adhered to the rule that people should not share their recipes. We are lucky to have salvaged one of them. Truth be told, according to Mum, her grandmother was not a good cook.             Evening fare in the little house, across the driveway from the big house where my mother was born, was bread and milk. Almost every evening, the hard-working Holmes farmers and farm hands received a dainty portion. I’ve had bread and milk, generally a day before Dad’s pay day. It’s not bad, if there’s nothing else in the larder. Tear the bread into pieces, sprinkle with sugar, and add fresh milk from the cow (or in my case, the milkman) and serve.                                                                                             Mum loved to tell us about the day that her grandfather went into the little house after morning chores and found Phoebe tearing up the bread. Sick and tired of the usual fare, he exploded. “I will not have bread and milk on Christmas day!” Phoebe was making stuffing for the turkey. Oops.                                                                                                                                                                   You might be thinking, why would I want her recipe? It’s the only recipe salvaged from her collection, according to my Mum, and I love it.

Raspberry Dumplings

1⅓ cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1½ tablespoon oil (Mum’s substitute)

¾ cup cold water.

 

Mix the dry ingredients. Add oil to water and add to dry ingredients. Cook in a dutch oven, placing each spoonful on a rack over boiling water. Cook 15 minutes. Do not raise the lid while cooking. Split each dumpling. Butter and sprinkle with sugar. Cover with raspberries which have been cooked in a syrup of 1 cup water and ½ cup sugar.                                                                                                   You could substitute blueberries or blackberries. Phoebe probably used butter or lard. Although I use the oil, you could probably use a tablespoon of shortening.  That might need some experimenting.                                                                                                                                                         In my opinion, it tastes best when you pick the berries in the brambles, and cook it on the old woodstove.          

Phoebe Jane McMonagle was born in Hillgrove, Westmorland, New Brunswick, to Edwin and Elizabeth (MNU) McMonagle in 1856. Rev. James Herrett, minister of the Baptist Church in Havelock, performed the marriage of Phoebe to Charles Robert Holmes in 1875. They lived their married lives in Hillgrove. She died at home in 1933.                                                                                                                      I spent many happy days in Hillgrove, and one of my fondest memories is eating there with my siblings and cousins. We children ate in the front room while watching Bugs Bunny cartoons, dining on baked beans and brown bread or macaroni, hamburger and tomatoes with white bread, all cooked on the woodstove. As adults, we sat at the big old table by the stove and shared stories. Sometimes we ate raspberry dumplings for dessert.                                                                                                                           The McMonagles are the first brick wall in my family tree. Like most of her recipes, Phoebe Jane McMonagle Holmes took her lineage to her grave.

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My helper, Simon Says. He is trying to help me transcribe the inventory of Sarah Grant Holmes for my next article for Generations.

 

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The next section is Moore genealogy. You can read it or skip it – your choice. It’s a slow WIP.

I am working on the Glendenning -  White connection, using the FAN Club method. So. Many. Whites. Two James Glendennings. PLACE seems to be a connecting factor. So, I’m doing a sort of spreadsheet of my own making, of census records. Some things I know. I have lists of children and in some cases, grandchildren. Some are comparable. Some are iffy. It is a work in progress.

I am even looking at Ancestry Family Trees, some without sources, some with. Just looking. Considering. It is not a recommended step in genealogy. However, sometimes you can tell if people actually knew the individuals personally, and I figure a quick peek doesn’t hurt, as long as you don’t depend on it.

I am focusing in on a place. It’s not a place they stayed, but it’s a common denominator. Hampstead, Queens, New Brunswick. Land grant to James Glendenning jointly with Henry Boyd. Also, place of birth of some Whites. Didn’t note that but I recall it.

Tip: Use PANB and NBGS for New Brunswick folks. Ancestry doesn’t know everything.

Why Henry Boyd? James Glendenning married Jane Boyd. Could Henry be Jane’s father? I see him in unsourced trees as such, so I need to study him further. I see in a tree that Henry Boyd married Sarah Ogden.

There is another James Glendenning, from Galloway, Kent Co, but he did not have children, according to one of those NB sources aforementioned. Ruled him out.

NBGS: First Families. John Glendenning, born Mouswald, Scotland, married Janet Davidson. He (or they) came to Canada in 1816 and settled in Queensbury. Son James, b. 1797 in Mouswald, died 26 Jan 1846, had two daughters with unknown wife: Sarah and Margaret. Yes! I am pretty sure that Sarah and Margaret married the White brothers, William and John.

Map: https://www.google.com/maps/@45.6803015,-65.7229825,11.5z

I am not familiar with this part of New Brunswick, but I see that Hampstead is just down the road from Wickham, where the Whites were. It’s across the road from Kingston. I would take the road from Roachville, outside of Sussex where I stayed last summer for Aunt Phyl’s memorial. A nice summer drive, which is a rarity these days with the price of gas. I wonder if we could kayak across the St. John River, but I’m not going to suggest it.

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My book arrived and I have started reading it and putting some transcribing tips into practice. It’s rather textbooky, and the Latin section is a bit of a challenge. I did take Latin basics in high school, but that was a few years back. Loved my teacher, Mr. Murphy, who taught Latin to a few of us during his lunch hour. He was a history teacher, and I wonder if I would have appreciated history more if I had had him for History.

"Opinion varies on the extent of experience necessary for the reading of documents, but it is undoubtedly very demoralizing to flail about hopelessly in the deep end when gentle progress from experience in the shallow end can gradually bring confidence." Page 5. Author, Hilary Marshall.

I flailed about, but did figure out a few things. Now, it is starting to make sense.

The first thing I put into practice from this book is to make a copy of what I want to transcribe. (I also enlarge and enhanced it.) Then, I number each line. Below it, I transcribe by numbers, and stop the line when the scribe did. Doing it this way saves trying to figure out where I was. I picked up a few confusing words this way. I should also include a commentary, but haven’t come to the how-to in the book yet.

This is what my transcriptions will look like going forward: (I will remove the numbers when I put them into an article.)

1  John Bouton of Norwalke one of the Adm^es: to y^e Estate of Richard Holms

2  dec^d:  is also deceased and therefore the Prerogative Court held in fairfield Jan^y 27

3  1706 [7] do Appoint John Bostwick of Norwalke to Joine with M^e. Sam:^ll : Hayes in the

4  worke of the Adm^e: on y^e Estate of y^e s^d Holmes and the Executing what Remains to be

5  don according the will of y^e s^d Richard Holmes and also to Finish the worke of

6  Administration and distribution of the Estate of the deceased Sarah Holmes according

7  y^e order of Court decemb^e: 23: 1706

 

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Wishing you a good week, folks. I hope you are learning something new and gaining confidence at it, moving gradually from the shallow end to the diving board.