This Political Rag

 

Uncle Peg’s Chronicles

March 30, 2023

“This Political Rag”

 

Under the stats is News from Holmes and a Save the Date (if you are interested)

 

Number of pages in Outline Descendant Report: 161(same as last chronicle)

Number of pages in the basic Descendant Report: 246 (up from 244 last chronicle)

 

Francis Holmes is # 1. I am still # 339.

Jonathan Marquez (Frances Anne Holmes Ballantyne line) is last at # 502.

# 501, where he was last week, is now Derrick Hurde.

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:

 

·         Dana Fogg is # 432, up from # 431, who is now Christopher Underhill.

·         Amy MacKillop Guynn is # 453, up from # 452, who is now Mark MacKillop.

·         James Oksen is # 393, up from # 392, who is now Sabrina Oksen.  

 

New this week (only two) are Chandler Hall and Trace Holmes.

 

Chandler Hall, # iii, son of Julia Nolte, # 428, and Greg Hall, is going places in the world of music. He’s working on his doctorate in musicology. I don’t see too much of him on Facebook, probably because his nose is deep into old tomes. But, what I always see when a new photo pops up is his big smile. He’s in the Charles Robert Holmes line.

 

Orin aka Trace Holmes, # 283, of the William Nelson Holmes line, intrigues me. I’d like to meet him. If I need information about old stuff, he either pops in to tell me what it is or I ask him. We’ve had some interesting discussions. I just can’t remember, maybe he taught history. Maybe he’ll pop in and tell me.

 

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:

 

·         Complete the introductory blurb to the Lincoln projects.

·         Facilitate the new reading group read for April in our new NBGS website. We are reading: “Genealogy for Pastime and Profession” by Donald Lines Jacobus.

·         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. That will have to wait until after my April presentation.

·         Continue working on my April presentation, “Hook, Lines, and Sinker” for the genealogical society.

·         Send Richard Holmes article to editor of Generations.

·         Start indexing old New Brunswick obituaries and death notices for the NBGS website project.

·         Get ready to scan Uncle Billy’s guest book for the NBGS website.

The completed introductory blurb follows. The revised Louisa chapter is now on the shelves of the Lincoln Historical Society. The new reading group starts April 1^st. I’m reading the book and taking notes to hopefully stimulate some discussion. I finally wrote a chronicle after three weeks off. I added lots of people to our tree, but they were not in our lineage but another branch, so stats didn’t move much. Haven’t touched Jonathan. Working on my presentation and getting nervous about it. Thank you, Brenda Batchelor and Ann Ward, for your editing help with my Richard Holmes article. One more preview, and it’s off to Generations, insert it into CCC, and I can put that in the past. I learned how to index the newspapers and got a start on that. Just a couple of papers a day. More about that. Editor of our website is really intrigued by Uncle Billy’s guestbook.

 

An update on Mary Ellen Fielding. Mary Ellen’s cancer has spread to her lungs. She is presently in the hospital, in a lot of pain, and is not checking her Facebook, but her sister passes along messages.

 

News from Holmes

 

Welcome to the family, Wylder Rose. Wylder, the son of Wesley Hagmann and Bailey Hamblin, and the first grandson to Glammy, Michelle Holmes Morey, arrived March 22^nd, 2023. All are in good health, and he’s a handsome little fella.

Genealogy: Wylder – Bailey Hamblin and Wesley Hagmann – Michelle Holmes and John Hamblin – Fenwicke Holmes and Karla Lay – Jerome K Holmes and Alma Vincent – Jerome C Holmes and Jennie Edwards – William Holmes and Anna Heath – Daniel Holmes and Charlotte Hoyt – Samuel Jr Holmes and Phoebe Holstead – Samuel Sr Holmes and Elizabeth Fountain – Nathaniel Holmes – Isaac Holmes and Deborah – Richard Holmes and Mary Miller – John Holmes and Rachel Waterbury – Francis Holmes, our immigrant ancestor.

 

And, because some of that lineage is circumstantial: start at Elizabeth Fountain and Samuel Sr Holmes – Elizabeth Hoyt and Matthew Fountain – Dorothy Holmes and Zorobabel Hoyt – Jonathan Holmes and Dorothy Roberts – John Holmes and Rachel Waterbury – Francis Holmes.

 

 

Save the Date

(if you are interested)

April 15, 2 PM ADT

 

I will be the speaker for the April meeting of my genealogy society. It’s a workshop, and I am going to talk about how to write an outline for an article for a genealogical journal. Sounds boring, I know. But, it’s the kind of thing that is useful for just about any kind of writing or presenting. My example will be my grandfather, Floyd Orren Holmes. I have three wee stories about his life, and my theme is close calls.

 

You will need a zoom link, so be sure to tell me if you would like to attend.

 

“Go beyond names and dates. Once you have the larger framework established, it’s time to integrate your research and notes in a way that truly tells the story of your family. What interesting information did you find that surprised you? Which topics are most important to you?” ~Angie Frederickson, “The Writers for Hire.”

 

~

Here is the revised blurb that I wrote for the Lincoln project. It actually has a couple more minor changes. Elizabeth has helped with the editing, and Annmarie with some suggestions. Thank you, ladies. I did something I never do: I sent it to you before editing it myself. I won’t do that again. It’s a short summary of our family. If you descend from Daniel and Charlotte, do you know which person you descend from?

 

The Holmes Family of Petitcodiac, New Brunswick

 

                Twelve children were born to Daniel and Charlotte (Hoyt) Holmes of Petitcodiac, New Brunswick. They raised them on their farm on the Old Post Road, and educated them in a vacant schoolhouse close to their home. Some married and stayed nearby; others scattered to places far away; one died as a toddler.

1.       Frances Ann married James W Ballantyne, born in Scotland, an immigrant to Ontario, Canada. How they met is a mystery to me. James was a brick and stone mason and farmer. After the Civil War in the United States, James and Fanny relocated to Brooklyn, Iowa, where they rest in the Brooklyn Memorial Cemetery. They had five children, although two died young.

2.       Margaret Eliza married William Oliver Snider, a farmer, of nearby Portage Vale, where they lived together all their married lives. They died within days of each other, while visiting Maggie's brother and his family in Hill Grove. They are buried in the Hill Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Hill Grove, New Brunswick. They had no children.

3.       Sarah Louisa, generally called Louisa, married Robert R Ballantyne, a cousin of James W Ballantyne. They lived a short time in Robert's town of Smiths Falls, Ontario, and then relocated to the outskirts of Brooklyn, Iowa. Robert was a teacher and a farmer. After several hard years in Iowa, they moved to Lincoln, Maine. Robert died and is buried in Lincoln Although Louisa died in Des Moines, Iowa, I assume she was brought home for burial beside her husband in the West Broadway Cemetery of Lincoln, Maine. They had eight children, although two died quite young.

4.       Harriet Olevia, generally called Hattie, married Abner Jones and died in Petitcodiac at the young age of 43. Abner remarried Eliza Ann Wilson, a young lady of 19 years of age. Abner and Eliza eventually moved to Massachusetts. Abner died in Danvers, Massachusetts; he is buried with Hattie in the Petitcodiac Baptist Cemetery in Petitcodiac. Abner and Hattie had eight children; Abner and Eliza had three. Eliza remarried twice, and is buried with her third husband in the Lovell Cemetery in Lovell, Maine.

5.       George H, twin of James, died in Petitcodiac at about three years of age. I do not know where he is buried.

6.       James Hoyt married Augusta Corey of nearby Havelock, New Brunswick. He was a farmer. He and his family moved to South China, Maine, where James and Augusta are buried in the Chadwick Hill Cemetery in China. They had four children.

7.       William Nelson left home in his teens and went to Lincoln, Maine. He was the first of the Holmes children to go to Lincoln. He married Anna Columbia Heath, and they settled in Lincoln, but moved to several towns in Maine before moving to Palms, California. He was a farmer and cook. William's ashes were scattered in his rose garden in Palms; Anna's are in the West Broadway Cemetery in Lincoln, where they are both memorialized by a marker. William and Anna had nine sons, although one died young.

8.       Caroline Maria married Charles Alfred Steeves, generally known as Alf. Alf was a cousin of Abner Jones. They left New Brunswick and settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and are buried together in the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Alfred and most of their sons were merchants in the butcher and grocery business. They had nine children, although two died young. Carrie spent many summers in Lincoln, Maine. Their son, Walter, and his wife, Villa (Warren), made Lincoln their home, and are buried in the Park Street Cemetery in Lincoln, Maine.

9.       Peter Ketchum married Hannah Burpee of Hartland, New Brunswick, and they moved with Peter's career with the railroad to various places in Maine, eventually settling in Sangerville. Peter died in Sangerville; Hannah in Brunswick. They had five children. They are buried in Caribou, Maine, with two of their children who died young.      

10.   Charles Robert married Phoebe Jane McMonagle of Hill Grove, New Brunswick. They lived their married lives in Hill Grove, where Charles farmed. They are buried in the Hill Grove Baptist Cemetery.  Charles and Phoebe had nine children.

11.   Charlotte Elizabeth, generally called Bessie, married Elias Kinnear who lived in nearby Corn Ridge, New Brunswick. Bessie died about six weeks after their marriage; I have not found her cause of death. She is buried beside her parents in the Petitcodiac Baptist Church Cemetery. Elias remarried the following year to Eulalia Herrett. They eventually moved to Clinton, Massachusetts, where Eulalia died and is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery.  Elias died in Mexico, Maine; he is buried with his wife in the Woodlawn Cemetery. Elias and Eulalia had ten children. One died in infancy; one lived to the age of a hundred and two.

12.   Howard Fenwick, generally called Fenwick, married Maud Marion English in Woodstock, New Brunswick. Fenwick worked for the railroad and several other jobs, none of which he held for too long. He and Maud moved to the rough, young community of Rat Portage, which was then on the border of Manitoba and Ontario, but eventually became part of Ontario. In the early 1900s, Fenwick brought Maud back to New Brunswick, to the community of Portage Vale where his sister, Maggie, lived with her husband, William Snider. She soon died and is buried in the Portage Vale Anglican Cemetery, also known as the Gifford Cemetery. He then removed to Florida, where he is buried in Jacksonville

                I have researched this Holmes/Hoyt family for many years. I have sources available for almost every event, should you need them. To the best of my knowledge, all vital statistics are accurate. If you spot an error or have a question, please email me.

                 I trust these records will be helpful to any of you researching the descendants of Daniel and Charlotte (Hoyt) Holmes of Petitcodiac, New Brunswick, and their children. This project is a trilogy of their children, Louisa Ballantyne and William Holmes, and their grandson, Walter Steeves, who made Lincoln their home for some portion of their lives.                                                                                                                                I did much of my research in Ancestry.com records. If I could locate a Find A Grave memorial number for an individual, I wrote that number in the notes which are included in the Descendant Reports. Simply go to the Find A Grave website and type the number in the search box. Sometimes you will find interesting articles or photographs there. Sometimes the information is incorrect, so if you are researching, compare the records to other sources.

                I acknowledge with gratitude the help of Elizabeth Steeves of Lincoln, Maine.

 

Peg Vasseur

holmespun7@gmail.com

2003.

 

REFERENCES

 

Website: Ancestry

Website: Find A Grave

 

Bailey, May Edwards. "History of Trans Alpine: The Southernmost Part of the Town of Lincoln, Maine, Beyond the Alps." Lincoln, Maine. 1950.     

 

Holmes, Fenwicke L. "Ernest Holmes: His Life and Times." New York: Dodd, Mead and Company. 1970.

 

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I have a new project which will take me a few minutes every morning that I can manage it, no pressure. The genealogy website has a feature called “Obituary Index.” I have a newspaper assigned to me, and I go through it and find the death notices and obituaries, find the main details, and put it into a slot in the website. As you know, I love old newspapers and often get sidetracked. Well, not so much sidetracked in this political rag that I picked. I chose it for the early dates, starts in 1882, not for the liberal politics. And, I care not whether it is liberal or conservative, just don’t like political discourse. Hey, the venting was almost as bad then as it is today. So, I go straight to the page that has Cradle, Alter, and Grave, and look for what I need. On the plus side, I can take a peek at the other old papers if I so desire, and I do desire.

 

~

It’s never too early or too late to learn. Red Tail Hawk, Guelph, Ontario.