July 6, 2023
“Getting to Know Myself Through My Ancestors”
This
week, I lost something valuable. I’m not sure if I will be able to retrieve it.
I tried to update my Family Tree Maker and in so doing, lost it. I spent hours
on Friday on a chat line with the company, to no avail. The man who I chatted
with was going to refer it to his higher ups. I await.
This
is what I use to create charts and books. Liz, hang on tight to your booklets
as, for the time being, they are gone.
This
is the program I intend to use to make our gigantic family tree descendant
chart.
It
may be necessary to take my computer to the doctor to see if he can fix my
problem.
Thursday update
- I called my computer doctor. He told me what to do but I’m afraid to do it.
Julie will help me when she comes home.
~
We don’t share
DNA but we do share a common interest in the Steeves line, as Chris’s
great-grandmother and Laura’s grandmother, Alma Robidoux, married Fenwick
Howard Steeves, son of Alf and Carrie Steeves. I went back to our messenger
thread and reread it. Here’s a quote from Chris:
“I never
understood why people enjoyed genealogy until now. I feel that I’m getting to
know myself through my ancestors.”
~
The years roll
by quickly. Once again, it’s the birthday of Daniel Holmes: on July 9th he
is 210 years old. Many of us in this group are here thanks to him. To me, he is
my great – great grandfather; to some he may be great-great-great. Some call
him Uncle. Some, in the past, called him “Old Dan.”
We aren’t sure
if he was born in 1813 or 1814, but I think it was 1813. As cousin Karl said,
“maybe he didn’t know.”
On the 9th,
feel free to eat a piece of cake in Old Dan’s honor.
~
My hearty
gratitude to two people this week. Annmarie Holmes added three tombstones from
the Old Pioneer Cemetery and sent a photo to the maintainer of the fourth tombstone.
Memorial numbers for Isaac and Mary Elizabeth Ketchum are 255857681 and
255857774.
Also, to Chris
Neel, for his encouragement. Talking to him about sharing his daughter’s photo,
he said, “also wanted to tell you that I really enjoyed your photos from
Portage Vale. It really shows that you have a passion for what you do. It’s
beautiful to see.”
~
My genealogy goals for this week were:
- Chronicle
several times, and publish on Thursday morning.
Research James Malbie Hoyt and James Hoyt III.- Keep
researching and writing about Daniel Holmes for the “Where There’s a Will”
article.
- Continue
indexing old New Brunswick obituaries and death notices for the NBGS
website project.
- Make a
pdf of Uncle Billy’s guest book.
- Spend a bit of time on Moore family research.
- Try to
reinstall Family Tree Maker.
I chronicled several times. I researched
the two Hoyts. Will the real James Hoyt please stand up? Actually, they are
both real. I made a special Holmes copy of the guestbook. I worked on my “Where
There’s a Will” article. I will wait until Julie comes home for help with
reinstalling FTM.
~
New this week on
our cousin focus are cousins Brian Holmes and Patricia Yee.
I met Brian
Holmes in person at the 2016 reunion. He is in the William line, the son of
Fen and Bette (Hoon) Holmes. He is married to Jolynda Tresner and has two sons,
JF and Jerry. I knew of Brian for much longer than that, though. Brian is a
French horn player, a composer, a member of choirs, groups, and orchestras, and
a retired physics and physics of music professor. He has built his own horn. My
goal is to make him smile.
I met Brian’s
cousin, Patricia Yee, also in 2016 at our reunion. She came with her
sister, Kristin, and they followed up the reunion with a trip – I believe to
England, going by my fuzzy memory. Trish is the daughter of Jerome and Alma
(Vincent) Holmes. Fen and Jerome are the sons of Jerome C and Jennie (Edwards)
Holmes. Jerome C was the son of William Nelson and Anna C (Heath) Holmes. Trish
has three children, Jeff, Brady, and Lyndsay, and they with their spouses have
given her seven grandchildren.
~
I have completed Uncle Billy’s guest book scan – a special Holmes
copy of Riverbank Visitors. That means that on the bottom of the page
with a Holmes family member’s autograph, I have listed the names. Since, I’ve
mentioned Chris Neel a couple of times in this newsletter, I thought I’d better
show you a couple of pages, Chris.
If you wish a pdf copy, please ask and I’ll gladly send it to you.
If I send it to you and you see an error or omission, please let me know. I’ll
correct it and resend it to all who asked for a copy.
I love seeing my ancestor’s names in this guest book.
This guest book, Riverbank Visitors, is in public domain. All
people mentioned therein are now deceased. Feel free to copy and distribute if
you wish.
Click on photos to enlarge.
DIGGING
DEEPER
ANOTHER
INVASIVE SPECIES
James
Hoyt
I continue with
some of the invasive species in our family trees. The first article was in the
chronicle of June 22. These are people who never actually grafted into our
tree. Although they may have been fine people, they don’t belong. There is no
sap of DNA. Way back whenever, someone said they were part of our family and
unsuspecting genealogists added them to the point that they are now accepted as
fact. The word is putative: “generally accepted or reputed to be.” They belong in different trees. I am going
to carefully continue the process of determining the validity of everyone in
our tree. Actually, I’ve tried to do that for a long time, but now I want to be
proactive about it. If you are a genealogist working on a different tree, I
hope to motivate you to “dig deeper” for your own tree.
My intent is not
to criticize but to critique. You are not obligated to change your trees, but I
do urge you to study them and make your own decision based on the facts that
you find. Think about the facts. Do they make sense? Do they corelate with
other sources? Do the places make sense? Some people moved around, but many of
them settled and stayed. What about dates and current events? What was going on
at the time and place?
I was going to
mention names, but that takes too much time. Genealogists, please check your
trees. I don’t expect you to take my word for it – I hope you will “dig
deeper.”
Does
James Malbie Hoyt belong in our trees?
Who was James
Malbie Hoyt? Does he belong in our
trees? Let’s look below the surface, and give some breathing space to our
roots. In this particular case, don’t just check the name. It could be that you
have plain James Hoyt, James Hoyt III, or James Malbie Hoyt. You also need to
check your sources, for some of you, whether or not you included the
Malbie/Maltbie name, have picked up sources for the wrong person.
If you did pick
up James Malbie Hoyt as the son of James Hoyt II and Mary Ann Beldon, you are
not alone. Most people, it seems, do. How can I ever hope to convince everyone
on the internet? I can’t, of course. It is my hope that if we get it right,
others won’t pick up the same mistake, at least from us.
Did James Malbie
Hoyt exist? He did, although his middle name was Maltbie. Who was he? Was he
the son of James Hoyt II and Mary Ann Beldon? Did he know our James? I don’t
think so. The two had a couple of things in common. They were born about the
same time, and they both descend from Simon Hoyt. One thing I will tell you
is that it is easy to mix up these two James Hoyts. Another thing I will tell
you is that our James Hoyt III doesn’t show up in Ancestry hints. If you
have Ancestry’s hints in your tree, whether or not you use the Malbie in his
name, they are probably for another James Hoyt. Do not be discouraged. In the
past, I too have included James Malbie Hoyt in my tree. How did these two get
so muddled?
I stated James
Hoyt III’s birth place as Stamford, CT. So did Fen, on page 42, in “the Hoyt
Line.”[1]
Quoting Fen: “James Hoyt III was probably born in Stamford Connecticut, but we
do not have any positive information.” I
did some thinking after I read Annmarie’s comment in her tree:
My answer is that he was probably born in Nova Scotia or New
Brunswick. New Brunswick became a separate province from Nova Scotia in 1784,
so don’t be misled. He and others who came from Stamford originally settled
along the Saint John River in western Nova Scotia, now New Brunswick. My source
for now thinking he was born in Nova Scotia/ New Brunswick is “Ice Out Past My
House.” James Hoyt II’s information is documented, and he was in Long Island before
coming to Canada. More information follows. Feel free to dig deeper into these
historical events if you choose.
I have reviewed
James Hoyt III, and inserted my own sources on Ancestry.
I cannot find a
birth record for James Hoyt III, son of James Hoyt II and Mary Beldon, in the
indexed records of the town of Stamford, or anywhere else. How then, did I know
that he was born in or about 1784?
Here are the
sources I have on Ancestry. I have none from Ancestry’s suggestions.
First is the indexed
copy of his death record from the Anglican Church records. This is available
with a membership at the New Brunswick Genealogical Society; you can view the
indexes at the society with a guest account; members can see a copy of the
register. In this case all of the information in the register is in the index.
I have included a screen shot copy of the pertinent information of my sources.
If you are reading my blog and want to see these sources, request an email.
An
indexed view of the burial details of James Hoyt III in the Anglican Church
Records.[2]
In “A
Genealogical History of the Hoyt, Haight, and Hight Families,” by David W Hoyt,[i][3] you
will find the children of James Hait or Hoyt (2916). This is a valuable
resource to use carefully. Each person has a number.
Page 394:
I.
Azor (3430) m. Hannah English;
lived in New Brunswick; had chil., Samuel Beldon and Wm. Beldon . . .
II.
James (3431) m. Fanny Ketchum;
lived in New Brunswick; had child., Azor, m. Margaret Reid; Sally, m. Nelson
Price; Charlotte, m. Dan’l Holmes: and perhaps a dau., m. Cornelius Snider.
III.
William (3432)
From Azor Hoyt’s
diary, published as “Ice Out Past my House,” we read: 1847 – Jan 11: Mr. James
Hoyt died very suddenly.” Footnote 299 – editor states: “Brother to Azor Hoyt.”
A reprint of this book, compiled by Jack Hoyt and edited by Sandra Keirstead
Thorne, is available at the Kings County Museum. If you want to order a copy, I
can get the address for you.
At the
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Daniel F Johnson’s New Brunswick
Newspaper Vital Statistics, we find an excerpt of James Hoyt’s death notice.[4]
I wanted to read the whole thing – which may or may not be more detailed.
I visited the
Harriet Irving Library of the University of New Brunswick, which is digitizing
and adding old newspapers to their website. The last issue of the New Brunswick
Courier on their site is in December 1946: less than a month before the one I
want. Perhaps in time.
Where was James
Hoyt II/Jr. when his son was born? Not Stamford; probably not Long Island. Fen
has noted the Stamford probate record of “James Hait (sic), Junr. late of
Stamford,” dated 1778. Fen probably saw the record; I have not seen it. (I did
not realize they did probate records for living people.) I will give you the
introduction to “Ice Out Past My House,” by Azor Hoyt, son of James Hoyt II and
older brother of our James Hoyt III, which tell briefly of some of Junior’s
exploits. I sent it last week, but you may not have kept it.
From the
foreward of “Ice Out Past My House:”
Paragraph 3:
“They lived in exile on Long Island for six years until the spring of 1783 when
they, with many friends and relatives from Stamford, removed to St. John (sic),
Nova Scotia (later New Brunswick). (New Brunswick became a separate province
from Nova Scotia in 1784.)[5]
How do I know
that our ancestor, James Hoyt III, was born c. 1784? I did the math.
James
Malbie aka James Maltbie Hoyt
Here is my
information on James Maltbie aka Malbie Hoyt.
From the
Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre – 1870 (Barbour Collection) comes the
source that should stop people in their research tracks: James Malbie Hoyt, Son
of Hoyt, Samuel and Hannah, born July 11, 1785. [6]
Herein we find the middle name error – in the transcription of the original
record. His parents are not Hoyt:
James and Mary Ann. We should not go any further.
However, since
many people just skim and click on suggestions, I will. Remember, once upon a
time, I did have this in my tree.
Find A Grave #
24917809 for James Maltbie Hoyt gives his father as Samuel Hoyt (1751 – 1802)
and mother as Hannah Maltbie (1762 – 1838). It gives his date and place of
birth as 11 Jul 1785 in Stamford. That matches the Connecticut Town Birth
Record. It gives his date and place of death as March 1824. That date of death
does not match Connecticut, US Death and Burials or the US Hale Collection of
Cemetery Inscriptions for St. John & St. Andrews Cemetery and Stamford,
which state he died in March, 1821. The source for James M Hoyt, “US Citizen
Affidavits of US born Seaman gives a date and place of birth as Stamford.
Declaration port 1819 New York City.” That may or may not apply to James
Maltbie Hoyt (I have my doubts but it is irrelevant to me), but it certainly
does not apply to our James Hoyt who was alive and well in New Brunswick at the
time.
The 1810 Census
of James Hoyt of Stamford – a family of four – may or may not be for James
Maltbie Hoyt.
Feel free to
research further if you are still convinced that you descend from James Maltbie
Hoyt. I am satisfied that I do not descend from James Maltbie Hoyt. He may have
been a fine man, but he is not my ancestor. If he married and had a family,
Find A Grave does not say so, and it is irrelevant to me.
I urge you to
challenge me on any person or fact in my “Francis Holmes Family Tree.” I
welcome the challenge. My other Holmes trees are gradually being incorporated
into this tree, correct to the best of my knowledge at the time.
~
It is easy
to judge our ancestors’ actions or the cultural climate they lived in. The
family historian, however, must be objective. Our ancestors did not live in our
era and place, and to study their lives you must know about the culture and
laws of their time – not ours. That involves digging deeper.
~
Another Land Petition for Isaac Ketchum
This is still a WIP. I need to do the land grants as well. It’s a
learning curve for me. Last week’s article is tucked into CCC.
There are
two Isaac Ketchums in Kings County. They are cousins, according to Annmarie. Thanks
for digging and sharing, Annmarie. People often mix up Isaac Ketchum, Esquire,
who is buried in Hampton, NB, with our Isaac. He is not our Captain Isaac
Ketchum who is buried in Portage Vale.
I located
this petition at FamilySearch.[7]
To His Honor
Major General
George Stanley Smyth Esq
President and Commander in Chief of the
Province of New Brunswick
The
Memorial of Isaac Ketchum of the
Parish
of Sussex County of Kings
Humbly
Sheweth
That
your petitioner having fully complied
With
the Conditions of the Grant lately obtained from
Government
near the source of the Salmon River, and
finding
a lot of vacant land of One Hundred and Thirty
acres
between the joint Grant to your Petitioner and
others,
and the lot in said Grant obtained by Elias Snyder
most
Humbly prays that your Honor will be graciously
pleased
to Grant your petitioner said lot as no more
than
two Hundred and fifty Acres of land has ever been
Granted to him in the province. Your Petitioner
in
settling
the lot granted to him has been compelled to
open
and improve a road of four miles in length.
Your
Petitioner is sixty two years of age married, has ten
children
has twenty acres of the land lately Granted to him
under
good Cultivation Eight meat Cattle and and (sic)a good
Dwelling
House and Barn on the same has taken the
oath
of allegiance to his Majesty and Government and is of ability
to
perform the Conditions of the Grant.
And as in duty Bound your
Petitioner will ever pray
Sussex
Vale 15 September 1815.
Isaac
Ketchum
This page is in three sections, probably folded at the time.
I do hereby certify that
Isaac Ketchum is Sixty two
years of age married has
ten Children, twenty acres of
the land lately Granted to
him under good cultivation
has Eight meet Cattle a
good Dewlling House and barn on the
Same, has taken the Oath of
allegiance to his Majesty and
government, has had but two
Hundred and fifty acres of land
Granted to him in this
Province and is of ability to perform
the Conditions of the Grant
Sussex Kings} 15 September 1815
County } J.
C. Leonard
We do certify that as
commissioners of Road, we laid out
The road to the improvement
made by Isaac Ketchum,
and that it is now
compleatly (sic) opened and improved
and that the improvement on
his land is very great.
John
Barbour
Samuel
Hallett
Memorial of Captain
Isaac Ketchum for
180 Acres land – at the
source
of the Salmon River in the
Parish of Sussex.
15 Feb[ruary] 1816
20th Sept 1815
20th Sept. 1815
The Lot applied forin this Memorial numbered 30 is Vacant and Contains 130
acres
With 40 rods front – it
joins the Lot of 1000 acres
Granted to Isaac Ketchum
and three Sons.
Geo:
Sproule
~
Not all of the photos/screen shots are included. Request an email if you want to see everything.
I know. This is a lot to
digest and it is summer, after all. Enjoy your summer days. We haven’t had many
here in New Brunswick, so I keep researching and writing.
[1] Holmes, Fenwicke W., compiler.
Holmes/Hoon Genealogy. “The Holmes Line.” Unpublished typescript,
edition of 2002. Page 42.
[2] Anglican Church Records. NBGS. (Membership or guest membership
needed to view. https://arp.nbgstwo.ca/records/displayRecord/MC223-S15-6C1a-0016_burial_0080
[3] Hoyt, David W. A Genealogical History of the Hoyt, Haight, and
Hight Families. Providence. Printed for the Author by the Providence Press.
Co. Boston: Henry Hoyt. 1871, Pages 355 and 394. https://books.google.ca/books?id=5ow9k6vp2AYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
[4] Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Daniel F Johnson’s New
Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics. New Brunswick Courier, Saint John, NB,
Vol. 11, Number 1979, date of issue January 23, 1847. https://archives.gnb.ca/Search/NewspaperVitalStats/Details.aspx?culture=en-CA&guid=b89a3d7f-87d8-4df7-b12a-de8109e2bf3a&r=1&ni=142877
[5] Hoyt, Jack E., editor and compiler, and Sandra Keirstead Thorne,
genealogical notes. Ice Out Past My House – the Diary of Azor Hoyt: A King’s
County Loyalist. 1993.
[6] Connecticut, U.S., Town Birth Records, pre - 1870, (Barbour
Collection) for James Malbie Hoyt. https://www.ancestry.ca/discoveryui-content/view/147938:1034?tid=&pid=&queryId=a4d30e64d6de9039ad6c83b417b26281&_phsrc=msu1721&_phstart=successSource
[7] "New
Brunswick, Canada records, Aug 4, 2018," images, FamilySearch
(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSV5-13HX-4?view=explore :
Jul 4, 2023), image 366 of 830; New Brunswick. Crown Land Office.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSV5-13HX-4?view=explore&groupId=TH-909-70949-88089-62
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