Uncle Peg’s Chronicles
October 5, 2023
“Pick-up Sticks”
This photo made me smile. It’s a pick-up sticks kind of
week, I think. This handsome lad is the son of Michael and Hellen Holmes, and
grandson of Glenn and Mitzi Holmes. Snatched from Glenn’s Facebook with
permission. William N Holmes line.
LOOKING
AHEAD
Last week, my sister came for a visit and we gadded about.
It was most relaxing and fun. When I sat down to look at my chronicle, I said
to myself, “too late.” It was still just information dump. So, I didn’t finish
it until this week. Pat and I talked a little about the chronicles. She
mentions that it’s TMI: too much information. I’m not quite sure what to do
about that, as it is, besides news and photos, also my research journal made a
bit fancy. She also had a bit of a revelation from our conversation. We were
discussing the perpetuity of storytelling from grandparent to grandchild. I
mentioned that I thought Charles was the storyteller in the family, and that’s
where Mum got the stories. She hadn’t connected the short distance of time
between Charles and Mum, for some reason: the same distance of time between her
and her grandchildren, and between me and Winston.
This perhaps bears repeating, and I stretch my imagination
to picture James, William, Carrie, Peter and Charles at their tables with
paper, straight pens, and inkwells. One hundred years ago, the post office ran
letters between these five Holmes siblings, planning the summer reunion of
1924. Making lists of grandchildren. Attempting to locate the descendants of
their late siblings – Fanny, Hattie, and Louisa. For my generation, those eight
siblings are our collective great-grandparents. Not so distant a relationship,
is it? Real people, relocated all over Canada and the United States. Forgetting
their roots as they lived their busy lives, with the children of Daniel and
Charlotte making a last-ditch attempt to bring them together.
Perhaps losing touch is just the way of the world. We
haven’t enough time, interest, or inclination. I hang on to my Facebook for
dear life, not because I love it so and enjoy the scroll through the mainly meaningless
memes and suggestions from Meta, but because of my reconnections with friends
and family from my past. Important people.
A century, that’s how long it’s been since that first of
five annual reunions. Do you realize how short that time really is? I’ve passed
my seventh decade mark and it seems like I was just a child romping at the
playground down the street, visiting my grandparents and cousins, going off to
school, finding a career and retiring, losing loved ones along the way. The
memories get fuzzy now. Pat and I did some recalling of escapades when she was
home. We wracked our brains to think of the names of some childhood friends.
I really am thinking about what to do, and the months are
flying by and the time is almost here. Those five years – 1924 to 1928 – our
parents of some great level – mine were greats – gathered every summer. They
met in three places – Petitcodiac, New Brunswick, area; Lincoln, Maine, area;
and China, Maine, area. They took family, individual and candid photos. They
wrote about their gatherings in newspapers. They compiled a history, albeit
flawed. Imagine the time and effort it took to contact all those people, even those
who could not attend. Oh, to have one of those letters. I want to do something
to bring back the spirit of those five years.
For now, I am starting simply with trying to make the
chronicles more interesting to you. Starting small as I ponder. I’m including
more photos. I’m using titles instead of ~~~s. And, following Jeanni’s advice, I’m
trying to do better in identifying who I am talking about in articles. I’m
scratching at the boundaries of the box. There might be some trials and errors
as I approach 2024. If they work, great; if not, out they go.
There are always sticks to be picked up at the farm. This
is what it looked like two weeks prior to Pat’s visit.
GRATITUDE
Last
weekend, we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving. I have a couple of ladies I am
grateful to for their encouraging comments, but I want you all to know that I
am grateful for each one of you, for you are my family. Some are closer than
others, of course, as we are siblings and first cousins; some are far distant
relations with only minute amounts of shared DNA and interest in the same
ancestors; and some are in between. To those of you who hit an icon button or
make a comment on a post or send an email – know that you make my day.
I
am grateful this week to sisters Julia Nolte and Celia Anklesaria. These emails
picked me right up from my doldrums! Their mother, Janet, is the 90th
birthday celebrant mentioned in the September 28th chronicle.
Charles R Holmes line.
From Julia – “My goodness, Peg! I
just got home and downloaded your latest Chronicle and was then stunned by all
the pictures!”
From Celia – “Enjoyed reading the latest Chronicle and
was delightfully surprised to see pics of Nolte Family (plus) members.
Enjoyed the letter about the Snider brothers, the love poem, the Tribute to
Jerry, and the signage for the Holmes/Burnam Sawmill Trail. So glad you
like to chronicle family chronicles! I was unable to join Emily and Julia at
Mom's 90th birthday; nevertheless, with the assistance of ZOOM ‘The Kids’ and
grandkids were able to say hello . . .”
MY GENEALOGY GOALS
- Chronicle
several times, and publish on Thursday morning.
- Keep
writing my next article for Generations, which is about the will of
William Lotham. Francis Holmes is mentioned in his inventory both as owing
money and being owed money.
- Continue
indexing old New Brunswick obituaries and death notices for the NBGS
website project.
- Spend
a bit of time on Moore family research.
- Think
about and make lists for a welcome back in person party for our genealogy
society branch in October. It will have a book theme – old
genealogy/history books on a popup library display, and a for sale table
for books we longer need. Two short speakers, ten minutes each tops.
Leftover time will be for reacquainting and meeting new people, and
looking at books.
- Find
fourthree speakers for January to May of 2024, for the genealogy society. - In
the evening, after chores are done, edit the Maggie Holmes and Billy
Snider family (second child of Daniel and Charlotte) the same way I did
the Louisa, William and Carrie lines. No rush on that.
I had to focus on the October workshop
meeting, as it’s coming up quickly. One of my speakers can’t make it, so I have
to prepare a short talk. I continued on with Elias Snider. And I wrapped a
Christmas gift. Smile.
DRAWN FROM A HAT
Featured this week are
Mary Jane (Holmes) Hamilton and Margaret Rose (Holmes) Clifford.
How wonderful that I picked them out together, for they know each other well.
They are sisters, the daughters of Bryce and Inez (McVicar) Holmes; they have
another sister, Anne Marie. They are in the Charles R Holmes line. Please
correct me if any info is incorrect, ladies.
Mary is older than Margie, and both of them are younger than Anne, and that
is all I have to say about that. I saw them both quite often when we were
young, and then there was quite a spell before I saw them again. Last summer
2022, we got together for our Aunt Phyl’s memorial service, and had a great
visit. Mary and her husband, Randy Hamilton, have four grown children –
Shawn, Randi, Nicholas, and Morgan, and five grandchildren.
Margie married Brent Clifford, and they have four grown children – Anne, Mary,
John and Elizabeth, as well as four grandchildren.
The header photo for
the blog shows cousins descended from Floyd and Minnie Holmes, in a row, in the
front yard of what we remember as a prosperous farm during our childhood. If
you visit the blog header, you will see the cousins in this order: Margie
Clifford, Doug Holmes, Mary Hamilton, Karl Holmes, Anne Gautreau, Cindy Steeves,
Mike Holmes, Peg Vasseur, and Brenda Batchelor. Missing are Bob Holmes and Sue Davis
(deceased), Paul Moore, Pat Booth and Jennifer Bell (with deep regrets, unable
to attend). Blog header: https://grandmasgarret.blogspot.com/
News From Holmes
Gracie Lynella Patterson – Clay Patterson and Marika
McGinnis – Robert McGinnis and Beverly MacKillop – Raymond MacKillop and
Lillian Shipley – James McKillop and Arletta Holmes – Charles R Holmes and
Phoebe McMonagle – Daniel Holmes and Charlotte Hoyt.
My memory is fuzzy, but I do recall the MacKillop
family ringing our doorbell when I was a child, and Mum so happy to see them:
Ray and Lillian and their three young’uns, Beverly, Betty, and Ray. I seem to
remember a fun visit with these cousins I didn’t know. Although Ray and his
brother, Cecil, were a bit older than Mum, the families were close when they
were young. James McKillop, for those of you who remember Uncle Fred and Aunt
Tress McKillop, was Uncle Fred’s brother. Arletta died when Cecil and Ray were
young teens, and the boys spent some summers helping out on Gramp and Uncle
Fred’s farms and when chores and haying were done, playing and swimming at the
brook.
You may have met Roger and Betty (McGinnis) at the
2014 reunion at the Hill Grove Farm and Cornhill Hall. Mum was glad to see her
again after so long. They, with their daughter, Jordann, travelled from New
Hampshire to Arkansas to attend Gracie’s wedding.
Back, left to
right: Roger Sylvestre, Brooks McGinnis, and Rodney McGinnis.
Front, left to
right: Betty MacKillop Sylvestre, Andrea McGinnis Drollinger, Marika McGinnis
Patterson and Jordann Sylvestre Archut.
KATHERINE’S POETRY
(Continued from the chronicle of September 28.) The
author, Katherine Eggleston Junkerman Holmes, was the wife of Fenwicke Lindsay
Holmes, son of William Nelson Holmes, grandson of Daniel Holmes. I don’t know
much about her. She was born in Mississippi in 1874, and married Fenwicke in
1919, becoming a mother to his adopted son, Louis. I don’t know her date of
death. The link will take you to a brief biography. William N Holmes line. You
can read the short book at https://archive.org/details/fragranceoflove00junk
OUR LOYALIST HERITAGE
I snatched this photo from the NBGS Facebook group.
Someone is restoring memorial stones in Fredericton, NB, and I thought this one
was appropriate for us, as we Holmes descendants have both Patriot and Loyalist
ancestors. Fredericton is the capital city of New Brunswick. Here’s a good link
for you to read: https://uelac.ca/monuments/fredericton-monument/
Inscription on the
Plaque: To the memory of the United Empire Loyalists who settled in this region
following the American Revolution. Compelled to leave their homes in the
Thirteen Colonies for their loyalty to the crown, they founded the province of
New Brunswick in 1784 to secure British institutions for themselves and their
prosperity. Many of these loyalists lie buried here. Spem Reduxit. Erected 1983
by the Fredericton Branch United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada on the
200th anniversary of the arrival of the Loyalists in this province.
(Spem reduxit means hope restored.)
Continued from chronicle
of September 28
William Oliver
Snider’s Ancestry
I was a bit mixed up
in the lineage last week, but I’ve done a bit more research. I don’t know too
much yet about William’s great-grandparents, but they were the immigrant
ancestors from Switzerland or Germany.
William Oliver Snider
(c. 1827 – 1916) – son of Elias Snider Jr (1782 – 1856) and Deborah Ketchum –
son of Elias Snider Sr (1754 – 1811) – son of Johann Jacob Schneider and Mary
Magdalena Lang (baptized c. 1732). Johann was the son of Christian Schneider
and Mary was the daughter of Elias Lang – and that is where the name Elias came
from.
Johann ‘Jacob’
Schneider and Mary Magdalena Lang had the following sons and daughters. The
dates should all be considered circa for now. I have taken them from a source
that recommends that they be verified and Find a Grave, which differs from some
other sources. All were born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All came to New
Brunswick except Christian, who stayed in Pennsylvania. Martin later went to
Ontario.
Martin 1753 – 1828
Elias Sr 1754 – 1811
Christian 1756 – 1827
Baultus 1757 - 1809
Peter 1758 – 1830
Barbara 1762 –
Mary 1764 - 1855
Jacob 1773 - 1854
Martin, Elias,
Christian, Baltus and Peter all fought in the Revolutionary War, and all
survived. War sometimes breaks up families, and in the Schneider/Snider family,
Christion took the side of the patriots; the rest were loyal to the king.
William, who I fondly
refer to as Uncle Billy as I never heard him called anything else, married
Margaret Eliza Holmes, our Aunt Maggie. Margaret was the second child of Daniel
and Charlotte Holmes.
I knew that they were
related to each other, so I delved into that. How closely were they related?
Not quite so close as our mutual ancestors, Captain Isaac Ketchum and Mary
Elizabeth Ketchum. Now I know we can sort of legitimately call them Uncle Billy
and Aunt Maggie – even though they aren’t our initial uncle and aunt. Maggie is
my great-great aunt; Billy is my third cousin five times removed. I think. So,
if you are the great-grandchild of Daniel and Charlotte (Hoyt) Holmes, like I
am, you would be the same.
Here’s the chart.
Page
3 of petition, continued from September 28th chronicle
This
relates to Elias Sr and his brother, Peter; two sons of Jacob and Mary
Schneider.
https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/3712/images/40939_307117-00007?pId=15477
Be It Remembered
That on the 27th day of March AD 1786 The
within named Elias Snider & Peter Snider Personally appeared, and made oath
that from the 15th of July 1785 to the 24th October
following, they were in actual Service in the King’s Army, and that from the
said 24th Of October to the 25th March 1784, they resided
in the province of New Brunswick, and these deponents further say that they
were utterly incapable of professing or delivering to the Commissioners
appointed by Act of Parliament passed in the 23re year of the reign of this
present Majesty’ entitled “an act for appointing Commissioners to inquire into
the losses & services of all such persons who have suffered in their rights
properties & professions during the late unhappy dissensions in America, in
consequence of their loyalty to His Majesty and attachment to the British
Government.” Or at their office any Memorial, Claim or Request, for Aid or
Relief on account of these Deponents’ losses during the late unhappy
dissensions in America, with the time Limited by the Said Act, for the
receiving of such Claims, by reason that these Deponent were during all the
time aforesaid (viz between the 15th July 1783 &the 25th
March 1784 employed in the Kings’ Service or resident in New Brunswick where
these presence was indispensably necessary for the Support & preservation
of their families.
Signed in
presence of The
mark of
Ed Winston Elias
X Snider
The mark of
Peter
X Snider
Fredericton,
Province of New Brunswick
Sworn to this
17th of March 1786
Before me
Ed Winston
Winston likes to pick up sticks and leaves on his daily walks. ~ Julie
My grandson, Winston. Charles R Holmes line.
I love the curiousity of a child.
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