Eagles Sat in That Tree

 

Uncle Peg’s Chronicles

December 17, 2023

“Eagles Sat in that Tree”

 

This photo (left) made me smile this week. This is Joanna Sylvestre and her daughter at an L L Beans in Maine. Joanna and Derek Sylvestre and their family are in the Charles R Holmes line. Jo’s photos used with permission.

 

 

This photo (right) made me smile last week.

 

Susan (Hyde) Stephens posted this photo of herself with Elsa Ballantyne, who, I think, is now, at 94, the matriarch of the Daniel and Charlotte Holmes family. Susan and Elsa are both in the Robert and Louisa (Holmes) Ballantyne family. I think Elsa lives in Utah, and Susan with her husband Kirk, in Florida. Elsa was born in La Paz, Bolivia. She married Daniel R Ballantyne and he adopted her twins, John and Cynthia. I am not sure of Elsa’s maiden name, and I don’t have her marriage date to Daniel. Susan and Cynthia are both in our Facebook group.

GRATITUDE

 

Awww, thanks again, Julia Nolte.  First of all, I wish to thank you for another stellar job of Chronicles throughout the year; you are amazing! And then, she gave me her contribution to the Christmas chronicle.

 

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS (WAS) . . .

No photos, but Paul Moore, who lives in Tennessee and works in Alaska (three weeks on, three weeks off), drove up to New Brunswick to see his sister, me. On his ways, he visited his other sister, Pat, in Virginia, and coming up, he visited his cousin, Jennifer, in Maine.

 

News From Holmes

I received this wonderful bit of news from my first cousin, Doug Holmes.

Request an email to view this news.

  

MY GENEALOGY GOALS

 

• Compile the family Christmas letter.

• 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.
• Spend a bit of time on Moore family research.
• Find four two one speaker 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.
• Index old newspapers for NBGS.
• Prepare for the start of the five-year virtual centennial celebration of the Holmes families of 1924 – 1928. Not sure what that will involve yet; I will consider all suggestions.

 

I spent time with my brother last week, and enjoyed his company immensely. Unfortunately, with other commitments, I didn’t get up to the farm with him to help with the chopping down of the old, tall, stately but deceased elm tree, which by his own dendrochronology, he estimates has been standing for about 150 years. This guesstimated age fact sent me into research mode. Who, I wondered, lived at the farm in 1873? Who planted that elm? Of course, I don’t know for sure who dug the hole, inserted the seed, watered the ground, nurtured the sapling, and inserted the steel hook that held one end of the hammock, but I do know whose blade ran into the steel hook! I think his chain saw might need some TLC. Read on. Any other time I had for genealogy basically went into the compilation of the Christmas chronicle. Paul’s and Pat’s family histories that I began (and are still WIPs) have been unveiled. They asked if they could open their gifts together. I thought Pat would ask me why I was doing Moore research, but she never did. I think they were surprised.

 

After he left, I went at the Christmas chronicle with a vengeance. I have spent hours skimming, rereading old letters and histories, looking at photos. I’ve found things I’d forgotten about, things I thought I had lost forever, and things I don’t remember ever seeing. Talk about nostalgia.

 

LOOKING BEHIND AND AHEAD

 

1924 to 1928

 

Those are the years that our great or great-great grandparents spent renewing relationships that had somehow fallen by the wayside but with organization, letter writing, and challenging travel – by hook or by crook – they managed to come together again. They discovered and rediscovered their family ties. And then, one by one, they died, and many of those ties died with them

2024 to 2028

How easy it is to lose our history!

So, here’s a little tale about a family tree.

The Holmes Elm

of 3174 Rt. 890, Hill Grove, New Brunswick

Planted c. 1873. Died c. 2020 of Dutch Elm Disease. Chopped down 2023 by the current owner.

The good folks of Hill Grove and Corn Hill (aka Hillgrove and Cornhill) like to know what is going on in their community, so I showed them a photo which Paul Moore, the owner, took of the tree he felled on December 3, 2023. It did not fall easily, and sadly, it fell alone. It nipped at the blade when Paul struck the hook that held the hammock that swung plenty of descendants. Then it ate the blade. Paul came home bladeless and discouraged. Photo by Paul.

Undaunted, he returned a few days later, just to see, and there it lay, sprawled across the entire front yard at the farm. Shovelling away some of the snow near the base, he retrieved the blade and removed some branches, until he ran out of fuel.

The Corn Hill Facebook folks immediately started reminiscing and sharing photos of the tree – none of them from when it was alive, though. And they told me that eagles sat in that tree, surveying their kingdom for their daily bread, or mice, or bunnies, or birds. I have never seen an eagle in that tree.

Who could have planted that elm? Paul estimated there were 150 rings in the tree, so its birth was c. 1873. Who lived there in 1873? I did a really quick study, and so my information may not be totally accurate, but I think Alexander Cain was the original owner of the property, or at least, he owned it before the Holmes family did. In the Walling map of 1862, Daniel Holmes has a dot by the Salt Springs Brook, across the road from E. McMonagle. I have no proof yet, but I think maybe Daniel owned the farm property after Alexander Cain.

I looked at the 1871 census of the area, writing down all the familiar names so I could place their farms and homesteads in my mind. In 1871, family number 71 was a young James Holmes and his wife, Augusta [Corey]; family number 72 was Abner and Hatty [Holmes] and their infant, Ormand Jones. (See today’s newspaper clipping.)

I looked at the 1881 census, and by that time, a young Charles Robert Holmes and his wife, Phoebe Jane [McMonagle], daughter of the aforesaid E[dwin] McMonagle, lived on the property with their infant son, George.

My guess is that either James Holmes, Abner Jones, or Charles Holmes planted that tree. Perhaps even Daniel!

Sometimes when you cut down a tree, new saplings start up. I must watch, and if they do, put a high pole near it so the neighbours don’t mow them down. 

THIS WEEK’S CLIPPINGS FROM NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES

Abner Jones (1842 – 1903) married, first, Harriet Olivia Holmes, daughter of Daniel and Charlotte Holmes. They had the following children: Ormand, Cuthbert, Daniel, Annie, Charlotte, Oliver, Margaret, and Edwin. After Hattie’s death, he married a young lady, Eliza Wilson. They had Warren, Harry, and Gertrude. Abner was born June 29, 1842, in Petitcodiac, NB; died May 18, 1903, in Danvers, Massachusetts. Some of those children are hard to research. The obituary said he left twelve children. I can only find eleven; ten of whom are well documented, and one who disappears after two census records. Oliver’s obituary states that there were eleven siblings.

 

THE DEATH ROLL

Melrose, Mass., May.25. – It is with regret that we learn of the death of Mr. Abner Jones who passed away May 19^th. Mr. Jones was born at Salisbury, N.B., in 1841. He was a prosperous farmer for many years. As a result of la grippe his health began to fail and for the past six years he had been quite miserable. About two years ago Mr. Jones and his family came to Massachusetts. The funeral services were held at his home, 28 Crescent Ave., Wednesday afternoon. There were many floral tributes and, prominent among them, a very handsome and appropriate crescent from friends and neighbours on Crescent Ave. The interment will be at Petitcodiac, N.B. Mr. Jones leaves a wife and twelve children.

 

REQUESTS FOR CHRISTMAS CHRONICLE

The deadline is almost here, and the Christmas chronicle will go out next Thursday via email. I’m so grateful for my faithful Christmas contributors, but I only have one well-wisher. If you choose to wish each other a merry Christmas, seasons greetings, or happy holidays, now is the time.

The reading, editing and compiling was interesting this year, and I think you will enjoy some stories of Christmas past. Thank you so much for taking the time to remember and share. Not all families are represented; that’s because I couldn’t find something Christmasy in my stash for them. Maybe you will send me some for Christmas, 2024.

You better watch out, you better not cry,

Better not pout I’m telling you why

Santa Claus is coming, to town.

 

Reindeer at L L Beans in Maine; soon to relocate to North Pole

Photo snatched from Joanna Sylvester’s Facebook