This week is Celebrate Your Name Week. Each day has a designated topic. Today is Namesake Day. Since I’ve already written about this topic, I’ll just link my previous post here. Tell me in the comments if you were named after someone or someone was named after you and who it was/is.
You can find my post here: https://honeysuckle-farm.com/the-power-of-a-name/.
Enjoy your week!
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
I was wandering around the Twitter-verse last night after midnight and I found a hashtag that I decided to follow. One of the things I found triggered a memory so I thought I would share for the boys.
The daily prompt I encountered was, “Name a time-travel story you enjoyed”. I began thinking of the time-travel stories I’ve read – quite a few. I wrote one of my own so it helps to know what’s already out there. My brain settled on one book in particular and here’s the memory it triggered.
When I was a child, my love of time travel stories was kicked off by Andre Norton with her book Octagon Magic from her The Magic Books series. It’s one of the earliest books I ever remember reading. I lived in a small, rural town that didn’t have a public library at the time (at least not that I can remember). I don’t even remember having a school library at that time! Our library “service” came via a pamphlet in the mail every month. I couldn’t wait for that pamphlet to arrive!! I would pore over all the books marking ones I would like to read. I wonder if my mom ever missed that pamphlet? I’m not sure she saw enough of them to know we were getting them because I swiped them!
Anyway, at that time, you would choose your book(s), mail the order back in and in a few weeks you’d get your book to read. #OldSkool
I may or may not have gotten the book through the mail service. I really don’t remember how I got access to that book but I suspect it was that service. (However, my mom was working on her Bachelor degree to be a school librarian so it could just as easily come from her!) I never read any other book in the series and don’t remember even knowing it was a series until I was an adult and looked for that book again. In fact, I don’t think I ever read another Andre Norton book. If I did, it didn’t leave an impression like this one did. There’s nothing like the perfect book at the perfect time!
My wish for you is that you find your “perfect book at the perfect time” sooner rather than later, and that you find many “perfect books” during your lifetime. A quick recommendation for my grandsons: the author Jon Scieszka. His goal in writing is to create books for boys who don’t necessarily like to read.
Happy reading,
Grandma, aka Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Today is A. A. Milne’s birthday, otherwise known as Pooh Day. Pooh had a lot of wisdom to impart. Here are a few bits of wisdom Pooh laid down for us:
“If you live to be a hundred, I hope I live to be a hundred minus one day, so that I never have to live a day without you.” ~ Winnie the Pooh
“A hug is always the right size.” ~ Winnie the Pooh
“Any day spent with you is my favorite day. So, today is my new favorite day.” ~ Winnie the Pooh
“If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there forever.” ~Winnie the Pooh
“The most important thing is, even when we’re apart…I’ll always be with you…” ~ Winnie the Pooh
“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.” ~ Winnie the Pooh
“‘We’ll be friends forever, won’t we, Pooh?’ asked Piglet. ‘Even longer,’ Pooh answered.”
“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”~ Winnie the Pooh
“I’m never afraid with you.” ~ Winnie the Pooh
“The things that make me different are the things that make me, me.” ~Piglet
“Promise me you’ll always remember: you’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” ~ Christopher Robin
“It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine.” ~Eeyore
“We didn’t realize we were making memories. We just knew we were having fun.”
“As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was going to happen.” ~Winnie the Pooh
Go out today and be adventurous! Love generously, keep looking for sunshine, and remember how lucky you are.
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Happy 2023! I’ve officially been blogging for 15 years now. Crazy to think it’s been that long! There aren’t a lot of things I stick with for that long but here we are!
The first theme for this year is “I’d like to meet”. We recently lost my uncle, Max. We lost him shortly before Christmas. Today I was reflecting about him seeing and talking to my grandparents (his parents) a couple of days before his passing. I think about this a lot because it’s happened to so many people I know right before they passed away. In regard to my ancestry, there are a lot of people I’d like to meet. I know I won’t get to meet them all since we won’t all be going to the same place after death. Hopefully, I will meet the majority of them though.
I asked my husband today if he ever thought about this part of death – like, who would visit him and escort him out of this world when he died. He said no. Me? I think about it a lot. I think about the people I hope to see again after my death. I’m the opposite of my husband. In fact, I have a running list and have made requests for who escorts me from this life to the next. Never hurts to ask, right?
So, in addition to Jesus and a few prominent Biblical figures (I’m looking at you, Queen Esther!), I’d like to meet the two angel grandbabies that I never got to meet. I’d like to see my son again and my grandparents (Audrey, Gene, Jessie, and Troy) and great grandparents (Mark DRAKE, Edith HUBBARD DRAKE, Ralph LARKIN, Bessie WILLIAMS LARKIN, Albert BATES, Dettie GIBSON BATES, William RITER, and Laura BULLOCK RITER), but most of those are people I’ve already met and the theme was who would you like to meet. So, in addition to my angel grandbabies, I think I would like to meet Emily HENNIG or Lavina PILGRIM DRAKE. I’d like to know what they’re stories are and why I can’t find any information about them. Add in Lucinda DOW GIBSON. She had a crazy life. And maybe the great-grandmothers I didn’t meet – Laura BULLOCK RITER and Dettie GIBSON BATES (see links above). (I’d even settle for meeting the great-grandpas I never met: Ralph LARKIN, Albert BATES, and William RITER – see links above.) We could all sit down and have tea together and discuss the lives they led. I wouldn’t even mind if we discussed what I got right and what I got wrong about them on my blog. I could own up to mistakes in my research for this particular tea time.
Alas, I’ll have to wait. Hopefully they’re waiting for me in the place I intend to be after my death. I’m dying to find out…ha ha. Couldn’t resist that one. In the meantime, I’ll just have to keep researching and keep updating my death bed request list.
I apologize for the morbid start to 2023. Despite the morbid start (or maybe because of it), I recommend clicking the names above to read my blog posts about the people mentioned in this blog. I hope you have a wonderful year – meet all your goals, see all your dreams come true, and find all the love you ever wanted in your life.
All my love,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
I hope you are all enjoying your 2023 so far. This week (already!) is our first full moon of 2023 – the Wolf Moon! In the past, I’ve done limited edition bracelets for full moons but this year I’m going to do essential oil blends. These blends are also limited edition. In addition to the full moon blend, I have two new blends for Epiphany. I have both diffuser blends and perfume blends in a roller bottle.
Blended to take full advantage of the energy of the Wolf Moon while it’s in the Cancer zodiac, this roller bottle has lavender to ground you, peppermint to uplift you, and rosewood to round off the scent. It’s a must-have for this month! I have 5 ml dropper bottles for your diffuser or 10 ml roller bottles for you to wear as a perfume.
Whether you call it Epiphany, Twelfth Day, or Three Kings Day, celebrate it with a subtly spicy perfume blend. This is a calming, spicy scent that has Frankincense and Myrrh as the main essential oils blended with a third oil that tones down the spicy-ness of the main oils to produce a subtle perfume. The carrier oil for the Epiphany roller is Jojoba which is wonderful for your skin.
Celebrate January with a unique scent for your home or yourself. These products are not yet on my website so if you’re interested, you’ll have to message me. You’re getting first dibs on my new, limited edition products! Last day to purchase these products is January 31st.
I hope you all have a great week! Until next time,
Lisa @ Honeysuckle Farm/Ink & Perfume Blog
On 1 January 1976, the Copyright Revision Law was signed so I thought the anniversary of that signing would be an appropriate day to cover my requests for my blog posts and pictures. I’m pretty lax about copyright. I don’t mind if people repost my materials. I only ask that you do the right thing by giving credit to me/my blog and linking back to my blog so other readers can find me. Thank you for using information respectfully.
Happy Copyright signing day,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Overall, 2022 was a really great year for my family history research. Before I talk about that though, let’s review the goals I set for 2022. Here they are:
“With my business still being less than one year old and my book project in full swing, I think following 2021’s mantra of keeping plans “simple and uncrowded” is a good idea. So here is my simple and uncrowded plan for 2022:
- Finish organizing and preserving documents and photos. I have to do that with the lines that are going into my book anyway so I think this is a good strategy.
- Print records that are online-only so I have a paper backup in case something were to happen to my online access. Of course, these will then have to be organized/preserved but I think having a paper backup is important. The end goal will be to have a dual set of records – one digital and one paper.
- Continue writing blog posts and commit to at least 12. That’s only one per month. I hope to do more but with all that’s going on, I think I’ll stick with this number as a minimum.
- Have a complete first draft of my book by December, 2022.
- Ancestral focus: my SEELY line.
I hoped for fewer than 5 goals but this is what I settled on. We’ll see how it goes. I hope that your 2022 is blessed and that you meet all your goals plus do a few things you never thought you’d get to do.”
https://honeysuckle-farm.com/2021-report-card/
I consider 2022 a big success as far as genealogy. I hope to finish writing 2022 blog posts that I started and even some that I didn’t start but intended to share. I got in a ton of research time and a couple of big research trips that I haven’t even shared with you yet.
In 2023, I think the “simple and uncrowded” plan that’s been the norm for this decade is a good idea. This decade seems to be chaotic and unpredictable so far with no sign of changing. So here’s what I’m going with for 2023:
I hope that your 2022 has been a successful year in at least one area of your life. I pray your 2023 is even more successful.
Happy New Year,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
I was recently reviewing old posts for a 2023 project I’m planning and I came across the blog posts about my paternal 3rd great grandfather, Quincy Adam “Q.A.” BELL and the time he was “tarred and feathered” in the local newspapers for his involvement with the Radical Republican party. To review, you can view part 1 of those posts here, and part 2 here. Part 2 does include some significant updates to the original post, just FYI. I periodically do new searches for information about this event in hopes I’ll find more, but it’s difficult to find anything. I recently landed on some different search terms that I hadn’t tried before and noticed some things that I had previously missed. Just for reference, my line of descent goes from Quincy to his daughter Eliza to her daughter Bess WILLIAMS who is my great grandmother (no relation to my husband’s WILLIAMS).
I came across a newspaper article with the Radical Republican party platform written out and I began to wonder what exactly Radical Republicanism was and what was included in their party platform. Republicans have been vilified in the press for a couple of decades now and the current definition of “radical”…well…things didn’t sound good so I did some research. Radical Republicanism is defined by Britannica as a political party active during and after the Civil War that believed in emancipation of slaves. Later they would advocate for the “equal treatment and enfranchisement of the freed blacks”.1 Pretty radical. (I say that sarcastically.) Missouri was deeply divided politically both during and after the Civil War – much like political parties are today. Living through these last few years, I clearly see how a radicalized press would be able to vilify their opponents. As in the 1870’s, there is prolific and constant name-calling and libelous statements from all parties toward each other. Tensions are high as are emotions, and everything thinks their opinion is correct – just like in 1870.
Let’s see exactly what this party’s platform was in 1870. They espoused:
Below is the newspaper article listing the platform. I noticed that numbering went from 10th to 12th so I don’t know if an item was removed or if it was just an error.
For these views, they were deemed radical. The Republicans (not the Radical Republicans but the more mainstream faction of the party) held the majority in both the House and Senate in 1870. The Radical Republicans could never quite get organized and eventually ceased as a political party. Although third parties existed in 1870, America had not had a third-party president since 1850-1853 when President Millard Fillmore was in office. Here is a visual representation of political parties in the U.S. from 1870-1900 (although it doesn’t show many of the smaller, more fringe political parties):
This chart was found at NCpedia.org.3
I think this quote sums it up best along with the hashtag #EstablishmentElite:
In the election of 1872 the conflict between President U. S. Grant and Horace Greeley has been typically understood as a battle for the soul of the ruling Republican Party.
The Doom of Reconstruction: The Liberal Republicans in the Civil War Era by Andrew Slap.4
A battle for the soul of the ruling Republican Party. Much like 2016 was within the Republican Party, the mainstream Republican Party of 1870 wanted something completely different than the newer, smaller, and less-mainstream Republican factions. It seriously amazes me how much our current political climate mirrors that of my 3rd great grandfather Quincy’s. Will we ever learn from history? Welcome to one more reason why I do this blog. We are doomed to repeat what we do not know or understand.
One journal article described the Marshfield Convention as “[t]he first convention of significance…in the Fourth Congressional District.”5 This was exactly the convention that Quincy BELL attended. The very convention where he was selected to be a permanent officer for the Radical Republican Party Convention in the Fourth Congressional District of Missouri. Tensions were high, and arguments were frequent and emotional. It was a mess to say the least.
I know this isn’t much new information but this information combined with the updated information in the part 2 post linked above at least gives us some more insight about the situation that Quincy walked into in Marshfield in July of 1870. I feel like, in a roundabout way, it also gives us more insight into why a left-leaning newspaper would post an article about him being involved in legal troubles when there is no other information I can find to back that up. To be clear, I did look for me. I was able to schedule a research trip to Columbia, Missouri, to the State Historical Society of Missouri. I looked through the older newspapers that aren’t online and I looked through some books showing court records of Texas County, Missouri, and still haven’t found anything that corroborates that Quincy was in legal trouble of any kind. For now, I’m leaning toward saying Quincy never got into a “scrape” in Texas County and did not flee that county to avoid arrest. These unsupported accusations from a left-leaning newspaper opinion piece leveled against a right-leaning citizen, well…sounds like a pretty standard political hit piece to me. So, until supporting evidence is found regarding Quincy’s alleged criminal activities I’m going to withhold my judgment of him.
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little more about our Union Quartermaster Sergeant, Quincy Adam BELL. He’s still a work in progress for me.
Enjoy your weekend, friends!
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives
This week I’m writing about my husband’s paternal STORM family. Although there were STORM families in the Poconos area, I haven’t been able to connect them to Bart’s family. In any case, they were on my list to research because there were STORM descendants in Pennsylvania at some point. While doing a quick survey of what the libraries had on the STORM family, I found a wonderful book called Old Dirck’s Book that had a lot of relevant family history in it for us. Today I’m writing about my husband’s 10th great grandfather, Dirck Gorris STORM. This is an old Dutch line. The line of descent goes like this: Dirck Gorris STORM to Dirck’s son Gregoris, to Gregoris’ son Thomas, to Thomas’ son Abraham, to Abraham’s daughter Rebecca. Rebecca STORM married Peter DEWITT. The line continues from Rebecca’s son John DEWITT, to John’s son Richard, to Richard’s son Frances Milo, to Frances’ son Milo Greenwood, to Milo‘s daughter Lucille. Lucille is my husband’s paternal great-grandmother.
One of my early research locations in Pennsylvania was the Monroe County Historical Association in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. They had a lot of information about our Pennsylvania lines and I spent quite a bit of my time there. I found an old book on their shelves called Old Dirck’s Book. It traces Dirck STORM’s line from the “earliest recorded date” down through my husband’s Thomas STORM listed above. Here is one of the first pages of the book. Our Thomas is #11.
This old book has some wonderful maps in it. This one being one of them:
I learned from the book that Bart’s STORM family were Vikings in the earliest generations.1 Very cool!
The STORM and MONTFOORT armorials:
Old Dirck was born shortly after his father returned from war with the Spaniards. The year was 1630.1 Old Dirck was the fifth (in a row) in a direct line of STORM men to hold the name Dirck. I’m guessing this is why he has the nickname of “Old Dirck”, to differentiate him from the other Dirck STORM men. Dirck was born in his mother Deliana ‘s hometown of Leyden, Netherlands where his father was elected to the Leyden City Council after he returned from the war with Spain.1
Life was good for Old Dirck growing up in the Netherlands. He chose a mercantile/trade career with his uncle as his life’s occupation and he was good at it. I’m sure the fact that Holland was in a depression factored into his decision to take up the family business but also, it was the only job available to him because of the economic depression and he was fortunate to have it. In 1655, Old Dirck married Maria VAN MONTFOORT, a hometown girl from Leyden and from a good family. They had a couple of children and by then, things had worsened in Leyden. Economic conditions were bad and Protestants were being driven out of Leyden as well. The author of Old Dirck’s Book states that families immigrating from Leyden to America at this point in time were immigrating to find better economic conditions rather than for freedom of religion but he also maintains that both were an issue in Leyden. Whether it was economics or religion, the Dutch founded the West Indie Company and began emigrating.1
By 1660, the economic downturn was so bad that Old Dirck’s uncle started closing down stores and Old Dirck found himself suddenly unemployed during an economic downturn. His uncle was able to pull through and get him a job as a Town Clerk in a nearby town though. The location was less than optimal and the pay was dismal and soon the family found themselves looking for a different opportunity. At about this time the West Indie Company’s Nieuw Nederland colony in America was beginning to show signs of prosperity. After 1 1/2 years in Osch as a Town Clerk, Old Dirck called it quits. Old Dirck and his family returned to Leyden to say goodbye to their families there and then they set sail for Nieuw Nederland colony in America. They sailed on the ship De Vos (translates to ‘The Fox’) on 31 August 1662 from Amsterdam, Holland.1 After 9 generations, the STORMS were leaving Holland. As it turns out, out of all the STORM brothers and sisters, only Old Dirck’s line survived.1 That gamble on emigrating to America paid off for all of us.
(Side note for researchers: Not all researchers agree that Old Dirck was the same as the Dirck STORM from Osch. See documents at Findagrave.com.2 I read through what documents were available to me and made the best decisions I could as to which information to include or exclude.)
The passenger list of the ship De Vos showed Dirck STORM “from the Mayory of Bosch” (in the Province of Utrecht, Holland, according to Get NJ website; Dirck was 32 years old at this time); his wife “Mrs. Dirck” (Maria VAN MONTFOORT STORM), and their sons “Child Dirck” (Gregoris, 6 years old), “Child Dirck” (Peter, 4 years old), and “Child Dirck” (David, 1 1/4 years old).4 Maria was pregnant with the couple’s 4th child as they journeyed from Holland to America. It’s presumed she lost the baby while aboard the ship because the baby is never recorded as a passenger on the ship and is never in any subsequent records of the family. Researchers have recorded the baby as a female child.5
Other interesting passengers of note on the ship for that voyage were the ACKERMAN family, said to best friends with the STORM family. Ammerens CLASEN, the sister of Tjerck Claesen DeWIT (Bart’s paternal 10th great grandfather). There is possibly one other CLAESEN sibling and possibly a DeWITT family member on board the ship but I did not take the time to verify these last two relationships.4
I wish I could convey to you how tiny the ships were on which these emigrants sailed to America. The book gives a decent description but until you’ve stepped onto a ship like what these people sailed on, you will never understand the courage it took to get here.
Today, a very small freighter is 5,000 tons; a small liner, 15,000; some – the great leviathans- top 80,000….
The Mayflower of the Pilgrims was only 180 tons…”Santa Maria”…100 tons; “Nina” and “Pinta”, each 60.
Old Dirck’s Book.1
180 tons at most on the vast ocean. It gives me shivers just thinking about it! If my family had depended on me to emigrate on a “ship” like that we’d still be in a foreign country!! They were on little sailboats basically. But they made it!
As they were nearing land in their new country on 14 November 1662,6 the white beaches of New Jersey and Long Island came into view. The narrow strand of Sandy Hook led into the Nieuw Amsterdam harbor where they would finally land. On the starboard side was “Langh Eylandt” – better known today as Long Island. Upon arriving, Old Dirck abandoned the heraldic arms of his family and chose a new personal seal.1 A brand new start in a brand new country. That appeals to me. I love his spirit!
He eliminated the fishes…and substituted a storm-tossed ship at sea…borne on a shield similar to the one in the family’s ancient coat-of-arms, topped by a helmet and a pair of wings…Dirck took for his motto an old Dutch word “Vertrouwt” which means “Have Trust”.
Old Dirck’s Book.1
Despite being one of the “earliest of American scholars”,7 Old Dirck had a difficult start in the new country and he bounced around Nieuw Amsterdam (the present-day area of New York City)8 for awhile. When Old Dirck first arrived in Nieuw Amsterdam, he rented a house owned by Elizabeth VAN DRIESSEN. He had considerable trouble finding work and was unable to pay the rent for the house so after 2 years, he moved out (in 1665). He moved to a less expensive home on Beaver Street where he opened a tavern.9 (See the yellow circle on the map below.)
Mrs. VAN DRIESSEN claimed he moved out “by stealth” and she sued him for back rent. Unfortunately for Old Dirck, the tavern wasn’t enough to provide for his family either. However, Carel DE BEVOISE, someone who was an old family friend from Old Dirck’s days back in Holland, offered Old Dirck a job in 1669 as the Assistant Town Clerk in a little town called Breuckelen (better known to you as the present-day borough of Brooklyn). Old Dirck took the offer and moved his growing family to Breuckelen. Less than a year later, Old Dirck’s good friend Carel died and Old Dirck took over the Town Clerk job that Carel had before he passed away. Old Dirck took over the Town Clerk position on 15 December 1669. While he was Town Clerk, he bought a farm at Bedford and then another farm at Nieuw Lots. He moved to Nieuw Lots in 1677 and became Town Clerk of nearby Flakbosch (now known as Flatbush).9 While in Nieuw Lots he also taught the young Dutch children in a little log cabin for four years.10 You can see these three towns on the map below along with two other places of importance to Old Dirck that are circled in red.
By 1691, Long Island was becoming too anglicized for the STORM families. Old Dirck’s children were grown and living on their own. That year he was invited to go to the newly formed Orange County, New York as the County Secretary and Clerk of the Courts. He accepted the invitation and, at age 61, he hopped in a canoe, crossed the East River, went around the tip of Manhattan, and up the Hudson River to Orange County.9
Old Dirck took office in a log courthouse at Tappan, New York, in the forest on Sparkill Creek. He stayed there until 1703 when he retired at age 73. Meanwhile, after Dirck took the job at Tappan the majority of his children (including Bart’s ancestor, Gregoris) moved to the opposite side of the Hudson to Philipse Manor in Westchester County, New York, directly across the river from Tappan. This is now the Sleepy Hollow area of New York and also the place where Bart’s family intermarried with the VAN TASSEL family (as in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow because yes- the VAN TASSELs were real and Washington IRVING decided to put one of them in his novel!).9
Retirement didn’t mean that Old Dirck stopped doing things. He chose to live out the remainder of his years with his two younger sons, Peter and David, in Yonkers, New York, rather than with Gregoris in Philipsburg, New York. After his retirement the Dutch Reformed Church in Sleepy Hollow invited Old Dirck to compile their records and he accepted.9 (One newspaper article states that Old Dirck was the first Parish Clerk at the Sleepy Hollow church and was keeping church records as early as 1697.11) The records were written in Dutch. “The First Record Book” was published on 3 November 1715 when Old Dirck was 85 years old. On 17 April 1716 Old Dirck signed the 8th and last book of records of the church. It was also the last record of Old Dirck. In spite of the many records he had created and maintained in his lifetime, there is no record of Old Dirck’s death. It is assumed he died in 1716 at age 86.9 Gregoris, his son and Bart’s direct ancestor, had died 5 years earlier at the age of 55. Thomas, Bart’s direct ancestor and the son of Gregoris, was 14 years old when he lost his dad and 19 when he lost his grandfather (Old Dirck) thus making Thomas the head of the family at age 19. In between ages 14 and 19, Thomas got married. At age 17, he married Christina VAN WEERT.1
At the end of his life, Old Dirck was buried in the Old Dutch Burial Ground in Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, New York.12 You may sometimes see his burial location as Tarrytown because this was the name of the town before it was changed to Sleepy Hollow.13 His son, Gregoris (Bart’s 9th great grandfather), is also buried there in the Old Dutch Burial Ground and has a shared stone with his father, Old Dirck.14
Thomas (Old Dirck’s grandson and Gregoris’ son and Bart’s 8th great grandfather) is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery nearby.16
Thomas’ son Abraham (Bart’s 7th great grandfather) also lived in Tarrytown (aka Sleepy Hollow) and Abraham’s daughter Rebecca STORM DEWITT lived in Tarrytown for a time as well.5
I highly recommend a trip to Sleepy Hollow, New York, if you can swing it. It’s on my bucket list for sure! You can visit the Old Dutch Church and Burial Ground as well as the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. They’re right next to each other. If you can’t go there, you can look online. You can find information at the Visit Sleepy Hollow website.17 You can also do an internet search for Old Dutch Church videos and Sleepy Hollow walking tour videos. There are some good videos out there that will give you a good idea of what the terrain and town look like. If you do get to go, do some pre-trip research. There are preserved properties that are important to the STORM family history that you can tour. You wouldn’t want to miss it! Plus there’s an entire town named for our STORM family – Stormville, New York!
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Old Dirck STORM. Every time I say his name I think of Bart’s Aunt Jean who always called our son (Derek) ‘Dirk’. I guess since Dirck translates to Derek she got it mostly right. Enjoy the final day of your weekend and remember to love your people.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Reverend Thomas DUNGAN, Sr. was my maternal 9th great grandfather. He married Elizabeth WEAVER. As I said in my previous post, my mom’s family was thick as thieves in the Poconos and foothills in the 1700’s and this line is right in there with the PARSONS, BRINKER, and SEELY families! The line of descent for me goes from Thomas and Elizabeth to their son Jeremiah, to Jeremiah’s son George, to George’s son Jeremiah, to Jeremiah’s daughter Sarah. Sarah DUNGAN married Zebulon SMITH and they were my 5th great grandparents. Sarah and Zebulon’s daughter Elizabeth married Squire DALE and they were my 4th great grandparents. Elizabeth and Squire had a daughter named Sinthia who married James P. BULLOCK and they were my 3rd great grandparents. The line of descent continues through Sinthia and James’ son James M., to James M.’s daughter (and my great grandmother) Laura BULLOCK RITER. Fun fact about Thomas and Elizabeth: they had 38 grandchildren!1 Now wouldn’t THAT make for an interesting Cousin Camp in the summer?!
Thomas was born about 1634 in London, England. Thomas’ father, William, was a perfumer and a London merchant. An interesting side note about William: one researcher believes William died due to a disease associated with the plague but not of the plague itself due to wording in his burial entry and the fact that no “P” (for ‘Plague’) was noted beside his name.9 William is said to have come from a Dublin, Ireland branch of the DUNGAN family that was “ennobled by Queen Elizabeth”.2 (Other accounts say the family is from County Kildare, Ireland.3 Still other accounts say this DUNGAN line is not of noble lineage at all.9 (I’ll be covering this again in a future blog post.)
According to information at Geni.com, “The Dungan genealogy was traced by researchers in the early 1900’s back to Emperor Charlemagne, 800 A.D.”3 I found the lineage written out in a book on Ancestry.com.4
Thomas’ mother, Frances LATHAM DUNGAN, was the daughter of Lewis LATHAM who was the Sergeant Falconer to Charles I.2
Thomas immigrated to the U.S. in 1637 with his mother and other family. They settled in Newport, Rhode Island.2 He married Elizabeth WEAVER about 1663 in Rhode Island. Elizabeth had also been born in England and immigrated to the U.S. prior to 1663. Thomas died in 1687 in Cold Springs, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth lived another 10 years and also died in Cold Springs. I was unable to find their burial locations. All traces of the church Thomas founded and also it’s accompanying cemetery where they were buried have disappeared with time. Together, Thomas and Elizabeth had 9 known children – William, Clement, Elizabeth, Thomas Jr., Rebecca, Jeremiah (my 8th great-grandfather), Mary, John, and Sarah.
Thomas held smaller elected offices between 1656 and 1681 including being the Representative from East Greenwich to the Rhode Island Assembly. In 1677, just before he came the Representative to the Rhode Island Assembly, he was named as a Patentee in the charter of the town of East Greenwich. Thomas also served as a Sergeant in the Newport Militia.
In 1682, he sold his East Greenwich, Rhode Island, property of 100 acres to his nephew and conveyed his homestead in Newport, Rhode Island (a 50-acre property) to someone else. Shortly after that he moved to Pennsylvania and settled at Cold Springs, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
In Cold Springs, Thomas founded a Baptist church – the first of its denomination in Pennsylvania. He was also the first Baptist preacher in Pennsylvania. He pastored the church he founded until his death in 1688.5, 6 The famous Pennypack Church (also written as Pennepack or Pennepeck)7 was an outgrowth of Thomas DUNGAN’s little Baptist church in Cold Springs. I was unable to locate the church nor was I able to find anyone who could tell me where the church had been. It has been lost to time as has the cemetery associated with the church.
This picture was found on FindAGrave website but I was never able to locate the place when I was in Pennsylvania this past May.8
Although I was unable to locate Thomas’ or Elizabeth’s graves, I did find an image of a memorial to Thomas DUNGAN. This image came from FindAGrave:8
One last item on Findagrave was a photograph of the recorded will of Thomas DUNGAN. I always hesitate to say what is someone’s signature but this does appear to be his signature since it doesn’t say “his mark”. So, for what it’s worth, Thomas DUNGAN’s signature on his will (bottom right corner):8
I always like to look through wills of my ancestors to see what they owned when they died. Thomas’ will recorded on 1 February 1688 lists household goods of “Linnen, wooling, Bedding, brass, pewter” but it specifically excluded his son Clement’s bed, his daughter Marie’s bed, and two brass kettles. As I was searching the internet for pictures I came a cross a costumer’s blog. If you’d like to see how the working men were dressing in 1688, I recommend clicking over to the Costume Historian blog. The post I linked shows a drawing of a sweep as he would have been dressed in 1688. If you’re interested in what the bed and mattress would have looked like in the 17th century around the time that Thomas died, I recommend going to the Pennsbury Manor website. They have a great article about it which you can read at the link. They also link out to a site that shows you how to stuff the mattresses. Look at picture at the bottom of the Pennsbury Manor article. Who can remember seeing mattress ticking like that at Granny BATES’ house?? Finally, the one specific item on the list – a brass kettle. At William Dykes Antiques website I found a brass kettle listed as late 17th-early 18th century and it stated this form was the earliest kettle form and that this kettle was of Dutch or English origin.
Since I’m going in order of the names I researched in Pennsylvania, that means next week I won’t be writing about my mom’s family but I’ll be back to her family again soon. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know Thomas DUNGAN as well as the SEELYs and BRINKERs and PARSONS. My maternal Poconos ancestors have been fun to learn and write about. We’ve covered approximately half of my research out of a 10-day research trip to Pennsylvania. I’m looking forward to bringing you the remaining stories soon. Once I tell all the Pennsylvania stories we’ll move on to my trip to Missouri. It’s been an exciting summer of research. I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I have been. One last note for my cousins descending from Thomas DUNGAN: be happy! Ancestors in his paternal and maternal lines typically lived to about 100 years old. You have good genes, cousins!
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
