They Want To Be Found
Looking in all the wrong
places!
As
far as Dad was concerned, the Farmer’s Almanac governed the planting
time for vegetables.
Saturday would definitely be the right day for the
pumpkin seeds to be put in the ground.
Last Fall Mum had carefully dried the seeds from the pumpkins and put
them in a can. She went to the outside pantry to get the container but
it wasn’t where she thought it should be. She searched the bottom shelf
and the second shelf without any luck. Next she climbed on a chair and
worked her way around the top shelf but to no avail.
After supper, she was putting the cup towels in a drawer in the buffet,
when a look of surprise came over her face - she had spotted the can
that held the seeds.
So many times when searching for information on an ancestor, we look
where we think the information should be found and are totally
surprised when we find it in some obscure place.
One example of this, concerns Diana's
seven year hunt in Maine
and Massachusetts as her great great-grandfather Sederquest, who
lived
in Massachusetts, gave the place of the birth of his father as Maine -
whose birth she now knows occurred during the time his mother resided
in her home village during the Civil War. Two postings on the internet
led her to take a look in New Brunswick, where she found the
connection. Next came the need to find documentation to prove the
parents and siblings of James Sederquest of Lakeside, New Brunswick.
The answer was in a 1911 publication “Sketch of the Life and
Evangelistic Labors of G. W. Sederquist”, who was born in Lower
Granville, Nova Scotia on 10 Sep. 1838, the grandson of the Loyalist
John Sederquest and a nephew of James Sederquest. Fortunately, in
writing his autobiography George included details of his ancestry. If
you have information to share contact Diana by email dnat@ledger.cc
At times we go in the wrong direction because of some bit of family
mythology, some other researcher's erroneous work, or perhaps mere
wishful thinking. And again, too often, we forget just how mobile our
ancestors were. Even though they lacked automobiles, trains,
highways, etc., they were still willing and capable to travel some
great distances, even afoot.
During the proceedings of Loyalist Commissioners in Halifax in 1786,
evidence was given before Commissioner Dundas in the claim by Peter
Stout, late of Middleton, in Monmouth County, New Jersey that he
walked from Beaver Harbour to New York last fall for his father's will.
His children were at Beaver Harbour. John Horner had charge of one of
them.
Mr. Kirkwood of England spent several years searching for information
on the birthplace, siblings and parents of Charlotte Provan, the wife
of Captain Peter Lithgow, who in 1856 was living in Liverpool, England.
A letter of that year from her brother, gave his residence as Kingston,
which was assumed was to be Kingston, Jamaica. But it was Kingston, New
Brunswick. Never assume when doing
genealogy.
The Rev. George Rogers, an Anglican Church minister, born circa 1830,
was enumerated with his family in the 1871 census of Springfield
Parish, Kings County. His first wife died in 1869 and he remarried in
1870. In 1876, he returned to England with his family. Pat Alnes of
Norway spent many hours searching for his date of death but
continually
met a brick wall until she discovered he
lived to be 98 and died
28 Feb.1928 at Weston-super-Mare, England.
A gentleman in France needed documentation as to the father of Peter
Hamilton who lived in New Brunswick. It seemed all tracks had
been
swept away until the 1821 Power of
Attorney from John Hamilton to his
son Peter Hamilton was located in the Land Registry Office in
Saint
John which also gave the interesting information that, John Hamilton,
late of the city of Saint John, Shipwright, was now residing at
Portsea, County of Southampton, England.
For years, my husband has been on the trail of Joseph Cusack, who
covered his footprints well. The Fall Issue of Generations, the
publication of the New Brunswick Genealogical Society, published an
article by Don MacGowan on
Shipbuilding in Clifton which mentioned the
Hornet being built there in 1834 by Joseph Cuack and James Oram.
Posting a query is one way of getting help from others who may have
looked in the ‘unexpected’ place and have information to share with
you. Send your queries to me at rmcusack@nbnet.nb.ca.
