Crafty Women

                                                                                                                                                                                                 For some reason, I was in the mood to embroider.  I remember embroidering pillow cases in the summer.  It was at Jefferson, so I had to be older than 9.  I think it was Mom who taught me to embroider.

I remember mom doing more knitting than crocheting.  I think she made most of us an afghan on those really big needles and 3 strands of yarn.  Mom sewed too.  I remember when she took a sewing class through community ed.  She made a couple of shirtwaist dresses while taking the class.

Ma did knit.  She made Jimmy some heavy wool socks.  I think she preferred crocheting.  She made doilies.

 Our big project together was a bedspread.  I got a notion to make Mom and Dad a crocheted bedspread for their 25th anniversary.  They didn't get it until their 30th!!

The bedspread had 2 kinds of squares.  One was plain and the other one had an Irish rose in the center.  Ma could not be fussed doing the rose.  So she did the plain squares and I did the rose squares.  It was pretty amazing that our tensions were about the same.

If you want to hear about someone who beats all, Colette Keniry can knit, read and watch TV all at the same time.

I continue to be a slacker!!!

Act of Genealogical Kindness

     At the end of June, I got an email through Ancestry from a fellow named Don Burgett asking about E. Adelaide Thompson, the sister of our beloved naughty great, great grandmother Melvina Thompson Grandelmyer Warner.  He thought he had some information that might be of interest to me.
     I was a bit skeptical, especially after the first document he sent me seemed totally unrelated to anything I knew about the Thompsons, which I must admit was quite limited.  Doing a search on a name like Thompson in Ohio is daunting, especially if you have absolutely no other family information.
  Then Don sent me three letters.  They are indeed about our family!  It was so awesome to get these as they really flesh out the life of Sarah Jane Lewis Thompson Spencer in 1860 in Sherburne County, Minnesota.
     The first letter is written by Sidney Amanda Thompson to her uncle Thomas.  She is about 14 years old as she writes this letter to her uncle who lives Ohio.
     The second letter is from Sarah Jane to her mother-in-law Sidney Pettitt Thompson and her brothers-in-law who live in Belmont County, Ohio.  It is amazing how matter-of-fact she is in light of the fact that she has given birth to a son and lost a husband almost simultaneously in May 1860.  She gives an account of the troubles her family has experienced and how money given to her by the Thompsons was spent.
     The third letter was written by Sarah Jane expressing a desire to hear from the family.  It appears that she needs advice about some civil matters that have plagued her.
     Colette calls them the "Little House on the Prairie" letters!  It is really unbelievable the hardships Sarah Jane has experienced.  The letters give information that we would never otherwise know--such as the nicknames of the children Viney (Melvina), Sidey (Sidney) and Josey (Joseph).  It gives info about Melvina's schooling and the civil troubles the family experienced.
     I have found information about most of the family of Sarah Jane Lewis and Joseph Thompson. I cannot find Sidey/Sidney Amanda in records after 1865.  There is a possibility she married a Doyl.  The search continues.
     Sarah Jane remarried Benjamin N. Spencer before 1865.  She died about 11 May 1904.  There isn't a death record for her in Sherburne County. There is a short death notice in the Sherburne County Star News on May 19, 1904.

May 1904

 S  M Tu  W Th  F  S

 1  2  3  4  5  6  7

 8  9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

     "Mrs. Benj. Spencer of Livonia died last week Wednesday and was buried Friday. Mrs. Spencer was twice married, her first husband having been John M. Thompson (sic) one of the early settlers of Big Lake. She was highly respected by those who knew her."
     There was a John M. Thompson in the records of Sherburne County, but he was not related as far as I could find to Joseph Thompson the husband of Sarah Jane and the above information in the notice is incorrect.
     The first record of Sarah Jane and Joseph is in the 1850 census in the 1850 Minnesota Census in St. Paul when Minnesota was still a territory. With them is a John Lewis, whom I believe is Sarah Jane's father.  The other mention of Lewis as Sarah's maiden name is on the death certificate of her son William. There are land records that put the Thompsons in Sherburne County by 1852--at least land has been purchased. The family appears in the 1857 Minnesota Territorial Census living in Sherburne County. There is no record of Joseph's death.  He does appear in the 1860 census as a mortality.  Sarah Jane's letter (May 1860) corroborates this as the correct info for Joseph.
     Sarah Jane almost always is found in record as "Sarah Jane" or Sarah J.
     Don's generosity has added Joseph's family of origin to our tree. We would probably never have known that Sidey was named for her grandmother Sidney Pettit Thompson.

Degrees of Relationship

I was playing with the genealogy program last night and calculated my actual relationship to Colette.  I am her 3rd cousin twice removed.

5th Cousin to Colette's Grandmother's Cat...

Mary Frances, Colette and Eddie

 The mystery is not resolved!!! When I was in Ireland, Colette and I went to the Kerry County Library in Tralee.  On our way, we visited with Mary Frances Herlihy in Carraganes and her cousin Eddie O'Connor. Carraganes is near Ballydesmond which is on the Cork-Kerry border.
     While speaking to Mary Frances, we asked her if she knew how Marguerite's family (Thomas and Red Nell Herlihy) were related.  She said that Marguerite's great aunt Nora used to live below and she was a second cousin to her (Mary F.'s) father.  This was new and valuable information.  It connects another branch to the Herlihy family tree.
      The road to Mary Frances' is a boreen.  There is literally barely enough room for one car to travel on it. This picture is the drive to the place where Nora lived.

     We wanted to be sure we understood where Macha was.  Macha is a local name for the place where the Herlihys lived in Ballynahulla, Ballincuslane.  It is sometimes also referred to as Ulla in records.  Mary Frances was reluctant to go with us to the area but was willing to point it out from the Ballydesmond Graveyard.

Look into the distance and that is Macha.

     The Kerry Library staff was extremely helpful but the resources were limited.  One resource that was definitely local was the Journal of Cumann Luachra. It didn't have anything specific to the Herlihys, but gave us a flavor of life in the area.
     So, the end result is that I moved a few degrees closer than 31st cousin to Colette's grandmother's cat!!

Monkey for Stella and Grammy

Sock Monkey for Stella

     When Stella was here in July, I started this sock monkey.  This is literally made from Rockford Red Heel Socks. I remember Grammy (Catherine Morehead Hogan Selby) making these.  What's old is new again if you think of the Kia commercial.
    The other thing I remember Grammy making is the yo-yo doll.  That I can't make for Stella right now--at least not in the format I remember it.  Small circles of fabric were basted around the outside edge and then gathered into a circle. I remember doing this with Grammy. You'd need lots of these circles to make the yo-yo clown doll.  I remember it having jingle bells where the hands and feet would be.  I don't remember the face. When I went looking for it on the Internet, I found this image. Ding Dong School with Miss Frances!!!