I apologize for the lack of attention, but I’m still off in genealogy land. I reached the Pilgrims, which was exciting. There should be a ton of info available on that strata, so I haven’t really bothered to explore it in depth or breadth. Right now I’m focused strictly on who begat whom. Just the names and dates, ma’am, please-and-thanks.
And what names they are, too! A few minutes ago, I encountered Thankful Loves Marsh. That has to be one of the bestest names ever. Alas, she is not related to Esther. There are, however, many fascinating names in Esther’s family tree:
- Constant Southworth
- Olive Brown (I think we call that Khaki these days)
- Bethiah Beverly
- Bethya Read
- Brita Walraven
- Remember Brown
- Sinai Roberts
- Beteryce Hewett
- Euphemia Ross
- Bartle Escheilson
- Afreka of Fife
There is also the obligatory Native American branch of the family, comprised of Mary Little Dove Hyanno and her ancestors (and all manner of alleged “princesses” who were no such thing; you really can’t believe half of what other “researchers” post on these here Internetz).
And, while I find it depressing that so many men married women named Unknown Unknown, I did find a singular case of the reverse, in the person of one Widow Walker who married an unknown Englishman. You’ll note, however, that Mrs. Walker’s given name is conspicuously missing.
One of the challenges of tracking genealogical ghosts is that, until last week, folks weren’t terribly concerned with how their names were spelled. Often, it’s a case of a trailing letter or two being lopped off (Browne becomes Brown or Bastowe becomes Basto). Sometimes, though, Monroe becomes Munro, Wheatliegh becomes Wheatley, and Smythe becomes Smith.
I’ve also run into a few incredibly confusing family cluster-fucks. In one, the same parents showed up twice. That’s what happens when cousins marry. In another, two women were conflated into one by multiple researchers, because they both had related husbands with the same last name. In that case, it was further confused by the fact that their off-spring, who were some sorts of cousins aunt and nephew, married.
red paper boat 