Showing posts with label Genealogy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Genealogy. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2020
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Memorial Day 2020
It seems that every Memorial Day and 4th of July I get the urge to dig into either my or Paul's family to find someone who fought in one of the wars.
This year was no different. On the morning of Memorial Day I asked Paul if he knew of anyone in our family who was actually killed during a war. Off the top of his head he said William P. Ramsdell. He was the brother of Paul's maternal great-great grandfather, Amos Ramsdell.
We had researched both of them in 2014. They were from Belchertown / Chicopee, MA. We actually found Amos's grave in Fairview Cemetery, Chicopee. In researching him, we found that he served in the Civil War. We wondered why he did not have a GAR grave marker with American Flag at his gravestone.
In researching them we also found a blog post from a Civil War buff about William P. Ramsdell. It said he was a 28 year old private who died at the Battle of Antietam. His head was blown off by a cannonball. It also said that he was buried at the site of the battle but then later reinterred at Maple Grove Cemetery, Chicopee, MA. We never found his grave. This cemetery has a lot of very old, barely readable gravestones.
This was what we knew as of Memorial Day 2020. We decided to take a ride to Fairview Cemetery to see if maybe the cemetery had added a grave marker to Amos' grave since 2014 or at least added a flag for Memorial Day. There was nothing there. I brought a little flag with me just in case, and put it in front of the gravestone.
We noticed a row of very old graves, all the same size with flags and in checking them out, they were all Civil War veterans' graves. It made me wonder if possibly there was a group of the same type of graves alongside each other at Maple Grove Cemetery where William P. was said to have been buried. We checked most of the graves with flags but, as I said, most of the older stones were not readable. They looked like some type of limestone marble that was disintegrating.
The next day Paul called The City of Chicopee to find out who to talk to about a veteran's grave without a flag. They put him in touch with Veteran's Services who, after given information about Amos Ramsdell, told Paul that they would leave a grave marker and flag out for us at their building that we could pick up. Paul also told them about not being able to find William P. Ramsdell's grave in Maple Grove Cemetery. She said she would leave another flag out in case we ever found him. A little while later she called saying that William P. already had a grave marker and flag in Maple Grove Cemetery and that he was in Lot #24. She also said that someone would be calling to tell us how to find it.
We were so thrilled!
We took a trip to Chicopee to the Veteran's Services and got the marker and flag. We then went to Fairview Cemetery and put it next to Amos' grave. Finally, Amos was recognized!
A little later, the man who oversees all of the cemeteries in Chicopee called with the information we needed to find William P.'s grave.
We found it, but it was not readable.
That was a little disappointing but at least we had found his grave. He, indeed, had the GAR marker and American flag. You can "read" the Ramsdell part if you run your fingers over it. The rest cannot be read at all. We are going to try a rubbing to see if we can "read" anything else.
William was killed a couple months after enlisting. A contemporaneous account said that moments before his death, he said that "if he was going to be hit, he would prefer to have the top of his head blown off". Then he was hit in the head by a cannonball.
Amos actually had three Civil War "lives". He started out in the cavalry and was thrown from a horse and severely injured. He left the service but returned later as an infantry private and became very sick. He recovered again and was eventually commissioned as a first lieutenant officer in a colored regiment. His name is listed on a monument to black Civil War soldiers in Washington DC with the black men he served with.
Doing genealogical research can sometimes be frustrating, but when you uncover stories like this, it brings so much satisfaction.
***Update
We went back to the cemetery to do a rubbing but the only thing we could read was the name. The rest seems to be in some sort of cursive and it did not transfer at all.
Poor William. His father died when he was four and his mother died when he was eleven. Then he gets hit in the head by a cannonball at age 28. We talk so much about the number that died, but it is a different feeling when you look at one individual. I am glad Amos made it. Paul would not be here otherwise!
This year was no different. On the morning of Memorial Day I asked Paul if he knew of anyone in our family who was actually killed during a war. Off the top of his head he said William P. Ramsdell. He was the brother of Paul's maternal great-great grandfather, Amos Ramsdell.
We had researched both of them in 2014. They were from Belchertown / Chicopee, MA. We actually found Amos's grave in Fairview Cemetery, Chicopee. In researching him, we found that he served in the Civil War. We wondered why he did not have a GAR grave marker with American Flag at his gravestone.
In researching them we also found a blog post from a Civil War buff about William P. Ramsdell. It said he was a 28 year old private who died at the Battle of Antietam. His head was blown off by a cannonball. It also said that he was buried at the site of the battle but then later reinterred at Maple Grove Cemetery, Chicopee, MA. We never found his grave. This cemetery has a lot of very old, barely readable gravestones.
This was what we knew as of Memorial Day 2020. We decided to take a ride to Fairview Cemetery to see if maybe the cemetery had added a grave marker to Amos' grave since 2014 or at least added a flag for Memorial Day. There was nothing there. I brought a little flag with me just in case, and put it in front of the gravestone.
We noticed a row of very old graves, all the same size with flags and in checking them out, they were all Civil War veterans' graves. It made me wonder if possibly there was a group of the same type of graves alongside each other at Maple Grove Cemetery where William P. was said to have been buried. We checked most of the graves with flags but, as I said, most of the older stones were not readable. They looked like some type of limestone marble that was disintegrating.
The next day Paul called The City of Chicopee to find out who to talk to about a veteran's grave without a flag. They put him in touch with Veteran's Services who, after given information about Amos Ramsdell, told Paul that they would leave a grave marker and flag out for us at their building that we could pick up. Paul also told them about not being able to find William P. Ramsdell's grave in Maple Grove Cemetery. She said she would leave another flag out in case we ever found him. A little while later she called saying that William P. already had a grave marker and flag in Maple Grove Cemetery and that he was in Lot #24. She also said that someone would be calling to tell us how to find it.
We were so thrilled!
We took a trip to Chicopee to the Veteran's Services and got the marker and flag. We then went to Fairview Cemetery and put it next to Amos' grave. Finally, Amos was recognized!
A little later, the man who oversees all of the cemeteries in Chicopee called with the information we needed to find William P.'s grave.
We found it, but it was not readable.
That was a little disappointing but at least we had found his grave. He, indeed, had the GAR marker and American flag. You can "read" the Ramsdell part if you run your fingers over it. The rest cannot be read at all. We are going to try a rubbing to see if we can "read" anything else.
William was killed a couple months after enlisting. A contemporaneous account said that moments before his death, he said that "if he was going to be hit, he would prefer to have the top of his head blown off". Then he was hit in the head by a cannonball.
Amos actually had three Civil War "lives". He started out in the cavalry and was thrown from a horse and severely injured. He left the service but returned later as an infantry private and became very sick. He recovered again and was eventually commissioned as a first lieutenant officer in a colored regiment. His name is listed on a monument to black Civil War soldiers in Washington DC with the black men he served with.
Doing genealogical research can sometimes be frustrating, but when you uncover stories like this, it brings so much satisfaction.
***Update
We went back to the cemetery to do a rubbing but the only thing we could read was the name. The rest seems to be in some sort of cursive and it did not transfer at all.
Poor William. His father died when he was four and his mother died when he was eleven. Then he gets hit in the head by a cannonball at age 28. We talk so much about the number that died, but it is a different feeling when you look at one individual. I am glad Amos made it. Paul would not be here otherwise!
Friday, November 15, 2019
DNA Update
Last year Paul and I did our DNA through Ancestry and these were our results.
Today we both got updates through Ancestry.com. They stated:
"Your DNA doesn't change, but our science does. We now have more data, so we can compare your DNA to even more populations around the world. This gives you a more precise estimate."
These are our updated results:
Paul's English went down and mine went up. I'm not surprised that his German went up since both of his grandparents were born in Germany. The only weird thing for me is that France is totally gone. I always thought my paternal grandmother's people were from France originally, then French Canada, and then across the border to upstate NY. It must be they originally came to Canada from someplace else. I wonder if I'll ever be able to find out.
September 17, 2020
Another update
Deb's updated DNA
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Thursday, July 11, 2019
Russells Diner, West Hatfield, MA
The same day that we took a ride to Brattleboro and saw the changes to the "House on Mill Village Road", which the previous blog post talks about, we saw another change.
In many of my posts, I talk about Greenfield, MA. My grandfather's family was from there and he used to visit his brother David a lot, who still lived there. Sometimes my grandmother and aunt Dot went with me and my grandfather, sometimes it was just me, and sometimes it was me and my cousin Lynda when she visited in the summer. Uncle David had a son, Donald, who was two years younger than me. In the summer we would go to the Greenfield Pool together.
I knew all of the towns between where we lived in West Springfield to Greenfield. I also knew all of the motels. Don't forget, in the 1950's and '60's, Rt 5 was the main route north. No I-91 then! My grandfather used to quiz me on the towns we would go through.
Sometimes he would let my cousin and I ride in his old trailer hitched to the car. I'm sure my grandmother didn't know about it. We got stopped by a policeman who told my grandfather that he could not let us ride in that trailer. We were so upset by this. I do remember that he let us ride in it again, but told us to lie on the bottom of the trailer bed when we drove through the place where we got stopped. I'm not sure how many times we rode in that trailer but it made an impression on me.
Anyhow, some of the times we went to Greenfield, we would stop at this little diner in West Whately and have a hamburger at the counter. That made an impression on me too, probably because we never went out to eat! No fast food places at that time!
The diner is still there. It looks the same but has changed names many times. I remember it as being Russells, but lately it has been called Double D's Diner.
For years, when we would drive by, I would say to Paul that we should stop and have lunch but it was always late in the day and the diner was closed.
Today, when we drove by, the big sign by the road no longer had the Double D's sign. I made Paul turn around and go back so that I could take a picture. Who knows how long it would still be there, torn down to build a bank or a McDonald's!
As I was in the parking lot taking pictures, a lady came out the front door. I asked her if the diner was closed and she said yes. When I asked her how long it had been closed she said since last week. She was very friendly and talkative and she told me she has been the landlord for the last 13 years, and the people who rented it left to do food trucks. She didn't remember it being called Russells, but she told me that the 101 year old lady who lives next door to the diner is the mother of the man who built the diner in September 1953. It has obviously had several owners over the years, but believe it or not it still looks the same.
I told her how I used to stop to eat here with my grandfather and had always planned on stopping in, but never did. She ended up inviting me in to see the place.
My grandfather and I used to sit at the counter and it is very much how I remember it. She said that she has kept it original to what it was when she bought it.
I was so thrilled to have been able to go in there. She said she has some plans for what she would like to do it the place. She wants to keep it a little diner, but who knows. At least I have pictures now.
In many of my posts, I talk about Greenfield, MA. My grandfather's family was from there and he used to visit his brother David a lot, who still lived there. Sometimes my grandmother and aunt Dot went with me and my grandfather, sometimes it was just me, and sometimes it was me and my cousin Lynda when she visited in the summer. Uncle David had a son, Donald, who was two years younger than me. In the summer we would go to the Greenfield Pool together.
I knew all of the towns between where we lived in West Springfield to Greenfield. I also knew all of the motels. Don't forget, in the 1950's and '60's, Rt 5 was the main route north. No I-91 then! My grandfather used to quiz me on the towns we would go through.
Sometimes he would let my cousin and I ride in his old trailer hitched to the car. I'm sure my grandmother didn't know about it. We got stopped by a policeman who told my grandfather that he could not let us ride in that trailer. We were so upset by this. I do remember that he let us ride in it again, but told us to lie on the bottom of the trailer bed when we drove through the place where we got stopped. I'm not sure how many times we rode in that trailer but it made an impression on me.
Anyhow, some of the times we went to Greenfield, we would stop at this little diner in West Whately and have a hamburger at the counter. That made an impression on me too, probably because we never went out to eat! No fast food places at that time!
The diner is still there. It looks the same but has changed names many times. I remember it as being Russells, but lately it has been called Double D's Diner.
For years, when we would drive by, I would say to Paul that we should stop and have lunch but it was always late in the day and the diner was closed.
Today, when we drove by, the big sign by the road no longer had the Double D's sign. I made Paul turn around and go back so that I could take a picture. Who knows how long it would still be there, torn down to build a bank or a McDonald's!
As I was in the parking lot taking pictures, a lady came out the front door. I asked her if the diner was closed and she said yes. When I asked her how long it had been closed she said since last week. She was very friendly and talkative and she told me she has been the landlord for the last 13 years, and the people who rented it left to do food trucks. She didn't remember it being called Russells, but she told me that the 101 year old lady who lives next door to the diner is the mother of the man who built the diner in September 1953. It has obviously had several owners over the years, but believe it or not it still looks the same.
I told her how I used to stop to eat here with my grandfather and had always planned on stopping in, but never did. She ended up inviting me in to see the place.
My grandfather and I used to sit at the counter and it is very much how I remember it. She said that she has kept it original to what it was when she bought it.
I was so thrilled to have been able to go in there. She said she has some plans for what she would like to do it the place. She wants to keep it a little diner, but who knows. At least I have pictures now.
Monday, July 8, 2019
The House on Mill Village Road in Deerfield
Today Paul and I took a ride to Brattleboro, VT. On our way we drove down Mill Village Rd in Deerfield, MA. We do this a lot. A long time ago I told Paul about a house on that street (it was about the only house at that time) that my grandfather and I had looked at when I was a kid. We actually got out of the car and talked to the owners. He wanted to buy it with his brother, Uncle David. To read about it click here.
Paul put it into his GPS and labeled it "Deb's Deerfield Dream House". Over the years we have driven by it many times. It has looked out of place with so many big houses and duplexes that have been built up around it. I knew eventually it would be somehow replaced.
In 2014 we noticed some changes happening to and around the house. There were big trucks on the property, and it looked like there was some type of business there, not a residential house anymore.
Well, today when we drove by I couldn't believe how different the house looked! The big trees in the front of the house had all been taken down.
Most of the little shed type things in the back yard are gone.
I guess it's better than the whole house being taken down and a new house built in its place....but not much!
Paul put it into his GPS and labeled it "Deb's Deerfield Dream House". Over the years we have driven by it many times. It has looked out of place with so many big houses and duplexes that have been built up around it. I knew eventually it would be somehow replaced.
In 2014 we noticed some changes happening to and around the house. There were big trucks on the property, and it looked like there was some type of business there, not a residential house anymore.
Well, today when we drove by I couldn't believe how different the house looked! The big trees in the front of the house had all been taken down.
Most of the little shed type things in the back yard are gone.
I guess it's better than the whole house being taken down and a new house built in its place....but not much!
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Throwback Thursday - Fred and Priscilla's 25th Anniversary party
This week would have been my in-laws 70th anniversary!
My father-in-law has been without her for 15 years. I can't imagine it.
Priscilla and Fred got married April 30, 1949 in Priscilla's back yard.
For their 25th anniversary Paul and I had a party at our house. It was 1974; I was pregnant with Mark, and Kristen was 1 year, 8 months old.
We had all of their close friends from church plus Nan and Dot and Priscilla's mom (they helped me a lot with the planning and food. What did I know about planning a party at 23? LOL.)
Sadly, only two of the people in the above picture (besides me) are still alive, my father-in-law being one of them. Good people, good memories.
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