Uncle Ross's gravestone

My Uncle Ross, my mother's brother, died in 2006.  He purchased his gravestone before he died and had it put in the North Blandford Cemetery where many of his relatives, including his mother and father are buried.  His death date never got put on his gravestone.

My mother died in 2010.  She had been living with my half sister Laura.  Laura has both my Uncle Ross's ashes, and my mother's ashes, and my mother didn't have a gravestone.  

When Paul and I had my Aunt Dot's gravestone made, we had them go to North Blandford Cemetery and get my uncle's gravestone.  The guy cleaned up the stone and had my mother's name, birth date and death date added to Uncle Ross's gravestone. 

I'm not sure if their ashes will ever make it to the cemetery, but at least their names, birth dates and death dates will be there for posterity.

Sometimes life is complicated.

Throwback Thursday (early) - Lots of snow!

At last count today we had 11.5 inches of snow in Feeding Hills. It got me thinking about the pictures that my Aunt Dot took when she was young of friends and family out in the snow. She also took pictures of her friends in cemeteries. Maybe that was popular back then.

Anyhow, this is a picture of my mother and father when they were dating. Dot always talked about how much snow they used to get back then.

I'm sure that if I were to talk with Dot about all the snow we had today, she would remind me that this is the way winters were when she was young.

Throwback Thursday - Higgins/Waite Wedding

Today my friend Leslee and I went to the Genealogy Room at the Springfield Museum.  I was poking around on one of their computers which showed Springfield newspaper articles.  I put in "Higgins" (my mother's maiden name) and this popped up.

I had never seen that before.

This is their wedding picture.

They look so young.  Well, they were.  She was almost 18 and he was almost 21. 

I remember my mother telling me that they were married in her mother's church in the church parlor.

Such a long time ago....

Happy July 4th!

As many of you know, Paul and I have been doing some genealogy research lately and I had wanted to take a picture of a Revolutionary War veteran's grave today. One person that I came across, on my mother's father's side, was William Higgins II. The problem is...I can't find where he is buried. Some places say Easton, MA., and others say Chesterfield. I am going to have to do some more digging. I did find the information above though.

So...instead, Paul and I went to Malden, MA to check on Capt. John Wayte's gravestone. He was the first one in the Wait (my father's) family to come to America. He came from England in 1638.

He landed in Charlestown, and eventually moved to Malden, MA. He died in 1693 and is buried in the Bell Rock Cemetery. This is his gravestone. It is amazing to me that a gravestone from 1693 is still intact.



This plaque is at the front of the cemetery. It is hard to read in this picture, but it is a list of all the Revolutionary War veterans buried here.



Happy Birthday America!

Higgins in Blandford

Back in July 2003 Paul and I started working on Genealogy. I really wanted to find out when and where both sides of Paul's and my family came to America.

Paul's family is relatively easy. His father's people came from Germany, in fact, both of his father's parents were born in Germany. His mother's people came from England. Paul's Uncle George has been doing a lot of family Genealogy and has gone all the way back to England on Paul's mother's mother's side. As far as I know, Uncle George has not gone all the way back to England on Paul's mother's father's side, but the general consensus is that they did. Get all that?

Anyhow, back in 2003 we decided to concentrate on my family.

We have found out that:

- On my father's father's side: My grandfather's father's family came to America from England in 1638 and first settled in Malden, MA. My grandfather's mother's parents were born in Germany.

- On my father's mother's side: They came from Chateaugay, Quebec, Canada near the St. Lawrence River in the mid 1800's and settled in Malone, NY.

- On my mother's mother's side: They came from Ireland in 1767 and first settled in South Carolina.

In the last couple of weeks, starting on Memorial Day, we have been getting involved in my mother's father's family. We found out that they came from England in 1632 and first settled in Plymouth, MA.

It has been so much fun finding all of this out and then following how they eventually ended up living in this area. We have Family Tree Maker on our computer and have added all of our information there.

Today we went to the Blandford Historical Society and the Blandford Public Library and they gave me so much information.

One of the neat stories that I found out is that my great-great grandfather, William C. Higgins, (the picture of his grave is on my Memorial Day post), served in the Civil War and on his return moved from Worthington, MA to Blandford, MA and started a basket factory.

This is a picture that my mother gave me years ago of his basket factory.



Through the help of the historical society and the library we were able to find the address of the old basket factory. It has been remodeled into a private home. We left a picture of the old factory for the new owners (they were not home at the time) and they called us back to thank us. They knew their home had been a basket factory at one time but had never seen a picture of it. The man said that when he and his son were building a patio a few years ago they actually found remnants of basket making in the ground.

This is what it looks like now.



The historical society also told us there was a relative in Chesterfield who still operated a basket shop. We located it, but to my dismay, it was closed up. We found out that this had been the basket shop of Benjamin C. Higgins, and his son-in-law had been making baskets there since 1974. He is no longer able to do it and the shop is closed.

This is a picture of The Basket Shop.




I just love doing this. I like all the facts, but I like the stories the most. I am always trying to find out new stories. I guess that is why I like blogging and scrapbooking so much. Maybe some day my "descendants" will be interested in the stories too.

Memorial Day

"
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." - John F. Kennedy

Today, being Memorial Day, I wanted to visit the N. Blandford cemetery to see if any of my mother's family were veterans.

To backtrack a little.....after receiving a comment on a post (see post May 22, 2012) and discovering a new found cousin who has since told me so much about my mother's mother's family, I decided that it was time to find out more about my mother's father's family.

I found out that the grave above is my great-great grandfather, William C. Higgins who fought in the Civil War.

Today, I give thanks to all of our veterans, and to all who are serving now. Freedom really does come with a price.

Eleanor S. Higgins and children

This is a picture of my maternal grandmother, Eleanor S. Higgins, with her children, Jean (my mother), Lee, and Ross. I think my mother was about 4 (or so), so this would make the picture 1935 (or so).

About a month ago I got a comment on my blog post William Ross Harper. Come to find out, I have a second cousin, my grandmother's sister's granddaughter, Wendy.

Since that time, we have been e-mailing back and forth. She has filled in a lot of blanks about my mother's side of the family. I have been so excited about this (most of you know how much I love Genealogy!).

So.., we have decided to send each other pictures. I found this picture of my grandmother Eleanor, sister to her grandmother Marian. I am going to e-mail it to her along with a few others, and I thought this would make a good Throwback Thursday!

Memorial Service

Maybe some day I'll write the story.