Dang!@* I meant to post this 3 weeks ago, and just noticed it in the “Drafts” folder. No wonder no one had commented on this important new website feature. As promised, there is now a page in the Generations section called “Full Pedigrees.” Once on this page, you can select any of six family branches: Isaac Larson, Anna Moen, Dan Myers, Lillian Drayer, Gunder Sletten, and Helena Olsdatter. You will then see a window containing a tree of *all* known ancestors of that individual. Some of them are very large – Anna Moen’s is the biggest (thanks mainly to cousin Orrin), with about 850 names. You can then click on the name of any one of them to see a detailed 6-generation pedigree chart for him or her. There is also an index of individuals, a surname index, and a timeline for each of the six branches. I hope you enjoy this new feature, made possible by a free software program called GedBrows. It was a lot of work to get it presentable, and work through some technical difficulties, but worth it, I hope. A happy and prosperous New Year to all.
Archive for December, 2009
All Generations
Thursday, December 31st, 2009Pilgrim Connection, holiday update
Friday, December 18th, 2009I scrambled to put the 70 new ancestors I found yesterday(!) into my master file before leaving home for holiday tomorrow. I am threatening to take our laptop along; if I make good, I may update next week, otherwise not. Anyway, the revised “big pedigree” for Dan Myers is now online, with all those *very* early Massachusetts settlers. At least seven ancestors of the Myers’, via the Colby line, were born in New England between 1620 and 1633, that is, the first 13 years after the Mayflower landed! Many more details remain to be fleshed out. For the names and vital info, go to this link, then use the sidebar navigation to select Dan Myers.
The Pilgrim Connection
Thursday, December 17th, 2009Apropos to the holiday season, I just busted open a whole new package of my ancestors. Not Larsons (sorry), but by my maternal grandfather, Dan Myers. Today, I explored for the first time the pedigree of Helen Colby Myers, Dan’s mother. It turns out that the Colby line (along with lines of several of their spouses) goes straight back to Massachusetts in the early 1600′s; that is, the first decades after the Mayflower. The Mayflower itself landed in 1620; I did not find any of these ancestors on that famous passenger list (numerous ships followed in the next few years), but at least six of them were born in Massachusetts colony during the next 15 years. Several branches can be traced back to England, one as far as the 1400′s.
Mayflower 1620
I am checking with cousin Gail Myers whether he had this info already; I definitely was not aware of it until now. This thread needs a lot more work, which will have to wait until after Christmas. Blessed Yule to all.
Immigration and poverty, continued
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009Tusen Takk to cousin Mary and her mother Clarice, who found her copy of “Utvandringa Til Amerika …“ in English translation, and sent me the narrative pages. There is some excellent background and statistics there, relating not only to Ringebu, but all of Gudbrandsdal, and indeed all of Norway. Here is a passage that illuminates the unpleasant experience of Anne Larsdatter and Ole Larson in particular:
Ringebu parish is directly adjacent to Sør-Fron. The four years of crop failures from 1836-1839 must surely have been a factor in Anne Larsdatter’s “crime,” stealing a bucketful of potatoes and some cured fish, in March of 1840. The author’s statement that people “did not actually starve to death” may be technically correct, but surely many children and others died early from diseases sorely aggravated by hunger and malnutrition.
Speaking of criminal matters, I have finally found someone to help me transcribe the “next” document, from the appeals court, which contains some more details on Anne’s case. This is the document that cousin Myrna kindly obtained on her trip to Norway last spring. Stay tuned.
Coming Attractions
Saturday, December 5th, 2009Dang, it’s been almost 2 weeks since my last post. Thanks for your patience. I am on the brink of adding a *bunch* of content to the Website proper. You will soon be able to browse the complete pedigree of each of the several family branches I have been working on (well, as complete as I have them so far). So, if you wish, you can follow Isaac Larson’s (and also Gunder Sletten’s) line all the way back to those early-medieval kings of Kvenland; Anna Moen’s back to the emperor Charlemagne and beyond, etc. etc.
Charlemagne (747-814 C.E.)