This has been a busy summer for travel and enjoying friends
in faraway and nearby places. We did get a chance to spend some "cool"
time in Colorado and the writers group ladies again came for a great visit. In
August I travelled to Michigan for my high school reunion and to see family. It
was all fun and so good to see everyone!
No genealogy this time - just no time for it, not even one cemetery
(sorry, Pat).
Then we had a unique opportunity to see the first races of
the America's Cup from grandstand seats in San Francisco. What an exciting
time. Again, we visited with old friends and had a GREAT time touring the Napa
Valley and staying in Sonoma for a few days. Oops! No genealogy there either.
In September, I traveled to New York to stay with my husband
for two weeks saving him a trip back home for the weekend. I also coordinated
the visit so I could attend the New York State Family History Conference
(sponsored by NYG&BS and CNYGS) on September 20th and 21st near Syracuse.
As usual, I came away from the conference with my head bursting - with what I
don't know, what I want - and need - to do, and what massive amounts of records
are out there that are NOT online or microfilmed. It just takes knowing where
to find them - and, finding the time to go through them all! But, most of us are retired, right?
New York also brought a nice getaway with hubby for two-days
in the finger lakes region. And I had lunch and a fun afternoon with a high
school classmate who hadn't been able to attend reunions. All in all - a fun
time.
In NY, I had time for
genealogy! I tackled my COURTS (including Bocquet, Sova, with newly found
Goddard) and LANES (including Watson, Parish, Case, Myers and Earle). The
Oswego County Historian (Justin White) and the records available in his office are
wonderful. Even though I have been there more than once, I always find
something new. This time I found a death date for Martha Jennette Bocquet Court
- 27 October 1893. And her mother (Anna ____ Bocquet King) who died on 16
February 1884. This woman (Anna) buried at least 10 of her known 12 children,
mostly at very young ages. I am still not sure about the life, and death, of another
daughter, Maria. Her daughter, Mary Ann, probably lived longer than Anna, but
it hasn't been verified. I think only
one son, Robert, unmarried, survived her.
Mary Ann and Martha Jennette were probably the only two children who had
descendants. Anna also lost her first husband, Charles, and father of the
children, in 1845. I am not sure what happened to Mr. (probably Ezra) King, the
second husband, but they appeared to be together only a short time.
With this trip, I am putting the COURTS "to
bed." I have spent way too much
time on them. But it was worth an article, written last spring and about to
appear in the Desert Tracker, a
publication of the West Valley Genealogical Society, Sun City, Arizona. There
are a few unanswered questions, so as usual with most of our ancestors - I can't
say the picture is complete.
Some of the questions still to be answered: Exactly when and
where was the earliest James Court in the US, born? He most likely came from
England. What was Anna Bocquet King's maiden name? She may have come from
Herkimer County, New York. I would like
to spend more time following the only other descendants of this couple - Moses
W. and Mary Ann Bocquet Goddard. They had three children: Charles N. (b. 1841),
Anna M. (b. 1843) and Elizabeth (b. 1845). They were probably all born in or
near Scriba, Oswego, NY.
Lansing Hamlet, Scriba, Oswego, NY
Methodist Episcopal Church
that some of the Courts attended (now empty)
