The holidays are over, a new year is upon us. New goals have been set for both my writers group and my GenieGirls study group. How many can I cross off at the end of the year and how many new ones will be added?
I have completed an article on my COURT branch. I will try and highlight a few of the more interesting aspects of this article.
The original James Court came to this country from England about 1835. He married and lived in New York (Oswego County) all his life. He was a cooper (barrel maker) by trade. He married Martha Jennette Bocquet, who was born in that area and they had five children. There seems to be an inordinate amount of mental illness/suicide/childlessness and premature deaths of both children and adults in this family. Only one of their children, my great-great-grandfather, William Wallace Court, had descendants. He eventually moved to Michigan (Washtenaw County) where many Courts still live. As far as my research can ascertain, there are no Courts in NY remaining from the other four children. Only one had a child and that son died at age 17.
William was a Civil War Soldier for Oswego County, NY (more on him in a future column). He moved to Canada and eventually to Ypsilanti, Michigan. He married Esther Mary Corcoran (of Canada and Ohio) and they had eight children. Six lived to adulthood. But, again, only three of those left descendants. One son, William Jr., was in Pontiac State Hospital most of his life. He died there at age 53. Two daughters had children, one died in childbirth with the child and the other had three babies that were either stillborn or died early from "failure to thrive" (according to the death certificate). This second daughter mentioned, Marie, was married to Lewis Scramblin(g) mentioned in an earlier blog.
William's first son, James Madison Court, is my great-grandfather. He married Mary Elizabeth Klopp (maybe Brunck). They had two children including my father's mother, Bessie.
Dennis, their second son, had four children and at least 11 grandchildren known to me. William and Esther's daughter, Martha Jennette (Nettie) married three times and had three children from her second marriage.
The article I am submitting for publication in the Desert Tracker for the West Valley Genealogical Society (WVGS) should appear in their Spring Issue. When it does, I will send a link.
I have also been in touch with a distant cousin from Bruce's family - the Tibbetts of Maine and Massachusetts. Lisa lives in Australia and we have been sharing information. This is a family I have not checked in on in years. I first need to organize and bring them up-to-date. But she is delightful and I am excited about sharing more information with her. And Bruce is already seeing travel in the future!
The Beckington Book - of which I have talked about TOO MUCH and done nothing with recently, is another goal still on my list. I am trying to figure out how to divide the work into segments to make it easier to complete. I have hopes anyway.
Another trip to Syracuse and more research will happen in early March. Of course that means a little more organization to make sure I know what I am looking for when I get there.
It is cold here in Phoenix this week. I know it is relative, but because our plants/flowers/citrus trees, etc. are not used to it, we have had damage to plants, or at least to the leaves. I hope they come back. We did this two years ago and had to cut everything WAY back. Next month is trimming/pruning time. Also, I have a new pet - Sunday we heard and saw a mouse in the house. I have a couple of traps out with peanut butter. Hopefully, that will do it. He is pretty inquisitive and has been all over the house, including Sunday night when I was reading in bed. He came into the bedroom three times. The first two times I made a noise and he turned and headed back out. The third time I thought - OK, where is it you are going? So I just watched him. He eventually made it under the bed and stayed for awhile. He did finally leave and I haven't heard or seen him since. Maybe he found his way back outside?
