Projects in the Summer of 2017

FOCUS – the word for today! With several projects started – it is a difficult task. I am working on several items:

1) I am writing an article about John Chapman of New Marlborough, Berkshire, Massachusetts. After several years of research, I recently learned John’s second wife’s maiden name. This new information, and much more needs to be incorporated into the article.

As part of this project, I joined the Chapman Family Association www.chapmanfamilies.org. They have an ongoing Y-DNA Chapman Project. Y-DNA is the male lineage - father to father to father, etc. I can’t help with contributing my DNA so I am trying to bring some of the male children of John Chapman “down” to find living male descendants who would be willing to help. This has proven difficult as although John appears to have had five sons who lived to adulthood, of his thirteen children from two wives, only two of the sons can be followed with any certainty. Another two sons, John and Jonathan, disappear after about 1817 and there is not much information on his youngest son, Ira. I know he had at least one daughter, Ellen, but can’t be sure of sons, at this point. That leaves Ashbel (whose mother is John’s first wife, Rachel) and Asher (his mother is the second wife, Dorcas). Ashbel spent a few years in New York and then settled in Ohio. He had 13 children, including seven sons. I am working on his descendants and have identified a possible nine males currently living. Asher and his wife also eventually resettled in Ohio and they had nine children, with five sons. I will add more information to my website on their descendants (not living), as I find it. Eventually, I will try to get in touch with these male descendants and see if they are willing to contribute some spit!  This will help to prove John is connected to the Chapmans in the Sharon, Litchfield, Connecticut area, where I am certain he was born. That would make his ancestor, William Chapman (1633-1699). William was born in England and came to the colonies as a young man. He married Sarah (unk) and had seven children, all born in New London, Connecticut. My John Chapman is not, as of now, in the Chapman Family Association list of ancestors. I will be adding a tree in the near future.

2) I was recently contacted by a Hazelton 4^th cousin through my website and blog. He is descended from Nancy ‘Jane’ Hazelton, Brooks Bowman’s sister. Brooks is one of my great-great-grandfathers. Jane had one daughter out of wedlock in 1850. Lelia Luella Hazelton, was born on February 24, 1850, married Oscar Ware and had eight children (one son). I wrote about Lelia in a blog post titled: Peter and Sarah/Salley (Pierce) Hazelton, on Sept 12, 2015. Parts II and III on Oct. 5^th and Oct. 11^th, were a continuation of the descendants of Peter and Salley. This cousin had his Y-DNA done through the same company I used. He is in the process of comparing our matches. I was looking at my matches again recently and found a woman from CA listed as a good match. She is a descendant of Pierce R. Hazelton, the second of Peter and Sarah’s children and brother to my ancestor, Brooks. With DNA and the family information shared with others – maybe someday we can find out not only Sarah Pierce’s parentage, but Lelia’s biological father.

3) The next of many projects I want to complete, is the Lineage Societies I am “collecting.” I have written about some of these in past posts, but the latest project is through the National Society Colonial Dames XVII (17^th) Century, which I have been a member of for several years. Through this society I can acquire Coats of Arms (CoAs) connected to various family names. If an ancestor was a “gateway” ancestor – the first in the colonies during the 1600’s – there is a good chance there is probably a Coat of Arms attached to that family name. This is the case with the FitzRandolphs.  Garth Beckington, my mother’s father, was the son of Mark Beckington and Anna FitzRandolph. She was descended from Edward FitzRandolph and his wife, Elizabeth Blossom. Edward was born in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England. Elizabeth’s family was from England, but her parents, Thomas and Ann (Heilson) Blossom, were in Leyden in The Netherlands when their five children were born. Edward and Elizabeth were married in Scituate, Massachusetts in 1637. Their 12 children were born while they were in Barnstable, Massachusetts (Cape Cod area), and both Edward and Elizabeth died in Piscataway, New Jersey. The FitzRandolphs and the Blossoms have CoAs for their families and I have the certificates. I have pictures of the Crests from a book and could get prints of them, if I wanted. The FitzRandolphs go back to Charlemagne, the King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor! I have the paperwork for that CoAs done. They are also descended from William the Conqueror, all sorts of Lords, Counts and even Louis, The Pious, Emperor of The West, and Louthair I, King of Italy, Emperor of the Romans!  Don’t you love these titles? Maybe a grandchild’s name someday?  I could get CoAs for them all, but I just want to do one – 39 generations back to Charlemagne. He was born in 742 in Germany and died in 813/14 in Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen). His third wife (my ancestor) was Hildegarde of Swabia of Gerold I, Count of Vinzgau (don’t ask!!). Why wouldn’t you want to be able to say they are your great (39x) grandfather and grandmother. Now I want to tackle the Society of Descendants of Lady Godiva.

LATE BREAKING NEWS: I just heard that my fifth and sixth supplementals for NSDAR were approved: Benjamin Wilson and Robert Clarkson, both of NJ. These are both from the FitzRandolph branch of the family.

4) This isn’t “last but not least” for item #4, since it is equally important and probably more “time sensitive.” We are planning a trip to Scotland next June. Bruce’s father, Stanley, was born there, although his parents had already immigrated to America. He still has family in the Glasgow area we are hoping to meet them. This will be our opportunity to do some continuing research to take the Buchanans back beyond the early 1800s, to help with the Y-DNA Buchanan Project that Bruce is involved in. Of course, my McDougalls are from Scotland as well and we want to make sure we visit those areas as well.

These projects alone should keep me busy for many months – if ONLY I would work on them!

Lineage Societies – Part II

    The last time I wrote about this topic, I had been accepted by NS DAR (National Society of Daughters of Revolutionary War), USD 1812 NS Daughters of War of 1812), and NS Colonial Dames XVII Century. I am now a member of DCH (Daughters of Code of Honor), NSDAC (NS Daughters of American Colonists), ADEAW (Association of Daughters of Early American Witches). The NSDAC website says – “NSDAC members are descendants of a man or woman who rendered patriotic or civil service to the American Colonies prior to 4 July 1776.”  One of my Revolutionary War Soldiers – Robert FitzRandolph is the great-grandson of Edward FitzRandolph, who was born in England and died in Piscataway, Middlesex County, NJ. He was married to Elizabeth Blossom. Edward “In 1636, built the thirty-eighth house in Scituate, Massachusetts” which qualified me for NSDAC.

   Then I became a member of the NS NEW (National Society of New England Women), through another Edward FitzRandolph (love these FitzRandolphs). This Edward is the father of my DAR soldier, Robert mentioned above. Edward was born in Barnstable, Barnstable County, (Cape Cod area), MA – one of many ancestors “born in New England before 1789 or in Nassau or Suffolk Counties, Long Island, New York before 1700.”

   The latest Society I applied for was really the easiest for me – Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War (DUVCW). It helped that I only had to go back four generations to my great-great-grandfather, instead of my 8^th great-grandfather, Edward FitzRandolph mentioned above. I submitted for William Wallace Court, my great-great grandfather. William (1842-1925) was born in Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York, but the family spent most of their lives in nearby Oswego County. William served in the 147^th Regiment, 1^st Infantry, Co. K, as a Sgt. He served for almost three years and in many of the major battles. He missed Gettysburg and Robert E. Lee’s famous surrender at Appomattox in Virginia with the rest of his unit because of illness. William received a pension later in his life from what we would probably call rheumatoid arthritis aggregated by living in the cold/wet conditions on the battlefields. He eventually went blind and had dementia and spent his last years in Pontiac State Hospital. Ironically, his son, William Wallace, Jr. (1873-1929) spent most of his adult life at Pontiac State Hospital. We will probably never know what his diagnosis was as records from most of the State Mental Hospitals have been “destroyed.”  William, Sr. married Esther Mary Corcoran (1846-1919) in Canada. They spent their lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and had eight children, six survived to adulthood.

   At the same time, I submitted for my great-grandfather, John A. McDougall (1843-1920), Sgt., E Co., 17^th Regiment Infantry for Michigan (Ypsilanti). John only served about five months when he was shot in the shoulder – apparently he could never raise that arm above his shoulder after that. He got a pension, and it was continued by his widow, Delphine Fowler (1851-1941) until her death. John and Delphine had 11 children, 10 living to adulthood.

   There are other Lineage Societies that I am interested in joining – mostly, just to say I can. But this does all take time – and money.  Maybe next month…..

   The only supplementals I am interested in are DAR. I am slowly trying to wade through the process of re-proving my great-grandmother’s (Mary Ella Hazelton Childs) DAR supplementals. Because it has been many years and the standards have really tightened up, it is a slow process. Roswell Lane (NY) was approved two years ago. I currently have two more awaiting approval and am in the process of submitting another – keep you posted.

   Now, if only I could join the Royal Bastards….